Deep Focus - TOI, Nov 4, 2012

Today's deep focus is on
1. Malala's attempt for de-Talibanization - how effective that would be
2. The attempt being made to connect 2.5 lakh gram panachayats thru the net
3.A story to portray that Namo's good is not good enough
4.And an interview on the Mussorie Writers festival

While there has been a furore the world over, people closer to the ground at Swat valley in Taliban Pakistan are not very enthusiastic about the impact of little Malala's deeds. The Pakistan army is not very keen to suppress the Talibans in Pakistan. Quite a few of them run away to Afganistan and continue with their hit and run tactics from there. President Zardari feels his country is too weak to face any backlash. Rather than becoming entirely pessimistic, I feel instances like Malala's, hundreds of them, will finally change the scenario there.And it will take hundreds of years. LDL (bad cholestrol) count will diminish and HDL (good cholestrol) will increase. Someday, sometime, Afganistan would get back to the glorious days of Kanishka. Attached picture is of Mingora town in Swat Valley - an erstwhile tourist place.

Sam Pitroda still rules. His Rs 30000 crore project on strengthening broadband internet connectivity across 2.5 lakh gram panchayats will connect the whole of RURAL India. The country will reap the benefit of on-line current live 'Information'. The farmer may get a better price (unless the middleman invents another devious method) and so on and so forth.Already the nation has got a 4 million rural mobile phone users. Connectivity would be a great boon. Ofcourse, the thugs will be using the new-found tool to the hilt, but at the end it will not be restricted to them only. Everyone will benefit, whatever be his/her area of operation.

Namo is Narendra Modi - was not aware of that. Today's article has everything negative about his results. Gujarat has been shown as the worst of the performers amongst the top 20 states. Namo Narendra Modi. Take it positively. Years of hard work has taken Gujarat to the current statistics. So another 20 years of continuous harder work will catapult the state to the front line amongst the top 20 states. For sustenance, my view is that it has to be broad-based. Concentration of wealth in a few hands will be nothing new. That is the story everywhere.

Mussorie wriers festival was a congregation of writers from the hills and some from abroad. Writers move the world. It will be a long time when the sale of books in India goes somewhere near to that in the US. But atleast these literary festivals bring some cheer to the writers and creates that incremental awareness towards the arts. If it results in a little extra royalty income for the writer then why not? Let's have such functions in all the towns of India, big and small.  Jai Ho!!

First Look / Deep Focus - Oct 28, 2012

TOI has the following 3 in today's FL/DF page.
1. Shobha De coming out with a novel on the contemporary politician
2. How some of the IAS officers have got the gall to face the machinery of the contemporary politician
3. The dangers from the international mafia - to the Gujarati diamond merchant at Antwerp



Shobha De has been pretty active with her writings on contemporary India and has shown strong likes and dislikes. She has been pretty aggressive on some of the well-knowns in the India scenario. So no wonder she decided to come out with the omni-potent Indian politician whom we Indians only have made all - powerful. Would love to read the novel to find out Amrita's (daughter in law of Sethji) actions and how the same could be replicated.

We know of  IAS officers who do not bulk under pressure from the contemporary politician and pay the price for same if not with life but with 26 postings in 26 years etc. India works becoz of these Babus. We have quite a number of them. Most of them operate at tandem with the Governmemt machinery and are part of the same. Once in a while some of them are singled out for disproprtionate assets etc. Sometimes their children also hog the limelight for the wrong reasons. Only a handful of them stand up to say 'No, Minister' and face the commensurate punishment.

I had cleared the IAS prelims twice but did not turn up for the finals. I shudder to think facing the wrath of the minister.

I am not sure whether the contemporary politician is aware of the existence of one layer of people who are actually above them. I am talking of the international mafia. They work seamlessly across boundaries. I understand the Goa Government is trying to fight them. There are parlors in every locality. Good luck - Goa government. International mafia is all-pervading. They are now striking at the few Gujarati families still operating their diamond cutting business from Antwerp in Belgium. If required they will shift base to Dubai. May be they will be saved then as they will be operating from the den. No issues - after all if you can't beat someone, join him.

Where To.....

 One question that keeps haunting me is where to.

Mankind where to?

The erudite will rightfully tell me - Man - go and do your work. The Almighty will take care of the rest. Very right. No questions asked. Still I thought I'll ask where to? Where are we destined?

Two conflicting thought processes keep coming to my mind - the good that is happening and the not so good that is also happening almost simultaneously.

The world today is reaping the harvest of scientific innovations. The poor and the rich are talking on mobile phones and are well-connected at their respective levels. Improved medication has enhanced the life-span all over. I understand hundreds of NGOs all over the world are working to mitigate the sufferings of the millions.

On the other hand the thought of the Ganges and the Yamuna being totally polluted and going dry in due course is nerve-racking. We are so helpless to keep mother nature intact. Global warming is giving us enough warnings of the shape of things to come - that substantial parts of the world will submerge under water. Most likely then also the seven sages will take a boat ride to safety and a new world will start from them.

So the best way is to keep going by doing what is allotted to you. There is no choice. what else can you do?

The process of  keeping doing the work allotted to me is also fraught with issues. City life is becoming complex by the day. Pressure of population and pollution are making life unbearable. Villages have other issues of gigantic proportions. Soon the money earned will be spent on food and housing only as the increased demand out-manouvres the limited supplies. Now I understand why many people in the advanced nations of Western Europe prefer not to have families.

Being an ever-optimist I am sure mankind will find out solutions to its issues. As long as the Sun is shining and the earth keeps rotating and revolving- mother nature will not fail us. But at the end it should not be that we fail ourselves and mother nature as well. Fighting amongst people has been an eternal phenomenon. Greed for controlling the resources nationally within the country and internationally amongst the countries is nothing new. So as long as mankind is there we'll have strifes. But strifes at what cost? Is anyone bothered?

So !!! Thinking about where to leads me to nowhere! Better that I keep doing what is allotted to me. Only Time will tell.

Glory to the Almighty!! You save us.