open letter to the Indian nationals - series

Open letters to Indian nation and nationals

There are many groups under this classification. Therefore, I would like to write a series of open letters separately. I promise you this will not be a mega-serial under the banner   of ‘Balaji Telefilms’. I hope every one concerned reads these letters/appeals of mine keeping aside alter ego, arrogance, before adversely reacting and criticizing. The first in the series is obviously going to be addressed to the PM.

Dear Mr. PM,

Your taciturnity in all matters concerning Indian welfare, economy, cost of living, foreign affairs, corruption, erring cabinet colleagues and party colleagues, coalition partners etc. is quite appalling to say the least. I have more to append to the open letter to you by Ms.Sharmila Ravinder.

Your long silence on A.Raja, Maran et.al amounts to abetment to crime, which I am given to understand draws stern punishment under IPC, if the offender was an ‘aam aadmi’.Every one says stern punishment under IPC, if the offender was an ‘aam aadmi’. Every one says you are honest. But your silence supports dishonesty. You are seemingly protecting many who are real offenders, even if not voluntarily. Thereby you are being dishonest with yourself. The ‘aam aadmi’ perception is you are a puppet and the other end of the string ends up in Washington DC via 10,Janpath and Rome.

My nickname for you is Musharraf Singh. I picked up the Arabic word ‘musharraf’ while working in Libya.  Musharaff means ‘I don’t know’. You always maintained that you did not know  what went on or goes on in various ministries and also in PMO where you are the boss, or is it Soniaji who is the boss?

The spokespersons of Congress say that it is the prerogative of only the elected members to draft any bill. In that event since you are not elected ,you have no business to talk on ‘Lokpal Bill’. You refused to stand for election, probably because you are unelectable.

You are aware, corruption and dishonesty, though are complementary, they are not synonymous. The corrupt (people), lure others to become dishonest. The compensation to fall into the trap is in cash or kind or offer of position of power.

If as you claim, you are determined to root out corruption you would know well where to begin. You seem to be crooning the old song “where do I begin?”. If you are really at a loss as to how to tackle this monster, the best way out is to resign as PM and join some one like Anna Hazare.

In my younger days, whenever I recommended a skilled worker to be promoted as supervisor, my factory manager who was very wise (He is no more now), told me that though my intentions were good, my proposal was not implementable. He said, we would lose a good worker and get a bad supervisor. The loss is double. Yes, Mr.Manmohan Singh, we probably lost a good economist and got a bad and ineffective PM .

Further, you weakened the position of PM, by letting SC do all the monitoring and action on your behalf. You pretend to be asleep. It is impossible to wake you up.

To, summarise, your contribution to this great nation, as a PM is zero. You stand a good chance of being  chosen as a president in future, as any establishment will be happy with your attitude of inaction and docility.

Very disappointedly yours,

Aam Aadmi

Indian Scenario and Babagiri

Indian Scenario and Babagiri

Every Indian must be very conscious about the current developments vis-à-vis corruption or rather fight against it and more anxious about the outcome. The main player so far had been Anna Hazare and the latest entrant on the scene is Baba Ramdev. The others likely to be drawn into the scene are Sri Sri Ravishankar and the likes of him. There is a misconception that Baba is a godman and therefore a preconceived hatred towards Baba Ramdev like all other godmen. Some so called elitists have started waving verbal black flags before even hearing him out and trying to understand him and they have already concluded that whatever he is fighting for must be a wrong cause. Instead of being subjective, an objective assessment would be better.

Undoubtedly, corruption is the worst malady afflicting the nation acting against our growth and one of the root causes for high cost of living. The ill gotten money is pumped into our system through hawala route. The disposal of the black money is by investment in the land and real estate by the sinners and further inflation is caused by renting out these properties to the SMEs. Further, shares the loot by service tax on the rentals. Rent is one of the main components in the costing of the products.

When Sanju Baba glorified Gandhigiri every one appreciated it. But, when Ramdev Baba adopts Gandhigiri by ‘Bhookh Hartal’ government detests it and labels it ‘Blackmail’, because it is an impediment to their personal growth and aspirations. Like true politicians they gave false promises to Anna, and tried every trick in the books to make it a non-starter. Now they are spreading false propaganda and oppose it by proxy. The main proxy actors who have taken up the cudgel are Vinod Mehta, Arnab Goswami, Sagarika Ghose and the likes of them. One of the arguments is, when government is already talking to Anna, what is the need for Baba’s threat of fasting. Similar argument was put forth for JPC when PAC was already constituted. It is plainly a diversionary ploy and dirty trick.

What is wrong in Baba’s suggestion of demonetization of currency notes, harsh punishments for the corrupt and action for speedy recovery of Indian money stashed in a country that is a tax haven. What is wrong in his joining hands with Anna, after all the causes of are complementary. What is wrong if he agrees with Anna that PM and chief justices should come under the ambit of Lokpal Bill/Act.

During the so called news hour debates, a doubt was raised – what if Baba does a U-turn and joins hands with ruling establishment and abandons his mission. He has created so much image in the public eye that he will not abandon his mission even if it occurs to him momentarily at some stage. I am reminded of ‘guide’ – a picture in the sixties based on a novel by R.K.Narayan when the guide dons a saffron robe accidentally and is thought to be a ‘swami’.

A doubt was raised that a spiritual/yoga guru can not lead the people in matters of national concern. Nobody dared to put forth such argument when Dhirendra Brahmachari , Chandraswami were part of a kitchen cabinet. People readily accepted  views of Swami Vivekananda and Ramana Maharishi.

I am also reminded of Mahatma Gandhi when he said in a Congress session that in the meetings  members made speeches for each other. The masses were untouched. Is Baba Ramdev not doing just that – rallying the masses by direct contact. The cabinet ministers like Chidambaram arrogantly use jargons and talk about GDP etc. which makes no sense to a common man. But they understand the cost of bread, corruption etc. Spiritual gurus are able to touch the masses and give them solace. There are well meaning members of the Civil Society like Kiran Bedi , who are extending able assistance to Baba and Anna. I would go one step further and suggest to both Baba and Anna that they should hire the services of script writers like Javed Akhtar who will write dialogues like ‘paapi pet ka sawal hai’ or ‘garib ke pet mein laath nahin maro saheb’ .  

Kudos to Baba and Anna for taking the cudgels on behalf of ‘aam aadmi’ and I already visualize the politicians and the government in particular shaking.

Obama Sin Laden

No, it is not tip of the slongue, it is an intended Spoonerism. There is euphoria in USA as orchestrated by President Obama. They believe, they have a reason to celebrate as Osama is killed. American aam aadmi is as gullible as an Indian. Obama is laden with sins. Here you read Obama as America. It hardly matters whether the president is named Bush or Obama. For any aam American, any George, Bill or Barrack can be a president as long as the price of bread and gasoline is not hiked. America can not boast of a long standing tradition with its 200 plus years of history after a self proclaimed INDEPENDENCE at the cost of Apache Indians. It wounded their ego when the twin towers of WTC were razed to ground. This is not the only reason they were after Osama Bin Laden. Anything coming in the way of their expansionist agenda needs to be eliminated. Therefore, they resorted to war games even earlier in Vietnam, Iraq etc. Uncle SAM shall be read as Unilaterally Self Appointed Monitor of the world. Besides, they even sell their war weaponry. They monkey around with everything. It is common knowledge that, monkeys love bananas. So, they convert every country into a banana republic to assert their ways.

I am not stating that Osama was an angel or saint. He was necessarily an evil, as much as America. War against Osama was not a holy war ( Dharma Yuddha / Crusade / Jehad). Holy war is war of good versus the evil. America’s war against Osama was evil versus evil. It was a modern day guerilla warfare. War against Osama was a war between two criminal gangs in global arena. It was more like India’s war against forest brigand Veerappan or Rajiv Gandhi’s killers like Sivarasan. At least India was honourable in killing the armed fugitives who put up a resistance.

American leaderships have always been afflicted with paranoia and self deception. It was a joke to note Obama bragging about the perseverance of their armed forces and heroism in killing Osama, who was not armed at the time of being killed. It reeks of cowardice rather than of bravado. Perseverance was shown by Israelis when they tracked down Eichmann. They showed heroism when they conducted the rescue operation at Entebbe. You have a lot of answering to do, Obama, to international community for not observing Geneva conventions. You have lost your rights to question Rajapakse for genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka.

Right from the days of World War II when they bombarded Hiroshima and Nagasaki, when they created Israel by displacing Palestinians they have proven themselves to be impish and mischief mongering. They are yet to provide relief to Union Carbide gas tragedy victims. Obama, you provide lip service while talking about India being your strategic ally for fight against terrorists and terrorism. 26/11 is not an act of terror, leaders of LashkareTaiba, Jamat ud Dawa,,Jaishe Mohemmed, Dawood Ibrahim are not terrorists in your considered opinion. You believe the whole world is naïve. You want the whole world to feel liberated, and give a sigh of relief and pay obeisance to you for killing Osama.

Dear Julian Assange, please protect yourself.  Services of Wikileaks are required for the good of the entire humanity. You have ruffled the feathers of too many politicians across the globe. They will be joining together to eliminate you.

I am convinced Obama is Sin Laden   

Corruption, Hypocrisy, Religion and Politics

It is common perception that these words are interrelated. I would venture to add media and reporting to this group.

Of late we have been hearing about Civil Society, post Anna Hazare’s resolve and call to the government to take quick action to enact the long awaited Lokpal Bill. As an un-common, common man, I infer that there exist   six  species of human beings in ‘MERA BHARAT MAHAAN’ i.e. India.

1.       Military (Armed Forces) Top Brasses –Mildly greedy sort who will acquire land, buildings and housing apartments , even at the cost of their subordinates called as NCOs and Other Ranks dead or alive. To achieve this goal, they may take the help of the second set of species described briefly, below.

2.       Netas (politicians, ministers), and Babus (Executives, IAS, IPS officers, Other policemen ) – Very greedy sort who will accept any illegal(?) gratification in cash, kind, positions, services etc. for their immediate requirements and the requirements of their off-springs and upto nth generation to follow. This group can be found in any colour and creed ­. Their hide, is generally thick and are not perturbed by slander, scandals and scams. They achieve their goal by indulging in smear campaigns, mud-slinging , sycophancy and lackeying. This group is also known to be most selfish. The language of the netas may be replete with profanities and expletives especially in Hindi. They are not civil in behavior. Their pronouncements should not be taken seriously. They make speeches for each other and for the occasion. They will not hesitate to retract their verbal gutturals when confronted. In such events they will blame it on the third set of species described below.

3.       Media and Reporters – Occasionally greedy sort. Most hypocritical of all the species. They think that, they know everything and are experts in all matters. Under this presumption they will offer their opinions, conduct media trials and even, pass judgements. When confronted, they will take the help of one of their own species. They are known to double speak. They have an association which indulges in mutual flattery i.e. you scratch my back, I will scratch your back. As they are faithful to their masters who are interested in revenues through advertisements and sponsorship of their programmes, they are not expected to speak the truth always, in accordance with their conscience. They think, they are super sleuths- CBI, CIA, FBI, RAW, ISI and whatever you can think of, rolled into one.  Last year it was comical to see them crack Aarushi Talwar murder mystery. They are trained to hunt with the hound and run with the hare. Quite often they exhibit arrogance. Sometimes they utter some words in such a style and speed, it is difficult to decipher them. This is adopted deliberately to confuse the audience, to make them think that whatever they uttered is of very high value. Some of them practice for giving running commentary in Olympics in the finals of Men’s 100 metres dash event. Whenever a scam is busted they compete with each other to claim that ‘your channel’ was the first to expose it. This year which can be labeled as the year of exposes on corruption and scams, it was ironical to see them conducting debates, to decide whethe  both, bribe giver and taker should be punished. No doubt they had some documents to prove that gross misdeeds indeed have taken place. I wonder how they laid their hands on these documents and how much they ‘SPENT’ for obtaining these evidences.  Classic examples (specimen) for this species are, Barkha Dutt, Vikram Chandra, Arnabh Goswami, Vinod Sharma , Nidhi Razdan, Sagarika Ghosh.

4.       Civil Society- Most selfless , least greedy and sensitive to all human problems. Very thin skinned, most persecuted (like the Jews). They do not have any political aspirations. They are quick to perceive any opposition to their view points and mud slinging against them. They are the most revered and respected for their expertise. The common man looks up to them for guidance and salvation from the clutches of the second species described above. Typical examples for this species are Anna Hazare, Santosh Hegde, Kiran Bedi, Bhushans, Cho Ramaswamy , Abdul Kalam.

5.       Aam Aadmi or the Common Man- Most exploited lot with sheep mentality and very gullible. They are similar in nature as their counterparts outside Bharat. This species is like God- they are omnipresent. In democracy, even if they vote for an eventually winning candidate or political party, this species always ends up on the losing side. They are very flexible with high resilience. They put up with every non-sense. The most pliable part of their body is their stomach. They can tighten it with a few inches long belt. They fall for every trick of species No.2. Of late they have started looking up to species No.4 for emancipation and liberation.

6.       Self proclaimed honest man- Most businessmen (I am not talking about the vegetable vendors, paan beedi  shopwallahs or small scale industrialists – these people fall under species No.5) , few Godmen,and PM  fall under this category. They work in coordination with and cooperation of species 1, 2 and 3. They use the gullibility of Species No.5.

As I was writing this, I watched the News of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Saibaba passing away.While it was heartening to note Zahir Abbas, Arjuna Ranatunga speaking about the Baba, who was a  spiritual guru to many and was leading them to do the right thing, it was indeed pathetic to see Ashok Chavan of Adarsh ‘fame’ talking about the Baba. Media could have been more sensible by editing such pieces. Media is just interested in filling up the broadcast timings. They are least worried about the contents of some broadcasts aired by them.

Coming back to Anna Hazare movement (?), I have my own opinion. It is not merely a mass movement galvanized against the corrupt establishment to right the wrong. It is a referendum of sorts, asking the government to act against corruption at all levels which is the need of the hour. Instead it is observed that the government (by proxy of course) is trying all tricks like shouting against PAC chairman, using other diversionary methods to prevent people from knowing the truth.

While at it, Anna Hazare & Co. should anticipate the worst,s like Anna falling sick because of his age and hurry up with the Lokpal  bill, lest the govt. and the other highly corrupt take the opportunity to go back to square one and put this into cold storage for the next 5 decades. After all, all the netas and babus have their own agenda and priorities. 

Match Fixing

Money is the root of all evil. Hypocrisy looms large in all discussions and reports in the media. Many of the reports do not appear to be made with convictions and are not full throated. Some of the past cricketers are rather mild in their suggestions of punishments to be meted out to the tainted cricketers if proven guilty. It makes one wonder whether few of them are involved in betting and/or match fixing earlier, during their playing days.


After the initial emotional reactions, just like their government, PCB has come out with the ridiculous ‘conspiracy theory’. Even Yassir Hameed who made a sensational revelation, has back tracked and denied having made any such statement.

There is a sense of complacency on this side of the border. Mr.Pawar has hastily denied any Indian link to the whole episode. When it comes to mega bucks it is only natural to expect many nations to be involved, especially those holding high offices. People have not yet forgotten Md.Azharuddin. Reports of match fixing in IPL matches are doing the rounds. IPL matches are not taken seriously, as they are construed as part of a circus and carnival.

Many have suggested life ban as a possible exemplary punishment. Concerned people have already made mega bucks. Even if banned for life, they have nothing to lose. Life ban can hardly be a deterrent. Future cricketers will make big money quickly at the cost of the gullibility of the betters and exit from the scene. They may even be made MLAs/MPs as long as it suits the political parties. Remember Azharuddin.

There is nothing sporting about cricket or any other game. When such episodes are exposed, standard statements like nobody is bigger than the game will be issued. This everyone understands is a lip service.

A Pakistani lawyer has proposed punishment consistent with treason. Taking /giving interest on investments itself are considered un-Islamic. Betting should only be considered as a worse sin. Players such as Saeed Anwar with high religious sentiments should offer their opinion in this regard. In the holy month of Ramadan, it is strange that lies and cover-ups are floating around. I wonder what the Moslem clergy has to say about this.

Ball tampering should also be remembered at this juncture, as it is an important ingredient for match fixing. Shahid Afridi can throw some light on this. Majeed confirmed having supplied Vaseline to Pak bowlers, through handshake. Effective use of Vaseline can be learnt from Peter Lever.

In ancient India, princes used to indulge in minor gambling as a pastime. The epic story of Mahabharat supports this. Poor Yudhishthir did not know while gambling with Duryodhan, that the game was already fixed by Shakuni mama, in favour of Duryodhan. This was achieved by making the rolling dice(pagade), out of bones. The motive may have been different, yet, it was tampering and fixing.

There was lot of planning which went into it. Therefore it may be safely concluded that even if the modern day menace is stopped, it will come back again. It will only be temporary suspension.

In order to stop this permanently, actions have to be more severe than life ban.

RTE & Bethany School: A Critque of TV Media Report

The previous week, the so called Indian national media have been dishing out a lot of crap on the circular issued  by Bethany School. In my opinion, Mr. Arnabh Goswami of Times Now sounded very hypocritical. It is silly to presume that all people are interested in putting their children in an environment where there will not be much scope for the children to mingle with those of other classes. I wonder where Mr. Goswami's children or nephews or whoever concerned are studying - I presume it will be some school with a 'social status'. If Mr. Goswami wants he can enroll his children in Anganwadi/Balwadi Schools so that other children are benefited by their presence. 

Late Prime Minister Ms. Indira Gandhi admitted her son Rajiv Gandhi who later became Prime Minister himself, in Doon School.

How seriously public schools like Doon School and Montford take the RTE into effect and admit children from lower strata is something that I would very much like to see.

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