Recently a friend of mine reacted strongly when I said my children enjoy the song ‘Jambuligame Jadadara’. The hindi version of the song featuring Kishore Kumar is Guni Jano.  But he was upset. He said such songs such be protested rather than appreciated. There are any number of such scenes in Movies that spoof Hindu Gods. In fact whole movies have been based on them. As Krishnakumar Chief of NCERT writes in his book, Hindu children learn about their Gods at home, not in School (or in movies.)

It might look childish to compare a simple movie song with M F Hussain’s paintings. But read the passages extracted from an article on Kambarasam    a book revered by most tamilians.

I should acknowledge that, as of now, I have not enjoyed the pleasure of reading the entire corpus of Kambar’s ultra 10,000 quatrains. At most, I have been introduced to four or five dozen. But I have read the two volumes of the Kamba Rasam polemic, penned by Anna. Volume 1 of Anna’s Kamba Rasam (96 pages) provides only 13 quatrains (of which 8 are presented in full) that Anna had selected for criticism for their erotic content. Mention is made in the text that 34 quatrains describing the physical attributes of Sita, the heroine, border on eroticism. I have in my possession only the 13th edition of this tract, published in 1970. I’m somewhat uncertain on when the 1st edition of Kamba Rasam appeared in print. If I’m not wrong, I presume the 1st edition of Kamba Rasam should have appeared in the early or mid 1940s, before Anna founded the DMK.

Volume 2 of Anna’s Kamba Rasam (1st edition 1961, 84 pages) presents another 8 quatrains considered to be of an erotic nature, with an added mention that 67 quatrains display such erotic taste. In Volume 2, Anna also informs the readers that his frontal attack on Kambar’s literary taste in Volume 1 elicited three rebuttals from the epic poet’s admirers. These would have appeared between the mid 1940s and 1960. The three rebuttals which Anna had acknowledged were entitled, (1) ‘Death Bell to Kamba Rasam’ [ Kamba Rasathukku Saavu Mani], (2) ‘Head Strike on Kamba Rasam’ [Kamba Rasathukku Mandaiyil Adi], and (3) ‘A Wedge to Annadurai’ [Annathuraikku Aappu]. Of these three, I have in my possession the first named, Kamba Rasathukku Saavu Mani, consisting of only 32 pages. Probably due to the eminence of Anna, the author of this rebuttal identifies himself only with the pseudonym ‘Karpanai Piththan’ [literally translation: ‘Imagination Lover’].

That Anna was a ranking Tamil scholar is not in dispute and, as such, one can be certain that he would have scrutinized the entire corpus of Kamba Ramayanam, before committing himself to pick on Kambar’s penchant for erotic poetry. If this is so, by Anna’s count, one can infer that about 100 quatrains among the total corpus of 10,500 produced by Kambar border on eroticism. Percentage-wise, 100 out of 10,500 equals <1%. As such, even this admirer of DMK’s founder-leader has to admit that Anna was way off balance in his frontal attack on Kambar. It may not be inaccurate to consider this as one bad patch in Anna’s stellar career as a reformer of the Tamil literary tradition.

Could it be that this was a mischievous literary prank of Anna’s (who never questioned Kambar’s great merit as an epic poet, in his tract) which he undertook to bolster his then provocative political plank of pan-Dravidianism tinged with popular elements of Marxism?

Kamban has outlived Anna and will outlive his disciple who asked “In which College did Rama do his Engineering”. Similarly in recent years there was a series of articles denigrating Hinduism written by an eminent Hindu scholar – Agnihotiram Ramanuja Thathachariar – in (where else) Nakkeeran. A little known magazine “Geethacharian” published a brilliant rebuttal written by Shri Joseph. By our extreme reaction what we have achieved is made “Hussain” a stick to beat Hindus with.

There has been one more Shoe throwing incident and this time victim, the most famous of all recent such events. The monotonous regularity and pointlessness of such events is relieved only by the witty comments on Twitter. Most people now do not know or remember the first of such “Shoe Incidents”. It was not exactly a throw. No body can recollect correctly what happened. This the (much abused) Wikipedia version – the most comprehensive article available on the web. Nikita Khrushchev is supposed to have banged the desk with his shoes at the most august of all places – the UN General Assembly. The way I was told – (Illustrated Weekly, from my memory) puts it slightly different. As he banged the desk with his shoes, someone noticed he had shoes on both his legs. He had brought in an extra shoe just to shock and divert attention. May be true, may not be but sounds brilliant. On the other hand the current series of non events are disappointing to put it mildly. Soon News channels might have to say “The meeting failed to evoke much response – there was no shoe throwing.”

Shoe throwing in real life is aped on the Social Media especially Twitter by inane and mostly hurtful comments. Thiruvalluvar writing around 2000 years puts in succinctly – ‘Not knowing art of cheerful conversation, men estrange even friends by divisive discourse (Verse 187).’ Most comments have an impact which is quite the opposite of what is supposedly intended – antagonises the recipient of such messages.  It would be educative for this tribe to know about the most effective barb of all time. It is generally thought that Yudhishthira was a weak man who wanted peace at any cost when he asked for just 5 villages. When Duryodhana says as much Vidura explains (From Kamala Subramaniam’s Mahabaratha):

“Yudhishthira is not a fool. He has asked you for these five villages in particular. He could have asked for just any five. Why should he have mentioned the names? I will tell you. He knows full well that you are not going to listen to anyone. He knows that he will have to fight for his kingdom and kill you all for the sake of that kingdom. This request of his for five villages is just a reminder to you and to the elders of this court, in particular, about the sufferings of the Pandavas. Even one of the names is sufficient.

Take Varanavata. It reminds everyone of the infamous plot at Varanavata when you and your uncle instigated Purochana to build the palace of lac. It was a dastardly plot to kill your cousins. Yudhishthira wants to remind you and us about it. Then comes the name Indraprastha. That is the next injustice done to them. You must remember that your father decided to give them half the Kuru land. This was after their wedding Draupadi. The half which was given to them was the barren land called Khandavaprastha. They got the help of Indra to make it fruitful. That is why Yudhishthira mentions Indraprastha as one of the village he wants. Then comes Jayanta. Surely, surely you could not have forgotten the hall you built after you came back from the Rajasuya. Jayanta is a suburb of Hastinapura and there was built the hall which was the excuse which brought the Pandavas to Hastinapura. Yudhishthira wants us to remember that the game of dice has not been forgotten by him. The fourth is Vrikaprastha. That was where Bheema was fed with poisoned food by you. That is the place adjoining the coppice, Pramanavata. That is where the Pandavas spent the first night of their twelve years’ exile. He has allowed you to choose the fifth village yourself. It makes up the rest of the injustices done to them by you.

Now you can see how angry and sarcastic Yudhishthira can be if he wants to? That is his way of saying: ‘After all this, you want us to be patient. My uncle says that I am bent on war. Which man will be patient after all these things have happened to him? It is possible to avert the war only if my kingdom is returned to me.’ That is the message of Yudhishthira to all of you.”

All Yudhishthira asked for was five villages. It ended in a war that encompassed all of Bharath Yudhishthira would have done well on twitter.

1. Up to 51% will be allowed.
2. Minimum investment by way of FDI must be USD 100 Million. (Roughly Rs. 500 Crores.)
3. 50 % of the capital needs to be invested in Back end infrastructure.

I am unable to understand what the Govt. hopes to achieve by this Policy. Most channels have gone overboard supporting the policy, going to the extent of saying that this the economic reform that the private Sector wanted.  Till date I have kept away from this issue except plugging  Shri Sekhar Swamy’s article. Even now I am uncertain about the benefits or otherwise of FDI in retail.

But what is puzzling me is this – We just had a mega scam exposed where  one of the channels went overboard saying investments by minor local partner for their 26% stake was at a pittance compared to the 74 % stake of Foreign partner. What happened their is legal as per the laws that stood then. Will this loop hole be plugged in the new laws? Why is the same channel not asking this question? Will they wait for a scam to happen so that they can come out with an exclusive?

Second the Policy says the minimum investment by Foreign Partner should be USD 100 Million (Roughly Rs. 500 Crores). For a moment that every thing is as clean as can be. The foreign Partner brings in his Rs. 510 Crores and the Indian partner Rs. 490 Crores (perfectly as per FDI policy bare minimum.)  We are told 50% of this needs to be invested in Backroom Infrastructure. Let us assume 20 such projects  (or 5 projects 4 times bigger, pick your multiple)  come up in the immediate future. The proposed investment in rural infrastructure will be Rs. 10,000 crores. Is my Government so poor that it cannot invest Rs. 10,000 crores in infrastructure and wants to beg (to borrow that term from Shri Rahul Gandhi) FDI investors.

I am still open on FDI in retail but certainly not at these terms. I am reminded of a story that used to go around in the days when Reliance advertised that by selling a reliance cell connection for Rs. 500 they were fulfillinDhirubhai’s dream. Last heard Dhirubhai was complaining in heaven that his sons were selling off his dreams for a mere Rs. 500.

This Government is doing something similar. They are selling off National dreams for mere pittance.

The Prime Minister referred to the eurozone crisis, saying it showed “several signs of stress” and wanted the Asian countries to send a message of solidarity to Europe as they had a stake in early resolution of the problem.

This is not the first such occasion. It has been commented a few times earlier that he prefers to leave India when parliament is session. Now that the Winter session is about to start and there is too much to deal with in India, it surprises me as to how a PM could travel away from the country so much.

It is not just the travel but also the sound bytes. On the day there was a hike in petrol prices in India he commented that Petrol Prices must find their own levels. In a few days Petrol Prices have been revised downward. On the same day that he commented Indian prices must find their own levels, he said International Markets (with Europe in mind) must grow in an orderly manner.

His penchant for International issues remind me of this story. I used to use this story when people ask me how I could spend so much time on social websites / issues when I have so much domestic commitments. I have a feeling MMS is in a similar situation.

A man was asked how he was in perfect peace with his wife when all his friends had frequent arguments with their spouses. He explained thus – it is a simple solution.My wife and I have split our responsibilities. My wife takes care of minor things like Household budget,funding the deficit and bringing up the children while I take care of major issues like the Kashmir, Iraq and Afghan issues.

  May be MMS is saying the same thing to other world leaders when they ask him such a question.

I am personally interested in this news for 2 reasons – one as father of 2 sons born after lot of difficulty and as a senior executive in the healthcare industry in West Bengal. I am not writing this in any official capacity and I am only a Finance Executive in this field for around one year. Therefore I do not claim to have much knowledge about specific incidents and my post is only as a concerned citizen and as a father.

This year has seen a surfeit of such cases,though anybody reading the news paper reports or seeing the TV reports would think this is the first such incident. To give a perspective I am linking few such cases:

1.  in Kurnool in Sep 2011.

2. in Junagadh Hospital where 23 children were infected by HIV after blood transfusion.

3. remember similar news from Kerala though I have not been able to immediately the links.

The response on twitter is surprising for me in some ways. I am not insensitive. I have spent sleepless nights watching my young son worried about sudden death syndrome. Even as I write this I realise the same could have happened to my sons. I would request the reader to keep this in mind as they read the post further.

The Population of West Bengal is around 90 Million. The crude birth rate is 17.5 which means around 1.6 million children are born every year. The infant mortality rate is 35 which means around 500,000 children die at a very young age every year. That would mean around 1,300 children die every day. A significant number of them would not die if they were born in a developed country or in a richer family.  We as a nation, it must be acknowledged, have failed these children. This in the state of West Bengal alone. Obviously  such deaths would become mere statistics.

In the last 1 year I have closely interacted with Doctors and Medical Staff. They are as human as we are. But are expected to perform super human tasks day in and day out. As an accountant, on twitter and on my blogs I have made many errors but I get away with them. But a medical staff cannot afford to make a single mistake. It can turn fatal like in the case of the child who died because acid was used instead of a disinfectant.

Rather than show outrage today when the incidents are current and then pass on to fresh news like Anna later, the death of these children would at least have some meaning if we could  evolve some long term measures to improve Maternal Mortality and Infant Mortality rather than score brownie points against Mamata.

There was this orphanage where some kind souls placed a bowl of chocolates on the way out of assembly. Afraid that every child may not one, they placed a notice next to the bowl with the words *Take just one. God is watching you*. Another set of kind souls placed a bowl of Mints. An enterprising child placed a notice next to it saying *Take as many as you want. God is busy watching the other bowl*.

That is typically what will happen if Jan Lok Pal is seen as a Panacea. Subsequent events have shown that some wisdom is dawning on the supporters of Jan Lok Pal bill. They are now being a little less *cock sure* and much more circumspect in their approach. Lokpal may be long delayed but certain other ombudsman have been created in the meantime and is working with various degrees of success like the IRDA (for Insurance), TRAI (for telecom) or the Banking Ombudsman. I do not think that these agencies meddle too much into the affairs of their *wards* (if you could call them that). It is more the threat that is working. *Crying Wolf* may not be a bad policy as it is made out to be. Better that than be exposed as toothless.

One other reason why a Lite version of Lok Pal might work than the Jan Lok Pal is the fact that the weight of expectation would lead to the Lok Pal collapsing due to its own inherent weight. Some thing similar is already happening to Team Anna. Leave alone the insinuations of unethical dealings. The inherent contradictions, the profusion of leaders and the absence of workers is already showing.

Filed under: Uncategorized ]]> http://sridharkrish.wordpress.com/2011/10/29/why-lokpal-lite-may-be-better-than-janlokpal/feed/ 0 sridhar krishna http://sridharkrish.wordpress.com/2011/10/28/every-dog-has-its-day/ http://sridharkrish.wordpress.com/2011/10/28/every-dog-has-its-day/#comments Fri, 28 Oct 2011 14:13:57 +0000 sridhar krishna http://sridharkrish.wordpress.com/?p=263 ]]> This is my first Original work that I wrote in March 2007. Posted in honour of the Dog that did a Victory Lap on the F1 track.

Every Dog has its Day

This country has gone to dogs On 28th Feb 2007, B Day (Budget day) there were two news items that flashed across the net.

One was the reduction in import duty for dog food announced by Shri P Chidambaram and the other is the item quoted blow : “The Jaipur Municipal Corporation’s (JMC’s) animal control and protection committee had proposed a hefty hike in the annual registration and renewal fee per pet dog, which was approved by the corporation, JMC officials told IANS. Presently a dog owner pays Rs. 5 as application fee and Rs. 10 as registration and renewal fee per year. The latter will now go up to Rs 200. Jaipur has lately emerged as one of the biggest centres for dog lovers, with a business of over Rs. 10 million per year.

According to the new proposal, pups cannot be separated from their mother for the first three months. Also, JMC officials will now undertake door-to-door surprise checks on the registration of dogs. Defaulters will be penalised and their dogs seized, officials said.”

Chidambaram has been in the dog house for his inconsiderate remarks on bringing down price of dog food when more than half of india is dog tired working to earn atleast one meal a day. Following is the excerpt from the soon to be filmed edition of Big Bite, sorry Big Fight featuring burkha dutt and a few others. Burkha introduces the topic. But before she completes Chidambaram comes up with statistics on how many countries have more liberal duty structure for dog food. Brinda Karat interrupts him and gives a long lecture on the need for protecting the local pet food industry against MNC predators.

Burkha asks brinda if they would withdraw support for the UPA government on the issue of inflation issue. Cho ramaswami snidely says “You can count on the communists to run with the hares and hunt with the hounds”. Maneka Gandhi defends BJP saying that while BJP has taxed rich dogs (in Jaipur) while the congress supported by the communists are giving sops to high breed dogs at the cost of mongrels.

A viewer obviously a victim of the latest raids by chidambaram gets up and says “One thing about Chidambaram. Nobody can say his bite is worser than his bark.” Barkha chides him amidst thunderous ovation from the audience. A bearded professor from JNU joins issue with the man and quotes statistics to show that while inflation was at an historic 4 % during NDA rule it is only 6 % during UPA rule. Chidambaram joins the debate and says inflation at 502 % in Uruguay and 459 % in Uganda.

Karunanidhi meanwhile comes on the satellite link and rattles figures about actual prices in Tamilnadu. He quotes figures that shows that prices have halved over the last one year. “Cho” Ramaswamy explains to the audience the cause for the fall – while the first list is in Indian Ruppee the second is in American dollars. A frustrated man in the audience asks “how will he justify next year if prices rise still further”. Cho replies he can always switch over to Euro and then British Pounds. Jayanthi Natarajan adds her bit to the discussion and says that Sonia has written a letter to the Prime Minister on the need to reduce prices and it is the fault of fundamental forces that prices have risen.

Rajasekhara Reddy replaces karunanidhi on the link and lectures about how Eenadu Ramoji Rao is the cause for the inflation and how he plans to close down all newspapers. When questioned on how that would reduce inflation he explains that if you do not get papers you would not know how much inflation was in the last week. Meanwhile a commercial break is announced.

After the break Rakesh Jhunjunwala is interviewed. He says that the sure way to bring down Consumer Price Index (CPI) is to announce a derivative on that. That way atleast the CPI would go up and down like a yoyo or the nifty everytime the FIIs sneeze. A viewer asks jhunjunwala what are his views on a set of stocks. Other viewers who have come from kalahandi and haven’t seen solid food in their forty years of existence pounce on him.

Meanwhile H D Kumaraswamy comes on the sat link and explains that in Karnataka every section would independently go on strike in protest of the price hike for the next 40 days so that no work would be done during those days. Asked how that would help inflation, he explained that by the end of the marathon strike nobody would have money to buy anything and that would be a better way to reduce free money in the economy than any other measure that the RBI governor can think of.

CNN-IBN meanwhile does an investigative report on how dog food manufacturers have bribed senior congress leaders. CBI director when quizzed says that that he will file a fodder scam like case on Chidambaram as soon as the court orders the same on a PIL or if the Government changes and NDA comes to power. He says that Chidambaram would be hounded (pun not intended) out of office. He also assures that finally Chidambaram will be acquitted on lack of evidence.

Cho snidely comments to chidambaram “it’s a dog eats dog world.” Chidambaram explains at the end of it all that it was a minor comment and too much has been read into it by the media. “It is a case of the tail wagging the dog” he comments on media power and says he is sick as a dog about the whole issue. Jayanthi Natarajan burying the deep fight she has with Chidambaram asks the media to call off the dogs. Jayalalitha wants to know why Chidambaram shifted the focus from Thirukkural to the street dog and announces that the minority DMK government should resign because of the damage done to the tamil Psyche.

The “aam aadmi”, the common man is least worried about all this. He says his salary is Rs.3,000 and every month I have been spending only that so how can my expenditure go up.

Vikram aware that his head would burst into 1000 pieces if he knew the answer but kept quiet, launched immediately into his explanation. A wave looks at the ocean and says it is different. This is similar to the Congress criticising the Government. This is known as Dvaita. Another wave looks at the ocean and says I am part of the ocean. This is similar to the Bureaucracy looking at the Corrupt Government and enthusiastically saying I am part of THIS Government. This is the philosophy of Visistadvaita. Some others realise that the various waves like the Bureaucracy, the Legislative, the Judiciary, the parties are but part of the corrupt system like the waves and ocean are all but water. This is Advaita.

Vikram may have realised the eternal truth but like the Aam Aadmi he failed to make much headway in his mission as Betal flew away.

From Page 354 of the book:

‘A bold plan is what the Harijan community needs, a plan of equality and virile competition,’ not he says categorically, an extension of reservation. The Tamils are told,……….. that Chavan rhymes with jawan, not with Ravan; the lesson is called for, for some Tamil papers have made him Chaa- one. (Shades of Ra.one?)’

‘More frequently he supervised the nation’s manners:

The External Affairs Minister, Mr. M.C.Chagla, we are told replied, ‘Evidently Mr. Mody was saying this on the basis of his own weight.’ I must very regretfully say that this was cheap and in very bad taste. Mr. Chagla, a man of culture, should have resisted the temptation of referring to Mr. Mody’s well known personal impediment. The report says the House burst into ‘Applause,’ meaning, I suppose, laughter. The MPs should have expressed disapproval rather than cheering for his poor joke. (17.6.67)’  ( Nitin Gadkari? )

From Page 371 of the Book:

On an apparent bid by one of Indira’s sons for a licence to make a car:

When Volkswagen of Germany is ready to give small and cheap and; what is most important, good cars to those who want them in India, why should our Government not accept the proposal?….Adventures in the manufacture of small or big cars are not what the tax-payers’ money should be spent on.

I shall not believe the story about the Prime Minister’s son and the small car…until it is confirmed (Swarajya, 25.4.70 and 5.9.70) (And we know what happened..)

From Page 379 of the book:

Sadasivam, who almost daily spent some time with Rajaji, thought that the removal of the removal of the dry law had ‘cut Rajaji to the quick’. Shortly before his 93rd birthday, C.R. spoke of his parting duties to Sadasivam. “Have you lost the will to live?’ the latter asked directly. ‘No,’ answered Rajaji, ‘but there has to be a purpose for which one continues to live.’ But the depression was not permanent. ……. The endeavour pleased C. R., but he took care, in a Dear Reader para, to reject any implication that he had donehis life’s work:

The great fuss over Rajaji 93 seems to order me out of public scene with this December! But I do not propose to do this and terminate my life of protest, exceptionally long though it has been. We are not masters of our lives in length of days. But when I see the spreading abuses,…. I do not feel inclined to run away from the struggle for improving things, old, weak and incapacitated though I am. (13.11.1971). (Lessons for Advani?)

From Page 386 of the book..

The third quality was  daring. He had dared orthodoxy in Salem; then, defying the canons of commonsense  and security, he gave up his practice; he opposed the Raj when it was powerful, the Mahatma when all of India seemed to lie at his feet, Jawaharlal when Nehru was deemed unassailable and C.R. too old to do anything significant, and finally Nehru’s daughter, as secure as her father and as daring as Rajaji himself.

From Page 385 of the book..

In the copy someone gave C.R. of Johnson’s life of Alexander Pope, a little vertical stroke in Rajaji’s pen on the margin stands against a short sentence: ‘But let no man dream of influence beyond his life.’ ‘In twenty-five years time,’ he once said to Monica Felton, ‘people will be asking, “Who was Rajagopalachari? We never heard of him.” The possibility that frightens most of the great amused C.R.

The previous 600+ words do not weigh as much in my mind as the few words of the Author -  Rajmohan Gandhi that I deliberately held back from my first quote   (Page 354) : “But they have for long managed to admire him without listening to him.”