Wit Wisdom and Whoop

In the recent past there has been a huge uproar over the suicide of a young scholar Rohith  Vemula.  This is not about his suicide or the events that have followed. It is about my thoughts on the caste system we have. For centuries India has had a caste system. Religion has intermingled and made a concoction that is difficult to unravel.  For decades the British used the divide and rule strategy so effectively that we even had cricket matches “Hindus v/s Muslims” and none in the country felt like protesting. No, this was not in some past forgotten stone age, it was as recently as in  1946 meaning just 70 years ago when the heroes of our freedom movement Gandhiji, Nehru, Patel were all in their leadership positions.  It grew to encompass Christians, Buddhists etc as others.  For more on these cricket matches read here.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombay_Quadrangular These matches came to a halt in 1946 not because someone found it obnox...

Dear Rahul, Since you spoke about listening to different shades of opinions and seeing the way you reacted to the students at Bengaluru I felt this was a good time to send this letter to you. Chances are you won’t read this but at least I have made an attempt. The only reason that prompted me to write this is that for whatever reason I see a new Rahul Gandhi, at least in some ways though not in all. So maybe there is hope for you yet. Firstly, you are NOT your father, mother, grandmother, great grandfather – you are what you are – Rahul Gandhi. Accept that, imbibe that and focus on that. Please try to learn from many other children of famous privileged families. A Ranbir Kapoor except for the towel scene has charted a course that was different from his father Rishi Kapoor. We see and hear Ranbir on/off the screen. Karishma and Kareena Kapoor rarely remind us of Randhir or Babita and at best Karishma’s eyes remind me of Babita. Saif Ali Khan thankfully doesn’t remind me ...

The following link provides a good opening batting option to the raging  debate on hand about intolerance. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Intolerance-has-always-existed-Niti-Aayogs-Bibek-Debroy/articleshow/49666174.cms This is not about irresponsible statements of anybody since with freedom of speech assured each is free to shoot their mouth off and that anyway is a emotional issue not rationally possible to debate. Intolerance as per a dictionary  is defined as “unwillingness or refusal to tolerate or respect opinions or beliefs contrary to one’s own”. Going by this definition one can say that the two sides debating this issue today seem to have different opinions on issues but yet one side claims that the other is intolerant. So who is actually intolerant here? In my opinion BOTH. Considering that intolerance has been existing since long and is a common trait with many humans what is it today that is making one section of the society r...

Crisis Management: This is one area where this government has been brilliant. Soon after the new government took over the NDRF was literally cleaned out with a broom and did earn some criticism. But not being so important in the eyes of the public or media the issue died a quick death. However successive crisis be it the nurses saved from Iraq, airlift from Yemen, Nepal earthquake were handled with aplomb, quickly and most importantly efficiently. Many will argue that India has done such things earlier too. True but there were crucial differences from past such efforts.  Firstly the government acted so swiftly that it was almost in real time.  Government was acting faster than media could complain or raise as an issue. Secondly the government demonstrated that they were in charge, leading from the front and the ministers concerned worked like frontline soldiers rather than like the back stage welcome reception delegation that received people when they landed and got p...

Defence: The response of the new government to Pakistan I think clearly showed the focus and strategy. Talks would be on mutually acceptable terms, not driven by Pakistan’s habit of running with the hare and chasing with the hound. There are no major egoistic or deal breaking pre-conditions but a simple condition – Pakistan must deal with India. Period. They cannot deal with Indians supporting Pakistan as a parallel track. Also talks and hand of friendship are not linked to our reaction on the border. If someone fires at us the Indian army will fire back. The earlier government and many arm chair intellectuals kept talking of the danger of skirmishes escalating into war, even a nuclear war. Logically these fears are unfounded since Pakistan economically is in no position to indulge in such adventurism nor is their reputation with global powers be it USA or China such that they can expect them to come help. USA is paying protection money to keep the terrorists engaged in Pakist...