Shoestring budgets are here to stay for Indian research institutions

With the recent landing of Philae on the comet Rosetta, it is worth our while to go back to September 24 of this year, when the Indian Mars orbiter mission (MOM) successfully went where no other space mission has gone at the first attempt. The fact that the budget for the entire mission is less than the budget for the Sci-fi blockbuster Gravity is been touted as a proof of our ingenuity and thriftiness. It is indeed quite remarkable that Real Madrid FC transacted more money to sign Gareth Bale last year than ISRO allocated to the entire logistics and manpower of the Mars orbiter mission. And at the end of the day, this is how it is going to remain for the foreseeable future.

The reasons for the meagre allotment of the national GDP to institutional research can be clubbed into two separate categories: Practical and Emotional. The Indian economy at the moment gets it lion's share from the service and the IT sector, while manufacturing and agriculture have both tapered off their share in the recent years. Therefore, the two sectors that would typically demand innovation and greater scientific input are both minor contributors to the economic engine. Besides, a fair share of public and private investment is being diverted towards meeting the nation's infrastructure deficit, be it public toilets (Swacch Bharat Abhiyan) or the recent proposal to increase the average speed of India's crumbling railways. With only so much money to go around, India's research expenditure has suffered, and is currently at no more than 0.9% of the GDP. 

The emotional reasons are far more obvious to anybody interested in peering below the surface. Our society's priorities when it comes to education have swung diagonally in the last 20 years. More and more school kids are studying science in the 11th and 12th grade, but with the sole objective of attaining eligibility for engineering or medical entrance examinations. And this is due to no fault of their own. How many Indian parents encourage their kids to pursue a career in science? A very small fraction, and that too in the bigger cities. The vast underbelly of school kids are either not motivated enough to look upon science as a career option, or are hardly handed the tools to excel in one during their schooling.  The pittance to science education is even more clear when it comes to the elite undergraduate institutions like the IITs. Myself and numerous other IITians have chosen their campus or their department solely on the basis of its employability. Without a through introduction to career opportunities at the school level, you can hardly expect young 17 and 18 year olds to make a life-altering college choice without being swayed by the intelligent words of the cousin or the neighbor who-knows-somebody-who-graduated-from-an-IIT. Once there, the necessary exposure to scientific research is a formality for most students and faculty, coming during the final year through mandatory projects that amount to little in most cases. Even those who go on to pursue graduate studies are often looked upon with skepticism, or in some cases, with five troubling words-"Campus placement nahi hua kya?". We as a nation have been undervaluing our contribution to global scientific and technological advancements for a while now, and hence fail to anticipate the limitless opportunities that lie ahead in a more technologically challenging 21st century. 

There is some hope! For those who haven't being in the loop, the central government has established five Indian Institutes of Science Education & Research (IISERs) since 2006, with the sole objective of improving the quality of science education and increase the quality of research at an undergraduate level. Operating under the aegis of cutting edge research facilities, one could hope that with some increase in awareness, they will attract more applicants from the top pool of students passing the 12th grade. More recently, the attempts from the PM to highlight the achievements of ISRO has had a welcome effect, and honestly, we could do so much more to create interest and admiration for the Indian scientific community, which toils on under limited budgets and scarce public recognition, which adversely affects their morale. More importantly, we need to bridge the gap between the scientific community and the common man, who seem to inhabit two different islands in India. Historically, one feeds the other, as has been the case in countries like the US (the Apollo missions), Japan (consumer devices) an Europe (automobiles), and leads to a bette quality of life of the citizens. Here's one suggestion- Make short films that highlight the achievements of Indian scientists that are still active (there are quite a few), and broadcast them of national television and in schools. At the very least, this will educate the parents and inculcate a sense of national pride towards our scientific community. Here's another- Remove barriers to commercialization of a scientist's research, and give her/him full ownership pf the idea. This will foster competition and creativity, which are often ignored in the Indian diaspora. With this small foundation, one could then build towards a more holistic integration of science and society.

PS: Here's a fun video about sustainability, involving candy and the government. 

Passions run high in a high-voltage election season

             It would be an understatement to say that social media has been hijacked by posts related to the upcoming general election in India. Every day and every passing minute, keyboard warriors take to their devices and plop out another in a long list of 'allegations' and 'expose' against a politician of their choice (usually a name starting with an A or a N). Somewhere in this huddle to defame the other camp, we are losing track of the bigger picture -This is the first real election a whole generation of millenials is looking forward to, and to make decisions solely based on rhetoric does not benefit our country as a whole.

            Let's look at some of the bigger issues that should be dominating this electoral contest. Economy would be the highest on anybody's list, especially since in the last 10 years, the Indian middle class has tasted the extravagance of air travel and leisure shopping, and we are in no mood to give it up. With slumping GDP growth and job creation, coupled with anemic inflation, these luxuries face the risk of falling off the accounting book of an urban household. Social equality would also be a important question, especially in the areas of women security and female foeticide. India's polity is sharply biased in the favor of continuing with the policy of caste-based (and now religion-based!) reservation in education and jobs, so that's a topic of concern for the educated voters. And finally, there is the issue of national security and maintaining the sovereignty of India in a hostile geography. With the Indian navy in dire straits after the recent unfortunate incidents, and the deal for the MMRCA fighter planes stuck in the limbo, we most certainly require an assertive government that goes beyond lip-service and meek surrender. 

          The two principle parties, the Congress and the BJP, have nuanced differences on most of these issues, such that you need a much deeper analysis of their positions to really identify a difference (it certainly doesn't help that voters in India don't like to be given contrasting choices, and almost every election in the past five years has been won or lost on the image of the party's leader). It all then comes down to the next in line to replace Dr. Manmohan Singh come June. Rahul Gandhi has had a series of unfortunates gaffes in the public sphere that have transformed him into an object of derision and ridicule on the social media. Moreover, his apparent lack of public pull and popularity has to be hurting the Congress party (look the electoral drubbing the party received under his command in Bihar, UP and Madhya Pradesh to name a few). With the lack of intestinal fortitude among other able leaders becoming more glaring, it seems like the Congress is saddled with his leadership until their numbers dwindle to obsolescence. 

         The BJP has finally been able to acquiesce its ever-growing band of prime ministerial candidates to come up with a clear number one in Narendra Modi. The three term chief minister of Gujarat has a battle going on at two fronts, against the opposition comprised of the Congress and other 'secular' parties, and a larger battle within the BJP's camp. If there ever was a problem of having too much intra-party democracy, the BJP is a fine example of it. To give credit to Modi, he has managed to put a curtain on the party's inner rumblings and has managed to set clear terms for his ascension to the chair of India's next leader. Moreover, he has a clear influence among urban and rural voters alike (something I managed to experience on my trip to India last month, when rural voters in UP were speaking enthusiastically of not voting based on the candidate's last name, but in the name of their children's future), which will help the BJP in expanding its influence beyond the urban constituencies it so dearly depended on for a long time. However, there are still problems within the party for the reasons stated above, and the BJP campaign has therefore amped up its message of development and opportunity in order to hide its inner deficiencies and fighting, often at the expense of exaggerating numbers and planting half-truths in the media.

         While the conclusion of this election is still pretty clear, in that the UPA is going out of power after 10 years at the center, the recent entry of the novice Aam Aadmi Party into the electoral battle has raised the pitch of allegation and counter-allegations to whole another level. Sadly, this election has now turned into a shouting match between BJP and AAP supporters for all the wrong reasons. While the AAP incited hope among young voters like myself when they launched their campaign for the Delhi assembly elections, it is at least clear to me that they really have no clue as to how they are going to run a government and what their priorities are going to be (not that their infamous 49-day rule in Delhi was especially reassuring). What then explains the poor choices made by Arvind Kejriwal when it came to incidents like this or this? No harm would have been done had Kejriwal not alleged that corporations are providing electoral benefits to leaders of other parties or that the current political crop is self-serving, if only he had the restraint to not do it himself. These are really non-issues when it comes to this election. Kejriwal over-staying in his official bungalow or cozying up to a particular Maulwi in UP is not going to change the destiny of this country. Unfortunately, nobody has really received a clarification from the AAP regarding its economic policies (although their withdrawal of support to the FDI in retail agreement when in power in Delhi provides some indication) or where it stands on the issue of national security (Prashant Bhushan and Arundhati Roy say 'plebiscite' everyone!). Maybe the AAP doesn't know either, and hence the constant throwback to its demands of the Jan Lokpal Bill and Swaraj (anarchic and archaic in this day and age). 

        Everybody, whether she supports the AAP or the BJP, can agree that the Congress is not going to be doing any good for the country in the next five years. With both parties jostling to occupy the anti-Congress space, the BJP has expectedly stolen a march over the AAP on the strength of a pre-existing organization and record. The AAP on the other hand is moving away from its simple messaging that proved to be so effective in the run-up to the Delhi elections, and is becoming the party that dominates the prime time news for all the not-so-good reasons (I agree that the media is biased, but the media has always been biased and opportunistic). Perhaps it is time to give the keyboard warriors, like this one, more to think about policy positions and less about which AAP candidate is going to be parachuted to take on another existing political heavyweight or where is Arvind Kejriwal going to show up next (if I may, there is a street circle in the heart of my home town that has seen no development over the last twenty years). In the same token, maybe Narendra Modi will conduct a few public interviews to clarify his stand on FDI in retail and sustainable economic growth, and shut up the critics who think they know more than the courts and are the last authority on conviction and sentencing. 

PS: I agree Arnub, the nation does want to know!

Protecting your turf, (and goodbye Jacques Kallis!)

So here it goes- 2014 is going to be a make-or-break year for a number of teams, and it could all hinge on who gets to play at home the most.

Many were expecting the Aussie leg of the 2013 Ashes to be a watershed moment for the English cricket team. They had just beaten Australia at home 3-0, not to mention having beaten India IN INDIA 2-1. Somewhere along the way, they had also thrashed New Zealand 2-0 at home through some brilliant bowling on their part and insipid batting on the Kiwis'. Could they go to Australia and leave with their heads held high? Sadly, the Aussies, who looked so woefully out-of-form in India and are still struggling with getting the combination right for the three major forms of the game, gave them a sound beating, and more importantly, raised questions about the lack of resilience in the English batting display. The Aussies eked out wins where it seems the game could be tied, and marauded the English when it came to their bowling. Could this be the new dominating squad from Australia? We will have to wait till February, when Australia attempts to beat South Africa away from home. Meanwhile, the English have an away series in West Indies, and then one at home against India. No predictions about either, because both opposition teams are unpredictably inconsistent!

The South Africans should be concerned about the apparent fightback they received from India in the just concluded test series. If it wasn't for the stupid concept of two games test series (and there are a few of those this year), we would have come to know who the clear victor was. For now, Philander & Co must be salivating at the prospect of showing Clarke and his men that their lack of form away from home is here to stay. The series of this year in my opinion!

Speaking of India, we will be playing away from home throughout this year, first in New Zealand starting this 19th, and then another English summer awaits us after the World T20 championship. New Zealand is not quite the resilient force it once was, thanks to the game of musical chairs at the top of their batting order, but they have some promising fast bowlers in Boult and Southee. While Pujara and Kohli looked to be in sublime touch against the Proteas, the chilly climes of Dunedin and Christchurch will be our real test, since the ODI World Cup is a year away  from now, and will be played in similar conditions. Expect Shikhar Dhawan to answer some of his critics, and Rohit Sharma to relapse to his miserable inconsistency. As far as our bowling goes, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar might have better luck in the swinging conditions of New Zealand than he did in South Africa. But Ishant Sharma deserves to go, and Mohammed Shami is clearly ready to take the reigns of our bowling attack from Zaheer Khan. As far as the tour of England goes, the scoreline would depend on how well our new batting lineup fares, but our performance in the Champions trophy 2013 should be a positive sign in the eyes of many fans.

Last but not the least, there is the T20 world cup. Now that the IPL eats into two months of international cricket every year, it is hard to take the putative T20 WC seriously. Very few casual viewers even know about the T20 WC this year, which says something about how strong of a brand the IPL has become over the years (On a personal note, I still believe that Brandon McCullum's 158 in the opening IPL game is the best century in IPL's history, because he really showed that there are no limits as to how much punishment can be meted out in this format). Anyhow, the slow pitches of Bangladesh again suggest a run fest, so whoever can hit the ball the hardest, and  keep Chris Gayle in his current form, should have a better chance. I think it is time the trophy comes back to the subcontinent, and it could be Sri Lanka's turn to win it this time around. Sangakkara and Jayawardene deserve a world cup of some form to cement their legacy, and both are in the dusk of their respective international careers. After Sachin and Saurav, this is one batting partnership for the ages!

Last but not the least, a fond farewell to Jacques Kallis, the greatest all-rounder this game has every seen, with a record for the ages, and an unsung hero of the South African cricketing triumph all these years. It is an overlooked fact, but this guy has seen the Cronje era as well as the Smith era of the Proteas, and has been a vital cog in both. Who would have thought that the man with the old school batting stance and bowling action will outlive a generation of South Africans in today's flash-in-the-pan nature of the game! You will be missed Kallis, and I will no longer hold my breath when SA lose their first wicket against India.

PS: Here's the ICC 2014 calendar from Cricinfo http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/match/fixtures/calendar.html
And here's a highlight of Corey Anderson's magnificent ODI century.

Lessons for politicians from comic books

This is as joyous a time as any for people around the globe. The new year's celebrations are nigh, so is Christmas and India's drubbing at the hands of the South African cricket team. In this festive spirit, might I say that there is one family that is not having a joy ride right now, especially not after what transpired on the morning of Dec 8. I cannot even imagine anything they are going through! 

Now that Mrs. Gandhi's dream of seeing her innocent pubescent son as the Prime Minister of India is fading faster than Manchester United's hope of retaining their title this season, let's move on to the new developments of our political landscape. The Aam Aadmi Party made a astonishing debut in the quasi-state elections of Delhi, with the rout of the Congress being accentuated by the thrashing Mrs. Sheila Dikshit received at the hands of Arvind Kejriwal (and almost drew with the BJP guy who also ran). Now Delhi is stuck in an impasse. The BJP lacks the majority (and perhaps the will to buy some legislators), and the AAP is hard-pressed to believe that its dreams of capturing power might come true. The only comparable situation I can think of is when Uday Chopra realized that his brother won't stop making Dhoom movies, so the only way for him to quit acting was to admit this was his last!

"With great power comes great responsibility"
Beaten to death, this quote from Uncle Ben becomes the beacon that guides Peter Parker to his web-slinging, world-saving ways. Unfortunately, Peter Parker was not a little short of full spider powers, else we would've known what Kejriwal and Harsh Vardhan could do in their situation. However, it would be a shame is Delhi heads to another election in 6 months, not just because of the deemed expenditure (unless the elections are held along with the Lok Sabha elections, a scenario even AAP would not like to invite), but also because the two national parties are for the first time willing to let a newcomer form the government. We can all speculate the reasons as to why the BJP is willing to be a bystander, but at least to this aam aadmi, the AAP is slowly devolving into one of those idiotic debating teams that shout hoarse every evening on prime time news. We all know that the AAP stands by the slogan "Sab chor hain", but to also believe that "Hum jo chahte hair, wahi aam aadmi chahta hai" would be too dangerous of a ploy. The AAP needs to realize that it received a large number of votes from the traditional Congress and BJP vote banks, votes that will desert them in the Lok Sabha elections unless the voters feel that they'll not be wasting their franchise. One look at the letter Kejriwal wrote to the leaders of the two parties makes it seem like a ransom note Sadashiv Amrapurkar would write in the 90's to Anil Kapoor. The AAP should form a government and try and get the doable things done on priority, and by doable, I mean regularization of illegal colonies and improvements in public health and education. Delhi's demand of statehood needs to be recognized by the union government, and Jan Lokpal is a national institution, not a state one. Also, this infatuation with the Ram Leela ground is pretty cute, but assembly session are better conducted in the premises of the assembly. If Kejriwal manages to accomplish a fraction of his promises, it will only better the AAP's chances in Delhi in the coming years.

A united team of heroes is better than one mighty villain
As we learnt from the Avengers movie, ego can be a big problem as far as winning a battle goes. The BJP needs to realize that this is a golden opportunity for them to regain power in New Delhi after being in the doldrums for 10 years now. The effect of Narendra Modi and his mass appeal are something only the Congress party would not acknowledge, but it seems like Sushma Swaraj and L.K. Advani would like to give company to their old foes. It is one thing to not like the way somebody conducts their campaign, but it is trite to destabilize that same branch that gives you shelter. Mrs. Swaraj should introspect upon her own mass appeal (or the lack of it), since the Vidisha constituency she represents as an MP almost shifted out of the BJP's hands but for the CM himself to contest from this seat along with his traditional seat. And this election was not a fair fight ala Chattisgarh, it was a landslide in BJP's favor! The mood of the country is asking for a change, and it would be a crime to not give it to them by acting like a power center when evidence points to the contrary.

PS: Dhoom movies used to have kick-ass title songs. What happened to Dhoom 3?

Celebrating life on Rs.32 per day

India is a country of odds! We are geographically diverse, with the majestic Himalayas on one end, all the way to the pyramidal south on the other. We have more than a thousand languages and dialects, and are home to some of the most prominent religions in the world. In a country where the colour of the soil apparently changes every 100km, we do have one unifying truth. We are all revelers in the joy of being an Indian! Heads instantly go up high, chests puff out with pride. 'I am an Indian'. These four simple words seem to bring out the collective pride of being born in one of the hotbeds of human civilization. Thankfully, a lot of us also make more than Rs.1000 per month. Imagine the horror of cashing only Rs.990 as your monthly salary, if you are living in a metropolis like New Delhi or Mumbai. Those extra ten bucks can change your life. They can uplift you, from being defined as a poor person by the government of India, to the next strata of the Indian society. And we all agree, nobody likes to be poor.

It therefore came as a gargantuan relief to the crores across the country, when the Tendulkar committee wrote in its report that India is getting richer, and anybody making equal to or more than the princely sum of Rs.1000 per month in an urban area is no longer poor. Crores of beggars and daily wage-earners became rich overnight. Never has such a miracle been conjured anywhere across the world! More joy to being an Indian, a not-poor one at that.

As is the norm in a happy society, there are naysayers and skeptics, who claim that Rs.32 is too small of an amount to live satisfactorily in an Indian city, and that the UPA government is trying to save face by fudging with numbers and statistics. To those naysayers I say, that first of all, the current government is not smart enough to fudge with numbers, let alone statistics. Hell, half of their MPs may not even be able to spell statistics! Secondly, an honourable government official, who lives in a humble abode, and has no access to the glamour of foreign trips and vacations, has said that Rs.32 is 'not all that ridiculous'. This gentleman never complained of inadequate bathroom facilities in his office in New Delhi. He simply thought that spending more than Rs.35 lakhs on fixing some toilets in his department, could help relieve the stress his team goes through in keeping India rich. 

Now, we have more proof that you can have two full meals easily within the limits of Rs.32 per day. First Raj Babbar, and then another gentleman, Rasheed Masood, has laid waste to the argument that you cannot have two square meals in this amount of money. Babbar said that you can have a sumptuous meal for only Rs.12, which also comes with the delicacy of Sambhar and vegetables. You can spend the remaining amount on his or his son's films if you wish. If only I knew the location of this reasonably-priced eatery in Mumbai, me and my friends could have saved a fortune on mess expenses during our IIT days. That amount of money could've propelled us to the upper middle-class (maybe, just maybe!). What a waste of money all those years! 

So there lies the proof to the argument that half of the beggars and jobless roadside dwellers in our country are not poor. They are simply lazy. Maybe they should learn from our efficient MPs and ministers, who work so hard to earn their money. They have kept the government running like a well-oiled machine. Such is our faith in their capability, that a lot of parents tell their kids to grow up and join politics. 99.99% of those parents are themselves politicians.

PS: I love my country, and I hope that we will all take a step towards cleaning up the mess of the last 5 years in next year's general election.

Mr. Advani, this is not 'Back to the Future'

Letting go can be hard, and even harder for individuals shored up in the lofty heights of fame and popularity. None of those criteria necessarily hold true for the Bheeshma pitamah of the Hindutva movement, Lal Krishna Advani. Advani, an octogenarian, who would be a nonagenarian by the time he retires from his dream of the responsibility of being the prime minister of India. Advani is, and will always remain a polarizing figure in the annals of Indian politics- often derided, yet well respected for stabilizing an opposition, to the Congress, and its Gandhi dynasty.

Getting back to the bidding adieu part, Advani has clearly missed a sizable chunk of the recent electoral results, for only then could he stubbornly stick to his demand of being acknowledged as the tallest leader of his party, the BJP. A party, which is facing somewhat of an existential crisis. A party, which has been reduced once again to ruling the hindi heartland, with virtually no presence in the south or the northeast. While the BJP has a plethora of local and national leaders of face value and recognition, it also has perhaps too many of them for its own good. Nobody saw the genesis of this crisis coming. After the shocking defeat in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections (which left me bewildered, and my friends at our coaching class confused), the outgoing prime minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, was forced to step aside due to health complications. As has been well documented, the opportunity was ripe for Advani to take charge, and tide over the embarrassment coming at the heels of the 'India Shining' campaign. Instead, Advani ended up committing a mistake that made him persona non grata in the eyes of the RSS. Calling Jinnah a respected lawyer and founder of Pakistan is one thing, to call him a secular leader, when he split India along the lines of religion and led to a still-persisting unease at the border, is career suicide. The Indian public and media took those comments for what they were: the desperate attempts of a leader who was finally given charge of the main opposition party, but had spent his career under the shadow of the more affable Vajpayee, still beloved to most Indians. The UPA I policies favored the masses, while the BJP faltered in chalking out a clear progressive policy to appeal to the voters. The result: Congress sailed past the 200 mark for the first time since 1991, while the BJP shrunk from 143 to 118, in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.

Any other leader would have seen the writing on the wall. Unfortunately, Indian politics fails to throw up new leaders, unless they have their father or siblings in positions of power, and such leaders end up playing to the whims of seasoned politicians (look no further than Akhilesh Singh Yadav, or Omar Abdullah). Hence, Advani persisted. He was booted out of the post of Leader of opposition, but made the chairman of the NDA parliamentary committee. In the meantime, Narendra Modi was doing his best to cleanse himself of the taint of the 2002 riots. Gujarat was consistently growing, investors were flocking in, and his own personal clout was now beginning to overshadow the party in the state. No further proof was required of his growing popularity, than when the UK government decided to end its boycott of Modi, and open negotiations about business possibilities in Gujarat. The urban middles-class voter, tired of buying milk at Rs. 40/liter and pulses at Rs 120/kg, knew that Rahul Baba and his trite 'Discover India' tour just won't cut any more. Modi thumped the opposition in Gujarat in 2013, and is now looking set to give the ruling dispensation a mighty tussle next year.

This brings us to the latest, and probably the last controversy, Advani would ever stir. Man, this guys career is a roll-call of controversies, right from his early career to the last elections, so this sounds odd to me writing it! Advani is hoping that Modi would be unacceptable to the majority of the NDA alliance, which would be the need of the hour post-elections. The BJP can hardly dream of winning 272 seats on its own, even if it wins every seat in UP, Gujarat, MP, and Chattisgarh. However, it doesn't need to. Previous experience dictates that the fickle regional parties, that have no loyalty to anybody, but only their self-interest in mind, wouldn't mind supporting the BJP in lieu of rewarding portfolios, if it can get to the 200-220 mark on its own. That would mean that the urban voter would need to vote heavily in favor of the BJP, more so than it already does, in order to make that possibility come true. As stated earlier, Modi has the public in his hands right now. He has an agenda, even though critics would argue that it is simplistic in nature, but an agenda nonetheless, to give a boost to the slumbering economy, and regain the faith of the public that actually pays taxes and faces power cuts and water shortages in return. Advani on the other hand, has no appeal among the youth, many of whom will be turning out at the voting booth for the first time next year, and more importantly, already had his shot at immortality in 2009. The fire that Advani displayed in 1991, seems to have vanished altogether (not that there is anything unnatural about that happening with age). Modi is just firing up on the national stage!

There appears to be a ceasefire called for the moment, but the NDA alliance is already starting to fizzle. JD(U)'s impending departure will leave a deep dent in the party's prospect in Bihar, a state that voted in large numbers for the alliance in the last election. Moreover, both the BJP and the JD(U) run the risk of cutting into each other's vote share, much to the apparent joy of the RJD, and maybe Congress. The message from the BJP cadres is clear. Modi's ascension is a risk worth taking, for another defeat next year would severely dent any hopes of making a comeback to power in the future. For us masses, this will condemn us to a long period of the Gandhi family rule, one that seems akin to surrendering your democratic choice at the doorsteps of a dynasty. 



PS: Summer is a great time for going to the movies and picking up a book. Here are two personal recommendations in each category.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8908.World_War_Z

Domesticated warriors

The Border-Gavaskar trophy has changed hands again in the span of a year, and what a year it has been! After two back-to-back humiliating defeats, the Indian cricket team seems to have taken affront to the media ritual of labeling them as warriors only at home. How? Play like one and beat Australia in a home series. True, the current world number one, South Africa, have not toured India in a while, and the number two, England, left last year after extracting further humiliation on the test team and beating us at our own game. However, the fortress had to be resurrected, newly laid with a fresh set of soldiers to guard it after the old generals bowed out (or were thrown out), and most importantly, the Indian cricket fan had to be replenished with a cornucopia of hope and enthusiasm about our prospects in the crucial away tours coming up later this year. Let me just say, it has been a good one month of test cricket as an Indian cricket follower. 

The Indian cricket team, much like the Indian politics, is going through a period of major upheaval and shake-ups. While the UPA government is bracing up to the likely challenge of a Narendra Modi-led NDA in the parliamentary polls next year, the Indian cricket team is bracing up to falling expectations and glaring deficits in key areas of their game. The opening partnership of Sehwag and Gambhir, long been the Achilles heel of the Indian batting line-up, has been shunted out for a new-found Vijay and whoever-is-not-suffering-from-an-injury at the other end. Sehwag, who is now equipped with ultra vision and some extra inches around the waist, looked miserable the entire time he faced a delivery in this series, even during his rotation in the slip cordon. Never a bad time to consider other avenues towards optimizing your value to the team. Maybe he can turn into a Hafeez and work some spin magic! Gambhir, on the other hand, is still living in the Shahid Kapoor-fairyland: I will keep churning out bad movies and hope that you watch them, because you also watched Mausam and Badmaash Company with the expectations of a Kaminay. Vijay now has a golden opportunity to permanently scuttle Ajinkya Rahane's chances of upgrading from the 12th man to a regular in the test team, Poor Rahane! If he just collected the labels of all the bottles he has lugged on to the field in the last year and a half, he could have had a scrapbook thicker than all four years of an IITian's effort.

We have also reached a conclusion on the test future of Harbhajan Singh. Just in case you were living under a rock, he should cherish his 100 caps and not hope for another chance based on his current form. We are now living in the era of Sir Ravindra Jadeja, the goggle wearing, athletically daring, left-arm spinner who has taken more than a handful of all Australian wickets that fell in this series. I would not be shocked if Dhoni plays him as a specialist spinner in South Africa, where his batting would obviously fall well short of expectations. The Rajkot Ranji wicket, Jadeja's dreamland, is as far away from Kingsmead as Arvind Kejriwal is from Digvijay Singh. On a more positive note, Jadeja seems to have taken his online popularity seriously, and is on a mission to prove his detractors wrong. If only we could anoint Sir Rohit Sharma!

As a fan of the Indian cricket team, all I care for is some show of intent from our cricketers, which seemed amiss for the past year whenever we played a top tier test team. Remember how Australia are considered unbeatable at home, and how we complain about the English conditions favoring their bowlers every time? In my opinion, we should be unabashed in our proclamation of domination at home, once we are sure of it. One small step at a time towards the number one ranking!

PS: Siddle has done enough with the bat in this series to put Hughes and Warner to shame. In case you haven't seen this, he can also rip a mean one from the other end of the wicket. 

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.