Advice Is Free

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

There is so much of it available in the world; it is the equal to free air.  Human beings love passing on advice to everyone with or without asking for it.  Actually most times advice is unsolicited; it is simply given by everyone and anyone.  With Internet and Mobile telephony at a minimal cost and far reaching, it has become so common to see advice being dished out in every language and every instance, and everyone has an opinion on everything in the world.

When solicited advice is useful and sometimes paid for from reliable and resourceful and experienced people, who still do the same as they did before the advent of communications.  But whenever we open the channels of communications, people are dishing out expert advice; be it through twitter, face book or any other medium that is a form of free and mass communication.

From politicians to cricketers to movie stars and movie makers and wannabe stars have become experts at pasting their advice to the general public and websites are dedicated to makeup stuff for consumption of general public, and with so much conviction on what they are saying, it really is difficult to separate the reality verses gossip.

As much as we enjoy the daily dishing of information on just about everybody it is on overdrive to see a recognized person tweet or talk, and the followers fussing over the details of what it means.  If every person who tweets or writes something can make everyone understand what they exactly meant when they wrote the sentence, it would be a fantastic way of communicating, but typically one writes on impulse or at the moment and goes on to the next minute.  A lot of times when a statement is made or a sentence is written it are a general reaction to the moment, rather than a serious study in time.

When someone gets nominated as a member of parliament, it is not the first time or the last time a recognized personality gets the nomination.  No single person will make the entire parliament a new place to look up to, as the house is itself a democratic entity that functions in its fashion and environment.  Each parliamentarian in their respective term add their efforts to make it a live and vigorous environment that caters to the needs of the public at large, and when they leave they leave a legacy of what they have represented in the years they spent at the house of representatives.

No one person can drive the value systems up or down, nor make immediate or effective decisions for the well being of public.  They all do it collectively while disagreeing with each other, and also agreeing with each other.  For fact they are all voted in or appointed with the public’s interest in mind, rather than selfish or personal interests.  What happens from the time they get elected to the time they complete their term is always questionable as election promises or appointments based on competence in other areas of life, typically may not match; as they are multitude of factors to get to the parliament and then delivering to the promises made to people; as the availability of resources and support for making the available resources are entirely different in reality.

We can spend 24/7/365 in dishing out advice to the politicians and bureaucrats, but how far are we from reality of foreseeing the reality.  A old saying from a wise man was “you can tell me whatever you want and I will do what I believe is the best thing to do”, which is true to just about everyone.  Perhaps we should dish out a little less advice and if we do, first practice it on our own and see if it works.

Reforming the Mind Set

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

The day of reckoning is here for the Indian democracy to face the challenges of leadership and guiding the vast country’s population and its diverse needs.  The transparent democracy that was destined when it achieved its independence from the UK simply has remained a paper democracy.

To start with the country’s initial leaders were part of achieving independence from the UK, and had tremendous acceptance for their contributions to achieve the country’s independence.  They were freedom fighters and philosophers, and men and women with ideals for a independent India, but not administrators and politicians of experience to handle a vast nation with complex social structure, many language and traditional differences and demographically challenging population; all of which with many more complex issues to deal with, immediately following the pillaging of national resources by the occupying forces.

There was a lot of leverage for the initially elected leaders of independent India, and it continued for a couple of decades with the romance of the leaders efforts in delivering independence to India.  While the process of independence was lead by a few, the entire nation was in full support and made great sacrifices in driving the British out of the country.  A great deal of respect was bestowed in the leaders who came into the power in the independent India, despite the lack of political or constitutional leadership, as it was in the case of the USA, the initial leaders of a independent nation are typically freedom fighters who command great respect for their sacrifices and leadership in achieving the independence of the country.

The case of the USA is a great example of leaders truly guiding the nation for peace and prosperity and accounting for national integration, development and proper planning.  India could have taken a similar route to becoming a great democracy by establishing a transparent policy making government that truly had its people in the planning, rather than the people in power determining the use of the country’s great resources.

India’s population was so used to hearing to rhetoric of pre-independent leaders and forgot that the post-independence rhetoric should have been totally different as it should have been towards the well being of the country rather than fighting an occupying force.  We continue to hear great voices which sound far too familiar to pre-independent speeches rather than achieving objectives of today’s needs.

It is the people of the nation who really should stop hearing to long winded speeches of plans that can never be achieved, and banter about the other guy who is so bad, and needs to be replaced by the new guy who can be worse.

There is really no prescription to what the country needs to do to find the right leaders, as even great promise the new leaders seem to evaporate as soon as they get into a seat of power.  People really need to stop listening to banter, focus on their well being without the politicians taking them for a joy ride every time there is an election year.  It requires a reform of the Indian mind, rather than any system.  Once we start to stop believing the absurd promises and blatantly absurd promises, we will probably begin to see that there is no truth to what we hear.  There is no immediate prescription to changing the system, except pushing for meaningful delivery of basic needs of the population.  Perhaps the Amish mindset is what the Indian communities need, so they become self sufficient in small groups, and really don’t care about what someone else is going to do for them, rather work as a great big family to tend to the needs of overall community.  If every village, town, municipality, city, and on work towards self sustainability by having people work together and achieve sufficiency, the country will see progress.  First we must reform our mind on not worrying about just me, but my community, and the rest will be progress.

Blockbusters without the Block

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

Many of the previous movies are being made with the new generation of actors and some of them are bringing in audiences in great numbers to see the newer version of the great movies.  At least for the first few days people are watching them; one for the curiosity factor of comparing the newer version to the original, and the newer generation of movie goers for the hype preceding the release of the movie, comparing the newer version with the older.

Having been avoiding the newer versions of the old blockbusters, recently I saw two of them, both of the movies of my favorite actor Amitabh Bachchan.   I still remember seeing the movies of Mr. Bachchan as if it is this week and the experience of the entertainment still fresh in my mind.  I purposefully have been avoiding watching the newer versions of the great entertainers of a generation or so ago after watching Sholay in its newer form.  Such massacre of the entertainment is unparalleled, and absolutely no regard for the intelligence of the audience.  Typically movies such as Devdas, are made and remade again and again, and also in multiple languages, and have been successfully adopted for the newer age versions.  Actually Devdas was adopted quite well and enacted quite well and was entertaining and also true to the original adaptation.

The movie going experience was one of fun and excitement in the days where movies were released with regular intervals, and the many stars delivered major movies with regularity.  Very few movies came out from major actors in all languages, that failed to enthrall the audiences, and when there was a bad movie people rejected it outright and immediately looked forward to the next one.  There was no DVD or Internet that immediately put the movie for viewers to see, and the audience was the sole judge of the movie’s box office performance.

Heroes delivered fantastic entertainment with movie after movie and directors and producers were involved in making movies with such alarming regularity, the quality of the movies was quite high in bringing people to see the movie again and again and ran for weeks and weeks.  Personally I used to see the same movie several times and still enjoy the experience of the joy of entertainment despite seeing the same again and again.

For a fact the actors delivered six or more movies every year despite their star status and character actors acted in many more movies, and were absolutely true to the director’s guidance.  Movies did not take years to make, and were completed quickly and on schedule, and within reasonable budgets.  When the big stars were involved typically the movies delivered to the expectations and the producers and distributors were rewarded accordingly.  Many directors were part of fifty or more movies, some more than a hundred, all the while delivering quality and profitable entertainment.

While there is no grouse against making a good product repeatedly, the value of the entertainment should be considered.  The grace of the heroines, the song and dance routines, the dialogues catered to each role, and the hero who carries of the role as prescribed were all part of great story and presentation in delivering movies.  If we tale today’s actors and try to duplicate the work of the yesteryear’s actors, and try to recreate the magic of the playback singers, writers and technicians with just a lot of money and publicity, it is not possible.

While today’s audience might see the movie for curiosity of the newer version, the makers are unable to capture the essence of the originals.  The actors want to hype the newer versions based on the success of the original versions, they don’t deliver the product that is original.  Most times it is not possible as the selection of characters suited the personality of the actors, and support characters.  We don’t have the larger than life actors who suit the roles played by the originals.

While there are quality movies made by today’s generations of movie makers, it is best we try to leave the yesteryear’s movies as they are, and enjoy them on DVD or cable.  The money and effort will be better spent on new products and new stories that can be told in today’s time.

In Search of a Good Leader

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

Time has come for India and Indians to look for a good leader who will lead the nation to greater heights to satisfy the populations demand for better everything in the country.  From the village level to the metropolis, high raises to slums, from children to the very old, the educated to the rural folks, everyone is looking for a leader who will work on the people’s agenda rather than the master of the next scam.  For a country of some 1.2 billion, we must have a few good leaders we can find, but for some reason the country is suffering from the lack of a strong and democratically ideological leader who is not involved in any scam, but just lead the country into the next cycle of prosperity.

If we simply add-up the losses incurred by the country because of mismanagement of its resources the country would have had enough resources to provide education, transportation, telecommunications, rural development, basic facilities for all people and enough money for world-class (better best of the world) infrastructure without adding and new taxes or burden on the general population.  Sadly the money is going into a few people’s bank accounts in tax havens or being spent on getting reelected to government.

The magnitude of taking the money into pockets is so huge that the counting the zeros in any currency cannot be fathomed.  People are being caught and sent to jail, but so far none of the money has been recovered and brought back into the government coffers.  There are large numbers thrown out in public as losses to the exchequer but so far no money has been recovered that has been added to the national spending.

All political parties including the ruling and opposition parties at national level and state and local levels are all pointing fingers at each other, and everyone has some taint of impropriety attached to them.  Everyone is screaming about the other’s scams but no action is taken to bring the money back into the government or reclaim the lost resources.  Except making a huge deal about this in public and parliament, no concrete action is being taken to get the money back into the public.  The greatest misuse of resources is spoken about for a long time, but except hurling insults and referring to CBI and sending some of them to Tihar, nothing is done to get the money back from the miscreants.

In YSR AP had a leader who was forceful in implementation of programs that were popular and industrial and infrastructure development that was needed by the state.  Until his accidental death and for some time after he was hailed as the great leader who provided leadership for implementation of both populist and strong decisions that progressively affected the state and was a benchmark for the national leadership.  Since his death and a few months after, and when his son became a difficult nit to crack for the national leadership, he all of a sudden became a point of contention as someone who doled out favors for his son’s benefit.  It is tragic to first associate great leadership while alive and in death the exact opposite.  Politically the reaction of the public will never reconcile with the center that project its own image as a party that first enjoys the power of an individual leader while alive and tarnish it when he is dead.

The country needs a few good leaders who are not in for the money nor get elected, but for serving the country.  There is no individual benefit except the value of public service, and there is no need for money power but only the power of the people.  As a true and largest democracy the country needs a new breed of leaders, and India needs them now.  There is no immediate or magic trick to find someone, but the nation needs to embrace the faithful services of a true leader.  Only when people are able to welcome the leadership without the taint of money, rather with the vision of future that is full of promise of independence, we would have truly become a democracy and will see true prosperity that is becoming of a great nation.

All Systems Needs Grease

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

The latest CBI charges against Jagan and multitude of senior level officers in the AP government was expected.  The pressure of politics adds to the charges that are superficial and mainly aimed at crippling the newly found vigor in campaign of a new party against the incumbent party, while the incumbent party is struggling with keeping the power.  What is ironic of the latest CBI charges against Jagan are that the late YSR is being projected as the person behind siphoning resources to help fund his son’s businesses by providing benefits to companies that became investors in them.

The big issues with the current set of charges are multiple:

The person behind the accusations has been dead for some time – The gentleman has been dead, and when he died he was the king maker for congress.  Unflinching in his attitude and policies that gave power to the party twice, while facing serious issues with regional issues within the state, he helped the party t retain and remain in power.  The INC is the oldest Party in India, and should at least respect its dead leaders.  Let the gentleman should be left to rest in peace, and not drag him into the dirt.

YSR single handedly instrumental for Congress retaining power in two elections – He was the pride of congress and always was beaming with pride while he handled the governance and politics.  It is for sure he raised money for the party as does everyone else.

What about the entire cabinet and bureaucracy that functioned under YSR while he was making these unilateral decisions – While dragging a dead man into accusations, what happened to the cabinet, party leaders at center and the bureaucrats who were all in power.  There is no absolute way YSR could have done something wrong by himself.  The party takes credit for all the good he has done and now blames him for wrongdoing?

The central leadership received the benefit of YSR’s leadership and also his ability to raise money – If a few favors were done to benefit Jagan’s companies what happened to the benefits received by the center?  India is full of dynastic politics and taking care if ones people while in power.  It is ironic that the INC accuses YSR of helping his son, as INC if full of nepotism from the day it was formed, and should look at its own self even today.  If the family did not help it’s own, and itself the government would have been democratic long time ago.

What happened to the advisors who were with him if he made these deals that benefited his son’s businesses – Where are the team of experts and leaders who followed YSR while in power and making decisions?  For sure we don’t see their names in the current accusations.

YSR could not have done the deals by himself in two successive governments without the blessings of the center – For all the things that are being thrown at YSR, no possible way the gentleman could have done anything without the help of the party and its leadership.  He remained loyal to the party throughout his life and died doing his job.

India is full of systems that need grease constantly, and although there is no public support for helping raise money for the party, it is a common practice to having to fund the party activities.  The scale with which this government has been exposing its own party men involved in scams is unprecedented.  While every political party involves in raising money and keep the party functioning, the current leadership in center seem to be forgetting that it needs to govern the country and its resources, rather sending its own leadership to Tihar, after realizing the benefit of their politics and fund raising.

The country really needs to introspect on top down and sideways of its leadership, and find ways to curtail the misuse of political power, and find democratic ways to manage politics and policies.  It should first stop witch hunting dead men and its own support structure when they revolt, and put forth policies that provide open governance and stop looting public resources.

Alternatives Are Hard To Find

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

Political turmoil in democracies are common and to a certain point natural.  People should be given the opportunity to elect who they feel best represent their interests and should always have a choice of majority vote in placing someone in power to handle both domestic and international affairs that best suits the needs of the country.  Tracking the countries that are natural democracies and comparing them to dictatorial or communist countries clearly represent the value of elected democracies.

India except for a brief emergency rule, has had democratically elected government since its independence from Great Britain in 1947.  The period of emergency was full of atrocities against people of a democratic country, and it saw power wrested from the government in the next general election.   While it saw a credible opposition in the form of BJP established born out of the emergency in India, and some regional parties also establishing themselves as forces in their own states, they quickly lost focus of catering to the national needs and gave back the power to Congress.

While each election costing more and more money to win, politicians who are getting elected and the ones that are losing; both are finding ways of making the money to spend on the electorate.  The biggest spenders are by no means are guaranteed electoral wins, and the ones those win have to find ways of recouping the cost of getting elected and are taking extreme measures to get their money back, and while no one is really focused on managing the day to day affairs of the country and its people.

The just finished regional election demonstrate that the regional parties are able to convince people of their intentions in localized elections, but will they be able to communicate a national message that is coherent and achievable is not in the horizon.  While states focus on local issues, the broader and national consequences are of greater importance for the well being of the country.

Dramatic and vast projects are all embroiled in controversies and scams.  Telecommunications, sports, buildings and transportation, defense and just about every major industry is involved in some major scam, and there seem to be endless issues with siphoning vast resources into politicians and their associate accounts.

With all the controversies and scams, the economy seems to chug along, although it could be with a much higher growth if not for the scams.  The private enterprise continues to find ways to grow despite the difficulties with politics and policy, and sometimes taking in stride the enormous burden of the scams, and demands for a great chunk of the monies involved in funding the projects.

All said and done the country is lacking in a credible and nationwide opposition to the ruling party that can deliver to election manifesto that will foster the economy, and also stop the bleeding of the resources of the country.  Although regional parties are strong in localized elections, they are not able to neither deliver a credible opposition nationally, nor also muster enough national attention to become an alternate to the incumbent government.

The political outlook is quite bleak in the current scenario, and there is no immediate fix to the political system.  There is no prescription to solve the political owes of the country, and how to find opposition party that will provide a national platform.  The new generation of politicians rely more on money and muscle, rather than reforms and policies to foster economic growth and clean government.  Except dynastic politics and promoting the sons or the past leaders, the country is lacking in new leaders who come from outside of the political system, and with new ideas that address the needs of the county.  Searching for alternatives in current political environment to deliver progressive and clean government is hard to find.

Nation of Cricket

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

With all the scams and politics in the country people get a full dose of the escapades of the select few who engage in national scavenging.  There is no end to the political power plays and financial plundering.  One has to wonder if there were no kickbacks and scams what will be Indian infrastructure look like and if there would be a poverty line in India?

It is getting tiring to write about scams and politics, and there is no end to the new and improved scams and political games.  For a while Anna was a hot topic with his proposals for ombudsman in India and that too fizzled out for the time being.  Once again old and renewed political players come back, and this is like a cat has nine lives, as they keep coming back.  There is not enough space to write about their escapades and continued support of their political aspirations.  We have to find some way of finding things that are not political and not involve a scam, thus talk of the nation of Cricket that India really is.

The retirement of Rahul Dravid a few days ago is of no surprise as the gentleman gave most of his adult life to cricket, and admirably.  He could have hung on for a few more series but it was time to call it quits in his own opinion and good for him to decide on what to do with his time.  There is a lot of praise and admiration for him across the global cricketing base, and a well deserved break from the rigors of the daily grind of cricket and the demands of a billion people.  Now he can just be domesticated as the rest of the married men.  As admirable as he has been on and off the field, he immediately displayed the same class when he announced his retirement.  Once again a wonderful career and a wonderful gentleman of class, and he will be missed.

Right after Rahul Dravid’s retirement came Sachin Tendulkar’s 100^th 100.  It is perhaps a feat that will be unparallel for generations to come.  While India lost the match (again when a great milestone is achieved) to Bangladesh, Sachin’s achievement once again has a universal applause and no greater feat in professional sports can be in the same category.  It made not just the Indian public but also the global cricketing nations unanimous in its praise for the gentleman.  For the time Sachin has spent playing cricket and his continued performance and his demeanor has unparallel support world over, and simple cannot be valued in any monetary terms.

Sachin lost a great partner when Rahul Dravid retired, but in the last couple of games young Virat Kohli is displaying the flair of a great one day player who has quickly raised hopes of the cricketing public with his performances.  While we cannot count his proficiency in all forms of cricket like Rahul Dravid did, he certainly has started off with the flair for a long innings.  No doubt that he can be groomed for filling the big shoes of Rahul Dravid.

The nation is happy with the cricket team’s performance and when they win even meaningless games, the public is full of pride and joy.  There is no telling if they win series after series and create records after records as individuals.  Just a day or two away from the current series decider, and once again against Pakistan, which is a hot contest.

While wishing for a successful campaign in the current series, Cricket does keep India together, and cricketers in special places of Indians heart.  All we need is the Indian team keep winning and perhaps people will forget about the scams and politics and even the hard work they put in everyday to make ends meet.  Good luck Indian team and keep making the nation happy.   

Rahul Dravid

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

His retirement was hardly unexpected, but brought our unanimous praise and applause on a career that was extraordinary.  He had another gentleman of world cricket Anil Kumble at his side when he made his decision to retire public.  There was no need for one last series or one last test, just done with an overseas tour that was ordinary for Rahul as a cricketer, and disastrous for the Indian cricket team.

He is 39 years old, young in years but in cricketing terms is not so young.  Many of them retire in mid thirties, and very few go on as Rahul did over the years, and especially the statistics of the last few years belie that the age was a factor in his decision to quit all formats of professional cricket, barring IPL.

The retirement was not a surprise knowing the drive and dedication he has shown throughout his professional career, and continued stress on perfecting the art of batting, fielding, wicket keeping and also great dignity and respect for the gentleman’s game of cricket.  No outbursts, no emotional grandstanding, no arguments, no over jealous appealing, no sow of emotions, nothing that dissents from the spirit of the game; is all Rahul Dravid did all through his career, while delivering world class performance year after year for cricketing fans.

While in the company of the likes of Tendulkar, Sehwag, Laxman and other greats of cricket, Dravid always stood his ground; with performance and attitude that befit the great game of cricket and a great world class performer.  The years that he spent playing are full of extraordinary performances by many greats of cricket in the Indian team and also the global test teams.  None as polished and professional as Rahul Dravid, and when he announced his retirement, there was unanimous praise of the man who personified professionalism and personality that befits the game and its spirit.

One thing that stands out in Indian cricket is that the cricketers who come from Karnataka, Anil Kumble, G.R. Viswanath, B.S. Chandrasekhar, Erapalli Prasanna, along with a long list of other who have represented the country, are all great performers while being gentleman cricketers.  Most of these cricket greats let their on-field performance speak volumes and leave their emotions out of cricket.  Not to underline the state that delivered such gentle giants of cricket, but their performances are commendable in the annals of cricket.

While it is difficult to replace Rahul Dravid in the cricket team, he made the right decision to quit on his own terms.  The most endearing things to hear from is the appreciation for the game he has and continues to have, and his desire to find a simple and common mans daily chores to do that he has not been able to do with the dedication to the game he loves and played with great dedication.

While his slot in the cricket team will be difficult to fill, India will find outstanding cricketers to come in and contribute.  We still have a few more greats that are nearing their outstanding careers and we will see them exit the great game on their own terms, while we will see new and outstanding performers emerge into the international scene.  Rahul Dravid is a special man whose dedication is unmatched, and will certainly be in the minds of all budding cricketers who aspire to be a part of the Indian team.  He will forever be a role model to emulate and learn from.

Here is wishing him the best in retirement and all the happiness for a normal and fruitful life.  Rahul Dravid will continue to be a model for hard work and dedication for everyone in Cricket and for fact a great model for a dedicated and hardworking man in life.

Is there a Lack of New Leaders or Lack of Interest in Politics?

Vasu Reddy from Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

Old wine in a new bottle saying doesn’t apply to the politicians of the world who seem to come back into the pictures despite the past election losses, or the ones in power seem to try hang onto their seats by any means they can.  Democratic elections make no difference when a politician wants to win power back or come back into the lime light.

Elections get more expensive with every cycle and promises to the public become more extravagant to come back to power or retain power.  The available funds for spending are always less than what is allocated and the allocated monies get diverted into scams.  The cost of lections and getting reelected is in unstated amounts, but the politicians are willing to gamble the money to get back into power.  The cost to get elected is typically coming from the public’s money in one form or the other, and each time the numbers being siphoned get to be greater and greater.

Every local, state and central politician is somehow or the other involved in making decisions that cost the tax payers enormous amount money, and typically the decisions are to support the reelection and getting wealthy while on the job.  Every politician in India after PVNR, seem to get caught up in the cycle of scams and kickbacks, and none is sparing the public coffers from scams.

The recent elections in several states in India reflect a clear lack of direction and leadership in the state and central levels.  People are essentially voting the old cadre back to power and showing indifference to the deeds of the past.  Also, there is a clear lack of any new vision or diversity in political parties.  We get nothing but the same people on the ballot, same agenda, same intolerance to others, and indifference with the public who go to polls, and nothing new being offered to protect public interest and create opportunities for growth.

Typical of the politicians someone will accept the responsibility for the loss of their party in the elections, and immediately start blaming the others for spending money to buy the elections, and their inability to communicate their agenda to the common man.  The truth is that every party spent money that they have on targeted voting blocks, and made promises that are impossible to deliver.  The loss of elections typically come with the worst performing government, and people despite being fed the pre-election gimmicks and gifts, will still vote for change and hope to bring positive developments to their location, city, state and center.  We the people are eternal in optimism and while we take the benefit of pre-election gifts and promises, will still vote for change that might surprise with performance.

Following the cycle of elections and overall development in the country, the time with Rajiv Gandhi and then PV Narasimha Rao as the leaders of the country, which both saw serious inroads into the globalizing India’s resources, opening the economy for investment and information and telecommunications advances, the rest of the governments seem either oblivious to the global developments or unable to appreciate the democratic country’s standing as the largest such country on earth.  Even MMS, who is the chair of the PM, is unable to achieve objectives he set out and foster as the FM of the country.

There is no quick fix to election process and getting reelected in India or anywhere else, but people typically look for change in government when the government becomes overbearing.  While India’s election process is commendable in its vast enterprise and the changes public vote in, it still needs new blood to get into the electoral main stream to bring in changes of openness to the process.  We definitely need new set of leaders in either the incumbent parties or new parties who will eliminate the political graft (if not minimize it to simple political contributions that can be accounted), and really push for social agenda without money bags attached to it.

Looking at the past few cycles of elections it doesn’t look like we will be able to find new leaders who will push for a graft free agenda.  It looks like recycling the old faces again and again, and each time the government changes there is an emergence of scams of the past.  There are no immediate and logical steps to foster a transparent and open government at any level as the incumbents are entrenched in the political and financial system of the country.  We have to find a bottom up solution for changing the electoral process to eliminate the loop holes, stop the fostering of electoral graft and create a new set of leaders who are in for really serving the people’s agenda.  It might be asking too much at this stage of India’s political system to become a totally free electoral process and drive only the public’s agenda, but it is always good to dream of such a society.

Celebrity Bashing

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com
 
With television and internet covering every move of personalities and commoners at the same rate, it has become difficult to separate the important events and nonsense.  Things are blown out of proportion, or continuously covered until the next incident happens.  Every opportunity that even remotely resembles a conflict or a confrontation gets blown out of proportion.  The latest incident involving bollywood actors and a businessman was sensationalized for days, and both parties claiming that they were provoked and the other party was guilty of enticing the fight.

It was a fancy restaurant to have guests of repute and importance, who were able to afford the expensive environment.  The place demanded affluence of the pocket but never of the heart or reputation.  Both parties could have avoided the confrontation at the late hour of the night, but they chose to use verbal abuse and fist cuffs to demonstrate the street fights, rather than cordial deviation of conflict.

One party asked for the CCTV footage to demonstrate the guilt of the party that started the confrontation, but the restaurant conveniently claims that it was not in place to give privacy to its guests.  It is the biggest farce of an excuse to either cover-up the incident or reveals the real culprit.  The restaurant should be held accountable for having equipment that did not capture the events as they unfolded, or having dysfunctional equipment in place.  The restaurant should have equipment in place to avoid such brawls and when they happen bring the guilty party to task so the next time someone starts a brawl or misbehaves in public places they can be held accountable for their actions.

Celebrities are as human as the people who make them celebrities.  They are not immune to insults or barbs when they are in public places.  They deserve the same privacy as every other citizen does, and they don’t need to be subjected to any abuse by the people around them, especially when they are in a restaurant or a place where they pay for services.  The expensive restaurants or hotels should provide the comfort of service and privacy to all, along with the ability to have a good time by all the guests.  People pay for high quality ambiance and service with these places and celebrity or no celebrity, when one can afford to pay for eating at the place they deserve the same attention.

It is expected that all these places have a certain decorum with people who attend the place, but they must be well equipped to avoid and personal confrontations on the compound and should have the equipment to capture any kind of altercations that might happen on their confines.  Not having the equipment or not having working equipment is never an excuse to provide the guests with adequate protection and security on the premises.  These places should publicize that they have the security equipment in place that is to protect the guests and provide protection, rather than invade into their privacy, and such equipment is to provide protection.  By doing so and clearly making a point of having such equipment as a protective environment, rather than an invasive process, the public places will be able to better serve people who are guests who are really innocent of provocation.

The media also should stop making a huge issue of just celebrities that get involved in altercations, as everyone gets involved in personal aggravation.  The constant attention to trying to make someone guilty should be avoided, as stop bashing the people who name recognition until they are found guilty of a transgression.  Make the places comfortable and also secure by having the proper equipment in place, not give excuses of equipment not working or not having equipment.

Having an environment that provides same level of comfort to all guests should be the most important aspect of stopping the celebrity bashing.  After all the celebrities are people who pay for the services as anyone else, and they don’t need to be abused for just getting out to town, and at the same time just because of their celebrity status they cannot abuse people who are around them in a common place.

The celebrity bashing is to an extreme by simply using an incident and trying to read into the psychology of the person involved, and trying to dig every intricate detail of the person’s behavior.  Whatever happened to the information prior to an altercation, and was it not relevant to the public to know about the celebrities’ background until a fight ensued.  The level of guessing and prying into the personal past and what transpired at the particular instance gets in such guessing exercise; it becomes such invasive and almost abusive process.

The celebrities should be given the same attention as any other citizen, and no conclusion should be drawn until the law takes its own course.  The places of public domain, especially when they charge a whole load of money to their guests should have the personnel and equipment that protects the privacy or their guests and also attempts to keep them safe.  The celebrity bashing should stop until the whole truth comes and the media should not try and becomes psychoanalysts.  Outside of entertaining people, celebrities are human and they should be afforded the same respect and privacy as anyone else in a public place.

Telecommunications

Vasu Reddy from Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

There is no longer the need to advertise or promote your products, services or self these days.  As long as they are sensational and have 30 minute fame, they get quick attention from the electronic media and the Internet.  Do something outside of the box or engage in behavior that is unusual, you get instant internet audience, and then the large network of television stations that need to fill in 24/7/365 space on the air.  Until the next sensational happening occurs, the electronic media will hammer the incident as latest and greatest news and pound people until they get wary of listening to the same with variations on what happened and commentary on who, what, when, where and why, without any verification of facts, just a lot of speculation.  The story typically changes many times during the coverage and the commentary outweighs the news content.

Until another event happens, the story will stay on and will be clearly highlighted for its duration.  There are so many cameras and reporters around the place, with so many channels trying to fill-up airtime, it is impossible to stay focused on one or the other channel, or one or the other story.  The stories disappear as quickly as they get flashed.

Not too long ago people had to wait for the new paper to be delivered to read about the news and mailman delivered letters and cards.  One generation ago, hot news was flashed on radio and television sometime during the day, and people turned into the airwaves for updates, and eagerly waited for new papers to be delivered.  The news readers made great use of the limited time they had to communicate the events of the day and highlighted only the major happenings.  The news papers were through in their print reporting and commentary.

We no longer verify or validate the news, just post it to the electronic media and if it turns out to be false or inaccurate, just retract it with an apology or simply delete the content online so people who are reading or listening get the glimpses of truth and fiction, and corrections as they unfold.  There is no challenging what people say or post online, as the information is more and more graphic each day.  Just simple disclaimers are attached to absolutely unverified information, or call it breaking news and developing story to cover the urgency of reporting whatever is available to sensationalize the issues, and as they unfold use the unverified information as shield to reporting.

The latest fad has been following social networks and using individual updates as breaking stories.  Facebook, Twitter. And many online exchanges are regularly used for individuals posting updates and pictures of themselves to share with their friends.  For celebrities and wannabies the social media is also an outlet to garner publicity.  Use of social media has become so epidemic, every instance you get some sensational posting from one place or the other and becomes hot topic for a few minutes until the next sensational word or picture comes out.  So much so even the real news magazines are following these sensational stories to keep their readers on their own space.

There are real stories and real news that gets mixed in with sensationalism and often obscures the news verses gossip.  The focus is now on having as many people visit the web link or channel and only way to keep them interested is to have some spice in the coverage.  No forbearance on the viewers that could be children and young ones who will be looking at the unwanted sensationalism.  There are no filters or censor that can control the traffic on the internet, unless you start to invest in extraordinary measures to protect the home networks, and even if you do, kids are smart enough to workaround any such measures to get to where they want to on the net.

While access to information and cost of communications have become minimal, and access to people and information almost at will, it is also quite invasive and overbearing.  We continuously get informed of something or the other and continuously get called irrespective of the hour or place.  So much for telecommunications advances and information technology both this will probably become more and more invasive, until one turns their mobile phone off, shut the computer down and switches off the television.

Holier Than Thou

Vasu Reddy From Chicago

vasureddy@aol.com

Since PV Narasimha Rao’s government at the Center, every government seem to be embroiled in some scam or the other.  Every government has been under the scanner for irregularities and misappropriation of funds.  The cost of elections also has been going up with each election cycle, and successive governments have engaged in behavior that is not befitting a democratically elected government.

Democratically elected government’s definitely spend election money to get messages across to the population and promote their programs as the best option available for the country each time an election is held, and certainly the candidates and the parties that are contesting need to raise money to promote their messages.  The creation of political parties, political funding and promoting the agenda is all a democratic and transparent process which is simple to manage and has a process of money and message management.  The global democracies foster in open elections where every party and candidate has equal opportunity to present and promote their messages and the people decide who they would like their representation from.

No democracy is a ticket for embezzlement and stealing from the public and government coffers by electing individual for a certain amount of time, just because people believe in the message and elect the individual for a certain period of time.  The last few governments in New Delhi have gone to great extent in creating and fostering massive amounts of funneling of public resources into private and individual coffers, just because the people elected were placed in position of decision making and creating the environment for embezzlement of public resources.

Granted that the system’s created by the elected officials allowed for such loopholes leading to the scams and embezzlement, the systems should also have been practical in approaching the rules set by the same to monitor any discrepancies in implementation of policies that should be in public interest.  Even the individual push to a truly transparent and public interest policy has been difficult to be upheld in the center and also state and local levels of administrations.  A push for ombudsman failed at the gate and only had a short life, and fizzled out when it came for vote in the parliament.

Scams are not limited to the center but each state and local levels are also heavily involved in creating their own money making process at the expense of public policy and benefit.  All most all the state governments are embroiled in some controversy or other, and it always leads to money making by people in power.  Just that each successive government has gone with greater and greater schemes to siphon the money into a few pockets.

When in power the government is funneling the money into their pockets without abandon, and next government coming in starts to dig into the action of their predecessors, and will unearth the irregularities and start to which hunt the previous administration to either push them into oblivion and jail, or demonstrate that the previous administration was corrupt.  At the same time they will begin engaging in greater siphoning of resources into their coffers.  Granted that the cost of elections and promotional activity is expensive, the money siphoned is never used for electioneering, always to the benefit of individuals and typically moved out of the country and never entering into private or public sector investments.

In the current environment the government itself is not even waiting to go out of the office and chasing its own tail by identifying and going after their own party men who are scamming, and this is a phenomenon that is unlike the previous governments of chasing down the past.  It is now and current government identifying their own party men and brining them to task.  Everyone pleads innocent until they are somehow or the other linked to the embezzlement, and everyone pleads ignorance when the scams surface.

How difficult it is to create public interest policy that fosters openness and corrupt free environment?  If the elected government itself is sending its appointed ministers to jail, then who else but the entire government is at fault.  A political party cannot simply claim that its own elected and appointed ministries are conducting massive fraud or embezzlement without the consent of the party chiefs.  Even if party chiefs say that they are unaware of the scams and are not involved in the process of scamming, they are responsible for actions of the party men, and cannot simply say I did not know, or I am not a party to it.

There are no holy cows in the process, as the party of elected officials and their chiefs are responsible for the actions of the party men.  They are not innocent or ignorant of the scams, as they are not ignorant of the election process, money management, party mandates, or decision making of the part men.  There is no such thing as an individual scam as the magnitude and scope of decision making is across the board and everyone is responsible, whether or not they are directly involved.  The responsibility lies with the entire government; both elected and bureaucratic.

The public should hold every government accountable for all its actions and not just listen to the rhetoric of the elected representatives.  Each government must be accountable for all actions of all the party men, and should stop pointing fingers at one or the other.  There are no holy cows, except that the individuals involved should be responsible and not be left out as outcasts, who are acting alone as they are never alone in scamming a country.

Self Fulfilling Prophecy

Vasu Reddy from Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

When one starts to believe in what is believed to be true despite the reality, it begins to sound as if the person is telling the truth and emphasizing the details to start repeating the same until presenting the details as truth, irrespective of what it is.  People really make things up to suit their personal agendas and start representing the same in great detail and start to believe it as the truth and also start representing things in great detail to others to make them believe that it is the truth. The age old saying that truth is easy to say and no need to repeat or remember when truth is stated, but when someone wants to make themselves believe what they are saying is truth by repeatedly making the same statements until they start believing that what they made up is true, it starts to fulfill their own ego.  People go to great extent to represent their version of events as truth and start believing in the nonsense as truth.

Great deal of attention is paid to public and private statements made every day by politicians and public figures.  There is emphatic belief in the statements they make each day and start representing their version of statements as they deem fit, far from truth or reality.  Politicians deploy this strategy often and try to convince their audience of their moral and ethical stances, albeit farcical.

Often when people are covering up or simply lying they tend to makeup instances of their virtuousness and constantly remind others and themselves of how correct they are and how they represent commonsense and righteousness.  Far from truth will be what is being constantly repeated only to emphasize nonsensical statements for others to listen to.

The constant banter from politician’s everyday around the world on how they represent the common man and the values of the people is not only far from what they believe and sometimes they themselves may not believe it in private.  These are statements that have no personal philosophy or commitment to the causes, simply for people to hear again and again and believe that they represent the good of common man.

When such banter is directed at individuals, they become ridiculously one sided and farfetched.  The language and context is always far reaching of the truth and unabashed and unreal, but the person receiving it will have no option but to listen open mouthed and would never have the ability to counter the nonsense or retaliate to such untruths.  But such outbursts happen often and without provocation, and cannot be defended.

Both in the USA and in India such self supporting speeches have become more and more common and very public.  Although the facts support otherwise, the person delivering them is oblivious to the facts.  The media dissects them and backs up with the reality of the issues and people just move on, but the person who is making the statements doesn’t seem to be phased by the facts, but will continue to put context to the accusations, still trying to justify them as facts.

The bickering and banter goes on until one or the other gives up and backs away from the debate or argument.  This is true of the politicians or people in real life.  It is impossible to debate the untruths as there is no justifiable reasoning in debating them.  Once someone starts to fulfill their own prophecies and start to believe in them, it is impossible to make them believe in reality.  Only when they realize the truth, if at all they ever will, is when the realization comes in, and at that time it is probably too late to face the facts.

Family and Heritage

Vasu Reddy from Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

The value of extended family and the importance of the support structure that is inbuilt into the Indian family are invaluable.  For hundreds of years and generations after generations the traditions and values are continuously bestowed on the next generation and them respecting the past and continuing into the future is a part of the Indian psychology.

With technology, internet and a wide array of communications and television and other influences, there is a shift in the way people communicate and keep in touch with each other, but the influence of family continues to survive the test of time and advancements.  People do live farther away from their families and the families themselves are no longer with many brothers and sisters in each generation, but they still behold their love for who they are and where they come from.  

After the mobile phone and great expansion of telephone networks, people speak to each other often and keep current on what their respective routines.  In recent developments such as Skype allows people to use their internet existing services to even visibly communicate with each other, and perhaps get to do more together and also see how they look.  So much technology advancements in last 20 years from writing letters to call long distance to video and voice chat on demand.  I am not sure what else is there to develop or invent to bridge the distance from families and friends, but it is pretty close to quite invasive today as it can be as living together.

Marriages can be shared from one part of the world to the other and photos or video clips are as common as sending a text message.  It bring backs the days when people were together and participated in the family rituals, just that they could be thousands of miles away but not miss out on the family traditions and practices.  Technology has definitely helped in taking the distances away and allowing the families to become more involved with things they have been missing due to time and travel restrictions due to the distances they are away from their families.

We also continue to maintain our traditions and heritage that we have left behind in our homes, but not in spirit.  Even living as far as in America, Indians devote a great deal of time and effort in maintaining their identity as who they are where they come from.  Not just by donating or visiting their respective local shrines, Indians truly maintain their home life as Indians while engaging in their respective professional duties without deviating from their traditions.

Ms. Winfrey visiting India for a week and highlighting the way of Indian life and the tolerance built into the Indian society due to its family structure.  Although her trip is a recent event and she particularly highlighted the Indian family structure, there is a lot of press to our family and our heritage.  The value systems in Indian families have never been in question for hundreds of years, just been adapting to the changes in people’s migration and technology in being in communications with each other.

The respect that continues from generation to generation will continue to foster the relationships and respect within the families.  The friction within the systems and individuals is always overshadowed by the unity displayed by the families, and the communications of today are further cementing the relationships that are long in distance but not in heart.

While Ms. Winfrey’s trip to India and her observations highlight the family structure and its heritage within our society, it is something for us to take to heart as the charm of an Indian lies with the family and traditions that come with each person.  They will forever be built into our life and will continue to influence our lives wherever in the world we choose to live.

Trip to India

Vasu Reddy From Chicago vasureddy@aol.com

Every small village in India has its own history and significance attached to the local area with tales of grandeur and architectural significance.  Every place has great fables that are told everyday and people talk of the ancestors and their contributions with such closeness that exemplifies the dearness that beholds to the people and their past.  For those visitors who traveled to India for centuries, the country continues to provide great interest in culture, heritage and definitely architecture.  Although the urbanization of the country and the tremendous population growth continue to encroach into the many historic and archeologically important part of the country’s vast historically significant findings, the country continues to hold wonderful heritage all across the stretch of the nation for people to learn and appreciate the contributions of the generations of the past.

There are fascinating natural and manmade places all across the country which all deserves to be preserved for future generations to come.  There is a great deal of learning to derive from the wonderful past of the country, which is as enlightening today as it might have been the day when they were created.  While in India and since relocating from India, the country holds the historical significance very dear to heart as the fascinating details of each of the places is endearing and beholds the person visiting each one of them.

From the valleys of Kashmir to the Vivekananda temple in Kanyakumari, From Bombay to Calcutta, or the matter of fact any corner of the country to the other India has a rich history for its people and anyone else who visits.  Thoroughly enjoyable are the wild life parks and many hill stations of India which are also all across the country.  The fascinating train rides or bus rides that take you to every part of the country while delivering immense pleasures with local cuisine and culture.  Not to forget the local languages, customs and dialect which combined with localized English makes it fascinating adventure.  There are many pictorial and literary works that capture the beauty and essence of India in great detail and have been for generations.  There is no end to the glory and history that can be repeated over and over with equal enthusiasm and fascination as if it is being told for the first time.

Everywhere in India you would find the incredible mix of religious and traditional cultures and every possible religion represented and respected.  There is no other place on earth that has its people of all faiths living in harmony and together while practicing whatever faith they choose to follow.  Every instance a new religion or tradition has been introduced into India; it has only broadened the country’s tolerance for expression of faith, and integration of new ideas and opportunities to learn from each other.  There is no place on earth that has the vast diversity of people as India, which fosters every freedom of expression.

Visit every part of India if you can and enjoy the place for its beauty and diversity.  Take a friend and family with you and get your young ones introduced to and interested in the glory of our nation’s ancestors and its significance to today’s inhabitants.  The country is filled with tolerance to everyone, democratic principles and the endurance it has had for centuries of invasions and occupation.  Today we have over a billion people and growing and man verses the limited resources, but still possessing the great charms of the past coupled with today’s people who continue to represent the history of the country.