Monday, October 31, 2011

Advani brings smile on ever-grin face

No wonder a BJP man is saying this. D V Sadananda Gowda, who is not
able to find a clean person for the post of the Lokayukta, said,
“There are few people not facing allegations of irregularities. It is
difficult to find such a person.”

It looks like a soul searching statement because Gowda, who came as a
replacement for the tainted chief minister Yeddyurappa, is not above
board himself. He was welcomed for the post with media reports on
illegal amalgamation of his BDA site with an adjacent one. He had got
the site under G-category even when he had a property in his name. His
leader Yeddyurappa had gifted it so as the chief minister chair.

A grateful Sadananda Gowda is prompt enough to push Justice S R
Bannurmath for the Lokayukta because he is Yeddyurappa’s choice. As he
is known for his austerity he is also an epitome of the great
principles like honesty and loyalty. He is honest to himself and loyal
to his leader. And it is always easy to flaunt your austerity, if the
leader is behind you to alleviate your poverty. No risk of getting
caught and no chance of becoming a villain in public eye. All that you
need is to be loyal and trustworthy.

Gowda knows it well, so if Yeddyurappa reserves Lokayukta office for
his community and chooses a Lingayat, then he follows it dutifully. If
the outgoing is a Lingayat, then incoming must also be a Lingayat.
While it is the easiest principle to follow, hard to find a Lingayat
not so tainted, and Gowda is lamenting: “It is difficult to find such
a person.”

There is another easy way out for him: don’t find anybody. Any how, it
is Yeddyurappa’s best option too. Keep the Lokayukta post vacant, in
any case there is an Upa-Lokayukta who can act as the Lokayukta. Best,
Justice S B Majjigi he is a Lingayat. Further best, it is in alignment
with Modi formula, the Bible word for the BJP. He kept the Lokayukta
post vacant for seven years in Gujrath, and if any BJP chief minister
wants to bring in a Gujrath model of development, then he must see to
it that there is no Lokayukta in his state.

For a change, the governor has come handy this time around. He is
sitting on the proposal of the Lokayukta appointment saying he was
convinced with the choice, but this gives a pretext for Gowda to pull
on.

And there is no threat for his cabinet with L K Advani, the paragon of
virtue, sharing the dais with R Ashok against whom the Lokayukta
police have filed FIR. That means no minister is required to resign
when he is charged with corruption. Advani will demand it as his job
is done after ousting Yeddyurappa and sending him to jail. Now he only
says, “The accused are only accused, they are not proven guilty. They
need not have to quit.” Good for the stability of his cabinet, so it
is good reason to smile for an ever-grinning Gowda.

Further, as he as discovered it, there is no human being who is
infallible on the earth, Gowda can allow himself to be fallible and
you should not mind it. After all politics is a hamam and in hamame
sab nange.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Controversially Yours- a book review

‘Attitude’ is the word haunted his life and career all along. While,
in a relative term, it is good and bad in his own view, the attitude
has made Shoaib Akhtar one of the most controversial figures of the cricket
realm. He is never scared of controversy, but on the other hand
seems to have fascination in introducing himself as ‘Controversially Yours’, so the self-description aptly fits into title of his autobiography.

He says: “Controversies have hovered around me since the day I was
born. Take my name, Shoaib, for instance. In Arabic, it means the one
who brings people together, but it can also mean one who separates.”

He never tried to separate people, as we know from
his life story chronicled in the book of 271 pages. Contrary to his
wish to be a binding factor, he used to be banned from his band.
Suspensions he was punished with -be it from
his classroom when he was a student or be it from the Pakistan national team when he was a star cricketer-were not justified but inevitable in the given situation. The culprit
was his mistaken-attitude of inwardly respecting people without toadying to them.

But, if you really want to pick it up for its title, disappointment is
in store for you for nothing is there in the book
that you don’t know, especially, if you are a cricket follower. The
details about his drug abuse, admission of ball tampering, the way he
came out of the ‘chucker’ stigma and a rape charge, are all much read
about and talked about subjects and the book doesn’t offer anything extra.

His remarks on the Indian greats Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid had
certainly raised some dust as his terming them ‘not the match winners’
had been taken as blasphemy because one of the targets is none other
than the god of cricket, while the other is the great wall that the
greatest demolishers struggled to find a breach in it. His observation
that Tendulkar was scared of his bowling had definitely incited rage
among the Indian cricket fans, but the controversy element stops at
that and his adulations for the little master shown in the book did
not get the publicity to the extent that the negative coverage the
pitfall could have attracted even before its launch. Perhaps, this
disappointment factor has played the downer and the autobiography of
the supposedly fastest bowler of the world is not a hot cake on the
stands.

Although he is candid in recording his tumbles and fumbles, the hot
hunk disappoints you even on the most important count; he talks about
girls and even mentions Bollywood glam dolls, while spilling beans on love lives of his own and of his team mates, but he never names them.
His rational face gets unveiled when he castigates the hypocrisy of
the Pakistan team management insisting upon the team members doing
namaz in the dressing room. He has not spared Inzamam-Ul- Hak, as the
captain, from ridiculing for his clownish insistence on nammaz that
forced them doing it even on board of flight. But, he does this with
an authority as he is also well-versed in the Islamiath, the essence
of Islam, and he is a great believer. The beginning of his talimaat,
learning, of the Islamiat from a murshid, which continued for fifteen
years, is itself is a poignant episode in the biography. He is so
scholarly that he could interpret the real meaning of namaaz, which is
a far cry for any Pakistan cricketer. You can add this to the duality
of his persona that has otherwise given him a bad boy image.

What really moves you is his response to a few in Pakistan- an
insignificant minority as he puts it- dancing in the streets after
26/11 Mumbai attack. He vents out his angst: “I recall thinking in
horror, people die in Mumbai and you celebrate! Are you human? Don’t
the people of Mumbai have red blood like yours?” His heartburn
over Pakistan players (losing) IPL participation, after the ghastly act, is just an added pain.

While reading an autobiography of a flamboyant cricketer like Shoaib
Akhtar, it is unfair to look for literary value in the book.
But, the narration of Anshu Dogra has done justice with her prose being
a mix of lucidity and banality in patches.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Ashok and Advani's amnesia

‘Ulta chor kotwal ko danta’. H R Bhardwaj had to quote this when Yeddyurappa attacked him for sanctioning his prosecution. He had used this adage, then, figuratively to explain his position as the governor dealing with the chief minister facing graft charges. Now, it applies, in literal sense, to the prevailing political scene in Karnataka.

The Lokayukta police have filed FIR to investigate a case and the main accused in the case is their boss: the home minister.

R Ashok, who is accused of de-notifying land illegally, has promised cooperation with the police. If he had real intention to cooperate, he would have stepped down after the FIR is filed. His intention is to getaway with what he has done and the current position helps him in that.

As a home minister, he rules the police department. He can punish a police officer when he feels like doing it. Then the police officer can say: ‘Ulta chor kotwal ko danta.’

The rational behind demanding his resignation is nothing but to avoid this farce. But, Ashok is too brazen to budge. In fact the brazenness is his qualification. But for the brazenness, he couldn’t have become the minister.

When he became the minister for the first time, in 2006, he didn’t know what a department secretary was meant for and had no regards to the process of legislation for he was ignorant of the process. For every media query he encountered with he would say: “We will bring in a new act to address this issue.” When the secretary reminded him of the said act was already in force, he would insult him in public. Somebody had apparently taught him a minister would grow strong if he scolds bureaucrats in front of general public, and he followed it blindly. He was unmindful of the officials making fun of him in the back.

When he was the health minister, the government doctors were crowded at the BBMP with a job of counting garbage vehicles. They were there on deputation to evade service at rural area and Ashok didn’t know how to send them back to their mother departments. He would not listen to the officials as he believed he would be weak in their eyes, if he follows their advice. And the comedy was hilarious.

His public speeches were another act of the comedy play. He could not have pronounced Kannada words properly; his lisping would confuse and the audience would burst into laughter once they get hint of what he was really meant.

Such a man has politically grown up now. He has grown up to such an extent that the corruption charges are filed against him. He is not really dumb when it comes to the land issue. In fact was the one who brought the illegal encroachments to the fore during S M Krishna tenure. Then, he was in the opposition and now, he is in the ruling; the roles have been reversed and he is promptly practising what he learned by observing the ruling party members, while sitting on the opposition bench.

But, the real shocker is from L K Advani, the paragon of virtue. The patriarch, who has embarked upon the rath to cleanse corruption, is fine with Ashok continuing as the minister even after the police filing FIR against him. He had pledged that he would not step into the parliament until Yeddyurappa stepped down as the chief minister, when he was implicated in the Lokayukta on illegal mining. And he saw to it Yeddyurappa resigned.

Why he is not using the weapon on Ashok? We can believe in somebody, if they say it is due to amnesia as the age factor is in Advani’s side. If the amnesia is selective, then it is nothing to do with anybody’s age.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Licensing the media and getting rid of weeds

Manmohan Singh is credited for terminating the license raj, when he was finance minister. Ironically, the government is seeking to tighten the licensing norms on news channels, when he is the prime minister.

When de-licensing industries is hailed as a great step towards liberalization that is supposed to have turned around economy, how licensing the media is justified?

Champions of liberalization including Manmohan Singh say, “The government has no business to be in business.” Then, how the government that saw no business in the business sector found a business in media? Not so easy to comprehend. It is as riddled as a live chat happens between an anchor and a reporter about breaking news aired even before its confirmation.

It’s easy to understand that the freedom of press is ensured, if the government stays away from media because it is a simple proposition of democracy. It’s not easy to understand the double-talk of the politicians because it is a complex proposition of demonocracy.

Dayanidhi Maran, now darling of CBI, has a dubious distinction of not issuing a single TV channel license during his tenure as the minister for information and broadcast. He didn’t feel any necessity of new channels, when his brother was running a group of channels sitting on mountains of profit.

He thought market would be cluttered with the entry of all and sundry. He saw a need to check the mushrooms and stonewall the market place. And he did it with dead ease as he had a powerful weapon; authority to issue license. He simply denied license to new entrants. As a result the market remained clean and uncluttered; while his brother, who was already a media mughal, held the fort and went on to expand his empire from media to aviation.

The argument of the present policymakers is nothing different. They are concerned about non-serious players entering to spoil the business. A simple way they found to keep them at bay is to raise their required net worth from Rs.3 crore Rs. 20 crore. Sad, there is no Nobel for such a great invention: net worth is the index of seriousness. The leaders have understood it very well and that is why their net worth is going skywards.

Finding three violations or five violations to cancel the license is another great idea; otherwise how can you control these inglorious bustards? How dare these unbridled TV channels barking and biting and stinging, while the demagogues are planning to step up their net worth to be serious to rule the country? They need to be chained and kicked out, if they found to be mischievous. This is a serious issue and that is why the government is taken it seriously and seriously said it wouldn’t concede to demands of non-serious media.

Indira Gandhi was the first visionary to see this. She did not put up with the nuisance, when her party colleagues were toiling day in and day out to increase their net worth with an honest intention of being serious to be worthy to rule the country. She brought in censorship for the media and the newspapers looked decent under the emergency rule. Now, we can only laud the Congress for having paid tribute to its great leader by bringing in control over vulgar visual media.

In fact, it is better the government expands its horizon to clean and uncluttered the other sectors also. It would be great if an industrialist is made the industry ministry, as in the case of Karnataka. Let a miner handle the ministry of mines and geology. Hand over education portfolio to a medical college owner. A cargo businessman should be the transport minister. They know how to de-clutter the respective markets and how to take out weeds in their respective fields.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Steve Jobs, the Baba

In a Rajnikant film, the protagonist turns ‘Rajnikant’ after a visit to the Himalayas. In fact, his conscious goes there to meet a Baba and the hero becomes ‘Baba’. He acquires a magical power taking the potboiler to the dizzy heights of entertainment.

Steve Jobs was the ‘Rajnikant’ of tech world. His words were prophecy to come true. His touch was magical turning dead hardware a lively world of fairy tale. He was a magician.

How could he do that?

We Indians have fascination in believing in miracles. The magician Jobs was born after Steve Paul Jobs came to the Himalayas. He became ‘Baba’ after he met a Baba there. There after Jobs was a great entertainer; business became entertainment and the entertainment reached its dizzy heights under him.

A 19-year old Jobs arrived in India, in 1974, accompanied by his friend Dan Kottke, who later became Apple’s first employee. Soon he had swapped his jeans and T-shirt for dotis as he set out from Delhi for the Himalayas.

While he was searching for Neem Karoli Baba, Jobs chanced upon a mendicant from whom he begged for food. The mendicant was the real Baba. Seeing upon him sitting there devouring, the Baba walked over to JObs and sat down and burst out laughing. The language was not a barrier as the Baba knew how to address a soul. As the conversation continued, he rolled on the ground with laughter.

Then he grabbed the young man by his arm and took him up the mountain trail. Jobs found it little funny, because there were hundreds of Indians who had traveled for thousands of miles to hang out with this guy for some fleeting moments and he had just tumbled in only for some thing to eat and was being dragged up the mountain path by the Baba.

When they got to the top of the mountain, they found a little well and pond, and the next thing Jobs knew was the Baba dunking his head in the water and pulling out a razor from his pocket to start shaving his head. Jobs never quite understood why the bizarre Indian Baba dragged him away from the rest of the crowd and shaved his head atop a mountain peak.

Ours is the land where an atheist Narendra becoming a champion of divinity and religion just by a touch of his master, to conquer the world. For us it is not a wonder the Baba gracing the Jobs to become Jobs.

Then how else an unwanted child, who was given away by his unmarried parents to someone for adoption on account of their inability to raise him as they were just students, could have scaled up such heights? He was the guy never finished college, never went to business school, never worked for anyone else a day in his adult life. So how did he become the visionary who changed every business he touched?

But, attributing the feat to mere miracle is not only doing injustice to the genius but also reflecting on our pettiness unable to reconise the task done. The achievement was not for no reason. David Pogue, in his obit, writes ‘the story of Jobs boils down to this: Don’t go with the flow.’

‘Steve Jobs refused to go with the flow. If he saw something that could be made better, smarter or beautiful, nothing else mattered. Not internal politics, not economic convention, not social grace,’ Pogue says.

We saw a man swimming upstream, against the currents, to show even a lesser breed can reach the heights and it is the miracle of the perfect focus on the target regardless of any distraction. Did he get the focus after his head was shaven in the Himalayas? Let us believe so, because it can make us believe Jobs is ‘our Baba.’