BJP and secularism

In this post, I want to talk about the perception that we carry about BJP. And by the way, this perception not only talks about BJP, it teaches us what secularism means. It tells us that the India is a developing country. It tells us India as a county has no hope. Hope can only be given to sections of society by treating them differently, at the cost of the others. A zero sum game essentially.

"Vajpayee is good, but the party is not" was the general perception. "BJP is good, but Modi is not" is the perception we are being sold now. Advani, who couldn't become the PM, because of this perception, suddenly becomes a saint. But I think in reality, it is not so much about people.

"They did stupid things before coming to power, but they did really well after coming to power", a friend of mine was saying. The stupid thing was obviously a reference to the Ram Mandir. I do believe that the evils of the past should be left to rest. I do believe that religion is a private affair that will look ugly if not silly if brought to road. In fact I did also believe that the exploitation of the Islamic innovations on India are just a paragraph in history books, that are rightly followed by tones of good they did. I did also believe that the epics are just myths and fiction has no relevance in real world. Things like an existence of a bridge to Lanka or an underwater city near Dwaraka are just a coincidence. My younger cousins go a step further. They believe that Harry Potter is more real than Ramayana (since the former is written later and by a Brit, may be) and (Chota) Bheem is a cartoon character. It was hard for me to understand why my grandfather stopped following sai baba, after his statement on Ram Mandir.

But my biggest surprise was the Allahabad High Court verdict on the very issue of Ram Mandir, when even a right wing liberal like me has given the judgement that there is no place for a temple there.
May be there is a reason that these thoughts find more validation in real courts. May be there is a reason why Modi gets a clean chit, and Lalu gets punished in these real courts. Or may be Salman Khurshid is right when he said in London that courts and EC are overdoing.

I would like to believe that secularism doesn't mean you reserve yourself from speaking for yourself if you are the majority. If I have so many apprehensions talking and writing about these, I don't blame Muslims or other communities, to carry this negative perception and a few conservatives either getting offended or exploiting it.

If there was an easier way, and this could be done away with a BUT, like, BJP is communal, but they are the only alternative, I could have left this to rest. If Vajpayee can talk about Bhagawan Ram in the parliament, and deliver a corruption free government, I think it's an 'and' not a 'but'. If Modi can work for 15+ hours a day, not to make money for his next 15 generations, I think it's more than just his ego.

Its a simple 101 that a riot or a communal clash happens when two communities are involved, and how come, it is always one party that represents the wrong. On the other hand, if there is a political party that you treats different religions differently, or treats different castes differently, that represents secularism or pluralism for us. Even a party like 'All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen' is not communal, forget the parties coming to power taking their support. But a party that allies with Bhartiya Janta Party have to think twice. Such is the state of affairs, and we are too very righteous to call it hypocrisy.

Did you notice that, you don't see BJP showing favoritism a lot, in their manifestos or otherwise. That is the reason they talk about development, and not communalism. Did you notice that Vajpayee's government built roads, not temples. Did you realize that the tough decisions taken by NDA are things like Kargil war or Pokhran tests, not dividing a state though a parliament blackout.

And yet, we see that BJP has to fight these perception battles, while we are happy to buy everything that is sold to us about this very perception. Finally, I believe that religion should be left as a private affair. And I see that it is the congress (including this B Team of AAP)  that is not letting us do that. They to be are the biggest threat to the secular fabric of our country, not the BJP.

Are you also 'boxed'

Its hard to explain how and when it started. But how far we have come as a country in supporting the things that do not matter - is shocking.

Source:
https://www.facebook.com/RevolutionCartooning

India is probably the only country people fight to be (called) backward. Reservations etc, have successfully turned India into a bunch of vote banks. And they will keep doing so! I always thought that this populist polarization is the worst thing that can ever happen to the country. But last couple of months/years, our negligence has allowed the political parties to take this absurdity to a whole new level. Here are a few examples-

Vote banks have become such a norm that Congress has given a new state (Telengana), on a verbal promise from TRS (who can get some 10 MPs), that they will merge with them. After the shameless division, the congress has audacity to float the pitch in the rest of the Andhra Pradesh, that they will include a (kapu) community in BCs. This would apparantly give them 20% of the votes. Taking hint I guess from the blatant act of malice, recently one of my friends has been hinting the idea of starting a political party that would voice the (sizable number of) Telugu's in Karnataka.

Oh, wait - its not just one state. Jayalalitha, is all set to release the assassins of the former prime minister- just before elections. That will give her the much needed people's support to take the same chair whose honor she is happy to let go off. The ripples are felt up north, in JK there were protests demanding an explanation for hanging a Terrorist that attacked the parliament.

A riot 12 years ago, is still the biggest thing when it comes to how we vote, even though that was the last time a riot took place in Gujarat. How much did we care to understand the steps taken by this person we blame to control those, and make sure they never happened again?

Even a match of cricket is not left alone, when it comes to political gains. "Everyone has a right to support a team they like", Sashi Tharoor goes on record to lick the boots of a few extremists who control a some votes. (Celebrating when your country looses apparently is not provocative)

If you are a normal Indian news follower, at this point, I am pulling our the communal card or at the best being one sided, ignoring the BJP that is sitting on the other side of the fence. So let me give you one more. AAP, who says communalism is the biggest threat, has wakf board promotion in their agenda and backs khap panchayats.

But guys, frankly, if any of the points I made above have hurt your sentiments, its only because you have been successfully 'boxed' by the 65 years of evolution of the 'divide and rule' doctrine, our own guys adapted from the colonial rule and eventually mastered. For those of you who are not offended, you don't have a good news either. You are also boxed as 'the rest'. They know that we have to solve every *other* problem thrown at us (most of which do not matter). We have come to a point that, any fringe issue can become a mainstream. And rest of the mainstream just doesn't care.

What about corruption that is been happening every year? (Yedurappa - check. Lets move on?).

Talking about national security is out of context, so let me not even mention it. The terrorist attacks are like bad monsoons, lock ourselves down in our house, watch TV, eat popcorn, make a few phone calls. When were they ever an election issue? (But we watched 'The Wednesday' - check. Lets move on?)

What about our own jobs (forget that of our children)? We are good as long as Uncle Sam and his country can get some cheap work done, without actually saying so. What next?

Should we always be happier giving alms to a beggar than not having to have one in the first place. Shouldn't our mindset towards what is right be altered, if not changed? Its either that someone is super smart, or a lot of us are just dumb. But the subtlety at which our thought process is being manipulated should be admired. This quote from 'The Matrix' sounds so apt - isn't it time that we wake up?
Have you ever had a dream, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world? 

To my fellow Andhraites

The biggest state of South India breaks into two. The local media and the national channels have made amply sure that this news is not missed. While the international media got a chance to see the new lows of the biggest democracy in terms of the disruptions, national media did not miss a chance to expose the rowdyism of the Andhra MPs. For the 17 seat stake the Congress bought from TRS at a price of forking out a new CM seat, whatever happened is the party. Irony it is - while the people of Telengana have no reason to celebrate in this political ploy, Chidambaram who must be doing Lungi Dance in his Madras Cafe, is shying away from partying!

Most of these are just pass time politics. But what concerns me (and probably many others) is the fate and fortune of Andhra Pradesh and the dignity of Andhraites. For the Telugus who fought hard to establish their identity in 1953, things seem to be at square one again after 60 long years. While it appears now that the Andraites are parasites claiming unlawful stake on the beautiful Nizam city, everyone conveniently ignores the fact that Andhra never wanted Telangana to be merged into Andhra State, in 1953. It was the other way round.

So they were never meant to be together. And the division is just - right? Yes, but there are only 3 problems.

While Hyderabad gave the poor country a few buildings to run the state government, in 1956, a lot was paid back. 13 governments, of 175 MLAs from the Andhra region (along with 119 MLAs from Telengana) built the state centered around the capital city of Hyderabad for 60 years. [Don't give me that argument that Hyderabad is developed by people for all places. No MLA from a different state passed any resolution towards development(or otherwise) of Hyderabad].

"When Money is lost, Nothing is lost"

Gandhi already said. (but who can take that high moral ground!) But then he also said, 

"If Health is lost, something is lost". 

How much is something? Hyderabad will the common capital for both the states for 10 years. Really?? Its like having your bedroom in your neighbors house. A hostile neighbor I should say. I am not even talking about the bigger problems of water, electricity, the government/bank jobs etc.
Well, this can also be a temporary thing. Turbulence is expected when great things happen and some of these could be induced fears.
But the perception that was created by the Telangana movement, supported by the paid media (when Congress choose to support it), hits me the hardest

"If character is lost, everything is lost"

"Its a tale of one city, not a tale of two states" one of the prominent Congress men was spotted saying. It does appear so from what I've said so far - isn't it? Hell, no! It much bigger.
Did KTR (another Raj Thackeray) forget the rampage they created (including breaking the statues on Tankbund) while he is giving these austere speeches on national media debates these days?

The real problem is, Andhra strategically victimized, orphaned and ignored. To all those Sharukh Khans of Chennai Express, Arnab Goswamis, Kumar Viswas-es, and all those who think South Indians are all Madarasis, how would you explain the costal culture of telugu speaking, intelligent and industrious people that has its own identity, different from the Pepper Spraying, spicy foodie, disruption-ists fighting to steal someone else's city. (since I have taken pain to write such a big sentence, you better read it one more time ;) )
But why even blame them, as if own house is in order. We have elected leaders who would do anything to grab Hyderabad (even for a short period), but couldn't ask for a tax holiday for the Andhra after the division. But they have given free money- right? Caste based politics are still more important. Its a shame to see the congress men fighting for the CM post (in the present situation) with election in 3 months. What you pay is what you get!


This post however, is not to just vent my frustration out, even though that is what I have done for the most part. Is it not time that we wake up, and realize that we need to awake the pride and dignity of Andhraites? Like 3 things that were wrong, lets talk about 3 things that can make things right.

May be asking of people to choose the right political leader is too much. But should we not begin there? I don't vote in Andhra, but if you do think about it. Or if have someone who does, can you not ask them if not persuade them to consider this. Should our MP at-lest not talk fluent english/hindi when they represent us, Andhraites in the parliament? Do we not need MLAs who want to grow with the state instead of growing in the state?

Then comes my second point. I have friends who have started small businesses (like Dairy, poultry etc) in Andhra. Please encourage them. Invest with them/in them, if you can. Most of us have very short term goals. Have you ever decided where and how you want to spend your life after retirement? If you are an Andhraite, you should consider returning back- that is the only way you can keep your stakes alive in the building of the new state. My personal stand is, I will move to Guntur, whenever I have something substantial to do (at this point, it looks like its either when that region gets IT opportunities or when I get to a point where I rise enough capital to start my own firm)

The most important thing though is, keep talking about it. For long, we have been told that all talk is not good. But not talking is worse! If you talk, may be 5 others will. If 100 people talk, may be 1 person will do (something about it). If 100 people do, 1 might succeed. We need at-least a few 100 success stories, to get the dignity back! You start by talking about it.. Share this post if you think it makes sense, comment on this to let me know your thoughts. And one day, we will deliver!

If an Andhraite can become the 'next Bill Gates', how practical is it (not) for Andhra to become the next Silicon Valley? Wanted to leave you with this positive thought!

Blogging till Elections 2014

2014 is here! India is going to elections, this very year. And I want to get back to blogging. The amount of time I spend on news channels these days, I definitely need a channel to vent my views out. And this blog has, for so many times in past been a good friend to my mine, listening to all that I had to say. Frankly, Facebook hasn't been the best place, at least without making me feeling guilty of polluting my friends' timelines! And of-course I can feel like Arnab Goswami, in this own little blog of mine!

For as back as my memories go, I always did have an active interest in politics. My grandfather is a graduate (hons.) from BHU, Varanasi, 1948. If there is a reason I can think beyond what the mainstream education/media constantly prescribed me into, he probably has the largest contribution. As much as it is true that social media has given me a voice for promotion of my views, of late, it felt cluttered and unstructured. And that probably is the main reason I want to construct my view in a series of blogs that go till the general elections at a minimum. And after that, lets see where it takes us to! (Long story short, I am trying to prove my credibility to even write something as tiny as this, and you better be convinced)

And whatever I write in this blog, I completely understand that, it is 'a' point of view and there can be other points of view that are equally valid. And I encourage you to read my writing as a argument towards that point of view I am representing and give it a fair hearing.

Now that I have beaten enough around the bush, let me come to the political views I represent/support:

I am a believer of BJP. This is not so much because of Modi (exclusively). Nor is it because of the fact that Congress Govt. sucked big time. I will hopefully be able to explain, in enough detail as to why BJP stands closest to the ideologies I believe in- but that is for another time. All that I wanted to say at this time is, I am pro BJP and not anti-congress.

As many of you might have known, one of my very good friends, Rakesh, has joined BJP  recently Here is the 'yourstory' article, for more details. Having seen him closely in BITS, Pilani as Gen Sec and otherwise, I can see the value he can bring on to the Indian politics. For me, promoting him, is the closest I can get to, in claiming my contribution to the greater good of the Indian governance and politics.

The cultural identity that we are happy to let go of, is actually alarming. It is true that the urbanization has its own impact in terms of making us culture neutral. But if you keep that aside, as Indians, we are programmed to disown our cultural roots. So much so that following our traditions is considered ethnic in our own land (Dictionary meaning of Ethnic: Associated with or belonging to a particular race or group of people who have a culture that is different from the main culture of a country)

India, as of now, is growing despite government. Its high time that we have a government that can help the growth and development. Loosing the smartest of the people as brain drain or to unemployment has to stop. And that can only happen through a strong stable government and a political will.

There are many more, but these are the primary ones, and the reasons for me to start putting my political thoughts on this glass pane of yours! Trust me, politics can be more interesting than many other things that you do not probably know (like- lets say ice skating) and is as rewarding as the plant that Ashoka planted in our history books. Looking forward for your comments.

My experiences with Apple

It was how my English education began– ‘A for Apple’. And I asked my teacher, ‘What is apple?’ The fact I was more curious about Apple than the letter A, pissed him off. And thus, Apple entered my life, way too early.

And a little later, my mom started reading books for me, “An Apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Since I would listen to her when she was teaching, she thought that I believed her. But I hated that fruit. Not until recently did I figure out that some lobby of over-ambitious apple farmers around the world invented that statement. (And if you ask me on how I knew, it was a personal enlightenment, out of the blues)

I never believed that statement, but my personal experience is- the inverse of that statement is true. One of those unfortunate days, when I was lazy and hungry at 11 in the night, I ate an apple. After I woke up in the morning, I had such a severe throat infection that I had to go to doctor and take medication for 7 days. The doc told that it was because I did not drink any water after eating the apple. Again, he thought that I believed him and left apple acquitted. But that is the last time I ever ate an apple. Damn that fruit.

So, Apple as a fruit sucks. But how can I start my education with such insanity. Only after a long wait came the answer. Those were the times when I almost believed that- restarting my computer is the solution for all the problems in the world. When India was loosing the cricket world cup finals to Australia, I would restart my computer in hope of better things.

It was after a few months into my first job, that I saw a Mac book pro. One of my colleagues got a new Mac, and the whole company was going gaga over his achievement, an Apple. And so it began – the new definition for the Apple.

And the rest of it moved very fast. Got my first Mac, apple released iPhone, got an iPod touch. By the time I bought my iPad people started looking at me as an apple fad, and I enjoyed every word of their mockery as a compliment.

And somewhere in between all of that, saw the Steve Jobs’ Stanford commencement speech to become his fan. Starts with “3 stories, no big deal”, and delivers a speech, most of which is now treasured as inspirational quotes. “Stay hungry, stay foolish”, “Connecting dots”, “Even those who want to go to heaven, do not want to die. Yet…”, “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today…” - no words to describe the inspiration this man has left behind on this planet (I am not talking about this speech alone, but about all his life). In fact I started blogging (something I wanted to do from a long time), after watching this speech. If you feel like watching it (again), here it is for you.

Then I started following all his public presentations. Each one is a masterpiece. Little do I know about public speaking, to even attempt talking about the elements of his speech that leaves long lines before the Apple stores? “One more thing …” every time he said that, my heart went light, and the stocks soared high! I will be honored if I see another talk like those stevenotes in my life, and a dream come true if I can deliver one of those (dream big, my dad said). Remember the iPod Nano launch – the way he pulls the amazing iPod with from his small pocket. My personal best is the iPhone launch event.

It is already 4 years since I started taking any comments on Apple as pure ignorance. It is not by accident that they create stuff that rest of the world copies, and selling cheap is the only way they would overtake the original. 

In one of those mocking session a colleague of  mine mentioned about a research that said- when you talk to apple fans about apple, it is the same part of the brain that responds when you talk to people about religion and god. Of-course he has a point, Steve Jobs is the god, if technology is a religion. And apple will remain divine, for all the technology that touches people’s lives – in one way or the other.

What would have happened if Apple did not fall on Newton? A far fewer chapters to read in physics of course; but the world wouldn’t have known gravity!

And the state of affairs is not very different in my case if I haven’t met Apple. I would have saved a lot more money of-course, but my creativity quotient would have stayed far behind. Some of my fond memories wouldn’t have been possible without the apple products.

May be the day will come when I tell my son ‘A for Apple’, he will ask me 'Dad, is Apple the company that makes <the coolest gadget of the time>?' After all I want my children to be more intelligent than I am, but I can still claim that I walked on earth the same time Jobs did.

 Yours, 

Morus 

P.S1: Started this blog on the day Steve Jobs stepped down as CEO, but the day has come too early, where it makes no sense for me to delay its completion.  

P.S2: A few more blogs are to follow. I have way too much to say about this guy.

The Heart

What is the most complicated thing in the world?
The heart probably; but this post merely tries to engross myself into amazement on what the size of this complex thingy should be/would be.

Having spent 4 prime years of my life in BITS, a part of my heart lies there in Pilani, in some corner of VK QT. Am sure that there will be many others who would agree with me that their parts of their hearts are also roaming around rent-less in FDs or some other Reidis of the campus.

But here is the point; Pilani is not the only place that a part of my heart has ever set up a permanent camp. How about Guntur, my domicile? Not sure if bigger or smaller than Pilani version, a part of my heart stays there too.

And the lists of places continue- Bangalore probably holds the greater part of it, with some part shared by Bay Area. And not to forget Vizayanagaram, the place I was born or Jangareddy Gudem – the place that brought me up and took my dad away from me!
So many pieces; aren’t they?

And whatever piece remains in me - its overloaded with a hell lot of stuff. Remember the iPad that is there for a long time now (and never actually came to me). And all those cool looking shirts, SLR cams, laptops, bikes, cars, and (OK, let me stop here). Ufff, should be Very Very Very much stuffed.

And this is after we throw away our hearts on all those good-looking girls of the planet and given it completely to that one special person* after a lot of trail(s) and error.
And how can you downplay all those friends and family that have a special place in there.

'I Love APIs', and if you are like me, your heart should have been by now, full of XML, Java, or all those crappy looking circuit diagrams or flowcharts. Technology and work I mean, an ocean by itself.

And now what should be the size of this heart - should be pretty massive to fit the above requirements description in logical terms.
But if it is, how many liters of water would be required to fill it up with tears or how many kilos of happiness would be required to fill it with joy? Somehow all that it takes is a little praise/compliment.

So what do you think the size be?
Scientists say - the size of a fist!
Can't be… Can it be? It does feel very very heavy sometimes…

eNjoy,
Morus

*PS 1: If you still remember where you saw that *, it was just a generalization.
PS 2: Tried to, but couldn’t avoid the psenti part.

Khaleja - My Review :P

I am no reviewer of movies, no not at all. But this one time, I felt like reviewing the reviews of this movie that I liked a lot, that is judged to be un-likable by the authentic sources of the universe. And I got a classic case to strengthen my view that these professional movie reviewers are a pile of crap.

Is anybody else as curious as I am on what these reviewers do, after they get up in the morning every other day? Will they look at the calendar and say, “Yeah, today is the day. I can bitch a little more about Sharukh Khan. Where is my dictionary of urbane vulgar adjectives?” Or will they just open the book ‘Reviewing for dummies’ to revise the basics elements and say, “Oh yeah! Almost forgot about the concept – surprise element. Should see if Trivikram pulls the surprise element that I read the other day on surpises-database.com.” And is there a closed group-networking site where they will post, in the last 20 minutes of the movie “I am giving 3, what is the community opinion?”

Anyways, this is a topic for a different post, and I invite the radical movie viewers to pick it up from where I left it. But I had to bring it here, as I was about to tell that I was not at all surprised that there are no good reviews of this movie. And may be, it is meant to be that way. After all, what do you expect of those people to say of this movie, when they are trying hard to compare it with all the good things they ever knew about movies. The comedy was good, music okay; are all that the reviews have to say positive about this one. But I am sure that this is not what the makers of the movie wanted to hear about the movie.

I don’t remember how many times the Telugu moviemakers have really gone out of the box in making a movie like this. I felt the movie inspirational. It may just be my weirdo, but liked to see a movie like this made in the main stream. The core of the movie runs of the prophecy of a village priest that the God will incarnate to save their village. And the paradigm that God is not a distant omnipotent substance builds the solid foundation to the story. The converse would be that- the limit of human ability is infinite, as infinite as the God himself. I personally feel that the director/writer would have been blown off attempting to bring this concept to screen.

The concept was tried in the novel “The Immortals of Meluha”. Though I did not like the quality of writing or plot as much, I am amused by the sheer story line of the novel. Exploring the possibility of anew point of view, contradicting all that the infinite morass has taught us our entire life; isn’t it so amazing a source of optimism?

I was thinking that is just my own intellectual absurdity that I find the movie and book similar, may be because both of them talk about Lord Shiva in mortal terms. But this video is what made me realize that the moviemakers have hit the bull’s eye.

Watch the video, and think about it. And if you have watched the movie just think of what the hero is for those villagers – a god. But is just a cab driver for the rest of the world. And if the concept were legitimate, so can you be a hero for some cause/somebody but still be the same stinking you for the rest of the world? Doesn’t that make things simple and more importantly things possible?

Well, again- there is no rule that movies have to be realistic. Since reality in itself is just a point of view. And if there are more people like me who find these professional reviewers funny, join me in taking a digg at them.

eNjoy,
Morus

PS 2: I am not a fan of Mahesh

PS 1: If you did not like the movie but liked this post, think about me if you have some venture in mind and are looking for print marketing help

PS3: 2 coming before 1 - it was intentional