Busy

A bit occupied with work. Shall start posting regularly again in a couple of days

National Pride R.I.P

Don't mistake me! I am not unpatriotic and I respect the Indian Flag as much as anyone else, if not more. As a youngster, in the pre-Jindal days when the National Flag could be hoisted only on August 15th and January 26th, I used to look forward to hoisting the flag in the house. These days used to the high points of my year. I would hoist it a minute after the National Flag was hoisted in Red Fort on Independence Day or in the Rajpath on the Republic Day. And father drilled in me to lower the flag before the sunset as the law of the land required. The young boy in me, then and now, filled with pride on seeing the tri colour flutter in the gentle breeze.

But I cannot but feel that the prestige of the Flag is lowered more than even this Republic Day. First, the RD Parade has long outlived its utility and is more of a case of a President hoisting the flag amidst invited/screened/secured guests and unprecedented security. The common man cannot even dream to be part of the parade other than watch it on TV. Any national day celebration that do not involve the common possess hardly any value. Second, the shameful happenings in Srinagar, where the BJP cadre was not allowed to hoist the Indian National Flag on Republic Day in Lal Chowk, which is very much an integral part of India and the local Government, ably assisted by the Centre, using security forces to PREVENT the Flag being hoisted. What has this country come to?

The Flag is flown half mast when someone dies, to allow the invisible black flag of death to fly over it.

I am depicting my national flag being flown at half mast this Republic Day to indicate the death of National Pride.



Disgusting silence by the media

It is disgusting to note that the so called 'secular' and 'liberal' media who pull all stops to defend M F Hussains right to insult hinduism by painting nude portraits of gods, or support Arundhathi Roys right to make a secessionist call on behalf of Kashmiris, or the right of Binayek Sen to facilitate Maoist to kill thousands, are quiet about the right of Indians to hoist Indian National Flag in Srinagar, which, as far as I know is Indian Territory. The silence by the media and the intellectuals is damning and one has to really doubt their patriotism.

Muscat Photos -5

Muscat is extremely well planned. The Capital City resembled a medieval ages town in 1970 when Sultan Quboos took over the reins of the Country. The City, as it is today, is a testimony to the Rulers foresight, careful planning and personal attention to minutest things. I have seen many cities, but for sheer order, cleanliness and beauty (both natural and man-made), Muscat stands head an shoulder above all of them. There is a feel good factor about Muscat.

The City has many parks, big and small. The grand daddy of them all is the Qurum Natural Park, dotted with manicured lawns, flowers, lake, stable and playing area for the kids - all well maintained.

Warped priorities

With the Bharatiya Janata Party  planning to hoist national flag in Srinagar  on the Republic Day, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh  on Saturday said parties should desist from scoring "political points" or "promoting divisive agendas" and peace should not be disturbed in the "sensitive" Jammu and Kashmir 

Er!! When did hoisting Indian National Flag in India on Republic Day constitute 'scoring political points' or 'promoting divisive agendas'?????

The trouble with Congress and UPA leaders is that they dont have a sense of national pride. Adopting a no-nonsense stand that Indian National Flag will be raised in Kashmir by anyone, come what may, will send a strong signal to the separatists that we mean business.

Just a Topic for Discussion

The other day, in a hotel where I eat at times, couple of staff were in an animated discussion about the money stashed away by Indians in Swiss Bank and how it could be used to facilitate growth. They got around to ask me whether I thought it was feasible for India to recover the money.

My answer was an emphatic 'NO', much to their disappointment.

I said 'no' not because there is hardly any political will to recover this money, as every single damn politician has stashed away the money, as well as businessmen and these guys will never lift a finger to recover $ 1 in the foreseeable future. You just have to recall how Qutrochi was saved by Congress to unfreeze his bank accounts containing bribes paid by Bofors.

The other reason is that procedurally it is next to impossible to recover the money stashed abroad. The Swiss Banks are governed by the law of the land. Though they could be forced to reveal the Bank Account details, asking them to return the money to Indian government is just not possible, because you need to prove legally that a finanical crime has been committed, and the money stashed in an account is indeed sleaze money that belongs to the people of India. You need to do this for each transaction in each account. This is not even an herculean task, it is an impossible task. We cant get a Quottrochi extradited or a Warren Anderson brought to justice despite strong cases against them. How do you expect us to then conduct an investigation (we do not have the skill sets to investigate white collar crimes), establish a case and then conduct the trial to get a favourable judgement?

So, while the topic on money stashed away in Swiss Banks makes for good drawing room discussions, it will remain just that - a topic for discussion.

Benchmark of Integrity

The Centre today strongly defended the appointment of controversial bureaucrat P J Thomas, facing a corruption case in a Kerala court, as Central Vigilance Commissioner, saying he was an "outstanding officer" with "impeccable integrity" in the affidavit filed before the Supreme Court.

I thought I knew the meaning of the word 'integrity'. To be on the safe side, I looked up the word in a Dictionary and it threw up 'adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty'.

Here is a guy, who threw all his priciples to winds and sided with the then Kerala Chief Minister K Karunakaran in 1990's and imported Palmolein at considerable loss to exchequer, and later sided with the Rs 1.76 lakh crore scamster Telecom Minister Raja, when Thomas was Telecom Secretary. He put hurdles after hurdles in the line of investigations into the biggest scam India has seen. Likewise the Palmolein scandal was the biggest scandal then that affected Kerala and rocked the whole State. And the Centre wants us to believe this guy is an 'outstanding officer' with 'impeccable integrity'.

If Thomas is the benchmark for efficiency and integrity for this disastrous government, I shudder to think the calibre of other top officials.