Chennai Sinks! Will the State too, next summer?

The 'cyclone moment' is not new to chennaites. Almost once every year, the city receives Indra's blessings, albeit a bit more than it desires. But in 2015, Tamil Nadu faced the wrath of nature with the rainfall breaking a century-old record. Let's not forget that a century back, the city and nearby districts were not so densely populated with concrete carpets. So the effect would have been as cruel as in 1918 with less than 50% of then record rainfall and hence the calamity is incomprehensible.

Every chennaite is proud of the IT corridor and the manufacturing sector that has blossomed around the city but all that pride was washed away by the realisation of the city's bad planning, or should I say non-planned growth. The Winter of 2015 will live in our memories for longest. It will haunt us for years to come with every big investment taking a page out of this calamity to move to nearby Andhra Pradesh which saw the CM getting on the ground to monitor the relief and rehabilitation in the cities bordering its southern neighbour.

All the goodwill the current administration had garnered with the investor's summit earlier this year and a plethora of social welfare schemes launched in the last four years has been shattered in a week's time. Chennai is the neural center with arteries leading to every district in the state, so it would be naive for the ruling side to underestimate the effect of rains in other parts in May 2016. Less than a year away from the assembly polls, political bickering has already started with the opposition using the winter struggle to win the summer battle.

Social Media has turned out to be both a boon and bane when the downpour struck us. While it helped us look beyond ourselves and assist those in need, it also created a platform for the so-called philanthropes to play their vanity and false propaganda. The incorrectness of information had hampered the relief operations and reduced the efficiency. 

I will not shy away from confiding that I am a sympathiser of the current dispensation, although my conceptions have been shaken a bit by the irresponsiveness of the administration during the deluge. But is it cause enough to vote against it? Or vote in favour of a party neck deep with corruption charges and record of poor management (let's not forget the 20 hour power-cuts in 2010-11)? or empower a coalition of multiple small parties with no leader? My answer would be a definitive 'No'. Let's not forget the fact that the calamity was of disproportionate magnitude and no government could have solved the problem in a week's time although the current one could have been more pro-active. So, let us not jump to conclusions and pass decree on the administration today for the harder part comes tomorrow. Millions of lives have been jolted with thousands homeless and entire districts under the fear of epidemic in the days to come. The government's efforts in putting people back on their feet will have to be observed and give it a chance to prove its calibre.

There are some things in life, especially politically driven that one can't help but look at in despair when information dissemination is biased (TRP based) that could lead to the establishment of unsavoury and inefficient governments. Of course, my hate for the opposition supersedes my dislike for the government's ineffectiveness in the last month, so take this piece with a pinch of salt.

In the Game of St.George's, Summer is coming!

Intolerance.

The buzzword of the year that proved a costly affair at Bihar for the BJP. This should be the waking up call for the party to set its house in order at first. While Modi talks of development politics, his minions have expressed opinions that raise grave concerns for many who supported the party at the national games last year. Still many hang on to a glimmer of hope for nothing but this: if the current establishment loses political capital, whatever little hope there was for reforms will be lost.

Indeed the literates have gotten too much attention towards India at the international level by returning their laurels but this is a two edged sword. While it might nudge the leadership to take actions against those stepping out of line, it also erodes the diplomatic and social standing of the nation at the global stage. Again if we really are an intolerant nation, maybe we don't deserve that high ground but the  world of politics had little to do with the logic of deserving and ethics. So, the government has got its hands murkier than before the Bihar polls by jumping into the pit with Lalu and hurling communal statements. Earlier it just had to convince a part of minority to drop the communal tag it has been labelled with but now even Modi's international charisma might lose luster and his support base contract.

Even I have been hiding behind the logic that if Congress was forgiven for 1984 and other numerous atrocities over the decades under its watch, so should BJP for ayodhya and godhra, but the hard truth is citing precedents is not the best form of defence in a criminal case-it establishes your guilt before your acquittal. So the ruling party has to act more like a democratically elected government instead of a loud mouthed organisation on a mission to alter history and beliefs of the nation. In the end, the towering claims of reforms & developing the country will fall on deaf ears if social security is snatched away.

As usual, I can't stop badgering the media this time either. While they have done a great job in highlighting the shortcomings of the ruling party and hitting its achilles heel, it has performed dismally when it comes to informing the society's shortcomings. While the news of beating up a muslim for eating beef was plastered all over, little was heard about the plight of upper caste victims here. The intolerance is no longer the sole right of upper caste Hindus but the right of every immoral bully in the country (sic).

I would say that we have become too tolerant in a way. Yes, too tolerant to  politics of caste and communalism, too tolerant to the bullies around us and too tolerant to the public representatives who speak hatred. Unless the society acts against this tolerance towards the unreasonable and vindictive minds, the list of communal violence victims will never end. So, lets do more than writing about intolerance and tweeting about it.

If you know your boundaries definitively, there is no room for quarrel over encroachments, so lets start by pledging to respect the freedom and rights of others before pushing in with our beliefs and customs.

Washout.!

I haven't been able to do justice to the title like this ever before. I can relate the topic to the subject in more than one way. Everyone (edit,thanks to a friend:well not everyone but only everyone with an ounce of interest in politics) would be aware of the washout of the monsoon session in the parliament, owing to the Congress raining on BJP's parade. I have been contemplating about writing on the deadlock in the parliament and a chat with an office colleague today offered the added incentive to pen my thoughts.

It is clear as a sunny day that Congress is losing its relevance in the current political landscape and the current hullabaloo in the parliament is one of its numerous attempts to gain some lost ground. The situation is partly the government's own doing. If it was not for the arrogance and over-reaching ambitions of the ruling party to expand its horizons in regions where it has no base like Tamil Nadu, Odisha and West Bengal has left it isolated in the arena. Even its allies like SAD are worried of its behaviour like that with Shiv Sena in Maharastra. They seem to be realising their missteps sooner than I thought. The courting of Mamata in Bangladesh and Amma at her residence by none other than the PM should hint the Congress that BJP has learnt to accept its peripheries and is becoming more of a centrist instead of a right-wing organisation. Although it has got less to do with its rightist ideologies, for someone like me they very attempt to allow room for regional players is enough to convince that it is indeed making an effort to bring everyone along. The government made strides in cooperative federalism when it managed to bring around majority of states to agree with a reasonable draft of GST and the deal with Bangladesh (getting Mamata onboard is a remarkable feat) is and will remain one of the greatest achievements of the Modi government.

In one of the daaru pe charcha with colleagues after office, one of our wannabe political analyst colleagues brought in the arguments over the performance of the current central dispensation. Views were mostly similar. Is the government better than Congress? Yes. Is it the government we expected when we voted for a majority BJP government in April 2014? Definitely not. As much as I discredit Congress for its nuisance at the Parliament, I wouldn't blame it for accusing the PM as an excellent salesman, for he is one. I wish he is also the ops guy. If he were able to implement yojanas and schemes instead of campaigns and proclamations, it would do more good to the nation. Well, I am drifting again. Back to the focal point-monsoon session and the entwined politics.

If it was the audacity of the BJP that left it desolate, the scare of losing their relevance gathered the disjointed opposition. One conspiracy thought in me was that BJP is ready to give up the monsoon to serve it cold to the Congress in the winter. In case the phoenix like Congress miscalculates its interim relevance to its reincarnation and decides to overplay its hand in the Bihar polls, say press too much in the seat-sharing talks to wreck the grand alliance it has so meticulously built, it will not only make it easy for the BJP to win but will also be stranded in the winter session. Assuming politics to be like the dice-game of Sakuni, it would be a masterstroke if the Modi-Jaitley-Shah trio offered Sushma-Shivraj on a plate to embolden the Congress momentarily to win the Bihar polls and concurrently smear the credibility of Sushma, to write her off in the medium term. Again, these are quite a conspiracy theories.

Is it justified to raise state issues like Vyapam gate or a case of nepotism (whatever the BJP says, the Lalitgate is a simple case of nepotism.Sushma's husband is Lalit Modi's lawyer) to create a brouhaha in the house? Absolutely not. While the Congress leadership might have offered the much-needed energy boost to its cadre, it has lost its credibility to be a critical opposition amongst the middle-class by being a cynical and frivolous one. One might argue that the government is to be accountable for the misdeeds of its members but lets face it, if we are to implement accountability in the letter, we would be left with none in the executive or legislature of judiciary. The Congress could have gobbled the credit by demanding a debate in the assembly and presented its case with facts and forced the government to take action instead of demanding resignations before debate. It has presented the case when it was the ruling party and BJP created ruckus. That is the worst possible explanation they could give for squandering the country's time and resources by hampering the proceedings: tit-for-tat. I wonder why no one has questioned the Congress for its dubious ploy,not the journalists or the parties on the sidelines of this drama like ADMK or BJD or the NDA allies.

It is safe to assume, everyone is in the game to save their own skin and not for the welfare of the state. I was becoming intolerant towards the Modi dispensation for non-performing till the monsoon session started but now my exasperation over Congress overrides my intolerance. With someone like RaGa as a replacement offer to Modi, I would say Congress is turning arrogant and over-reaching and in the process unwittingly strengthening the BJP's position. When will they learn? Or probably I am not smart enough to understand their masterplan. :P

Presence of mind

I recently read Mark Manson’s four stages of life piece. It was definitely an eye-opener. Often one gets into discussions with friends, colleagues and acquaintances on many a journey that revolves around the question of ‘purpose of life’. That piece helped me understand what I have perhaps always known. It is the legacy one leaves back and seldom is it driven my intelligence or pros and cons but rather passion decides the course of one’s legacy. One could say that our instincts are the actual masters in our decisions although most claim to base it on facts. Something that was reinstated in my beliefs after the latest episode 'The Jury Room' of the tv series by TVF.

In many an occasion we react to situations based on our instincts or should I say emotions. We have always been told to treat others the way we would like to be treated. One seldom recollects this piece of advice before responding especially under stress when it is vital. But my thoughts on this recently contradicted my intuition. Shouldn’t you treat someone the way they wish to be treated rather than how you would like to be handled. We all gain experiences and accumulate perceptions regarding various aspects in our life and these hardly match with the other person in a conversation. So it becomes increasingly arduous to conceal these prejudices, before expressing oneself. Even if we succeed that, the next task is to get a grasp over the other’s notions within the short span of conversation. Then comes the herculean task of doing these two thoughtfully and not completely emotionally. It might sound like advising ruthless pragmatism but even pragmatism involves emotions. Like someone retorted “Courage is nothing but dispelling fear” rising above the heat of the moment by understanding the feelings and preconceived ideas of the other person before reacting to a situation requires emotional intelligence or in simpler terms - presence of mind.

Of the three hurdles, two-not letting emotions prevail on our actions and discerning the notions of the other with respect to the topic of discussion-are accomplishable whereas when it comes to presumptions, it is not a walk in the park.For, of the former two, one is a control on self and the other is an experience gained in the course of interaction which can be fathomed. On the contrary, opinions are built over the years and are built upon the circumstances one has been through. Again, not all can be experts on all traits. So unless one gets off on the wrong foot, two out of three should help maintain the status quo in any plight.

Responsive Journalism.

^It is not a typing error and yes I didn't want to to say 'responsible' journalism. This piece has long been in the waiting. I have not always had a conspiracy theory behind everything that represents media. I remember the days at school I spent reading each and every article of The Hindu and believing most if not all of it, I still do read it but with the exposure and my own understandings about the system, politics and the role of media,I have indeed grown skeptical about it. It would be unfair to dismiss all that media reports as rubbish or as inspired by ulterior motives but even today after nearly 7 decades of Independence we have not evolved into a nation with responsible journalists, coming to think of it there are very few organisations in the world that do factual news. There are few in here too, but the majority is responsive, that responds to the pulse of the audience, the same way a screenplay writer or a director of a movie thinks and in some cases it is far worse- they become sellswords biasing reports for the highest bidder.

Indeed the journalists aren't prosecutors to just bring the facts to light but it is both their duty and prerogative to give an interpretation of the facts. The problem starts when the interpretation takes a turn with their prejudices and other interests. It is time for some course-correction, I believe. For long, the news agencies have hidden behind the veil of investor obligations and more recently TRP ratings too.! Goddamn it, you are not a reality show to attract more audience. It is not just with television journalism, of late even the print media have gone worse with a new jargon 'content marketing'. In short, the news pieces are edited to include the products and services of the sponsors and sell it to the customer's sub-conscience. You can get a detailed and funny view on it from this John Oliver episode. I am a big fan and do excuse me for native advertising here but hey, I ain't a journalist :P.

Before the advent of newspapers, bulletins, edicts, town criers and farman were released by the empires to inform the public of the proceedings of the court. Those were actually decrees by the rulers and it was just a means to disseminate information. Increasingly, the contemporary journalists are moving back centuries and just translating the information provided by the sponsors into news.!

Again, as always it would be false to ask the journalists to take all the blame. Ever wondered if you would read an article or watch a channel or click on a link if it didn't have a catchy title? I doubt it. Well, using creativity to write a headline is one thing but using it to create news is another thing. The journalists need to draw a line between the two.

I started off to write about another thorn in the flesh with journalism but a recent comment by a colleague on my last piece got me stuck on the independence of journalism from capitalism. May be I will start off again later and this time I hope not to get deviated from my course.

Systems of Governance

There was a recent development on the anniversary of 'The Emergency' proclaimed as the dark spots in our democracy when a patriarch of the ruling party released a salvo saying the system hasn't been modified enough to leave no room for such scenarios in the future. It made an easier job for the disjointed opposition to pounce over a government that is losing trust each passing day with its huge promises that have no real impact on the ground. Well, I will leave you to judge the performance of the administration. This is not a piece to adjudge the current government but rather my reflection on the system of governance. I am no political expert but I can definitely say I am not one without an opinion. So here it goes..

I do appreciate democratic rule but as the evolution and centuries if not millennia of history have thought us, every system is to crumble and resurrect into a new one as time progresses. The best one can hope is that the next version is better than its predecessor and not worse. Romans had democracy centuries earlier before the american war of independence and french revolution that reaffirmed the belief of this millennium in the parliamentary system established after the English Civil War. It is quite ironical to observe that the pioneers of parliamentary system, the English still have a monarch with significant powers. This could be attributed to the fact that the change in Britain was driven by the then rulers, starting with William The Conqueror(real life Jon Snow :P) who laid the foundations for the 'Great Council' which would later become the Parliament in the 13th century. Also the slow and consistent reforms executed by the English crowns demand respect for their diplomacy and adaptation of change, albeit slow.

This slow process is a proof to the fact that every system has to undergo a series of tests before it is professed and adapted across countries. The improvements in transit industry enabled the movement of goods, interlinked markets and offered routes for missionaries of religion and culture but the revolution of communication that linked citizens of the world led to the spread of ideas of politics and democracy. One of the main reasons for the success of democracy is the accomplishments of the countries under democracy and their power in world order. Being the superpowers, these nations try to influence the developing and 3rd world powers with their monetary aids, ideologies and cultures. A government can easily empathise with another similar system easily unless the other party offers something that none other can, like the Chinese in the 1980s-a huge market and cheap labour with a government that can get shit done unlike their Indian counterpart which was mired in political cobwebs.

One might say that we have had successful democratic systems for centuries without changing the system but the fact remains that it took centuries before Universal Suffrage could be adopted in the United States(1965) after India(1950) did. Still there are nations with no voting rights for sections of the populace based on sex, race and ethnicity. So it would be foolish to say that there is no change. With the growth of civilisations across the world, each region had a leader and there existed a system in which the leader passed on his/her baton to their offsprings.  This kind of system later evolved into a structured monarchist model of governance. When the chinks in this system's armour started showing, it crumbled. While some rose up again as democracies, some chose communism and others dictatorship. There are always two sides to any model but it is our obligation to keep questioning and evolving.

I do admit seldom has these changes affected the common public, so it might not be everyone's obligation. These changes are mostly adopted for the benefit of the rulers, one way or the other. When the Tudor dynasty empowered the parliament of England, it was to raise taxes with the consent of the parliament to avoid discontent amongst the subjects. But seldom the changes could go wrong like it did with the Germans post the World War I. Here is where the influence of the people plays a huge role in correcting the course of the change. Lucky for us, we have elections in India so we can correct it once in 5 years. Wouldn't you fancy the right to correct it whenever you feel it is wrong instead of waiting for half a decade? If that's the case, do read up on 'Recall Referendums' in the Swiss. It is not full-fledged, but hey, its a start.!

As Winston Churchill once stated, "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time", we will have to keep testing and reforming us for fear of being obsolete.

The Return of the Expats

Many have spoken about the return of the NRIs to start businesses in India but few have shown interest in the return of expats from the middle-east who have been in blue-collar jobs for years over there. It was just another usual day and I had booked a cab using an app and the driver was very courteous. I struck a conversation with him to understand the perks offered by these online cab aggregators to the drivers. He started by saying he had joined the company only a day before and I was his first customer.

He has been in the arabs as a driver for over a decade and he had come home for an extended vacation. He was planning to return in a couple of months when a friend recommended the new-age cab aggregators in India. Within a day, he had his police verification done and joined the fleet of one such operator. The chat with him was an eye-opener to me. For decades, many young Indians who couldn’t find a job here have sailed away to the middle east and other countries to work as drivers, electricians, plumbers and in a variety of similar professions on contractual basis. The pay is good although the living conditions, contractual obligations like the requirements to stay abroad for a couple of years before they could return have been a pain-point for many who sailed away with the hope of providing to their families. Add to this the political crisis in the arabs in the last few years like the recent Yemen crisis, very few want to sail now.

The boom of startups couldn’t have come at a better time. With the millions of VC money, startups are splurging on drivers, delivery boys, etc to get them on their platform. The salaries have seen a huge rise due to the high attrition caused by many alternate opportunities. Not just the expats, but also the prospective sailors are preferring to stay back home.

After all, the change observed at the ground is what gives every entrepreneur the ‘high’ of being an entrepreneur. The change couldn’t be explained better than the rise of livelihoods of many a blue-collar worker.