Hail the Pope !

Pope Francis is the best thing that has happened to the world in recent times. What a compassionate man. I am deeply moved

We thank the US government 

By arresting the Deputy Consul General in Consulate of India at New York the US authorities have done us a big favour. You cannot expect these things to happen in India. Rich and influential people (the elitizens) playing victim is big career move these days. The profile of Deputy Consul General reads “she also wishes to contribute towards dalit and gender equality in her country”, in the meanwhile (if the reports are to be believed) she also has stolen the flats in Adarsh Society meant for Kargil War Widows!! I wouldn’t be surprised if the family had a big role to play in influencing the whole selection process as also the high profile posting. Rather than retaliating the government needs to do introspection and find out why these dubious people land up in such prestigious position.     

What is particularly interesting and charming is that she was arrested in front of her children. The traditionalist Indian media will be emotional about ‘masoom bache’, but what is forgotten is exploitation of servants (and weaker) is something ingrained in this society. ‘Masoom bache’ are trained in these nuances of providences and entitlements over others in a uniquely cultured manner. They learn these hypocrisies as natural happenings and are adept in these little tricks quite early in life, it becomes their second nature thus easily negotiate the challenges of ethics and law. You may even call it tradition, and therefore traditional family. Even if you are from the lowest strata, this is the traditional aspiration model, quite appropriately referred to as 'sanskritisation'. Thankfully in this rare case ‘masoom bache’ will realize that if you exploit others you will have to pay for it.

Gender issues are now ticket for big returns. These days you can usurp anything and everything with charm talks and connections. Elite women as victim is the new rage in the town, it seems to have overtaken all hierarchy of victimhood in the land of victims. I recall while I was residing in Delhi, quite frequently I had to criss cross posh colonies and the way these women abused their servants. They also shouted down the hapless vegetable vendor, squeezing out the last rupee from the poor man. I felt so disgusted when I saw them later cruising in their long cars, with longer faces! Now ofcourse they are victims and ‘live in fear’ after the gang rape incident (incidentally the fiercely brave and unfortunate victim was marginalized migrant, also these are quite common outside high profile delhi). At one level there is hilarity in these narrations at another shocking hypocrisy. 

LGBT issue also gets more than its share of space because it falls into these patterns of elitizens as victims. Fitting into the international narration and strong market pointers assure bigger reach and so has a readymade climbing opportunity for the devious (quite understandably Crude woman was off the block in no time, it has moistened the eyes of the old timers! ZK says bhushanz se vibhushanz ka safarz katon bara hai). What can be more charming in a land that has millions with absolutely no hope, it is terrifying if you know what it means. As far as the nonsense Supreme Court verdict is concerned it has grievously harmed the credibility of the institution, this blogger suspects that some in the Indian judiciary are politicized and intentionally playing to increase the troubles of beleaguered government. Ideally it is the Parliament which has to make the law, so in a way this is not an entirely unfortunate happening and has brought in some balance.

Fanfare for The Common Man !!

What a stunning performance. A slap on arrogant blabber mouth self serving leaders.  The third alternative should exist in each state. Bipolar contests are dangerous for democracy as also for common people as it is mostly elitist. Multiparty reflects the reality of the nation. It also reduces the space for manipulation by power brokers and sycophants.  

(Fanfare for The Common Man is the title of popular symphony by Aaron Copland)  

Viva Mandela !!!

Maharashtra needs Article 370

Maharashtrians, particularly based in Mumbai, too are “deeply vulnerable about their identity and insecure about the future” and therefore need Article 370 and other charming safeguards. The elites for their competing reasons use nuanced arguments to further their agenda, it comes coated with egalitarian worldview. They created the boundaries as they felt right and now come with nonsense arguments which may seem protecting rights but are insidious in its intent. They encourage fundamentalism in the name of secularism and in effect position themselves as liberal. Liberalism is then extended to extreme form of hedonism. Consumption of elites therefore becomes standpoint of egalitarianism. This is precisely what is happening in Kashmir. As they party swanking their liberal concerns, the mullah strengthen their hold. The common people get trapped in this competing force, the spiraling violence are security force actions. This is a familiar pattern.   

Article 370 is a dustbin case and it most definitely violates the basic structure of the constitution, it is an affront on democratic values and civilized norms. People of this country don’t want to live in history nor do they want to relive in the past follies of self serving elites. If my rights as a citizen of the country are violated in Kashmir then that is where the argument ends. I have no interest in any historic muck. Further I believe in integrating with humanity while keeping one’s positive part of identity alive. If Kashmiriyath has to be safeguarded so will be the compelling argument of Maharashtriyath. Kashmiriyath has neither precedence nor anything unique that Maharashtriyath doesn’t offer. Indeed that is true for any part of the country. The continuation of Article 370 even after so many decades after independence is an anachronism that must be addressed. If Kashmir needs Article 370 so does Maharashtra, all the arguments are equally valid. Myth making cannot substitute this reality and as far as Indian people are concerned this is the root of Kashmir problem. Nothing nuanced can undermine misery that it spreads.

Tehelka ‘sexual assault’

Nobody can be judge on these matters, it is for the court to decide having gone through the evidences. The wonders of technology are such that we common people do have ringside view on these happenings.  I was going through the letters the victim has written, if true then Mr. Tejpal is in serious trouble. Though there are people who are admirer of Tehelka kind of ‘investigative journalism’, that rely on sting operations, I have never been a supporter of these. Journalism needs more involvement, commitment and nuanced discussion, rather than fly by night blitzkrieg operations. I somehow believe that these are bordering unethical. A moment taken as a context to judge the event is not the whole truth though the video is seen as compelling truth, sometimes these are but not always. The recent sting on AAP party and malicious campaign proves the point. I personally knew the fellow who was involved in ‘defence scam’ sting conducted by Tehelka (that scalped the then BJP president), he used to work with me briefly. He was a terrible fellow whom I studiously avoided. I wasn’t surprised that he arranged ‘honey traps’. Where is the morality here? Nevertheless Tehelka did position itself as an answer to the cruder times we live.      

In the Tehelka sexual assault case, I believe the complete truth is somewhere out there and needs meticulous investigations. I was going through the pictures taken during the THINK festival, I must tell the pictures of the ‘victim’ doesn’t look like that of a person who has been recently “seriously assaulted”. She doesn’t show signs of recent trauma. I find that baffling. Also the ‘victims’ letter makes serious insinuation on character of the people concerned, that may not relate to the case, which needs further affirmation. Like about Mr. Tejpal’s daughter witnessing when she was 13, this needs to be further examined. Also an allegation that her Managing editor was ‘having an affair’ with Editor in chief, these are statements that seems to suggest there is more to it. I was reading some of the articles written by the ‘victim’ on teenage sex, as also death of an actor which is correctly argued as a murder –the evidences suggest so (another cop botch up). She is a good writer and has flair with words, taking extreme caution on the identity of the ‘victim’, I must add here Stephenians are born writers (you can either be a Stephenian or not a writer, so argued Kushwant Singh. No wonder Indian writing has suffered, and so has the country! There are about 20 odd Stephanians in Parliament, that is as big as state of Kerala!! So much so for feudalism. Mr Tharoor has a culinary explanation he calls it Thali effect!!). 

Sexual harassment at work place is a serious matter, long time back the place I was working there were serious allegation of rapes, not one victim but many (incidentally renowned Justice Iyer was our neighbor). I was privy to one, she talked about these in detail, those days I had my own serious problems, and was vacillating between life and death, literally!, extremely confused lad. So wasn’t terribly concerned about others, an extreme form of alienation that family-societal expectations can bring to an individual. Further in the same organization there was another man who hunted on young men, he did try some crap (the worse that I had experienced as a kid). These were sickening times for me, I left the place at the earliest possible opportunity. 

These are to be dealt seriously by the law, but I believe times are changing quite fast and we live in different worlds. What may look like an assault in small town may not be that in a big town. Like for instance, to take an example, people of different sex don’t hug each other in small towns but big cities they do, it is seen as normal. The context may be same but nuances are different and could be seen as an assault if one has the intention to see it that way. Though the articulate women in media (who incidentally have their own agenda) may try to make us believe that gender violence is same, the fact is they are not. Women face immense hardship in small towns and lower middle class homes which I don’t think they can relate to or empathize just because they are of same gender. The class-caste factors are acute, indeed higher strata women are in same league as men as arbitrators and perpetrators of caste/class violence into next generations, oppressive norms as identity. For instance, the matrimonial columns are not written by illiterates. The muck is beyond gender, the reason this blogger is stridently against women reservations in the parliament.  It is an elitist ploy to appropriate power.

In the power struggle sex is nothing but a weapon, and some men and women are quite adept in using these. At one extreme it is described as sensuality while on the other it is brutal power, nevertheless it exist all the while. The law is stringent but it should also be able to decipher and not brush everything under same context. If that is the case then it is being gender insensitive. As also the lynch mob like behavior of ‘righteous’ media must be curbed, it is high time we also have laws on these matters.