Walk out....and keep going

The Indian parliament seems to be in a state of gridlock again. Every time there seems to be an important policy issue on the table, the political players choose rancor over sanity and extortion over unanimity. The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) bill in the retail sector is similar in magnitude to the disinvestment policy of the late 90's by all means, in that it hopes to open up the largely unregulated Indian retail sector to foreign chains like Walmart and Ikea, with benefit going to the government coffers and the consumer. Inevitably, the producer would be stuck in the middle, and while the Indian farmers are already burdened with middlemen and procurement failures, the entry of a global behemoth that has the cash and muscle to outrace the competition would indeed complicate the already tangled web of field-to-store delivery. 

It is therefore a subject that requires serious deliberation on part of every citizen and politician alike. The concerns of mom-and-pop shop owners are legitimate. Considering how much of the American retail market is dominated by chains like Walmart and Fry's, it is not impossible to imagine serious consequences for small shop owners, especially in the big cities and metros where these retail chains are expected to being operations first. However, one cannot deny the job creation and infrastructural benefits that will accrue once these stores start running their functions. And there can be enough check and balances built into the system so that no one feels cheated, and small business owners can thrive side-by-side with the behemoths. That would require raising issues and finding their solutions one at a time, which doesn't seem to be happening right now. 

The discussion on the FDI bill, expectedly, tuned into a free-for-all. There were moments of substance though, as the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha rightly addressed the current state of the Indian democracy as 'one of numbers' rather than 'one of trust'. Similarly, the Minister for Commerce tried to lob the ball back into the BJP's court and demanded why the once pre-reform party was reneging on its promise to invite foreign investment in the retail sector. The most annoying incident however was reserved for the climax. As the parliamentarians got down to vote, the two principal faux-opposition parties, the SP & the BSP, both trotting their socialist and secular credentials, decided to walk out altogether. The motion against the bill's passage was dead there and then. The government secured a 'victory', while the opposition was left staring at their fractured unity.

This is not the first instance of a walkout affecting the passage of a bill or a discussion in the parliament. Typically, it is a face-saving notion, where the failure to amass numbers by the opposition is drowned out by its PR managers outside the house. However, considering the significance of the FDI bill, the events surrounding this walkout demand some questions. Both of these parties are staunch enemies, and even at a personal level, yet support the same central government whose policies they detest at times. Leaders of both parties cried hoarse over the perceived loss business to the small shop owners. Co-incidentally, they also support the central coalition from the 'outside', which in simple words means that they can ask for favors without getting their hands dirty with the government's laundry. Could they have gotten a better occasion to make their displeasure at the government's proposal more clear? Could  they have gotten a better occasion to state which side of the aisle they stand on policy decisions? This walkout didn't help anybody, not least the Indian public. When people say that politics is a dirty business, behavior of this kind is what they often refer to. Walking out of the parliament before a vote is akin to walking out of an exam without even attempting it- it helps nobody involved. 

Should the legislators look at this problem more seriously, and make it compulsory for every elected member to vote on crucial policy decisions? Why not? We elect them to participate in polity, not be an absentee and sit outside the house. Indian parliamentarians are notorious for the marginal number of working days they put in (check out the statistics). They draw a hefty paycheck, yet participate close to negligible in the day-to-day affairs of the parliament. It is about time we bring in some systemic change in the way business is handled in the capital, so that  democracy can go back to 'one of trust' from 'one of numbers'. That is the least we can demand!

PS: Always a good time to revisit Yes, Prime Minister.

The difference an hour makes!

An hour is usually not considered prime estate by any means by most people. In fact, you would not realize that it has been an hour since you opened those multiple tabs side-by-side on your browser and jumped from one to the next without finishing your business on either. Why then, would turning back the clock by an hour make a difference to anybody at all? Daylight saving kicked in last night for most of the United States bar Arizona (still not sure about the logic they follow, but then, it is hard to go by logic in general when you are in Arizona). At 2:00 AM, Google automatically updated my Android device's time to 1:00 AM. So did the Windows OS on my laptop. I woke up feeling sheepishly proud of myself, having not wasted an entire Sunday morning in bed, but actually up and running by 9. And then it hit me!

You see, I never lived in a country where we fiddle around with our clocks unless the batteries run out. In fact, at numerous railway stations and government offices, we don't touch our clocks at all, deeming them sacrosanct and beyond the reach of human touch. But now, having moved to Colorado this July, I was unsure of what to expect when the clock strikes 2 on a chilly November night. The only calculation I had done was that I would now be 12.5 hours behind India, so calling my parents at 7 PM MST was okay, but not at 6 PM MST as I had grown used to. Then a friend texted me earlier today that sunset was around 5 PM, so a run after that would not be fun. I didn't pay much attention to it till I actually looked out of my window, and voila, it was pitch dark outside at 5:30 PM! 

If you need some context, most of my undergrad life was spent going for a run at 6:00 PM after the lab was done and the IITB campus was coming to life around the gymkhana ground. Darkness at 5:30 PM is comparable to the tragic ending of The Departed to me. Does this mean that I have to become a morning person now? More importantly, will dinner time actually move up from 9 PM to 7-ish since bed time will have to change disproportionately? A good friend of mine even suggested investing in a 'sunlight box' that is a commonplace in every Scandinavian household, since those poor folks are actually lucky to see any sunlight at all at that frigid latitude.

My day is going to be an hour shorter for the next 5 months, and I figure that I'll get used to it. But then, the clock moves back to daylight saving, and I'll be a confused Indian again!

PS: A public service announcement. Can we go easy on the Swedes please?

Dialing back to the 16th century

The past month has been especially shameful for Haryana, a state known for its falling sex ratio and increasing cases of female foeticide. 17 counts of rape in a period of 30 days is a matter of concern and shame for any government, both at the state and at the centre. While crime against women in this era of modernization is disconcerting, what makes matter worse is the lack of a clear political discourse as to how these heinous offences are to be dealt with. 

Haryana has been in the cross-hairs of female rights activists for a while. With a precarious 877 girls/1000 boys sex ratio, you would imagine that the government would be proactively taking corrective measures to deal with this societal tragedy. Yet, the sex ratio for children in the state is 826 girls/1000 boys, and by some accounts, it continues on a downward trajectory. What one is dealing with here is a catastrophe in the making! Then comes the horror of September 2012, when rape incidents in Haryana made national headlines and prompted some serious questions from ordinary citizens. Unfortunately, as has been the case in the past, the principal opposition party in Haryana chose to milk this sensitive issue for political gains. One would expect insensitive remarks from the khap panchayats, the self-proclaimed old guard against erosion of 'Indian culture', like suggesting a reversion to the pathetic system of child marriages independent India had to fight against. That khaps have a feudal mindset is no surprise to anybody- they are usually composed of uneducated village seniors who prefer their women to stay inside the house and devote their lives to the kitchen. But when this mindset creeps into politics, one has to be on their tenterhooks. The powerful opposition leader, Om Prakash Chautala, has suggested that early marriages can protect innocent girls and women from rapes. When his comments sparked a controversy, and rightfully so, he retracted his incredulous suggestion, claiming that he was simply referring to the prevailing customs of the Mughal era. Well, we are not living in the 16th century anymore, in case somebody missed their memo.

To make matters worse, the sham of a government we have at the centre suggested that it is a statistic in step with the growing number of crime against women all over the world. You know what else is increasing all over the world? Female literacy and social equality. How about that Ms. Chowdhary? The truth is that the Indian society still suffers from the patriarchal mindset that should've been phased out 30 years ago. It is hard to believe that we pray to countless goddesses during all prominent festivals, and yet girls do not feel safe stepping out after dark in some parts of the country. Who can forget the shameful incidence that occurred in Guwahati this year, and was broadcast fodder for weeks? In some ways, Indian women have to become more assertive in demanding tough answers and equal rights when they are kept away from these. There are numerous brave women in our society who have defied all odds and shone like a rising star in adverse circumstances. One such example is that of the Gulabi gang, a vigilante group of women that has all but eradicated crime against women in a backward part of the country. While their methods may be questionable, there is no denying that they have been effective. It is time for the government to act up or shut up!

PS: Aamir Khan had a wonderful episode on his show 'Satyameva Jayate' dedicated to the cause of preventing female foeticide. Worth a watch!

An inch closer to the future

In 1969, mankind affirmed its supremacy over the solar system as the first man step foot on the moon. In 2006, we launched our first probe towards the distant Pluto, no longer a planet, but still significant on scale of the distance between us and that tiny little glob far far away. And just last month, we landed a sophisticated robot on the red planet to further probe Mars' surface , using technology never seen before and risks never being higher. But really, how fast is the humankind progressing on the blue planet we call home? All these missions gave impetus for technological advancement and out-of-the-box thinking during their conception, and yet we still don't see the next big leap into the future happening anytime soon!

That we have come far from the day Alexander Bell called across a headset to his friend Thomas Watson would be an understatement. We have shrunk a computer from a resource-guzzling Goliath to a palm-fitting screen. You can even trace your lineage these days at the click of a button. And yet, some of the problems threatening our advancement remain unperturbed. The so-called megacities of the world are overburdened. The developing world remains at the mercy of the monsoons to feed its people and keep inflation low. The Arctic ice sheet just shrunk to a record minimum, and may keep shrinking for the next two weeks. And we are increasingly alarmed at the prospect of our energy dependence on coal and gasoline. 

Is this to say that science & technology has put global upliftment in hindsight as it marches on towards novel frontiers of innovation? Hardly so, but there are certainly more startups focused on improving your social life than those on improving your actual life. So while I was sitting 10,000 feet in air, thinking about those little rivulets down below you glance at once in a while, I came across an incredible IT tool in the back pages of the mundane airlines magazine. Streetline, a startup that lets you find parking space in a bustling metropolitan city and then navigates you towards it, is one of the most ingenious technological innovations I have seen in a while. We have all been frustrated at the lack of easily available parking at some point during our lives. Well, hook up a smart sensor to the parking spot and transmit that data to paying customers. Sounds easy, right? Similarly, technological innovations in the field of medicine have made it possible for a doctor to calculate risks associated with a patient's present condition 10 years down the lines. All basic ideas carefully crafted into profitable and humane technological tools. Apps like these amaze and puzzle me at the same time? Facebook and Zynga still dominate the front pages of any leading business journal, while few care to mention these fantastic small companies that are making a huge difference in the quality of life of numerous individuals. A difference of perception indeed!

PS: Everybody has heard about TED talks. Here's a personal favorite, and in my opinion, a must-see.

Mystery woman steals the show!

The 30th Olympiad is off to a jubilant start. Jubilant in the sense that our British brethren got an opportunity to put their smiling faces in front of the camera for the entire world to see, hiding the anguish born out of the disastrous performance of their economy. More importantly, Danny Boyle got James Bond to walk the Queen out to the stadium. How many times does that ever happen? So after this glorious extravaganza was over, the media, naturally, moved on to more important news. And what can be more important than a mysterious woman, right out of one of our mythological scriptures, who sprang next to the flag-bearer Sushil Kumar, a devoted practitioner of the ancient sport of wrestling, and a devotee of Lord Hanuman. Guys, this is like the perfect divine intervention, a signal that everything's going to be just fine for the Indian contingent in this edition of the games. 

We Indians believe in omens, whether good or bad. In fact, it is not unusual for people to suddenly turn courteous once they encounter a cat crossing their path. The "you first" bug spreads across the length-and-breadth of the country once that happens. Therefore, all this hoopla surrounding the identity of this mysterious woman is ill-founded in my humble opinion. I mean, why ruin it for everybody? Suresh Kalmadi couldn't be there, so god already took care of the bad part. And it was balanced out by this vision of a smiling lady walking by our gabru jawaan. Guys, if Sushil wins a medal, we can truly believe that God's hand was on him! In fact, if we win any medal at all (which I pray and hope we will, else it will be too hard for somebody living in this part of the world to avoid the catcalls), we can claim that we did it despite of the sports administration, and because God gave us a signal already. Imagine the perfect scenario, just like one of those mythological serials that grace our screens on sunday mornings, where the Gods appear to be floating in the air, and then suddenly vanish. It would have been just like that! 

Alas, the mystery has been solved, and she is just a troupe dancer who was a bit overzealous. But hey, only in India can a non-sportsperson hog the media limelight from our athletes even at the olympics. At least the officials don't outnumber the sportsmen in this version of the olympics, unlike the winter one!

PS: In case you missed it!

India Dairy: Rise of the women!

One week hence, as I am coming to terms with the unpleasant summer climate in much of India, an interesting phenomenon came to my observation yesterday, which I shall refer to as 'The husband identity'. My hometown is up for elections to the local corporation and the post of Mayor next Tuesday, and as they say, any election in India is vigorously contested, if nothing else than to distract the masses from the real issues. Sample the presidential election, where a clear victor has already emerged, and yet the media is boomeranging about the possibilities in the 2014 General elections.

Based on our system of caste-based reservation of electoral constituencies, Jhansi has been reserved as a 'Women-backward' seat, implying that only female candidates belonging to a classified backward caste can contest for the post of Mayor. And the same is true for our local ward. As campaign fliers piled up, some of the stuff mentioned therein caught my attention due to a multitude of reasons:

• Every candidate's picture is placed alongside an equally large picture of her husband. Just so that the masses do not get confused, the billing goes as 'Candidate name-wife of so-and-so'. Reservation for women is a sensitive issue in India, still hanging on the margins after umpteen attempts to get it passed, and a shameful one at that, considering the head of India's ruling political establishment, the leader of opposition in the Lower House, and the outgoing President of India, are all women!
• Newspaper interviews and advertisements begin with an appeal to voters to reward the 'good work' done by the candidate's husband, or in some cases, father-in-law. The only plausible way to construe this is to believe that the candidate has no identity of her own in the public sphere, and her candidature has materialized due to the chance falling of the contested seat in the reserved category.
• A rather interesting note is that some candidates have listed their caste in parenthesis, and yet appeal to the voters to ignore their caste or religion as a criteria for casting their vote. Paradoxical some would say!

With voting to be held on July 4, and this being my first official vote of any kind in India, I am looking forward to it. 

PS: Fantastic movie, if you haven't seen it already.

India diary: You know you are in Gurgaon when the crowd never seems to grow old!

Finally arriving in India for a brief sojourn, I was half-excited, half-skeptical. Being a graduate student warrants its own set of curious acquaintances in India. And the testy Monsoon weather so far left me scratching my head as to my decision to brave the summer heat again after being in Arizona for a full year. But then, I was going to see my family after a prolonged gap, and meet friends from IIT who were scattered in MNC boroughs of sovereign India. I will try and write when I can, about my experience so far and the changes/constants I have seen.

First things first, haters can complain all they want, but the IGI T3 is head-and-shoulders above some of the busiest airports I have seen, both in terms of scale and management. Ironically, while I was still marveling at the rare organizational success of GoI, a stray dog ran across the road and put me firmly in place with the realities of India. Watching a dog not on leash after 11 months can surprise you as much as an English victory in a penalty shootout! Umpteen flyovers and an efficient suburban metro system aside, Delhi is still plagued by an infusion of more and more vehicles everyday.  The scale of pollution can be judged by the fact that the city is enveloped by a constant haze of dust, leaving the sun a faint yellow ball a la a science fiction movie. What was a saving grace once again was the rather hassle-free travel once you get to the arterial roads. 1 jam in 2 days was not bad, compared to my visits 6 years ago, when getting to Central Delhi from Noida or South-Ex used to be a horrendous travel. The CWG games may have been a mess, but the infrastructural benefits are for all to see.

Gurgaon is Gurgaon, a never-ending sea of employed young men and women interspersed with out-of-place policemen and cycle rickshaws. My overnight stay at my best friend's apartment reminded me of the luxuries available to the paying crowd in the metropolis, even as large swathes of the country face power outages and simmering heat. However, Delhi could do better when it comes to their autowallahs. Myself being a rather spoilt user of these, especially after living in Mumbai where they were both a matter of scorn (inside the  IIT campus), and an object of convenience (outside the campus), I was left thinking about the perils of arguing with an autowallah regarding the merits of using his meter, which in most cases is left there like an unwanted appendage. Considering that I'll be back in the same setup in 16 days, I might just get the opportunity. 

Stay tuned for more....

PS: Can 'Shirt da button' be the new 'Pani da rang'? Well Ayushmaan Khurana is definitely more 'hero-like' compared to Reitesh and Tusshar in my humble opinion. 

One exam, One big commotion!

They say that nobody does anything these days that does not curry favor with the benefactor. After our honorable HRD minister, Mr. Kapil Sibal's inglorious daydream of having the JEE abandoned abruptly in the favor of a single entrance examination to the IITs, NITs, and IIITs, ran into rough weather with the senates of 6 out of 7 IITs rejecting the proposal unequivocally, we are now headed for murkier scrapings amongst the IITs themselves. While the rather radical proposal of doing away with the keystone of the IITs has one staunch supporter in the IITG director, IITKgp's director, Damodar Acharya, came out in support of the proposal today against the wishes of the institute's senate. As expected, the IIT faculty association rebuked the director's isolated move strongly. Nothing like a fractured house when dealing with an issue having a bearing on approximately 1.5 million youngsters of this country!

Now Dr. Acharya is a rather interesting person to head the oldest IIT in the system. Normally, you would not associate the post of directorship of the IITs with somebody who is under investigation for shortcomings in running the governing body for techincal education in India. He has been indicted by the CBI for misgivings in approving technical institutes. This, in a country where private engineering colleges have sprouted like mushrooms in a forest, should be a grievous offence in itself. Dr. Acharya also bears the distinguished reputation of resigning in the face of widespread student protests that engulfed the Kgp campus following the death of an undergrad owing to lacking medical facilities. Obviously, nothing came out of the protests and he was back to the job in no time. 

This short description of Dr. Acharya's escapades in the last 6 years is by no means exact or complete. But this should have been reason enough to set the alarm bells ringing in the echelons of the HRD ministry. However, suspecting the surreptitious dreams of its minister, the ministry perhaps kept mum and kept its man on the job. Now Acharya has kicked-off another storm in this end-of-the-JEE debate, one that will most likely shift the focus from the examination to the internal functioning of the IITs. While the IIT act empowers these institutes to be autonomous in deciding upon the criteria of admission, it is all but certain that the directives of the ministry shall be forced upon them (Anybody remembers the overnight establishment of 5 new IITs, some of whom are still to move to their own campus?). Maybe its time to look to the west. Follow the American higher education pattern, where heads of departments and presidents are contractually employed, armed with a missive to raise the profile of their respective institutions. It often helps to have people who have prior experience of governing an institute. This kind of hiring would not only serve as a catalyst for shaking up the sedentary system, but also make the heads accountable for any shortcomings under their authority. 

It is certain that a big change in the entrance methodology is looming. Whether its the one-nation, one-exam proposal, or the model proposal by IITK to have its own entrance exam, students are facing an uncertain time regarding their future prospects, and more importantly, dreams. They could do without infighting!


PS: These videos keep getting better.

Lawless or Clueless?

How long does it take for a somnolent government to respond to one of the gravest internal security threats facing the country? As long as the proverbial 'Halley's comet' appearance, if one goes by the Indian government's response to the Naxalite threat. One-third of India's districts, even some in the 'mainstream' belts of central and north-central India, have been deemed to have a significant extremist presence (Planning Commission of India's Expert group report that can be accessed here).  Coming on the heels of numerous high-profile clandestine attacks and abductions, the Maoists have struck again, brazenly kidnapping another hard-working, young, district collector. Alex Paul Menon's only fault might have been that he was trying to connect with his constituents, something that certainly does not go down well with the Utopian dream of all-equating naxalite ideology. 

The question worth probing here is why were there no concrete steps taken to protect valuable assets like District collectors, or an MLA, who still languishes in the grip of the naxalites even as they have released two foreign tourists who were abducted along with him! Is it not understood in the higher offices of 7 Race Course Road that the cancer is now spreading faster than one could have expected, and corrective measures are now desperately wanton in the east-central parts of India? There was a furore not so long ago about misgivings in the MNREGA employment scheme that could lead to dismantling of the entire process. In the tribal areas of Bastar, such schemes are absolute nonsense. If the security of the presiding officer of the district is not guaranteed, how can a poor tribal even dare to take benefit from an ailing central government scheme? With each abduction, Maoists are accomplishing two objectives at the same time, striking fear in the hearts of the district authorities, and increasing their clout over their strongholds. 

What can be done to curb this menace, if not stop it altogether, has already been demonstrated earlier, in a state ruled by the same Congress that is now gripped in a policy paralysis. Andhra Pradesh's ex-CM, the Late Rajasekhara Reddy, deployed specially-trained and highly-equipped forces to wipe out the naxalite threat endemic in Andhra Pradesh, pushing them all the way into Chhatisgarh. Therefore, it is not impossible to extract some measure of revenge from these extremist groups. All proponents of the 'Naxalites are disgruntled citizens of India' theory would be well-served to recall the civil war that left Sri Lanka is an all-out civil war was borne out of similar sentiments. It is time to act, not to sit around and wait for the next abduction. 

Satyameva Jayate!

The neo-populist class, and its failures!

The results are in, and the country has moved on to budget season as the ruling coalition itself moves into damage control mode. This has certainly been an opportune time for the masses to exercise their vote of confidence, or the lack of it, in the policies of the Congress-led UPA II. Thrashed in Punjab, where it was expected to win, and where nobody gave the SAD-BJP alliance a shot at bucking the trend of anti-incumbency. Humiliated in Goa, where the mining scam has brought IIT Bombay-educated Manohar Parikkar back to the CM's post. It eked out a narrow victory in Uttarakhand, where it should have done far better and rode to power with single-handed majority. Finally, to put a punctuation mark on 3 years of floundering policy-making and disastrous in-house management, it came a distant fourth in Uttar Pradesh, a state where it showed signs of recovery in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. In my home constituency of Jhansi, which has elected a current member of the central cabinet convincingly in the last two parliamentary elections, the Congress finished a distant fourth!

While the Congress has been facing a lot of flak over its dismal showing in what has been termed as a semi-final to the 2014 elections, comments of Digvijay Singh & co. notwithstanding, the real dangers of its brand of politics have only just started to surface. Firstly, a rejection of Rahul Gandhi as the future leader of the party should be seen in conjunction with the so-called triumphs of the UPA government that he has been peddling for the last two years. MNREGA is a sloth that is slowly becoming ungovernable, as complaints about middlemen and lack of accountability are piling up. Claims of Aadhaar and direct cash transfers as the anathema to lower-level corruption are all hollow words, until and unless backed up by results on the ground. Of course, the less said about the Congress party's commitment to the Jan Lokpal bill, the better! Secondly, the Congress lost in states where it is not the leading member of its alliance, or does not have an alliance at all. That alone bodes ill for the future of UPA as a progressive entity, as the party becomes more susceptible to exploitation at the hands of regional parties, in order to last its five year term. Who would have thought that after winning a total of 206 seats, the Congress party would be blackmailed by the likes of Mamata Banerjee and shamed by Raja and co. Thirdly, nowhere else is the importance of a commander-in-chief more apparent than the current central government. While Dr. Manmohan Singh has settled into his pantomime routine, excited souls left and right have been chiming in with irresponsible words that harm the government's image more than they help it. Salman Khurshid's remarks about reservation for Muslims in the OBC quota is the most clear example of appeasement to the core. The drama over the hasty adjournment of the Rajya Sabha on the last day of the winter season, in order to save face in a house where the UPA is way short of majority, hasn't been erased from the memory of those who care yet, and there is already a contentious debate on the Rail budget on the anvil. 

The opposition clearly left with demonstrable gains from these assembly elections. IF midterm polls were to happen next month, it doesn't take a genius to predict that the UPA would continue to suffer the backlash of 3 years of misrule unless things are expedited to a correction course. The idea that populism can win you elections has clearly failed the Congress in these elections, because this is simply not the 1970's anymore. The voters can see right through the manifesto these days, which would explain why a vote for the Samajwadi Party in UP was more anti-BSP than pro-SP, for it is understood that the element of muscle power is blended into the core of the SP's ideology. Let's hope that the government at least gives it a shot, rather than protect its feathers till it's time to step in front of the country again in 2 years. 

PS: Sachin Tendulkar has etched his name into the record books forever, and so has Shakib Al Hasan by the virtue of being the bowler who delivered the historic ball. Here is a look back at what is most likely to be Sachin's finest overseas ODI innings. 

Youth in revolt, and on the ballot!

2011 marked a watershed year in terms of the global outpouring of youth aspirations and expectations. While a plethora of revolts swept across much of the the autocratic regimes in Northern Africa, and the still incendiary state of Syria, a number of advocates demanding more from the youth in shaping the events of the 21st century came to the forefront. These were people with a vision, demanding accountability from the governments yet proposing bulwarks against which the young demographic could contribute to improving the socio-economic conditions of the world. The fact that we demand a lot in return for no commitment is a potent argument, especially considering that today's societal structure is more open and fragile than ever before. The need of the hour is strategic rebuilding and prioritizing the aims for this generation and the future ones. 

One constant in the ever evolving fate of human civilization is the timely emergence of the new guard to replace the old one. This cycle of leadership keeps us from becoming stagnant in the transient moment that we are in, and helps us in articulating a vision for the future. A recent New York Times article chronicles one such young leader, Camila Vallejo, a nose-ringed college student straight out of a Nirvana concert, who was till recently leading a well-orchestrated movement against the burgeoning cost of education in the strongest economy of Latin America, Chile. The more famous examples of Wael Ghomin and Jigme Khesar Namgyel provide reminders of young leaders who are willing to rise to the occasion and set out a path for their countries. 

Once look at Indian politics would be enough to decry any proponents of the expanding role of youth leaders in our polity. While it is easy to single out a few names like Rahul Gandhi and Anurag Thakur, or the more infamous ones like Kanimozhi and Jagan Mohan Reddy, the structural ascension of the next generation of young leaders is sorely missing, especially somebody with a concrete vision of shaping our destiny in this century. Why is it that we are so apathetic to participating in our politics? The oft repeated answer is that it is a sludge of corruption, infamy, and back-scratching, that rewards the undeserving more than it should. Case in point being Team Anna's rancor over the right to recall, that attempts to totally bypass any existing democratic norms enshrined in our constitution. But are we actually willing to test it for ourselves? More than half of our 1.2 billion citizens are estimated to be under 25. That's a figure that should bring optimism to any face. Imagine if 200 of them can make it to the parliament once they turn 25, the minimum age of qualification for the office of an MP!  

There are signs that our country is trudging towards replacing the current version of the lower house with one that focuses on all-around economic and social equity. One that will replace the partisan vitriol with spirited exchanges over competing visions of the educational policy. The voting numbers have gone up in all states, thanks to the concerted efforts of the Election commission to ensure free and fair voting for all. Governments like the one of Nitish Kumar have been voted back to power with overwhelming majority, a sign of gratitude for all that he has done to ameliorate the plight of his constituents. As we become more aspirational, and start demanding more accountability, it is just to give something in return, like our time and energy to strengthen our democracy and infuse some fresh ideas in the parliament. A quid pro quo works, at least in most cases! 

PS: Here is a speech that turned a little known first-term senator into a prospective presidential candidate of the USA. Barack Obama, 43-years old then, at the 2004 DNC.

Euphoric rise meets a sudden fall

The cat is out of the bag! All those who had bet a significant amount on the duration of Indian cricket team's domination on world cricket can now safely redeem their purses. How the public mood has shifted! An average Indian cricket fan is more of a skeptic now than a believer like yesteryears, so much so that it is now as much a staple of mainstream culture as the talented commentary booth comprising of erudite orators like Wasim Akram and Mohinder Amarnath (what happened to Richie Benaud & David Gover?). 

After every jaunty home series victory, the common rancor surrounding the neighborhood tea stall is-"Wait for a foreign tour and see how badly they perform." People no longer talk about how our team is one of the most feared squads when playing at home, or how much our performance has improved over the course of the last decade when playing at a bowler's paradise in England or South Africa (compared to pre-Y2k years). Coincidentally, the World Cup victory last year did no favors to our reputation as chokers outside our sovereign territory. Hidden somewhere in the corners of the sports section were columns suggesting that India might have to another 12 years before they can think of getting their hands to the cup. A highly anticipated series with England followed, billed as the informal Test cricket championship due to the rankings of the participants being 1 & 2. While England held up their end of the bargain, the Indian team appeared flustered, unprepared, and last but not the least, exhausted. By now, we all know that the Indian cricketers are as active as Digvijay Singh's publicist, with the already busy calender cramped further by the IPL. But so do most of the top 5 nations, and Kumar Sangakkara was valiant enough to put it in words during his speech at the MCC last year. So stop blaming the IPL for our cricketing woes. It is as transient as pulling an nightout before an exam, for all practical purposes. 

Also, spare a thought to our cricketers. While mental preparation is a big component of achieving the level of success and competency that our players do, they are not blanked from the negativity surrounding Indian cricket in general. The Indo-England home ODI series witnessed empty stands even at the cricket-starved Eden gardens. Key players are getting injured left-and-right, while the public mood is swinging in the other direction to empathy. England went through a similarly disastrous phase in 2006, when they were mauled at the hands of the Aussies in the Ashes, followed by a disastrous World cup campaign. England have since gone on to retain the Ashes twice, most recently away from home, and even won that elusive major championship in the form of the T20 world cup. If you think our media is cut-throat and fickle, the English media is predatory in nature, so much so that the phone hacking scandal surrounding News Corp has been described as just another event in the day-to-day British media circus, that happened to get exposed. 

In a nation of 1.2 billion cricket enthusiasts, we are also unfortunately 1.2 billion strong cricket pundits, or so we would like to believe! Sachin's search for the awe-inspiring 100th international hundred has been beaten to death in the public. Let the man enjoy the last leg of his glorious career without hounding him with the intense glare that surrounds every post-match presentation. If nothing, this shock might be exactly what the Indian team needs, a sense of emergency that can prop them to hit back like the 2003 world cup. 

PS: Speaking of Sach, this is my favorite of all his commercials. And Carl Hooper would make a great Ra.One is SRK is thinking of a sequel to the best comedy of 2011.