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.

Harnam Sing - The Fedayeen

I always held this belief that a nation cannot be built without heroes. To become a human, it is not enough just to have skills and knowledge, but also honor and values. Our politicians are not a special breed of people; they are just a part of our society. They are corrupt because we are all corrupt. We cannot get rid of corruption in our society unless to teach our children honesty, self respect and hard work and self confidence. One way to do this is to put forward the examples of our heroes, who have scarified their life to protect the honor of their country. Here is the first installment of what I want to make a series of stories that tells how our heroes have loved their motherland and sacrificed their lives. I desperately hope that after reading this, a child will get some deterrence from growing up a corrupt, devoid of any honor. Let’s hope.

Below is the story of Harnam Sing, an illiterate village boy. He felt the humiliation of subjugation by foreign rulers that he was willing to lay down his life to rid the country of foreign rule. He knew full well they he will not be able to bring down the mighty British Empire. But for some people, honor matters more than the results. Let’s celebrate the death of these martyrs. Not for them. They are dead. They don’t care what we do, but for our children; So that they can grow up in a better India.


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(Translated from an article by Ronjan Roy in Shuktara 1971 edition)
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Ghadar leader Visnu Ganesh Pingle has returned from America. He told the Indian revolutionaries that Indian freedom has to be owned from Indian soil. Ghadar party workers are coming back to India en masse. Any ship coming from San Francisco via the Pacific or from Quebec via the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, is bringing back at least two dozen of Punjabi revolutionaries, who are determined to give up their lives for the emancipation of their motherland. They don’t dare to come in larger number in the same ship. They have not forgotten the incident of Komagata Maru, how the British brutalized the Indians on that ship. They are certain that if the British even suspect that any ship is carrying a large number of Indian revolutionaries, they will do the same thing again.
Pingle advices that money needs to be collected from India, Indian youth have to be transformed to an army by military training. Germany has promised arms supplies. But getting arms from there is complicated. Until that happens should we stay idle? Of course not. There is a lot of arms right here in India. We have to snatch them from the British.
“But how?” Asks Harnam Singh.
“By force” Pingle replies, “By robbery. We must raid such places where we will get bread and meat together. That means money and weapon. For example Government treasury, where you will get money of course, but also get guns from the guards, or banks or the collection offices of the landlords.”
“I don’t know about money”, said Harnam Sing, “But I can tell you how we can get five or six rifles easily from the Valla Bridge. There are five or six armed guards there. Each carries a rifle and a bag of ammunition on their belt.”
This Harnam is a fire eating lad. He entered the services of a Circus company at a very young age. His job was to clean the animal cages. Each cage has two parts with a partition of a spring iron door. The animal is restrained in one part, while the other gets cleaned. Then the door is opened and the animal is goaded to the clean part of the cage. Then the door is closed again. By that time the cleaner is safely out of the cage. Then he jumps to the other part and quickly cleans away. One day a terrible thing happened. The middle door is spring operated. That day the door malfunctioned. Harnam saw the door is coming down and he also jumped down. It should not take more than a second for the door to close. But when he jumped to the floor of the cage, he was dumbstruck! The door is only half closed and is not closing anymore. The spring gave up.
And the animal on the other side – a freshly captured Royal Bengal Tiger! Not tamed yet. The circus trainer is very doubtful it will ever be tamed. The owner will feel lucky if it can ever be used for a show. The royal Bengal Tiger is crouching on the other side, wagging her tail from left to right, as if to the tune of music unheard by the others. On the other side of the cage is Harnam, with broom in his right hand a three feet long iron spear in his left hand. This weapon is given to the cleaners for eventual emergencies. Harnam is in one side of the cage and the tiger is in the other. The door in between is open. The guard who minds the gate is shouting like crazy, to scare the tiger and to get help. But a freshly captured Royal Bengal Tiger does not heed to shouts. She jumped, one yellow lightning crossed over to the other end of the cage. She landed exactly the same spot where the lad Harnam was standing a moment ago. But he is not there any longer! The tigress jumped like a lightning and Harnam jumped like a bolt and stroke the tiger with his spear. The tiger landed a foot ahead. And Harnam – Did he see the Tarzan movies? How else did he learn these tricks? He jumped on the tiger and straddled her. He held her two ears back forcefully. The spear has penetrated deep on her shoulder. The whole circus area is reverberating with her roar. Help has come by now. The tigress is trying her best to release her ears from Harnam and bite his leg. Had the spear not stuck on her shoulder, she would have lied on her back to dismount her raider. From four sides of the cage they are trying to char the tiger on its paws and on the belly. They cannot afford to disfigure her body. A circus animal must not look ugly. While the tigress is busy defending herself, Harnam jumped up and got hold of the roof of the cage. The roof also had a bolted door. They rescued him opening the door. After this, the tigress became tame and the chief trainer Allahbox took Harnam as a trainee. But Harnam did not stay in that job for long.
“Why are you quitting?” Asked the proprietor.
“There are more dangerous animals outside; the two legged whites.” quipped Harnam, “Now I will deal with them.”
The same Harnam Sing was entrusted to lead the raid on Valla Bridge. Only six miles from Amritsar, this is a bridge on a midsize canal. Around a hundred trains cross this bridge every day. There was one guard on each end of the bridge earlier. After the start of the insurgency, the guard has been increased. Now two men guard each end of the bridge and there are two mobile guards doing rounds across the length of the bridge. Only six riflemen. To engage them, Harnam employeed for dare devils. They are Channal Sing, Kala Sing, Amta Sing and Banta Sing. “Why don’t you take a few more?” Someone asked. “Why?” retorted Harnam. “We will raid in the middle of the night. Before they realize, we will finish two of them. After that they are four and so are we”. One of us will be on the watch. Railway bridge, there is no dealings of money here. The only attractions are the six rifles with the guards and their ammunitions. But weapons are so precious with the revolutionaries these days that they are willing to give up six lives for six rifles. At morning 4 AM one train will cross the bridge. The raiders will hide behind the train. On the north end of the bridge, habilder Chitra Sing and private Phool Sing are on watch. As soon as the train left the sentry post, they were greeted with rifle fire. Before they could grasp the situation, they were wounded. The wounds were not serious. They grasped their rifle and started shouting for their comrades. They were looking around because they could not spot their attackers. When they did, they could not resist. Four kukris snuffed their lives out. But the raiders could not risk leaving them behind alive. Because if they regained strength, they would fire upon the revolutionaries. So they kept stabbing them and finally fired upon them to make sure they are down. The guards on the other end did not hear the sound of fire immediately. The roaring sound of the train masked the sound of the bullets. But finally they heard and realized. But they did not flee. But rather came rushing to help their comrades. They fired while they ran. But they could not aim at the raiders. But Harnam’s mates were firing standing. They killed all four of them easily. Six guards were killed and six rifles acquired. But the revolutionaries refused to see this as murder. From their perspective this was required. The dead are also the son of the soil. Harnam considered them as six dead brothers. But without their death, the revolution could not gain six rifles. India has a lot of people, but alas, very few rifles. By the inevitable rule of supply and demand, a rifle is in more demand than a life! With their booty of rifles on their back, the revolutionaries got off the bridge. The day is clearing up. Another train is coming. There is no time to lose. They were going towards Palasour along the fields. They cannot risk going to Amritsar directly. They were carrying two rifles each and had blood strains on their clothes. They intended to cross Kaleng River near Palasour and hide in the nearby forest. They wanted to reach Amritsar in the cover of the night. The sun came out and with it a few villagers. They are looking at the pary with suspicion. Each carrying two rifles, Harman carrying three! On top of arousing suspicion, the load is becoming unbearable on them. But it seems there is a solution. A rider comes along with a blanket on the saddle. This was a golden opportunity. They can carry their rifles on horseback covered with the blanket. The rider was galloping along but stopped suddenly. He smelled danger seeing four stout riflemen carrying double rifles. Gulab Sign suspected they were robbers. They came to know later that his name was Gulab Sing. Gulab Sing is fleeing. He cannot be allowed to escape. He will reach the village well before Harnams party and alert the villagers and the police. The whole village will be ready for the raiders with whatever implants they have. Only the Guru knows how many innocent lives will be lost in self defense. Dejected, Harnam raised his rifle and fired. Gulab Sing’s body fell down from his horse. Now five rebels stacked their rifles on horseback and covered them with blanket and continued their journey. At midday they reached Kaleng River. If they can cross the river, they can take refuge in the forest. But the boatman is a stubborn suspicious man. He will not let five men with blood stains on their clothes and their horse on his boat. Meanwhile he could hear uproar behind. Villagers have discovered Gulab Sings dead body and organized a search party. So they had to kill the boat man also. They boarded the boat and started for the other bank. But the villagers have arrived on this side. The land lord’s son had a gun. He started firing towards the boat. So Harnams party was forced to fire upon them. Two of the villagers were injured and then they dispersed. They were relieved after entering the forest. The villagers cannot pursue them here. But they cannot rest there indefinitely. They have left blood trail behind. The police will follow their trail and apprehend them. All the police stations around are already being alerted. So they started their journey again. Not towards Amritsar but in the opposite direction, towards Kapurthala. They hoped that they may be able to hide in the native state. But their hopes were dashed. Kapurthala was already alerted. They were arrested as soon as they entered Kapurthala.
They were hanged on 9th August 1915.

Good article by John Gray

This is a remarkably refreshing idea. I will try to elaborate on it in my next post.

“Pakistan – A Hard Country” – A critique

It seems that this book was written with just one purpose, to present an alternative point of view of showing how good Pakistan is, in the guise of a balanced well researched treatise and be a big hit in Pakistan and colonial guilt ridden liberal West (So-called). It so devoid of truth that it seems like it was written about a fantasy land in the authors mind rather than the real country of Pakistan. What is most obnoxious is the style. The author writes in a tone that is similar to a theoretical analysis of a hypothetical society and gives tons of scholarly advice to the policy makers. It hardly contains any fact.

So far I read only the introduction and glanced through the chapter on religion. The following sentences from the introduction scream for an explanation.

1. “When terrorist groups attack India, or Western forces in Afghanistan, their actions enjoy a degree of instinctive, gut sympathy from a majority of Pakistanis – not because of Islamist extremism, but because of Muslim nationalism and bitter hostility to the US role in the Muslim world in general and Pakistan’s region in particular.”
   Then the author goes on explaining how this is not religious but rather hostility to the West. But he never bothers to explain why attacks against India are so popular. Also, as far as I know, The West is always a friend to Pakistan rather than an enemy. America and Britain actually helped Pakistan to stand on its feet defend itself against India, developed its economy, infrastructure and military, poured in billions of dollars of aid. Then why are attacks against the West and Israel are so popular in Pakistan?
2. “Nonetheless, tough they are; and unless the USA, India, or both together invade Pakistan and thereby precipitate its disintegration, the likelihood is that the country will hold together, and that if it eventually collapses, it will be not Islamist extremism but climate change – an especially grim threat in the whole of South Asia – that finishes it off.”
   Remarkably fantastic! Where in the whole world did the author get the idea that either the USA or India is even remotely interested to invade Pakistan? Why? The last thing, the USA wants to do is to invade a “on the face” friendly country without any natural resources and land in the biggest mess of their military history, even if there is imminent threat of the nukes falling in the hands of Jihadists. They will rather bomb them to dust than put soldiers on the ground. As for India, there is no military or strategic interest or political dividend to attempt such madness. Pakistan to India now is an irritant rather than a threat. And gone are the days when attacking Pakistan will win a party an election.
3. “Finally, Pakistan possesses nuclear weapons and one of the most powerful armies in Asia. This means that the option of the US attacking Pakistan with ground forces in order to force it to put pressure on the Afghan Taliban simply does not exist – as both the Pentagon and the Pakistani military have long understood.”
   This statement contradicts the suggestion put forward in the last point. Let’s analyze the conclusion. Pakistan has a powerful army. As far as I can tell, Indian army is one of the most unorganized, under trained, ill equipped army in the world. Pakistani army, armed with superior American arms compared to the Russian supplied Indian army, looses against India repeatedly, even when their numerical strengths are same. They always lose against the Taliban, Baloch rebels, even when they apply the most ruthless and savage repressions against their own civilians. They cannot defend their own establishments in their own country against the terrorists. This shows the strength of Pakistani army. Judging from the Iraqi defeat in two weeks, it seems to me that Pakistan will not last more than two days against a determined US attack. Now about the nukes. What good are they against a US invasion? Even if I assume that Pakistan has weapon grade nuclear device (very doubtful), how can they used it either against America or their allies? They only two types of delivery system they have are mules and Jihadists. They cannot strap a nuclear device to either of them and send them to Tel-Aviv. If America can ensure that they will shoot down every plane out of Pakistan, which they are quite capable of doing, that will ensure that all nukes will explode inside Pakistan.
4. I have just glanced through the chapter on religion. But so far I could not find any discussion about the brutal persecution of religious minorities like Hindus and Christians. Forced eviction of non-sunni Muslims like the Sufis, Bahais, Ahmedis, Shias. It does not try to explain why the liking of the anti-blashphemy-law minister was so popular in Pakistan. It does not talk about the Mohajirs. It just tries to gloss over and justify Pakistan as an ideal radical and extremist Islamic state. An oxymoron.

Female Communist

Communism is supposed to be aboiut equality of all human being, particularly between men and women. When I was young and an ardent communist, I used to argue with capitalist friends that communism is better because it promotes equality between men and women. But where are female communist leaders. I am looking at the picture of Chinese peoples congress and asking myself, where are the women? Even in capitalist counties like US, India Germany we have women like Clinton, Gandhi, Markel. Where are their counterparts in communist world? Even India, where are the female communist leaders? Brinda is a leader because she is married to Prakash, that's all. Other than Rosa Luxemburg, I do not know the name of any notable female communist. This is really strange. What's wrong with the communists?

Beard

Is beard associated to knowledge, intellect? The prophets had beard, Moses, Abraham, Rabindranath, Aurobindo, Socrates. Do we still associate beard with intellect? Why else do Pronoy Roy, Daniel Dennet keep a beard? It's uncomfortable, it's probably unhigenic. To me, It's disgusting (I am not passing any judgement here. Just a very personal opinion). Then why do they keep it?

Sunil Ganguli

I am not a big fan of kobita. But I like kobita. I loved Sunil because of his Kakababu stories. Difficult to accept there will be no more Kakababu-Sontu. I also liked a few stories of Neellohit. I loved his aricles in Anandabazar. Thanks a lot Sunil Ganguli. We will miss you.

Let’s be proud for what we do

Last night I was reading the viewers comments on an “Economist” article about the war in Afghanistan. There were many comments by viewers from different parts of the world, from America, Japan, India, China, Pakistan. They were discussing the futility of war and debating their ideas. I was amazed how technology has made it possible for people from all over the world to exchange ideas and discuss opinions online and instantly. This was unthinkable merely 20 years back. I was reading this while taking break from working on our latest product (I am an engineer at Infinera, a leading manufacturer of optical switches). This new feature that I am working on will make the internet faster, cheaper and better. Then suddenly it hit me that my work is directly contributing to this amazing phenomenon of global communication.

Today we take the Internet for granted and tend to think of it as a tool to pay phone bills, transfer money or buy air tickets. All these things are very important because they optimize our usage of natural resources thereby reducing the strain on Mother Nature. But the Internet is much more than that. Its bigger contribution is communication and ability to exchange ideas. It is used by Arab revolutionaries to organize protest marches, it is used by pacifists to stop politicians from starting wars, it is used by charitable organizations to collect money that fights hunger and eliminates disease. And we help in all these efforts by making the Internet available. How much more gratifying can someone’s job be? When people ask me why I don’t donate for charity or do voluntary work for the underprivileged, I do not have a good answer. But now I realize that my work helps more people than I can ever dream of by doing such voluntary activities. Agreed I get paid for my work. But nonetheless, it has more impact than any charity work that I can do.

Karl Marx and Adam Smith tried to create a more just and humane world with their revolutionary ideas. Their intention was noble and their vision was revolutionary. But they could not achieve it because they did not have the necessary tools to make that change. What these visionaries could not achieve, we, a ragtag army of Indian software engineers, are achieving. We are helping to make the world more just, more humane, more egalitarian, more harmonized than ever before, one bug at a time, one feature at a time. Our work is helping people to stop war, eliminate disease, fight hunger, uproot injustice, every day, every hour, every minute.

The Internet has more impact on our society that any other invention in human history. Fifty years from now, people will look back and see what a change our work has brought to human civilization. It is more profound than any other period ever. And we are the foot soldiers of that revolution. So let’s take pride in what we do. We are making this happen, with our blood, sweat and tear. (May be not! We don’t sweat because we work in air-conditioned offices, we don’t shed blood and I have never seen any software engineer crying for work. May be some :)

Buddha

Today I stumbled upon an amazing idea. All our life we try to optimize the resources of life. We try to save money, health, social reputation, energy, even the planet earth (such audacity). All these rules stems from our instinct to survive. God has programmed us to survive as long as possible and procreate as much as possible. But God has also made us thinking entity. So what if we just wipe off this one rule. Suddenly everything changes. We are no longer obligated to play by the rules of the nature. Instead of creating life, we can destroy it; instead of preserving nature we can waste it. Instead of finding beauty, we can make things ugly. It’s an amazingly liberating experience. I just felt it momentarily.

Of course you cannot fake it. You really have to eliminate your desire to survive. I think I kind of know now, what goes inside the brain of a suicide bomber.

ChildhoodRestored

I would have given up my right hand for these books when I was a child! We had a half hour class break in our high school. Before this break we would line up in front of the library gate. As soon as the library opens, we will jump on the books and try to read as much as we can during that half an hour break. When we were promoted to class VIII, once every month we were allowed to take a book home. I still vividly remember the joy and pleassure I used to get reading the books "Tarzan the fearless", "Tarzan in wonderland" on those rare occations when I was allowed to take them home. It feels surreal that now I can have them all! Thanks a lot "Dev Sahitya Kutir (P) Ltd." or Kuts as Ranjita and I call them :) for giving me the opportunity to relive my childhood all over again.

I think thank-you and IOU is also due to Sanjib, who shared his PustakVandar of "anubad series", "sharadias" with me. I cannot explain how much I loved those books then and how much I love them now.

Update on 11 November 2011:

I re-read 4-5 stories from the detective series. They are pretty good compared to the contemporary detective stories (Mitin, Arjun etc.) So apart from nostalgic values, they have their own place even in today.

Online Bangla Boi

http://pathagar.net/

http://boirboi.blogspot.com/2011_03_01_archive.html

Muammar Qaddafi

I do not know Muammar Qaddafi was good or bad, his rule was brutal or benign. People of Libya are a better judge for that. From what I gather it is a mixed a reaction. He did rule well in the beginning but became corrupt with power at the end. Usual story of old revolutionaries.

But this thing I do know for certain, the western imperialist who are calling him a “mad dog” and a brutal dictator are far worse than him for the people of Libya. They don’t give a shit for the people or Libya, freedom, democracy etc. etc. They want OIL FOR THEIR CORPORATIONS and now they have got it. They are hand in glove with far more brutal dictators all across the Arab world and the rest of the world. What I do know that this guy stood against the loot of the natural resources of Libya by the imperialist oil companies at least at the beginning of his career and gave the wealth back to his people. And they never forgave him for that. They could not carry on with their loot as long as he was alive. So he had to go.

This is a very familiar tactic. Any ruler that has natural resources and is unwilling to part that to the western companies, the western media starts maligning him first. Then they call a few goons to Europe, give them money, woman whatever and ask them to start a fake revolution. It does not matter how many people revolt. Then they send their planes and tanks to protect the people from “massacre” by massacring the very same people. They justify it by showing fabricated story of mass killing, unmarked graves etc etc. Finally the remove the obstacle, install a puppet regime and take full control of the oil. The people of that country are totally fucked. But amazingly it works. I hardly read any article protesting what is going on in Libya. Everyone has taken for granted that that’s how the world will work. Not even one protest march anywhere in the world.

I am just wondering who is next. Is it Iran or Venezuela?


Posted in Economist

Our Baby

We SAW our baby today. It is BIG. Around 5cm to be precise. It is jumping. It seems that it is bored of sitting there. It wants to come out and have fun.

We also HEARD its heart beating.

Tere Bin Laden

Last night I saw the movie Tere Bin Laden and I loved it! Here is why.

1) It was short, only 95 minutes. I don't racall seeing such a short hindi movie before.
2) It was damn funny :) Not that Jonny Lever/Govinda/Akshay Kumar crap. It was real fun. The spoofs were creative, spot on, the character were well chosen, particularly the communist guy! Real good stuff.
3) It did not degenerate, perhaps because the director knew when to end it. Thanks alot! Just because I paid money, does not mean that you have to entertain(read torture) me for 3 hours.
4) There was no sentimental crap anywhere in the movie as is typical in hindi moview.
5) They did not try to portrey Pakistan in bad light, as is typical in hindi movies. Neither were they sentimental India-Pakistan bhai-bhai type. They showed what seemed real and funny.
7) The dialogs were smart and convicing.

Spirituality, Halo or Hoax ------- A Speech By Javed Akhtar

I got this from Soham (Again!). I think this should be preserved for posterity.

http://ravigadiblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/spirituality-halo-or-hoax-speech-by.html


I am quite sure ladies and gentlemen, that in this august assembly nobody would envy my position at this moment. Speaking after such a charismatic and formidable personality like Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is like coming out of the pavilion to play after Tendulkar has made a sparkling century. But in some weak moment I had committed myself.

There are certain things that I would like to make very clear at the very outset. Don’t get carried away by my name – Javed Akhtar. I am not revealing a secret, I am saying something that I have said many times, in writing or on TV, in public…I am an atheist, I have no religious beliefs. And obviously I don’t believe in spirituality of some kind. Some kind.
Another thing. I am not standing here to criticize, analyze, or attack this gentleman who is sitting here. We have a very pleasant, civilized relation. I have always found him to be an extremely courteous person.

One is talking about an idea, an attitude, a mindset. Not any individual.
I must tell you that when Rajeev opened this session, for a moment I felt that I have come to the wrong place. Because, if we are discussing the philosophy of Krishan and Gautam and Kabir, Vivekanand, then I have nothing to say. I can sit down right now. I am not here to discuss a glorious past of which I suppose every Indian is proud, and rightly so. I am here to discuss a dubious present.

India Today has invited me and I have come here to talk of spirituality today. Let’s not be confused by this word spirituality, you can find two people with the same name and they can be totally different people. Ram Charit Manas was written by Tulsidas. And the television film has been made by Ramanand Sagar. Ramayan is common but I don’t think it would be very wise to club Tulsidas with Ramanand Sagar. I remember, when he had written Ramcharit Manas, he had faced a kind of a social boycott. How could he write a holy book in such a language like Avadhi? Sometimes I wonder fundamentalists of all hues and all colors, religions and communities…how similar they are. In 1798, a gentleman called Shah Abdul Qadir, in this very city, for the first time translated Quran in Urdu, and all the ulemas of that time gave fatwa against him that how could he translate this holy book in such a heathen language.

When Tulsi wrote Ramcharit Manas and he was boycotted, I remember a chowpai that he had written.

“Dhut kaho abdhut kaho rajput kaho ki julawa kohu
Kohu ki beti se beta na biahab, kohu ki jaat bigaar na chahu
Mang ke khaibo, mehjid ma raihbo, lebe ka ek na debe ka dohu”

Ramanand Sagar, when he made his television serial, he made millions. I am not undermining him, but obviously he is much lower in the rung.
I will give you another example. Perhaps it would be more direct and more appropriate. Gautam came out of a palace and went into wilderness to find the truth. But nowadays we see, the modern age gurus, come out of the wilderness and wind up in the palaces. They are moving in the opposite direction. We can’t talk of them in the same breath. So let us not hide behind names which are dear and respectable for every Indian.

When I was invited to give this talk, I felt that yes, I am an atheist, try to be a rationalist in any given situation, Maybe that’s why I have been called. But suddenly I have realized that there is another quality that I share with Modern Age gurus. I work in films. We have lot in common. Both of us, sell dreams, both of us create illusions, both of us create icons, but with a difference. After three hours we put a placard – the end. Go back to reality. They don’t.

So ladies and gentlemen, let me make it very clear that I have come to talk of this spirituality that has a supermarket in the world. Arms, drugs and spirituality – these are the three big businesses in the world. But in arms and drugs you really have to do something, give something. That’s the difference. Here you don’t have to give anything.

In this supermarket you get instant Nirvana, Moksha by mail, a crash course in self realization, cosmic consciousness in four easy lessons. This supermarket has its chain all over the world, where the restless elite buy spiritual fast food. I am talking about this spirituality.

Plato in his dialogues has said many a wise thing, and one of them is – before starting any discussion decide on the meanings of words. Let us try to decide on the meaning of this word spirituality. Does it mean love for mankind that transcends all religion, caste, creed, race? Is that so? Then I have no problem. Except that I call it humanity. Does it mean love of plants, trees, mountains, oceans, rivers, animals? The non-human world? If that is so, again I have no problem at all. Except that I call it environmental consciousness. Does spirituality mean heartfelt regard for social institutions like marriage, parenthood, fine arts, judiciary, freedom of expression. I have no problem again sir, how can I disagree here? I call it civil responsibility. Does spirituality mean going into your own world trying to understand the meaning of your own life? Who can object on that? I call it self-introspection, self assessment. Does spirituality mean Yoga? Thanks to Patanjali, who has given us the details of Yoga, Yam, Yatam, aasan, pranayam…We may do it under any name, but if we are doing pranayam, wonderful. I call it healthcare. Physical fitness.

Now is it a matter of only semantics. If all this is spirituality, then what is the discussion. All these words that I have used are extremely respectable and totally acceptable words. There is nothing abstract or intangible about them. So why stick to this word spirituality? What is there in spirituality that has not been covered by all these words? Is there something? If that is so then what is that?

Somebody in return can ask me what is my problem with this word. I am asking to change it, leave it, drop it, make it obsolete but why so? I will tell you what is my reservation. If spirituality means all this then there is no discussion. But there is something else which makes me uneasy. In a dictionary, the meaning of spirituality is rooted in a word called “spirit”. When mankind didn’t know whether this earth is round or flat, he had decided that human beings are actually the combination of two things. Body and spirit. Body is temporary, it dies. But the spirit is, shall I say, non-biodegradable. In your body you have a liver and heart and intestines and the brain, but since the brain is a part of the body, and mind lies within the brain, it is inferior because ultimately the brain too shall die with the body, but don’t worry, you are not going to die, because you are your spirit, and the spirit has the supreme consciousness that will remain, and whatever problem you have is because you listen to your mind. Stop listening to your mind. Listen to your spirit - the supreme consciousness that knows the cosmic truth. All right. It’s not surprising that in Pune there is an ashram and I used to go there. I loved the oratory. On the gate of the lecture hall there was a placard. Leave your shoes and minds here. There are other gurus who don’t mind if you carry your shoes. But minds?…sorry.
Now, if you leave your mind what do you do? You need the Guru to find the next station of consciousness. That hides somewhere in the spirit. He has reached the supreme consciousness, he knows the supreme truth. But can he tell you. No sir, he cannot tell you. So can you find out on your own? No sir, you need the guru for that. You need him but he cannot guarantee that you will know the ultimate truth… and what is that ultimate truth? What is the cosmic truth? Relating to cosmos? I have really not been able to understand that. The moment we step out of the solar system the first star is Alpha.Centueri It is just four light years away. How do I relate to that!! What do I do!!

So the emperor is wearing robes that only the wise can see. And the emperor is becoming bigger and bigger. And there are more and more wise people who are appreciating the robe.

I used to think that actually spirituality is the second line of defence for the religious people. When they get embarrassed about traditional religion, when it starts looking too down-market, they hide behind this smokescreen of cosmos and super consciousness. But that is not the complete truth. Because the clientele of traditional religion and spirituality is different. You take the map of the world, you start marking places which are extremely religious, within India or outside India, Asia, Latin America, Europe…wherever. You will find that wherever there is lot of religion there is lack of human rights. There is repression. Anywhere. Our Marxist friends used to say that religion is the opium of poor masses, the sigh of the oppressed. I don’t want to get into that discussion. But spirituality nowadays is definitely the tranquilizer of the rich.

You see that the clientele is well heeled, it is the affluent class. Alright, so the guru gets power, high self esteem, status, wealth…(which is not that important), power…and lot of wealth too. What does the disciple get? When I looked at them carefully I realized that there are categories and categories of these disciples. It’s not a monolith. There are different kinds of followers. Different kinds of disciples. One, who is rich, successful, doing extremely well in his life, making money, gaining property. Now, since he has everything he wants absolution too. So guru tells him - whatever you are doing, is “niskaam karma” – you are playing a role, this is all “Maya”, the money that you are making everyday and the property that you are acquiring, you are not emotionally involved with it. You are just playing a role. You come to me because you are in search of eternal truth. Maybe your hands are dirty, but your spirit and soul are pure. And this man, he starts feeling wonderful about himself. For seven days he is exploiting the world, and at the end of the seven days when he goes and sits at the feet of the guru, he feels – I am a sensitive person.

There is another category. That too comes from the affluent class. But he is not the winner like the first one. You know winning or losing that is also relative. A rickshaw-wallah if he is gambling on the pavement and wins hundred rupees will feel victorious, and if a corporate man makes only 300 million dollars, while his brother is a billionaire, he will feel like a failure. Now, what does this rich failure do? He needs a guru to tell him – who says that you have failed? You have other worlds, you have another vision, you have other sensibility that your brother doesn’t have. He thinks that he is successful…wrong. The world is very cruel, you know. The world tells you honestly, no sir, you have got three out of ten. The other person has seven out of ten. Fair. They will treat you that way and they will meet you that way. There he gets compassion. There he plays another game.

Another category. And I will talk about this category not with contempt or with any sense of superiority, not any bitterness, but all the compassion available one that is a very big client of this modern day guru and today’s spirituality, is the unhappy rich wife.

Here is a person who put all her individuality, aspirations and dreams, and her being at the altar of marriage and in return she got an indifferent husband. Who at the most gave her a couple of children. Who is rather busy with his work, or busy with other women. This woman needs a shoulder. She knows that she is an existential failure. There is nothing to look forward to. She has a vacuous, empty, comfortable yet purposeless life. It’s sad, but it is true.

Then there are other people. Who are suddenly traumatized. They lose a child. The wife dies. The husband dies. Or they lose the property, they lose their business. Something happens that shocks them and they ask – why me? So who do they ask? They go to the Guru. And the guru tells him that this is Karma. But there is another world if you follow me. Where there is no pain. Where there is no death. Where there is immortality. Where there is only bliss. He tells all these unhappy souls – follow me and I will take you to the heaven, to the paradise, where there is no pain. I am sorry sir, it is disappointing but true that there is no such paradise. Life will always have a certain quota of pain, of hurts, a possibility of defeats. But they do get some satisfaction.

Somebody may ask me if they are feeling better, if they are getting peace then what is your problem. It reminds me of a story that I have read. It’s an old Indian story told by a sage, that a hungry dog finds a dry bone and tries to eat it and in the process bites its own tongue. And the tongue is bleeding and the dog feels that he is getting nourishment from the bone.
I feel sad. I don’t want them, these adults, to behave like this because I respect them. Drugs and alcohol are also supposed to give mental peace and serenity, but is that kind of piece or serenity desirable or advisable? The answer is no. Any mental peace that is not anchored in rational thoughts is nothing but self-deception. Any serenity that takes you away from truth is just an illusion – a mirage. I know that there is a kind of a security in this which is like the security of a tri-cycle. If you are riding a tri-cycle you can’t fall. But adults do not ride tricycles. They ride bi-cycles. They can even fall. It is a part of life.

There is one more kind. Like everybody who is the member of the golf club is not fond of golf. In the same way everybody who is seen in an ashram is not a spiritual person. A film producer who is an ardent follower of a guru, whose ashram is about two hours from Delhi once told me that you must go to my Guru. You will see the who’s who of Delhi there. Let me tell you my Guruji is another Chandraswami in the making. Now this is a contact point for networking.

I have great respect for people who are spiritual, or religious, and in spite of this they are good people. And I have a reason. I believe that like every emotion or feeling, you have a limitation.
I am feeling slightly pressurized about time, can I get another five six minutes please…may I sir… Rajiv Mehrotra

“yes you can”

You can see upto a point. And you can’t see further. You can hear upto a point, but beyond that you won’t be able to register sounds. You can mourn upto a point and then you will get over your mourning. You will feel happy upto a point and then you will be through with your happiness. Same way, I am sure that you have a certain capacity for nobility also. You can be as noble and no more. Now suppose if we count this capacity for nobility in the average man as ten units, now anybody who goes to pray in a mosque five times is consuming his five units, there anybody who goes to the temple or sits in the feet of the Guru, he is consuming his quota of nobility there. And in a totally non-productive manner. I don’t go to pray. I don’t pray. If I don’t go to any guru, or mosque or temple or church, what do I do with my quota of nobility. I will have to help somebody, feed somebody, give shelter to somebody. People who use their quota in worshipping, praying, adoring religious figures and spiritual figures, in spite of that, if they are left with some nobility, hats off to them.

You may ask me, that if I have this kind of ideas about religious people, why should I show such reverence for Krishan and Kabir and Gautam? You can ask me. I’ll tell you why I respect them. These were the great contributors in the human civilization. They were born in different points of time in history, in different situations. But one thing is common in them. They stood up against injustice. They fought for the downtrodden. Whether it was Ravana, or Kansha or the pharaoh or the high priests or the British Samrajya in front of Gandhi – or the communal empire of Firoze Tughlaq in the times of Kabir, they stood against that.

And what surprises me, and confirms my worst feelings, that today, the enlightened people who know the cosmic truth, none of them stand up against the powers that be. None of them raises his voice against the ruling classes and the privileged classes. Charity, yes, when it is approved and cleared by the establishment and the powers that be. But I want to know which was that guru which took the dalits to those temples which are still closed to them. I want to know which was that guru who stood for the rights of the Adivasis against the thekedaars and contractors. I want to know which was that guru who spoke about the victims of Gujarat and went to their relief camps. They are human beings.

Sir…It is not enough to teach the rich how to breathe. It is the rich mans recreation. It is the hypocrites’ pretension. It is a mischievous deception. And you know that in the oxford dictionary, mischievous deception is a term that is used for a word, and that word is…HOAX.

Thank you.

Heartbeat

Yesterday I saw our unborn baby's heart beating using USG. It was an electrifying feeling. It is a seven week old foetus of roughly one centimeter. But still it is life, created. I cannot describe the feeling. It was something I never felt before.

I never wanted to have a baby. I considered it not only an unnecessary trouble, but a huge risky emotional investment. So when we came to know that Ranjita was pregnant, I did not have any special feeling. Of course I liked the fact that she was happy, but my feelings did not go beyond that.

But that stoicism was swept aside yesterday. Now I am waiting for more excitement!

Update on 12 October:

Now I lost that excitement. I am back to zero feeling again. Not even thinking about it. I am back to my drinks/movies/books combo. I love my life.

The Second Freedom Struggle

For last several weeks top three headlines and the front page photo on most newspapers are about Anna Hazare. I hardly read the newspaper these days and do not watch national English channels. But even then I am getting really bored by this circus. My personal problem with Anna Hazare is he is very ugly. He is almost as ugly as Narasimha Rao. So he occupying the news paper front page day after day is esthetically wrong and bad for your eyes :)

But jokes apart, what is going on here? Typical Indian response to an eternal problem. This man sees an opportunity by correctly guessing the middle class anger against corruption. I will give him that credit. Even though I think he himself was pleasantly surprised to see a slightly higher level of intensity. Media grabs the scoop offered to them. Guilt ridden middle class people, who feel they are left out of the great Indian loot (not quite, they are getting their share), lashes out against the establishment, there by feeling good that they are finally doing something for their country, not just sitting there and talking. So start the second freedom struggle. Freedom from who/what? Corruption of all the problems. In this country millions of children die because of malnutrition/disease. Half of the people live for less than a dollar a day, cannot read, do not have access to healthcare, food, justice, clean drinking water, a loo. There are hardly any road, there are three policemen for every one lakh citizens (not sure about this number. But sure that it is pathetically low). Half of the country is on the verge of revolution because of endemic poverty and systematic dispossession. They don’t become issues. If any channel dares show any of these news once in a while even for a few seconds, people just switch out of them. But corruption IS an issue, after all the loot is so BIG, thousands of crores. These numbers appeal to middle class and the media. In my opinion the best social sector investment ever done in India was the NREGA. But it failed because of the massive corruption. Where was our “anti corruption crusader” then? Where was the “civil society”? No way. It’s not glamorous man. Who cares about few hundred rupees stolen from millions of poor people? No channel showed any report on this. Now suddenly they discovered corruption.

I am not supporting corruption. What I am trying to say is that corruption is eternal. And this is not the burning issue. The burning issues are poverty and lack of development. Corruption does not impede development. If anything, it accelerates it. Generally corrupt people are ambitious and ambitious people are key to development. Even with a higher rate of corruption, China lifted 600 million people out of poverty in less than two generations. But to do so, you need to work hard. You need to plan. We don’t do that. We see a few problems and charge emotionally and start a “second freedom struggle” without any agenda, without any plan and above all without an adversary (I hope the people of this country is not initiation a freedom struggle against Congress whom they have voted to power less than three years back!) At the best, Anna Hazare is plain lazy that he cannot start a party, get elected and raise a voice against corruption in the parliament. There he will get all the immunity he wants against arrest and detention. At the worst, he is so arrogant that he believes that only he is right and the voters of this country are all wrong.

I believe that Dr. Manmohan Sing’s government has failed miserably on corruption. At the very least the PM has tolerated corruption in his government to save his “gaddi”. I believe he should go. I believe he should have gone long back. For corruption and more (much more) importantly for his complete failure to check price rise, for his lack of vision to move the country forward. For his inability to lead. But I think this is not entirely right to say that Congress has done nothing against corruption? Mind it, for the first time in the country’s history, three MPs (I think two of them were ministers) are in jail. Another cabinet minister is fired. One high court judge is fired, one top officer and one chief minister is also fired. Are they enough? No. But it’s NOT “done nothing”. I think credit for all this goes for Mrs. Gandhi. And the sooner she recovers and returns back to public service, the better it is for the country. I doubt, at present, anyone else in the Congress has the ability to lead. And man, we desperately need a LEADER. And my personal request, someone good looking :)