Thursday 20 December 2012

Rape in India: Hard Facts:


Dear all

There is a lot of public outrage in the social media on the horrific Delhi gang rape, with emotive calls for castration and death as punishment for the rapist.

As per National crime record bureau,  24500 cases of rape was recorded in India last year,  which means every 22 minutes a lady is dishonored. Above 1000 rape cases are reported in Delhi alone, in this year.  It is said that only 25 % of the rapes are reported in the police station, and out of the reported cases less than 50 % of the rapist are punished.
The inefficiency and insensitiveness of our political -legal establishment has not only made the plight of the victim worse, but also has resulted in an environment where the rapist can escape without punishment. For example no injury marks over a victims body is argued as consensual sex..

Rapes in western nations are mainly attributed to  psychological and other personality disorders of the rapist. In contrast, in India the reason is Sociological in nature.

The prevalent patriarchal system has created an atmosphere of male dominance, and forceful subservience of females in the family. A general look into the soap operas being telecasted on our national media proves this point. The patriarchal family system has been encouraging   discrimination among boys and  girls  in the field of education, food, clothing etc which has resulted in, built-up   of a false ego and superiority complex among majority of males in India. I have often heard men while taking up a fight mentioning ‘’ Maine chudia nehi pahni hai’’  meaning I have not worn bangles, or making self-proclamation that he is a ‘’man with balls’’.  This false sense of ego has been unconsciously planted in the male psyche by their family since many generations.

On the other side the success of females in areas hitherto considered as male bastions as like in jobs and  education ,has resulted in a power shift within the family. Further  the entire control over female sexuality that men ‘’enjoyed’’ in India, due to community and caste laws is now being challenged by the females. Today they don’t hesitate to call off an unhappy marriage, choose their sexual partners, or experiment with their own sexual needs. Eventually this has made the general urban male insecure and the effeminate among them has started feeling that they have lost their balls or being worn a bangle.

In Urban India the general increase of rape cases with a Year on Year growth of 10% has to be viewed in this context. We cant blame  the Guardian Newspaper comment that , among the G-20 nations, India stands the worst in female security.

We need to ensure that value based education is imparted by the parents itself to their children and  the State should take political legal and administrative measures which shall then act as a deterrent. Fast track courts, Female officers handling rape cases, legal support, compulsory filing of FIRs, 24X7 Helplines are few solutions.

Above all men in India need to realize that he needs to have his balls not between his legs, but inside his brain and learn that the power of the muscle is gone and it is time to win over women not by chauvinism but by his intellect and positive action.

It took 40 minutes time  for me to complete this write up, and by this time two more women were raped somewhere in this country………………………

Wednesday 5 December 2012

UPA goverment survives motion on FDI


Dear all

The UPA government has won the motion against FDI and a big boost to Dr Manmohan Singh, and his new wave of economic reforms. The motion put forward by the strange combination of BJP and Left parties  was defeated in the floor of the house  by 35 votes . Thanks to the 43 member   BSP - SP combine abstaining from the voting

It is natural that any economic reforms bring with it an array of apprehension on its fallouts. It is this apprehension of the public that creates the muddled waters for the political party to fish in and exaggerate the fear.

Multi-brand retail entry into the 450 Billion dollar Retail segment in India is perceived to be a threat to the small scale kirana stores and farmers. Notwithstanding the  fact that the policy on FDI in multi brand retail has inbuilt clauses which safe guards this perceived threat and  is left to the state governments for implementation, the BJP has been the unprincipled  opponent to this move.

Well this note is not into putting up an argument on the subject but to bring to the attention of the readers to the fact that, policy making and politicking in India revolves around the interest factors of the affected elite. India as represented by its political parties are governed by the  oligarchy aptly caricatured as the three prowling fat cats-  Business houses, Rich farmers and the middle man traders-Among this class of the  Indian bourgeoisie , the middle men traders are the BJPs coffers who shall be the sufferers in case of multi brand retail entry into India. With the retail chains resorting to direct purchase, transportation and storage and  by usage of  technologically driven logistic management tools, added to the benefits of economics of scale, the per unit cost is bound to minimize . This may result in the end of speculation as a tool for price management, there by hitting the trader in his underbelly.

As BJP has a major trader representation, this section is the hidden critic of the policy prompting them to move a motion against the bill which has now been defeated.

It is important for us to read this message between the line and conclude that good economics is always not good politics:

Sanyasi:

Thursday 29 November 2012

Section 66 (A) of IT Act


Dear all

Section 66 (A) of IT Act can result in police action for any of the following actions by an online user and can result in 3 years in Jail.

1 Punishment for sending offensive messages via electronic mail message

2 Any electronic mail message that is grossly offensive or is menacing

3 Any false info causing annoyance, insult, danger

4 Causing inconvenience

5 Deceiving or misleading recipient

When I wrote my views on Baba Saheb Thakeray’s Life and death, I was aware of this clause and hence was careful to be utterly balanced. Two days after my post the Palghar Girls were arrested

Earlier a local police official can book an offence basedon this act- which is a State subject- but now after the Facebook Incident, the Central government has sent an advisory to all the State governments that arrests can be made only after an IG level officer views the case.

More over the Supreme court is reviewing this clause based on a Public interest litigation;

Whatever the outcome, it is now clear that social media can create governance changes and the public should use this as an effective tool and becomes harbingers of change.

 Sanyasi:

Tuesday 20 November 2012


Dear all

When I wrote about Bala Saheb’s life immediately after his death, I knew that there would be many citizens in our country who would express their views on him and the importance given by the nation. However it is unfortunate to know that two girls in Mumbai had to face the brunt of the shiv sena’s shenanigans, for expressing their innocent and correct views in the facebook. Kudos to the former Supreme Court judge, Justice Markandey Katju for his boldly written letter to the Maharashtra Chief Minister. Let us hope that his letter and the subsequent public and media outrage on this , violation of right to expression is taken seriously and the concerned police personnel taken to task and the right message send across.

 Sanyasi:

Sunday 18 November 2012


Dear all

Bala Saheb Thackeray , the 86 year old veteran of Marathee Manoos is no more . Praying for the departed soul.

Started as a cartoonist, Balasab got into the political scene by galvanising Marathi sentiments particularly on the job less youth by proclaiming that Jobs are taken away by immigrant South Indians and sought for regional quota among factory workers. During the Mumbai riots and  the Ram Janmabhoomi  agitation he became a strong proponent of the Hindutva campaign with his fiery  speeches. Sri Krishna Commission indicted him in communal conspiracy and the state government saved him. His party joined hand with BJP giving him a national colour where he spoke more on Hindu pride and nationalism.

At the same time when there was choice between Abdul Kalam and Pratibha Patil he chooses the congress candidate because of her being Marathi. When his more capable nephew Raj challenged his authority, he chooses his Son and grandson as his political heir and then criticised Congress for family legacy. He asked Muslims to be first Indians then Muslims but when it came to Maharashtrians , he was first a Maharashtrian then an Indian. When his cadres started chasing  Bihari workers the patriarch   was silent on the Pan India Hindutva.

It is left for the readers to judge him either as  xenophobic and  Hippocratic or whether as a Nationalist or regionalist ,  but he leaves behind a legacy of political conviction , clarity of thought and the ability to  behold  the Regional Asmita (pride)of his  State .

Sanyasi:

Monday 12 November 2012


Dear all

David Petraeus , Director of CIA resigned on allegation of an extra- marital affair with his biographer Ms Paula Broadwell. So ended an impressive career of one of Americas best Generals, a four star ,  who made America’’s war in Iraq turnaround to its favour .

Irrespective of his shameful  exit from American public life Gen Petraeus will be remembered to have shown what military strategy was all about , which today is  an apt case worth emulating in Business Schools in the area of Strategic Management.

Gen Petraeus commanded the American forces in Mosul , in northern Iraq in 2003. He was not that kind of the General who followed political orders from Washington without looking into the ground realities. He believed counter insurgency operation required separation of wheat from the chaff by not looking at all Iraqis with the same yardstick. Accordingly rather than a military style evaluation of the insurgency, he was a man who thought laterally and was successful in winning the hearts of the locals in particularly erstwhile members of Saddam Hussain’s  Baath party:

With a doctorate in History, Gen Petraeus believed in learning from mistakes from the past. His strategy was that the US military’s adaptation to the local conditions was far more beneficial for  success in the counter insurgency operation in Iraq than military tactics, which  makes the local population look at American forces as  alien- the theme propagated by the rebel forces – a la Vietnam .

This Petraeus doctrine as widely  known in military circles made the Newsweek magazine caption on him as ‘’ Can this man save Iraq’ in one of its edition . Obviously Gen Petraeus was not appreciated by the republican government under George Bush and in particularly Petraeus’s Political Boss Donald Rumsfeld, for his independent approach . Finally he was recalled and  ‘’rewarded”’ for an outstanding performance in northern Iraq  by appointing him as a police trainer in Fort Leavenworth:

Years later Obama gave him the much prestigious roll of the CIA Director which he had to now ingloriously abdicate.

It might be quite common in American Civil Life of successful men being stonewalled for a late life extra marital affair. Whether it is Bill Clinton or Tiger Woods plethora of great men has fallen to the paparazzi and became disgraceful for not being able to uphold a fictitious notion of morality in public life. In the case of Gen Pepraeus it could be argued that an affair tantamount to compromising on national security, but who knows the other women might have been his success factor

All successful and proactive men pass through a stage of intellectual void which essentially the better half of our life might not be able to fulfil not due to an erosion of love but emanating from a need for a professional camaraderie which essentially may lead  to emotional entanglement.

Viewing it as an essentiality or social violation is yet another debate, but poor Petraeus had to hang his boot in disgrace and in the process The United States America lost a great soldier and statesman:

Sanyasi:

Monday 5 November 2012


Dear all

Political rhetoric hitherto was confined to politicians. It is strange or may be an emerging fashion now that people who are not only unrelated to politics but also regarded as part of India’s respected intelligentsia do politicking .

Yes I mean the utterly shameful behaviour of Mr Girish Karnad who is (was)  regarded as a cultural icon to have spoken on V S Naipaul’s writings on  Muslims in a derogatory manner in the Mumbai Literary festival, and that too at an invited ceremony called for facilitating Mr Naipaul. It is true that Naipaul’s books is extremely critical of the Muslim invaders that plundered India in the middle ages. However these   are his views as a writer, irrespective of whether it is right or wrong. If Mr Karnad has his counter views as a writer himself he can use his own words as swords of retribution in a mature literary creation. Instead being so disgraceful has only resulted in erosion of his long built credentials. It is a shame for a person of his repute, who is a Padmabhushan to have stooped to such low levels. Strangely he appears to have no regret and stands by his words.

V S Naipaul has won Nobel Prize in literature and he is respected as great writer. In his facilitation function Mr Karnad has no business to talk in this manner.

I can’t understand whether it is allergy felt by Karnadji for the nobel tag of Naipaul or has he played to the fence as like any politician eyeing the Muslim votes in India . Only time will say.

Sanyasi:

Friday 26 October 2012


Dear all

So in the congress v/s BJP 20:20 match with Salman Khurshid and Robert vadera on one side , and Nitin Gadkari on the other side, the first wicket has fallen. It is heard that Nitin Gadkari has offered to resign as the BJP president.

The issue of Mr Gadkari’s firm linked to a massive web of virtual companies and the multitier flow of capital tantamount to money laundering, which is a serious international crime. While the basic question of who funded these fictitious companies and how is Mr Gadkari linked to it is now left to investigation: However the much larger issues are how the investigating arms of the ministry of finance, RBI and ministry of company affairs were not able to track this money flow, if at all it has taken place. Secondly, if this is true, Why and How the BJP and RSS not know about it, but only started defending their leader without an investigation .

Now if at all the allegation is true, then credentials of both the government agencies as well as BJP/RSS combine are in question. The whole issue of probity and offer to resign has come at a stage when the pressure of the facts has come up to Mr Gadkari’s shoulders.

For the BJP on one side they are unable to resolve the leadership issues in the party, and on the other side they show a lack of competence in taking an alternate economic stance in the current economic scene and policy initiatives (read FDI). At this juncture the Gadkari issue is a major challenge and I think BJP is answerable to the nation prior to dreaming a victory in the 2014 elections:
sanyasi

Thursday 25 October 2012

Dear all

Seeing the responce to my write up on Kingfisher, I felt that I should ponder on few pertinent questions. Firstly irrespective of the plight of the airline, Vijay Mallya is going on with his formula one race. He has no remorce in his profligate spending on film starts and parties.
Unfortunately Our country is governed by a bunch of fat cats and their political cronnies. Dont you think a massive social revolution is round the corner? Dont you think that Indias party based parliamentary democracy is becoming a fuedal democracy?

Sanyasi
 

Saturday 20 October 2012


Dear all

 

So today, Kingfisher airlines which captivated us with the slogan flying at good times, is no more. The DGCA has cancelled their flying registration due to its inability to provide safe and sustainable service.

Kingfisher was given an approval to start commercial airline service in 2003, but has now accumulated a loss of over Rs 8000 Crores and debt of Rs 7500 crores. Withdrawal of its 66 aircrafts will create a supply constraint in the aviation industry which will further skew the skyrocketing air travel cost.

The airlines pathetic situation is a result of the profligacy shown by Mr Vijay Mallya . He emulating his international counterpart, Mr Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic in proclaiming style and luxury and expecting continuous cash flows he started accumulating aircrafts. The burgeoning air fuel prices and ground costs ate into its pockets creating a situation where there was no scope for even paying its employees. Sad to note that the wife of an employee recently committed suicide. The Bankers twisted them to give commitments on loan replenishments and the government did not yield for a stimulus package. In the end the service goes in history.

Who is at loss here? It is the financiers and the general public, but not the entrepreneur. As like any Indian entrepreneur Vijay Mallya took loans and started the service and finally has defaulted. It may be noted that he already runs a successful commercial enterprise through his brewing business which could have been used for the revival of the service.

This case gives the right message to the industry as a whole that entrepreneurship which only relay on external finance but without a dedication and passion for excellence will always fall flat .

So the fair skinned airhostesses with miniskirt brushing aside you in cabin, the red colour pouch with chocolates and earphones are now a thing of the past.

Indeed Kingfisher is grounded at bad times

 Sanyasi:

Thursday 18 October 2012


Dear all

Ashok Khemka IAS, is a  distinguished civil servant . This is  known from the fact that in his 20 years of career he was transferred 43 times. He had the guts to order revaluation of properties dealt by Robert vadera. 

An alumnus of IIT Kharagpur and a PhD in computer engineering in the 90s would have fetched him the most lucrative MNC jobs. His inspiration for public service made him clear the civil services exam and serve the nation. His plight shown  in the national televisions and his perceived threat to life shows the arrogance of our political dispensation. 

At this time when we are ruled by an oligarchy of criminalized politicians , corrupt bureaucrats and their back end corporate, let    us dedicate the day for this efficient brave officer who  is now punished for being upright.

Share this news to safeguard this brave officer:

Sanyasi:

Tuesday 16 October 2012


Dear all

Robert Vadera, a nice name to remember is not only a lucky guy but also intelligent. He stuck a deal with DLF and the Haryana government and made bucks. An opportunistic politician found the right time to make it public and launch his party. A humble IAS officer who was the Inspector general of land registration orders and enquiry and he is fired. Don’t you see this tamasha  enacted daily in our national television.  Sometimes I think that are these events a one off event seen during the congress rule or are they a regular one  and part of our socio-political system. The answer is that ,  when there is media freedom and upheaval, these issues gets our attention, but otherwise also it exists. Our country has hundreds of Robert vaderas , but this particular chap is targeted as he is from the ruling family  and a oportunistic and startegic political target.

The issue here is not about catching a thief but about stopping robbery. It is about attitudes and ethics of political and corporate governance, rather than a single event. We debate this a lot, get tired and then go to sleep with out arriving at a solution. When it is unbearable people go to the street and get violent. When our babas started speaking on Lokpal we thought that it would be a solution and we all cheered the movement , but that missile too have now lost its trajectory.

Well we need to now think laterally to an alternate system of governance which iam recommending for a national debate.

1 The political party based elections should be banned. Instead the cabinet should be directly elected by the people of India with sweeping powers. Any citizen of India can be a candidate to be a cabinet minister. The elected cabinet ministers will choose a prime minister or the chief minister as the case may be.

2 Economic offences should invite life imprisonment or death penalty.

3 A special court should be set up parallel to the civil/criminal courts which handles only economic offence .

 

These ideas may seem queer, but just try it and see the difference. Your thougts please..

Sanyasi:

Saturday 29 September 2012


Dear all
Many years before I had the opportunity to hear the lecture of Dr Manmohan Singh when he visited the Vadodara Chamber of Commerce and Industry. It was a time when NDA was ruling India, and Dr Singh spoke on the subject of Income disparity, addressing the students of economics of the MS University of Baroda. Dr Singh at that time talked vehemently about the need to protect the poor as India facing the risk of rich becoming richer and the poor becoming poorer when exposed to a globalised world. He said that after the industrial reforms of the 1990s, the private sector in India face a challenge from the global corporation to compete and innovate. Global capital will make Indian Industry competitive and also it would bring the need for new skills sets.

Time proved that his statements were true. India reached a 8 percent growth with Indian corporate becoming global and the Indian middle class living standards rising which i would say a rise from a Kirana culture to that of a Mall culture, where hoards of people flocking to retail showrooms buying consumer products en mass and people buying cars and high end mobiles . Cash flows of our business houses burgeoned and they started acquiring foreign companies overseas establishments and raw material sources. As Dr Singh then pointed out one India was shining and Bharat the poor India struggling for education, food, water and electricity. The then NDA government used that India shining jargon and faced the nation’s electorates only to be reminded that the poor has become more poor and with the same Dr Singh as prime minister a new government came in.

It was at the middle of his rule in 2008 that the global recession started  spreading and Dr Singh’s government by  astute policy management saved our nation from a major economic catastrophe. The nation paid back Dr Singh by bringing him back to power with hopes of a revival of the economy, but this time he was surrounded by  corrupt collision partners who gave him scandals after scandals as we see today. The lustre of Singh started eroding and he was seen as indecisive, silent and non responsive which was later  reflected in the articles published by Washington post and Time.

Creation of wealth in India by our corporate and their dependency on politicians for favourable policy initiatives resulted in a politician –corporate nexus in India, with a new breed of scandals  evolving .Unlike the earlier scandals like Bofors where there was a  cash transaction here the loss is in terms of opportunity costs running to multiple of crores of rupees loss to exchequer.

Coming back to Singh, he unfortunately was not able to control this and was myopic due to some unknown reasons which made him look like a PM without control of his ministers. It was at this juncture in this blog I had written that he should graciously quit and save his credibility.

Today he looks like a 10th batsman trying to save a team from innings defeat and it seems he is too late. Time will only say.

All the best Manmohanji

Sanyasi

Tuesday 25 September 2012


Dear all
A working paper in the Prime minister’s office, talks of 1 trillion dollar worth of investment plan. It was fun to read it. The FDI in retail, and all other measures recently taken seems to be too late like a struggling batsman chasing 100 runs in the last over.
The greatest mistake of our prime minister was that he was mum for a long time and when a foreign newspaper discredited him, he wakes up.
An issue like FDI in retail is sensitive because of the turbulent political condition and the doubts on the policy. Same thing happened when we decided to allow foreign companies to manufacture cars in India. But see now we all enjoy a Car revolution with cars available as like in a fish market.
What is missed is the ability of the prime minister to address the nation and get the nations confidence before the actions are taken. I remember the late PV Narasimha Rao’s message of hard decisions prior to the 1991 reforms. The initiator of those reforms who is the prime minister now, sadly did not have this wisdom.
Sanyasi

Dear all
A working paper in the Prime minister’s office, talks of 1 trillion dollar worth of investment plan. It was fun to read it. The FDI in retail, and all other measures recently taken seems to be too late like a struggling batsman chasing 100 runs in the last over.
The greatest mistake of our prime minister was that he was mum for a long time and when a foreign newspaper discredited him, he wakes up.
An issue like FDI in retail is sensitive because of the turbulent political condition and the doubts on the policy. Same thing happened when we decided to allow foreign companies to manufacture cars in India. But see now we all enjoy a Car revolution with cars available as like in a fish market.
What is missed is the ability of the prime minister to address the nation and get the nations confidence before the actions are taken. I remember the late PV Narasimha Rao’s message of hard decisions prior to the 1991 reforms. The initiator of those reforms who is the prime minister now, sadly did not have this wisdom.
Sanyasi

Monday 10 September 2012


Dear all

Cricket years ago were an English Winter game, which has now become frenzy in the Indian sub continent. Today cricket is available even the remotest slums of India, and most of the cricket enthusiasts are rural youth. See the transformation. Once upon a time this game was a middle class status quo. Remember the seventies when Test cricket was played, and it was a status symbol for the lambretta scooter owning Indians to carry the hand held transistor and cheer Gavaskar’s boundary or kapildev’s wicket. Cricket has changed a lot since then, with one day matches every day, twenty twenty matches, IPL , Under 19 matches, what not to say, it is today a big business and Industry with a mix of corruption, media frenzy and glamour.

It is in this era when most of the majority Indian youth- a young Indian nation- welcomes Sachin Tendulkar to the cricketing arena. Each of his sixes and centuries bought gold not only to him but also to the hullaballoo of cricketing fraternity, commentators ranging from MBAs, models and past cricketers , sizzling cheer leaders, and to all Pepsees and Collas of this nation. Sachin was made to be the symbol of identity prestige and nationhood on which money flowed. In short a young sport man who only better than his compatriots becomes “ God of Cricket”’ with Bharat Ratna in the waiting..

At a time when he is miserably struggling to continue as a fictitious God of the game, no ‘’kars”’ (Read Gavaskar , majrekars etc) are telling him to retire peacefully in fame and continue to wear the GOD crown, before it further tumbles down, a la they did with Rahul Dravid and VVS Laksman, the moment they went out of form.

It is time now to move on and search for a new God to continue the cricketing mazala.

 

Sanyasi

Thursday 6 September 2012

Dear all

Manmohan Singh has made it again in the International media. This time the Washington Post article portrays him as a failure. It is quite interesting to note  that why the US media is on the onslaught against our Sardar. Infact he is credited to be behind the strong strategic and commercial ties that we have with US. So why this transformation from a poster boy of India's reforms to a lame duck Prime Minister. We all sitting in this country knows that Singhsab, is a victim of coalition and party politics and he is  unable to take decisions etc. I also do not deny the fact made by Times and now Washington post , about the deterioration of his credibility, but it need to be understood that the US media's new found onslaught is guided by the growing frustration of the business groups in that country over the uncertainty in our investment climate. Floating Capital in the US , is in desperate search to escape tax in their home country and be invested in the emerging economies as like in India. Being a democratic nation with proven credentials they find that it is safer to invest in India than an autocratic China. However the current political and economic conditions has brought down confidence level leading to frustration which is reflected in this media onslaught.

Anyway sardarji ka pagidi uttar gaya

Sanyasi

Tuesday 4 September 2012


Dear all

It is very difficult these days to go to sleep without hearing a debate on some or the other scam.  Since last few years we are ‘’fortunate’’  to hear about scandals and corruption debates one after another . Immediately after the telecom scam, we could hear about the commonwealth scam and now comes the coal gate scam. When the bofors scam took place we talked about a scam value of few thousand crores which is now peanut figures and the numbers are now ‘’few’’ lakh thousand crores.

Judith Cook in her seminal book The Prize of Freedom (New English Library publication 1985) , argues that lack of fear (read chalta hai) is a primary reason for the recurrence of corruption which I think is true for our country also. After all crimes related to corruption especially for the political class is no big deal as being in tihar jail or their residence does not make much difference in their lifestyles. Whether it is Kalmadi or Kannimozhi they could spend some vacation time in jail and come back to their life hale and healthy . It is worth a risk if the returns from the corrupt deal  runs into crores of rupees.

Allocation of 162 coal blocks freely to the kith and kin of political leaders or to private companies which made the politician’s pocket fat is estimated to be nearly 3 lakh crore rupees is now being called as only an estimated opportunity cost and most of the blocks as unused. The government is brazenly un faced and thick skinned . The media and opposition parties shouts a lot, but, after some time a few of them will be send to jail and the nation shall prepare for the flavour of the next scandal and the cycle starts again.

The larger issue to be addressed here not just corruption , but how could we trust the political system anymore. We are today in a situation of systemic failure and the coal gate is one among such scams which is bound to recur. Whether this  cocktail of crime politics and business will eventually retard our economic growth and result in social uncertainty is only for time to say......

For a better understanding of coal gate scandal i recommend you to read Mr Vivek Kaul’s article in DNA Money Ahmadabad edition wherein he has given a beginners guide to this scam which is worth reading

Sanyasi

Wednesday 29 August 2012

Dear all
 It is the festival of Onam today which is celebrated with pomp and show in the tiny state of Kerala where I belong to.
 It is a day when the legendary king Mahabali visits his Kingdom to see his people and their prosperity . The legend says that the King  Mahabali was ruling the then Kerala with a sense of egalitarianism and the people were prosperous and Happy . Mahabali  was from the asura race and the rival deva king  Indra   felt jealous and threatened of mahabali  and complained to Lord Vishnu  as like in any modern day politics. Vishnubhagvan  then takes  the form of a dwarf Brahmin who seeking alms comes to the court of King Mahabali and demands land measuring three times his feet which the king happily agreed. However the dwarf suddenly transforms into an elephantine figure and the whole kingdom is measured in just two giant feet forcing the king to give his head to measure as the third feet, thereby making  Vishnu  pushing him down the earth to the mythological dark world  called paathal . The humble king then seeks Vishnu’s permission to come and visit his kingdom once a year which is celebrated by Keralites  as Onam.
Historical records of the Sangam period shows that the Chera kings in the early part of the Christian Era celebrated Onam. There is also records of celebration, on the starting of the harvest in the then Kerala region  . As you are aware each regions of India had its climatic variations which made harvesting possible at different times .In Kerala when the Sun crosses the zodiac sign Leo (Singham  Rashi which was pronounced  as Chingam in Kerala, the equivalent of the Shravan season in North-Western India.) the first round of rains stops for the farmers to sow their seeds in the field which is the genesis of the celebration and festival.
The legend of Mahabali and the fifth avatar of Vishnu pushing him down to a mythological  KalaPani Called Pathaal- on the instigation of Indra  who feared for his position due to Mahabali’s pious ruling – are all fictitious mythology added later by the immigrant Brahmanic priests .  The arrival of Monsoon and the three months of torrential rains in the plains of Kerala makes the red soil, fertile enough, for the then agricultural economy to strive which resulted in ecstasy and joy to the settlers celebrated by a pompous meal called Sadya with local delicacies and people playing various games like Pulikali (called tiger dance  ritual dance mainly done by painting vermillion over the body and imitating a tiger ) and women playing  the Thiruvathirakali , ( a circular and rhythmic,  slow bottom gyrating dance )
 I remember my child hood times plucking flowers and decorating them as a pookalam . This was followed by play and fun with friends and still as an adult I have a lot of good memories of childhood associated to Onam.
Unfortunately Onam of today is like an oxymoron with a barren Kerala without fields and all vegetables and other consumable coming from other states mainly from Tamilnadu. The men instead of playing  pulikali  , effeminate as they are , will be waiting in front of the government liquor shops (making  the government of Kerala a richer  300 crore every year) , drinking the whole day and beating their wives while women glued to TV watching some molliwood  crap  . The agrarian economy is replaced by a money order economy with 30-40% of people migrated out for work  (I am one among those hapless) and still with a 8-10% urban unemployment rate. The inter communal harmony has collapsed with undercurrents of talibanisation of the society with a cocktail mix of crime, politics and worklessness.  
Good or bad Facebook has made Onam celebrations virtual with youngsters wishing through the social media with no personal contact witheach other  .
As a malayallee when i become nostalgic of my childhood onam days  , I hope mahabali is now seeing facebook in his lapto sitting in pataal clicking ‘’like”’ to the wishes of his country men.
Happy Onam to all of you

Sunday 26 August 2012

Dear all

Let us all remember Niel Armstrong who is no more. He has left an incredible mark in human history. Today when we think of sending a person to mars , his name lives in posterity

sanyasi

Wednesday 15 August 2012


Dear all

The 65th independence day was celebrated with the  Prime minister making some speech on reviving the economy, sending a mission to moon , eradicating poverty, bla bla. At least I was relieved that this man at least spoke on something even though it was from hava. It is a fact that this government has utterly failed not just in bringing in a policy leadership but mainly in creating a lack of  confidence among  our citizens. The two scams namely Telecom and the commonwealth games gotala , the backtracking on FDI in retail, a belligerent budget all added to the  inability of the economic crisis managers in North block has now made us look at this government as a meek and lifeless entity. The violence in Assam is the latest case in point where it  was an eruption of an ongoing tension between the bodos and the immigrant muslims, which as per the media reports could have been prevented if the government was proactive. The weak response to the issues on corruption, black money etc have all make us look that what has independence brouhaha to do, if we have a lame duck government.
Anyway Rashtrapati bhavan is hosting a grand dinner today called Come Home, to celebrate the state of affairs. Wait for an invitation:

Jai Hind

Tuesday 7 August 2012

Dear readers

History as a discipline hitherto was neglected even though the study of history created a tunnelling effect in reconnecting to our past and understanding the way we think and act today. The emergence of vocational based education giving credence to technical and commercial skill camouflaged the importance of the social sciences in the early period  of globalization. However social analytics is back on stage again due to the ill effect of globalization with human lives taking a market driven roller coaster ride with rise of inequality particularly in the emerging economies of India and China. The study of history has a discipline always analysed the development of societies and social progress based on the background of historical events and derived conclusions for a better tomorrow. These studies were based on traditional sources of learning like interpreting an old insignia , or from reading an inscription or book etc and concluding ones own analysis of the same. These analysis often had a flavour of the analysers prejudices to the event or was based on what he saw in his kaleidoscope of facts. Hence we have various version of the same event. For example the first independence war of 1857 is not a national uprising as far as western and non nationalistic historians are concerned where they call it a local mutiny by the sepoys. However nationalistic historians view this as the emergence of a proto nationalism. Similarly Aryans were emigrants and was in conflict with natives as far as traditional historians are concerned while ultranationalists believe that Aryans are an indigenous race. These dichotomies always intrigued the student and it could be seen that polarization of historical interpretation has now taken a left-right divergence and spread across universities in india.

The development of the discipline of Oral history in the western world has to be analysed in the background of these developments where historian interviewed the affected people and concluded rather than his own personalized interpretation. It is indeed the development and practice of this discipline that helped western historians to interview the holocaust victims and derive the real story behind those deadly days, rather than depending on any fascist or Fabien literature.

In India application of oral history has now been initiated by a US based NGO named Arise Free India and their representatives have been documenting the testimonies of freedom fighters in India in understanding the political scenario of pre independent India. This has given insights into many path breaking interpretations where the stereotype of ‘’glorification” of our national leaders are challenged. The technological developments in archiving has now made it possible for the historian to interview and document the contemporary events to posterity without prejudice .

In this background it is worth reading the book published by dodgears and authored by the Baroda based historian Dr Sujata Menon an encrypt of which is pasted below for my readers

Sanyasi














Monday 23 July 2012

dear  all

Pranab dada has finally become the 13th President of India For a veteran politician becoming (retiring)  the President in the fag end of his career is an achievement indeed:

The President of India has always been a decoration excepting few presidential actions on selecting the majority party, or giving clemency to a death convict or sending back a bill for scrutiny etc;

Over the years has any President pulled up the government for misgovernance. Rastrapati Bhavan has always been a retirement home and many have written on abolishing  this post  as long as the so called Head of state is teethless;

Anyway the President and his family can now enjoy a series of international visits and let us wish him a good enjoyable life:
Sanyasi

Tuesday 10 July 2012

Dear all

In my earlier articles i had made a clarion call for Manmohan singh to manmohansingh to save his face. The TIME magazine coverage of him as an underachiever , even though is guided by the US corporate interest, brings in the topic  of policy paralysis  into a world wide debate. I think he needs to now resort to a major cabinet reshuffle and put his credentials back on place
Sanyasi

Friday 6 July 2012

Dear all

This trailing article  of my friend Priya is worth reading. Please think now , as how biased is our media: I had always writen that our media nightingales and gandharvakumars always danced to the tunes of corporate and political money, and blatently failing on its role as the fifth estate. Do share this message of  her and let us all salute Major Pitambare:

Jai Hind:

 
Sanyasi

Doing my bit .
MESSAGE TO OUR GREAT NEWS CHANNELS!
I got the mail below from a friend of mine and am but all efforts would go waste if this mail doesn't reach THE MEDIA ......and give these guys something to think about..!! Really what a shame...

By the time you guys read this news, the body of Major Manish Pitambare, who was shot dead at Anantnag, would have been cr...emated with full military honors.

On Tuesday, this news swept across all the news channels- 'Sanjay Dutt relieved by court'. 'Sirf Munna not a bhai' '13 saal ka vanvaas khatam' 'although found guiltyof r possession of arms, Sanjay can breathe a sigh of relief as all the TADA charges against him are withdrawn'!
In some other news channel , Parliament was mad at the Indian team for performing badly ; Shah Rukh Khan was replacing Amitabh in KBC and other such stuff . But most of the emphasis was given on Sanjay Dutt's "phoenix like" comeback from the ashes of terrorist charges.
Surfing through the channels, one news on BBC startled me. It read "Hisbul Mujahidin's most wanted terrorist 'Sohel Faisal' killed in Anantnag , India .. Indian Major leading the operation lost his life in the process. Four others are injured.

It was past midnight , I started visiting the Indian news channels, but Sanjay Dutt was still ruling. Sanjay pleaded in the court saying 'I'm the sole bread earner for my family', 'I have a daughter who is studying in the US and so on. .. how he went to every temple and prayed for the last few months. A suspect in Mumbai bomb blasts, convicted under possession of arms ...was being transformed into a hero!.
Sure Sanjay Dutt has a daughter; Sure he is not a terrorist ,sure he went to all the temples;Sure he did a lot of Gandhigiri but then.......... ..
Major Manish H Pitambare got the information from his sources about the terrorists' whereabouts. Wasting no time, he attacked the camp, killed Hisbul Mujahidin's supremo and in the process lost his life to the bullets fired from an AK47. He is survived by a wife and daughter who is only 18 months old.

No news channel covered this since they were too busy hyping a film actor …….since he made “better news” .They also concluded that his parents in heaven must be happy and proud of him.
The parents of Major Manish are still living and they have to live rest of their lives without their beloved son. His daughter won't ever see her daddy again!

So guys, please pass this message around so that the media knows which news to give importance to!It is a matter of shame for us that the news of the death of this Army Major was given by a foreign TV channel !
Priya Pillai
 

Wednesday 4 July 2012

Dear all

Yesterday night my daughter who is in class 6 called me and asked about the God particle. It was very difficult to explain to her as at that age the knowledge of particle physics is far off. This is excerpts from the mail that I sent her, from what i understand from  the 4th July CERN announcement; Do read it out to your child if of the same age group:

From studying physics you know that the 118 elements in the periodic table like Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Hydrogen etc  is made up of atoms which has a mass, and hence weight, and it can move. These properties of atoms are measurable and quantified and hence we believe that it exists even though we can’t see them with our eyes. These small balls of one element say like oxygen can join or form a bond  with another element like hydrogen and can change into  a different substance or a bigger ball  like water . This bigger ball of water  we call as water molecule. Thus we have all the elements in the universe joining with each other elements forming big balls or molecules of many things that we see and use whether it is your table salt or chalk powder.
However  if we start taking a molecule, say that of water, we know that it is made of the bonding or mixing up of two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen. Now if we want to break this bonding, we can mix water molecules   with the molecule of, say, calcium carbonate which is nothing but your chalk. These molecules react to each other and one of the elements say hydrogen atom escapes out in its original gas form.
From the above we know that the materials and substances that we see and use in our daily life are made up of molecules which are made of a combination of many atoms of the elements. However, scientist by their experiments have found and proved that the atoms can also be divided and inside an atom there is another small ball called the nucleus (which has protons and neutrons. Protons are positively charged  and neutron have no charge) which is surrounded by negatively charged particles called electrons. They also found that the nucleus can further be broken into protons and neutrons. The components of an atom -  electrons, protons and neutrons are called as sub  atomic particles. Scientists also found that sub-atomic particles posses energy in them, and this energy cannot be seen but experienced like the heat energy and electric energy. We know that that the electricity which gives us light and makes our machines work are coming from these subatomic particles.
So how does a particle like an electron or a proton give energy? Scientists in particularly Albert Einstein found that the matter or mass which is seen and experienced as a particle is created from a large amount of energy. And by breaking these particles, the mass in it can be converted back to energy. So they developed machines called accelerators which will shoot one particle like a gun into another particle and break it into energy. This reaction was termed as nuclear reaction. While doing such experiments, the scientists found that while breaking the smaller particles of protons and electrons, along with the formation of energy, there are many other still smaller particles  formed which they named as quarks.
Quark is an elementary particle which matter is made of. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei. Due to a phenomenon known as color confinement, quarks are never directly observed or found in isolation; they can only be found within baryons or mesons. Mesons are hadronic subatomic particles composed of one quark and one antiquark, bound together by the strong interaction.
An Indian scientist called Satyendranath Bose found that it is a mistake to presume that all such sub atomic particles have mass which can be converted to energy, but there are some other type of particles which exists as an energy field  but is a cause for providing a mass to other particles. He wrote about this to Einstein and he agreed to this thought and those imaginary particles were called Bosons to honour Bose. Later a scientist named Peter Higgs in 1954 found that among many bosons there is a type of boson which is the most elementary particle existing in an energy state which was named as Higgs field. Thus the Boson- Higgs  particle was considered as the basic element which gave matter its mass from an energy state and hence resulted in creation of the matter and hence the Universe.  Later a person called Leon Lederman wrote a book on Higgs Boson and named it God Particle which became popular.
The European Organisation of Nuclear research called CERN headquartered in Geneva in Switzerland announced on 4th July that the bosons which was till now only theoretically known was discovered in the accelerator .
The significance of the god particle was first postulated by our old Rishis in the Sankhya philosophy. This philosophical thought mentions about Prakriti (Mass/Universe ) and Purusha(Energy State/ Consciousness )  as the basis of the universe. The Prakriti is according to them was formed from the Purusha through a  basic element called as thanmatra, which we today discovered as Boson- Higgs Particle.
Sanyasi

Tuesday 26 June 2012

Dear all
The arrest of Abu Jindal with the help of Saudi police is indeed a very great diplomatic victory for India. His extradition to India and has now become a shot in the arm for the Indian investigative agencies. I feel that this response from Saudi  Arabia should be viewd by the change in strategic posture of India due to the close proximity that India has with US agencies and the change in geostrategic postures due to this India-US axis emerging after the declaration of Pakistan among  imbedding Failed states. Pakistan’s release of Sarabjit is also to be viewed in this context

Now the question is how far our legal political system responds. It should be remembered that jindal’s  compatriots are still at large with the big fishes still in Pakistan. With Kasab facing the gallows (hope it happens before he has a natural death) Jindal will be lucky  to enjoy India’s legal and political laxities.

Sanyasi

Thursday 21 June 2012

Dear all

It is said that sport is not only a physical activity but also mental in nature. A teams success depends on the mental connect between the players which we generally call as  team spirit.

The London Olympics is round the corner and as usual we have now the Tennis crisis ; Leader wants to play with Sanya and not Bhupati and all sorts of ego hassles tripping our  tennis aspiration in the Olympiad .

The arrogance of Leander is quite evident on his postures as reflected in the press and I feel that he should be  junked  irrespective of his stature.I hope the new kids like Bopanna and Vishnu vardhan etc can  bring fame:

Whether it is cricket or tennis, it is high the to junk the old hats irrespective of what ever be their records or glory


Sanyasi:

Friday 15 June 2012

Dear all

Today it is day of shame for all of us in Gujarat. A magazine publised on behest of the Goverment of Gujarat as part of the sarva siksha abyam scheme, was filled with vulger jokes. First of all the universities and schools in Gujarat is far below the national standards, with sub standard teachers guided by some elite trustees whos only qualification is that they have pots of money to build big campuses.
See the mushrooming of Engineering and MBA colleges here with inferious facility and faculty. Guys and gals here seems interested only for a degree for a social status related to marriage or business. Intellectualism is far below normal.
It is high time that the goverment be serious enough to bring in good quality faculty and standards in its State and private managed institutions. I conclude by a joke in the children's book where a lady is asked that she has a 4 yesr old child inspite of her husband dying 9 years before, to which the lady says , that she is still living. Hahaha let the kids laugh

Sanyasi

Thursday 14 June 2012

Dear friends

While reading Nithyananda’s religious books I didn’t expect that a casino was hidden in him. When the Tamil actress’s CD was circulated and while watching it I felt that it was not real. However having now heard about the American lady’s lamentations of the Nithyananda effect, it seems that there is some fire in the smoke:

The issue here is the Business of Spirituality: Very recently I had spent an hour with a clean shaven, white sari clad lady who introduced herself as Ma Purvi who gave me a power point presentation of a yogic exercise ( needless to say,  seeing this  beautiful lady I had thought of only one  yogic exercise) which will benefit the stress induced corporate sector . The induction fee per participant was only Rs 3000 and she also offered me a corporate discount as well  .

I was thinking, as to what difference is there between me a Corporate Sales Man to this spiritual Sales women

The Astha channel is a breeding ground for such spiritual mosquitoes where a baba or swami with innumerable followers around them addressing   day to day issues. These babas are now a   brand in them self . Some talk of healing through the scriptures and some on yoga (in this case you get a ticket to be in politics via team Anna), or the Art of making a living . The business model is simple, set up an ashram (Capital investment), do discourses (the operating cost is minimal) and the revenue is exorbitant, and the IRR is infinite. In fact I feel now besides Marketing and Finance, Business Schools should start a PGDM in Spirituality.

I heard that there are 1 million spiritual gurus in India, with an unaccounted market size, may be a sizable share of our GDP. If you have the habit of waking up at 5 O clock in the morning and open up any TV channels (fortunately I wake up at 8) you can witness  this huge market size.

Here i would recommend you all to read Meera Nanda’s book named the God Market where she has indeed done a research on this .

Where are we heading to? The answer is simple, as globalisation and 9% growth became a reality, there is a cash formation which needs an outlet for spiritual healing from the anxieties of the present day:

Sanyasi