Did we really get a better Deal?

The recent general elections back in India were a watershed moment in Indian history. It was the first time in 30 years that a single political party was able to get a simple majority in parliament all by itself. The people's mandate was clear, we want the BJP and we want Narendra Modi as our Prime Minister.

But is it really that simple, were the outgoing Congress and its allies really that bad in comparison to the incoming BJP? True- the number of corruption/graft cases that the Congress and its allies were involved had crossed all levels of tolerance. This in a society where corruption is seen quite frequently on a day to day basis.The outgoing PM, a very qualified and dignified person was seen as too silent and lacked authority to push through his own reforms or even reign in on party members. The real power, it seemed lay, as it has been for most of India's independence with the Gandhi family.

Going with all that, the anti-incumbency feelings were at an  all time high.Where the Congress was seen as weak, indecisive and bereft of ideas, Modi was seen as strong, decisive and more than capable. All that the Congress lacked, Modi and the BJP had(or rather projected). His rags to riches story and strong man image during the Gujarat riots certainly endeared him to a lot of people.This is the part where it gets a little concerning.It does seem that people voted based on personality . Maybe Modi is a capable leader, but to vote in more than 300 MP's  to power based on a single person is a bit  antithetical to democracy. In a future post I'd like to tackle the credentials of the current PM , but for now I'll stick to just the general assembly of MP's from the BJP.

I came across an interesting article in which an independent watchdog agency found that the number of MP's with criminal charges actually increased  in this election. 34 % (or 186) MP's can technically face jail time. What was also disturbing was that a staggering 82 % of MP's were millionaires. A government of the people, for the people and by the people. It appears not.

Reference - http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/every-third-mp-in-16th-lok-sabha-has-criminal-charges-adr-114051800683_1.html

The BJP and the Shiv Sena fared the worst , with 35% and 83% of its MP's facing criminal charges.Are these the people we'd really want to represent us? Why such blind devotion to one party and person.

I'm of the opinion that a strong vibrant democracy is directly proportional to the how accountable the people hold it's own government. If we were just to assume that one person would fix everything, that would be disastrous. It would indicate one of two things- we assume that the PM should be a dictator or that we feel that being an engaged  electorate is a once in a five year thing.

Another concerning thing has been the complete lack of criticism of the BJP and Modi. Surely no one is perfect. There have been many insults against the Congress or the Gandhi family, but very very few if at all against the BJP. Has there been some sort of suppression in the opposition?  It is articles like the one below that concern me- Will opposition to the BJP or Modi be seen as anti-national ?

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/goan-youth-likely-to-face-arrest-for-anti-modi-facebook-comments/

I've never seen this , when anyone criticized the Congress or its allies.

For the benefit of the country i hope Modi and the BJP take India to new heights, but the signs don't look good. I'm all for a good and capable leader  after the Government we just had, but we must always tread with caution.

In a future post I'd like to explore the much touted 'Gujarat Development'. Was there suppression of individual rights even in the face of development?

                                            A Near Death Experience


Did it happen to me? Yes- But not in the way you would think. A little over dramatic blog post, but let me explain and share the details.

Recently,a couple of friends and myself recently decided to go hiking. A typical Arizona weekend activity. Drive up north from Phoenix for a couple of hours and choose one of the many trails that are nestled between stunning pine forests and streams and cool mountain winds. A landscape that can be at times the polar opposite of what Phoenix is- dry, almost barren and hot.

I'm not the one for short intense hikes. Ideally i'd prefer a longer, gentler hike up a mountain with time to take in the scenery around. The place we decided to go was the latter. Having done the hike before (about 8 miles) i knew i was in for a long day.However, the trail was closed by the time we reached there. The park rangers told us that there were too many people on the trail(too many people is not a phrase I've heard a lot in Arizona- there is abundant space here!) and with the conditions conducive for a wildfire, the decided to limit the number of people there. Disappointing, after having driven for almost 2 hours!

However, we were able to find another trail close by that a bit off the beaten path. I did not want to go back all the way without having done at least some hiking. We had to drive off the highway for about 30 minutes on a very dusty  unpaved road. This was truly off the beaten path. It did take a while to reach and i kept wondering if it was worth it. However, we pushed on and finally made it to the base of trail. We then waited for a friend, who never made it because he got lost!

Talking to a few hikers who just got back from the trail we learned that the descent down the mountain was very steep and very rocky. The uphill climb as you can imagine would be even worse.They all sounded pretty exhausted. These were, as we could see experienced hikers.

Anyway, we soldiered on. I was getting pretty apprehensive looking at the climb while going down. I'm not used to such hikes, where it is very steep and no place to rest or keep your foot upright. My friend was nonchalant about it and was doing much better. I moved on, down the mountain, boulder/rock/log one foot at a time. I was perspiring a lot. Given the cool mountain air, it was a real indicator of how i was faring(Jude you should have been exercising more these past couple of weeks and laying off the food!!).

I managed to avoid slipping and tumbling off of the mountain altogether. And then finally i saw a clearing through the trees and at the bottom was a small creek passing through the base of the mountain. With trees all around and sunlight hitting all the right spots it was quite beautiful. As we rested on the rocks taking in the scenery we tried to come up for the perfect metaphor for this. I'd recently watched a NDE movie and joked that this is what it was. The journey down was synonymous with the earthly journey. And so too would going back. However , being there was inspiring and worth doing all over again.And so it stuck!

The  hike back up was much easier than what i thought it would be, we did it in almost half the time going down. I guess i was truly energized. All in all a great end to a day that began with so much uncertainty.

Sometimes though the way is unpaved and unclear and difficult keep moving on for there are places that give you a glimpse of heaven and the energy to move on. The same path then becomes easier.

Take it easy..

                                                   Do Just this One Thing!!


We've all heard it before. Inch by inch life is a cinch , yard by yard it is hard.

I was loosing pretty badly at a game of ping pong(or table tennis as it is known in the world outside of the US)

My opponent was smashing shots in my direction and i could do was try and block the  and hope that it went over the net. This was ridiculous, why was it so difficult to get  the ball over the net and have my opponent miss? What special strokes or moves could i use? How do i have a shot that has speed as well as spin?

How do i make up for all the time my opponent has been playing table tennis and honing his skills, while i am barely just a beginner.

The answer was quite simple- Just get the ball over the net. Anyhow!

It was really that simple. Slowing the game down and just concentrating on putting the ball over the net helped immensely. I didn't win, but i lost narrowly 2-1 in a game of 3 sets. Against other 'weaker' opponents i started winning games. Sure, it is more difficult to slow the game down and willfully concentrate on every shot. But it works!

This weekend i had a training session on a Saturday morning. I was being gazumped. Curls, presses  weights. All at once. I wondered how i would be able to finish all the sets . My trainer also started increasing the weight after each rep. 

Ah, but i only have to lift each dumbbell once right? Concentrate only on that one thing and forget about how to finish. Worked again. I was able to finish each exercise and  rep strong.

Certainly a valuable lesson for other areas of my life(this blog included!). Just focus on doing one thing well. Slowly, bit by bit the entire picture will fall into place.

Things can get overwhelming, but by focusing on what i can get done and blocking out non-useful things(like how to fit every thing in the bigger picture) i can actually give all my energy to what is at hand and feel more satisfied. Conservation of energy and resources.

Certainly, nothing new. But a good reminder. And maybe, just maybe i'll use that principle  to build a great blog again !!

Take it easy..

                                                     56 Days to Go!!!!

Thats right, less than two months before the start of the Football World Cup 2010 (or as i would like to call it - the 'festival of football),the game that is played by kicking around a roundish ball on a green pitch by roughly 22 men on average!!(as opposed to calling it soccer!!).

There is a lot of time for that and yet i can hardly wait. Some of the reasons why-

1] Liverpool FC have had such a pathetic season i am longing to cheer on another  football team and watch some good football for a change(where players play like they want to win !)

2] I was listening to this song Wavin the flag (by K'naan) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxWX1yGcsHQ&feature=related...its a really nice song with a reggae touch to it....listening to it got me in the mood.

3] Every WC has a special buzz , suddenly football(or soccer) is talked about constantly, needless to say i love such conversations!

4]Working from home would be a lot more fun!!!!

5]In the past WC's i was always a Brazil fan through and through, now i do not have a particular team-  i would be rooting for the following teams Spain, Argentina, holland , brazil and England (in that order!)..it just adds more variety and spice  to the tournament.

6] Did i mention that it happens only once in four years!!

Football(the Soccer kind!!) vs Politics


As yet another weekend unfolded , i woke up (later than normal because it was a Saturday and was catching up on Lost the previous night) to two different pieces of news, one the news of the Indian Elections and second news of the English Premier League title decider.

The two couldn't be further apart, and yet be somehow related, the premier league is based in England. The Indian Elections, are the greatest showpiece of Indian Democracy since..independence from England!!. The premier league runs every year whereas the elections are normally held every 5 years or so.

However , the Elections and Football matches can incite passion to otherwise mundane living.

The similarities and comparisons can probably end there , except for the fact that it is more enjoyable to watch football games every Saturday morning rather than follow the politics that goes on back home.

Watch Football games of Liverpool Football club to be more precise, which until this weekend were the most successful club in English football. Try as much as they wanted , playing brilliant football for most of the season , Rafael Benitez (the manager) along with Gerrard , Torres , Alonso, Kuyt and others couldn't prevent Manchester United from claiming their 18th League title equalling Liverpool's record. They even thrashed United 4-1 at Old Trafford. But sadly it wasnt enought and on Saturday managed to get enough points to win the title by prevailing over a hapless Aresenal .

While Liverpool will no doubt regroup this summer to try and snatch back the throne of English football that they have knocked off, it was pretty sad how the season ended.

It may not be really relevant in the larger scheme of things , but it is the feeling any true sports fan would feel after passionately following their team. There is a lot of highs and lows , joy and excitment in following a team and watch them mature and progress.

On the other hand i was pretty happy to read that Dr. Manmohan Singh and his party got the majority of votes through the monthlong elections held in India. It was definetly a triumph for Economic reform and secularism and i feel India is definetly moving in the right direction, with the Indian Electorate getting more maturer and wiser in its selection of leaders.

It was one of the rare occasions that i was haapy on reading about Politcs and ironically it came on the day that football brough little cheer.

Of course the Indian elections are more important , and with this outcome a lot of older miniters will be moving out and younger blood moving into the PM's cabinet. I really feel that the right man and government(forward minded) are at the helm to take India through this economic recession and build on its excellent growth for the past decade or so.


The INC had been fading out of Indian politics slowly in the last decade , but have come back .
It might sounds strange but Liverpool had also been fading away from the thrones of English football , maybe their time has come , maybe next year will be the year after many many tries for the past 20 years. There is hope and i guess at the end of the day thats what brings a better and more longlasting cheer than just results.

P.S.- I am dreaming of being there at Anfield when Liverpool claim their title!!!

The Death of Free Speech in America and the World for Conservatives??

A very interesting and shocking incident occurred last week, the reason it was so interesting to me was the setting at which it took place.

I do not watch beauty pageants and have only paid attention to the Miss World / Miss Universe Pageants when India started winning a few a couple of years ago. When that went away so did whatever little interest i had in it . I found it extremely superficial . The contestants give out well scripted and rehearsed answers that are always 'politically correct' or worse -biased toward the popular opinion .That is all good, it it just a show after all.

However, in this years Miss USA 2009 , a contestant, from California was asked her opinion, by a judge on the issue of same sex marriage rights. A few states in the US have made it legal and the contestant(Miss California) was asked whether she thought it was right or not.

She did not and said that she was not brought up that way, although she did not mean disrespect to anyone. She clearly stated her views on the issue. What followed however was very unfortunate. The judge who asked her that is a prominent same sex activist. He lambasted her on his own personal blog and called her stupid.

While it is relatively insignificant, it being a beauty pageant and all , it still angered me that if someone has an opinion about a moral/social issue that is conservative and not in tune with the more liberal bias, that person is singled out and criticized. I see that happening over and over again in the news.

Many people, in the US , India and all over the world do have very conservative opinions on social issues such as marriage. Most don't really speak out, because quite frankly how do you go about defending something that you have been raised to believe is right , from a child to adult.
It is true what you believe, and you know it and quite frankly it is not a big deal. Even proposition 8, was opposed , in California, one of the most liberal states in America, effectively outlawing same sex marriage.

But however, there is a sizable minority who believe otherwise. And those that stand in their way of 'freedom' are constantly criticized, as was evident in the Miss USA contest.

I believe that society must have norms and limits, these must not be crossed else it will spell the doom for that civilization. The US is at at the crossroads and so will India in a few years. We must define the limits in marriage, homosexuality etc before it is too late.
I truly have a lot to say on these social /social conservative issues and look forward to expressing them.

Take care..till next time Peace out !!!!

Where was God?

I had to ask this question, as i read of reports of Churches, prayer halls, orphanages and shelters being burnt across Orissa, when so many priests and religious involved in good works were attacked by fundamentalists , when no mercy was shown .

Why so much suffering for good people, while the real perpetrators haven't been brought to justice. What makes the situation in Orissa so ridiculous is that the real culprits haven't been found, but the good continue to suffer.

The Prime Minister and Home minister have "condemmed" the attacks, but in reality i think they along with the CM should resign for failing to protect the people when it mattered the most.

But i guess the silver lining here is the attitude of victims. There havent been repraisals . The community has taken the teachings of Jesus and Gandhi to heart and " Prayed for their persecutors". Else the situation could easily have spread and the whole of India could have been affected.

They are truly Indians and followers of God.

I hope that the guilty be brought to Justice, from those who started it to mobs who inflicted pain on defensless victims.