2o12 has begun with a bang! It’s not even been 3 months into the new year, and we’ve seen a roller-coaster ride on the political landscape from the National level to my very own Karnataka! From the central budget in Delhi to the goondagiri of the lawyers in Bangalore… from the Didi’s dadagiri to Yeddy’s ‘bhai’giri and behenji’s hafta-wasooli, the intoxication of power and the ego of leadership have done a naked dance of filth, farce and despotism in the democracy of India.

Uttar pradesh has long been glorified as a game changer for the politics of India.  Any party that can come to power in this region, has the clout and the magic ring that can alter the game plan in Delhi’s Parliament.  Congress was desperate to rebuild its image in the aftermath of the blistering scams and the crumbling failure of its policies and changes to which its own ally – the TMC became the legendary spanner in the wheel. If succeeded, this was supposed to be the launch pad for the Congressian prince, and he did pour himself into this – tearing manifestos and thumping the podiums, while the entourage went about with the carrot of reservation on the stick, melodrama of tears in their eyes and vows of martyrdom on their lips.  As the news channels ranted 24 hours on the prospects of each party, one thing was clear, Mayawati was going to be booted.  The idea that dynastic powers were not going to impress people didn’t hold much ground, especially in the post results scenario.  Nor was the show a great empowerment of democracy in my opinion. That the whole of the state could poll only an average of 60% voter turn out is still abysmal. Even though its regarded as the highest so far, it clearly shows the apathy and disinterest of nearly 4 crore voters were just not bothered about the state of affairs.  In a murky world of caste driven politics, where the balance is always swung between the OBCs, Muslims, dalits and a few Brahmins in the tow, needless to say, money and fake promises of security and special previleges are the luring traps set.  It has barely been a few weeks when the victorious SP has reined in the power, and already the sham of their “clean and goonda-less” regimen bluff has been called.  A truck driver was killed by a SP hooligan for not paying his usual hafta! While Congress and BJP are left licking their wounds and whimpering like a kid who’s chocolates are taken by a local bully, the entire nation and its developments shall be at the mercy of few prejudiced and mindless blokes! Case in point, Ms. Mamatha Banerjee. From the FDI to the most recent Railway Budget, Mamatha’s mercurial attitude has only resulted in embarassment at the National Forum.  I term it more like the ‘first-time-power-intoxication’ syndrome, akin to people who get drunk for the first time!  Her prejudice against the Left and even Congress for its erstwhile treament is now brought to fore, as she proves herself to be the thorn that cannot be wedged out, nor borne in!  From thoughtless remarks on rape victims to the overkill on the Railway Budget, she has established that not much has changed between her rule and that of CPM. The BJP without a National leader of the stature of Sri Atal Behari Vajpayee, and Congress with its spineless administration are both proving utterly useless for a country looking to break through the shackles of detrimental policies and get out of ramshackle administration.

Closer home, the same “first-time-power-intoxication” has held the BJP government in its grip.  Those who have tasted the heady mixture of leadership such as Congress and the likes of Deve gowda, though corrupt to the bone, are clandestine about it.  But BJP and former CM Yeddyurappa have no qualms of washing their dirty inners in full public glare. We see history repeating in a span of less than 2 years! When North Karnataka was battered by floods, the troupe of monkeys in the state cabinet were seen frolicking shamelessly in a resort, desperately trying to bring down the CM, and now when the same region is being burnt down by famine, they bundled themselves again to a resort.  Every known shred of decency and respect has been torn and burnt out in their shameless political existence that is now littered with scams ranging from rape to fishy land deals.  Is it then a wonder that even the lawyers meant for public service turn out to be hooligans and hold the city, its residents, media and administration to ransom? There is total anarchy and the legislators are taking turns to ensure there shall be no governance in the state.  The Congress or JD(S) has no charisma or vision to offer to people, except beat the dead horse of corruption against the incumbent government.

Underlying all of this, is the universal hunger for power.  When one reads of stories of demons in mythology, or fantasies like Lord of the Rings, its fascinating to read the adventures the good undertakes to defeat the evil.  But it is afterall, a battle for power! The strength one experiences when vested with the ability to wield their might is so blinding that it deludes the mind to imagine that one single person or a group of them are the sole torch bearers of humanity.  There have no doubt been people who have indeed led the masses towards their liberation or upliftment, but these are leaders who derived their strength from within and from their humility.  They recognized the transcience of external factors and instead developed their self-worth.  The true mark of a leader and a powerful one at that, is his knowledge of his own self-worth and belief in his potential, not withstanding the external circumstances.  This cannot be wrought by the superficial materials of ego, money, manipulation and violence.  This can only breed insecurity and fear, which is the primal cause for what we see as a nation around us.  Unless the younger generation of leaders do not disentangle themselves from the set path of their predecessors and learn to grasp the true pulse of the country and study its people and their day to day lives, we cannot hope to have an administrator who can understand the needs of this Nation.  Unless we as citizens exercise our voting right, shed aside our skepticism, hopelessness and lethargy and teach a lesson and demand action, we shall continue lying in the putrid filth of our own waste, slowly decaying into a dead civilization.  It pains me immensely when I think back to the reasons for my return to India.  It pains me to see where she is heading… state by state… party by party… citizen by citizen…

Right ho! It’s that time of the year again! We’ll now be inundated from all sides with a review of the year 2011.  Right from newspapers to flashing-news-channels; from radios to blogs, Manorama Year books to tacky pamplets shall start circulating their assessment of what the year was about and what the new year shall bring with it.  Given my penchant for being original in my concepts on this space, it was a bygone conclusion that shortly I shall be giving my expert opinions on matters that nobody has asked for!  Well one cannot expect one’s self to withhold only because no one has come to one’s self!! Such is our magnanimity!  All in all, 2011 for me has been a hackneyed year.  From the onset, we have had a flood of rhetorics pumped into our ears – on National & International stages – politics, economics, finance, religion, movies – you name it, and it has bugged and bored.

Corruption & Anna Hazare:  Agreed that we have a banal problem in our administrative institution.  We are stunted in our development – as a nation owing to corruption that has permeated to the lowest levels of bureaucracy nay to the very fabric of the society.  And that includes me and you.  In this set up, throw in a bunch of wannabes who overnight are accorded a heroic status and symbol on par with the freedom fighters of India, and we have a perfect recipe for disaster!  Such is the hunger in our society for idolatory and showmanship, that we ravenously display our contempt and our love unabashedly without even pausing to think, whether or not we are part of the institution we condemn or the principle we adore.  Anna Hazareji, with all due respects, for me has never been equivalent to Gandhi, and this “war” against corruption, despite all the media brouhaha is not a “second” or whatever fight for independence.  In the whole episode of what transpired around the introduction of the Lokpal bill, there has been naked dance of sycophancy (exhibited by both the Government and the Civil(?) society members), hypocrism, cheap publicity and razzle-dazzle strewn generously by everyone involved.  From comic cameos of loonies like Baba Ramdev to cabinet ministers shooting their mouths off, not a single stone was left unturned to churn out the tripe for our channels to flash across its screens and stir up the “Bharat”-ness that was dormant in the average citizen.  They got their TRP ratings for sure and laughed their way to the banks.  As for us, we continue to flout the traffic rules, and abuse the cops when caught. We still try to settle the traffic fines by NOT paying the fine in full but rather settle it for 50 / 100 Rs candestinely tucked into the hands of the constable.  But its the government that is the most corrupt! We have no doubts about it.  Given an opportunity if there wouldn’t be an inspector or a TC checking on our moves, how many of us would wait at the red signal or buy our tickets??  But the corruption that is happening at the center needs to be checked indeed!  And for that we have a coterie of personalities that we regard as being above all blemish.  We find the need for an institution that is squeaky clean in its image, comprising of members who are next to Gods in their character and who can hold to ransom any Government or agency by deciding to not eat.  Surely there are millions going hungry everyday and has been so since years now.  But that has nothing to do with corruption!  Corruption has become visible only now!  For none of those millions ever staged their hunger on a dias!

This is the reason why I can never consider Anna Hazare as being equivalent to Gandhiji.  Successful or not, Gandhiji strived to work at the fabric of the country.  Freedom wasn’t a political agenda for him, it was a spiritual agenda.  He craved to free the Indian mindsight of its slavery to customs, blind practices, casteism, and hatred.  Mere political freedom can never translate itself into development if the society doesn’t free itself of the self-imposed shackles.  To blame the Government point-blank or repeatedly call them ‘corrupt’, ‘Brasht’, ‘lacking in neeyat’, or whatever the abuses one likes, betrays an attitude of a troublemaker.  It is this dis-illusion that set on me as I watched Anna’s crusade.  The media that projected and built the hype around this only sought to bake their pie in the fire it fanned.  This is the media that glorifies “Big Boss”, “Sach Ka Saamna”, “Raakhi Ka Swayamvar”, or shows in broad daylight a profusely bleeding man begging for mercy and life.  If it can encash on the gory of a broad day light murder, no channel would like to be left behind.  And when it comes to whipping up the emotions of a nation, who regard Karan Johar as the best director, its a cake-walk for them.  In a time-tested tradition of over-doing things, the media was always hand-in-glove, but this time indeed it went overboard in equating the crusade with the Freedom struggle.  Any committed individual who has studied the history or the circumstances of Indian Freedom Movement would but scoff at such equations.  Yet, the frenzy has been unabated and has every sign of a 7 day wonder.  If Sri Hazare thinks that Lokpal would be the ideal solution for corruption at administrative levels, he is only treating the symptoms of the problem.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize how well, we have imbibed corruption (in whatever degrees) in our day-to-day lives.  Just as he assumes that whipping a drunkard would cure him/serve as a right punishment to the individual, his one size fits all solution of Lokpal shall prove another mirage, that can only push the dust under carpet, but never rid it.  We shall have another “Animal Farm” in our country. Gandhiji put immense effort at educating the masses and making every individual own the movement as his/her spiritual journey.  As long as Hazareji doesn’t recognize this gap and strive at bridging it between the citizens of this country and its administrators, with all due respect, I cannot consider him to be a Gandhian, let alone a modern Gandhi.

Baba Ramdev:  There was once a forest full of life.  There were many animals and birds and thriving vegetation. Among these was a fox.  Once he strayed into the city and was chased around by a pack of hounds.  While escaping, he happened to fall into a drum containing a blue dye and needless to say the color of his coat changed.  Once he returned to the forest, the animals, surprised by his strange color, regarded him as someone sent to redeem them and held him in high esteem.  In no time, the fox, basking the light of this new found importance, took it upon his high-self to give unsolicited opinions (like me! ;)) on matters that didn’t concern him like homosexuality and made claims of curing such ‘illnesses of the mind’.  Not satisfied, he started leaving landmarks on the political landscape as he found the opportunity to harvest in the troubled waters – thanks to a spineless government and an inefficient administration.  Oh… sorry I guess I had to write about Baba Ramdev!

Mr. Kapil Sibal & plethora of other ‘Mantrijis’:  And I mean amongst both the ruling as well as the (so called) opposition parties. If ever there were to be a more shameless washing of dirty linen in public, I am yet to see it.  Whether it was the bill for 33% reservation for women, or CWG/2G scandal, or the Lokpal bill, the ruling as well as the opposition party members and speakers have bared their teeth, fangs and anyother displayable anatomy of their body.  Not a pretty sight.  The cake ofcourse is taken by Mr. Kapil Sibal, who I had always considered a sane man! But yet, off the board he did go, and just how!! Issuing an ultimatum to the WWW!  Well Sibalji, this isn’t South Park being played on doordarshan to have every effin’ word <bleeped>.  If that were to be the case, I’d suggest you start with your own house (Congress) and also help the opposition parties to take a leaf out of your book (i.e., if you succeed).

The ‘Nataka’ of Karnataka: I had always begged to differ with people who considered politics to be the storehouse of scoundrels. (Sibalji… yes.. I said it! So what?!).  One where, day light enemies become nightlife buddies! 😛 But even so, it was always my belief that it would happen in other states like UP & Bihar, for in those states castes rule the roost.  But however, we have a new contender to that genre and its my own state!  The party that opposes the Government in the center is the government in the state! And lo! behold! How the equations change! We have a caught red-handed CM doling out warnings to the party high command that would whimper like a beaten dog.  And when it bites, things do get worse! Ministers are caught in sexual scandals, mining scandals, property scandals, horse-trading scandals, and so on and so forth.  They dole out crores of rupees to get the opposition party MLAs to switch to ruling party, and cry their throats hoarse over the ruling government in the center giving cash to get some votes!  They beat their chests and moan the corruption ruling in the center, while turning a blind eye to the rampant destruction of National resources happening in the state.  So we have a tie-up that just can’t be broken.  We have a spineless Central Government that can’t control its alliance partners from amassing wealth unjudiciously or holding a gun to its brains and stop reforms from happening. On the other hand we have a hypocrite Opposition that cries foul over reservation policies but inducts a bloody criminal to its hold to win the elections! Vote India! Vote!

Economy: Hickory Dickory Dock! The rupee went up the bloc! USA Struck cold, and the rupee fell thud! Hickory Dickory Dock! So, the world economy was down! Indeed? There was rampant unemployment around the world! Although things seemed to improve around the end of the year! But by then, people around the world (which means guys in US of A!) had been through the worst!  Their Nobel prize winner President (talk about throwing the baby with the water!) had shattered their hopes.  And Indian Government sounded alarms! Everyone was on an austerity drive! Suddenly cattle class became a buzz word and a <bleep> word.  Yeah! We are on an austerity drive indeed! But its still a nightmare crowd at the malls!  McDonald’s is still flourishing dishing out a bun and patty for Rs. 55/-. We have ‘Goli’ vada pavs for 40 bucks, and a gold foiled dosa for Rs. 1000/- selling like hot cakes! Am all for fun and enjoyment! But One grand for an effin’ Masala Dosa covered with gold foil is way over my digestive capacity.  And am happy it is that way.  And while we are at it, let’s do some more leader bashing for there are poor people in this country and that’s solely the mistake of our politicians.

Bolly-wood/Shollywood: Death seemed to have been on a glee-spree swiping off many key personalities who were the links to the soulful 70s such as Shammi Kapoor & Dev Anandji.  We lost stalwarts in music such as Jagjit Singh & Bhupen Hazarika. We had hard-hitting movies with fresh ideas like Peepli Live, Delhi Belly, No one killed Jessica, Dhobi Ghat, Memories in March to list a few. But then again we had Ra-One, Rockstar, Don2, Ready which assailed every known aesthetic sense.  But what takes the leaf? Its a stupid song from somewhere down under that for its sheer idiocy appealed and was downloaded world over.  So far so good.  But instantly there spawned versions and sub-versions of it – from Pakistan’s government to lingual versions from around the world. And then ofcourse all of these had to be shared on FB, and liked and commented upon! (Or in my space criticized). And the protagonist overnight becomes a sensation and this is the front page news! Well but ofcourse I am now legally qualified to be called an unpatriot, turncoat, a show spoiler! But honestly, we seem to be at a juncture where we are desperately craving for role models because we always need someone to worship and adore?!  As a generation we have now come to be addicted to a sense of low self-esteem that needs a constant reassurance by following on the foot steps of anyone fit enough to get our least bit of attention.  And once found, we pour it all on this idea or personality and soon go bust!  Feel dejected, depressed and cynical. From traveling pantless in metro (to beat the montony of traveling!) to rolling around in tomato (Bangalore college hosts tomatina fest and claims to help the farmers), we imitate and mimic and sheepishly follow another tradition.  Am not a hindutva lauding, fanatic of my ‘Bharat’ness.  But aren’t we the same who also take the liberty to spit on the streets? Throw the garbage along and vandalize our public property?  We exhibit our coolness by jumping the signals and flashing our fingers and using the cuss words just for the heck of it!  Shall we dare do this in the cultures and countries that we emulate everything else from?  I am waiting to see an Indian, who can spit the pan in the subway of New Jersey!  Or pee on the streets of New York.  If anything, the year 2011 showed how pseudo intellectual we have become as a generation.  We take pride in pointing fingers and shifting the blame.  But when it comes to action, its always the guy next to us, who should’ve done something about things we comment upon.

I only hope 2012 shall bring in more sanity with it.  Afterall, let’s die sane if it really were to be the case!  Else we shall have yet another year to pepper with our unsolicited criticisms and reviews!  🙂 In the meanwhile, its just so easy to complain than stick to my resolutions of not doing it!  This apart from resolving to work out regularly! Yeah Right! If only rants could reduce the calories! So long 2011!