Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Unity in Diversity

Rahul Basu rightly reviews the book 'India after Gandhi' in these lines. I really liked them for clear construction of his thought on such a vast topic. "It has become fashionable to deride and denigrate Nehru and Nehruvian socialism and secularism. But it is the Nehruvian ideal, the cliche of 'unity in diversity' that has precisely seen the country through the shocks of more than half a century. It was precisely Nehru's insistence that every culture, every language, every religion, every creed, every caste would have its own place in the Indian polity that, illogically enough, has kept the country together. There has never been an overarching dominant culture to which all others have had to defer. India might be predominantly Hindu, but by no means is it a Hindu Pakistan. "

We need to understand that the cliche “Unity in Diversity” goes beyond the words. Our rich cultural heritage and diversity extends well beyond language and variety in indian cuisine. Cultural, Linguistic, geographical and wildlife diversity of the region gives a rough idea about it.India is so diverse that one life time is not sufficient for anyone to know what exactly it is. The beauty of it lies in diversity. Just imagine how we will be if we were of the same religion, same caste, same color and ofcourse in a tiny country but we aren't and gifted with vast country, different cultures and ofcourse languages. If we all look same in our way of living, race, color and region then aren't we missing a chance to explore this so many wonderful ways of living.

Indians are intelligent enough and our centuries practiced tolerance for diversity has equipped us with strong skills of adaptation. The diversity is mind boggling to foreigners not only in terms cultures & food but the psyche of the people as well. The difference in the south itself is apparent in the way the society has evolved in the last 60 years of independence, where Kerala has taken strides in the social front and rural infrastructure way better than most of the northern states… Karnataka, AP and Tamilnadu have been successful in the new age industries of IT and biotech. Gujjus and marvaris are predominantly business oriented. Among the troops, there is more representation from punjab, haryana, himachal, UP, MP, bihar, rajasthan. Still, Diversity shouldn’t be sacrificed for the sake of a unifying identity.

Amalgam of ethnicity and races against Indian background. It is Melting Pots: Mosaic [Hybrid Culture and Religion]. India as new model for both bio and ethnic diversity. Place of birth of 4 major religion: Hindu, Jainism, Buddhism & Sikhism. Muslim and Christian are fairly adopted here.Jews were given shelter when they were bashed all over the world. Business, Invasion, Settlement and adaption to provide rich heritage. Indian subcontinent is well diverse in each aspect of culture. India, amidst her diversity still stands incredible to the world because she has the ability to evolve while retaining her uniqueness.

Only Europe can match its diversity but not quality. Look at Europe. It got split into small little countries because of the language and culture differences. And today, amazingly they are uniting again, under the flag of EU. It makes economic sense.

Let me end the topic with few quotes:

Rene Dubos -"Human diversity makes tolerance more than a virtue; it makes it a requirement for survival".

Jimmy Carter -"We have become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic of different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes and different dreams".

Helen Keller - "Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much".

Mikhail Gorbachev "Peace is not unity in similarity but unity in diversity, in the comparison and conciliation of differences".

Brutual Murder of Mr.M K Gupta

This year ends with a sad note about one of our alumni being killed by political mafia. Mr. Manoj Gupta (Civil 1979) was Class I executive engineer of PWD dept. in UP, near Kanpur. He was killed by local mafia and BSP MLA for refusing to donate Rs. 50 lakhs for celebration of birthday on 15 Jan for chief minister, Mayawati. Due to political fallout, the birthday party (for which Rs.1,000 crores were collected) has been canceled. It is a great loss to our IT-BHU community. We are planning to take action on legal, political and media front. An information page is posted on our website by Pramod Joshi, 1979 batch.
Additional links:

1) Mayaʼs claim falls flat: no engineer behind killing

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/mayas-claim-falls-flat-no-engineer-behind-k.../403547/

2) Mayawati cancels birthday celebrations

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1216934

3) Slain engineerʼs son declines Maya's compensation

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1216935

4) 32 torture marks on murdered UP engineer

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1216620&pageid=0

5) Rattled Maya reads out riot act to partymen

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Rattled_Maya_reads_out_riot_act_to_partymen/articleshow/3897843.cms

6) Rahul plea on engineer at odds with ally

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081227/jsp/nation/story_10307906.jsp

Please flash this news to all our Alumni and appeal them for a protest. The form of protest could be signature campaign to the Honorable Governor of UP and The Honorable President of India. Please do the needful at the earliest. looking forward to your kind reply and help.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

New face of Indian Cricket


Bollywood and cricket are opium for Indians. Indians were quite influenced by anglo-saxon culture post independence. True face of Indian patriotism was suppressed by white race domination feeling. Image of Indian cricketers abroad was of decent and polite guys in blue. Sunil Gavaskar start the process of reversing and it comes to maturity in Dada's captaincy. Kapil Dev started not only change in fast bowling department but shows way for small town cricketers. Initially cricketer with metro cities background were selected but now scenario has changed completely. An interesting analysis is here about this change.

Rookie from every part of India came and change the face of Indian cricket. After the shambles of booking controversy, Ganguly had taken captaincy in his hand. He was passionate and fusion of new blood in team changes the perspective of cricket in India. The whole career of Dada is of wilderness and redemption. Setback and comeback become inheritance culture of Indian team in dada captaincy. He was committed to change regional attitude to national character of cricketers. The unending passion to win and set he landmark has established him as fierce cricketer in opposition camp. Dada has turned hope of millions into expectation for winning both local and abroad. Dada shows how to win in any condition yet known in this part of world.

Back in 2001, the Oz juggernaut that had crushed everything in its path for 16 games came to a shuddering halt when India refused to be cowed at Eden Gardens despite the hopeless situation that they found themselves in at the end of day three. Then we see the miracle and uncertainty of cricket with exceptional win of India. By the time the teams reached Chennai for the deciding Test, the aura had gone, and India calmly picked off 510 in response to Australia's 391 to set up a series win.

The times, they certainly were a changing. Hope was turned into milestone performance. Natwest trophy 2002 was also beginning of new era and yuvi and Kaif makes the dream chase successful. What this photo did for a nation in war, the image on the left did to a nation in doubt with its expression at success. The half-naked Maharaja's slap on proud Brit cheek was perhaps as strong as the "Half-naked Fakir's".

Talent hunter like Greg has pointed out for younger version of our cricket team. But his cynical tactics make him to pay price of failures. Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble has done real good job after taking reins of captaincy. But nothing magical was achieved except first test win in South Africa. Only tough stand of Anil Kumble against Australian sledging and cheating attitude was worthy remembrance. The heated controversy at Australia shows our national nature to stand together in hard times.

Leadership is a spark not hard work or preparation. Its natural or inherited and M S Dhoni has uncompromising pursuit for victory. Peter Roebuck has done very straight to heart article about current condition of Indian Cricket.Dhoni correctly remarked: "It is all about enjoying each other success". I am enjoying his success feat and is Dhoni enjoying mine?

Message for New Year for Indian Cricket:
" Beyond the skies the hope lies and we see a better tomorrow with open eyes !!"

U.S.A. - Uncle Scam America-2

"Remember", the instructor said to the class,"a 35 year old American's brain and IQ is the same as a 10 year old Indian's brain.... Americans are dumb, just accept it. " - pg 53, One Night in a Call Centre

1- New York taxis, of course, are known for their polyglot driver population - reflecting a country that welcomes immigrants. "Taxi cabs are both loved and hated by New Yorkers" says the NY.com website. Ditto America's sentiments towards immigrants.

2- Thank you for smoking, 9/11 Fahrenheit, Sicko, Fast food nation and Bowling for columbine are best documentaries about deep rooted problem of theirs. Blacklisting of writers with communist background in Hollywood had showed an ugly picture of America. Also, they hate the term communist and ignore the term socialist. They only know free market with unbounded flow of capital and restricted motion of labor force.

3- Outsourcing becomes one of the prime topics of the election. Obviously, the Green Card Lobby is fast becoming the strongest vote bank in the US. FYI, Obama's campaign database is probably being managed by TCS!

4- The American university system, funded by wealthy donors and alumni, for example, is actually bhai bhatijawaad and paisa power at its worst. The stench of money and influence has long been concealed by the heady fragrance of ‘High Up There’ college brand name. But a recent book by Pulitzer Prize winning Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Golden painstakingly unmasks it all. ‘The Price of Admission’ chronicles how America’s ruling class buys its way into elite colleges. And ‘who gets left outside the gates’.

5- Best universities are filled with foreign students as they bring not only quality but high revenue to colleges. Of course, getting a job after a Bachelor's, or Master's in the US is apparently not a cakewalk. An employer needs to prove there is no American citizen or permanent resident skilled for enough to take on that particular job, in order to sponsor your visa. The company must want you pretty badly to go to that much trouble.

6- With Indian IT companies cornering more and more H1B visas in recent years, things seem to be getting tougher.66,000 H1B visa issue is such as example of restricted movement of labor. Only highly skilled or knowledge driven labor can get entry into their market.

7- Contrary to this,American MNCs are plundering third world and developing countries with their product. Giants like Pepsi or Coke exploit local natural resources i.e. water of 3rd world to for their sole benefit. The experiments done by medical companies in poor countries are now open to all world now. The movie 'Constant Gardener' shows such case by drug companies with full honesty and coverage.

8- The comment of Bush Jr. over food crisis was really also shows a new way of mind boggling and height of stupidity.And 'Teach the controversy' programme by Bush Jr. is really a threat to scientific community.

Jean Luc Godard : ‘A film is ‘the truth 24 times a second.’ Hollywood has buried cinema’s search for truth beneath the search for marketable concepts. Most American directors are like orphans, they have no parents, no history. There’s no story, so they have to invent one. I was always accused of doing pictures will no plot. But a picture is first a story, second a story and third a story. The Americans just spread their story all over the world, hoping that a majority of the audience will buy them the history they don’t have.”

But you have to give credit to America for standing tall as symbol of democracy and free voice in the changing times. It supports the views of  Noam Chomsky and P Krugman even after their economic and political opinion. People like Michael Moore & Al Gore are real pioneer of bringing change in America.

Alexis de Tocqueville quotes (French Historian and Political scientist. 1805-1859)---“The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults.”

What India can learn from America
http://youthcurry.blogspot.com/2005/03/what-india-can-learn-from-america.html
For comparison of family values read:
http://youthcurry.blogspot.com/2005/02/great-indian-family.html

U.S.A. - Uncle Scam America

Half of people in America do not read news paper and remaining half does not vote;we hope they are same bunch of people or god help that mighty country.

Stereotype truths that all blacks are prevailed in crime. While truth is almost 33% of black youths aged between 18 to 25 are involved in crime.They are either in prisons or roaming in society on parole. Yaa, it is true that now multi-ethnic races residing there are following the same American dream.

Consumer culture is at peak in America than anywhere n the world. The sub-prime crisis in America surfaced when defaults were reported in payments for housing mortgages. The 5% population consumes 25% resources of the world. 90% of GDP is consumed in loans (Sources: Business India 5,October 2008). It is the real face of the capitalist economy of America which wants bail out package from the government now.

Ancient Indian had described consumerism as tendency to "Rinam kritvaa ghritam pibet "/"Take a loan and drink the ghee". Take a car loan or home loan or even a holiday loan. Live for today - but, make sure that you are not in debt tomorrow. America has 115 million such suicidal loan bombs who carry forward credit card debt every month. That is one aspect of consumerism that no Indian certainly don't want to emulate from the Americans. For better present, they are dumping their future. Hence, next generation similarly dumps their previous generation ideas and values. Hippie culture was born by these hypocrisy of western values. Indians don't consider shame in poorness and self content is far more characteristic of east. Read my take on consumer culture for more detail.

Most of the development in U.S.A. is achieved by foreign immigrants struggling hard to acheive green card or citizenship. Insecurity among originals is nothing new here. Red Indian extinction shows the real face of west and condition of Aborigines in an Oz country follow similar track. These migrating workers form the major head of American economic and political position in coming decades. Either the Jewish lobby of business groups or German and Russian scientist community had given best years of their life to reach success as individual and community. Chinese make rail road there when Irish and British settlers were fully Americanized. Then Jewish, Italian and Deustch intellects or labor class flow to U.S.A. in world war times. Russians, Iranian and Afghan flow for better future in cold war times. Japanese came through trade routes and established their supremacy in electronics market. African American involvement in crimes are now known to whole world thanks to Hollywood.The constant influx of Latino has feel their presence in drug and human trafficking. Irish, Italian, Chinese and Russian mafia are now better known to us through film and fictional novels. In between Indians also got entry through green cards except sardars coming for cheap labor by illegal means.

Facts about America:
Land of conspiracy theory: JFK murder to UFO case.
Buy burgers and sell guns to dictators around the world.
Hate speech and gang violence between races is now a major problem.
Bill Monica scandal was a gossip to read....
Donkey is the perfect sign of republic party and stands tall with George Bush Jr.

This America is far from the dreams or philosophy of Thoreau and Emerson. I am sure that even most of Americans would not have heard the name of Henry David Thourea. Continued bashing in the next post....