total timepass...

Most people will agree with me if I say that today’s political world is highly polarised. We can see it across the largest world democracies, most notable for me being US and India, given my background. In US, this has taken the form of Trump vs an anti-Trump stand. And in India, it’s the Modi vs anti-Modi stance. What we are increasingly seeing are people picking, or made to pick one of two sides. And both sides then decide to stick to their ground of what is right and what is wrong. Come what may. It’s led to an impasse, as both sides refuse to even acknowledge the other point of view. And there is no way out of it, really. Honestly, both sides are to be blamed for this. Both sides feel like they are absolutely right and the other side is absolutely wrong. And this arrogance prevents open and humble dialogues between the two. You can see it when you have discussions with your friends. We continue discussions if the others agree with our viewpoints, but stop listening when they h...

Its the time to stop being silent and say something... What is happening in the country today is scary, at more levels than one. And it has forced more and more people to get out and speak up. Leading them of course are the students across the country. But things have to be really messed up for South Delhites, Bombayites, IITians, WIMWIans to protest (I know them all 😋). And things really are... Here are my thoughts why I think what is happening in the country is very scary, and does not bode well for the future: Polarisation of society: We've heard this for a long time, that Modi and his government has polarised society. I did not really get this for a long time, but now I am starting to understand what it means on the ground. Our society is split, into the ones who are pro-BJP and the ones who are anti- BJP. A lot of people are no more capable of looking at an act on its merit anymore. So either you support the govt, whatever they do. Or you don't, whatever they do. ...

The first time I had come across something real from the India-China War of 1962 was around 1997 when I spent a considerable amount of time in Arunachal Pradesh. I heard stories from people around, how terrible the war had been for India, how bravely the soldiers had fought for India but lost their lives and so on. Even till the 90s, there were times people would find bunkers with skeletons of soldiers with guns still in their hands. And I also knew we had lost the war badly and it had been an utter defeat. I had also heard anecdotally that India had kept poking unilaterally at China with small border skirmishes and China had attacked India just to teach her a lesson. And so after the war, they had retreated unilaterally, giving back all the land they had taken during the war. But I never believed it. India has always been a peace-loving nation, we could have done nothing wrong?! Of course it was China which was the aggressor and bully. And so I thought (or preferred to think!). Bu...

My father was in the Army in the Sikh Li regiment. As most of you would know, the Indian Army is the offspring of the British Indian Army which is part of our colonial history. So the old British officers who were part of the army in India and are now in UK have formed as association which meets yearly for a reunion lunch. When I heard about the association last year, I joined it and this year finally got a chance to attend the lunch in 2016. To be honest, in the beginning I was not so sure about how I would feel about it - the British ruled our country for so long, we don't really look at that part of our history with a lot of positivity. And then attending a lunch which in a way celebrates that history would be awkward. But surprisingly, it wasn't. The lunch this year was held at the Bombay Brasserie in Gloucester Road. There were only 3 officers attending who had actually served in India (apparently there had been a lot more 10 years ago but I did not know about the as...

(I was to write this blogpost 4 months ago, but think it has become more relevant now given the recent ‘floods’ in Gurugram:) ) I don’t think this article is going to come as a surprise to anyone. In fact most reactions would be something like - ‘ yeh to hota hi hai ’ or ‘this is how it happens’. But still given that I have been living out of India for quite some time and before that lived a sheltered live in army cantonments, it is still a surprise to me and I don’t think that’s how it should happen! My parents recently moved to a new place in Gurgaon (as it was called then!) and they realised during monsoons one of the side road gets flooded. It has been happening for years with the other residents, but as usual no one bothered to do anything about it. My father went to the local administration office to complain a couple of times. Accordingly the next year they sanctioned couple of crores to build a rain drain next to the road, and elevate the road so that water does not colle...

The day I read this article was a day of deep brooding for me. This is a life I or people around me can never even understand - not being able to feed your cattle, not having water for yourself, not having food for your family, not being able to work and earn, losing your land and crops, and in the end having to give up your life. All this is beyond our comprehension - for the 10% middle class in India who lead a " relatively " comfortable life. This article is not about the story of this farmer (and of so many farmers and other poor people of my country). There is nothing I can say about him. Its sad. Its deplorable that such events happen almost everyday in India. And I don’t know what the governments have done in the last 68 years to change this. None of them have focussed on our villages enough and therefore we are where we are. But my article is not about that. It is about what happened that day after I read this article and how it has changed my perspective on my...

There is one aspect of the Indian political and social systems which affects me everytime I read about it. Its how we forget our soldiers all the time. They are just there in the background, we remember them when there is a war, like the Kargil war but then they are forgotten and ignored again till the next time they are needed. Being from the defence background, it pains me more but even otherwise I think as a country its always important to remember those people who were willing to put down their life for as selfless a cause as their motherland... Related to this topic, there are a lot of articles being written currently, remembering the forgotten soldiers of the First World War. The thousands of Indian soldiers who fought miles away in foreign lands for a country which was their ruler. They did not fight for our country, but they fought as our countrymen. And we should remember them for their bravery and selfless acts, shouldn't we? One of the articles on these soldiers ...

The leader of the Congress party, Sonia Gandhi is an enigma. And not really by accident. That's a persona that has been created and propagated intentionally, to continue the fascination and patronising of the first family of Indian politics by the masses. It is also a master stroke, to have the President of the party as someone who rarely speaks and never really expresses her mind. The person who controlled the government for 10 years never took any sides. So she was never ever wrong, you could never ever find a fault with her. Isn't it the best? All the power without ever having to take any ownership of the acts when they go wrong. I often wondered about it, and then I read some articles related to this - ' The inside story of how Sonia's spin doctoring works '. Its a series of articles describing how very rarely Sonia's views are heard before any happenings. But if they go wrong, articles start appearing in the press on how Madam is unhappy with what happ...

NDTV put up this video uncovered from some British archives, which was made in Bombay 80 years ago. Its an imperialist video which tries to show how the British have taken India out of its dark ages, but leaving that aspect aside, how charming does Bombay look? Uncrowded, smaller buildings, a hustle-bustle which is not crazy. Its worth a watch for whoever has stayed at the metropolis and feels something for it...

I know its not right to compare India with a Scandinavian country, they are way ahead from even the rest of the world, that comparing them with India is just not fair. Still it does increase the irony.. My question is this (la Arnab style), what would India have been if like in Norway, a huge oil reserve had been found in India. Am sure the result would NEVER have been this . In 25 years, the sovereign fund has (notionally) made every Norwegian a millionaire. If this had happened in India, what would have been the result in 25 years? The mind runs wild, The Gandhis could become multi-multi billionaires The Mulayam/Laloo Yadavs could become billionaires Amma, Maya could become billionaires A Raja could be a billionaire ........... The options are infinite, except every Indian becoming a (notional) lakhpati even! That is the one option we all know is not realistically an option. How sad is that?

Rahul Gandhi has been the butt of many a jokes recently, especially on facebook where the majority seem to be pro-Modi and anti-Congress. One of the articles I found on facebook was this f unny list of comparisons that Rahul Gandhi can make in the future, depending on who he is addressing. After I had read this list, he has done another major comparison - talking about escape velocity to dalits in UP. The example seemed fine, but not given who the target audience was. He might do better to take ideas from this list:)

This is an old article I had read a month back, and its one of those news items which come in the news just once and then are forgotten, and never come to the forefront again. The article talks about the not-so-well-known fact that Indian athletes are banned from playing in any Olympic events under the Indian banner. Indian athletics wanting to take part in international events can do so only as independent athletes. How shameful is that? And this ban has already been there for almost a year!! Yet no one talks about it, and other than this one article, I have never heard about it again. And why is the ban there? Because the IOC has asked for the Indian Olympic Association to change its constitution to not allow 'criminals' to hold posts. And of course, since the head of the Association has charges against him, he will not allow the constitution to bar him from election. So the Indian athletes will continue to participate as independent athletes without either the tri-colour...

Who is going to be the next Prime Minister of India is going to be an ongoing debate for the next one year, with continuous comparisons drawn between Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi. And it is going to be fun and colourful times; Rahul's inexperience and Modi's nonsecular credentials thrown at all of us throughout this period. With barbs and re-barbs on pages after pages, and supporting fire from all the loyal comrades. As I said, it will be fun. In between this whole process, the fact that the biggest democracy in the world is going through a vote for its next government will be lost. The government is expected to bring about change, reform and development to the country. There are many aspects of this change which need to be talked about, stressed on and promises made for (irrespective of the fact whether those are kept or not). However what will happen is that the personalities of the leaders will be the focus of the campaigns, and with whatever little airtime issues get...

This is an old article from last year I think; Karnataka government spending 18 crores to conduct pooja across the state for the rain gods to give rain to the drought hit land . And all I thought after reading this was that either the ministers in the state are stupid or they just needed 15 crores urgently and cooked up this idea! And honestly, both are equally plausible reasons! In this day, who would think that praying in temples across the state would help! I can understand we are a religious country, but this is taking it to a ridiculous level. It doesn't work this way and am sure the ministers of the state know it as well. Anyways, I never read about whether it worked or not, so don't know if the 18 crores worked or not; but am sure 15 crores of it did make some people happy!

Indian cricket and Sachin have been synonymous for so long now; and our fascination for all kinds of statistics related to Sachin have been talked about for so long now, that a new one coming out does not make us bat an eye anymore. On top of that is the hotly debated question on when he should retire, its been a national obsession for long now (after how Abhi-Ash got married and what Aradhya looks like that is). It doesn't matter anymore what people write about Sachin, most of it doesn't matter. He is going to do what he wants and play how he wants. Thats it, what can anyone do about it? But then I read this today, and again felt like laughing. Everytime Sachin scores a duck, Mumbai wins . Hahaha! Do the statisticians really have no work other than coming out with such stats? And honestly, to give a complete picture, they should also mention how many times does he not score a duck and Mumbai wins! Anyways, I found it funny, so thought of posting it to my blog.

A lot of news item that I read in the Indian newspapers make me feel sad and want to write about them. Not all of them are about our major problems: illiteracy, poverty, population, female exploitation, corruption and so on..; but about other facets of our society and nation which though not critical are still important for us as a country. And this falls under the same: 35 protected monuments in India are not traceable anymore!  I know that we have bigger problems to focus on than historical monuments but still how can such things happen? There is an ASI formed for just this purpose, can they not keep track of our historical heritage so that it doesn't get lost? I wonder how tough would it be. As of today, this does not harm us at all. But in the future, we will miss these remnants of our past. Plus, a lot of times when I compare historical monuments in Europe with India, I find that Europeans preserve their heritage so well and earn so much off tourism even though ...

It looks like the Bangalore police is on a roll, taking its role in maintaining law and order seriously! First they come up with the Facebook page where people can put in complaints and the police can take action on and even update their actions. And then they come up with this brilliant idea ! Its a great idea and may actually lead to people following the traffic rules more. But how sad is it, that we don't do the right thing unless there is someone to police us? Is there something inherent lacking in us as a country and as a people that we need to be beaten with a stick to do the right thing? Anyways kudos for the police for taking the initiative and it might just work?

Given that my dad was in a transferable job and that we all have a love of travelling, I have visited numerous places across the length and breadth of India. And given my mom's love for reasonably priced and variety shopping, I have been long exposed to the local handicrafts of almost all the places I have traveled to. Whether its silk sarees from Kerala or beautifully crafted Kashmiri antique jewellery or Manipuri sarees or Bhuj printed cotton.. the list goes on. Maybe because of this early exposure to an assortment of handicrafts across the country, I have a deep interest in the local artworks available at all these places (and nowadays a concern that these may not even be produced anymore in a couple of years!). So as expected, on my recent trip to Banaras, (as like last time) I spent a considerable amount of time shopping for Banarsi sarees. And this time again I felt the same dread; these beautiful works of art are on the path of vanishing completely. Already, the cur...

In recent couple of years, I have begun to be more and more disillusioned with India as a country. Am not sure for the reason for it; Is it because I reside out of the country now? Or because the current government has sunk to new lows in corruption and apathy for the public? Or that more and more news comes to light which earlier did not? I don't know but every few days, there are events which make you feel even worse about the current state of affairs. And its about everything about the country, whether social or moral or political , there seems to be decay everywhere. The brutal gangrape in Delhi was the most recent such event which shocked us so more that I still feel unable to even express my emotions and anger and helplessness at the happenings even now. This article is not about any such happening though. Its just about a smaller event, but which just makes me go 'wow! really?'. Italian guards who were released in good faith by Indian jails on the guarantee of t...

The issue of 'Reservation' in India has been debated endlessly for years now: in online forums, in social gatherings, in educational institutes.. everywhere. It's pitfalls have been debated, the advantages have been discussed, changes have been advocated to the system and so on. But it has still not been sorted out, it is still a highly inefficient and misused system which is not serving the purpose it was originally introduced for. There are endless stories coming out regularly on how the system doesn't work properly. The latest I read was this article  which shocks you with the fact that you can get an entrance into an engineering or a medical college by scoring a 0 in the exam!! Does this not make you feel frustrated? And shocked? And angry? Is this correct, is this what we want in our future? Don't countries achieve greatness based on merit alone? And we are creating a generation seeing merit give way to other considerations. The reason given for such a sys...