As the clock struck midnight on August 15th, 1947, India awoke to freedom and independence.
As the clock struck midnight on December 9th, 2009, Telengana has received the same joy.
Or atleast so claim the supporters of the TRS camp.
A fast unto death, students marches, political mileage, police and paramilitary presence and media spots lights hovered over Hyderabad. A country watched as the volleys shot between the Southern State Capital and the national capital in the North. For 11 long days the two camps stared each other down. Finally the Centre blinked and cowed and gave in to the pressure they were under. Ill health of a statesman held the ruling combine of the world's largest democracy to ransom and brought them to his bedside with his wishes granted.
TRS Chief, K Chandrashekhara Rao, held court as the nation watched with bated breath, waiting and hoping that Andhra Pradesh would not suffer.
With the Centre cowing down to the pressure, an alarming preceedent of great future consequences has been set. Mahatma Gandhi began this saga of 'fast-unto-death' in his non violent battle with the British. His successors have continued in his footsteps, in their endeavour to realise their wishes.
But where was the non-violence? Supporters of KCR and TRS were seen exchanging stones and lathis with the police. Students marched down the streets of Hyderabad and tried to storm the seat of legislative power in a bid to voice their protests. Scenes of people being battered and stoned were played over television screens for a long time. People dodging lathis and trampling crowds were a common screenshot for days.
The method by which Telengana has come into existence (or atleast the promise of its existence) is a dangerous one. Already there are reports of Gurkhas wanting their own piece of land out of West Bengal. The refrain 'My people have been asking for their homeland for 102 years' seems is heard. 102 years? India as a sovereign secular nation with states and elections has been around for only 62 years. The 40 years before they were serving the Brits tea.
The Telengana cause may have its roots in righteousness but what will be the ground realities? Will the Telengana people get their voices heard and see development in their backyards? Or will it be a small princely state for TCR to rule over?
The precedent set by PC and Soniaji could produce quite a few lean politicians emerging from 10-15 days fasts (intravenously fed of course!) with their own patch of land and people to rule over. I wonder if Raj Thackeray will go on a fast to throw the non-Maharashtrians out of Mumbai! South Bombay..oops! Mumbai, will sure wear a deserted look.
Coming back to Andhra, what will happen to Hyderabad now? The State accounts for 18% of the IT exports from India, and the bulk of that coming from Hyderabad. Now if Hyderabad goes toTelengana, and in their rush to 'uplift' the local blood, what will happen to the imported man power that runs the said IT industry? Not to mention the pharma, construction and other industries that found a home in Hyderabad under the industry-friendly policies of Chandrababu Naidu. Reserving jobs in Telengana for the Teleganites, a la MNS, could have serious repercussions for the national outlook.
That brings me to the bigger issue of migration policies. International migration of Kerala blue and white collar workers to the Gulf in the early 90's saw a sudden surge of growth for the Middle East region. While this cannot be attributed solely to the industriousness and zeal of Malayalees and Indians, there was a definite contribution from this diaspora to the economic prosperity enjoyed there.
Its a similar situation in Mumbai, the country's financial capital. In the days when it was still Bombay, it was known as the land of opportunities. Everyone found a 6x5 bit of ground to rest their back after a long day of toil earning, for the first time ever, for some, a lot more than they could get by ploughing their family fields. Slowly these folks scrimped and saved enough to move up in the world, working, contributing and giving back to the very city that gave them a means to live. Yes, there was an explosion of slums, bad living conditions, harsh sights that were broadcast by international media as the true face of India. Was the growth inclusive? Did prosperity affect everyone to the same extent. No, certainly not!
But there was a marked improvement for many. So do we stop migrants from flooding the cities and larger towns because the effect is not uniformly golden?
Migration, according to the 2009 Human Development Report, benefits both host and parent communities. The quality of life and standards of living in both places improve with the contributions from the migrants. Migration does not naturally take away employment opportunities for the local population.
But will this mean the same for Telengana and what the fate of Hyderabad will be, only time will tell. Last heard a two year timeline is being proposed for the formation of the new State.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Friday, October 9, 2009
Truly Secular
India' secular nature has been under the scanner from the time the Constitution we adopted said so. Politicians, journos, writers, thinkers and every man, woman and child has questioned and criticized the nation secularity.
Forced conversions to Christianity in the North East, Muslims facing discrimination, Hindus being exploited, religious riots have all been seen, heard, talked about and experienced. Kashmiri Pandits forced to flee their State, Godhra riots, the 1991 Bombay riots (MNS be damned, it was still Bombay then!), forced conversions of Buddhists in Ladakh to Islam ... history is rife with these and countless other instances of Indians' facing religious (in)tolerance.
Yet I say we are a truly secular nation.
How many Hindus in Lucknow (and all over the country) happily dig into a biriyani every day? The origin of the Biriyani can be fairly accurately traced to the Mughal courts, a Muslim creation. We have all sunk our teeth into the soft kebabs variations available across the country. This was a recipe that came to India from the Persia possibly with the Mughals again.
Can a true-blue vegetarian think of any dish without potato, tomatoes and chillis? These are not Hindu or even Indian in origin. They came to India with the Europeans who themselves discovered these in the Americas.
When milk goes bad and splits it is considered bad. This is the Hindu tradition.
Bengalis are known for their sweet tooth. Their desserts rosgullas and rasmalai are craved all the way across to Kandla and from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. Similarly it is difficult to find an Indian who does not enjoy the Punjabi Muttar Paneer. All these are made from cottage cheese, i.e. split milk!
The technique of making cottage cheese was taught to the Bengalis by the Portuguese Christians, thus setting the stage for our culinary delights that have now gone all the way to the United Kingdom as Indian dishes.
Our rather humble samosa is also of international origins. Its history can be traced back to the Middle Eastern sambusak. The raiders from the Middle East brought across the mountains with them. The samosa had a special place on the royal dinner tables of the Mughals where innovative chefs turned the sambusak, a rather boring pasty filled with pumpkins and nuts, into the kheema filled samosa. Slowly over time, however, the royal samosa made its way to local bakery as a snack with rather diminished stature.
This is where we are truly secular. We do not close our hearts and mouths to the gastronomical delights offered by the world. Instead we happily adopt the best of what is on offer irrespective of its religious, geographical or political origins. In fact, not only do we adopt culture and cuisine (for what is one without the other! says the foodie in me) we give full reign to our creative capabilities and transform the Middle Eastern pilaf into Biriyani and the sambusak into our samosa.
This is the true strength of India's culture and tradition, no matter what the critics say. And this is what we owe the variety of our cuisine to.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Who is the Queen of Hearts?
It’s a sad state of affairs in Indian politics of late. In-fighting in political parties is being aired on national television, but then that’s nothing new. L.K.Advani, Kulkarni and Vasundhara Raje are embroiled in the midst of one the worst fights played out on the 9 o’clock news. On the other side, there is the controversial ouster of the respected and very senior leader, Jaswant Singh for penning a book on his views on Jinnah.
Why wasn’t Jaswant stopped from writing the book? The book was no secret.
Jaswant calls Jinnah great, but didn’t Advanji say M.A.J. was a “genuine secularist” in his visit to
There seems to be a lot of heads rolling in the party lately. Who is the Queen of Hearts in the BJP?
Kulakarni puts in his papers to a party he has served for almost a decade and a half over what he calls “ideological differences”. Kulkarni claimed he was still loyal to the party, but there had to be something that changed the equation suddenly. The party got a whipping in the recent national elections. Yet no heads rolled at that point, except for a half hearted attempt from L.K.A. to resign.
Then there is Vasundhara Raje Scindia. A public show was put on over the past few days with her MLAs camping out in
Now I hear there is another head set to roll, that of Arun Shourie. The reason: he had publicly questioned the party’s debacle in the elections and criticized the party here.
It is indeed a sad state of affairs. Democracy be damned, autocracy rules. The Congress is all about The Parivaar, the BJP had offered an alternative, but the party seems to have lost its focus. A line in the above article by Shourie sums up the dilemma faced by voters: “…our real problem: there is nowhere to turn for an alternative.”
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Racism over Protocol?
Today’s news: Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam, former President of India, father of India’s nuclear programme and one of the most respected and loved public personas of the country, insulted by a bunch of airline crew who “randomly” picked such a public figure out to be frisked. Hah!
Their response in defense of such pathetic behaviour is merely that it’s all company policy!! Do they actually believe that nobody realized he was a former president and not to mention a person who actually created
In light of past reports from people who have traveled to the
Coming back to Dr. Kalam, an unfortunate explanation for this pathetic display is that he was pulled out for his name, the fact that he was a former President be damned. I can understand if they frisk random politicians. Some of them need to put in strait-jackets before they board. Not surprisingly, the politician in question here was acquitted, but that’s a different story.
The airline in question in Kalam’s case, incidentally, has issued a statement that the former President wasn’t insulted by their treatment. Not raising a ruckus over it was just pure Kalam, his total disregard for protocol was well known during his stint in Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Saddest thing about all this is that apparently this whole episode happened in April. It took 3 months for the report that CISF folks reportedly filed the same day, to see the light of day!
Wonder how the
Blogging Revisited
This first post signals my third attempt at blogging. I sincerely hope this one will last a tad longer than the others.
Cheers!
My return to blogging... With a Vengence!
Cheers!
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