Contribute to Wikipedia – Rs.1000 (Together, we can keep it free)

“Wikipedia is about the power of people like us to do extraordinary things. People like us write Wikipedia, one word at a time. People like us fund it, one donation at a time. It’s proof of our collective potential to change the world.”

Support good journalism

Subscribe to Outlook Magazine – Rs. 3,700

For 15 years, Outlook magazine has kept the right distance from India Today and Frontline. From Manoj Prabhakar’s revelation of the match fixing scandal to the Niira Radia tapes, Outlook has defied the establishment cronies. In consistently publishing 33 page long articles from Arundhati Roy (who is unequivocally hated by their target middle class audience), Outlook has made sure we hear the dissident voices. I have subscribed for years now. It’s worth it.

Support good cinema

Buy Gulaal – Rs.300 (you can pirate it for free, but that isn’t the point right)

If you haven’t watch Gulaal. Support Kashyap and company. They’ve earned it.

****Urgent update about Wikipedia****

Dear,

Thank you for your donation to this year’s fundraiser. We’re a little more than half-way toward our 2010 goal, so I hope you won’t mind if I ask you to help again.

Most people don’t know this, but I’m a volunteer.

I don’t get paid a cent for my work at Wikipedia, and neither do our thousands of other volunteer authors and editors. When I founded Wikipedia, I could have made it into a for-profit company with advertising, but I decided to do something different.

Commerce is fine. Advertising is not evil. But it doesn’t belong here. Not in Wikipedia.

To keep Wikipedia ad-free, we ask for donations every year on the site. We’re sending you this email because we are scaling up our infrastructure this year, and we’re simply not able to raise the whole budget from the banners alone.

We have an easy way to make an automatic monthly donation to Wikipedia, and we’re looking for people who would like to become sustainers. (Of course you can make a one-time donation as well.)

Please make a monthly recurring gift of $2, $5, $7 — or whatever you can:

http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/WMFRE021/en

Wikipedia is something special. It is like a library or a public park. It is like a temple for the mind. It is a place we can all go to think, to learn, to share our knowledge with others. It is a unique human project, the first of its kind in history. It is a humanitarian project to bring a free encyclopedia to every single person on the planet.

Every single person.

If all of Wikipedia’s 400 million users would donate $1 each, we would have 20 times the amount of money we need. We’re a small organization, and I’ve worked hard over the years to keep us lean and tight. We fulfill our mission, and leave waste to others.

To do this without resorting to advertising, we need you. It is you who keep this dream alive. It is you who have created Wikipedia. It is you who believe that a place of calm reflection and learning is worth having.

This year, please consider making a sustaining monthly donation of whatever amount you like to protect and sustain Wikipedia.

Thanks,

Jimmy Wales
Wikipedia Founder

P.S. — If you can’t commit to a recurring monthly donation, I hope you’ll consider making another one time gift to help us reach our goal before the end of the year. Please make your donation today.

—

Wikimedia Foundation
P.O. Box 894879
Los Angeles, California 90189-4879
United States

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…… is not politically neutral and can never be.  Bodhi Commons does not hate politicians nor tries to appeal to an apolitical audience. If you are apolitical, for us, you are as good as dead. If you have politics of any kind, pull a chair, grab a cup of coffee, and we’ll talk. If you are apolitical, for us, you are as good as dead. I’m sorry if this sounds callous, it’s not intentional, it just reminds us we were 19 years old once.

BodhiCommons.org (beta*)

Bodhi was the wall magazine of College of Engineering Trivandrum. I am not sure if it has been discontinued like many other old wooden signboards we have banished to the southern hemisphere of our thoughts and discussions. How relevant could a wall magazine be in the age of accessing the WSJournal on a hand held or tweeting your stream of consciousness while clocking 7 mph on the treadmill. It sure isn’t relevant.

But there were many new threads, ideas, and some curious (at times stubborn) ways of looking at the world triggered by Bodhi and the ecosystem of student activism in College of Engineering Trivandrum. And we did debate those issues the way 19 year olds debate issues – impulsive, callous, and with much ado pretty much about nothing. All of us moved on, but as you would realize, internet has made sure that Generation Y can run, but cannot hide for long.

So the discussions and debates and motherhood statements and calls for revolutions continued over the past one decade, quite regularly even as the world around us took on shades of gray as opposed to black and white we saw in campus. Bodhi Commons – the portal – at times may seem too black and white. Its not intentional, it just reminds us we were 19 years old once.

Bodhi Commons has a clear left leaning. BC is not politically neutral and can never be.  Bodhi Commons does not hate politicians nor tries to appeal to an apolitical audience. If you are apolitical,  for us, you are as good as dead. If you have politics of any kind, pull a chair, grab a cup of coffee, let’s talk, argue whatever. If you are apolitical,for us, you are as good as dead. I’m sorry if this is callous, it’s not intentional, it just reminds us we were 19 year old once, and reminds you to take a stand.

Bodhi has no clear political agenda, so my best guess is it will try to align with the center left side of the debate in most issues. Not a 1917 or 1969 kind of left, but a 2010 kind of left. We are aware of the P.Sainaths and the Hindus and the Pragotis of this world (as none of us grew up in an island nor do most of us plan to be one if we grow up), but at the same time we feel that discussions in the impulsive Gen Y space has been hijacked to a large extend by neo-liberal rightwing moorings and voodoo development mantra. Bodhi Commons is an essential Gen Y space, though we are open to discussion on that.

While walking back from school, my north Indian friend told my malayali Christian friend “that the Indian government taxes Hindu temples and invests half the proceedings to pay for Chruches and Mosques. And he added that as long as Narendra Modi brought in development it didn’t matter if he okeyed a genocide or not – because that is what the common man needs” He also added he had no political affiliation whatsoever.

At Bodhi we do not agree that it is what the common man needs, we think that liberating mind spaces and gaining heart share for a more inclusive society lies at the core of creating a better society for all of us. We don’t believe in asking who deserves it, because everyone does. Really, everyone.  That’s one thing we are clear about, though we are confused about a lot of other things, which might make I’m sure some of you look at BC and say “it’s a joke”. Yes its part joke, part very serious. In that way it’s collegiate and keeps you from getting old.

And in reclaiming the commons, Bodhi will speak in both languages – Malayalam and the common language. And so I did give a data driven, fact based rebuttal to the claims my north Indian friend made. Though my explanation started with a “that right wing son of a bitch…” Sometimes Bodhi might sound a bit like this, especially for people from Impotenistan who try to claim the commons from within a veil of political neutrality. It is not intentional; it just reminds us we were 19 years old once.

See below for a well written introduction to Bodhi in Malayalam:

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Long 6 hour upgrade to MySQL 5.0 and then to WordPress 3.0 (“Thelonius), the latest and fastest version of WordPress. Its 4 AM on the pacific sea-board. Behold ye all the lengths to which I go to keep you guys happy. I am sure you all appreciate that.

And till I figure my way around WordPress 3.0, and find a suitable theme, you might see weird things happening here. Or in other words everything is Beta, or they say in Christopher Nolan’s Inception “limbo” – between many worlds.

Not to blow my trumpet, but I went for the premiere day before yesterday night. Nolan, Christian Bale, and Steven Spielberg were there. No they weren’t. I hope the movie released in your respective cities. But seriously guys I think you should all come and stay in California. Today I saw the sun setting – for real, it happens like 3 miles from my office.

Nolan’s movie is truly cerebral, very challenging, though a little short of feelings. I loved it, you must also love it. And I believe everybody must love each other. Do you have any theme suggestions for the blog? Please don’t suggest your own themes, I’m sorry your themes suck.

If you haven’t watched Inception yet and is still wasting time reading this post – its the little girl who kills the old man. That’s the suspense. Burn! Theme suggestions anyone?

Thank God its still Friday night technically.

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#ned Vs #esp

#Fra coach. This is more shameful than exiting the #worldcup at the bottom of your group.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vCIFx1oChQ

“There is a very strong emotional link between Maradona and Argentine society,” said Fortunato Mallimaci, a sociologist at the University of Buenos Aires. “He is an idol. But in this World Cup, there is a second idol: Messi. And there is a clash of two gods, the old and the new. But Messi still hasn’t fully won over Argentine society. If he plays well, there will be an explosion of sympathy for him and the team. But if Argentina doesn’t play well, they’ll both be in the mud and the idols will lose a lot of followers.”

Through Facebook: ethokke aayirunnu.. torresinte header… Xabiyude composure … David Villayude skilll….. angane pavanaayi shavamaayi………… (Spain 0 -- 1 Swiss)

Twitter Icons: #arg #aus #bra #chi #civ #cmr #den #eng #esp #fra #ger #gre #hon #ita #jpn #kor #mex #ned #nga #par #por #prk #rsa #usa #worldcup

Britain’s Sunday Times writes about the Rob Green (#eng vs #USA ) fumble “one disastrous spill the Yanks won’t complain about.”  #worldcup

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#Aus is getting raped by #Ger , 4-0, and what a chemistry between Klose, Podolski and Ozil! Here they come again. #worldcup

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This German team is gonna go a long way. Its all about Klosin  2-0 against Australia in first half.

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Vuvuzela (name in Zulu roughly translates to “making a lot of noise“) makes WC sound like Bhramaram soundtrack. Like a constant humming of a bee. I don’t find it annoying.

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My Brackets -

Brazil, France, England, Spain - Brazil

Cameroon, France, Argentina, Spain -- Argentina

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SA losing would have been a dampener. Good fight against Mexico. Now with France tied with Uruguay, Thursday’s Group A match will be fun to watch. I’m guessing its gonna be France and Uruguay from Group A.

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Goal Blog in NYTimes is a great resource. Specifically the heat map.

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Watching games at company cafe, and ESPN3 live streaming.

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Kickoff!

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Hindu’s pick of all time greats of the game. Predictable.

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Good old Sportstar has one of their much hyped World cup posters for download, and a rant on top-down approach by FIFA.

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Mak sends in JP Morgan’s Quantitative Guide to the world cup which predicts England will win the world cup defeating Spain on July 11th, though Brazil is the strongest team.

“Whilst our model points towards Brazil as being the strongest team to take part in the World Cup, our World Cup Wall Chart indicates that thanks to the actual fixtures determined by the schedule, we believe England will be the winner of the 2010 World Cup,”

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Soccernet staff predictions tilt heavily towards Brazil, Spain, Argentina, England and Holland (in that order). Brazil and Spain are the favorites. We’ll see when the brackets lock in by tomorrow.

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I’m using ESPN’s bracket predictor this year, its much better than good old printouts and spreadsheets, and saves some trees in the process. Bracket closes by Friday US time, so create yours now.  Online Bracket here and  PDF download here.

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A good old story to kick things off…

The men danced around the ball,pushing it,passing it,moving it inch by inch,feet by feet. They were peasants in crumpled hats and ragged coats, with their lively spirits keeping them warm in the damp,cold english winter. The rich lived inside their wooden abodes, in the comfort of crackling fires, wining, dining and contemplating with tall fences all around their estate to protect them. There was but one gap in the fence.The game was to put the ball through that gap.The players were human,mere mortals they had to move the ball with their legs but the gap in the fence was guarded by a Superman,he could break the law,he could touch the ball,use his hands to deflect the ball. the footballers danced around, sweating, laughing, swearing, to get the ball into the fence, that was the aim – the goal.the superman goalie  held the goal post.Every goal celebrated the victory of the human spirit over the repressor and the dancers cried out at the top of their lungs – GOOOOAAAL !

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My top picks from the last 233 searches that landed in Talkies. My favorite of course is “PRITHVIRAJ DESTROYED MOHANLAL”. Seriously? with Antony Perumbavoor around?

1. what was the reason for breakup of shashi taroor’s 1st marriage? – We all should start from this basic question.
2. what is exact word for counting people of india – word for counting people?
3. 100% perfect girl for me – yeah you try
4. attingal hot girls – what is this fetish for Neyyantinkara and Attingal?
5. mohanlal’s films character name starting with q - quanjanan
6. undemanding job - you have one I guess
7. PRITHVIRAJ DESTROYED MOHANLAL – why caps?
8. blue film with kottayam inhabitants – kottayam kunjachan
9. malayalam movies of younger actors are crap - babu is not searching, he is telling google
10. Shashi Tharoor,is waiting for the court order on his divorce and planning to get marry 3 rd time. – babu again

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• 

It’s been 10 years since the batch of 1999-2003 entered the hallowed corridors of College of Engineering Trivandrum. A decade since  we maneuvered the absurdly steep climb dotted by acacia trees one fine November morning, for the first day of classes with awe, a little respect, a little afraid of the phenomenon called ragging, just to cut classes for the first time in three hours and go for Manoj Night Shyamalan’s new movie in New Theatre. Sixth Sense. We are that old. Ladoo, Leo, and I. It’s that vivid.

Deepak, a CETian who makes some of us proud again and again, said in a comment on another blog,

“ഞാന്‍ ആരാണ്?” എന്ന ചോദ്യം “ഞാന്‍ ആര്‍ക്ക് ആരാണ്?” എന്ന മറു ചോദ്യത്തിനു മുന്നില്‍ “ഞാന്‍ എനിക്കു ആരാണ്?” എന്ന ചോദ്യമായി പരിണമിച്ചാല്‍ പിന്നെ അതിന്റെ ഉത്തരം “എന്റെ മനസ്സു എവിടെയാണ്?” എന്ന ചോദ്യത്തിന്റെ ഉത്തരത്തിലെവിടയോ ഉണ്ടാവില്ലെ? (പ്രാഥമിക വിദ്യാലയത്തിലോ, അനന്തമായ പ്രപഞ്ചത്തിലോ).

and it struck me.

I am a couple of years closer to spending three decades on this planet (though it is small and revolves around a tiny bright speck in an immensely large system of billions of universes, I still consider earth my planet, and no advances in space motivity will change my heart’s loyalty) , and looking back, and asking the final question which Deepak asks “Where does the heart lie?” – I get one answer. It’s somewhere between the Mexx Corner and Chandrannan’s Sallap, somewhere between the only canteen in the world which ‘composes’ tea (‘dei saarinoru chaya compose cheyyu, koode oru beef curryum‘) and the most godforsaken, snake infested planetarium in the universe, somewhere between the Union Room which looked like Che’s final hideout in Bolivia and the only library in the world, famous not for it’s books but for the fact that a famous CETian legend urinated on the crowds below from top of it, somewhere between erstwhile Lords and the CGPU and lazy accusations of CGPU reps eating up all our money at Lords, somewhere in the long corridor which connects the Electrical and Mech departments and passes along the despicable Principal’s office (every Principal is despicable and widely hated, even before they take charge), somewhere between the “SFI’s Red Fort” board and the the Dean’s office, and the unending debate on who among them rules the college…..

…….somewhere between the bus boarding area and the Ladies hostel, somewhere between the Electronics department famous for its revolutionary spirit and it’s bourgeoisie faculty, and the Mexx famous for it’s ‘spirit’ and ‘devil may care’ faculty, somewhere between those late night drama practices in Men’s hostel and empty handed returns from drama festivals around the universe, somewhere between Chechikada and those scores of cricket cups which the Mexx organize, Mexx win, Mexx decide and share the price money, and malayannan receives the cup, somewhere between getting called male chauvinists and actually acting like ones, somewhere between Wills and a way out, somewhere between the 500th Mohanlal movie you can think of and the general agreement that Mammooty sucks, somewhere between protesting everything and realizing protests have a meaning, somewhere between forgotten faces and the fact that even today you’ll recognize some very special people in those corridors, somewhere between the realization that you have a good life and everyone should have one. It is somewhere in between. I mean the mind.

It’s not about living in the past, but like Gunter Grass’s little Oscar, I guess some of us got stunted there and everything else in life, both good and bad has stemmed from it. Whether we’ll be a garden of Bonsais or large Banyan trees( or as a friend and comrade said “aal maramavan nattu anthuriam aayi”) is something which time will tell (and we will argue against it). There are certain things which I don’t understand even now. A few of my classmates in Michigan after hearing about the strikes in CET from another person asked me “What about classes then?”. I said “Classes??!”. And they said I had a bewildered look on my face then.

Pics courtesy: Dawn and Domain D.

In our long conversations on the National Highway between Trivandrum and Kochi, with topics ranging from growing Chinese influence in Hambantota to Meesha Madhavan’s place in malayalam movies, interspersed with ‘thalleyoli thanne’ screams on other errant drivers on the highway, Ajay and I, more than once reached the conclusion that we were damaged for life by CET and that wherever we go, and whatever we do, CET will be alma mater. Ten years later, Wills navy cut has given way to Philip Morrison’s flagship brand, there were big wins and George Bush got a second term too, a lot of beer has flown through the esophagus, almost all birds we knew have flown, many of us have kids our age, Mammooty aged back ten years, Shilpa Shetty got married, Kavya got divorced, IFFK turned 14, K Karunakaran is still alive (now I didn’t see that coming), malayalam cinema returned to world class, I check my mails every 4 minutes, Dhwani is safe in new hands, I didn’t win a booker prize, I am still single (now I didn’t see that coming). But the mind  still wanders to CET for sanity and a little courage, and CET still influences the way many of us react to money, power, and women.

And if there is one thing which differentiates a person who spent his formative years in campus, walking inconsequentially through the famed corridors which our parents had lot of expectations of and we had none, it is the way we react to power – the way we react to authority. 10 years hence I can vouch for this. It might be that “ലോകമേ പുച്ഛം” attitude which we carry along, but definitely I have seen CETians pay with blood for this disrespect for authority and anyone who claims it. I’m not sure if it’s a good thing, but I have seen CETians stand up for what they thought  was right, in the workplace and others gaining courage from that. It might be that overall experience in CET, with a large and mammoth ecosystem that doesn’t (I repeat doesn’t) work, which makes us comfortable with ambiguity. Which gives us a feeling that no system is too large to fail, and a misplaced over confidence that all systems both imposed and inherent survive by our opinion.

Coming back to Deepak’s questions, after I figured out my mind is still in CET, and I have no clue yet on  ”ഞാന്‍ എനിക്കു ആരാണ്?”, I know how an average CETian will respond to the last question.

if posed in the workplace -

“ഞാന്‍ ആര്‍ക്ക് ആരാണ്?” (Who am I to others or How do others perceive me)

if the answer is -

മയിരാണ്

That must be a CETian. 10 years later.

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Thanks to Nita and the Hindu for that, and for its commendable stand on the Mullaperiyar issue, and thanks to day’s Hindu for ignoring this statement from a self-proclaimed SOB. (I already have one ongi at this dude after the smoking ban).  Mullaperiyar I believe should be the top-priority of all bloggers from Kerala.

You can read part of the facebook-email conversation I had with Nita below,

1. something basic first…why do u blog? what do u get out of it?

Here’s my post on this.. Why do I blog (Diaries link)

Blog for me is a very effective medium of asynchronous communication. Its good for me because I can say anything I want and unlike a direct conversation I dont have to necessarily listen to what the other person says. In conversations I find other people dumb and unimaginative, so I often prefer a one way conversation. You can say I should start a radio station then. But blogs are cost effective.

2.. unlike most blogs by most mallus u stuck to Kerala, specifically Tvm issues i.e. local content..why is that?y not something like say abt ur feelings on hugo chavez for want of a bettr example?

I try to get involved with the community I live in. But you can search Talkies, it will have everything from Bukowski to Chavez to Obama to Tharoor. But local content was important for me, because compared to many other cities I’ve been to – Trivandrum’s cultural scene is great and its not dumb like many other cities. Plus when there is a Mohanlal movie releasing and there is a credit crisis in Western Europe, I do show some editorial discretion.

3. what kind of response do u get? how do u weigh that in with follow ups that u may have? is it again local? or is it varied? whatkind of thrill do they get out of it?

I have gone on dates through my blog, its thats good. Some people do like me, others will. But there have been very rude responses as well, but I kinda like them. I often pickup fights and prove that I am not a statistic. Then I expect an amount of decorum in the blog when comments go above 20, its like its my blog and I dont ask for your credit card information – so be nice.

4. do u feel that ur blogs have made an impact…in at least making peoople aware?

To some extent, yes. Especially on the text book controversy and Tharoors election. But I would stop at awareness. I wish there were more fans who treat me like God, but that hasnt happened yet.

5. has it bot some change to tvm…or the way plp view tvm?

No. I dont try to sell Trivandrum. Seriously, the place is so good and I will live here forever. But I dont want to convert and bring people to Trivandrum. The Ulloor-Srikaryam road is already crowded.

P.S: Here’s to Maharashtra for ensuring the spectacular defeat of the Indian Right.

P.P.S: In other news, Vatican endorses Karl Marx

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This essay of mine won the Discover India Essay prize at University of Michigan. The event was the first India Business Conference at Michigan. The Essay won me a certificate and whole lot of money in a beautifully organized and heavily attended India conference (though collecting the prize from one of Saffron India’s posterboys wasn’t the most enjoyable event of the night).

Discover India Essay: “One Billion and Counting”

Only the continent of Africa exceeds the linguistic, genetic and cultural diversity of the nation of India

-     US Library of Congress, Note on Ethnic groups

Today at school, we had the Alumni reunion, and outside the Siegle Café I met this alumnus from the 1958 batch. We talked for an hour about the housing bubble, the Ford Museum, the Korean War, the GI Bill, and as always what I lack in depth I compensated with breadth. And then the Alumnus asked –

“You are Brahma, right?”

I was surprised. How did he know my name? I am quite famous with my parents, but not so beyond that.

“I know that you ‘were’ Brahma because I’ve heard that Brahmas are the most intelligent and prosperous people in India”

It took me a while before I realized he was talking about the Indian caste called Brahmins. I did not get into a prolonged discussion with the white American with all his mid-western humility on India’s complex caste maze that evolved over many millennia.

But we do love generalizations, don’t we? When it comes to something as abstract and complex as India, we may love it even more. India, which Nehru called a myth and a reality at the same time, ensures you a catastrophe down the line if you approach it with a generalization.

In this essay, I’ve tried to put into perspective three core issues that define the billion population – Identity politics, Future indicators instead of lagging indicators, and Collective’s instead of Individual’s market.

The Politics of a Billion

“Nations are born in the hearts of poets; They prosper and die in the hands of politicians” – Mohammed Iqbal, Poet.

Caste is the Indian reality, and our politics is defined by that. Of course we can deny it for another thousand years. But anyone attempting to understand why a woman Chief Minister of one of India’s most impoverished states erects costly statues of herself in every junction would probably want to understand the caste hierarchy that permeates Indian society. May be the fact that, two decades or so ago, this woman could have been paraded nude and assaulted if she drew water from a ‘upper caste’ well would go a long way in explaining the politics of identity in the Indian Heartland.

Castes evolved in India as a form of dividing labor. For instance, the ‘Chamars’ were the caste of leather tanners, a line of work considered unhygienic. But irony and history has it that anyone who was born into a ‘Chamar’ family was henceforth treated as unhygienic and ‘untouchable’, even though he or she was not a tanner. This exclusion of about two thirds of the Indian population from the mainstream continued for well over two thousand years.

These castes started asserting themselves in different parts of India at differing times over the past 80 years, some states went through this essential identity churning before independence, but most of the states reached that stage only in the past two decades. This explains why democracy in India has different contours in different states. For example in states like Kerala, democracy is in a later stage where women’s issues and green issues are debated, while states like UP in the heartland are still passing through the churn of identity politics. Anyone who goes into India unaware of this deep fault line of caste is in for seismographic shocks. Caste defines the way India conducts business, and anyone aware of this will interpret the country better. And that will determine whether the ‘Billion’ is a challenge or an advantage.

The Future Indicators of a Billion – People, Technology, Education

The GDP debate around PPP notwithstanding, it would be worthwhile to look at the future indicators for India. India figures at 132^nd position on UNDP’s Human Development Index. HDI’s comparative measure of specifically child welfare, literacy and education leaves India high and dry. Despite marginal reductions in poverty – 60% of Indian women are under-nourished, 20% of the world’s out-of-school kids are in India, 25% of the world’s birth-related-deaths are in India, 74% of rural India has no toilets, and we are still arguing if we are the 4^th or 12^th largest economy in the world. You don’t create a developed nation and then develop your children, your children – the nourishment you give them, the education you give them defines the nation’s future. If we fail in that, we’ll be left with one billion challenges.

India has covered a lot of ground in poverty alleviation and the nation’s technology prowess is second to none. The effectiveness of the NREGA scheme for tackling unemployment in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh is a classic example of how effective legislation and technology prowess joined hands to make poverty history.

Why are we not able to replicate the above in case of mal-nourishment, education and Urban renewal? The Indian states have money, but not the management agility required of a prime mover. These are areas which present immense opportunities to organizations which have expertise and ideas in these fields.

The Possibilities of a Billion

India is a country where a unique idea whose time has come will catch fire easily. Then the mob takes it on their shoulders and dances around with it. It is a spectacle, a miracle sometimes. When Gandhi drew a handful of salt on a beach in Western India, night fell on the empire whose sun never set. The same happened with the green revolution that eliminated famine in India, and Operation Flood which multiplied the country’s milk production through the co-operative movement.

There are several instances where spectacular synergies between the Government and business changed history in recent times too. Rajiv Gandhi-Sam Pitroda team’s idea of tapping into India’s entrepreneurial spirit brought about the telecom revolution in India by connecting every village in India with a public phone. The cellular surge in India was another spectacle of Government-Business synergy, with regulations placed and removed at right timings. A very recent example is when middle-class India bought into TATA’s idea of the world’s cheapest car, and in a lesser known side story the cash strapped TATA (After the Jaguar deal) was able to stay afloat with the over 200,000 bookings in a month. TATA understood India, and India got the idea. And when that happens, you have a billion opportunities.

Indoxication

Predicting India’s future should not be attempted. It’s like marching to Moscow.

“When Nehru goes,” wrote Aldous Huxley, “the government will become a military dictatorship – as in so many of the newly independent states, for the army seems to be the only highly organised centre of power.”

I admire Huxley’s astute mind, his intellect. But he was wrong. When Nehru died, the army remained in the barracks. India survives always, and proves all experts wrong.

Arundhati Subramaniam writes “To the Welsh Critic Who Doesn’t Find Me Identifiably Indian.”

This business about language,

How much of it is mine, how much yours,

How much from the salon, how much from the slum,

How I say verisimilitude, how I say Brihadaranyaka,

How I say vaazhapazham

It’s all yours to measure, the pathology of my breath…

That’s what India provides -Indoxication.

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P.S: Like India, this essay has severe limitations, esp the 1000 word limit. And I have listened to criticism of people who think they are Betrand Russell’s true inheritors. Any comments making fun of the essay (esp from the girl who writes “FO” on this blog) will be moderated.

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