Protesting death and accidents

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Two die in Kashmir deaths protest

Protesting deaths and accidents are something very unique to India (or, is it?). I remember when "Thalivar" MGR died in Tamilnadu the streets were filled with rioters, looters and there were a few suicides. More recently we saw the same thing happen when "Anna" Rajkumar died. Mind you both of them died of natural causes.

Now we have protests for a boat accident. Mind you there was nothing wrong with the boat or its personnel. It was just a matter of pure physics - when you put all the weight on one side of a boat the boat will tip.

Do protests, rioting and demonstrations help bring the dead alive? Or, stop a boat from tipping when it is loaded hevily on one side? I guess the dead are lucky. They did not have to see such stupidity being committed in their honor.

Karna and Indian Politics

I have often wondered about Karna, the character in the Mahabharata. The epic and the depictions of epic in books and movies go great lengths to portray Karna as the good guy on the wrong side. The message being pushed was very simple – “he is a good guy, possibly even the best. Circumstances forced him on the side of the bad guys but even then he stuck it out and remained loyal to them.” And, the story has been bought by the majority as evident by the fact that Karna is as popular as Arjuna.

But, if you have read the Mahabharata more than once or even once with great concentration you will find instances to show how Karna had co-opted the cause and even tried to be badder than the bad guys. As Viktor Frankl said in “Man’s Search for Meaning”, “Everything can be taken from a man but ...the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.” Karna did not demonstrate this freedom.

Indian politics is full of Karnas. I remember the oft repeated line about Vajpayee – “good guy in the wrong party.” Ah, a Karna. Maybe there are a number of folks who say the same thing about Dr. Manmohan Singh now. He has presided over the Bihar election debacle and now the reservation stuff – the “good guy” in the bad group. The fact is Karna was on the wrong side and remember one rotten apple spoils the barrel. The chance of he co-opting the bad cause was always higher than his ability to change the rest of the group.

Pope peddles his soap water

BBC NEWS | South Asia | India protests over Pope comments  

It was back when I was in college I heard a good friend of mine refer to prosthelitizing as marketing. I still remember what he said – “I hate these guys. Why do they feel the need to market their religion?” Then I read an article written by the famous Germaine Greer, where she lashed out at Mother Theresa. Her message was simple – if you can only save a dying person by forcing them to part with their faith then shame on you. I still remember having a big argument with my mother on that. She defended Mother Theresa and I defended Germaine Greer.

Ever since that I have followed the whole issue of prosthelitizing and religious conversions with great interest. My approach to religion is bit like what Rajeev Srinivasan once said – “religion is like soap-powder. In essence all soap-powders are the same, but through clever marketing pitches, we consumers begin to feel that our particular soap-powder is somehow superior to that used by others.”  That said, I have not seen any religion market itself so hard and often as Christianity. It is often blatant and in your face. In India they employ the story of saving the downtrodden from the ills of Hindu caste system. But, the reality is caste system exists in all religions, especially in India -  Dalit Christians is an example.

Ultimately, prosthelitizing I think is the highest form of religious intolerance. It is after an effort to impose your beliefs on others because you feel that it is the best – switch and be saved, remain and you are doomed.

Anyway, I am glad that the Indian government finally showed some courage and protested over Pope’s comments.

Desis on the top of the world

Google Trends: sex

Well, almost... Three indian cities end up on the top of Google Trends listing on search for "sex". Of course, I bet many desis will tell you that - "There are three kinds of lies - lies, damn lies and statistics."

Hell freezes over

I never thought this day would come. I listened to GW's speech on immigration. And, I agreeded with pretty much everything. Only other thing I wish he had is withdrawan all troops from Iraq and put some on border patrol duty.

Commies are coming

The big story in the last two elections in India has been the strong showing of communists. And, as I wondered what was happening it all came back to me.

Four years of undergraduate education in Kerala brought me very close to the communists. I was what I guess they thought "a failure". My uncle was in the local communist party, worked for the party mouthpiece. So, I got introduced to all their student leaders at my college. The first week was quite interesting - all these "leaders" came and introduced themselves to me. Yet, when the student branch came on a membership drive not only did turn it down, I asked my friend sitting next to me to do the same.

Over the next four years I had an opportunity to see them from close quarters, interact with some of them. And, what I saw scared me. Here is a group of guys who are incredibly disciplined (the students would give up the classes for various causes - from literacy drive through political campaigning to stuffing the ballots to ensure that their candidates win). For all their "intellectual and rational" appearances the cadres almost never ever questioned the ideology. They were like zombies. The scariest thing was what happened the day after Rajiv Gandhi's death. Kerala was in the middle of a run up to an election (something that the incumbent communist chief minister had called because they were ahead in the opinion polls). As soon as the news of Rajiv Gandhi's death came the communist cadres near my college went to work. The removed the congress party's campaign posters and made it look like the handiwork of the right wing BJP cadre. Of course, that was not enough to get them back into power.

The communist parties I think believe that if you keep saying the same lies over and over again it will be considered as the truth. And, that seem to be working. So, while Jayalalitha* and others keep changing their policies depending on which way they electoral winds blow, these folks are willing to take a beating once in a while to keep the story consistent.


* What happened to Amma was sad. I thought she did something bold and right when she fired the state government staff when they went on strike and then declared mass conversions illegal. But, she relented on both. Quite stupid because no longer could the actions be explained/ spun in a consistent way.

Bias in the media

BBC NEWS | South Asia | 'Militants' kill Kashmir Hindus

35 Hindus die in attacks by Islamic rebels in Kashmir - Asia - Pacific - International Herald Tribune

The venerable beeb something shows that old habits are hard to die. So, it was not surprising to see the word militants within quotes. The same story on IHT had what I think is the perfect headline.

Maybe we should refer to IRA as a bunch of "freedom fighters" and the guys who bombed london a group of "disgruntled citizens".