Modi and Mouse: Anatomy of Humour:

Hi

When India’s economy was waggling between 3 to 3.5 % of GDP growth, Western media referred India as the land of Snake charmers. Today at a time when our IT and IT enabled services are our growth drivers India is now a land of ‘’mouse’’ charmers. This was what Narendra modi , Chief Minister of Gujarat said today.

Modi is known for his usage of humour as part of his regular rhetoric and his replacing the word ‘’snake’’ to ‘’mouse’’ communicated a larger picture of a changing India. Whether this humour is metaphoric or metonymic is left to the reader, the thought of the day is on the usage of humour in public life.

In his research publication, Psychology of humour , An Integrated Approach, Rod A Martin from the University of Western Ontrio, UK writes on the social significance of humour in particularly in human communication and relationship management. A ‘’sense of humour’’ is not just a quality or style of communication, but is indeed a soft skill to be reckoned with in communication management.

Humour used with a sense of sarcasm and indented to create a bad taste is often used by politicians in the public forum for ridiculing a person, party, or a community. Lots of Modi’’s Pot-shots on Nehru-Gandhi family are such examples. The much known sardar jokes can also be caricatured into this category. Humour is also used as a communication tool for conflicts and ego clashes among adults to score a point over the other and is often seen in office politics and grapevine .However affiliating and enhancing humour is a positive leadership communication tool which is a skill to be acquired. Business leaders often use such humour as a motivating factor to ease work stress and build in team spirit. Off late humour is a multimillion dollar industry be it TV or stage shows, not to mention about the laughing clubs spurting all over the health conscience world .

Coming back to Narendra Modi and his conversion of India from a snake charming to a mouse charming nation drives home the fact, that humour is indeed a leadership skill.

As long as it does not hurt and brings in a sense of bonhomie , humour is worth trying.

Sanyasi:

Your Feedbacks:

Dear Readers

Making up this blog was not pre planned nor my idea , but was a suggestion given by an old time college mate, who used to call me Sanyasi.  She once told me, ''whatever you blabbered should be written down and there would be many ''hapless'' souls out there in Internet space , patient enough like me to listen to you" ....

Three months back when i started writing in this blog with a Pseudonym called Sanyasi , I didn’t expect that in this vast and growing domain called social media I would get such encouragement and accolades from both known and unknown friends spread over 12 countries .

As per statistics provided by Google-Blogspot , this blog has crossed 1000 hits and as I pass this milestone, many thanks to all of you who read and appreciated my views .

I intent to take up this initiative to the next level by giving a visual identify to ''Sanyasi" and create a characterization of this  Pseudonym , there by distance my individual persona away from the character itself.

 ''Sanyasi"' is envisaged to be a wandering monk unattached to persons, party , policies or issues but would put up his views in an unbiased and fearless manner with metaphors, humour and sarcasm with the only objective of making his disciples (readers) think in a different way.

While a competent designer is working on this initiative , I solicit your views and feedbacks .

You can write to me in my gmail id (rajeshmenon69@gmail.com)

Once more thanking you

Rajesh Menon

 

Bad Politics is always Good history

Dear friends

As I glanced across the morning Sunday news from my first floor balcony biting the cold breeze , I overheard  my daughter preparing for her social studies exam . She was reading on the Mauryan dynasty….

Chandra gupta maurya was a street kid from a peacock charming clan in Pataliputra who over threw the Nanda dynasty and established the Mauryan empire. After Chandragupta abdicating his thrown and settling down into the reclusive Jain enclave in Shravanbangola, his son Bindusara became the King. Bindusara was extravagant and lived on the spoils of his father and his pleasure seeking pursuits made the kingdom shaky, prompting his son Asoka who was the governor of Taxila to take on the reigns of the Mauryan Empire. Emperor Ashok’s life and actions changed the course of the then India’s social, religious and political life. Not much is known of the Mauryan rule after the times of Ashoka, However as per my historian wife, since the time of Ashoka , Mauryan empire enforced the strict principles of Buddhism which was called Dhamma and prohibited extravagant rituals, animal sacrifices etc, which hit the underbelly of Brahmanism forcing the Brahmin Chief of maurayan army Pushyamitra sunga to kill the king Brihadrata and establish the Sunga dynasty. This happened in 185 BC and was a classic case of divide between the secular and communal forces in the political landscape of Ancient India .

Exactly 2198 years later today when I gazed at the newspaper report on Rahul Gandhi being elevated to the number two position in the congress party, I understand that much water has flown since then , through the rivers of the northern plains of India, but , its sour contents ,of dynastic rule and politico-cultural divide remains the same .

The dhamma of secularism is still the corner stone of our political divide between the congress and the BJP with the former proclaiming themselves as the torchbearers of secularism. While Ashoka conceptualized Dhamma and engraved its meaning in the monolith rock pillars, the emperors of modern India engraved secularism in the pillars of our constitution. Dhamma was well defined and practiced, but secularism- even though a noble concept imported from Europe- was a convenient means for our dynastic rulers to create fear and then appease the minority community whose population is now much more than an average European country. Administrative measures are taken with vote bank politics in mind, like special status to institutions runs by minorities or their reservations in education and employment and these are labelled as secular practices but no legislations are made like enforcing uniform civil code, regulating religious conversions, enforcing nationalistic and modern educational practices in madrasas etc. Through Dhamma the Mauryan rulers enforced the principles of right living, but protagonist of secularism in India , do not mind forging alliances with Muslim league and the Hyderabad based communal outfit MIM -now more known as Akbaruddin Owaisi’s party-

As a reaction to this the BJP talks of another dhamma called Hindutwa without a clear and logical discourse on the same confusing the majority of liberal minorities in our country, and there by encouraging speculative politics. While dynastic congress have one Raja or a Rani with a sycophantic praja , the BJP has many kings or no kings making its own praja search for a Sultan in Gujarat as their leader who was hitherto portrayed by the secular congress as some sort of a modern Chengiz Khan, only to create fear among those special species called minorities.

As we move on to 2014 for the General elections, political divide in India is thus cantering around secularism, hindutwa, youth and leadership and the elevation of the new prince in the congress dynasty should be looked upon in this context. Whether he becomes an enlighten Ashoka preaching his own dhamma or dwarfs into a brihadata only to be defeated by a communal Pushyamitra Sunga is yet to be seen.

As the Jaipur meet of the congress party concludes wishing the new King a good battle ahead.

Bad politics is always good History.

Sanyasi

Rape: Questions and Confusions from a vanilla movement:

Dear friends.

 

The agitation at Jantar mandir and other places of Delhi over the gang rape issue did result in some legislative measures being taken. Besides setting up a judicial commission, the government has also written to all political parties for suggestions for bringing in harsher  laws against rape. The agitation also demonstrated the governments’ alacrity in taking positive action. So far so good: However there are few questions which baffle and confuce me and Iam putting it across for you to think.

Firstly why does it need a national level outcry for a responsible democratic government to react? Why can’t it react in itself? This proves the inherent inertia of our administrative system. The point here is about the level of insensitivity seen on all aspects of our civil rights. Take the case of the two Italian marines arrested by the Kerala government over a shooting spree in Indian waters which resulted in the death of a fisherman. The Italian government pursued this matter at the highest level, and ensured that the marines were back  home for Christmas. They were released over a surety bond of 25 crores. On the contrary nearly 50 Indian sailors are kept captive by pirates and are languishing somewhere in the Indian Ocean on board hijacked vessels. Similarly 375 Indian fishermen mostly from Porbandar in Gujarat are languishing in Pak jails. Is  our government bothered. Do we need another revolution for this?

The second question is, ''Are Rapes committed only in Delhi or Mumbai deplorable which will make our ‘’dented and painted’’ women come to the streets.?  This Saturday a woman was gang raped and Killed by 8 men in West Bengal after brutally assaulting her husband who is now fighting for his life in a Calcutta hospital. Where is the media, the home minister , the judicial commission, political parties  and why no hullaballoo seen  in TV channels  round the clock?

The primary question here is that ,  do we have sustainability in social movements, and does it have a common cause and course of action?. Our social revolutions are just becoming stage shows without any sedimentation. Last year  three Dilli musketeers  rallied over an old man for a Jan Lokpal bill which till now has only  helped one among them to form a political party and make some , mendacious revelations . A year before that a Pink Panties movement took place against assault of women at a bar in Mangalore. Where are the tangible outcomes from these movements?  Are our social movements moving on the right track a la the velvet revolution centered around the Tahrir Square in Egypt which resulted in the creation of a democratic Egypt. ?

As seen till now our social movements unlike the Egyptian velvet revolution can only be viewed as some vanilla ice cream movement without a direction leadership and cause ….

Coming back to the Rape Story, What  the government  should do is not to dance to such vanilla revolutions but  to implement in a time bound manner the Supreme Court directions on judicial and police reforms which in itself is a cure to this malady.

While the whole nation rallies over a Delhi Rape victim , let me request my readers to pray for a moment for that hapless and downtrodden labourer who was raped and killed by 8 ‘’animals’’ in the outskirts of Calcutta on Saturday 29^th of December 2012:

Vande Mataram

Sanyasi:

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………………………

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:

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: