Posts tagged Opinion
My country has paid up the ransom, Mr. Hazare!
Image Courtesy: My friend Sandeep
Disclaimer: I am equally appalled by corruption in governance. I’m not a government stooge.
If we wish to maintain democracy not merely in form, but also in fact, what must we do? The first thing in my judgement we must do is to hold fast to constitutional methods of achieving our social and economic objectives. It means we must abandon the bloody methods of revolution. It means that we must abandon the method of civil disobedience, non-cooperation and satyagraha. When there was no way left for constitutional methods for achieving economic and social objectives, there was a great deal of justification for unconstitutional methods. But where constitutional methods are open, there can be no justification for these unconstitutional methods. These methods are nothing but the Grammar of Anarchy and the sooner they are abandoned, the better for us.
Just a quick post.
I was watching Swades a little while ago on TV and had to get this thought out in the open. The realism of the movie is also this country’s greatest tragedy . Swades needed a Mohan Bhargava, a Brahmin scientist, to bring about social change in the village. Had he been of a lesser social standing (read Caste), no one in the village would’ve given a damn. Even today, “well educated” friends of mine, from premier institutes, will not dare cross the caste lines, esp. when it comes to marriage.
Though the movie is all about hope, do we have any? Leave your comments below.
India, my India!
The recent 20th anniversary celebrations of the fall of Berlin wall had an unlikely fallout here in India. The hopeless romantics amongst us got off indulging in unnecessary and ill-informed banter about Indo-Pak unification. What made it incredible was the fact that such discussions were being spearheaded by people you’d normally believe to be well read.
Many years ago, as part of a school competition, I had written an article about the basis for formation of a nation. I’ll try and reproduce the gist of the piece and add my two cents of learning since then.
Every nation in history has had its foundation in either one or both of the two basic pillars - religion and language. Notwithstanding invasions and temporary conquests, these have been the only unifying factors.
IIT/IIM: National Shame!
Let me add a disclaimer right at the outset: This post is not intended to be provocative and I definitely do not want to be drawn into a lengthy debate.
My earliest brush with the word IIM was in primary school when my father, an employee in a public sector company, spoke about the time he first stood outside the gates of IIM (Bangalore) many years before his marriage. That image got stuck in my mind and there were many nights when I tried visualizing what my father had described - I wanted to feel the same awe. I got my chance not much later when one fine day, sometime during my middle or high school, my father decided to take me to IIM(B) on his 50CC moped. After what seemed like a very long journey, we reached the imposing gates and a huge signage with the words Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. After a quick chat with the security head, we walked in. I don’t remember how many hours we spent walking around the campus but it was late evening by the time we started our ride back. The return journey seemed a lot shorter - I was just not in my senses. It was a kind of high that I’ve experienced very few times after that (the latest when I was getting my married to my wonderful wife). I was hooked - and from that day forward, all I wanted to do was to force my way through those gates.
