Will we ever learn our lessons??

As voters in three assembly constituencies from Kerala go to the polling booths to elect their new representatives, I can’t but worry about the futility of such an exercise. In spite of being a staunch believer in democracy I must admit that the Indian version of it is certainly giving me more reasons to be sceptical about it. Having said so, I cannot even imagine the plight of citizens in other countries around the globe that don’t even have a semblance of democracy to talk about.

What keeps troubling me time and again is the total apathy and lack of accountability that we see so often in Indian political and administrative system. One could always argue that it is but a reflection of the society at large, but that is beside the point.

An enormous mishap like that of Thekkady could not help us be a little more cautious and Areekkad occurred. Nothing really changed in between, not even the psyche of the common man. We had a series of road accidents some years ago in which the vehicles involved (mostly buses) caught fire. This saw stricter implementation of laws regarding emergency exit doors, only to be forgotten about sometime later. How many buses still have emergency doors that actually work?

The tragedy at Uphaar movie theatre at Delhi caused such uproar across the country. But many of the big buildings across the nations still have fire exits that are redundant and stairways that are wide enough to allow only two or three people to get out at one time.

As star politicians crisscross the country in search of dilapidated mud homes and starving families that could host them for the night and demonstrate their pathetic existence to him, the same old story keeps repeating. What a sad plight for the common man in the world’s largest democracy...

The Law of diminishing credibility..

In a world that thrives on symbolism and hollow words the danger of tokenism replacing real effort is very much on the rise. The Nobel Peace Prize being given to the US President Obama has sparked off a debate in the contemporary world, and rightly so. Obama rightly recognised the award “as a call to action” rather than as a reward for past accomplishments. Still, I think such prestigious and globally acclaimed awards need to be conferred for past accomplishments and not as a motivational prize.

The absence of a phenomenon known as The Mahatma among the list of awardees speaks volumes about the relevance and logic of Nobel Peace Prize. For, most of the time an award is a decoration for the recipient and only rarely it is the other way around.

Some musings on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti...

October 2^nd is a day when the nation remembers the Great Mahatma. Year after year various functions are held across the country, speeches are made and the lack of Gandhian values on contemporary world is lamented with strong words.

Like all Indians, I too learned about Gandhiji when I was in school. But I got a better glimpse of the phenomenon called the Mahatma several years later, when I had the opportunity to read his autobiography, ‘My Experiments with Truth’.

At this point of time, Gandhiji’s ideals and teachings are very much relevant. Perhaps the most basic of them all, that of being accountable in public life is the one that needs to be rejuvenated if India and the world at large is to progress. The way I understand it, Bapu’s idea of being accountable is not the mere’ resignation owning moral responsibility’ when something goes wrong (which in itself is so rare these days). It is more about owning up responsibility, taking corrective actions with well laid out targets and time lines and then report the results to the common man.

I must admit this line of thought is more like a prelude to my next post, to be out shortly...

The fiasco in BJP

The situation that BJP is in at this point of time can only be described as a BIG MESS. But I am not surprised that things came to such a dismal state. Once the party failed to find an alternative to take over as the opposition leader from Advani, it was clear that something will give way sooner or later. But, the Jaswant saga came as a shock. While the way he was expelled leaves a lot to be desired as far as party democracy is concerned, I believe it was high time the party started taking discipline seriously. Remember the days when BJP used to be a ‘party with a difference’. Having said so, the party cannot be seen to have different yardsticks for different people.

No, I am not talking about the old Jinna episode triggered by Advani himself. I am talking about the sudden rush of messiahs and repentant old men from in and around the party. I understand there is a generation of party men who were in line for the top jobs after Vajpayee-Advani era. Now that it is clear that none of them will ever make it to the top post unless the BJP is hell bent upon political suicide, they have chosen to vent their frustrations in the open. In an era where anyone is guaranteed more than a fair share of limelight on national TV, provided they have some sorry tale to say, these guys manage to cause more trouble than is acceptable.

After being in the power and enjoying the perks that come along, these worthy souls don’t think twice about denouncing all that they professed over the decades. What a sorry state for any man to be in!! I just hope the BJP will get its act right and transfer the leadership to the younger generation at the next available opportunity. The country needs a stable and responsible opposition just as it needs a stable government.

The routine of life in mallu land..

Every year from January to April we witness the government departments flooding the money allocated to them in the annual plan outlay down the drain, with very little to show for it. Especially in the last three months of very financial year, these mandarins manage to spend more than 60% of what the total allocation. Needless to say, this smacks of criminal negligence on the part of officers who are supposed to implement different projects in a time bound manner all through the year. As for the ministers, we know very well they are not really capable of doing much other than making atrocious and often indecent comments at the slightest provocation and wasting public money on decorating the ministerial bungalows. There are some good ministers in the cabinet, but they are the exceptions rather than the rule.

Then from May to August-September, we have the grand spectacle of the Government, so called socio-religious organizations and other managements and the officials playing with the future of our next generation in education arena. The shameless bargaining which made the current defence minister of India A.K.Antony wail about the callousness of the religious institutions in the state is getting more and more brazen. As usual, our ministers and officials manage to look as stupid and idiotic as ever and in the process our children and parents are subjected to the worse possible harassment especially those seeking professional education in the state.

Then we have the yearly floods in our towns and cities, every time the rain pours down. We allow the water to stagnate and spread all kinds of epidemics and more havoc. Come summer and we rue the water scarcity, which was unheard of even in the late 1980s in this state blessed with 44 rivers. Having mined out vast quantities of sand in the most unscientific manner possible, we pay for our greed as the rivers die up and are reduced to nothing more than a barren stretch of rocks and torn earth in the summer. We never care about saving the water that floods our state in the rain. As a result we have the power cuts and famine in summer.

Our roads are in a very pathetic state throughout the year (except for the two months after the nominal maintenance job). In fact our small state is pushing the record books in terms of number of accidents and accidental deaths in a calendar year. The list could go on and on and on...

Nothing changes, including our voting pattern (we keep alternating between the two political fronts – and every time the incumbent manages to antagonize us completely within the first two and a half years of its stint). What hope is there for this beautiful little state of ours?

Whatever happened to the Kerala model?

The happenings in God’s own country are frustrating to say the least. Life seems to be going around in circles while the rest of the world marches ahead. The frustrating part is that the mistery keeps repeating in at periodic intervals and brings with it a fresh bout of shameful play act from the clueless rulers, officials and the unfortunate common man including myself.

The immediate provocation for such an observation is the fever epidemic that is on the rampage for almost a month in northern parts of Kerala, and especially in Kozhikode. As the doctors keep diagnosing it as pneumonia, chikenguniya, dengue, malaria and all sorts of myriad varieties of fever, the common man has nowhere to turn for help. This has been a recurring incident for the last 4-5 years in Kerala. Each year different parts of the state are devastated by epidemic fever, claiming the lives of hundreds of hapless victims. The health minister and the ministry keeps coming up with fresh statistics and is seen as being totally ineffective in preventing this tragedy from recurring. Whatever happened to the much admired Kerala model which had high standards of public health as one of its main highlights?

This is indeed a familiar pattern for mallus. Wonder why? Wait for my next post....

Kargil Vijay Diwas..

As the nation salutes our jawans and officers on the 10^th anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas, we need to once again take a close look at our own priorities and civic life. From failing to queue up at the polling booths on Election Day to jumping the queue whenever we happen to be in one, we have our own surreptitious and indigenous ways of surviving in this great nation. We are an diverse bunch of citizens with a remarkably short memory and high emotional quotient (that soar to dizzying heights when a cricket match is on television). We have a government which seemed reluctant to join in the celebrations and which just about did what was obligatory and nothing more. We have a media which turns this into another sensationalised drama with the all knowing politicians throwing punches at each other and looking like complete idiots in the process.

Still, somewhere amidst all the chaos, we still manage to preserve the memories and nurture the emotion that keeps the phenomenon called India on the move.Jai Ho!!!