Singh is King, if not Manmohan

The deal is done. The UPA won 275-256, by a much wider margin than anyone had expected. Very interesting - and indeed disturbing turn of events accompanied the victory. Yet, it is a win and Singh is king. A reporter just asked me if the naked show of cash in the Parliament has tainted India's democracy. No, I cannot say so. India's leaders and politicians are tainted; not its people - who to my mind are the real bearers of its democracy. As to the leaders, not a single party or a politician emerges from this with any credibility, except perhaps, Dr. Singh. I have many disagreements with his policies, but strangely enough, he seems the least tainted of all. Why? I cannot yet fully fathom. It did really appear that he was doing this out of conviction at huge potential costs. If this was a referendum on him, he did well, significantly better than anyone else. Yes, Singh emerged King, perhaps in this significant way for the first time. But the other Singh is certainly not amar. In fact his political life, depending on CNN-IBN has been up to, may be severely limited. He reminded me time and again of Asif Zardari. The moral of the story may be the same for both. Pure political opportunism can go only so far and no further.

If there was anything really striking today, in a positive way, it was Omar Abdullah's speech. "Give us a voice, says NC’s Omar Abdullah, floors House with own". He did not spare anyone, the BJP or the Left. He made it clear why he voted with the UPA, and it was not because of the merits of the deal, but the tragic predicament in which Indian Muslims find themselves today. You can watch his interview with NDTV here.

I am thoroughly disappointed in the Left that on this it is willing to ally with the BJP and Mayawati. I am disappointed that it appears to have forgotten the conditions under which it came to enjoy the kind of political power it enjoys now. That condition was the rejection of the economic reform process as it was being pursued by the NDA alliance, led by the BJP. India, indeed, was not shining. Today, ironically, the Left's withdrawal will allow for some of the same reforms to go through, because neither the BJP nor the UPA are against it. Irrespective of the merits of these reforms, what the Left has relinquished is the responsibility to raise questions on behalf of those who do not necessarily stand to gain from the reform process. The issue is neither to stop all reforms altogether or to push them through at any cost. The issue is to give them the shape and content that benefits as many as possible. Or to stop those to which there is resistance (such as the SEZs). The Left chose to relinquish this responsibility, allegedly, in order to stop India's impending subjugation to US imperialism. Rather unconvincing. Is India such a small, meagre political entity that can be trampled by US imperialism so easily at a time - ironically - when it is unraveling everywhere? That said, there are serious concerns about the deal that have been raised by some of the leading nuclear scientists of India. I am also not convinced that it had to be pushed through right now in this way. This is why, as I have written before, I think in part Dr.Singh's agenda was to get rid of the left, especially if it happened on this issue. He has the support of all reform lovers in this regard and he played his cards brilliantly.

So, where to now? Some directions are clear, specially with the nuclear deal and the reforms. Others are less clear. For example, are we ever going to know how this sting operation was conducted? How many MPs were bribed? or was the whole thing choreographed? And finally, will the agrarian crisis get the attention it deserves? Will more Indians get a piece of the economic miracle? On that note, dear Rahul, the harbinger of the new India, I hope you have time to read this piece in the Times of India about the poor, Dalit woman Kalawati for whom your heart bled.. apparently, she has been starving for two days. Your almost innocent and unselfconscious elitism is not your fault. But not undesrtanding the limits of elitist politics, is. Read more!

Gangotri: The old order and the new and an ode to immortality

Each journey, for me, has a meaning – besides the beginning and the end. Each journey is life-changing, I think, in some way or the other. And this one of course, was a bit more than just another journey – it had many more layers of meaning tucked away into it than many others. So to start with, it was an adventure trip that I had been planning with my nephew Rahul for a couple of years. It was his first trip to the Himalayan heights and not surprisingly, he spent a lot of time chalking out the details and putting together his gear in London - where he lives. Well, Himalayan high altitude may be new for him, but camping and meticulously planning out the details of our trek to Gaumukh (3900 metres) and hopefully beyond that to Tapovan (4450 m) was something that he did with a lot of enthusiasm and ardour. In fact, I found myself increasingly caught up in his youthful enthusiasm as the dates neared.
As for me, Gaumukh was the pilgrimage that I was hoping would perhaps provide some of the answers that I have been seeking for a couple of years now. It was for me another mile on the journey that has taken me to Haridwar, Rishikesh, Pushkar, Benares, Dakshineshwar and Amritsar. Now that we’re back, and as I take stock of whether I have my answers or not, I know that I have some - while others still linger on. As another trip to the Himalayas – which for me is my spiritual home – this was long awaited. The rugged and extreme Garhwal was a region that I had not really encountered before, except for a much less intensive trek to Har-ki-dun. That too was a journey with depth - with a childhood friend who has always been there for me. Back to this one - perhaps it’s fitting that the toughest Himalayan terrain was left for what could well be my last trip to the rugged heights. The experience – in terms of geography and pushing the physical envelope was everything it promised to be. From Gangotri to Bhojbasa and further on to Gaumukh, the glacial snout which is considered by us Hindus as the birthplace of our holiest of holy rivers – the Bhagirathi and the Ganga – provides the most complete range of features that one can hope for. From glacier walks to crossing mountain streams and walking on scree and terminal moraine and even dodging rock falls – the scenery does not disappoint even for a moment. Besides the thrills, the landscape is intensely beautiful too – as one walks along the river bank with the stately Shivling and Bhagirathi peaks for company. There are the chir pine forests of Chirbasa and the Bhuj trees along the way. One runs into company in the form of the mountain goats or the Ber, as they are locally called.
But for me, the trip has taken me beyond just the Himalayan grandeur that was the passion of my youth. Rahul – who the hill folk have decided to call my ‘bachcha’ - much to my delight, did come up trumps. And even though I’m exhausted and can’t even imagine making it to Tapovan – he does it with a fair degree of skill and competence, despite his status of a first-timer. He has braved the steep gradient, the height gain, the lack of oxygen and of any defined paths. And most important, he has enjoyed every bit of the adventure and will probably come back again for more. Besides, along the way to Gangotri & Gaumukh, Rahul also developed a taste for simple Indian food such as chapatis, the delicious pahari rajma and alu paranthas - which my dearest friend Alka, a skilled mountaineer, who's been on many tough expeditions, feels is the best cuisine to tackle Himalayan journeys. And my 'bachcha' has also passed the test of ferrying his own load during the trek, something that I've always failed to do.And while maintaining his composure under pretty extreme conditions, he was only ruffled a little bit when some ugly red scars mysteriously appeared on his forearm at Doon School - at my friend Purnima's home, after we got back to the plains. Probably ruptured blood vessels from a scratch he got from his rucksack or heat rashes. Anyways - nothing that the magic neosporine powder from the little white bottle with a blue cap couldn't take care of!
As for me, I was thinking of my father throughout the trip – in fact, it was a journey made for him in many ways. As I sat on the rocks near Gaumukh with my feet dipping in the freezing waters of the Bhagirathi, I knew that he was definitely there in my life, even though death had taken him away from us forever.
And as I helped my ‘bachcha’ pitch his Summit Series tent at Bhojbasa – battling as we did against the snow-storm, I knew that it didn’t really matter, if I could not ever make it to such heights again. There were the signs of immortality strewn all around me. And I just love to drink it in and absorb it. The Himalayas are eternal and so is life – that’s the biggest takeaway from this journey! And then it's not really a surprise or hardly a coincidence, when soon after our return to Delhi via Uttarkashi and Dehra Dun - my cousin Srila (my Bachcha's mother) sends me a photo of my parents which is one of the best recent ones that I've seen of my good-looking father. The photo must have been hidden away in her albums and she must have suddenly chanced upon it. For me, it certainly eases the degrees of separation and brings back my father much closer to me. Read more!

Dilip Gupta - my Madhumati connection!

There are some people – who are no more – who one would have liked to have got to know better. In fact, there are times when looking back we regret many lost opportunities in interacting with them. For me, watching the movie Madhumati – by one of Bengal’s and India’s best known directors Bimal Roy – was such an occasion, which brought to mind an uncle, Dilip Gupta. He was the cinematographer for Madhumati and even won the Filmfare award for best cinematography in the year 1958 for it – incidentally the legendary Madhumati also turned 50 this year!
What I have gathered from trawling the Net – riding Google – is that Dilip Gupta or Jhunu Jethamoshai as I called him, was a cinematographer in Bollywood between the 1930s & 1960s and was director of photography for Prem Patra (1962), Jab Pyar Kisise Hota Hai (1961), Dil Deke Dekho (1959), Madhumati (1958), Yahudi (1958), Gotoma the Buddha (1956), Biraj Bahu (1954), Deedar (1951), Street Singer (1938/I)... aka Saathi, Street Singer (1938/II)... aka Saathi (India: Hindi title) and Devdas (1935).
Dilip Gupta was my father’s favourite cousin and my father, who was younger, drew a lot of inspiration from him. I remember a couple of family events, where Jhunu Jetha was present and Baba taking great pains to create an opportunity for my sister and me to chat with him. By then, he was aged and showed a great deal of affection for us – unfortunately for me, it just did not occur to me to sit and chat with him about the past and his exciting work as one of the early great cinematographers in Bollywood. Of course, I do remember my father and mother fondly remembering Mr Gupta and his wife and the happy times that all of them had spent together in Mumbai way back in the early 1960s. My father, who was a skilled and creative photographer – drew a lot of inspiration from his Jhunuda and it was Jhunuda who had introduced my parents to the famous Bimal Roy and his wife in Mumbai.
Mr Roy, of course, is among Bollywood’s great directors of all times and his extraordinary career as a director also coincided with a Golden Age for Bengali talent in Bollywood. P.C. Barua, K.L. Saigal, Salil Chowdhury, S.D. Burman and even Ritwik Ghatak have all worked with Bimal Roy on various projects. He started his career in Bengal with New Theatres but later migrated to Mumbai where he was to first work with Bombay Talkies and later to set up his own production company. Some of the most famous songs from Bollywood are from his films, such as Suhana Safar Aur Yeh Mausam Haseen from Madhumati (1958) and Mora Gora Ang Lai Le from Bandini. Music for these films was composed by the two legends from Bengal - Salil Chowdhury and Sachin Deb Burman.
Coming back to Dilip Gupta – I do remember an occasion when he had visited my grandparents’ home in Kolkata and had talked about a film that he was shooting on the life of Thakur Ramakrishna – the famous religious and spiritual leader of Bengal – whose teachings greatly inspired him. Since I was very young at that time, I didn’t have the slightest interest in asking him details about his work – again I look upon that as a huge lost opportunity. By then, he had retired from full-time work and was on a vacation in Kolkata from Mumbai. He along with his wife had spent quite a few hours with my grandparents on that occasion and it would have been the ideal time to talk to him about his work.
I also remember another occasion when I had met him – I don’t remember where this was – along with my father. The two of them had chatted about Jhunu-Jetha’s recent visit to LA, where he had spent a nostalgic vacation amidst memories of the time when he had gone there as a young student of the techniques of film-making. Again – had I listened their chat with a greater degree of attention, I’d probably have got a better understanding of the world of LA than I was to later get from my own visit to Universal Studios – excited at being at the Mecca of Hollywood, all by myself. In fact, my sister, with her artistic sensibilities has probably had far richer interaction with Jhunu-Jetha than me – she’s even visited him at his Mumbai home and had a glimpse of the Dark Lady – his Filmfare award for Madhumati!
I’ve heard from family members that one of Dilip Gupta’s daughters – my cousin – is now working at putting together a book on him with articles contributed by Hollywood greats such as Dilip Kumar and other material that she has with her on her father. I wish her all the best with this project and look forward to its completion. Read more!

The Nuclear Deal: Two great democracies or countries without people?

Two of the world's largest democracies are negotiating a nuclear deal. Yet it would hardly seem real people exist in these countries - only leaders, endorsed by other leaders, and elected members of the parliament ready to engage in deal making. The Left's 'withdrawal of support' implies that at present 7.85 percent of the Indian voters who voted them to power in 2004 are opposing to deal. Over 30 million voters voted for the four left parties and another 85 million for the BJP which also opposes the deal. That is about one-third the total number of voters who sent their elected representatives to the Indian parliament.

This is not to deny that elected representatives, more often than not, blatantly ignore their mandates when in power. However, the credibility of a democracy, especially one that touts its democratic credentials at every possible opportunity, should have some bearing on political maneuvers. Yes, the argument is that the representatives of the majority are still in favour of the deal and in a democracy the majority rules. But how can we ever know that for sure amidst this process of horsetrading? (I meant horsetrading in the more colloquial sense - today there are allegations of real horsetrading, which the Congress of course has summarily rejected). All we know for sure is the complete eclipse of the Common Minimum Program on which the present government came to power and the extremely difficult economic conditions of the present.

The democratic deficit in the US is equally clear. While people confront job losses, loss of homes and great economic insecurity, a lame-duck president alternates between the tasks of bombing Iran and pressuring India. The democrats, for their part, alternate between irrelevance and silence, waiting for the Obama hour to strike. Where does the nuclear deal fit in this scenario?

In the mean time, if you visit various stock-related websites you will see how the collective global drooling has begun in earnest. In my last post, I indicated some of the responses. Already August last year, Bloomberg wrote:

Aug. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Areva SA, the world's largest maker of nuclear power stations, and General Electric Co. are among four companies poised to share $14 billion of orders from India as nations led by the U.S. prepare to lift a 33-year ban. Toshiba Corp.'s Westinghouse Electric Co. and Russia's atomic energy agency Rosatom will probably also win contracts to each build two 1,000 megawatt reactors, said Nuclear Power Corp. of India Chairman S. K. Jain. India will be able to purchase equipment after an Aug. 3 accord with the U.S. is approved by the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group.

On July 9,

thirteen stocks surged between 2.06% and 9% at 12:29 IST on the Bombay Stock Exchange on momentum buying on hopes that the crucial Indo-US nuclear deal will be sealed.

Hardly surprising. Buy up. BHEL; L&T; Crompton & Greaves; Reliance...

On the other hand, if you criticize the deal, you must be Communist, and as the savvy young people of the new India love to say, you should be sent to the 'dustbin of history'. If you criticize the 'commies', and the right, you are Maoist. If you criticize the Maoists, you are part of the "western left".. if you criticize the western left, then you must have gotten co-opted by the welfare state...

In the mean time, people from the remotest corners of India undergo unbelieveable trouble to cast a vote, as they did in 2004, to express their rejection of "India shining". For this? Read more!

The real deal about the N-deal

I have been following the debate ad nauseum. It seems really clear to me that Dr.Singh's real deal is not the N-deal at all, but to push through the reforms which the Left has been blocking. The Times of India lists seventeen such reforms here. Newkerala.com and Economic Times list a series of quotes from business leaders who appear relieved and hopeful that the reforms will recommence. More from Financial Express.

Other than this very important 'gain' I cannot see why Dr.Singh would so desperately and immediately want the photo-op with the most discredited political leader of the century, aka GWB, and that too when he is only four months away from leaving the White House. And when there is no guarantee that the US Congress has time to ratify the deal. As to the events on the other side, Glen Kessler of the Washington Post reports from the horse's mouth:

Now, with the near impossibility of congressional passage by year-end, officials and experts have begun to focus on the possibility that other countries -- such as France and Russia -- would rush in to make nuclear sales to India while U.S. companies still face legal restrictions.

A State Department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was discussing congressional strategy, agreed. "I don't believe there is anything to prevent them from doing that, if we don't ratify it," he said, noting the irony of the United States not profiting from a deal it set in motion. But he suggested the administration would use that awkward situation to pressure Congress not to thwart potential business opportunities for American companies. "It is the hidden force of this agreement," the official said. "It is U.S. business that sees an opportunity.

Plagued by inflation, an agrarian crisis, an impending slow-down of the 'miracle' growth rates and an increasingly frustrated middle-class what could a good PM do but establish the pre-conditions for intensifying stalled economic reforms? Yes, of course, I am being deliberately reductionist: the much larger implications of the deal are not to be ignored.

Not withstanding the actual merits of the case, the irony of the Left's withdrawal at this point could not be more profound. I found Brinda Karat's assertion of principled politics thoroughly unconvincing, especially in light of this irony. Read more!

Better to stay home!

Many Americans decided to stay home during Memorial weekend and not go on their usual long-weekend trips. I was delighted to find a new word that they had coined – STAYCATION. And it’s not just staying at home during long weekends – wheel-happy folks in the US are buying less SUVs and even choosing to travel by train. Obviously, the zooming oil prices are having an impact on everybody’s lives.

What is interesting is that, recession and high oil prices are forcing people in America to turn to thrift. In India, we’d always been taught not to waste food. When we were young, crass consumerism was by and large frowned upon. It was things like “don’t waste food” or “you don’t need any more clothes” etc. My grandmother had painstakingly taught me frugal values – she told me to try and keep my needs at a minimalist level.
But, economic liberalization brought with it the concept of ‘consumer is king’. And thus, it became very un-hip to not buy lots of clothes, not turn into foodies and not take foreign vacations. So the middle class in India went in for the kill armed with plastic money and bank loans to buy big houses and bigger cars. People who still wanted to keep their consumption at a minimum level were either looked down upon as not fashionable Gandhians or even condemned as Communist conspirators.
Seems like now the wheel has come full circle – with America teaching us to take Staycations and buy smaller cars. Besides helping us to save money for ourselves and reduce the overall oil bill, Staycations will undoubtedly help save scare resources for our geNext as well. Really hope that the Delhi-ites - with their passion for bigger cars, better houses and larger plasma TVs - are listening. Read more!

Good news ! It's soon going to be too expensive for people to shoot people !

Apparently the cost of bullets has risen to such a level that shooting is getting to be an expensive proposition, to the extent that Police Departments in the USA have cut back on target practice. I'm not joking !

The main contributory factors are the rising cost of copper and lead globally, fuelled by increased demand in countries such as India and China, and the enormous demand from the U.S. Army which has used 1.8 billion rounds of ammunition in Iraq, according to one report. Incidentally the same report goes on to say that “..About 75 percent of the ammo expended in Iraq (both sides) is supplied by China..” ! There's got to be another story there somewhere.

In the case of at least one police department in Ohio the cost of practice ammunition has risen from $128 to $211 per case, while a case of bullets for on-duty use has skyrocketed from $73 to $180. Hunters and other gun users are also complaining.

The situation has created enough impact in the USA to inspire the standup comic Chris Rock to create a routine in which he declaims

“I would blow your head off…if I could afford it. I’m gonna get me a second job, save up some money, and then you’re dead !”

Since rising costs are now a global phenomenon, we suppose this ammunition inflation must have reached India. Can we hope it will inhibit death by shooting in India , too ? Read more!