FRESH AIR

Arnab was being naïve. Giving us hope. Promising to expose and nail the corrupt. As if on cue, the rivals followed. And we had a CNN exclusive, a Headlines Today expose, and a NDTV exclusive revealing exclusive and incredible documents, sullying credible names. The fact that NDTV got stuck in the muck is another exclusive story. When you play with fire your hands are bound to get burnt. If your job is to fish in the gutter, some muck is bound to stick. Big names hitherto thought sacred and pure are galloping away to infamous glory. Little surprise then that names washed with Nirma ki safedi and Rin ka chamatkar, names of repute and respect, got their share of sticky stains.


As the tide of scams and leaks ebbs we are realizing the fact that several were swimming naked. And the tide hasn’t fully ebbed as yet.And like morons we watched wide eyed, one scam revealing another. The moment one emerged unscathed from the muck, another fell with twice the thump. The word ‘scam’ has become a big joke. And no one is even amused. The scam blizzard is sweeping scribes, socialites and industrialists along with it.


How silly of us to hope. Yes we hoped that the corrupt will be chakki piecing and piecing….How could we forget that the corrupt go to the corridors of Power. In the hallowed precincts of the Parliament. Not in jails.

Why? Because the important files with clinching evidence go missing. How absurd is that? So the corrupt are ‘chakki picing’ only in our vivid imaginations. In reality they are the breaking bread with Mukesh at Antilla or Obama at the Race Course Road.

Worse, more absurdities are in store. The Lavasa designer lake city project might be razed after it is almost ready. The ministry of Environment has served a show cause notice after a decade. Why was the construction allowed to continue on 25,000 acres without the mandatory clearance?
Lofty but tainted Adarsh will also be razed. Will wiping off 31 storeys, wipe off the stains from the face of south Mumbai?

After such absurdities what bliss it was to see the women sprinters win medals for the nation. They gave me goose bumps. From Haryana emerged the story of contrasts. Of golden girls and female infanticide. Of medals and honour killings. Of hookah spewing elders and Nike sporting girls.

Also what bliss it was to welcome a positive message from the people of Bihar. While the Ayodhya verdict gave resounding thumbs down to the politics of religion, the Bihar verdict went a notch higher. It said no to politics of caste. Poor pollies! Now they can’t thump their chests and proclaim, ‘We rule in so many states’. They have to say, ‘We serve in so many states’.


The message is to change the ‘lal batti’ to a sign board proclaiming, ‘Men at Work’.Nitish has done that. Will others follow? They will perhaps take time to learn from their mistakes. Or maybe unlearn what they have been practicing. Playing games with the incendiary mix of religion and caste politics!

A gutsy girl, Ghazal Kalra, working for a multinational, refused full time scholarship at Stanford to join the Congress. She is spearheading the population stabilizing program in Kurukshetra. Another IIM A graduate K. Chepuri joined the BJP. I am hoping that they do not get sucked by the system.

These positive messages emanating from the backdrop of dubious wheeling dealings, give me hope. Despite the scam storm, I can smell fresh air. Do you smell it too?

A GIMMICK ?

Let it be said that I admire Ms Robert's acting skills and the choice of faith and religion is a personal matter not to be debated by unknown netizens.
Just before the release of her film Julia Roberts has announced that she has embraced Hinduism. Fine. Why scream and announce it to the world, is my question? The forty two year old actress says, “It is not a gimmick. I have no intention of demeaning any other religion. It is because of my fondness for Hinduism.”
Wonderful! The truth is that the core values of all religions are the same. Right over wrong, good over evil, justice over injustice, fair over unfair and peace over war. Understood in this manner a change of religion becomes inconsequential for me.
Coming back to my query, how will Ms Roberts become a Hindu? Will she conduct havans, wear ochre, blow conchs, perform aartis, sing bhajans or maybe attend the next Kumbh mela? Julia might become a Jaishree. Who knows?

Okay, agreed, religion does not begin and end with rituals and changing names. It goes much beyond, more so, Hinduism which is ‘a way of life’.
According to Julia, now that she is a Hindu, she along with her family will ‘chant, pray and celebrate’. Surely celebrating, chanting and praying were possible even while she was with her previous religion; a Baptist with Catholic parents. Who was stopping her from praying or celebrating?

Perhaps she will become a better person by embracing Hinduism. Not, necessarily. Perhaps Ms Roberts, impressed with the Hindu mythology, will now read and follow the Hindu epics; Mahabharata and Ramayana. There is a lot to imbibe from the sanity and sweetness of Sita, from the heroic fortitude of Rama, from the righteousness of Arjuna and from the loving fidelity of Hanumana and Lakshmana. She can practice the core tenets of The Gita which the whole world is recognizing.

Having said that, these epics belong to the world and not only to India. For these epics teach the essential oneness of the human family. Anyone and everyone can derive spiritual strength from them to face trials with fortitude and faith. Hinduism is more than a religion. It is a culture which embraces one and all. The modern face of Hinduism has been advocated fiercely and packaged adequately by the likes of Deepak Chopra and Robin Sharma, narrating stories about safaris and monks.

My point is, why this hypocrisy of apotheosizing a religion just before the release of a film in a particular country. And to top it all, the movie hammers the myth that India is a land of snake charmers and elephants. Ms Roberts intentions in the movie appear gimmicky, as she gets weird messages from a Texan in an Indian ashram. Elizabeth Gilbert’s book on which the movie is based is far more engaging than the movie.
If this conversion to Hinduism was out of pure love, then the same could be done privately. On second thoughts there might be a reason. Publicity! I am not sure. Perhaps I am being cynical. Perhaps her intentions are far more honest. Time will tell.

ALL IN THE JEANS...OOPS GENES

Waging war against flab and losing it despite a strict diet regimen? Blame it on the ‘greediness gene’, says a recent study published in the Nature Genetics journal.
Little surprise then that, I was unable to control my cravings for cheese and chocolate. Since I cannot alter my genes, I cannot change my eating habits. So what should I do? Honestly, I think while scientists and researchers are unable to come to any conclusion; the easiest way out is, blame the genes.

Study or no study, I can vouch for a fact that there surely is a ‘number crunching gene’. How, you ask? Well, it is absent in my cells. It was never there. My tutor was clueless. Had he realized that my ‘number crunching gene’ was missing, he would have lost less hair.
After these absurdities, I am wondering what exactly is in my control. Now I desperately wanted to unearth the mystery. Help was just a tap away. The moment my fingers tapped the search button, I was amazed!
The list is long. There is a gene for shop lifters, for kleptomaniacs, for wife beaters, for addictions, for cake cravings, for depression, for wrinkles…. Guess what? There is a gene responsible for hating broccoli and spinach! Poor moms get livid for nothing. And just when you thought that there was no one to blame for your rising credit card woes, a study links a gene with impulsive spending. For the lazy, couch potatoes, the culprit is ‘idle-bone gene’, a study reveals.
And there is one for bad driving too. I love this one. I was thrilled to read about the fact that bad driving can also be blamed on a particular gene. Ha…ha vindication. Finally! About 30 percent of Americans have the variant gene for bad driving. While 30 percent of Americans have this rogue gene, surely double the Indians must be having it. Coupled with the ‘road rage gene’, soaring temperatures and lunar craters, our roads promise one helluva ride!

Surprisingly there is an ‘early first sex’ gene for teenagers. Parents can keep a tighter vigil…um, since the gene is there.

A gene variant which is present in four of 10 men can explain why some men are more prone to stormy relationships and bond less to their wives or girlfriends. In the same vein, unfaithful women have a rogue gene coupled with high levels of estrogen, responsible for their ‘escapades’.Then dawned a profound moment, a moment of inner deliverance…There must be a corruption gene wired in the political DNA.  Okay, okay poor chaps, how can they fight the inevitable?

Understood in this manner, we are mere puppets controlled by our genes. On a serious note, where does the karma theory come in? Surely I am not a terrible person, if my genes make me forget the moral science lessons, make me steal, cheat, or abuse?

If genes and hormones compel me do horrible things, then are the consequences mine? How will I be judged on my Karma Meter? As a deliberate offender, or as a victim of rogue genes coupled with hormonal imbalance? How?

Kindly enlighten.I am confused.

The O Word

 If the visiting O word President from the United States utters the P word, we cry foul. And if he doesn’t, we cry murder. Barely twelve hours after the President landed, media sulked and complained, “He hasn't  mentioned the P word.” 

I mean why should he? Has he come here for Pak bashing?
I am dead sure that the P word country must be whining, “Why hasn’t he uttered the K word?” The  P country, they say depends on three A words. Allah, Army and America.

Why do we forget the fact that nations do not have morals? Nations have interests. 
 
The Indian media rambled and ranted. And finally a young girl with the G word (guts ) put Obama in a tight spot by asking a direct question on the P word. The lion walked straight into the net. Poor O! He ran in circles for full ten minutes and said nothing substantial. No wonder he is a Big O - Orator. After all, he is an erstwhile professor. 

He harped on the D word. He stated how India and the United States were the oldest and biggest democracies. He showered praises, confessing that the M word has been his inspiration. Manmohan? No. He is the Guru. Michelle? No. She is accompanying  him to show her deft moves. I loved the way she danced with the kids.
 The President was referring to Mahatma Gandhi. This beating around the bush is referred to as the D word - Diplomacy.
The media was abuzz. We are a curious nation. We love to speculate. The bespectacled Arnab was hyperventilating and behaving more like the Hindi channel Aaj Tak. Trying to spice up his debate, he insisted, “Why hasn’t Obama denounced the T word?” 

 Did he come all the way to denounce terrorism?


Wallowing in its own economic misery, Obama is visiting India for an all together different T word - Trade. He landed in the commercial capital of the country and not in the political one. He did not bring the Secretary of State, Hillary. Instead, on board the Air Force One were the top US business leaders.
The O word President is a worried man. The reason is another O word – Outsourcing. India’s B word silicon city has outsourced most of the jobs. More so, that chop-shop I word company.

We have to realize three things. 

First, that Obama has not come here for Pak bashing. In diplomacy real action takes behind the scenes. I am sure that the K word, the P word and the T word, all would be discussed behind closed doors. Not in the media.

Next, the world has changed to an extent that the twenty first century is called China’s century. Above all, with almost trillion dollars worth of its Treasury bonds being held by China, the US is more worried about the C word - China.

And last but not the least we have to deal with our own C word – Corruption.

AUDACITY FOR CHANGE

The other day I was watching an awards ceremony on television for young achievers. The anchor asked a prize recipient, “How do you manage to think out of the box?” The boy said, “I don’t think out of the box…. I think that there is no box.” And it was an ‘aha’… moment for me. I am glad someone realized the potential of this boy and encouraged him. Because the opposite is a norm in our society! We encourage mediocrity and shun intelligence.
By intelligence I am not referring to the ability to crunch numbers or crack the sacred IIT entrance exam. Or even to top the board exams. Going by that norm I must admit I am a total dud, with a capital D. Intelligence for me means tracking the unchartered territory, exploring the unexplored. To do something new...Like the famous title of Star Trek - To boldly go where no man has gone before.
To be honest, it begins right from pre-school and continues all through our college and work life.
“Papa, how does an aero plane fly?”
“Discovery channel dekha kar, usme sab batate hai”, retorts his father when his over-inquisitive son pesters Anil Kapoor in a Hindi movie.
You know what?
Often we force children to shut-up, even when they have genuine questions. “Bahut sawaal poochta hai.” Well that exactly is one of the major flaws of our education system. Of all the seductions of adolescence, the most appealing is its potential for challenge. Ask questions. Change and challenge are hardwired in their DNA.
Preoccupied with work, we lack the patience to satisfy an active perplexed mind. Frankly, often we do not have the right answers.
Do as you are told, and do not ask questions.
Why not?
The reason is that we are products of a system of patronage which nourishes the ‘follower’ mentality! It takes roots and entrenches deep in the crevices of our mind. The sarkaari establishment waters and feeds the attitude of blind following. While at work, it also means pleasing your boss.
“He does whatever is asked, no questions asked,” praises the boss.
Kyon panga lena? Apna kya jaata hai? Chalne do jo chal raha hai…..All mean one thing. Do not ask questions.
Another name for it is sycophancy. And in today’s world, sycophancy is indeed an imperative. It is the only weapon in the arsenal of an individual endlessly middling the path, finally landing on the muddle path! Needless to say that such an obedient worker is not a threat. Not for the boss! The ‘muddles’ take ultimate pleasure in pulling the ones down who have the guts to question the system, resigned as they are to their own fate.
And if you are the rare kind who has this “dimaagi kida” in your mind, then God help you. One thing is for sure. He will not get his promotions on time.
And why do you think the equation between the Congress President and our Prime Minister is working in perfect tandem? Because he is not a threat! Not for the madam. He will abdicate the throne the moment madam desires.
Not even for a minute am I implying that Dr Singh is not intelligent. In fact he is one of the most intellectual leaders we have. Unfortunately he has been trained not to ask pertinent questions… To blindly tow the party line!
So he stays the Prime Minister of a nation which does the same.
Keeps mum!
As a result mediocrity is main stream while excellence is a rivulet, struggling to find its course. This very attitude of ours warrants deep introspection. Now don’t say, “Leave it yaar,kyon baal ki khaal nikalte ho?’
Because often when we don’t have answers, we change the question. Isn’t it?