www.HSRamta.com or www.hazarasinghramta.com

Posted by: Shawn Ramta at February 23, 2010 11:47 PM

The debate was interesting and similar thoughts keep popping up in my head now and then, especially when I watch the 'circus' that the general elections in India have become. Every party, every candidate, even the media knows and believes that its a numbers game and not about issues. What saddens me even more is seeing them acknowledge it openly that May 16th will decide who their next best friends are. I wonder if I should call our society politically immature? Or is it the 'chalta-hai' attitude that we are so accustomed to? Or am I asking for too much? Because given a choice amongst the self-declared 'leaders' out there, I have to choose someone.

I agree in part with the fact that we choose a party and not a prime minister at the national level atleast. But at the regional level, we do infact look for people who have the charisma, the persona sometimes combined with the ability to lead. There have been many examples of people having atleast some of the qualities mentioned above. N.T.Rama Rao in Andhra Pradesh was elected based on the charisma he had. Chandrababu Naidu was known for his leadership qualities and was considered a brilliant statesman when he served as the Chief Minister. Though ofcourse to appease one section of the society, the other sections were ignored by these leaders. They were not perfect and we have to remember that Obama is not perfect. We can never have a perfect leader in this non-utopian world of ours. But what we are looking for is someone who can connect to a large section of society and bring with him/her a host of issues that are common to everyone. In the gen-next leaders of today, I really like Omar Abdullah, although I don't see him playing a key role at the national level.

So can we have somebody at the national level, who can combine leadership, charisma and be acceptable to all the sections of society? There has never been a person who could unify the country together on a common program. India is such a diverse country with very different socio-economic classes. Each class, each region has very specific issues which concern them. There has never been an overlap of issues or I should say there hasn't been anyone who has brought all the issues together to unify them and pose them as a common threat to the country.

We like to talk about poverty, racial and gender discrimination as being the forces of evil that need to be defeated at every level. But these issues have to be molded in such a way that they reach the ears of the common man and resonates with them no matter what class or social background they belong to. The common man has to identify himself/herself with these ideas. In other words we need a set of objectives, a set of directions, a vision for the future that can be put across to all the people of India and benefits of which can be reaped by almost all (if not all) sections of society. Until that can happen, until we can find someone who can do that, I don't think India can have an Obama-like figure to lead it.

I also believe, that it's too early to say whether Obama is a perfect example of a leader. He does have a lot of the qualities that one would find in a leader, but only time can tell whether he will be successful in what he envisions to be the future of the country. But plenty of leaders in the past have proven to have all the above qualities and have been successful in their programs. So what India really needs is a modern day Martin Luther King or a Mahatma Gandhi or even a Kautilya. One who can unify the country towards a common set of goals, one who has a vision and shares it with the rest of the people, one who drives them towards these goals, one who leads by example, one who is charismatic, modest, and humble in every aspect. I am not saying that unless we have someone like this we are a doomed society. What I am saying is that having someone like this would help us bring some of the important issues we are facing today at the forefront and would help us tackle them in a resourceful manner. Unlike the election 'circus' that we see today, perhaps someday the elections can be more about 'real' issues and the real people who are the true pillars of a great democracy.

Aah..finally the fifth season of LOST has started. Even though the geek in me is feeling satiated with all the space-time fabric disruption and stuff, I must say that I am starting to feel a little 'lost'. The characters are flying about like trapeze artists at a circus and it's just difficult to keep track of all that is happening. Unfortunately it's an addiction! Hope this season reveals more about the island. We already know there is a frigging wormhole!

As we sit here a week after 26/11--the most gruesome day in modern and free India, a lot of questions keep coming up in my mind. Am I angry? Yes! But more than angry, I am saddened by the state of affairs, by the shear midhandling of the situation in Mumbai, about how there were intelligence failures, about how the NSG/Marcos commando teams had to fight with no night-vision goggles, no thermal imaging or any advanced equipment, about how the political parties played their funny little games, about how everyone seemed to pass the buck and about how the media showed no maturity.

Are we one nation yet? Unfortunately, the biggest strength of India is also its weakness. There is strength in numbers we say, but we never stand together. Religion, caste, and poverty still separates us. And if this was not enough, even people from different regions choose to separate themselves. Almost all of my previous posts have been on the achievements of India, me being proud of them and celebrating them as a true citizen. But one could be proud and still question the right from wrong, the good from the bad. Six years living outside India has taught me so many things and I can say that I have the insight now to actually look at India closely and see the things that are going wrong. Some people may choose to call me an escapist and that living outside India, how can I really understand its problems. In my view, you can only find out what's wrong when you sit on the outside and observe.

But before I point out what is really wrong, it is important to know why we are what we are. For a long time, Indians have lived as slaves. And it has only been 61 years since we became free. It hasn't even been two generations since that happened. The attitude of taking things for granted, for not retaliating when someone hurts you, for creating a world around you that involves a million safety nets, is a reflection of the fact that we have still not come out totally from the slave era. We are still scared of what the world will think about us. I am not saying that retaliation by force is the solution. Use tough diplomacy! But this is an art and we still need to learn it. Indians are not good managers and this shows even at the highest levels of governance.

From 1947 till about 1991, India was a socialist nation. The markets were closed to FDI, the public sector was losing out to privatization from within, our foreign reserves were depleted and India was dying economically. At this point things had started to deteriorate. The civil servants had created such a thick net of bureaucracy and license raj, that in order to survive, you had to resort to corruption. The state machinery was failing and people were becoming lazy. The babus at the offices were paid so poorly that they could not afford a decent living for their families. So, they had no choice, but to become a part of the system. When India opened its gates to the free market trade (although partially), suddenly the middle class found avenues to make quick money. But they were faced with the same problems of bureaucracy in order to get anything done. The government employees found themselves stuck with their jobs on one hand (sometimes due to lack of good primary education, other times due to monetary difficulties) and saw the rest of the country rolling in money (so to speak). This did not sit well with them and they started wielding their power at the offices and bribery became rampant. This situation exists even today and hence corruption has become a part of the social fabric since then. In fact, honesty is the exception, not the rule anymore!

This attitude has also caused the political system to be a complete failure. With a million parties dividing the votes amongst themselves, we have really given ourselves too much choice. The politicians are not answerable to anyone. To earn our votes, they would go to any extent, even resort to goondaism. Even at the national level, the politicians are mere puppets at the hands of the bureaucratic civil servants (reminds me of Yes Minister). This was very much the case even last week during the handling of the Mumbai attacks. With the NSG,Marcos,RAF,state police etc. all present there, who was really incharge? Was there one governing body that took control of the situation? There was noone from the government side who could stand up like a leader. Neither from the state, nor from the centre. Why was the media allowed 24/7 access to the sites? Why was the information about the covert operations being shown on national television? Why has only Vilasrao Deshmukh resigned? Why haven't the people at RAW, Intelligence bureau at Delhi, state intelligence, coast guard, navy etc. resigned? Why have we not demanded resignations from these people? Why is it that these people are just passing the buck and trying to find scapegoats for the massive damage that has been done? Has anyone even stepped forward to offer any solutions?

A lot has been going wrong. A lot is going wrong. How do we correct it? I offer two very simple and commensensical solutions.

Firstly, the attitude needs to change. We have to start believing like a nation, start feeling like a nation. Not like a mumbaikar, not like a delhiite, not like a hyderabadi or a keralite or a south Indian or a north Indian, but like an Indian. We have different identities, I agree, but our primary identity has and always will be our nationality-Indian. This change in attitude will go a long way. Suddenly you will find people standing united for everything. There will be more recruits to the armed forces, police, intelligence services, which have been suffering off-late with severe morale issues. This change in attitude will go a long way in doing good.

Secondly, as a responsible citizen, we have a right to vote. We need to exercise it with due diligence. Use the power of voting to set right our political system. Once the politicians see the public standing as one, asking questions and demanding results, they will have to change. You have to make them realize that they work 'for' you and are responsible for their actions. This will make them more accountable and in turn they will finally exercise their executive powers to reform the civil services and other departments that have been plagued with corruption. As responsible citizens and as one nation, we can rid ourselves of a lot of things by this one simple choice to vote.

In summary, a lot can be done by just two simple things-changing the attitude to think like one nation and vote baby vote!

I prescribe a very simple task for everyone out there that they need to do everyday. This would take like 30 secs everyday in the morning to do and infact would help burn some calories ! As soon as you get up and just before brushing your teeth, look at yourself in the mirror and say these 4 words 10 times, with feeling- 'I am an Indian'. And once you get accustomed to do this everyday, start repeating it whenever you feel angry at something, someone, whenever you feel like blaming others for your problems, whenever you blame the government for bad governance, whenever you see these dastardly acts of violence on the street, on tv. Trust me, it will make a difference. Try it out..it won't cost you a dime. It might help our country though!

uthishta bharatha !!

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Physics is the laws of harmony you can write on strings..

Chemistry is the melodies you can play on vibrating strings..

Universe is a symphony of strings..

And the mind of God is cosmic music resonating through 10-11 dimensional space.

-Michio Kaku

http://www.mkaku.org/
http://www.myspace.com/mkaku

So are we really talking about cricket here? I got lost for a while in all the money talk. But looks like everyone in India did too. The big headlines yesterday was how Preity Zinta and Gauri Khan looked while the teams were being announced. How Andrew Symonds was bought for more money than Bhajji. And how everyone in and outside the cricketing community think this is good for the game. But to me it just seems a wasteful expenditure. Spending crores of rupees first in bidding for the teams and then for the players while the rest of country lives in slums doesn't sit well with me. I don't question the love we Indians have for cricket, but this goes beyond hero-worship and that is where the problem lies. If Shah Rukh or Ness Wadia would have used the same money to buy clothes for street kids in Mumbai..well now I am getting into fairytales and real life is certainly not one.

So much gung-ho for cricket and nothing for other sports. With the Olympics coming up, I am sure other sports could have used that money a lot. And I don't think that it would have affected the already super rich cricketing world in any way. But that would mean switching our faith from cricket "divine" to other things (undivine) and that is definitely a crime.

I am sure the Indian women's hockey team will like to ask Shah Rukh--"Chak Diya Shah Rukh or Not? "

--Bertrand Russell

Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance.

Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru spoke these few lines while being sworn in as the first Prime Minister of independent India on midnight of 14th August 1947. India became independent on 15th August 1947 after a long hard fought battle against the British, a battle not fought by swords or guns but by the non-violent principles of Mahatma Gandhi, our ‘Father of the Nation’. The story of Indian Independence is unique in itself. It had all started by the ‘Sepoy Mutiny’ in 1857, which led to a series of independent events in all parts of the country. The mutiny was started by the Indians working for the British army. Due to their deep traditions they faced numerous social barriers. The forced use of certain controversial rifles led them to revolt against the officers of the British army, which led to scattered revolts because Indians formed 96 percent of the British army at that time. The revolt was put to an end quickly by the British mainly because of the lack of coordination and cooperation among all the kingdoms across the country. But it taught an important lesson to the British Empire, that India belongs to the Indians and that the British would have to leave it soon.

This mutiny was followed by the formation of the Indian National Congress in 1885, mainly to improve relations between the ruling British and Indian people, which led to the entry of educated middle class Indians into active politics and changed the Indian political scene. The INC as it was popularly called saw different eras with different kinds of people heading it at the forefront. The moderates held the first era with great leaders such as ‘Womesh Chandra Banerjee’ and ‘Dadabhai Navroji’. The next era saw the extremists come into power with great leaders in the form of ‘Bal Ganghadhar Tilak’ and ‘Lala Lajpat Rai’. India was slowly becoming a merciless nation hungry for the blood of the British under these revolutionary leaders and also by new rising ones in the form of ‘Subhash Chandra Bose’, ‘Chandra Shekhar Azad’, and the legendary revolutionary ‘Bhagat Singh’.

It seemed at that time that India was losing control and the fight was becoming more personal than that for the country. It was not until Mahatma Gandhi came to the rescue of India and instilled in the people a wholly new concept of ‘non-violence’, which had been tried and tested by him in South Africa. This new breeze of confidence unified the country into a common fight for independence. Every person, every family, every house in the country was singing praises of the Mahatma and was following the principles put forward by him. His followers included the great ‘Jawaharlal Nehru’ and ‘Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’ who were already among the young leaders of the INC. It was this lot of great men that took India on a great ride towards that ‘tryst with destiny’ and gave birth to the largest democracy in the World.

It is virtually impossible to account for every detail of the Indian struggle for independence in a few words. I could have written a few hundred pages and still would have found that I haven’t included many of the things, which need to be there. But instead I thought that the true meaning, the true essence of Independence comes from what India and Indians have achieved in 56 years since the day Pundit Nehru and those great leaders made their ‘tryst with destiny’. The idea here is not to present a chronological summary of all the achievements of India, but to account for those years after Independence in which India and Indians had to fight to give it the status and the power that it enjoys today. It is very easy to point out things that have gone wrong, things that are still going wrong. But to account for all the good things is a tremendous task. India—the largest democracy in the World today is still rated as a third world country. Why? As per the latest ratings India is the fastest growing economies in Asia and the World. Indian economy is slated to rise by 6.5 percent in 2003-04. Indian foreign reserves have risen phenomenally to $84 billion and are still rising. The rupee has appreciated dramatically over the last few months and continues to do so. Indian industry especially the IT sector has created waves all over the World. India has been described as the next Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical hub in Asia. And people still ask me the same question—what has India achieved in 56 years of independence? Has the corruption decreased in India? What has India done to reduce the poverty? My question to these people is which country today does not have any problems? The idea is not to escape from these questions but merely questioning each other will not get solutions. Solutions have to be sought by asking ourselves what we have done to improve the living conditions in our own country? What has been our contribution to our country and the countless people who have given their lives to see that our life today is meaningful?

India—was once upon a time a temple of learning. It was the place where people from all over the world came to study in great universities of Nalanda, Takshashila etc. It was the place where ‘Aryabhatta’ discovered the ‘zero’. Often called as the ‘golden bird’, India was the place where every trader wanted to do business. The ruins of ‘Mohenjodaro’ and ‘Harappa’ speak volumes about the existence of a very modern civilization, the first of its kind in India. Well if this was pre-independence era then what have we achieved in all these years of independence? First of all India is a Socialist and Secular Democratic Republic. It is a microcosm of many religions, many traditions, cultures, languages etc. There is so much diversity when one travels from one end to another. Still people live in communal harmony. India today enjoys a position of power in Asia. In the fields of Science and Technology India has carved a niche for itself in the World. India has been supplying the World with many Nobel Laureates over the years, to name a few ‘Dr. C. V. Raman’, ‘Dr. Subramanyan Chandrashekhar’ and recently ‘Dr. Amartya Sen’. In the fields of Information Technology there is no other competitor for India. And as I mentioned earlier India is slated to be the next Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology hub in Asia. India can today boast of its own missile defence system, indigenous nuclear energy and space technology programmes.

India has always been the land of spiritual development. It has been the birthplace of non-temporal values and attitudes like renunciation, meditation, the physico-psychic discipline of yoga etc. In terms of arts Indian film Industry is one of the largest in the World, and the works of Indian directors are appreciated by one and all. How can one forget the World famous concert of ‘Yanni’, which was held in Agra near the ‘Taj Mahal’? India can also boast of World famous musicians in Tabla maestro Zakir Hussian, vocalist Pundit Bhimsen Joshi etc. Indians are among the richest in the World—Azim Premji—Chairman of Wipro, Lakshmi Narayan Mittal—the steel tycoon of UK, Anil Ambani—Chairman of Reliance Industries; they are amongst the richest and most successful Indians in the World. You might be wondering why am I talking about individuals here, well Indians are the ones who have made India proud. And India today is in this position because of them. The achievements of India in these years have been phenomenal. To cite all of them here would be impossible. My only question to all of you is ‘Has any other country achieved so much in so little time?’

People still argue that India has a lot more to achieve. Well I would say ‘Yes’ because if one has achieved everything, then where would the need arise to be better? But for every achievement there has to be a first step and I say that India has crossed that step. It is not easy to carry the likes of different kinds of people in today’s World and make them think alike. But the struggle is going on and I say we are doing a good job. I agree basic needs like education, sanitation, reduction of poverty; corruption and dramatic changes in standards of living are required. I agree we need a political system, which is more stable, and governance is free and just. But as I said earlier merely talking will not solve the problem.

Today the time has come to make another ‘tryst with destiny’, to rise and salute the land that has given us our life, our freedom, to help our country in whichever way it is possible. India needs us today. It needs the courage and determination of every Indian on the face of this Earth to help it achieve the place every Indian has dreamt of. A French Philosopher named ‘Romain Rolland’ once quoted

If there is one place on the face of this Earth where all the dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when Man began the dream of existence, it is India.

It is this India which I dream of. I have decided to dedicate my life to my country. I have woken up from the deep sleep. It’s time for you to wake up too.

Jai Hind!

The movies listed above have many things in common-sports, passion, patriotism and teach the spirit with which any game is played. And the latest addition to this list, which handles the above with great ease is Chak De India..

Let me first start with the sport first. Hockey as many might not know is the National game of India. The game which in the recent past has been the most neglected one, mainly due to the hype created around cricket by the media and the lack of sponsorship for the game. Men's Hockey in India is still popular with the Indian Men's team having won as many 8 golds till now in Olympics. The sport is not followed as religiously as cricket in India and has led to the deterioration of the game to a large extent. In fact any other sport for that matter does not stand to compare with cricket and the hype it gets.

So a movie on women's hockey is bound to fail. right? But no..Chak de is a brilliant masterpiece and a great tribute to the game of Hockey, in particular a great tribute to women in sport. To be frank I never quite knew that an Indian Women's Hockey team even existed. But after watching the movie my interest in the sport has somehow rekindled. After doing a bit of research on the net, I found that the Indian Women's National Hockey team qualified 5 times for the World Cup, won the Gold in the Commonwealth games 2002, 2004 Asia Cup title, and the silver in the Commonwealth Games in 2006 against Australia without three of their star players in the squad.

So what makes Chak de.. special. Firstly it's a no-nonsense movie. The movie is purely about the spirit of the game-it begins and ends there. Shah Rukh with a stubble has looked amazing as Kabir Khan, the passion that oozes out of him is contagious and remains with you a long time after the movie has ended. No lengthy dialogues for him, no romantic angles, no songs, no running around trees chasing girls. Just a plain and simple movie about the love a man shares for his country, his people, and the only thing he knows to do-play hockey. Shimit Amin's direction is also amazing. After Ab Tak 56 a lot was expected of him and he has delivered with a bang. The screenplay is great, but the best part of the movie is the background score. Having no songs in the movie actually proved to be a breather, since the background score kept with the pace of the movie and helped take the story forward. Songs would only have done otherwise.

A lot went into making the movie. And the toughest part was finding the right girls to both act and play hockey. After a lot of screen tests 16 of them were selected from all over the country. The girls are definitely not big actors, but have done a remarkable job in both acting and playing hockey. The attitude of the management, the girl fights, the senior players acting smart are all very realistic depictions and this is what makes Chak de.. special. Even Shah Rukh's 'Sattar Minute' is not a lengthy and boring speech about how the team should go and kick some butt..it is about how the next seventy minutes are their own and not even God can take it away from them. It is about how they should play and give their best and the rewards will follow. It is about the way the game has to be played-not as individuals but as a team unselfishly and not for laurels.

So all in all..Chak de India is a great movie..a must see..and couldn't have come at a better time..on the eve of the 61st Indian Independence..a time when India is booming with economic growth..Indians are among the richest in the World..Indian culture and food is recognized worldwide..Aishwarya Rai and Shilpa Shetty have become household names..a time when India is no longer a third World country, but one of the fastest growing economies in the World. It is also a great tribute to the spirit of womanhood with India celebrating it's first woman President this year. I guess it is the only right thing to say..Chak De India.

On the lot is one TV reality show I am begining to like and love the great work that some young and talented filmmakers are putting up.

...These solutions are not perfect and deserve scrutiny and challenge. However, if we are serious about promoting multiculturalism and pluralism, if we are sincere about tackling the serious challenges we face as a society by using the most effective solutions, then such approaches deserve a fair hearing and must at least be investigated and explored...

Here's the link to the book Invading the Sacred