“They gulp some packed food calling it a breakfast, eat no lunch and the only time they cook is for dinner when they are totally exhausted after the days work. This is really pathetic” lamented the old man whom I met during my morning walk in the bay area of California. “Why do they come here and toil like this if they cannot eat two square meals a day when they can afford to live like a prince in India.” continued the old man, tears literally running down his cheeks. True, the migrant Desi is a confused lot and is being caught between devil and deep sea. They are being forced into a new culture and lifestyle in their new found home and retuning to their origin is not that easy.
The acronym “DCBA’ (Desi Confused By America), refers to Indian workers who migrated to the US since the 1970s in pursuit of the “Great American Dream” when everything was going well. Born, brought up and studied in India, they still retain some of their original culture and values imbibed on them when they were young or have at least made a sincere attempt to retain their identity. Another serious challenge faced by this community is taking care of their ageing parents in India. They cannot return to India as many are in the peak of their career and, even if they return, they cannot easily adapt to Indian work culture. They would very much like to take their parents with them, but the parents find it difficult to adjust to the new environment in their advanced age.
The children born to them (delivered in America, obviously a tested method to obtain American passport without hurdles) who are referred to as ABCD (American Born Confused Desi) know little of India and the only link between them and their erstwhile motherland is the occasional trip they make to their land of origin accompanying their parents during their visits. Torn between two different cultures, they are fast losing their original identity. Many of them marry outside their community into different cultures and the consequential cultural mismatch. Some marriages survive and some not.
Thanks to globalization in that it is fast producing a new Indian breed alien to their own culture. This is here to stay and is happening with change the world over. The older generation feels they have lost their sons and daughters to an alien culture and are depressed about it. But reality is different and we need to accept it gracefully.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
Learning from Ants!
Have you observed the ants? During summer they work very hard building ant hills and storing enough food grain for the rainy season. The ancient Indian economists followed this ant philosophy and taught us to save a portion of our earnings for the rainy days. In addition, we were told to maintain a sustainable standard of living so that we don’t have the misfortune to reduce the standard of living during the days of recession. We were also advised to save enough to invest in the education of the next generation because those wise men knew that empowering the young through education holds the key in ensuring the future security of the society.
In sharp contrast, look at the American economists? They want people to spend, spend and spend regardless of their financial capacity. If you have no money, use credit cards, buy today and pay later so that manufacturing industry will survive and so their employees. Then when they reach the saturation point, people don’t buy anymore, manufacturers produce less, jobs are cut, those already bought up to their credit limits cannot pay up and the whole system collapses. Luxurious living became more important than safeguarding the interest of the next generation.
Irresponsible over-consumption and artificial credit creation are responsible for today’s economic disaster. Long ago, Abraham Lincoln, one of the first Presidents of the USA said, “You cannot build a strong economy on borrowed funds” and he was absolutely right!
In sharp contrast, look at the American economists? They want people to spend, spend and spend regardless of their financial capacity. If you have no money, use credit cards, buy today and pay later so that manufacturing industry will survive and so their employees. Then when they reach the saturation point, people don’t buy anymore, manufacturers produce less, jobs are cut, those already bought up to their credit limits cannot pay up and the whole system collapses. Luxurious living became more important than safeguarding the interest of the next generation.
Irresponsible over-consumption and artificial credit creation are responsible for today’s economic disaster. Long ago, Abraham Lincoln, one of the first Presidents of the USA said, “You cannot build a strong economy on borrowed funds” and he was absolutely right!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
DEMOCRACRY FOR THE RICH AND INFLUENTIAL
Is India being reduced to a democracy for the rich and influential?
You can mount an attack on the highest democratic institution of the country, The Parliament House, caught in the process, tried and convicted by a court of law and still get away with, you can mow down the people sleeping in the pavement with your luxury car and escape conviction, you can poach, at will, an endangered specie like Chinkara or a black buck and hush up the case, you can pass through the green channel at the airport on your return from an international trip with dutiable items and plead ignorance when caught and scot free, you can shoot a bar attendant point blank and still get a bail if you have the right connections, you can import an aircraft under the guise of commercial use and keep it for personal use and evade import duty until some news channel blows the whistle, you can be involved in any number of bomb blasts killing innocent people and be a free man if you have political patronage, you can be an MP with murder charges against you and your party leaders will back you up, you, as a minister, can be prosecuted by CBI for financial scandal after a long awaited Governor’s permission, who, in turn, gets threatening calls from abroad for doing his duty and so on and so on. The list is endless.
The police are unwilling to register if you lodge a complaint and, if registered, the complainant is treated as the accused. You are unwilling to render help to the hapless bleeding victim of a road accident, even if you are a medical professional, because you are afraid of the consequences of your involvement. The judges are influenced and the poor victim who was gang raped is made to witness the sad spectacle of her assailants being set free for want of evidence adding new threats to her personal security, leave alone the inconvenient questions hurled at her by the so called “defense” lawyers. The employers, if they belong to a multinational, flex their muscle and financial power to ensure that the legal proceedings don’t tarnish their local image regardless of the anguish and trauma inflicted upon the victim and her family. These have become routine and even the intelligentsia have learned to live with it resigning to their fate.
Are we fast emerging as the largest, but the most irresponsible democracy of the 21st century where the powerful, wealthy and influential can hijack the whole system to suit their personal agenda? The British, no doubt, looted the country, but they had something in place to protect the interest of the law abiding citizen. This is the sad irony of Mr. Bharat that has completed 60 glorious years after independence. The politicians plunder the country’s wealth and the multinationals join the bandwagon in that our elected representatives and ministers have become salable commodities who can be bought and sold in the open market to make policies and enact laws to increase the bottom line of industrial giants and power houses. Factories are being put up in agricultural lands affecting the livelihood of scores of farmers because the small car is more important to the nation than the basic subsistence of the peasant. Soft drink manufacturers are locating their factories in rural areas draining the ground water resources creating artificial scarcity of drinking water and when the villagers resist, police force are sent to silence them and booked under discriminatory laws. Even in the extreme cases where the rural population is relocated for a right cause, the promised compensation does not reach them and is eaten away by the babus en route.
If this is the independent India’s state of affairs today, what have we in store for the future generations? In the last sixty years, we have not managed to produce a single leader with commitment to a national agenda. On the contrary, our system has produced more dealers than leaders. Enacting a law that imposes life ban for tainted men from holding public office will alone revamp our democratic values.
You can mount an attack on the highest democratic institution of the country, The Parliament House, caught in the process, tried and convicted by a court of law and still get away with, you can mow down the people sleeping in the pavement with your luxury car and escape conviction, you can poach, at will, an endangered specie like Chinkara or a black buck and hush up the case, you can pass through the green channel at the airport on your return from an international trip with dutiable items and plead ignorance when caught and scot free, you can shoot a bar attendant point blank and still get a bail if you have the right connections, you can import an aircraft under the guise of commercial use and keep it for personal use and evade import duty until some news channel blows the whistle, you can be involved in any number of bomb blasts killing innocent people and be a free man if you have political patronage, you can be an MP with murder charges against you and your party leaders will back you up, you, as a minister, can be prosecuted by CBI for financial scandal after a long awaited Governor’s permission, who, in turn, gets threatening calls from abroad for doing his duty and so on and so on. The list is endless.
The police are unwilling to register if you lodge a complaint and, if registered, the complainant is treated as the accused. You are unwilling to render help to the hapless bleeding victim of a road accident, even if you are a medical professional, because you are afraid of the consequences of your involvement. The judges are influenced and the poor victim who was gang raped is made to witness the sad spectacle of her assailants being set free for want of evidence adding new threats to her personal security, leave alone the inconvenient questions hurled at her by the so called “defense” lawyers. The employers, if they belong to a multinational, flex their muscle and financial power to ensure that the legal proceedings don’t tarnish their local image regardless of the anguish and trauma inflicted upon the victim and her family. These have become routine and even the intelligentsia have learned to live with it resigning to their fate.
Are we fast emerging as the largest, but the most irresponsible democracy of the 21st century where the powerful, wealthy and influential can hijack the whole system to suit their personal agenda? The British, no doubt, looted the country, but they had something in place to protect the interest of the law abiding citizen. This is the sad irony of Mr. Bharat that has completed 60 glorious years after independence. The politicians plunder the country’s wealth and the multinationals join the bandwagon in that our elected representatives and ministers have become salable commodities who can be bought and sold in the open market to make policies and enact laws to increase the bottom line of industrial giants and power houses. Factories are being put up in agricultural lands affecting the livelihood of scores of farmers because the small car is more important to the nation than the basic subsistence of the peasant. Soft drink manufacturers are locating their factories in rural areas draining the ground water resources creating artificial scarcity of drinking water and when the villagers resist, police force are sent to silence them and booked under discriminatory laws. Even in the extreme cases where the rural population is relocated for a right cause, the promised compensation does not reach them and is eaten away by the babus en route.
If this is the independent India’s state of affairs today, what have we in store for the future generations? In the last sixty years, we have not managed to produce a single leader with commitment to a national agenda. On the contrary, our system has produced more dealers than leaders. Enacting a law that imposes life ban for tainted men from holding public office will alone revamp our democratic values.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
WEST RESPONSIBLE FOR SRI LANKAN SCENARIO
With the exception of Taliban who wants to propagate Islamic tenets and enforce Sharia law all over the world, terrorism is a product of deprivation. Tamils, forming almost 15% of the Sri Lankan population, have been, in the past, targeted and discriminated by the majority Sinhalese community and were always treated as second class citizens. Successive governments abetted in the crime.
What started as a small movement called TNT led by a group of young men under the leadership of Prabhakaran, it grew into LTTE, a powerful force to be reckoned with. As a ruthless terror group, they organized their own army with naval and air wings and had excellent logistical support, leave alone the dedicated suicide squads willing to strike in the name of their cause.. It took the government more than decade to dismantle the outfit.
The USA and UK are now calling for measures to combat the humanitarian crisis. Where were they for the last 30 years when the LTTE was fighting the Sri Lankan govt., when the Tamils were fighting for a legitimate cause? Where were they when the genocide was going on in Burundi and Rwanda where Tutsis and Hutus were slaughtering each other? Where were they when the Black Africans in the erstwhile Rhodesia and South Africa were mercilessly butchered and mutilated?
I find the western attitude very difficult to understand. You religiously watch as things happen and cry foul when all is over. If the healthy, wealthy, developed and influential nations of the world cannot take initiative in arresting an impending humanitarian crisis, what kind of legacy we are leaving behind. When a 9/11 strikes USA or terrorists bomb London, they call upon world nations to fight terror, but turn a blind eye to the problems elsewhere.
When a child wielding a toy gun makes a mock threat, we ignore him. Now that the child has grown up and the toy gun has been replaced by AK-47, we all panic in that we have been caught off guard. This is what has happened in Sri Lanka. The UN, of course, has been reduced to a non-entity.
What started as a small movement called TNT led by a group of young men under the leadership of Prabhakaran, it grew into LTTE, a powerful force to be reckoned with. As a ruthless terror group, they organized their own army with naval and air wings and had excellent logistical support, leave alone the dedicated suicide squads willing to strike in the name of their cause.. It took the government more than decade to dismantle the outfit.
The USA and UK are now calling for measures to combat the humanitarian crisis. Where were they for the last 30 years when the LTTE was fighting the Sri Lankan govt., when the Tamils were fighting for a legitimate cause? Where were they when the genocide was going on in Burundi and Rwanda where Tutsis and Hutus were slaughtering each other? Where were they when the Black Africans in the erstwhile Rhodesia and South Africa were mercilessly butchered and mutilated?
I find the western attitude very difficult to understand. You religiously watch as things happen and cry foul when all is over. If the healthy, wealthy, developed and influential nations of the world cannot take initiative in arresting an impending humanitarian crisis, what kind of legacy we are leaving behind. When a 9/11 strikes USA or terrorists bomb London, they call upon world nations to fight terror, but turn a blind eye to the problems elsewhere.
When a child wielding a toy gun makes a mock threat, we ignore him. Now that the child has grown up and the toy gun has been replaced by AK-47, we all panic in that we have been caught off guard. This is what has happened in Sri Lanka. The UN, of course, has been reduced to a non-entity.
Monday, March 23, 2009
THIRD FRONT CIRCUS: A MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE
Now that the general elections are around the corner, a bunch of political opportunists from various regions are forming a grand unholy alliance with only one common objective, i.e., capture the political power at the centre. Having failed to strike a deal with other parties who have a reasonable national status, this disgruntled, power hungry lot have no national agenda, no vision and their sights are set on the Prime Ministerial chair. Even before agreeing to agree on the basic issues, some one in the caucus wants the alliance to declare their prime ministerial candidate even before going to polls. Fully assured of a big fight over the PM’s post, in the event of a very unlikely scenario of winning a majority, attempts are being made by some quarters for a pre emptive strike so as to cement their position after elections.
The declaration of emergency in 1975 was, no doubt, a sad chapter in the history of Indian democracy. But when Indira Gandhi released all political prisoners and declared general elections in 1977, the hitherto warring factions formed a formidable but infamous alliance called Janata party with the sole objective of throwing Indira Gandhi out of office. Voted to office by a nation that wanted to avenge the excesses of emergency, they concentrated on taking revenge on Indira Gandhi rather than focusing on the national priorities. They had no common program and once the main objective was achieved, they manifested their true color, disagreeing on every issue, which frustrated the common man who voted Indira Gandhi back to power in 1980. This is exactly what we are witnessing in third front alliance.
Mayavati, Jayalalitha, Chandrababu Naidu and Sharad Pawar are all regional leaders with big political ambitions. They will never achieve a consensus if elected in that they have all their own personal agenda and national issues will be shifted to the back burner. Together they will tarnish the image of Indian democracy already tarnished for fielding tainted candidates and make a mockery of parliament. There is a severe shortage of honest aspirants and even parties with a national presence are looking for popular candidates drawn from entertainment and sports industries regardless of their background. Successive governments have deliberately ensured that no one enacts a law against fielding candidates convicted for various offences.
It will be black day for Indian democracy if regional leaders voted to power. It is unfortunate that the people have been reduced to a mere spectator who can do nothing but to choose the lesser evil.
The declaration of emergency in 1975 was, no doubt, a sad chapter in the history of Indian democracy. But when Indira Gandhi released all political prisoners and declared general elections in 1977, the hitherto warring factions formed a formidable but infamous alliance called Janata party with the sole objective of throwing Indira Gandhi out of office. Voted to office by a nation that wanted to avenge the excesses of emergency, they concentrated on taking revenge on Indira Gandhi rather than focusing on the national priorities. They had no common program and once the main objective was achieved, they manifested their true color, disagreeing on every issue, which frustrated the common man who voted Indira Gandhi back to power in 1980. This is exactly what we are witnessing in third front alliance.
Mayavati, Jayalalitha, Chandrababu Naidu and Sharad Pawar are all regional leaders with big political ambitions. They will never achieve a consensus if elected in that they have all their own personal agenda and national issues will be shifted to the back burner. Together they will tarnish the image of Indian democracy already tarnished for fielding tainted candidates and make a mockery of parliament. There is a severe shortage of honest aspirants and even parties with a national presence are looking for popular candidates drawn from entertainment and sports industries regardless of their background. Successive governments have deliberately ensured that no one enacts a law against fielding candidates convicted for various offences.
It will be black day for Indian democracy if regional leaders voted to power. It is unfortunate that the people have been reduced to a mere spectator who can do nothing but to choose the lesser evil.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
WHY BLAME PAK ALONE?
We have been blaming the Pak government for their inaction in dealing with terror outfits involved in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. While the neighbor’s cold attitude is understandable for obvious reasons, what have we done with the culprits already in our custody?
The brutal attack on Indian Parliament in 2001 seems to have been forgotten. Eight Indian security personnel paid with their lives while trying to save our politicians who seldom bother about the soldier. Even the return of the gallantry awards conferred upon them by their families has no effect on our thick skinned leaders.
The accused has been convicted for capital punishment by the highest court in the country, but, till today, the sentence has not been carried out using an ‘obsolete’ provision in the law that the court order cannot be carried out until the President disposes of the clemency petition filed by the convicted.
The clemency provision was introduced in our legal system in good faith to enable the President to commute the death sentence to life term imprisonment under special circumstances. That does not mean the provision can be misused to bail out terrorists.
Now that the elections are around the corner, the chances of hanging Afzal Guru are very remote in that it will affect the minority vote banks. Communal politics practiced by our politicians have grown alarmingly and this will have wide repercussions on national security. If Pakistan is a safe heaven for terror outfits, India is a safer heaven for convicted terrorists.
The brutal attack on Indian Parliament in 2001 seems to have been forgotten. Eight Indian security personnel paid with their lives while trying to save our politicians who seldom bother about the soldier. Even the return of the gallantry awards conferred upon them by their families has no effect on our thick skinned leaders.
The accused has been convicted for capital punishment by the highest court in the country, but, till today, the sentence has not been carried out using an ‘obsolete’ provision in the law that the court order cannot be carried out until the President disposes of the clemency petition filed by the convicted.
The clemency provision was introduced in our legal system in good faith to enable the President to commute the death sentence to life term imprisonment under special circumstances. That does not mean the provision can be misused to bail out terrorists.
Now that the elections are around the corner, the chances of hanging Afzal Guru are very remote in that it will affect the minority vote banks. Communal politics practiced by our politicians have grown alarmingly and this will have wide repercussions on national security. If Pakistan is a safe heaven for terror outfits, India is a safer heaven for convicted terrorists.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
DANGEROUS DEAL
Pakistan’s signing a ceasefire agreement with the Taliban clearly shows how weak is the civil government there and who is the real boss. With the US forces chasing them out of Afghanistan, Taliban is slowly establishing in Pakistan with the support of ISI and the army. Now they have found a safe heaven in NEFP and have been even successful in enforcing Sharia laws. This will eventually lead to total Talibanisation of Pakistan and, once the control of their nuclear arsenal fall in the hands of the Jihadis, it will result in a global catastrophe.
It is high time the world leaders opened their eyes if they want to prevent another 9/11 happening. The US will now realize how their most trusted ally in the fight of terrorism is now openly abetting terror activities. The Taliban’s signing of a ceasefire agreement with Pakistan should be seen as the first step towards a grand plan to take over Pakistan and unless the UN declares Pakistan as a state sponsoring terrorism and impose sanctions against the regime, in all likelihood, the future generations will be paying a heavy price.
It is high time the world leaders opened their eyes if they want to prevent another 9/11 happening. The US will now realize how their most trusted ally in the fight of terrorism is now openly abetting terror activities. The Taliban’s signing of a ceasefire agreement with Pakistan should be seen as the first step towards a grand plan to take over Pakistan and unless the UN declares Pakistan as a state sponsoring terrorism and impose sanctions against the regime, in all likelihood, the future generations will be paying a heavy price.
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