Of Enlightenment and Entitlement

India, with its rich history and cultural diversity is undoubtedly one of the great civilizations of the world. We have survived over 5000 years (if you believe in mythology) and should continue to thrive in the forseeable future, unless the world ends in a cataclysmic armageddon with fire and brimstone, as predicted by various faiths, beliefs and cultures. So we have endured and will continue to do so and call ourselves great and be proud of our heritage and traditions and (self) perceived greatness. This greatness, however, needs to be quantified. How great are we really? How do we measure this greatness?

The greatness of a nation may be measured through various parameters, but for the sake of today’s rant, I am going to look at some very basic qualities. To start with, let us look at a basic respect for your fellow human being, traffic and the rule of law. Last week I was at the airport to pick up someone. As I entered the complex, there were two lanes for vehicles entering the premises. One led to the car park where you could leave your vehicle and wait for your flight to arrive, and the other lane was for pick ups and drops – strictly no stopping and no waiting. Like a good boy, I parked my car in the parking lot and walked over to the arrival gate. There I saw many cars parked under “No Parking” boards, simply standing and waiting for whoever they had come to receive, to exit the arrival gate. Most of these cars were expensive models – BMW’s, Audi’s and Mercedes Benz’s. It’s not like the owners of these cars could not afford to pay for parking. It simply seemed to me a blatant disregard of the rules. Perhaps these people consider themselves above the law. Perhaps driving a fancy car gives these people a sense of entitlement. Perhaps they feel that any cop foolish enough to ask them to move deserves a bollocking – after all, don’t they know better? Don’t they know who I am? How dare they? So while I followed the rules and parked my car in the right place under the blazing sun and paid Rs. 130 for the privilege, the people disregarding the rules were able to park in the shade and avoid paying the parking fees completely.

This is not simply about parking at the airport, but an indicator of a far deeper malaise that ails our nation and our people. You can see it at any traffic signal in any Indian city. People cut lanes, cross the STOP line, enter the yellow box at the intersection and even jump the signal with an impunity so blatant, it has almost become the norm. Meanwhile, the poor sod who is following lane discipline invariably ends up being stuck at the traffic signal while other vehicles merrily zoom past. This only strengthens the belief that if you follow the rules you will not get ahead, and if you want to get ahead just disregard the rules. This is the perfect recipe for anarchy. You can see it everyday on the streets – intersections completely clogged and traffic  gridlocked  simply because vehicles have crossed the STOP line, entered the yellow box and are now impeding oncoming traffic. Road rage is on the rise. Vehicles cut across lanes, driving invariably at a tangent, never straight. Getting ahead is not enough, but getting ahead of the other guy is of paramount importance. After all, my need is greater than his – always. Finding a car without a dent or a scratch is next to impossible, simply because we want to squeeze through the tiniest of gaps, just to get two feet ahead of the other guy. Speeding and wrongful overtaking is yesterday’s news. Honking has become the latest epidemic. Sometimes it seems like the driver is honking to either kill boredom or just trying to keep beat with the latest bollywood chartbuster playing on the radio. And the less said about most call taxi operators, the better. Even women, generally considered safer drivers than men are no longer immune to this disease. In their fight for equal rights, women have lowered their driving skills to compete with men in terms of rashness and lack of basic driving etiquette.

This begs the question – why this blatant disregard for traffic rules? What do we hope to achieve by flaunting established norms for safety and discipline on our roads? It is this attitude that reflects our lack of respect for the rules that keep our society civilized and respect for our fellow human beings. As long as we continue to disrespect each other like this, can we ever hope of achieving greatness as a society and as a nation? Instead of living in the land of enlightenment, we seem to be living in the land of entitlement. Mera Bharat Mahaan…..kab banega?

Tamasha 2014

Welcome. Welcome. Come One, Come All. Aapka Swaagat Hai. Welcome to the largest exercise in democracy anywhere in the world. Welcome to India's General Elections to constitute the 16th Lok Sabha, where elected representatives of the people will rule and govern and decide our fates for the next five years. We promise you entertainment galore. This upcoming attraction has everything you can ask for. It has action, drama, romance, glamour and heaps of side-splitting comedy, all the necessary ingredients to make a sure shot masala potboiler super hit smash winner at the box office. Everyone get aboard the bandwagon, its going to be a thrilling ride, absolute edge of the seat excitement and surely not short of hyperbole.

The cast boasts of several familiar faces and characters. In the center we have the incumbent led by RaGa, the beacon of hope for youth and women empowerment. On the right, we have the challenger led by NaMo, the messiah of growth and development. On the left we have a fairly muddled mix of aspirants who come together every five years or so. And descending from the heavens, we have the freshly sprouted Mango People led by ArKe, a white knight tilting at the windmills of corruption.

RaGa was once considered the face of India's future. The brave young leader who would seize the moment, shake up the establishment, break hierarchies and usher in a new tomorrow. The tomorrow  that never came. Instead of a new dawn, he is still floundering in the twilight zone, unable to break away from the past, unable to disassociate himself from baggage accumulated over decades of nepotism and caught in a quagmire of ineptness, inefficiency and incompetence.

For all his bluster, NaMo is still unable to wash away the dark stains of his past. A clean chit from the Supreme Court and widespread endorsement from Industry have not yet managed to disperse the stormy cloud of 2002 that continues to shroud his aura in reddish black hues. Guilt by culpability through accountability (or lack of it) is a hard tag to shirk. Did he know? Did he order it? Did he stand by and do nothing? Did he try and stop it? The questions remain as NaMo begins to resemble Nero.

There is a running punchline in Indian Politics. It is called the 3rd front. This front rises every 5 years or so, and fades away just as suddenly. Its constituents come from all over the country, regional players with limited national presence, ready at the drop of a hat to break rank and support who ever wins at the center, in order to secure largesses for their own states and cabinet positions for their senior leaders. This 3rd front only achieves any sort of significance when the two major national parties are unable to achieve a majority on their own, opening the door to politics of adjustment and accommodation.

The latest entrant on this stage is the (self-proclaimed) only non-corrupt politician in the country, the leader of the mango people, the knight in white (with muffler), ArKe. His philosophy is simple - if you support me, you are clean, if you don't, you are corrupt. No grey area here. Its all very black and white. If you oppose me you are corrupt and that's all there is to say. Forget the misdeeds of my own people. Don't focus on my lack of experience or reluctance to govern. I alone can challenge the establishment and have it quaking from its very foundation. I echo what Dubya said - either you are with us or against us. My Guru has abandoned me (while himself sinking into irrelevance), but I still consider him my Guru, even if he does not want anything to do with me. After all, I am the last white knight of the realm, at least in my own head, and it is my duty to fight everyone else.

Now that we have met the major players, let us turn our attention to the landscape. Elections in India have been described as the single largest exercise in democracy anywhere in the world. The largest number of eligible voters. The largest number of polling booths. An exercise so large it has to be staggered over six weeks, from casting ballots to counting them and declaring a winner. The only parameter where we come in second is the official amount of money spent on these elections, where we are apparently behind the United States Presidential Elections. However, since this is a comparison of "official" figures, I have my doubts on their authenticity. It is more likely that if we were to consider the "unofficial" money or black money spent, we may come ahead in this category too, however unfortunate this may seem. We are the Champions my friend.

One of the outcomes of the RTI act and various PIL's filed by NGO's and other concerned organisations and citizens is that every candidate has to submit an affidavit along with his or her nomination papers when standing for elections. This affidavit should list all assets owned by the candidate and must be placed in the public domain for scrutiny. This has brought to light several interesting nuggets of knowledge. For instance, did you know that A.Raja (prime accused in the 2G scam) has assets worth a paltry 2 something crores? How shameful is that? In another case, the leader of India's oldest party and heir to wealth accumulated by 3 Prime Ministers over 60 years does not even own a car. How unbelievably heart-breaking is that. There are many more such cases worth a mention, but you get the general drift of absurdity that accompanies these declarations.

Some things will definitely happen over the course of these elections. The standard of political discourse, already at abysmal levels, will sink even further. Booth capturing and EVM tampering cases will happen as goondas wield their lathis with political and police protection guaranteed. Many voters will be turned away from the polling booth as their names will be missing from the voter list, inspite of having all relevant proofs like Voter ID, Aadhar card, ration card etc. Many dearly departed souls will have votes cast in their names even though they may be dead, since their names will still be on the voter list. Many voters will simply refuse to show up and cast their votes. Many will show up and discover their vote has already been cast. Some may choose the NOTA option (none of the above - a new option being introduced for the first time), and still find their least favourite candidate being elected. And at the end of this exercise, we will discover who the guardians of our nation for the next five years will be. Whether we like it or not.

A leading newspaper has dubbed these elections as the Dance of Democracy. I wonder which dance form are they refering to? It sometimes seems to me more of a farce than a dance, a Tamasha in its truest form, and rightly so. After all, Tamasha is a truly Indian art form, deeply rooted in our culture and ethos, passed down from generations, carrying with it the fragrance of our soil. The innate Indianess of Tamasha is something only an Indian can truly appreciate.

So while we sit back and enjoy the spectacle that is about to unfold, what can we do? The aim of this blog is not to discourage you, the reader, from being involved in this process, this dance. Rather than getting discouraged, we need to understand the relevance and importance of elections in a democracy. In spite of all the obstacles, potholes and barriers, it is still the one true inalienable right we, the citizens of this country enjoy (is it a constitutional right? don't know - need to check). In spite of all its problems, this country is ours and ours alone, and if we do not bring about a change, then who will? How long will we keep passing the buck and expecting the next generation to  set things right?

The time is ours, the time is now. Go and cast your vote. Play your part in the larger scheme of things. Encourage your friends and family to vote as well. Vote for who ever you feel is the best candidate in your area and for the nation. Vote any which way you wish. If you are not satisfied with any of the candidates, press the NOTA button, but make it a point to cast your ballot. Let the world see what happens when a nation of over a billion people rises. It's time to Dance.