The Indian Politician And The Death Of Innocent Civilians

The Indian Politician And The Death Of Innocent Civilians

So I read this sms forward about how the Israelis were hiding their population behind missiles (missile-screens) and how the Hamas were hiding their missiles behind population (people-screen) which I found not only funny but also quite thought provoking. Ever since the brief Gaza war started nameless members of parliament (Indian parliament) have taken to rushing to the floor of the parliament to raise the problems of the Palestinians in Gaza- never mind that not a single one of these MP’s has ever (never) raised a single voice in favor of their constituents who voted to send them to parliament and who are living out their miserable lives hoping that their government would do something for them to better their existence. But when did domestic policy ever bring votes to an Indian politician, so it’s been the Gaza, Gaza and Gaza for them all week in the hope of a few Muslim votes consolidating behind them for having defended “Islam”- never mind the illogicity of it all as the Palestinian question has never been about Islam- or that’s what the Palestinians themselves say.

Anyway I digress. To come back to why the Israelis were bombing the Gazan's they give a perfectly logical reason that the Hamas terrorists (yeah, there I said that- I used the word terrorists- for in my book- any group which kills non combatants and innocent civilians are terrorists no matter their justification or whatever appellations they hide behind as freedom fighters) were digging tunnels which they were using to cross over into Israeli territory to kill civilians. And the Israelis responded as they always do- disproportionate use of force which targeted many innocents- what’s called collateral damage. Now before we blame the Israelis let us reflect as how to this war started and who provoked it all- you can’t stick your hand in a beehive, get stung and later blame the bees for not discriminating between the hand which was used to rob honey and the hand which didn’t. When you poke a beehive, you do it expecting to get stung and Hamas knew what it did would bring the Israelis wrath down on the heads of innocent Palestinian citizens who were caught in the cross-fire. So the blame for the whole “deaths of civilians/collateral damage” thing should be laid squarely at the feet of Hamas – who coldly, callously brought this destruction down on their own people, regardless of the fact that it was Israeli bombs which killed them. 

If the Hamas terrorists had even just a bit of conscience they would engage the Israelis in open warfare and not from behind the skirts of their innocent civilians. But when did terrorists care about ordinary people, people like you and me? They simply use us to justify their bloodthirstiness and their need to take others lives for their own fanatic causes. So like all terrorists everywhere the Hamas have the blood of their people on their own hands as much as the Israelis have- no two opinions about it. And so do their backers and financiers- the gulf sheiks who channel money into jihad in the name of Islam and just end up killing innocent Muslims who would welcome hospitals, schools and other real help rather than armaments and munitions designed to reap more blood of the innocent.  But the little people never get a chance to voice their opinions do we? Its all realpolitik, high finance and strategic moves- no matter that the people who die don’t have a say in their lives.

And to add insult to injury we see the sight of these false guardians, these crocodile tear-shedders who jump into the fray whenever there is a communal issue anywhere they can use to get votes. Do these people know about the poverty rates in India? About the malnutrition rates? About the number of orphans and elder citizens who don’t have access to orphanages or old age homes? About the lack of drinking water- disease free, potable drinking water all over the country? About public toilets and sanitation facilities? About farmer suicides and farms depending (still- even in this century) on rain fed irrigation? Or how certain districts in India see more deaths and misery due to poverty than even war torn gaza? Now when did you last hear our honorable MP’s disrupt Parliament for these questions? Or our independent newspapers carry these questions on their front-pages for a whole week? And we say we live in a free country. Do we? Really?

Is The Idea Of Having Intelligent Rulers An Anachronism in Indian Democracy?

A friend of mine narrated a recent experience of his on a private long distance transport bus-he had booked a ticket to travel from Chennai to Tiruchi overnight; when he went and occupied his allotted seat he was informed by the conductor his ticket had been changed to a later time, as a well heeled party had booked up half the seats .All single passengers had been changed to a later time: without informing anybody at all. My friend protested to no avail, as the management was not inclined to offend the well-connected party. Sadder but wiser from the experience; my friend travels in government buses only nowadays. The conductor who gets a fixed salary does not care who gets what seat as long as he is not disturbed – a perfect example of the unexpected efficiency of a govt. department. Which goes to show that many private firms in India far from being efficient and responsive to customers are actually only interested in making exorbitant profits even to such an extent that they are willing to risk alienating the majority of customers for pampering a preferred few. So much for the efficiency of free-market reforms in India.

The reason for this post is the number of editorials and opinion pieces on newspapers and television lambasting the recent influx of middle class and educated persons into politics professing to serve the nation. They would rather perpetuate the myth that someone who worked as a manual laborer with no education would make a better leader- the salt of the earth- then anyone who drifted into school to learn the basics of R & R. I agree that electing leaders who have come up the hard way is the right way to follow. But is it wrong to expect a minimal level of intelligence (note: I am not equating education with intelligence after watching the performance of economists in power) in someone who aspires to lead a nation of billions? That why I feel that the experiment of the newly elected delhi government is going to mark a very big change – we are going to see first hand whether we can cajole people along (as a mob) on governance or we only follow orders given from the very top. 

Historically we Indians have not been known to do things of their own initiative but always respect and follow a firm guiding hand. And a democratically elected govt. dependant on votes is in the least capable position to enforce the required discipline strictly. To do so otherwise requires tact which unfortunately is a vice very few Indians profess to practice. So in this, as in most things we get by with neither offending anyone nor getting anything done- in other words status quo. What we require is guidance and not too gently either. We Indians love to be bossed around, to be put in our place, to be shown our limits and the punishment for transgressing them. There is something in our psyche, which makes the majority of us the best followers, and the worst leaders in the world. Gandhi had just to pick up a stick and walk and all India followed him regardless of the punishment to do so. But it required a Gandhi to take the first step and such men are not always available to us. Instead we elevate straw men up to positions of power and outrage endlessly when they are blown away like the chaff they are.

The only practical defense our leaders offer on their behalf is the “I am not responsible it’s the system” excuse. And we always, always find and blame a scapegoat- especially someone who risks making the first move. We always wait for that someone to be shoved in front of us so as to escape the consequences of our action on the principle that he who stands in front is the first to be beheaded. This makes for an interesting scene - everybody jostles the others to come up in front of the rat race but once there they instead of enjoying the fruits of their success are suddenly filled with an acute sense of dread and insecurity which makes them behave in ways they would normally never do. An apt illustration of the phrase “success gone to the head” only here that very success makes them fear for their head. And to retain their success they trample underfoot everyone they used to climb up there. That’s the reality of our waited-for leadership whom everyone believes will make a great change to our polity.

There is another election coming up soon- an election which will decide the fate of the nation- or so they say every five years but I still have to find that it makes any real change to our everyday struggles in life. Every year without fail they show in the papers one pathetic photo of democracy- a centurion on a bed being carried by exuberantly drunken youths to the polling booth. Pause for a minute and think: is it humanely possible for such old fossils to comprehend the basis on which that election was being fought, disspationately analyse the candidates and then make an informed decision? So who ends up voting on their behalf? And they celebrate this as a success for democracy. Ill-informed voters are the bane of a nation. The only solution to this problem is suspension of universal voting rights. And confine voting to the educated and the intelligent. Atleast until the rest catch up.

A nation's strength is reflected in her choice of leaders. Universal suffrage trips us up badly in this regard. A roster of our national leaders the past fifty years ought to convince anybody of this. A single-term Abdul Kalam showed us what a refreshing change it is when an educated man is appointed to the post of the President of the nation and not merely timeservers and political advisers rewarded the post of President, as had been the unwritten norm of our democratic dispensation. There is a palpable sense of relief when the leader of the nation does not trip over his own two feet every time he gets up or sleeps (snores) during public meetings. And we don’t have to cringe collectively every time a foreign leader meets our leaders for a courtesy call, or worry about India’s prestige abroad. So why not go the whole hog and elect a collective of educated elders? Toss in a few names you know and respect and a few I know and respect and together we ought to have a collegium of intellectuals fit enough to rule over us. And forget this nightmare of a system called democracy, which has made election of the most despicable a daily occurrence. Surely we can’t get anything worse than the current lot sitting lording over us in Parliament can we? 

As for fears of oligarchy the greatest civilizations like the Greeks and the Romans and in India, the Chola’s were primarily oligarchic and they advanced both democracy and civilization far more than we ever hope to do. Collective rule by enlightened elders is what we face daily at home; if it works there why not nationally? The prime opposition to this idea will arise from our Dynastic families as the threatened loss of their off-springs collective inheritance will make them fight like nesting mothers for ‘status quo’ for where else will their patently useless offspring get a living if not under the spreading banner of dynastic succession in the pleasant grove of Indian democracy.

And finally for those media persons who have taken on the mantle of our nations conscience keepers – a viler breed you would not find anywhere else.  They and the shady capitalists who own these media conglomerates require a well directed kick up their backsides to keep moving in the right direction or they would parcel up and sell the country in a blink to retire in Switzerland. A council of elders elected by the educated and intelligent is the one of the most interesting solutions to India’s ills in my view – something which might fail but won’t leave us worse off than we already are as a nation. Or of course we can always have martial law.

               

          

History, Politics and Best Sellers….

History, Politics and Best Sellers….

You know what I regret most? I regret that Valmiki and Ved Vyas did not copyright their works. I wish that the intellectual property laws had been invented back in 2000 BC or thereabouts so we don’t have to suffer the torture inflicted on us- the reading public- by half-baked re-imaginings of timeless classics in the name of re-interpretation. Gods and devils, devas and asuras- none have been spared from being filched and “re-imagined” horrendously. Every other writer nowadays "borrows" of the Puranas and Itihasas and makes a mash of them in the guise of modernity. 

If you are wondering what has riled me so much let me give you the story behind my irritation. I recently got my hands on a book which was purported to be a retelling of God Shiva's story - a book tom-tomed as the fastest selling bestseller on on-line retailers.. If you have not had the misfortune to read that novel please don’t spend your hard earned money and buy it believing the marketing hype. But if you like me had bought it already, then i am sure that we kindred souls can commiserate with each other for wasting time and money on such a pathetic rendition of what a novel should be. 

There are lots of people out there who trash Chetan Bhagat (after secretly reading his novels) as a boring and ungrammatical writer. I for one consider Chetan Bhagat as the best Indian contemporary author. Want to know why? Because he is original and imaginative. He doesn’t simply filch the Ramayana and Mahabharata and just modernize the characters. He has written progressively about college life, call center life, small town life and such other facets of contemporary.

Now compare Chetan Bhagats competition on the bestseller list.  The other bestsellers on the contemporary Indian fiction list are Bankers Ramayana series- not a patch on the previous versions of Valmiki, Tulsidas, Kamban or my favorite, Rajagoplachari's. And then the execrable Shiva series I mentioned earlier written by Amish Tripathi and the Krishna series written by Ashwin Sanghi- an eminently forgettable addition to the list of Indian writers- as forgettable as their books. And somehow marketing hype, catering to the lowest common denominator has brought these books onto the bestseller list too. 

The reason, in my opinion, these books are making the bestseller lists is the rising tide of fanaticism in the country. Our people are getting better educated but are simultaneously growing more parochial. Such people don’t read or trust history, they get all their historical knowledge from reading trashy novels which retell history to reflect their authors mindset. Mores’ the pity for a real historical knowledge is as essential for a good citizen as any professional training. A professional degree gives you the skills for a job; history teaches you your place in society. And that’s the reason why rulers have fought over it traditionally - the right to teach their own version of history.

Throughout human life we can see that history has always been a weapon in the hands of the ruling elite. In India real historical knowledge was first propounded by the ruling British, people like Alexander Cunningham who excavated Monhenjadaro and formulated the Indus Valley civilization theory and the Aryan Dravidian divide. After independence history passed on into the hands of those Marxist parasites who ruled the roost under Nehruvism- people like Romila Thapar- who decided that Marxism was best served by reducing Indian history to a nonentity until the Arab invasion of Sindh. For the Marxist historians Indian history attained its high point and ended with the Mughals. For how else could they justify their accepting handouts from the modern day nawabs who ruled from New Delhi. And this state sponsored glossing over the historical atrocities committed by the Islamic invasion has produced a natural backlash in the rise of hindutva fanatics who have swung the pendulum of history to the other end.

The right wing rise in India has coincided with bestselling novelists who have cleverly played on the sentiments of people who want to believe that theirs was a glorious past which was destroyed by foreign invaders starting from the Arabs, the Turks, the Mongols and then the British. For people like Amish Tripathi, the highpoint of Indian history is the Aryan reign in the Indo-Gangetic plain. That is why in the Shiva series he has Aryanised the Indus valley culture by referring it often by the historically inaccurate name of Indo-Saraswatic culture. Every theory of the yet to be deciphered Harappan script refers to the astonishing similarities it shares with Dravidian, more specifically the early Granthan Tamil script known as Vatteluthu. 

 But to these new age authors, people like Ashwin Sanhghi or Amish Tripathi, everything starts with Manu their patron saint and so they appropriate the Dravidian heritage of the Indus valley culture and make it Proto-Aryan - as a degenerated form of the great Aryan civilization as exemplified by Manudharma. Archaeological evidence of a 150 years - right from the original digger Cunningham- is discarded in favor of a fanciful interpretation to suit new age India which demands a hoary past of immense scientific progress and cultural status. 

For these people everyone in ancient India ate gold and shit diamonds and all the knowledge of the world was inside India and the rest were mere barbarians. This exalted view of Indian supremacy must have existed historically too or how else can you explain the fact that at one point of history ancient Indian society specifically excommunicated people who traveled by  sea? Even the father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi suffered this fate as late as the 19th century when he went to England to study law and this when there was clear historical evidence from coins/potsherds/books (Indica by Megasthenes?) that other ancient civilizations were bold seafarers who regularly visited India to trade?

This parochial view of the false greatness of Indians alone when compared to the rest of the world is the same view being perpetuated by these bestselling authors to prey on gullible youngsters who skipped their history lessons at school. For example in the Shiva series there is an hilarious explanation of the alcoholic drink somapana as an antioxidant drink comparable to modern day juice boosters but with miraculous effects like the elixir of life. I accept that authors have a license to use their imagination and write fantasy but in this case they are merely playing into the hands of politically motivated fundamentalists who will take these books as literal facts and boast about our "rich" heritage now gone to dogs.

And so we come back to my original premise, about my regret on not allowing the Ramayana and Mahabharata to remain as they are without these frequent re-telling. I wouldn’t bother if any of these translations were halfway interesting purely from a writing (or plot) point of view. But the truth is they are not. They are neither enjoyable nor truthful. And they are not even like chetan bhagats books which at least address today’s issues instead of raking up old and historical feuds and prejudices.

And what’s more scary, these books are being used as part of a larger agenda to increase contempt for our contemporary scientific society (which is far more egalitarian than any in historical India) based on a fanciful image of ancient India and its omniscient greatness. Is this accidental on the part of those authors? Or are they being used or co-opted against their knowledge? Or is it all a part of the growing radicalization of society to the Right of the polity as a backlash to being force fed fifty years of Marxist (leftist/Communist) history by the JNU Jolawalla types? 

I leave you to decide for yourselves and ask you to share your opinions with me in the comments section. I have a final plea to you, please read history for history sake. Read it neither as a leftist nor as rightist but as a seeker of knowledge and you can see the truth minus all fanciful lies and politics. And finally a novel is just a novel, it is not history and ancient India did not have streets paved with gold- that was El Dorado. Enough said?