Systemic change morally endemic

The simplicity of right and wrong.
That is at the heart of Anna Hazare’s movement.
And that is what makes the sophists – and by that I mean Nandan Nilekani and Arundhati ‘one-novel’ Roy - uncomfortable.
And that is also what endears the urban middle class to the movement.
Anna is the embodiement of our desire for moral salvation.
Mired in grey, the modern human’s insatiable appetite for materialism has been re-hued in plain black and white by Anna’s campaign.
And like life itself, we see that morality, unsexy as the word is, is what it all boils down to.

Hyperbole, Stupidity and Facebook

Hyperbole - the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech.
“Shammi Kapoor is not the Elvis Presley of India, Elvis was the Shammi of America.” – Aamir Khan

Stupidity - a quality, state, act or idea that exhibits properties of being stupid (slow of mind). A congenital lack of capacity for reasoning.
"Nobody is to be blamed (India’s cricket performance in England).” - Krishnamachari Srikkanth

Facebook – outlet for urban India’s impotent rage given its inability to effect change; so to feel like it’s making a difference.
“Anything, everything by, of and about Anna Hazare.” - Svengali

Breaking up is hard to do

The modus operandi is frustratingly simple. Frustrating for the government who has to deal with someone on a fast to death. Simple for the faster.
If Andhra is broken up, before long, the other states will follow with their own fasts unto deaths.
I have long propagated the breaking up of India into a confederation of states. However, by holding a nation to ransom, is not the way to do it. I would let a few fasters die. Either that, or a few states will die.

So, today, a carol that offers the drumbeat to a new age:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb0hAPimGrU&feature=related

Divide and rule

I have for some time now been of the view that India should function as a federation of states with total fiscal autonomy, but a common army and an Interpol- type law and order mechanism.
It now turns out it’s not my original idea, but was originally proposed by Mohammed Ali Jinnah and Lord Mountbatten. Who should bring this to light (again, perhaps) but Jaswant Singh and his comments on Jinnah.
The beauty of India is the seamless manner in which it appears as a country inspite of more diversity than any nation on earth. The truth is harsher.

Confederation of Indian states

Some moons ago I had touted the idea of India breaking up into a Confederation of States, with a common army. Raj Thackeray’s actions seem to sort of vindicate that view. What has appalled me is everyone kowtowing to the idea that assimilating into the local culture was actually necessary and therefore, at heart, the MNS demand was right. Only their means of implementation was wrong. That is bullshit. If I am an Indian my constituitional rights guarantee I don’t need to speak a particular language to live anywhere in India. And that’s it. Fuck you and your Marathi.

Ass-kissing nuclear power

India’s entry to the nuclear club gives me bragging rights. However, it’s a classic case of how we are still slaves to the Western (US, largely) perspective. When I ask the average person whether s/he is comfortable with Iran’s nuke programme, the answer is no. So why should anyone be comfy with India’s? Because we are more non-violent than the Iranians? Bull shit. It’s because we have been kneaded and brainwashed into being a Western lackey. Our new nuke status should have tremendous civilian benefits. But make no mistake. We kissed ass to get it. The Iranians have not.

Let Kashmir go

India should be broken up into a confederation of states with a common army, but each on their own for money. The old hack stories – Bombay’s municipal taxes footing the entire bill for Parliament; Karnataka’s economic growth when taken alone, rivaling that of China’s – shaped this early view of mine. But nowhere does this argument augment itself more, than in happenings of Kashmir. For the first time the nation’s top political experts and commentators have roundly raised the issue of an Independent Kashmir. And I could not agree more. It is just not worth it any more.