India - A Fake Democracy

Often we pride ourselves with the fact that India is the largest democracy in the world. Theoretically, it is true, but practically, is there any democracy prevailing in India ?? Dear Toastmaster, fellow toastmasters and guests, you might hold me guilty of being too cynical. But when I look around, I  start having serious doubts, about the relevance and meaning of democracy in this country.

Abraham Lincoln rightly defined Democracy as, 'Government, of the people, for the people and by the people, shall not perish from the earth'. He was indeed very prophetic, for the government, where people have a major say in  its working is bound to succeed and be popular. But does this definition hold good for Indian democracy ??

Is India really being governed by its people ?? A democracy means rule in accordance with the choice of the majority. While majority of our elected representatives are millionaires, close to 80% of our population still survive on less than one dollar per day. If you look at the statistics, these so-called people's representative holds approval of merely 10% of Indian mass. We project ourselves as a Young Country on world map with 70% of our population below 35 years, but two-thirds of our political-class are above 50. Some of them, including our prime-minister, are well above 70 and truly past their sell-by dates. But there is hardly any sign that they going to give way to younger generation.

Does the Indian government work for its people ?? When the entire country is reeling under double-digit inflation, we are still worried about fluctuating stock-market and Foreign Direct Investment in Insurance sector. Who cares about FDI in insurance sector, when thousands of children are dying of malnutrition every single day. When sugar-prices are shooting through the roof, our ministers are busy advising people How Reduced Consumption of Sugar is Good For Their Health. We want to ensure mobile connectivity to all parts of India, yet we don't have any plans to provide the poor with basic amenities like housing, food, water and electricity.

Is it a Government of the people ?? Three areas on Indian map stand out. Kashmir, North-East and Mineral-Rich Naxal-belts. We have tolerated  68,000 deaths in Kashmir over past couple of decades. We have a 700-thousand strong army calling the shots in valley, patrolling every single cordon. Even though, we have a democratically elected state-government, its powers are  severely curbed by highly undemocratic laws like the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. To most Indians, North-eastern states are not even part of India. They feign ignorance, when quizzed about the problems faced by people belonging to these area. All of these states conduct elections and have installed democratically elected governments, yet all of them are policed by Indian Army. Can you imagine life being cut-off from outside world not for one day, one week, but for full 45 days ?? That's the plight of people belonging to one of the states in North-East, yet I don't see a single soul being moved. One third of India, mostly mineral rich forest land, is partially or completely under the control of Maoists, who have been left with no choice but to fight the mighty state to protect their dignity and freedom. We talk of having a society in peace, yet we are sending thousand and thousand of para-military forces to fight these so-called Maoist Insurgents. They have not descended from heaven, have they ?? They are nothing but our own people, the poor of the poorest. Yet we are trying our level best to annihilate them, if possible.

The pillars of democracy - Judiciary, Bureaucracy and Media are all in shambles and have failed miserably in performing their duties.

We have one of the lowest rate-of-conviction amongst all developing countries. In serious crimes, its merely 5 percent. There are cases, where our premier investigative agency have spent more than 30 years to investigate a genocide, but are yet to come up with a probe report. There are no signs either, of them completing the probe anytime soon. Our so-called fast-track courts take 5 cool years to deliver justice. We have more than 3 Crore cases pending in Indian courts. In some cases, poor people arrested on frivolous charges don't even get to see the light of Indian court-rooms and are left to die in prison, without ever being convicted. Yet, when it comes to resolving a billion-dollar  family-dispute involving Ambani-brothers, the same judiciary settles it within months.

Our media houses are more like corporate houses running after money and TRPs rather than following the 9is of investigative journalism. If a techie commits suicide, that is flashed as a breaking news. We have 10 farmers committing suicides every-day in Maharashtra, yet we see none of it being covered by Indian press. How many times you have noticed our media-houses busy covering a celebrity marriage and irrelevant news-items, side-stepping serious issues, which matter to public. When close to 1 lakh people died of flood in Bihar, we only had head-lines of it, but when an innocuous bomb-blast happens in Bangalore, supposedly the beehive of talented yet selfish IT-Professionals, media-houses make a beeline covering it. Media is living in a state of falsehood, reporting only the shallow exterior of face of nation and silently ignoring the dark underbelly.

About our bureaucracy less said the better. Its full of inept and corrupt civil servants, whose only aim is to earn more and more money by hook or crook. We have close to 50% leakage in all our government schemes, most of which have been converted into a honeypot around which these corrupt people have flocked. According to a World-Bank-Survey, out of 183 countries across the globe, India ranks 133, when it comes to ease of doing business. Even our troubled Jihad-affected neighbourhood country Pakistan is ranked 85, a cool 50 places above us, all thanks to this big-red-tape called Indian Democracy.

Should we still call India as the largest democracy in the world ?? I have my own doubts. To me, it looks more like a oligarchy, disguised as democracy. At best, Indian democracy is in  a state of emergency, urgently seeking attention of its people. If you stand at Greater Kailash in Delhi, it may look like a democracy, but if you go to Dantevada  or Vidarbha, its anything but democracy.

Over to you Toastmaster.

PS: This was my P2 speech@ PBC Orators  Toastmasters Session, which fetched me the Best Prepared Speaker Award :-)

Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya Dream

It was mid of May. A tiny little girl, about 10 years old, was sitting with her friend Jyoti under a small cottage. It was built in the middle of a mango orchard in a remote village in North Bihar called Jagatpur. This non-descript village came under the very district Supaul,which attained nation-wide-media-coverage few months ago owing to the devastating floods, dubbed as a national calamity by our own prime-minister Dr. Manmohan Singh (Or should I say glorified care-taker of a real PM sitting in 10, Janpath !!)

The only middle-school that was existing in this village was founded by  our own Chacha Nehru during his hay-days. Although, he never came back to found another one. The end result ?? Even now there was no intermediate school in and around the radius of 10 k.m from this village !!

Here is how the conversation goes

Small Girl: My friend, Do you know today it will be decided whether I would be a special girl or a simple ordinary girl?? I do not know what God is going to do with me ??

Jyoti: Why ? what will happen today?

Small Girl: My father went to Supaul(near by town) to see my Navodaya entrance result.

Jyoti was somewhat bemused at this question of her friend. Apparently, she was thinking that since she already belongs to a socially affluent and financially well-off family in this village, this girl is already destined to succeed. Oh.. By the way Jyoti has never got a chance to attend any school !!

Jyoti: If you would pass your exam then what will happen?

Small girl:You do not know,it will change my life dramatically.it will be like I would go to heaven from hell.Please pray to God for my result.You know very well there is not a single good school in Supaul district except Navodaya(just to add, its a free govt school with all facilities including Fooding,lodging and all your academic expenses). Papa will not allow me to go to Patna because first thing that I am too young a girl to go outside. Secondly, our family won't be able to afford the hefty cost of my stay in a decent hostel.

Jyoti: You do not worry, you will surely get your goal.

Looks like God was also listening to this conversation, after all he is ubiquitous, isn't he ?? So God answered to the pray of these two little girls. We could see Papa coming towards her. Even though he was far off, we could see a great smile written all over his face(Probably he is not that good at hiding his emotions and so he was not at all able to hide a wide-grin). At that very moment, the girl I knew she got through it, yes she got it !!

Papa: Hey,dear do you know today you fulfilled my dream.I was not at all expecting it from you because you were looking youngest among all other students sitting in navodaya examination hall. Today its your day. You have made me and this village proud. Tell me, what do you want ?? Whatever you want, you can ask for, anything !! Today I am really very happy for you.

Small girl: I am also too happy.I want to do what you never allowed me to do. You never allowed me to take bath in pumping set water with my village girl friends. I want to do it please papa. This is what I want as my reward.

Papa: Ok dear. As you wish, I am sure you could have asked for more. Today you can do whatever you want.

Small girl: Thank you papa,You are so sweet.

AFTER ONE MONTH

The D-Day finally arrives and everybody from girl's family is inside the school-campus. The girl sees a very big school in front of her eyes,it was really like her dream school and she just stood  there, looking all around, trying to let the feeling of accomplishment sink-inside. She was very fascinated with the fact  that she is going to be part of school's hostel, where there will be a proper routine and school dress. Almost everybody from girl's family was crying profusely at the thoughts of being separated from this charming girl. Even her father's eyes were full of tears. But she was too naive to understand those high-emotions running through. Almost oblivious of all these happenings, she just goes ahead and starts running towards hostel gate like a horse and then returns back with equal speed. She does this round few times. Finally its time for her parents to leave. She looks back only once at her parents and siblings and swings her hand to say good-bye to them, before disappearing in the crowd of new students, all lined up to join the school on that very day.

This episode was shot at a time, when parents all over Bihar were so fascinated to Navodaya Vidyalayas. A typical middle-class family was not having any choice for their children, except Navodaya.

Thanks Navodaya.Thanks for all that you have provided. You provided the turning point when a girl stepped outside from the village and got a change to "Go, Kiss The World". We are not sure, if anything can be done to revive its fortune and flagging health in wake of mushrooming english-medium private-schools and people's obsession about these schools. But We owe our life, our success to you,Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya Supaul !!

PS: I tried three times for Navodaya examinations impersonating as three different students :-) First time as Suman Kumar, Second time as Sumanjee and Third time as Suman Saurabh. But I was deemed not-good-enough for Navodaya Vidyalaya. But that doesn't stop me from admiring it, though !!

Ravan's Three Wishes

I have been thinking of writing a blog covering this very topic "Ravan's Wish-List" for so long that before I could realize, my planning had already gone on for about 9 months. Just proves that I am a very good planner and equally bad, when it comes to execution :)

This thought crept into my mind around 9 months ago, when I was going to get my head shaven. In most parts of India, its a custom to do so in Hindu families, as a mark of respect for any deceased family-member on his death-anniversary. In my case, it was my grand-father, who breathed his last 4 years ago, leaving us all alone with a never-to-be-filled-again void in the family.

It was a huge loss to us. I had lost my story-teller. I still find it hard to believe that he had not even cleared Standard X and yet he possessed so much of knowledge that he could spellbind the entire village just by his narration of trivially simple events. Be it Baital Pachhisi, Stories from Mahabharat, Panch Tantra, Ramayana, Singhasan Battisi or even a simple journey from our village to a nearby town on a bullock-cart. He was a master-piece at stories and according to him stories, if told in a proper way, was a very good medium for imparting one's gyan onto next generation. If you only preach, people will not be able to relate to what you are saying. How true ??

Dadaji, we miss you a lot. I wish you could have stayed with us for some more time. If you had been alive, our family would have been in a lot better position than it is currently. This piece of mine is dedicated to him, the most knowledgeable uneducated person that I will ever come across in my life.

Its believed that when Ram finished with his war with Ravana(not to mention the little help from Ravan's own brother Vibhishan, without which I strongly doubt, if Ram could ever have killed Ravana), he was still alive. So when the dust settled down and everything subsided, Ram suggested Laxman to go to Ravan and take some lessons and acquire some knowledge. I am sure Ram also rated Ravana very very highly, he was that kind of intellectual. Even God couldn't afford to ignore him.

Laxman decides to go to Ravan, who is injured and almost counting his last breathe. He goes there and makes his intention clear that he had come here to gain some knowledge from him. Ravan refuses to oblige and tells him to go back. Laxman, feeling somewhat insulted, goes back to Ram and tells him what transpired between them, when he went to seek knowledge from Ravan.

Ram(well aware of Laxman's hotheadedness and arrogance): Anuj Laxman, there must be some reason, why Ravan didn't entertain you.
Laxman : I can't think of any ??
Ram : When you had gone there, where did you seat ??
Laxman : Next to his head Bhaiya, where-else I could have sat ??
Ram : Now I know, why he rightfully refused to oblige you.
Laxman : Why ??
Ram : When you go to seek someone's blessings, you always do so, by kneeling in front of them, or at least sitting next to their feet. You have not done that, my brother. You ought to pay enough respect to a great warrior and scholar, that is Ravan.
Laxman(realising his mistake): Ok, you are right. I made a blunder. Now let me go back to rectify it.
Ram: Sure, best of luck !!

Laxman goes back again and follows what Ram had advised him. Ravana duly obliges him and imparts all the knowledge, that he acquired in his life-time, to Laxman,whatever he could. Ravana taught him that a king who is eager to win glory must suppress greed as soon as it lifts its head, and welcome the smallest chance to do good to others, without the slightest procrastination. Greed arises from attachment to the senses and catering to them. Put them in their proper place; they are windows for knowledge, not channels of contamination. Then he tells him about Politics and Niti which mainly said

1- do not be enemy of your charioteer, your gatekeeper, your cook and your brother, they can harm you anytime

2- do not think you are always a winner, even if you are winning always

3- Always trust the minister, who criticises you

4- never think your enemy is small or powerless, like I thought for Hanuman

5- never think you can outsmart the stars, they will bring you what you are destined to

6- Either love or hate god but both should be immense and strong

Then Ravan told Shri Ram, I did not allow you to enter my Lanka till I was alive. But I am entering your Baikuntha when you are alive. So I am the winner, not you !!

When Ravan was done with KT(A terminology coined by software-industry, meaning knowledge-transfer between an experienced pro and an amateur. Unfortunately, more often than not, this takes places ONLY WHEN an attrition takes place or a veteran decides to hang up his boots), he tells Laxman that he has some unfinished business and its his long-cherished dream to get them accomplished before he dies.

Laxman: What are those ?? I am sure Maryada Purushottam Ram should be able to get them done. After all, he is nobody but Lord himself !!

Ravan: Well, I hope so.. I couldn't get following three things done during my life-time.

1- Ravan was well aware of the problems farmers face, when heavens don't co-operate with them and they end up with a poor yield. So he wanted rain to be at discretion of individual . Every time, somebody felt that they needed water for irrigation, they would just call up Devraj Indra and he will have to oblige them with rain. 

While this may sound ridiculous to us, even today, when we are talking of declaring India a developed nation, our GDP growth-rate relies heavily on nothing but a good monsoon !!

2- He must have seen the agony and trauma, an old father faces, when he loses his young son. So he wanted to ensure that if a father is alive, his son would never die in front of him. How practical ??

Well, not really. Ravan never envisaged sons deserting their parents, come what may. Unfortunately, that has become a norm nowadays. In some cases, even if they are alive, they are dead for all practical purposes. I have this software friend of mine, who can be seen constantly praying for the day, when his parents are going to die, so that he can sell off all farm lands in his village and buy a home in Bangalore. There are cases, when they have settled abroad or in one of high-paying job in a Metro, but when it comes to looking after their parents, they turn a blind eye, though occasionally they can be seen on an NRI-style visit holding mineral water bottles and carrying laptop on their back. If Ravan had been alive, he surely would have felt disappointed at these happenings.

3- He also knew that people always longed going to Swarg, so he wanted to build a ladder to Swarg, so that any one willing to go to Swarg, could do so at his will, not at Yamraj's mercy.

Well, it may be debatable whether it holds any relevance in Kaliyug, when everyone seems destined to hell. But looking at the litany of people(belonging to all age-groups and from all walks of life) standing outside Venkateshwara Temple, on the occasion of Baikunth Ekadasi, and that too in scorching sun, I started wondering, do people still long for heaven ??

After Ravan died, Lord Krishna presided over this world during Dwapar Yuga. He couldn't do anything about them. After Krishna went, Kali arrived. But even today Ravan's last three wishes stand unfulfilled !!

Icebreaker Speech @ Toastmasters

Mother Teresa once said "Life is an opportunity, benefit from it".

Dear Toastmaster, fellow toastmasters and guests,

Life is indeed an opportunity gifted to us by God. In another 5 minutes time, you will get to know, how I made the most of it.

I was born and brought in Supaul, a non-descript remote place in North Bihar. I come from a very humble background, all of my relatives except my father were uneducated farmers. When I descended on earth, my family was in a state of struggle financially, because my father didn't had a job. But soon after my arrival, he got one in state government. People took it as a message from God and instantly I was their lucky-mascot. Unaware of all this attention bestowed upon, I grew up quietly in my village.

I didn't had any schooling till standard V. Whatever I learned during that period, I owe it to my mother. While my father was busy settling into his government office, she was the one, who taught me everything, be it science, maths or english(whatever little she knew). She wanted to see me become a Bada Aadmi, make her proud and be a role-model for the entire village.

When I finally got a chance to join middle-school at standard VI, I noticed that class-rooms didn't look as fancy as it used to appear in books. There were no benches, no desks. All we had was this huge-room without any roof and all of us would be sitting on floor doing our bit, while the sole-teacher in the school was busy multiplexing across different classes. I used to carry a plastic cement-bag-cover every day to school. It used to serve two purposes, it was meant for sitting inside class-room and at the same time, in absence of an umbrella, it also used to serve as a rain-coat during rainy seasons !! But I never complained about this nor the fact that I had to walk 2 kilometres every day to the school. In fact I made the most of it, being a topper throughout my school.

After finishing schools, I got into a +2 college in the same-place. After two not-so-eventful years, I had finished +2 as well. Now I didn't know what to do, nor did my parents. Most of my relatives suggested preparation for clerical-jobs, but I had this friend of mine, who knew all along that I was meant for bigger things in my life. He suggested me to go to Patna and prepare for IIT entrace exams. That's was the first time, I heard this word IIT and I got terribly excited@ the prospect of being an engineer, I had no idea about IITs, but I somehow wanted to do it !!

That's how I reached Patna, the first time, I went outside my district on a train !! Life in Patna was not easy, I had to do everything on my own,be it cooking, washing clothes, cleaning utensils. But I knew there is no gain without pain. So I just gave IIT my best-shot and to everyone's(including myself) amazement, I had cracked it with a three-digit rank. Here again, I had made the most of my meager resources !!

I opted for Computer science in IIT Kharagpur, even though I hadn't even touched a computer till then. In fact, I was so ignorant of computers that on being asked "What would you do, if you have internet an your hostel-room", my answer was I will download a CD-Writer and a CPU, as they are very expensive !!

When I went there and saw convent-educated english-medium students all over, I knew I was in for a hard-time. I was nothing but a frog, who had just came out of its well and will quickly be found wanting. And that's exactly what happened. Despite my best efforts, I languished at the bottom in my class. Before I could realize, I was into my 4th year and placement season was ON. Even though I was lacking horribly in communication skills, I knew I was not too bad technically, so I was quietly confident. So when God gave me a chance, I made the most of it and got placed into Cognizant Systems.

My first job took me to Chennai and believe it or not, this was the best thing that happened to me. I started talking fluently in English, something I had not done all my life. No body in my circle knew Hindi and it was a blessing in disguise. I knew this was my last chance to learn English and improve upon my communication-skills and that's what I did !! I made the most of my short-stay in Chennai and I got into Oracle with my newly acquired skills.

Not everybody is born with a silver-spoon. God is not an idiot, he consistently creates these wonderful characters, who come out of nowhere and make a lasting impression on our minds, not for months not for days, not for weeks but for years and generations along.

From somebody who gave his lab-vivas in Hindi to someone, who is now speaking in front of a software audience; From somebody who couldn't distinguish between hardware and software@ age of 18 , to someone who is a star performer in a Fortune 100 software company, I surely have come a long way. Yes, I made the most of my life. With that note, Friends, I would call it a day and like you to introspect, whether you have made the most of this opportunity, that is life. Thank You.

PS: This speech fetched be Best Prepared Speaker in yesterday's toastmaster session :)

Joke Of The Day Continued ...

While the CJI was retiring on 12th May, finally admitting something inconvenient, we knew all along, after being in denial-mode throughout his stay, somewhere else, something significant was happening. In hot unforgiving summer in Bihar, justice was being delivered. Yes, Justice, albeit of a different kind.

Somebody, who has slogged tirelessly for past 25 years, not for money, but for pride, was duly rewarded, when he got promoted to the next level. It was not easy. He was arguably the most honest of all sarkari baboos. Being the only knowledgeable engineer at your work-place has its own share of troubles. He was always kept busy with all sorts of works that could be "expected" out of a honest government official.

At times, he loved all the attention he received, as his technical acumen was widely acknowledged and appreciated by all. But little did he knew that he was being forced into a honey-trap. While he worked as hard as he could, before his spinal chord deceived him, severely denting his productivity, not his intelligence though, his colleagues were busy buttering higher-echelon officials. He didn't know the dirty tricks that are so badly needed to grow in a government setup. He gave it all, he had, thinking that his due rewards will reach him sooner than later, but unfortunately it never reached. In stead, most of his colleagues, who used to get all things done in the name of friendship, leapfrogged him to higher ranks. And he was left with nothing, but what he was good at...Hard and Honest Work From A Government Official with 110% dedication !!

But then you can not delay the inevitable. After delaying his files for so-long, there came a moment of redemption, when saw a new commander-in-chief being installed at the helm of affairs. He was perhaps the only person, who thought of this engineer, as someone, who has been denied his due honours for so long and now was the time to restore parity. He instructed all the party involved(including the engineer himself), made sure his files got cleared in time with all his records updated favourably. So here we are, seeing this engineer as a Sub-Divisional-Office !!

My heartiest congratulations to this engineer, who has been a role-model, not just for me, but for an entire village. I am sure, there must have been many more engineers before and there will be many more like him in future, But he was, he still is and will always be remembered as Engineer Sahab aka Hakim. A rare talent, who was good at, almost everything he could lay his hands upon. A true genius...

PS: The aforementioned person, who got this well-deserved judgement after being denied justice for so long, is no one but my father Shree Bandhu Nath Jha !!