Narendra Modi loses elections to stray dogs

Namo is sitting in his office. Shocked. He thought he had nailed it -a GOOD manifesto, promising growth and development and positive policy change. With that, his Analytics team had assured him, the thinking public will vote, and vote for him.

They had voted, but they had unianimously voted AGAINST him and his party.

Namo lost no time in asking his team to find out what exactly happened here. Such defeat was entirely unanticipated.

The team came back in 2 days, having run focus group discussions and boy, were they lucky! They had got a unianimous answer from all the people they spoke to.

The story is simple. The condominiums had stray dogs. These dogs should have been sent to a dog shelter duly created and run by an animal rights NGO. BUT each of the residential complexes had received threats when they tried to evict the stray dogs. The dogs were a source of danger to the inhabitants, but that was not the concern of the animal lovers, who didn't move a finger to create a dog shelter. The main irritant was the letters - they were open threats.

In one case, the president of the RWA was taken to the police station and threatened with a case of physical assault against the 75 year old mother of the resident activist. When asked why the said activists did not take the dogs to their own houses, the residents received further insult and threats about their criminal behaviour towards the innocent, law abiding citizens who were also animal rights activists. Never mind that their activism was directed at social adoption of all stray dogs but no personal adoption.

The residents then did the only thing they could do. They found out who was the person behind all the threats, and where they derived their power from. (they were intelligent, remember?)  The power came from being a BJP MP.

En masse, the BJP was not voted for.

And that, my dear friends, is how NaMo lost a whole parliamentary constituency to stray dogs.

GLOCAL is not such a bad word after all.

Lohri Traditions - 2

Asking for Lohri

Once the Bai Khichdi and the Til Mooli rasm are over at home, young boys and girls, dressed in their finery, form groups and go from door to door, asking for "Lohri" . The Lohri songs, with full text, are here:
http://ki-jaana-main-kaun.blogspot.in/2009/01/happy-lohri-to-all-girls.html

And you can also hear the boys's song here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_nEa7mhxD0

And this is one Lohri song that really took my heart away :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkEUsupSpko

If they sing well, they are rewarded with popcorn, peanut, gajak, rewri and other Lohri goodies. If the group is happy, they sing: Dabba bhareya Leeraan da, Ai ghar Ameeraan da (A box full of rags, this house is of a rich man)

If they are not happy, they sing:
Hukka bhai Hukka , Ai ghar bhookha
(Hukka o Hukka, this house is of paupers )

At the end of this trip around the village, the children share their booty.

The Lohri itself
The sacrificial fire of Lohri is lit up in the courtyard. You can read about the celebration here:
http://www.happywink.org/lohrifestival/bonfire-celebration.html

Basically, one does the parikrama of the Lohri Mai and offers Lohri goodies to the holy fire. Only after that is the packet in one's hand considered "Prasad". it is then given to younger family members, and also offered to others as Prasad. People share each other's Prasad and goodies.

The Dancing
After the fire, comes the dancing. Gidda for women and Bhangra for the men.
 

Lohri Traditions

Lohri is very special to me. Every year. This year, its time to document some of the lesser known traditions of Lohri.

ਬਈ ਖਿਚੜੀ / बई खिचड़ी
 At night, the family makes chana dal khichdi. Please make sure that you add jeera, heeng and saunf to the khichdi. The khichdi is kept overnight. In the morning, the family is supposed to sit together and have khichdi together at breakfast. This Bai Khichdi (stale khichdi) is the last reminder of the year gone by. With the Bai khichdi, we bid goodbye to all the anger, resentment and disappointments of the previous year. We let go of the attachments and the things that hold us back. The Bai khichdi is saying Bye, to the year gone by.

ਤਿਲ ਮੂਲੀ / तिल मूली
This tradition needs at least 2 members of the family. On Lohri morning, each member of the family gets a small slice of radish in the right hand and a few black sesame seeds in the left. They dip the radish into the sesame seeds, hold it up in their right hand, and ask "Til Mooli Chakhaan?" तिल मूली चखा? (Should I taste this Til Mooli?"
The other member of the family responds to this by saying "चखो जी!" (Please do!)
After this first, the person with the Til Mooli uses the next 4 bites to mention the things that they want to keep/ wish for in the new year. A typical sequence for an older person might go:
Til Mooli chakhan? (Should I taste the Til Mooli)

Maa pyo rakhaan? (Should I have my parents in the coming year?)

Dhan daulat izzat ikhlaq rakhaan? (Should I keep money, respect and love?)

Ghar di such shanti, deh arogyata rakhaan? (Wishing for peace at home and health)

Aye paraune da maan, guruvaan da naam rakhan? (Wishing for respect for all visitors who enter my door and prayer in the coming year)

A student might wish for Vidya da daan (gift of erudition)

A young married person might ask for harmonious relations in his/her married life.

And so on.. its a beautiful tradition - that allows you to be grateful for what you have, and also to make resolutions for the coming year.

I love the way these resolutions are worded. They are not "should I ask for". They are "should I keep" - placing the onus entirely on the efforts of the  individual making the resolution.

One by one, all the members of the family make their resolutions.

Population Tax

I have this bright idea.. instead of income tax, we should have a population tax. Why? Simple. When we tax income, we are taking away from people who succeed. We are not taxing the use of our resources. But every child that is born taxes the resources of the country. And its time to start taxing them.

The thought was honestly a continuum of that post where a 2 year old child was out in the cold and adult women sitting near him were clad in shawls. These children are brought into the world so they can be free farm labor, free begging resources. Not to be loved, cherished, and nurtured, but to be used, abused and left to fend for themselves.

So methinks, in a country where female foetuses are killed bcs they will ask for dowry in some years, what is the fastest way to dissuage this practice which doesn't help anyone? And pat the answer came - start taxing them for producing more children, make it impossible to receive any govt benefits unless the child is registered, and you have a winner. nothing succeeds like money.

 

2014 - resolution uno

I have decided to laff. a lot more.

All my blog posts are serious!

This is not on.

Should children be taken away from abusive parents?

This is not an impulsive post. It has patiently brewed in the head for a full day now.

Last evening, while driving home from office in the cold Delhi winter, I noticed a child who looked around 2 years old. This child was wearing a shirt and sweater on top and absolutely NOTHING underneath or on the head. Next to him were 2 women wearing the ghaghra and with a shawl each. I stared incredulously at that sight. One of them was presumably the mother, bcs the child was not shivering. it was playing merrily. The temperature outside is likely to be about 8 degrees. I asked the woman to dress the child properly in the cold, and she used that opportunity to ask me for money and clothes! I was too flabbergasted to even comment! I know for a fact that these people are NOT short on winter clothing. As a mother, I would have used my shawl to cover the child and would have kept the child close to give it body warmth at least. At any rate, its hard to imagine a parent that lets their child play in the cold with absolutely no clothes on!

The image of that child has not left my mind yet. Because that child is no exception. We all know enough parents - moneyed and otherwise, who abuse their children.

Should the parents be allowed to keep these children and actively abuse them? Or should the children be taken away from the parents?

What do you think?

2013 - 2014

"वक़्त के गोल पहिये पर
किसी  ने एक जगह
बिंदी लगा दी
तब से हम सब
नया साल मनाते हैं "

शायद पिछले साल ये लिखा था , पर ये कौमी जूनून, अच्छा बहाना है, बैठ कर सोचने के लिये

३६५ दिन बीत गए
एक के बाद एक
पेड़ पौधे ज़िंदा रहे
बच्चे बड़े हो गए
दवाइयां कुछ बढ़ गयीं हमारी
और वक़्त की रफ़्तार
कुछ कम हुई है
खाना खाते हुए
अब अखबार नहीं पढ़ते
पूजा करते हुए
अच्छा लगता है
गहरी सांस और प्राणायाम
अनायास ही हो जाता है।

इस साल हमें पता लगा है
 पुख्ता सबूत के साथ
कि पेड़ हैं हम
धूप और रौशनी न मिले तो
एक दिन में सांस लेना मुश्किल हो जाता है

 बस, यही इस साल का सरमाया
इस साल की बिंदी आने तक
बस यही हो पाया है।

अगले साल का कोई दिशा निर्देश
अभी नहीं बनाया है

 

Why we rake up the past when talking about the Congress.

This afternoon, I got discussing politics on the lunch table. My speech:

"My problem with the Congress starts from the time when they were negotiating with the British on behalf of India. They divided the country, created the biggest massacre known in modern history, and no one turned back and asked them what the F were you doing? Why did India not hold its leaders accountable for the partition?
Likewise, in 1984, the people who were here, who saw what Rajiv Gandhi and his goons did to 3000 people in 3 days flat, in the most gruesome manner. These people saw what happened and still voted for the Congress. To me, that means that these people support the massacre that happened in 1984. There is, to my mind, no other explanation."

Someone on the table said, "why rake up the past? look at that they are doing now. The people who were responsible for 1984 and partition are both not here."

This post is to answer that question.

Because that past is not settled. Because everyday, it haunts a few thousand of us. Both , the partition and the 1984 riots. And Bhagalpur. And Bhopal Gas. And Godhra. They have to be raked up because under the ashes are smouldering cinders - not willing to die out. Waiting for their chance to become an inferno.

If the Congress does not need to answer for its past misdeeds, then rapists don't have to be punished after 7 years, and murderers after 10 years?

When does a crime become "old"? For the perpetrator, the minute it is done. For the victim, never. India was the victim of a crime in 1947 - the worst possible betrayal by its own people. And I feel like a victim. That is why I cannot stop talking about the past. Because there is no closure. Anywhere.

Demographic Dividend - more people means more jobs

This post is going to be short - because the point is simple, and other people have made it before me.

The idea of Demographic Dividend assumes that more people in a certain age group will mean more jobs and more income for the country.

However, this assumption has another underlying assumption - that the more people entering the workforce are all "employable" - i.e., they have the skills, attitude and infrastructure to enter the workforce and be productive.

Skill
There is global skill shortage. This report indicates that India has a skill shortage. But the skill shortage is way more than what is here. According to another research paper read elsewhere, the gap between skill requirements and skill training - esp in vocational skills, is very high.

Infrastructure
30% of the population lives in urban areas. An even smaller population in metros. The share of GDP from urban areas is 52%. This means that at least 70% of India's "Demographic dividend" lives in a place where it cannot be optimally employed because the infrastructure is not suited to high productivity employment. If we take away the non metro cities (Realistically, the non metro cities do not have  very conducive infrastructure) , then this gap surges even more.

Attitude
aka the Indian Work Ethic. Perhaps its a matter of global concern, but the Indian Work ethic just keeps getting worse among knowledge workers and students looking to land knowledge jobs.
This report has some key figures for us. This and this deserves to be read too.

So, the short point is, that the Indian worker may be looking for employment, but that does not automatically make him/her employable.

And therefore, the Demographic Dividend tempo must be tempered to be closer to reality. The reality may not be bleak, but if we dont stop bursting at the seams, we are very likely to burst right down the middle.

End of story.