A letter to an Indian

It is rare these days to hear pleasant news from India. Government’s confidence is at its lowest point, so is of Indian businessmen. Political battles are picking up. Lots of political attacks and sharp remarks are exchanged. And why not? A lot has happened since this government came in office. People elected this government with a hope that it will take them into a progressive modern India. But instead the government was busy looting the nation & its resources, it got absorbed in corruption, stung with policy paralysis, inflation & graft is a by-product. Women’s safety has deteriorated. Economy is losing its steam. Our neighbors are continuously conducting stress test on our borders. Internal & External security appears in tatters. Corruption and inflation are going up. The only thing going down is the Indian Rupee. If that wasn’t enough there are occasional embarrassments that our leaders bring to India. I am not sure about people, but the politicians have certainly progressed into their modern houses and cars.

Meanwhile, the youth, the perceived future of India, is busy binge drinking consumerism, and seasonally drenched in IPL and Bollywood. It appears he is driven by his own interests with little thought for the nation. His patriotism invigorates only on two days, Independence Day & Republic Day, for it is a public holiday. He is gullible enough to depend on news channels (some run by vested interests) to gauge various political issues.

These days there is a bitter fight between parties for the priced ‘secular’ tag, and seems the fight is going to worsen. At least, I am annoyed with this tamasha. Some politicians are busy (always) with minorities’ arithmetic and placing bets accordingly, not because they are their well-wishers but because they are their vote-wishers. India was a secular state, and will remain one. It is secular not because the minorities want it, but because the majority wants it too. We have so many prominent personalities from minorities. We had APJ Abdul Kalam as President. We love A. R. Rahman, Mohammad Azharuddin was one of the most successful Indian cricket captains. In fact, the top 3 Bollywood stars, Shahrukh, Salman & Amir are Muslim too. We love them all. And it is not because of any government or any political party. We don’t need to align ourselves to any political parties to prove our secular credentials.

As chances of the incumbent government being re-elected to power appear dim, all the regional party chiefs are dreaming about the PM job, which reasons the third front government theory, but if that happens, it could be very unfortunate. All the parties in such a government may try to pull the government to different directions with their different agendas and eventually it will hurt India, if not stifle it. No one is playing the development plank, and if someone does, there are plenty to remind us about his alleged past evils. Unfortunately, past will always have bad memories to offer, it cannot be changed, but it should not hold us from moving ahead.

Elections must be fought on current & development issues, cutting across all caste or religion lines. Hot topic these days is the Gujarat riots. And now the media has almost convinced us that the only riots that took place in Indian history were in Gujarat in 2002. The media has an important role to play; they must avoid driving vested interests through their reporting. The media is never eager to remind me about the terrorist attacks & their victims, every year. I don’t remember what happened to my Lokpal, why not bring that up often? I am not reminded about A Raja or Kalmadi or what they did. I am not reminded about any other riots. This makes me think, then why cherry pick only one incident? I’ll leave that on you to think. I almost risked myself being labeled a communal there!

We are in 2013, we should think about 2014 and future, not the past. To move forward one should always look ahead, not behind. Currently, India enjoys a demographic dividend envied by the world, if we fail to capitalize it now we may miss a good shot at being a real super power. It is time, we are led by a leader who can muster the courage to take firm/tough decisions, if required, and be accountable too. History is replete with examples of controversial leaders, but only time has unfolded what good or bad they did for the people. I will avoid endorsing anyone, either ways it won’t matter, what will matter the most is what you think, you decide, and you vote, for the fate of this great nation lies in your hands, and our hands.

Jai Hind.

Angry Young Indian

These days I am worried and restless. It is not because I have developed any mental illness. I go through the newspaper, more I read, more I feel the tightened grip of fear and dejection. I don’t know why I feel uneasy. But, a self-intervention helped me clear the smoke screen. It appears I am least bothered about events around me. I prefer to play a mere onlooker than act, unless I see an incentive to act. Just like you. You know it. If two people get into an altercation, I won’t offer to strike peace, instead, I wish I could pull in a chair and watch the high drama unfold… live. Ahh… that’s why we love Big Boss so much! I am a voyeur, just like you. Hang on. There’s some serious stuff coming. Corruption. Someone tries to introduce a change (Lokpal) to our system for my betterment; I don’t pay attention to it, rather I choose not to because I am careless. To add to that we have these so called “intellectuals” who work day & night on government payrolls in media debating it’s benefits to me, trying to confuse me. Sadly, I am gullible enough to fall prey to their arguments (i.e. traps) Where is my Lokpal?

Though not fresh in my memory, I bear terror attacks almost every year now, as if it has quietly transformed into an annual event, with unpredictable dates. Government hates to take strict actions, the most it does is stop talking and playing sports with our neighbour. We capture terrorists and feed them until their execution can be capitalized for damage control or win over some votes. The government is unable to think beyond that because most of their time and energy is channelized to loot the national treasure. On the other hand, to appease me, I am labeled a resilient for silently tolerating these attacks. During my school days, a fellow mate used to bash me during recess, every day, but I never retorted. May be I was resilient! Really? Actually it’s not my resilience but I am ignorant. The worst part is I know all this. I am a stupid, just like you.

The real Dirty Picture took place in the capital last week, a young girl is brutally victimized in broad daylight, no one helped her, worse is the role played by the police. I see the public outrage, sadly it isn’t going to change me either because I am shameless, just like you. I forget too early, I suffer from amnesia. Do you remember A Raja, Kalmadi? My anger no longer boils when I hear their name. Do you remember Manu Sharma, DGP Rathore’s smile? I forgot them long back, because I am hapless. People are swiftly arrested for cartoons, tweets, comments and likes, but police takes more time to arrest rapists, murderers and looters. I am angry and frustrated at all this, just like you.

We have scams launched like new products, each one promises to be bigger, murkier and uglier than the earlier one. To name a few, 2G, CWG, JijaG (starring Mr. Raaabert) and Coal-G, we must have Incredible India ads running showcasing the amount of money swindled in these scams. It would be a hot USP! The government is trying to mold our democracy towards a government of the family, by the people, but for the family & their friends. Wow, it’s really Incredible India. A chief minister says Rs600 per month is enough to feed a family of five, probably we need to ask her to disclose her grocery shop address. I don’t want to talk about inflation anymore, I’ll go into depression. It takes a lot to survive when you are surrounded by so much negativity. But still I won’t change, because I am just like you, a stupid common man, coincidently an Indian and proud too. For what? Of course, for all above achievements!

Right from my childhood I hear “Yeah public hai, yeh sab jaanti hai”. It is correct, I am the public, I know everything but what do I do? I promise, may many scams, corruption, scandals, uncover but I pledge I will still elect the same chaps, because I love it. I love to vent this anguish and despair. I love to keep doing it over and over again, just like you. It is what makes me a proud Indian. I am angry yet careless, resolute yet inactive, cynical yet proud. Yes a proud Indian. Really? Think over it again.

I know after reading this too you won’t give a damn about it, because after all you too are still a “proud” Indian, just like me.

To innovate, undiciplinize

Can a watch innovate? For example, imagine can it ever show a time like 13 o'clock. The obvious answer is NO; a watch can never show such time. (Yes, I agree we don't need such a watch) I know the idea itself sounds stupid, but lets try and avoid being judgmental and think from a different perspective. Why will the watch not be able to show such a time? Becoz it is not manufactured to work like that. Becoz the watch is bound to work in a specific way or in other words it is disciplined to work within some boundaries. Please stress on the word ‘disciplined’. Discipline, by definition means, the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior, sometimes even using punishment to correct disobedience. What will you do if the watch starts showing 13 o'clock one day? I know, you’ll get it repaired or probably disown it (the punishment :))

You might have heard about discipline, at some point. Let’s talk more about it. How is a discipline formed? For example, take our daily life; I am sure every one of us performs some routine tasks. They (i.e. idea or an act) originated some day and eventually you kept on repeating it until it graduated into a routine. Then it no longer stayed there, it quickly matured into a practice. This is a state where your mind enters into a territory where you subconsciously start training your mind to follow the rules (formed based on your routine experience). And it is in this state that you also program your mind not to break these established rules, else punishment will be waiting for you (this is done by showing the fear of change). If disciplinize were a word, I would call it a process of disciplinizing your mind. After this process the idea/act is transformed into a discipline, making the transition, move ahead unnoticed. You may still choose to call it a routine, a practice, etc. But you have actually, formed a discipline. A discipline could be as simple as watching a television soap serial everyday to anything like being aggressive in all your financial decisions. Every one of us has developed a discipline. Discipline can be categorized in various types some good, some bad, some you like, some you don’t, some you form based on your comfort level and some..... Actually all/most are based on your comfort levelJ. You tend to cultivate a discipline by practicing it, regularly, without fail. Most of the times, you develop a discipline, err... a routine and then convert it into a discipline, unknowingly. And naturally, as people fear a change, they don’t change it. Hence, the discipline further enters into the elite club of ‘habits’, resulting into imbibing the idea/act deep into our personality.

Now, let’s move towards something different, Innovation. What does it mean? The word Innovation derives from the Latin word, innovatus, which means to renew, i.e. to rebuild, and to rebuild in a new way, with a new approach. Innovation is always new, afresh and young, it has no predetermined formula, and it cannot be achieved by following a set of rules or a code. In contrast to innovation, discipline is like programming your mind to work in a particular pattern. It is like programming a system in a box. You can’t think out of the box if you are programmed, to stay in the box (refer the watch example). In the example of the watch, the watch is programmed to show time till 12 o'clock, so it won’t be able to show 13 o'clock. Similarly, when you are disciplined a.k.a programmed, you will not be able to innovate or least to say, innovation will require more efforts, time and energy. Inventions are made by humans not programmed devices. So now I ask you, do you think we will be able to innovate, if we are disciplined? Can you innovate if you work in a set of rules or follow a code of behavior? So is discipline within us, stealing away the innovational sprouts from us? It seems to be moving in that direction, if not completely, at least partially.

So what if you disciplinize your mind? Caution: it may affect your ability to innovate because it will constantly fear about the punishment for breaking any established rule. Have you ever abandoned an idea during conceiving it just for the fear of rejection because it may not be normal to think like that? That’s what happens. For this you will have to overcome this fear and gather enough courage to stand through to innovate. You may also tend to get bored by following the same rules over and over again.

World leaders have been stressing on innovation in the 21st century. Innovation will lead the way. In the past, those with innovation have always stayed ahead of others. History is replete with examples of the innovation from people who were not disciplined. They use to think unconventionally, out of the box; far from normal (please read, undisciplined) coz thinking normal will not yield you innovative solutions. Look at the insanely great i-Series, why are they successful? Becoz of Innovation. In order to innovate we need to stop living our lives following processes like programmed devices. Look at the current Indian polity, they have developed a discipline to stay corrupt, incompetent and effete, and we as citizens have developed a discipline to still re-elect and tolerate them. Team Anna has come up with innovative ways of gathering mass movement (read social networking) and uniting India for this great cause. The recent ‘Kolaveri Di’ song which went viral on internet can qualify as another innovation. It doesn’t qualify in any genre. It’s rather a case of genre bending. It got more than 10 million hits on Youtube in just 10 days, after release. Super mama… more than 1 million hits a day! That’s the power of innovation.

So is there a conflict of interest between innovation and discipline? Now, you to decide. I can only say, Let there be light. Or can we form a discipline to innovate?

Maah American voyage.....

I have never been away from home before. Life throws first timers at you. It was my first time. I am travelling to the United States of America. I like to call it THE STATES. I am aboard a flight, a couple of hours away to land, on the land of opportunities. I am hitched with a slight shade of mixed feelings, especially nervousness. And this shade is turning out to get darker as the time is ticking by. My mind is inundated with apprehensions and lot of questions. The people here will be different, have different culture, eat different food, have different lifestyles, etc. Will the people here be helpful? Will I survive in the cold weather? What will I have to eat (important, coz I don’t know cooking), most importantly will they understand my English! Because I have heard that American English is much different, at least in pronunciation than the UK counterpart that I’ve learnt. After I came out of the airport, I felt as if there was a void created. I was isolated, disconnected. There is nothing I can relate to. Before flying from India, I had my family, my friends, my colleagues and my people. Just after 19 hours, entire picture has changed! There is no one I can relate to. Somehow, I recovered from my trauma and recollected that I had a few friends whom I can rely on. The shade turned a bit lighter now. I took a cab and reached there. I received a warm welcome from them. The excitement of seeing them made me forget that I should pay the cab driver and grab a receipt!

My next stop. Day1 in office. That ghostly shade has gripped me again. More questions flowing. What will be my co-workers’ expectations? Will they look down upon me? How will they treat me? I am very anxious and trying to be more optimistic. I am much apprehensive about the people I will be working with. The reason being, when I had worked with them from India I learnt that these guys were damn good in their skills/domains. They were experts, well organized and admirable. Now, I will be sharing my workspace with them. Err……. Sorry, they will be sharing their workspace with me :) Mistakenly or non-mistakenly, suppose I pop out something unexpected, for sure I am going to make a fool out of me or invite contempt. What would they be thinking of me then! So I am more careful and uneasy, at the same time. But in the office, most of the things sounded other way round. People were very helpful and hospitable. They are good and cool. Many of them proactively offered me help to settle down. Another observation was that things over here move much faster than our India office. No process hassles. No red tape! ;) The office is just coooolllllll. It has high speed Wi-Fi connectivity. Roam around with your laptop, always connected! We have a coffee vending machine, though it doesn’t spit out many varieties of coffee but still it has its significance. Wondering why me talking about a coffee machine? Coz its Starbucks coffee vending machine. And yes it’s FREE, FREE, FREE!  There are so many good things but still a slight shade of anxiety remains there. I hope with time the shade turns light, and lighter….. and vanishes one day.

Next, People. People are few but are good. You cannot take it for granted that you can find an address by just navigating around an area. Because there are no or few people to ask to if you are lost! You need to rely heavily on Google Earth for that. Now I got it why Google earth is perceived more as fun stuff than of any use in India. People here are helpful and law-abiding. A peculiar thing that I noticed here was that the Americans give away a smile to any passerby but Indians don’t smile at Indians passing by! Strange, I was surprised at this. Even after learning this, I still tried to give a smile to a few Indians here, but many of them, I believe, got confused whether to respond with a smile or turn their head 90 degrees. It made me wonder is my smile that disastrous? Funny, huh? :) I am not alone, same is the case with my colleagues here.

Next, Climate and Food.  Thank God, I have arrived during spring. But still, 10 degrees Celsius is cold for me add to it the unexpected intermittent rains. An instance, it was too cold and raining too, my mind directed my hand to hold a pen. But my thumb and fingers were not able to obey the directions due to the freaking cold! The weather is more unpredictable than women. A colleague of mine shared a joke on weather “If you don’t like the weather in Seattle, wait for 5 mins”. Talking about the food here, they have different names but they all taste same to me. I really miss my home food (ghar ka khana) the rice, dal, bhaaji and chapattis. Are you wondering, How I am still alive? All credit goes to Subway and their team. I think I should take up a platinum card membership with them. It’s not that “I’m lovin it” but have no option. Currently, I don’t possess cooking skills, I hope the above undesirable options for dousing my hunger, will make me take up cooking and acquire these skills. I am having more burgers than chapattis, I am drinking more coke than water, When someone asks me “how are you?” I say “I m good” Oh boy! Am I turning an American? No No No. I still don’t have non-veg on Mondays and Thursdays ;) My appetite for spicy food has not evaporated yet. I still remember who is India’s prime minister and the names of idols worshipped in India. I also follow cricket. Nope. I am not Americanized yet. But there have been some changes or will be. My ‘going to’ is changed to ‘gonna’, my ‘want to’ is changed to ‘wanna’ and God knows what all things are gonna change.

Let me share an instance, once I happened to visit Subway, I ordered a 6” sub and asked them to put capsicum the guy started staring at me he said “What’s that?” I pointed my finger to it and repeated “Cap-see-cum” He said, you mean “Bell pepper”. I thought “what the hell is bell pepper, I have only heard of Black pepper”. Then I got to know Americans call Capsicum, Bell pepper. Welcome to America! There are many other things they call different here. They have an American name for most of the things. I am exploring them, everyday. Further, I went to the billing counter, the cashier asked “Receipt?” I replied “Will do”. The guy said “What?” I repeated my words. Situation remained the same. At last I had to agree on “Yes”. Listen to the guy’s reply “Sir, please speak English” I thought “WTF”. Still, I calmed myself by thinking “Maybe that guy is tutored to listen only to Yes and No” You see I mentioned the problem with English. Rather than English it is also an issue with the American name for everything you ask. I am coping up with it faster now. One more added to American dictionary recently, grams (chana) is called chickpeas here.

While interacting with people here, sometimes they just say something suddenly and I have no clue what they said. So I try to use this philosophy “It’s better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and clear the doubt”. But this one doesn’t rescue you everywhere. There have been times where I clear their doubts. The only optimistic way you can take it is just say “It happens” :) Hehehe.  I know it sounds funny. But, I am not the only one riding the boat, my friends too, assist me here.

Days are passing by, and I am settling here, still there is remains a hardly visible shade which hitched me in the flight. I am a Virgo so, bound to be a pessimist ;) I am pretty much positive about the future now, than, when I arrived here. I have my Indian colleagues working with me. Thanks to them, they keep me reminding that I can still speak Hindi/Marathi.

I personally feel, here, it’s more about working smart, being cool, sound cool and look cool. To me it seems, here everyone expects that they and people themselves, are be capable of knowing what to do, when to do, how to do things. You need to know something? Find it out yourself, be independent. But, still people will be around to help you out. This gives me a different environment to explore myself. I know many of you would say, and I too believe this must be viewed as an opportunity to bring out the best of me. And will do the same. I envisage that the hitch will evaporate with time and after this voyage I’ll evolve, different and better. There is something much better hiding inside me and I believe, this voyage is just a plot, which will unfold, to bring it out. It’s time for me to find that thing and strengthen myself. It’s time for me to come out on top of it, it’s time to do something never done before (for e.g. cooking :)). It’s time to achieve much more. It’s time to unleash the better self within.

It’s time to hibernate in India.

It’s time to reboot in THE STATES.

India, China or America?

Last year, November, US President Obama visited India. His visit was very important for both the countries, as very few US presidents have visited us before. He delivered a very good speech at the Parliament. A notable thing was that he concluded his speech with a “Jai Hind”. Do you get the importance of a US president crying out “Jai Hind”? Yes, it means that India has risen to a level that the largest economy, US is acknowledging that India is a strong contender for a global super power. The visit was followed by many media channels holding debates about India being the next superpower. I heard some voices there arguing, that it’s China, not India. Further some opined America will maintain its position of being a global super power. What a super power constitutes of? Does the title go to a nation possessing most nuclear warheads? The definition is not that easy to state in this little writing space. Briefly, it means a nation with a position in international space which has the ability to influence events around the world. Let’s take a closer tour to the three countries to try and decipher the future. A few months ago I read in a reputed Indian daily that India has more poor people than the entire sub Saharan Africa! Can a superpower have more poor people than an entire subcontinent? Very unlikely. We are a superpower in scams. No doubt.

So is the world appeasing us? Are we yet ready to become a super power? I need not tell you, what happens when a partial/incomplete matured child is treated maturely? The child will behave unexpectedly and throw tantrums and create unease and may get depressed himself too. Same might be the case with our nation today. We are yet not ready to take on the global power’s position.

The future (superpower) belongs to the one who will have money (i.e. finances) and power (i.e. influence). Keep in mind the sequence first money and then power. So here we are talking about nations and not individuals. In case of nations, everything straightens down to pure business interests. In order to survive as a super power you must know when, where and how to exercise your money and power. America, the world’s largest economy, has been playing it good, until the sub prime crisis hit it hard. You see the money (i.e. finances) component got impacted and the super power’s designation got challenged. When a top spot gets challenged all of them below it run to claim for the top spot. Same is the case now in the world. There are many arguments, who will rein the top spot? American economy has been the largest economy for many decades now. In the 1980s Japan grew rapidly, challenging America to overtake and become world’s largest economy. But the innovations and lead in the software technology kept American economy always way ahead of the Japanese.

Today, China, second largest economy, has grown rapidly and quietly. It is constantly growing at a rate of 9% and above and is expected to supersede the American economy by 2030. Currently, China seems to have both money and power. They are sitting on foreign currency reserves of $2.85 trillion, the highest reserves in the world; the second highest is distant with around $1 trillion; India has a meagre $298 billion. Foreign reserves are used as a gauge to measure a country’s financial strength. So you can say that today China’s overall wealth is around $3 trillion. Now you can realize the stake China holds for the US economy. China holds most of its assets in American dollars. If China were to sell all the dollars in a day the dollar will drop to half of its value today or may even drop more than that. But doing such may prove suicidal for the Chinese. China has resorted to dollar pegging for accumulating this tremendous reserves. China is the largest exporter to America. The Chinese have undervalued their currency so that they can export their products at relatively cheaper rates to America. The dollars they earn are pumped back in American economy by buying treasury bonds and various assets. The result of this is more and more profits for the Chinese and fatter assets in dollars. The Chinese have established a SWF, a fund manage by government, which invests in various countries for a strategic investment. The fund is used to build China’s food and energy security, as it is a nation with a large population. According to some reports China is already the world’s largest economy by PPP (purchasing power parity). It has gained the required money component. As it has money it will have its influence (power) too. In the recent years China is playing assertive. It is now trying to exercise its influence by claiming Arunachal Pradesh as its own part and issuing stapled visas to people from Jammu and Kashmir. It’s their way of saying that they have arrived. I know you may argue that they are a communist nation, the point I am trying to highlight here is the strategic thinking process they possess and how committed the government is to their interests and issues.

OK Now let’s come to America, err… Sorry Pakistan, an ongoing case, an American consulate employee has shot two Pakistanis in a busy Lahore market, who tried to rob him. Pakistan has charged the diplomat with charges of murder and the trial has begun in a court. America is arguing its diplomat fired in self-defense. Pakistan refuses to buy the argument. In response, the American government has threatened to “kick out” the Pakistani diplomats from America and close all consulates in Pakistan. I need not tell you who will win here. I believe by now you might have got the strategy, thinking process and the attitude a super power needs to possess. If you don’t have the attitude, you can’t carry it. Oh, are you thinking I am unfair to India? Lets come to India, 157 people are killed, later 60 hours of rigorous combat, 6 terrorists are holed up in a world heritage centre, they destroy it considerably, we can compensate the casualty. We lost many police officers and a CWG commander, how are we going to compensate this casualty? One terrorist was caught. Yes, you got him right, he is alive. We are still feeding him. And probably he’s the safest person in this country, today. Incredible India! Our government is unable to save our citizens in our own country, whereas other countries see to it that their citizens are safe in other countries too! I hope we don’t catch Osama bin Laden, coz its 2 years now and Kasab is still not executed, don’t forget the judgment was in High court, more years to go. I believe Osama will not be executed for at least a decade. By the time he reaches his sentence he will be close to his expiry date. Citing Kasab’s case, I think Osama may have already made his mind to get officially arrested only in India!

I know there may be some jingoists here who may think that I am singing paeans of other countries and despising our country but I am just mentioning the facts as they are. Sorry for that. But, this current state of affairs is due to the negligence of our rulers. Our rulers consider their relatives as the only citizens and bestow the showers and favors on them. Our rulers are busy gathering money and stashing them away in Swiss accounts and other tax havens. We are earning money by working daily, while our rulers’ are busy gathering more money, daily.

In India, punishments are more of a tokenism with a few days of arrest, a few media coverages, later these chaps get bail, as the dust settles, these chaps are back to business.

Unlike India, in China has a firing squad, which executes a criminal and guess what the bill for the executing (shooting) is also being charged to the family of the criminal! They don’t even use peoples’ money to punish criminals. We also lack the strategic thinking which the Chinese and the America have. Our foreign and financial policies are not aligned to gain long term benefits.

We do have money and surely we have a huge potential to generate a lot more money that’s the reason the world is appeasing us. That is the significance of the “Jai Hind” cry from the US president. We have the money. We have the workforce. The only need of the hour is to channelize these to the correct opportunities. We must not be blindfolded with this appeasing. The world today knows, we have huge potential to generate money and are prospective customers. But we must make sure that while buying their products we are able to also get the best deal for us. In exchange for these deals we must gain safeguards in other areas such as technology transfer, energy security and regional security. Customer is the king of the market. And India is fast becoming the largest customer. Make sure we are the King! We need to increase our stake in the global economy but for that we first need to look into ourselves. Let’s address the internal issues first, let alone the external (i.e. international) ones. We need to invest more in our infrastructure and increase our competence. Our polity must be purged from corruption and transparency needs to be in the government’s driver seat. Only then, we can be a real super power. It doesn’t stop here; you also need to behave like a super power not a soft power.

Long live India…..

Jai hind!

Can “reality” change the reality?

These days reality shows are a galore. I remember, the first reality show I saw, Indian Idol. It was more or less a national singing competition, but with a difference that anyone can participate, no qualification or eligibility required. That’s why it was called a reality show, where ordinary people participate, and ordinary people decide who wins the competition. This gives the show the required “reality” factor. You will be selected based on one factor your talent, that too in singing, nothing else. I adored the show right from the first episode to the last. The initial rounds involved culling, where some hooligans participated too. They just added to the laughter quotient of the show, people enjoyed it too. As the show progressed, seriousness and competition took precedence between those who qualified for the next round. I believe the show kept the whole nation glued to their television sets at the prime time. The show represented the true celebration of talent in our country. The show renewed the interest of many in singing. Many may have also punched in telephone numbers for professional trainings! It was great. Since then reality television has traveled a long journey.

Technically, reality television is a genre, where events are unscripted, dramatic, actual events are documented, usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, in a contest. The reality shows have provided a platform to the one who is underprivileged, who needs an opportunity to show his talent and make his career in the respective skill.

But these days we see reality shows filled with mere inanity, sensational events which satiate our taste buds and hunger for more myriad and sensational content which we won’t be able to see in reality? In today’s reality shows, children can be rented to be parented by other parents, people are locked in a house for days, marriages are arranged, parents are exchanged and couples’ relationships are pushed towards vulnerability so that more spicy and juicy content can be extracted from the resulting explosion of the relationship.

From talent, today we have reached at relationships going for a toss on reality television. Where will it stop, I have no answer. We like to see the hot, peppered and spicy masala stuff. Need a much real example. Imagine, if two people are fighting, we would sit aside and act as an audience to enjoy the altercation and the bad words and gestures exchanged by both the parties. You might have even performed such acts! But why is it that we enjoy/desire to see such bad things? I believe much of this is due to the lure of the darkness within. I heard somewhere that The negative attracts you easily and much faster. You tend to be pulled by the negative forces more easily than the good once. I am agreeing to it. It seems that we are vulnerable creatures. Can a better sense or taste evolve within us? May be.

Here’s a thought. Our taste buds identify our taste. Our inner sense grooms our taste buds and vice versa. A drunkard will like to have alcohol coz his taste buds demand it. The taste buds demand alcohol because the person’s character is such. Similarly, a gambler will enjoy gambling and enjoys watching and imitating gamblers. Similarly, we, watching a person on TV humiliating another person, making various gestures, watching the bitching (sorry for that word!), maligning and other things on television will develop our taste. This taste will translate to our inner sense. Our sense shapes us and ultimately our society. So are these reality shows shaping our behavior and character? It’s you to decide?

Let me point out, today, media plays an important role in shaping our society. Consider yourself a decade ago and you will notice the change you have come through. Considerable amount of credit goes to the media and entertainment that you consumed in these years. You try to imitate your film stars’ style and attitude. We just enjoy doing it. It is effect of media. But, I feel, in media, the reality television has more effect on us as it has the required reality factor in it which the films and drama serials lack. The reality television has “common” people like us, hence may prove more effective.

Returning back to our topic, to develop a taste you need to try that thing at least once or more than once (you may have experienced it!). Once you start enjoying or liking it you develop a taste for it, irrespective of, whether it is good for your health or not. For example, you cannot resist the fast food & junk food even after you know that it is unhealthy, its because you have developed a liking, a taste for it. As unhealthy food makes you unhealthy, unhealthy content makes your inner sense and character unhealthy. So are these reality shows turning us rude, dishonest, selfish, corrupt and immoral, and get spoilt? Again it’s you to decide. Some people may dismiss above argument by saying that these shows are just for entertainment. Consuming such shows may be like unknowingly you are consuming unhealthy food, and dismissing it as having negligible effect on your body. Unknowingly you are serving unhealthy content to your mind. But once you start serving such content to your mind, unknowingly you create a taste for such content, and such taste doesn’t stay restricted to receiving but you also start serving such stuff to others. Some believe the shows are purposely pepped up with sensational and dramatic events to up the viewership of the show. And people are falling in to this content. May be this is our weakness that the show runners are probably exploiting.

But, everything is not that dark too. We also have reality TV like the game shows and the talent hunt shows. These are the shows that must be used to get the best out of you. I am sure after the Dance India Dance show there would have been a lot of inquiries and admissions for dance classes. These shows drive and encourage you to learn something new or better it, which will evolve you in another way, grow you intellectually and unleash the hidden talent within yourself. And obviously you must spend your life “bettering” it and learning new things. Reality shows can be used as a tool to develop our society and drive our aspirations to greater heights. That way we can make this world a much better place to live.  But unfortunately, today’s reality is that we are surrounded with cheating, looting, scams, corruption, inefficient governance, etc. Can’t we do an Emotional Atyachaar on our corrupt babu by showing his family members/relatives and the world how he is earning that bad money? Can we have reality change the reality?

Affixing the responsibility for scams

Heard of “a” Raja (a king) involved in a scam? Welcome to Incredible India! And you can see it happens only in India. A Raja, telecom minister (now ex) is being probed for his alleged role in spectrum allocation which cost the exchequer Rs 1.76 Lakh crore. Whoa! that’s a whopping Rs. 1,76,000,00,00,000 scam. This amount can make 176,000 people a crorepati! These days when I switch my television on, there is news all about scams, their investigation, setup of commissions for investigation, not that only one scam but you get a variety in various fields, arenas and their magnitude, still they have something in similar. All championed by our politicians. I guess scams are the new buzzwords among them. I think we are the strongest contender for Olympic Gold, if corruption as a sport is introduced. An assured gold! No training or practice needed for the event.

If you try to spot some similarity in these scams, you will find that these are executed by person at the helm. You would have observed that a sports team which has an incompetent captain does not perform well. Similar is the case with a government. The position at the helm is the most powerful one. But one must understand that with power comes responsibility. Except the position of helm, it happens due to lack of control and monitoring on subordinates. The recent Supreme Court observation blasting the central government on the 2G scam and the bringing the “sanctioning authority” in the limelight is very much justified. If there is lack of control and monitoring on your subordinates you are bound to face difficult times ahead.

If we introspect, we will find that these chaps are holding the respective offices because of us. We are the ones who elected them. We wanted them to govern and serve us. Instead, they are engaged serving themselves, and their families too. So if we elected them then why to cry foul over their actions? A lion leads a pride of lions, an ant leads a troop on ants, and similarly a thief leads a group of thief. So, are we too, swindlers to nominate swindlers to lead us? Certainly Not. But our attitude towards the governance we receive is certainly the one like a swindler.

Lets dig deep now to know the cause of how these guys muster the courage to swindle this great amount of public money? Let’s find out the root cause.

We wont think twice to bribe a babu to get our work done fast. But have you ever thought how the babu has guts to ask for bribe. Simple. People above him too are corrupt. And the chain continues and this way reaches the top. But if the person at the top is honest, person with integrity. Same is reflected in his staff below. It’s a vicious cycle.

But who decides, who sits at the helm? It is “WE”. We decide who will govern us. We decide how we want to be ruled. Let me be more realistic, I know we can neither decide who will be the telecom minister, nor the chief minister. But we can decide the people, who will nominate a person for these posts. If we elect people, who possess good intention and will power, this good intention and will power will reach to those posts there, which in turn will be delivered to us in the form of good governance.

That way, we elected Kalmadi (a Congress MP from Pune), we elected A Raja, we elected Ashok Chavan. We did not elect them to create spicy recipes (scams) for media channels to serve us at prime time. We elected them to give us good governance. But most of us are unaware of this fact. I hear many people say, “What are we to do with these scams coming to daylight?” They feel they stay unaffected. But, they are wrong. Though these don’t affect them “effectively” now, they will in the near future. And there is this cynics’ breed that keeps whining, “may whatever they do, things really won’t change”. These are the people who are audaciously showing their ineptitude towards being a moral citizen of this country.

We need a change in our attitude towards the governance we receive. We need to be more informed, to make an informed decision. We need to be more responsible to elect a responsible government. On the Ayodhya verdict day I read a tweet, “We‘ve built many temples and mosques, now lets build a nation” Really, a good thought. And the response to the verdict has shown to some extent the maturity that our society has covered, at least on religion as a front. Now we voters, need to reach a similar maturity level at the governance front. The recent Bihar election results have shown that the people of Bihar have shifted their attitudes from caste politics to development so they elected a government which will fuel their progress & prosperity. Some thing similar awaits us. Best of luck for the next election voting!

Right now, I have kept my fingers cross, hoping there is no other scam bought to the daylight while I publish this blogpost :)