A regressive and dangerous trend

The Karnataka government’s intention to ban beef in the state is a regressive move. Government doesn’t have any business to decide what anyone eat or shouldn’t eat. They would do well to focus on issues of hygiene standards, spurious ingredients and so on. Beef is part of diet of many people, it is a source of cheap protein in many families. Further stray cattle lead to overgrazing and therefore detrimental to ecology. This law is discriminatory, and communal in it’s intend. The basis of ban itself is questionable, invoking Hinduism doesn’t hold much logic. Cows are revered animals in many rural homes is beyond doubt and have special place in the hearts of many Indians (frankly most Indians in small villages tend to love all animals around…I recall having specific names for each hen!!. In cities though these are broilers, the disconnect is astounding). It is more of utilitarian tradition that has acquired religious connotations Even if it is mentioned in religious texts or there are strictures against doesn’t make it a case for ban since it intrudes into rights of other communities. Many East Asian societies eat dogs, which is considered repulsive by West. Are dog meat banned in West?. Adjustments will have to be made in multicultural and multi religious societies. What should be part of diet is individual choice provided these don’t harm the environment or damage the ecology as also the issues of animal rights of being treated with dignity (this blogger is immensely happy to hear that bull fighting-the medieval disgust, is now banned in most part of Europe). Despite dire threats on survival of whales the Japanese haven’t really stopped whaling, it is regrettable that some people give more significance to their palette than prudence. People of Japan should be ashamed of themselves. Apart from habitat threat Indian tigers and rhinoceros are severely endangered by demands of traditional medicines in China. There is also the issue of increasing productivity that leads to diseases like BSE (that cause CJD), indeed WHO has pointed to certain hot spot region-like east Asia (includes Sars, swine flue so on) where news dangerous virus could incubate into highly contagious.

This blogger strongly feels that butcher shops need to follow strict hygiene standards and social rules, exposed meat shouldn’t be allowed as also the way these are transported should be humane. Laws on these matters should take into consideration sensibilities of vegetarians (who are in majority)

Phenomenal !!!

Muthiah Murlitharan has done something that is nothing short of miracle. What makes it incredible is this is rare to Indians, even if you have passed your prime and doing absolutely nothing keep playing till you are literally pushed out. Indians make lot of records but the win percentage doesn’t match these individual records. Murlitharan has called it a day at the peak of his achievements, with 8 wickets to go for the “milestone” of 800 wickets (these given lot of importance in Indian media, there is a small scale industry taking care of records) to declare his intention to retire was nothing short of ‘stupidity’ from Indian media’s (and ‘experts’ on cricket) point of view. He could have easily got these wickets if he had decided to retire after the series. But some people are made of sterner material. They play to win and enjoy, and not amass records at the expense of team and youngsters (people like Tendulkar are exception). Too much is given to reputation and seniority, typically feudal. If a player doesn’t play well they should be removed unless they prove otherwise, don’t understand what “form” means but a rickshaw puller in Chandni chowk cannot claim to be not in “form”, nor does millions of people. “Form” is load of crap as much as ‘humidity in the air”.

BCCI one of the richest sporting body in the world is also one of the most incompetent. Consisting of assortment of greedy people from politicians to businessmen they have minimalist interest in action and a gargantuan appetite for money. Earning at the expense of the game and audience they have functioned in a way that is detrimental to the game itself. Bunch of buffoons consist the selection committee, who flog the same horses till it is dead. No enterprise no thing. Wonder why there are too many Mishras and Sharmas in Indian cricket?.

Clearly the whole selection process is club oriented which is too narrow. They should go out to small towns outside clubs and street level to identify talent and nurture (this to every sporting body in the country). Only Mishras and Sharmas join club (some from middle class but you need to understand India’s extended family system to get insight into why Sharmas and Mishras join and have access to clubs despite being from middle class background). There is a new younger breed practicing Golf nowadays (I see them quite often from the road, as I travel daily on golf course route…hitting the ball and waiting for someone to pick it up and place, quite quaint. It also helps if you wear designer cloth…I am told the market is keen), these are high end games. Common people cannot even think of getting inside the gate. Very soon they will represent the country but their best is never good enough. Choosing these exclusive games does increase the chance to succeed in this country but not abroad.

This elitist bias of cricket as compared to other sport exists across the world. Look at South African cricket team- there are too many whites, while in football team there are blacks. Look at Indian hockey or football team they come from entirely different social strata, they come from poor family. The middle class is rarely involved in any sport, except maybe for time pass, due to lack of access as also uncertainties of career. If there is assurance of steady income and bright career, sports could be popular career choice. At this point it look risky, youngsters from lower strata get into games to survive.

These aspects need to be studied by sport experts and sport authorities, and responsible media need to focus on these to have an insight into Indian sports. Don’t know whether Sport Ministry has studied these or do they have any policy framework to further sport in this country. Organizing big events need to compliment with access to these infrastructure to common people.

Post Script: this blogger strongly feels that earning from these popular sports like cricket should be taxed heavily. If an Indian cricketer is earning in million it is not really a value on his talents as much as population of this country, they are living on us. These earnings absurdly disproportionate to their talent has to be put in context to Indian realities, the government should introduce another tax structure for these earnings.

A query: if they can ask Turf Club to move out of the city what prevents them from asking Golf Clubs to be shifted out?. There is an elitist bias. Huge chunk of pristine land is made inaccessible to common people. Oh I forgot learned Judge’s children could be playing golf, they cannot be jockey it is a risky business, hitting ball into the hole is a safe and hugely satisfying!!

Death of a dancer, passing of an era

Kottakkal Shivaraman was a master Kathakali dancer, he expertised in minuku that is streevesham (female roles) and took it a level that is iconic. He was a living legend, who gave life to mythical characters for almost six decades. Over the decades he was a delight to connoisseurs of this dance form. His pairing with Kalamandalam Gopi and Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair are stuff of folklore now.

Kathakali is an amazing artform, a dance drama with heightened aesthetic sensibility. If you can comprehend the nuances and subtleties it indeed is one of the most fulfilling experiences. This blogger has had the fortune of watching many live performances (and try to learn for few months…it takes years and ages to master. Must say it did help to understand and appreciate this wonderful dance form). I have heard stories about my grandfather (who unfortunately was polio afflicted on one leg…and lived a life dabbling in ayurveda) who could tell from far away, sitting at home with faintest of hint, the exact scene. He was quite crazy about Kathakali (he even encouraged his children in dance and theater, amazing man). One of cousin used to go into frenzy enacting chenda vadyam and would froth and later become unconscious; people said grandfather’s spirit has gone into him. It used to scare me a lot those days. There is something primal about Chenda and with splendor of characters of Kathakali it goes to a different level, surreal. Somehow that effect is absent when you watch it on TV.

One of the important aspects of Kathakali apart from the visual splendor is the use of light. Long back I happen to listen to a speech by Mr. Menon (I guess it was Delhi…only thing I recall about him was he attended these programs quite regularly with his wife who was an ex ambassador. He died few years later, I did attend his condolence meet). He spoke so eloquently about Kathakali, how in olden days the vilakku (lamp) hid the darkness and the characters emerged from nowhere. This is one experience we miss with the loss of darkness. I thought it was one of the most brilliant speeches I ever listened to.

Post script: It is unfortunate that the Indian government failed to recognize (unlike the State government though) and reward great souls like Kottakkal Shivaraman. Just look at the way they elect people to Rajya Sabha who are supposed to be represent art and culture, it is a dubious process. Judiciary should intervene. This is why it is important to have coalition governments. Like in Kerala there are some iconic figures in different artforms across the country who may not be marketing themselves nor scheming for power. It is the responsibility of the government to recognize and encourage these. It is a matter of grave concern that Union Government has failed in its duties to respect and value the cultural icons of the nation. Culture is not only about movies and people involved in it, indeed it is marginal. It is a shame that in the name of art some pretentious people are being given importance. I guess there are too many fixers to exaggerate these people, it makes market sense.

This blogger like to know why are likes of Padma Subramanium not selected to Rajya Sabha, she is truly iconic. I have seen the programs that used to come in DD decades back, wherein she went to different temples and try to study and interpret the dancing sculptures. It was brilliant, a masterpiece, arguably the best program made on Indian classical dance.

Too many train mishaps…

There are too many train accidents in recent times for comfort. It is quite serious these accidents, lot of people are getting killed. Many who are injured are also maimed for life. There is so much metal inside the boggie that even a small jerk and fall can break some bones. But must say in recent times the designs are getting more modern and care is taken to reduce the contact with metal. Maybe they could use more of fiber that are strong but not lethal in case of accident. The situation in unreserved compartments does remain quite bad. One need to however keep in mind that Indian Railways provides one of the cheapest travel anywhere in the world.

They could adopt new technology to stop accidents, accidents like trains colliding onto each other should never happen in this age we live in. There are enough equipments to avoid these like for instance the jammers and so on. There has been widespread criticism of Union Railway minister Mamata Bannerjee (the firebrand politician from Bengal). Well how much of these decisions are decided by political executives is debatable. These are I believe done by the experts and Minister’s role is sanctioning and allocating. Having said Ms. Bannerjee cannot really exonerate herself from these mishaps, she is part of the collective failure. There are serious allegation of poor maintenance in Railways.

This blogger though don’t take the argument that she shouldn’t be interested in politics of Bengal. A politician once a Union Minister doesn’t seize to be a politician. As much as the Chief Minister of Bengal remains the member of CPM and attends political rallies. I am not even coming to the Agriculture Minister, isn’t this holding two post that is detrimental to the nation. Isn’t there a law against these?. Writes Mr. Sainath in indiatogether.org “Maybe it's time for the Prime Minister to extend inclusive growth to bring the Food and Agriculture Minister into food and agriculture. (Or we could include cricket in that sector.) Four Ministers in the same field would be truly inclusive.”

A minister is also a politician but it shouldn’t interfere with his/her responsibility as a Minister. If TMC wins the assembly elections (which is quite likely) she can take the call of becoming Chief Minster of Bengal, nobody should have any trouble with that. This is how democracy functions, nothing unique. It also need be pointed out that many of the former Railway ministers who are now criticizing were quite partisan (in some case blatant) in allocating national resources.

Further this blogger strongly believes that it is not necessary for Ministers, MPs and so on to be settled in Delhi for their term. They could locate themselves wherever they find it convenient; arrangement should be made for videoconference or other latest technological innovations. Why should Mr. Azhagiri or for that any elected leader need to be in Delhi, where they are not comfortable (and so means not able to contribute to their best). He or she could get the office e-transferred. India is not really Delhi. Many small timers with expertise in sycophancy have climbed into significant national positions just by being in Delhi. We have an example of a clerk becoming a powerful Union Minister without even going out of Delhi!!. This blogger doesn’t think these people have any unique qualities or expertise (indeed most are quite mediocre), it’s about how close you are to certain people. No wonder polices tend to be lopsided. This blogger strongly feels that Ms Bannerjee could locate herself to Kolkata as Union Railway Minister. She is not doing a particularly bad job. Though one feels these politicians not to speak too much into media, and give the impression that they are in control, people are not fools. It’s better to keep shut.

PS. Talking of trains, they have created walls along the railway track in cities, too many were getting killed while taking short cuts. Maybe they could also do something to prevent leaks from the railway track bridges that criss-cross cities, every day we two-wheeler riders have to wait for the train to pass to avoid being sprayed with muck water.

After the monsoons this blogger is thinking of making a trip to Meghalaya and maybe to Tripura (most likely in the mid October), these train accidents do make me uncomfortable.

Its over!!

So another FIFA is over, the technological advances in recent times has provided an opportunity for spectacular visual treat for the audience (one wonders four years from now how much the world might have changed, maybe we will be able to watch these in 3D TV…oops I think they already have it…geez the way the world is moving!!). South Africa has done a stupendous job.

Spain is good team but must say the finals was not really very impressive match, don’t know but I thought the players were really very nervous (commentator even mentioned “stage fright”, “nobody wants to take the risk”), there were so many fouls, incredibly everyone, except the goalkeeper and Snieder, of Netherlands team were shown yellow card, one even managed a red. Some kind of record that one.!! One thing stand out is that Spain scored total of only 7 goals in the entire event, and wins the world cup. Now that is amazing!!.

Peculiar case of Mr. Paul: I have been quite intrigued by Paul the Octopus. Media has gone absolutely crazy, some channels even carried his predictions as breaking news!!. Some in Indian media have gone bongos over ‘psychic’ Octopus, and not to be left behind arranged special programs dedicated to him even introducing other oracular specialist including a parrot, a frog, even a camel I am told!!. Some call him Octopus Baba, other’s Pundit Octopus and so on. If it was in India they would have made a temple for him by now and declared him a god!. It is the craziest thing that has happened in recent times and Indians are quite susceptible to these. Sometime back the statues of Gods were found to drink milk and I went all the way to a temple in Cochin where people had gone nuts. What I observed was when people go nuts their eyes go wider and they speak more than they should!.

Talking of Paul (I am told the Spanish want to call him Pablo and Germans meanwhile want to barbecue him!!) he has been remarkably consist. But he was to choose from two that made the probability 50%. Importantly whether Paul understands that there are human beings outside the aquarium who have divided land into countries and then they play something called football, where you hit the ball into designated space to be declared a goal and so on. Incredulity is amazing!.

Beyond a point though it is not funny and I have a serious reservation on the business of future predictions, intelligent guess is understandable. In India predicting future is small scale industry; all kind charlatans do the round. These situations are horrendous creations of 24x7 media. It is not amusing since it tends to give credibility to some seriously crap people, superstitions and create regressive atmosphere. Is this news? Market thrives on gullibility, these events only add to the power of globalizing nonsense. On a lighter note if only I could predict even few second before the event, I would have made a fortune in turf club by now. I would go to race on weekends make a pot full money travel around the world and then come back make a pot full then travel around. That would be amazing.

Talking of Turf club, I am having some horrendous outings (monetarily, otherwise its great fun. Best thing to do), guessing horses are quite tricky the factors get compounded everytime. Probability don’t work since horses are not numbers, they are dynamic. Add to these when I was at turf club the other day and was having my fruit salad (the fellow serves in paper that is from some magazine, how much hygiene these are I am not even thinking!!). While eating I glanced into the content of the paper (written words are always magnetic!!) and it was a poem, it seemed to be school magazine (Top corner said Sophia…that must be the school located right in the center of the city). I scribbled it down from the wet paper. Read:

A Student’s Prayer
Now I lay me down to rest
I pray I pass tomorrow’s test
If I should die before I wake
That’s one less test I will have to take

Shreya Gopal (VIII A)

It saddened me lot, so much so I forgot to put money in the race. To make it worse the horse I was fancying won. There are occasion to do and not do things, turf club is no place for poems. But I being me am not able to avoid these and then it enters into the mind and then it plays havoc. Intelligent predictions need absolutely clear and rational mind, it needs lots of calculations on different parameters, no emotions. Must say the kid has written something quite touching and struck a deep chord in me. We need thank Kapil Sibal for atleast trying to make learning a happy experience. Cheers to that.

Supersunday !!!

This coming Sunday is definitely a special Sunday not only the FIFA finals but also the Bangalore Derby. I am going crazy with excitement!!.

I happen to read Joel Stein’s article in Time Magazine few minutes back, well one is not comfortable with references like Dot heads (juxtaposing that with Naipaul, will make you cringe…isn’t that how you define racism, xenophobia?). This article seemed to have ruffled lots of feathers in net but I do share that sentiment of the writer when one’s favorite places are being mutilated without much consideration. The new architectures that have started to dot Bangalore (some shamelessly copied from west in its entirety, Morons of Mediocre times!!) is painful. Unaesthetic, ugly buildings that make no attempts to gel with the surrounding, the climate, the culture, indeed it is arrogant, crude and everything that is wrong with market economy. It is a shame. It makes me extremely sad seeing these buildings, they have so much money they could have been innovative and could have created something unique, something that is a marvel, compatible and sustainable. I guess that is modernity. Add to it they have cut some huge trees (particularly next to jail museum, they have made such a bad road that it itself is a masterpiece. I am bangalored!!) and also created a horrendous looking blue wall. Funny part is it was chosen through a competition!!. Shouldn’t they demolish this and maybe use this space to create a garden or some beautiful eye pleasing art. It is amazing the level of mediocrity.

Yes I agree with offensiveness of dimwit ads portraying Africans as savages…well you cannot really expect anything much from fair and lovely world. One marketeer says the ads were “well received by young crowd”. Another instance of youngistan ka wow!!. Indians have racism ingrained. Diepiriye Kuku, a Delhi-based Nigerian-American says “These ads could never be aired in the U.S" he says India is decades behind the U.S. in addressing racial issues. Kuku wrote an article titled "India Is Racist and Happy About It" in a leading Indian newsmagazine last year (taken from Time magazine). The issue here is hypocrisy of communities like Indians that has not experienced or have empathy towards outsiders have any right to protest in support of "people like us" for what they face in other countries. I though don't agree with Mr. Kuku on people staring...don't know whether that can be seen as something as strong as racism. I recall when I saw African people for the first time, I was around eight years old, I kept staring at them for long time since I haven’t seen them before (the same is true of Europeans, when I schooling in pune there were lots of Europeans, in the beginning I stared later I got used), it takes lots of acclimatization not to behave differently. People who look different or dress differently generally attract attention but that is not same as stereotyping them like the marketeers are doing in India. What these ads are showing is africans are buffoons. Morons who make such ads should be punished...we don't share Coca Cola's "light heartedness"

This isn't not funny

I went out of Bangaluru sometime back and had parked my vehicle at the railway station. The parking coupon had this written (the pic herein), I generally read anything more than two times…don’t know whether I should write this, I am quite a terrible reader (my job is just the opposite, I always found that exceedingly funny), last decade and half I seem to have a control over it and can read quite fast.

I had actually missed it at the first instance on a closer look it read “surrender the coupon before living”. That made me smile…yah I also consider traveling as “living”, staying inside “dying”. But somehow it didn’t make me laugh, spelling mistakes are quite common and I consider it as elemental mistake in English language itself. A word should be written as it sounds and not as someone decided somewhere. Spelling mistakes are nothing funny though it might lead to funny situations. Incidentally in USofA they conduct Spelling Competitions at national level and make TV programs out of it. Shocking. Macaques from India tend to do well in these nitty-gritty (very much pushed by retarded parents) and in India it falls into “making the country proud” category and so given much prominence.

I recall ears being twisted over these mistakes millions of time, so I guess I have vested interest in writing this piece but there is something universal in these experiences. These mistakes at primary school level should have relaxations. Dictations are nightmares. I recall when I was in my primary school there used to be regular dictation tests, the school being run by Christian missionary took these matters very seriously. Children who scored less were whacked with sticks. The worst part was getting the result signatured from home. And that is where I got innovative (importantly being punished for the same mistake twice is against natural justice…I got that from Andha kanoon movie later where Amitabh Bachchan makes that impassionate speech before the judge!!… ye kaisa kanoon hai melord... I thought it was a terrific scene and we used to play it out in school) since mom was not into English and her signature was easy to copy I forged. And so had two notebooks one hidden in school another rewritten for home, it was a hectic nerve racking deceit. Double life!!. As for ear twisting, better part of my effort before these tortures went into transferring oil from hair to ear (indeed i would get into the act even before the test started!!), that made it slippery and difficult to hold!

English really was quite a tough beginning but must say it did open a new world, recently internet has added to the excitement. But I still have absolutely no idea about grammar; previously I tried to know now I don’t even think about it. My policy is constant reading will get you into a pattern of correct sentence construction. It seemed to have worked quite well. When I read myself it doesn’t look bad.
So even though I do come across spelling mistakes in hoardings and menu cards so on while traveling across the country I never found it funny, it does make me smile occasionally that’s about it I don’t consider it a big deal.