IPL 3

Third IPL is here, just round the corner and already controversies and accusations are flying thick and fast. IPL is a commercial venture. Organizers are concerned about turning a profit and they will do everything they can to make this year a success too.  Similarly team owners want players they want ; and players they can depend upon being available . It  is simply an economic decision. Now many players that were in the market were not bought and as it turned out none of the Pakistani players were bought by the owners.

So starting from Afridi to Pakistan Cricket Board   all  have got into overdrive. It is  seemingly a snub to them at  India's behest. As if IPL cares  about India!! Remember last time they removed the whole tournament to South Africa rather than play in India because of similar security and organizational reasons. IPL 2 was criticised severally for being anti India last time. It did not matter to them in the least. They want their Business safe and sound and profitable.

 This Pakistani outburst is typical of  the sub continental style emotional way of looking at things.  IPL is a business . It buys things it can sell  to public at a profit. It  is not a sport , just an  economic venture. Pakistani players were   considered too risky an investment. An asset that IPL may find hard to market  in their primary market (India) and  fears are that  this asset may not  even be available  when needed. Snub and politics is not in picture . Pure commerce is.  They don't care if  Afridi  plays or not . They care  even less about what he says. If he is not worth the risk , he does not get a buyer.  He needs to get a grip  on  this reality and move on. Fact is there are dozens and dozens of  other exciting players waiting in the wings  and they are cheaper to boot. Moreover if I was a Pakistani , I would not care to even react . This is a non issue. Even if you look at it from  a commercial standpoint. Which company shouts from the rooftops when their products are not bought ? No one is stupid enough like PCB .

To my knowledge even players from  Holland and Canada also did not find a buyer. Maybe Canada and Holland should recall their ambassadors  to  India as a mark of protest !!!! Childish-  but such is the sensitivity of Indo- Pak relations that anything and just about anything can snowball into an insurmountable problem.

Public activism ??

 Public has taken lots of matters in their hands lately. Sometimes by taking direct action like they did in Iran recently . Remember their street demo's  asking ' Where is my vote"?  They did not  find it , at least not yet. Sometimes Public uses a proxy like they did in Pakistan by using lawyers against the government high handedness . This time round they had limited success , since all that pressure was instrumental in getting rid of a dictator . It is another matter that his replacement is also not quite the paragon of virtue people would like him to be.

India is witnessing another such movement where public is using the media to put pressure on the system to respond. I am talking of Ruchika's case. Now without going into the merits of the charges against SPS rathore , one thing is certain that the system is so corrupt that it took an inordinately long time for the case to come to light. In that sense people are not only demanding justice for Ruchika they are demanding it for themselves too. She is a symbol of all the maladies that have taken root in the system. 

Human nature being such  that I do not think men will stop getting attracted to women anytime soon. Neither will they stop making advances ; at times inappropriately and illegally. However all  civil societies have rules regarding that and any crossing of lines is checked by these safety nets. First net is family, second net is your school or work place support structure, third net is police, fifth net is judiciary and the final net is the political administration. People which means the society has created these safety nets to check wrong doings. In a lot of instances these nets work and things are righted before   damage is done. Unfortunately for Ruchika her support structure failed her. I realize she did not have a mother but I am surprised that her school instead of being supportive at a very crucial juncture of her life decided to cut her loose.

I do know that Rathore is pleading innocence, claiming trial by media and is generally very remorseless about the whole episode, but as a society we must think how could we let any person wrong another person for years and still allow him not  to be even sorry.  When people are proactively taking such matters in their hands it shows that the systems have failed but it also shows that we are not going to sit  idle and do nothing about it. Which  feels  good!

Panun Pan Parzan, Kashmiri (English Subtitles).mp4

Panun Pan Parzan, Kashmiri (English Subtitles).mp4

Panun Pan Parzan screened at Sadho Poetry Film Fest. The film take a look at the teachings of saint poets of Kashmir- Lal Ded & Nund Reshi in context of today.

No Christ in Christmas!

Christmas is round the corner.  Despite the economy still being in the jaws of recession , one can sense the anticipation and excitement people are feeling at the prospect of coming festivities. You hear about series  of parties being planned , trips being booked; drinks and  turkey being  readied. You see shoppers , you see promotions, advertisement  and marketing messages all round. you have lights shining bright ; everything is there but hardly anyone is talking about Christ. I  am not talking  here about world vision and Charities , but about you and me.  Another factor in these strange times is that everything has become political. It is not good form anymore to wish people 'Merry Christmas", since it can hurt their feelings. Politically correct form is "Season's Greetings".
My friend George Koshi lives in a condo that has more  number of residents following another Semitic faith. They went around and passed a resolution that there will be no Christmas celebrations in the building. No carols , no tree with a star on it in the lobby, no public display; since it will hurt their religious feelings. So this is the Christmas George is forced to celebrate.Incidentally George lives in Canada.
One must realize that in all  the Christmas cacophony Christ has just become a background noise that everyone just ignores.  People are more animated about the boxing day sale than anything else. So far I have not heard anyone say they plan on praying that day forget about attending  formal church. I am not making a value judgment here because people are free to enjoy life and celebrate any which way they please but one wonders how and when this pious occasion meta morphed into an occasion to indulge your senses ?

I am not a  christian so let me point the other four fingers at myself. Isn't it exactly this road Diwali is traveling? An occasion to eat , drink and gamble . Put up garish displays of wealth . Bribe and be bribed ( gifts!!). Although I realize for a lot of people there is still a lot of sanctity left. I know most people pray that day and even  though it is not enough at least  spend some moments in piety. One benefit  of  becoming older is that you can look back .Anyway things are clearer in retrospect. So I remember in my younger days Diwali started quite early with street corner Ramlila performed by local people. It was very rustic and very amateur but there was no dearth of feeling in it. I remember even in our games as children we enacted the scenes from the Ramlila play. Ram was central to Diwali.
Like most people we were not exactly flush with funds so come Diwali we had some earthen lamps; one set of earthen images to pray to, a box or two of  the cheapest sweets and a barest minimum of crackers to celebrate it with. There were no big gifts, almost never  did we have new clothes, no electrical lights , no big feasts; yet I remember those Diwali's because the spirit ,enthusiasm and feelings were purer. If you ask me what I did last Diwali I do not remember yet I remember what happened thirty years ago.
Now I remember I partied last Diwali. Isn't that a shame?

Selective amnesia

Your memory becomes poor as you grow older, but if you forget only certain things specially the inconvenient ones ..... this is what happens every 6th Dec. in India. Various people remember the events around Babari structure selectively, to suit their point of view. Essentially we have neither learned anything since those sad days nor are we willing to let go and move on. Anyone who was around then as I was remembers there were and still are two camps. Those who want a temple structure on the site and those who want it to function as a mosque. It was a highly polarized time and hardly anyone was a fence sitter. 17 years hence a report tries to exonerate some actors and implicate some non actors thus making a mockery of the whole process. I personally remember many die hard congressmen supporting the Ram Janam Boomi movement although officially they were supposed to make appropriate noises against it. The prime minister of the day did not think it advisable to lift a finger before the structure was leveled. Today he is with his maker and can't be questioned any more but his party colleauges who were in the government with him are posing as innocent lambs . They played politics with the issue then as they are doing it again by uncorking the toothless report.

The other side rode this issue to power , eventually unseating the "NO TEMPLE " camp. Once they were in they forgot about it in quick time. Once in power some were sorry about it , some wanted to cap it ....... finally they decided to do nothing! Suddenly today when the report came out accusing them of being the wolf they first tried to side step and then went on offensive .

There are no winners in this controvercy only losers starting with people of India who are being hoodwinked again and again on non issues. If a wrong was done culprit is the whole society not one or two individuals . The locks were opened to Checkmate mandal politics by congress, bJP hijacked the issue and only then congress formed an opinion against it. In all this no body should forget the obduracy of the muslim leadership. They took the position that a foreign tyrant babar is more important and no matter if old Ram temple was razed by him , once a masjid always a masjid. Ram in their opinion is only a myth. Talk about Selective amnesia !

What solution is possible with these positions??? How many Indians will agree to this interpretation of Indian culture?

Liberhan report is just a selective report; truth is known to everyone that in those days every one was a supporter of Ram temple . Some were overt , some covert Starting from then Prime minister down to a school kid. As they said in those days " bacha bacha Ram Ka".

Fighting with candles!

One year since Mumbai was hit by Pakistani terrorists showed us a lot of things. Mainly it became clear that we live in very strange times. Every time is " showtime". So you have half of bollywood singing and mouthing meaningless dialouges from india gate .
Well meaning and decent People got together with a candle in hand at several places . The setting sun casts an interesting shadow during such ceremonies and the glow from the flame certainly makes for a pretty picture. Moreover it is easy to do , it can get you a fleeting moment of fame on the evening news and will certainly wipe any sense of guilt that you may feel for not having done anything substantial. So all you good citizens ; a lit candle can stop terrorist from striking again! Right?
Wrong ! absolutely Wrong ! In fact such shallow demonstrations only make the terror planners stronger since they see their strikes as powerful enough to leave us bewildered , confused and deeply hurt. This kind of impotent chest beating only emboldens them to make another strike since it is very cost effective for them . Look at the stats for this one in their favor. Their 9 for our 180 plus a bonus of one billion people stunned into inaction. 26/11 is not the first . Even if you take just Mumbai alone you can not forget the coordinated serial blasts a couple of years ago. If you remember, similar candle vigils were undertaken then ; similar posters and banners had appeared then too . We all shouted same kind of slogans. Our leaders told us that India will not tolerate terrorism anymore. We all heard the same standard statements about the undying spirit of the city and how nobody can break our unity. I will not go into everything that has happened since then Events that have given all that a lie; but you know 26/11 happened still . it is not my imagination or interpretation of events; it has happened!
One thing we should have learned years ago is that candles actually do not work as an anti terrorism device. We should have realized by now that making vain , stupid and stereotyped bollywood movies in which we try to sympathize with the terrorist ; will not change a single terrorist's heart. We should know that media apologists justifying terrorism on TV as a result of communal violence in India is not entirely correct. We should have realized that bringing Sharukh Khan in the media to teach people about Allah's Islam vs. Mullah's Islam is only good copy writing . His reading patriotic dialogue from a sheet on India Gate lawns is not going to cut it . Specially with the kind of forces that spawn Islamic terrorism. It does nothing and I repeat nothing to help people stop the terrorist menace except give them a colorful star studded evening and give them a false sense of well being .
Do you think terrorists in their Muridke camps are shaking in their boots with fear now that you held your rallies or do you think they are laughing their guts out at our sissy response ? This is nothing but the worst kind of sucidal tokenism. Who are we trying to fool here if not ourselves? Are we going to defend ourselves with burning candles , lighting incense sticks in front of the pictures of our innocent dead and singing songs from India gate?
When evidence has been piling upon evidence for years on end we should have learnt that closing our eyes to the problem will not solve it. We have to crush them with force in their home or be prepared for another bloody nose.
How hard is that ? Or is it really beyond us?
Actually there is a very good use for a burning candle ; but only after you capture a terrorist alive.
I am afraid historically we have fallen over each other to feed them biryani instead !!!

Sachin's cheeky single!

Sachin Tendulkar; argubly the best ever batsman in all forms of the game is not known for taking risky singles. Usually he likes to dispatch even the best ball of a world class bowler to the mid wicket fence with his really heavy bat. Honestly even a Pakistani umpire will not be able to give a lbw decision in your favour if you bowl the kind of loose delivery Bala Sahib bowled.
I have no idea why he decided to lock horns with Sachin. Incidentally his loose delivery was hit for a six by Sachin . It just seemed like a single to Bala Sahib because Sachin basically danced half way down the pitch and lofted his delivery straight out of the Park. I do not have to agree with Bala sahib's politics to recognise that he has spent a lifetime struggling for what he believes in. I am afraid though this was not one of his best moments . Sachin is absolutely correct in believing that being proud of your Maratha heritage means being proud of being Indian First.
There is a saying that when your shoe fits your son treat him as an equal. There is nothing demeaning in learning from your children; specially when they are right. So hopefully this was a friendly match and scores will not enter record books but let it be known that the cheeky single was a thumping "sixer".
Over a Billion Indians say so.