‘Saar Ondu Sony’ (One ticket to Sony Center Bus stop)

‘Iredu Canara Bank kodi’ (Two tickets to Canara Bank Koramangala Branch Bus stop).

India, where we live in modicum of everything – governance, justice, propriety, democracy – wonder whether the Communists should be happy with the level pegging that typifies our city bus services

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The bus travel also clearly proved to me the “real place of a man” in a household. Lest friends think that i am too much into eavesdropping, the conversation between two women, was so loud that it couldnt escape anyone.

So, here is the conversation between 2 women in the bus, apparently school buddies, meeting after a long time.

First Woman (FW) : ‘Hey <Name not clear>…How are you ?’

Second Woman (SW) :’I am well, How are you’

FW : Doing good

SW : So you are back to Bangalore (presumably FW was Onsite !)

FW : Yeah

SW : Now you are with ?

FW : Yahoo

SW : You are at the same place ?

FW : <smiles, a bit embarassed ?, I wouldnt know>, y-e-a-h

SW : Such a big house for the 2 of you ?

FW : But, you know, I have a dog !

Me : No comments !!!!!!!!

Returning home in the office cab may not be the best time to engage in kind of political discourse but the temptation to eavesdrop into a conversation is irresistible for most.  The temptation is further accentuated when the conversation is in a language that you understand but the fact isn’t known to many, giving a near horny pleasure of the right kind.

The co-travelers in my journey back home were from the land of freebies, Tamil Nadu. Naturally the political conversation centered on the change of guard and the ramifications. While I was almost contemplating to stop eavesdropping to take a small nap, a comment, certainly loose cannon, made me abandon all thoughts of sleep and forced me into some reflective thinking – the result, a post after a long time.

It is part of the political culture of Tamil nadu that whoever comes back to power overthrowing the incumbent often cancels the schemes of the previous regime. One is entitled to criticize this and even brand it political vendetta or naivety depending on the individuals political dispensation but the gentleman who was discussing it called it the “function of the fickle woman’s mind”, as broad-brushed a comment as one can ever imagine.

I started wondering as to whether one would be inclined to comment upon Karunanidhi, for instance, as a “fickle minded man” if he chooses to cancel “Amma’s” schemes. And in fact he had done so previously in the round-robin political fortunes of the two major political forces in Tamil Nadu.

So how does one explain the blatantly condescending attitude towards women in politics? Why does one feel emboldened to drag “gender” into what should essentially be a debate of policies. Ideally the debate should be based on facts ;  The ‘impromptu panel’ in the backseats of the cab was most economical with the facts not because they wanted to be so, but they may not have the sources for the facts. While I don’t hold that against them, the debate can still, I feel, be based on ‘political affiliations’ in the worst case but   I was appalled to find it based on a misplaced gender chauvinism.

I have often heard about the existence of a “glass ceiling” for women in the corporate world. Despite the stupendous success of Indra Nooyi, Chanda Kochar, Naina Lal Kidwai to name a few, Corporate India doesn’t have too many examples of women who have broken through the ‘glass ceiling’. But I think and continue to believe that the glass ceiling is creaking if not cracking and women are going through the invisible channel.

Outside the corporate world, the scenario continues to be bleak.

In general,  Indian women are either gloriously glamorized as incarnation of Devi or content being arm candies or door mats of the Ekta Kapoor variety. It explains as to why the number of women who exhibit any kind of interest in joining politics or mainstream is very few.

The comment coming as it does at a time when 30% of Indian population is led by Chief Ministers who are women is deeply reflective of the impoverished state of the Indian thinking, more specifically the Indian male mindset.

By no means am I making a case for Indian men to be less critical of Maya, Mamta or Amma or the Queen Bee Sonia but can we be more legitimate in the criticism than give vent to gender biases ?

A politician is bad for bad policies, graft, mismanagement, lack of ability and so on, but not, for chrissake, for being a woman.

Comments such as the one I overheard make me really wonder whether “political reservation” for women is really the way forward.

Whether one accepts them or not, I am of the view that the political prowess of women has reached a tipping point, waiting to be unleashed. It would certainly be important for men to evaluate them on the basis of their performance or otherwise, certainly not on their gender.

The time has come for the Indian male mindset to clear it’s mental cobwebs about women in politics. Because today’s woman has no patience for such mental cobwebs precluding them for being equal partners in the cause of nation building or joining the loot. Either way.

Yes, the World Cup has returned to the cupboards of BCCI and the coffers of the players has just started jingling. No one is complaining.

At the outset I have to admit that I am not the greatest fan of Indian cricket, though I dearly adore Gavaskar, Dravid, Laxman to name a few. I predicted a Pak vs SL finals, which was evidently possible, culminating into a win for the Lankans.

Indian team proved me wrong as they won 3 high-pressure, high-profile matches to win the coveted trophy.

Beyond the cricketing reasons, the most important reason for this win is the self-belief that this team had. The self-belief of a nation that wants to progress against all odds – corruption, political bickering, lack of governance – to name just a few.

Starting on a slow note, the competition picked up steam once the minnows had been dealt with. The clash of the titans – India vs England and India vs South Africa – in India’s group proved to perfect advertisement for the ‘one day’ format.

I am a bit skeptical about this ‘Group format’ in World cup for I truly believe that in a WC every country should play against each other. It is hugely gratifying that India played all the top nations and having thrashed New Zealand earlier, proved to be worthy winners.

The win was possible only due to careful long-term planning and having the right resources when it mattered. This is a great template for other team sports in India especially Hockey where I believe that India can be among the very best.

The Indian fan beast has been fed, but I am sure, he will be hungry very soon. Dhoni  and his men would only know too well that reaching a pinnacle is far easier than staying there.

While the cricket fans are contributing to the frenzy, there is a new generation of “peace jingoists” who are trying their best to add to the shrill. It must come as a surprise to pair “peace” and “jingoism” together but I have done so in full conscience.

It has become fashionable of sorts to dismiss voices of “realism” on our troubled relations with Pakistan as “right-wing” mongering.  I am not suggesting that “right-wing hardliners” don’t exist in India, not after seeing the trolls in the social networking.

But I am disturbed by the “holier-than-thou” behavior of these so called “peace activists” who seem to believe that those advocating caution are “hate and war mongers”. Far from that.

The “peace doves” don’t get tired of repeating the same “we-have-the-same-culture” rhetoric to define the Indo-Pak relations and their over reliance on “people to people contacts” to foster better ties with Pakistan.

I am a bit skeptical about this “same-culture” theory not because I am jingoistic but I refuse to believe that culture is a static entity. Whether it ought to have happened or not, Partition is the reality and it serves no one to “ignore facts”.  The day India and Pakistan became two nations, their destinies were de-coupled. The progress report of India and Pakistan reads very different, but relative to the respective social and political changes witnessed in the countries.

I believe it is quite naïve to insist that the culture of India and Pakistan “remain the same”. They may have been same but today I believe there are as many differences as there are similarities. To insist that the cultures continue to be same is ignoring the winds of social change or the lack of it in both the countries.

If we extend this argument of “same culture” then we have to accept “talibanization” as Indian culture ; we have to also forego the identity of our nation as a “secular formation” and instead be identified as a theocracy.

Will Pakistan abolish their feudal system or will their army accept the “superiority” of their civilian, elected government ?

I suspect that the continuous harping of “same culture” doesn’t go too well with Pakistan, which reads into this much differently. Pakistan has always maintained that India should better get reconciled to the “two nation theory” as “real, final and irrevocable”.  No wonder the attempts by the “peace jingoists” is not always reciprocated by Pakistan.

The argument that India and Pakistan have the “same culture” and hence should “learn to live in peace” is also flawed and if I may say dangerous. Does this presuppose that those who don’t have similar cultures like the Sinhalese and Srilankan Tamils ought to be warring?

Peace is desirable for the sake of progress and well-being not just because of a “shared culture”.  Actually when nations whose cultures are different learn to live in peace, it reflects real maturity and statesmanship.

I think we have to recognize that both India and Pakistan have moved from being “one big happy family” to independent, sovereign nations, working to uplift their people from poverty and ushering in prosperity. Their problems are different and so are the methods.

It is an onerous task in itself without the additional trappings of a “shared culture”.

Real progress can be made, in my view, only when there is recognition of the differences that need to be acknowledged and respected. The mantra for peace can be “we are different” but we can live in peace as “mature nations”.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s gesture of inviting the Pak PM is important but has it’s limitations as a diplomatic initiative. There has to be the realization that “cricket diplomacy” cannot replace “real and substantive diplomatic initiatives” to secure peace with Pakistan. The outstanding issues are not beyond resolution especially if there can be better sense on both sides.  However there has to be recognition that the issues are far complex to be entrapped in the jingoism of “common culture”.

The PM may have used the occasion of the cricket match for positive symbolism mainly and also to get a marauding media off his back for a while. He has succeeded in using cricket to pitch for progress in peace and one hopes that “peace jingoism” doesn’t end up in him playing on the wrong wicket.

Sorry for starting this post on such a poor note but, I couldn’t – despite the abundance of free time at my disposal – come up with a better one.

The political drama of DMK and Congress going their separate ways has come to an end not before the wily patriarch M Karunanidhi ensuring that his first-second family is well insulated from the 2G spectrum probe.

Even when the entire nation knew the cause of the rift, Karunanidhi made it appear that it was only the issue of seat sharing. But then, he has serious ability with his oratorical skills.

If only Sonia Gandhi had the oratorical skills of Karunanidhi there would be no need for this note. But unfortunately she isn’t as gifted and so she came up with the poorest of excuses that can be thought of as to why the alliance came to the brink of collapse.

According to reports Sonia Gandhi told the emissaries of the DMK – Maran and Azhagiri – that she wanted the additional seats to protect the “prestige” of her party. So much so in the name of “prestige” that Madam Gandhi didn’t care whether the Government survived or not, she wanted the honour of the grand old party of India, the Congress, to be restored.

If Sonia Gandhi was merely the president of the Indian National Congress, we can comfortably side-step her point as yet another electoral gimmick. But we know that she runs the puppet Government and hence, I have listed some ”key highlights” of our country that could be of interest for  Madam Gandhi. Of course all in the name of “prestige”.

1. More than Six decades after independence, India still ranks below some of the African countries in Human Development Index especially in the areas of child nutrition, sanitation, healthcare, education and family welfare.
2. We are the only country in the world whose territorial borders are still challenged and gradually conquered with each passing day.
3. Transparency International rates India in the low 80s in the “Corruption Perception Index”. It must be a matter of extreme irony that India should rank so low while it’s legal tender has the image of Gandhi who lived his life in the name of integrity.
4. Thanks to the indecisiveness in pursuing a non-existent “middle-ground-socialist” economic agenda, India had to pledge it’s Gold in the 90s to cover the whopping deficit in foreign reserves.
5. Whether it is Dawood, Modi or Quattrochi, the Indian legal system has proved itself to be incompetent in delivering justice to the citizens of this country.
6. While we boast of supersonic missiles, ICBMs and nuclear submarines, we don’t seem to be having enough cold chains to store our food grains. Worst still, we are the only nation whose Government expresses its inability to distribute free food grains to people, preferring the rodents to eat them instead.
7. Whether it is a group of 10 indoctrinated men coming in dingy or stone throwing street urchins, we have a common security policy that is we can’t handle either of them. We are certainly the only nation in the world where the “Rapid Action Force” had to “wait” for an aircraft when a group of terrorists were holding an entire city to ransom.
8. We are the only nation whose restrooms become an international concern as the Commonwealth Games showed. Our idea of “Just in Time” of Stadiums, Games Villages and Ceilings, caused many nervous breakdowns to those not familiar with our working style. To top that, we also announced that our standards of hygiene are “different” thereby signaling our pride of place in the world.
9. We are the only country in the world where a swindler is reappointed to a ministerial post in the name of upholding coalition “dharma”. It is no wonder that our quaint interpretation of dharma in the land which is often seen as the spiritual capital, is lost on the world.
10. We have as our Prime Minister an honorable man whose only response to any allegation is to admit his responsibility. (Last heard that he owned up responsibility for the dropped catches of Kamran Akmal too.)

This is not really the only compilation that is possible. It is a safe bet to assume that more than a million variants of this list can be made. While I really didn’t intend to include the above as the “only” or the “greatest” achievements of our country, the speed at which I could compile this did surprise me. Even a casual attempt at listing some significant achievements of our country makes for such interesting reading.

I would be delighted if Madam Sonia Gandhi could reflect and  share her perspective of the positive impact of some of India’s highlights listed above on the country’s  “prestige”. After all her party had a significant role in these highlights. Admittedly isn’t “prestige” very dear to her ?

One may wonder whether Sonia Gandhi is singularly responsible for all such “prestigious achievements” of our country. Certainly not, but I am not in the least amused that she’d prefer to pull out the ‘prestige card’ to bluff the nation about the “less-than-honorable” deal with Karunanidhi to spare his family in return for his support.

As a nation we have realized that cleansing our political system may be near impossible. Every day we are witness to politicization of everything, but we have learned to move on with life.

The only hope that we have is the value system that common citizens of this country believe in. The venal political system has delivered a body-blow to the hopes of the country when Sonia Gandhi invoked her party’s prestige.

If Prestige is a trivial matter of “3 assembly seats”, I’d pity those who still believe in our political system.

It is that time of the year when Dorab Sopariwalla, Mahesh Rangarajan and Yogendra Yadav are most sought, for their analysis and predictions on election outcome.  Even with the General Elections couple of years away, this year will witness key electoral battles in the states of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Assam.

Chief Election Commissioner Qureshi announced the poll dates yesterday with the results slated for declaration on the date the Brits dread, the 13th of May.  Even if we are in the midst of the World Cup to be followed by IPL, I am sure that the elections hold considerable interest for the common man as well as the political parties.

The elections in these four states is unique in the sense that it is essentially a one-horse race as far as national parties are concerned whereas it has existential significance for some regional parties.

South, especially Tamil Nadu and Kerala has never been BJP’s happy hunting ground while in Bengal it is a chance for the Left front to prove it’s political relevancy. That leaves Congress as the only party which should be interested in the electoral fate of all the four states going to the polls.

The polls are coming in the backdrop of serious allegations against the Congress led Government on corruption and failure of governance as evidenced by higher levels of inflation.  On the question of corruption, the Prime Minister has stopped short of an open admission that as long as he runs a coalition government, he wouldn’t be able to fix the menace.

The electoral results are important for Congress not only as a  referendum (though it may be loathe to admit it) but also as an opportunity for it to assert itself as a force to reckon with in a state like Tamil Nadu.

For long Congress in it’s bid to keep the BJP out has been subservient to DMK whose patriarch M Karunanidhi has spun a web of deceit, corruption, populism and nepotism around governance. For a man of impeccable personal integrity, Dr Manmohan Singh should be blaming his stars for having to share dais, worst still, even eulogize Karunanidhi who was famously “appreciated” for scientific corruption by the Sarkaria Commission.

Though Karunanidhi runs his Government at Chennai with support from Congress, he has staunchly refused to share power at the State level.  At the same time he is adamant about the choice of ministers and portfolios for his party at the Centre. As a political relationship, nothing can be more unequal than this.

Even if one concedes the fact that in the times that we are in, political alliances are formations of compulsions and not congruence of principles, it must hurt the Congress pride as a party with a history of 125 years, to be treated as a junior partner.

Congress must feel that it is between a rock and a hard place. Even with the taint of serious corruption, DMK remains it’s best political bet as far as electoral alliance is concerned. It should hope that keeping up the ante on the 2G spectrum would finally force the cunning Karunanidhi to relent and offer some post-poll alliance in Government formation.

It will be politically naïve for Congress to tie-up with ADMK.  Not only is ‘Amma’ unreliable it may be unable to play the “distancing act” on corruption charges convincingly with the electorate.

The discussions on seat-sharing have created serious friction between Congress and DMK. The developments on this front would be exciting to watch.

Coming to think of it, Tamil Nadu with nearly half the number of Parliamentary seats as Uttar Pradesh must figure very prominently in the agenda of it’s “poll mascot” Rahul Gandhi.  For too long in my view, the Congress has been obsessed with Uttar Pradesh, primarily due to the political lineage of the Nehru family.

No doubt the only credible challenger for Rahul Gandhi is Mayawati, but I am sure RahulG realizes that he needs a strong treasury bench for his  dreams of long-term occupation of the PM Gaddi.

The congress worker must be wondering as to whether the “hand” that gives can also successfully “take” it’s due share.

Rahul Gandhi knows more than anyone else the sleight of hand that he needs to bring into play in dealing with the wily Karunanidhi.

Can Rahul do the magic ?

The more I think of it, the more I am convinced about Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s political career closely resembling that of Akshay Kumar. Not just because Akshay played an affable Sardar in one of his now rare Hits.

Akshay doesn’t know where he is going to get his next success, if at all, much like Dr Singh wondering if there would ever be a positive reference about his Government

Akshay seems to be making all the wrong moves in terms of his movie choices just like Dr Singh is doing. And for part time Akshay was recently seen with amateur cooks in a cooking contest just as Dr Singh unwittingly seems to be leading a bunch of amateur cooks (experts !) trying to cook up claims of no loss in the spectrum scam.

If the Prime Minister’s meeting with leading, hand-picked journalists is anything to go by, then the nation has much to worry. Dr Singh, unfortunately is neither blessed with the oratorical skills of a Vajpayee nor does he have a powerful voice like Amitabh for instance. So it isn’t surprising that the ‘drama’ of meeting the press to shore up public opinion in favour of the Government fell flat on it’s face.

Honesty and candidness are very noble virtues no doubt, but they are not valued when offered as excuses for inaction. Dr Singh didn’t have any qualms in admitting his inaction but the reason that he offered was shocking to say the obvious.  That the Prime Minister of this country didn’t feel empowered enough to intervene in a scam happening right under his nose must say a lot, either about his competence or his nose ! (That he couldn’t smell it)

The adjective ‘prime’ prefixed to the post of Minister, making him the Prime Minister is more than just semantic. It is a clear fixation of the principal responsibility of Governance with the person who heads the Council of Ministers. Hence the statement of Dr Singh that A Raja promised transparency in the allocation of spectrum  which precluded him from intervention isn’t convincing at all.

Dr Singh’s role as the Prime Minister isn’t just to seek transparency from his Ministerial colleague but to ensure the same and to provide oversight if he had any reasons to doubt. As much as I respect the Prime Minister, I have to say that in this case he has not only made a gross error of judgement but is also guilty of abdicating responsibility if his statement is to be taken at face value.

For too long the UPA has been riding on the personal integrity of the Prime Minister. He is a man of considerable learning and a proven performer as the architect of India’s liberalization. But those are past laurels. His track record in Governance has been apathetical and extremely patchy.

I am also amazed that the Prime Minister doesn’t make a distinction between Government and Politics. The formation of a Government is the end result of political formations no doubt but there is no room for party politics in Government. Hence to say that he had compulsions as head of a coalition Government is extremely poor reasoning. Coalition or not, the prerogative of the Prime Minister as the head of the Council of Ministers can never be undermined. He could have either sacked Raja without waiting for his Gopalapuram boss or moved him to another Ministry.  The Prime Minister’s claim of helplessness due to coalition politics is extremely worrisome for the cause of good governance in this country.

I am also worried as to whether Dr Singh, the economist – prime minister is now becoming a politician – prime minister. Is this what it is all coming to Dr Singh that you would do anything to stay in power ? I hope it isn’t true else it would be extremely appalling as to what the political system of this country can do to a man of such high values.

Dr Manmohan Singh is extremely well read so this is probably something he knew all along. But I feel it is apt to quote to Dr Singh one of the famous quotes of Martin Luther King.

The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict. As a practicing Sikh, I hope Dr Singh realizes his moral folly.

All the television analysts who tried to decipher various aspects of the Prime Ministers interaction with the press missed one obvious point, the one that concerns me.

Dr Singh refused to demit office saying that he has “unfinished business”. If his way of doing business would remain what it is today, that is turning a blind eye to everything,  then it is an extremely scary prospect for the common man of this country.

It has come and gone, that is the much anticipated Cabinet reshuffle.  Except for Raja who had to step down, the Union Council of Ministers remains the same, except for a few elevations and portfolio changes.

Anyone who expected a “major reshuffle” must know that the typical congress response to a crisis is inaction.  Just stopping short of inaction, the reshuffle only reiterates the sycophantic culture of the Congress.

It is very clear to the Ministers that as long as they don’t cause a crisis of confidence in 10 Janpath, they can take the nation for granted. Before getting down to actual performance, they know very well that Congress leadership has to deal with camp loyalties, caste arithmetic, poll strategies etc that there was very little possibility of heads rolling.

As the nation is getting pounded with crisis on every front – economic, security, it is appalling that the two principal political parties of the country offer poor choice to the citizens. You choose either corruption or communalization signifying a choice between a rock and a hard place.

Commentaries which compare India and Pakistan have often extolled the democratic credentials of India. I fear that the democratic merit of India is getting continuously dented by the invisible strings of political control that seems to overshadow Governance.

How different will India be if actual political power rests with 10 Janpath much like Kayani controls the political heads at Islamabad ?

I am amazed at the ability of the Prime Minister to silently suffer such indignation of having to partner nincompoops, scoundrels and scamsters merely to stay in power. Certainly Dr Singh has better alternatives than the career of  a Prime Minister.

It is somewhat tiring to keep saying that the Prime Minister is an honorable man but personal integrity counts for very little if he cannot inspire his team to follow his example. That the country’s top man cannot put his foot down on his council of ministers is certainly worrisome for the future of democracy in this country.

As I scanned the portfolios of the Ministers, I found it amusing that the PM (perhaps by convention) retained the portfolio of “Space”.  I suspect that he may have very little to offer to our space scientists in terms of technical input but the choice of the ministry may actually reflect the “need” of the Prime Minister as he attempts to run this country.

When some of the owners chose to  laugh at Mohd Kaif who was in the “auction ring” for the 3^rd time, Sharada suggests that the joke was actually on cricket.

Evidently she belongs to an “old school” of thought which still believes that Cricket is a game of skill (if not gentlemanly but still skill oriented) and cricketers are fine examples of hard work and excellence.

The Cricket Coaching manual of the MCC may not have changed significantly but Cricket itself has changed mainly due to it’s largest benefactor, the BCCI.

Thanks to BCCI and the men who “control cricket”,  the game has been successfully “commoditized”  and those who play the game are mere purveyors of this commodity.  Hence the lament of the journalist would obviously fall into deaf ears.

While I agree with the general sentiment of Sharda, I am of the view that the culpability for the fast declining “respect” for a cricketer has to shared by the cricketers themselves.

It is not as if the cricketers didn’t have a choice.  Even if all of them didn’t have the financial comfort to say “no” some of them, especially those whose voices can be “heard” by the top echelons running the game, could have stood up for “self-respect”.

I vividly remember Adam Gilchrist commenting on how he felt somewhat like “cattle” when he was “bought” in the first auction, still chose to participate in the second !

Let us not kid ourselves that the IPL isn’t about money.  It may not be about cricket, but for chrissake, it cannot be anything but about money that drives IPL.

When big money is at stake, it is obvious that the investors need “bang for their buck” . I am not in the least surprised that “cold, emotionless, business logic” determined the “buys” rather than any cricketing strategy.  Despite the supposed presence of the “strategists” like Fleming, Lawson and Lehmann, they knew more than anyone else, that they were mere “show pieces” for that little bit of “authenticity” that they could provide with their presence.

Though promoted as India’s Global brand, in reality, IPL is tailor made for Indian audience. Always grown on an overdose of cricket, what is the void that the IPL was filling ?

It will be foolhardy to think that IPL has ushered in a culture of “city-league loyalty”. Far from it.

The need gap that was perceived which IPL truly tries to fulfill is “Cricketainment” the heady mix of cricket and entertainment.

The concept of entertainment in India has undergone a significant change.  When the era of satellite television dawned, about 80% of the programming was film based.  Soaps and sitcoms then made their way into the living rooms of the household captivating the Indian audience with over-the-top-emotions.

Then it happened !

Even as the West accuses India of exporting a super bug, it hasn’t realized the bug that it advertently exported to India – Reality Television. Reality TV got India hooked up to a totally new genre of “entertainment” (!) which had the much appreciated “oomph” factor. Indians have always been voyeuristic even if loathe to admit it.

With reality TV, India got the taste of drama.  We now “enjoy” seeing strangers live together, getting ‘justice’ from a soft-porn actress, seeing a serial wife beater get married, exchanging mothers, contestants cooking off and what not.

IPL perfectly fits into the scheme of things combing cricket with drama.  Indians don’t have the patience nor the inclination to appreciate the “beauty” of the game whose essence was “simplicity” ; Nor are we interested in  Neville cardus describing Ranjitsinghji as someone who never played a “Christian stroke” in his life.

We want swashbuckling, buccaneering, ill-tempered, expletive spewing cricketers willing to live, die and emote on the field, not for their nation, but for a club that pay them millions.  They have no permanent loyalty, only temporary loyalty to their highest bidder. They pay him to deliver drama and the cricketer obliges dutifully.

The live telecast of the IPL auction is a logical extension to the drama.  It was a kind of a “drama before drama”, precursor to a larger plot that is about to unveil shortly.

I disagree with Sharda that cricketers should feel aggrieved, cricket may be aggrieved but not the players.

The day some cricketers chose Kerry Packer over their countries, the seeds of commercialization were firmly sown.  BCCI is just reaping the harvest of the crop sown long before and with it’s financial muscle can keep the land fertile for a very long time.

So if cricketers are still complaining about how they were “bought and sold”, they should perhaps take a look at their bank accounts. As long as their cash registers are ringing, where is the need to complain ?

A contemporary topic in Financial Accounting (under IFRS) is the one which mandates companies to value their “assets” at a fair value – neither more nor less.  In the circumstances, I would like to believe that the cricketers only asset, their self-respect, has been “fairly valued” in the IPL.

Should we have a problem with the above statement ?

In the normal course, I would imagine not but this Saugata Roy happens to be Union  Minister of State for Urban Development in the UPA Government.

Even if I concede the incumbent Government’s propensity for inviting trouble on it’s own, I find this statement quite irritating to say the least.

Saugata Roy seems to have followed the footsteps of the man with the most interesting hairdo (especially when stimulated) Jairam Ramesh who called the SUVs – Simply Useless Vehicles.

I am not a big fan of ostentatious consumption or vulgar display of wealth but my point is whether the nation should be receiving sermons from those who have been elected to deliver.

Six years from now, we will be into the 70^th year of our independence. Half of our country still doesn’t have sanitation, clean drinking water and power. Is this the problem of having too many malls or is it a performance problem of our political system ? A sycophantic political party has ruled us nearly for 5 decades which is now trying to undo it’s sins of the past. But in trying to be critical of these “symbols of capitalism” they are only trying to shift the blame for their incompetence.

The statements of these ministers, to me appear to be a kind of over-the-top righteous political vigilantism. If we haven’t already had enough of  religious, cultural and societal vigilantes, let us now welcome the new entrant to the club, the righteous political variant.

Urban Development isn’t all about Shopping malls, I agree but is it the job of an Union Minister to sermonize on their purpose ? If the Government shares his perspective, why not legislate against establishing more shopping malls in this country ?

If we truly believe in democracy and personal liberty, shouldn’t the choice be left to the citizens of this country on whether they prefer the Malls or not ?

I also wonder what is the Minister’s idea of Urban Development? Is it about creating a colony of single room row houses and call them cities ?

If the minister finds shopping malls such a “vulgar wastage of energy and space” shouldn’t he first do something about the “biggest mall” in this country, the Rashtrapathi Bhavan ? If one wonders why the President’s official abode qualifies to be a mall, it is the place which is used by the minister’s government to “trade” several things such as political, diplomatic support in return for “gifts” such as a seat in the UNSC ?

I wonder when our political masters will realize that the country needs them to deliver good governance and actual results than act as our “moral science instructors”. Though called as a Minister, he cannot assume the role of those men of God and sermonize the nation.  I hope the Minister realizes that he works at the altar of democracy, the Parliament and not the pulpit of a Church.