Narendra Modi

Only In India 2 0f 10

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

Narendra Modi is the current prime minister of India, and the 15^th person to hold that position after the 1947 Indian independence from the British.  Modi is a lifelong follower of RSS and also a lifelong politician.  His humble beginnings and his much touted childhood as a tea seller is well documented.  Outside of a young marriage and a life of separation from his wife (who is also equally commendable as she remained loyal to the wedding and continues to remain married to Modi despite living an entire life married but without a spouse) who has lived a full life of anonymity, rest of Modi’s life is well documented since his entry into politics.

From an early age Modi (reported that when he was 8 years old) was influenced by the RSS and his entire life before and after his entry into politics and his election to the highest office of the nation, RSS and its role is well documented. Modi reflects a fairly long and committed association with his principles and practices.

Modi also retains lifelong relationships with schoolmates and fiends and colleagues, and has a great record of life full of commitment to his ideals and convictions.  For a man with such strong convictions he is surprisingly aloof from his own siblings and his once child bride.  He holds his mother very dear to him, and it is his only family relationship that he constantly acknowledges.  He is very fond of his mother, and at every opportunity he has cherished the relationship with his mother, her sacrifices to tend to him and his siblings, and her continued blessings.  Modi keeps himself away from any personal or family related issues, and keeps his siblings far away from his politics.  He does constantly acknowledge the influences of his mentors and the value of his friendships at every opportunity he gets.

India does repeatedly present great contradictions and opportunities for its citizens.  Modi is a great example of humble beginnings, hard work, dedication and persistence will allow anyone to achieve their ultimate goal.  Modi humble beginnings to where he is today, from a tea seller to the prime minister, from a RSS disciple to a global leader; all of which are incredible achievements.  India despite its issues, difficulties and limitations, always has it’s only in India opportunities, and Modi is one of the great examples of this.

Modi in his second year in the PM office continues to hold the Indian and the global public in awe of his ability to communicate and present India as a destination for work, investment and growth.  His constant interest in the global development and reaching out to everyone to work with him to develop India and help Indian public facilities and opportunities is unparalleled.  He is really a great representative for the nation and its needs.  No one matches his energy in presenting India to the world.

The anomalies with his governance is certainly highlighted with his indecisiveness in reference to his cabinet members, who are involved with irregularities in governance, and also state level office bearers who have been accused of scams.  This is very different side of Modi's personality, who is quite vocal about good governance.  He has not said a word about his cabinet members and senior state level leaders of his party, even when the whole parliament has been stalled due to the reported mismanagement and scams.  Strangely, he continues to remain silent on his own party’s scams or mismanagement.  Despite his tainted colleagues, Modi remains quite strong in representing India and himself.  Each of his foreign visits, and any dignitaries and business leaders visiting with him, definitely leave a fantastic impression for India and also bring new commitments to India’s development.

Modi is a vegetarian and practices his religion, yoga and Hindu customs that are to be cherished by all, and he also has a great respect for elders, other religions leaders and greatest rapport with world leaders, business leaders and just about everyone he reaches out to.  He is also quite tech savvy and makes great use of technology to communicate just about everything he does.  Above all he has very little possessions or attachments.

While writing his history as a great PM for India is still in its infancy, his assent to be the leader of the largest democracy in the world is a matter of legend.  He continues to makes the best case for India and its people.  With each of his trips his legend grows, and his curiosity to bring things into the common man of India continues to draw the best of the world.  The economic indicators and the inflow of investment into India continue to be positive, and with a little bit of better governance and better politicking, India for sure has a chance to get better connected, educated and a little bit cleaner.  For sure Modi can make his governance be 100% open and make it public and online, it will only help his politics and governance.  He certainly has the energy and inclination, along with the public support.

Completion

vasureddy@aol.com
Vasu Reddy from Chicago

There is a great importance to making progress on an announced project.  If you are a business then you just don’t announce or start something and just let it sit, you finish the project on budget and on time.  The key to successful and profitable business or life is not announcing or starting something, it is the process of effectively working to achieve the stated objectives of what was planned.

Our politicians announce many major projects and initiatives, and also assign huge values to them as budgets and potential employment.  India has a legacy of major announcements by the party in power, along with massive investments and really massive employment opportunities.  It has become a common practice for politicians in power to say “I will do this in five years”, and then there is nothing that comes back to say “I have done this in 12 months”.

In recent news there was coverage of linking the rivers in Andhra Pradesh which was more than a 50 years plan.  It is hard to imagine what was thought of as a need 50 years ago applied to today, while politicians claim credit for something that really took 50 years?  We have multiple fold increase in population, pollution, encroachment and all kids of social and people issues today that could not have been envisioned 50 years ago.  Still the concept of planning and development that is many decades old which still is in work-in progress today, and we still refer to as progress, as if India has infinite amount of time to take care of its own. On the one hand completion of any infrastructure project is a boon for the people, while the time and opportunity lost in decades of delays and indifference is immeasurable in losses.  The project costs balloon into double, triple and more in the delays and India also adds scam value to any infrastructure.

When a project does get completed, people rejoice.  Politicians inaugurate and place their name in stone as if they really had something to contribute to the eventual completion and ignore the decades old plaque that identifies the politician who laid the foundation stone.  There is pomp and circumstance and a lot of talk of what the project will do to the future of the citizens.  No one on the stage will admit to the huge delays, huge cost overruns, huge loss of opportunity, and huge cost to the lives of people.  No one will ever admit to the delays and lost opportunity.  Indians are optimists, they feel that let’s be happy that it is finally done and we can see the benefits of the future.

The reality of the government promises and their deliverables are so far apart, they are like fact and fiction.  There is no realistic plan of action, development, budget, expenditure or anything that is really real.  Huge numbers are thrown in billions and billions and no plausible explanation of where the money comes from and how it is spent.  Everyone throws around massive numbers as if they are really giving their own money to the public projects (you hear the words so often when politicians claim “I am giving thousands of crores to the project or for development” as if it’s coming from ones pocket).  There is no logic to where the money is coming from, how it will be spent, who will manage and account for it, when and how the money will be made available, who will manage the funds and who will be accountable for the funds, when the project gets started and god knows when it will be finished.  All freely given and freely managed, and nothing gets done ever on time.  India really has projects that are a half a decade or more in the works, some still unfinished.

The current government as did all the older ones, constantly throws billions in pronouncements to projects and programs as commitments to the states and the development of national projects.  The government and the PM are quite computer and internet savvy.  Why not put the projects and their planning and development online.  Why not let the public have access to whole deal and details, people, money, plans, time, deliverables and budgets; put them all online as soon as the PM or the government commits to the project and funding.  The PMO and PM now take the time to post details of its daily routine.  Posting a project plan online and updating daily should be no more than one person’s work on a regular basis, and the public can really know what is being said and what really is being done.  If we are demanding the public to be accountable the government can demand the same from the government.  Especially when the leader of the nation constantly speaks of open government and accountability; then let us see it online.  It is great to hear that he has thousands of crores at public, we constantly hear from the PM “let me give you thousands of crores” sure we need the development and projects, but we want to see if it really is budgeted, from where, when and how it will be delivered and money spent towards the project.  We are all computer savvy and with more than a phone per adult in the great nation.  If we are getting your twitter feed and Facebook posts and Instagram updates on a minute by minute basis, it will be great to have an online and regular minute by minute update of the government's commitments and deliverables.

For a change we the people would certainly like to see the same level of commitment from the government and our leader on completion of what the government keeps throwing at us a “I plan to do this”.  Let us see the accounts and responsibilities online, and up-to-date.  The only measurement to the government’s performance is completion of the promises made, on time and on budget and nothing else. “I completed this” should be the words we should hear and nothing else.

Remakes

vasureddy@aol.com
Vasu Reddy from Chicago

I really love movies.  Always have.  Even as a kid I loved to watch a movie every chance I got.  We have been making movies for over a century now.  We make them in just about every language and just about every part of the world.  From simple movements on film without voice on celluloid to the mega budget movies of today, the business of movie making continues to evolve and also continues to get more sophisticated and continues to keep up with technological advances and user preferences.  All this except when we try to remake popular movies of the past.

India makes more movies than any other country, all in multiple languages.  It makes more movies than Hollywood, in fact a combination of all other markets don’t even come close to the number of movies made in India.  India also has a variety of audiences; regional markets with their own languages, dubbed movies from one region to the other, movies simultaneously made in multiple languages, English and other language films that fill the void for the audience to lap up anything shown on a Friday night, and any other language film, even if it is not something the audience understands, all of them have a great audience in India.  India and Indians love movies and whatever is screened there is an audience for it.

One of the more recent phenomenon in the movie making business is dubbing regional movies into Hindi and releasing them thru the internet.  We have a billion plus viewers and most of them not just with television but with smart phones and internet, the market is obvious for the content, and what better content than dubbed movies to keep the audiences glued to the small screen in the weekdays.

The movie makers have already become adept to various audience segments, and have been making movies to cater to them; romance, action, rom-com, and western, comedy, serious, historical. Mythological and whatever term that existing the movies can be categorized for even urban and rural audience.  Whatever name the makers can give a movie to bring the audience to the theater.  In reality the makers are depicting a writer’s vision to the audience for a couple of hours.  The audiences have many options every Friday, and catchy marketing is the name of the game to get people into the theater.  Marketing and promotions are a major part of the movie business these days.  At least until the first show and then the critics take the stick to the movie.

Our movies have evolved with times, technology, travel, style and adaptation all have been updated as to today’s viewer preferences, and continues to be updated, while the writers and directors try to keep up with the audience aptitudes.  Stars remain a fixture, most of them aging in front of eyes and remaining to pretend to be young and supreme beings.  The media remains the same, always finding fanny.  Our story telling remains true to Indian mythologies, although given a contemporary twist every 20 years or so.  It is difficult to imagine new material for movies, as we make so many of them in so many languages.  The writer’s continue to exploit the well told and well accepted lines, and keep repeating them with alarming success.

One of the things that also is happening is remaking movies.  Remakes are not being limited to popular and classic movies.  Even main stream movies are being remade.  When a movie was made 20, 30, 40, or 50 years ago, the story telling, action and screen play would be typical to that time and treatment.  If it was a huge hit or continues to be appreciated by the current generation of moviegoers, the acceptance of the continued mastery of film making after the years is simply the creative inputs that remain in the mind of the audience, irrespective of time.  Indian audience also have a great respect for movies that become a part of their life, and when a something is considered a classic; movie, music, drama, literature and person all of which remain in the hearts of the people, irrespective of the generations past.  Movie remakes typically attempt to retell the story that was successfully told, and try to make a contemporary celluloid of the past.  This new version of an old classic will be constantly judged based on the original.  It doesn’t matter how much time has elapsed, but the original version will remain as a benchmark.  There is little question that some of the new versions of old classics such as Devdas, made in multiple languages multiple times, have not only retained the originality of the classic, but also integrate the nuances of today’s audiences, with great care.  But majority of the remakes are simply a cut and paste of the originals and neither retain the essence or time of what the movie goers see as a classic.  Simply spending money and marketing can’t deliver a classic remake.  The sensibilities of the context and today’s movie goer’s preferences along with capturing the imagination of a mindset that was set in a different era, all of which along with the nuances of every role, all of which and probably more will make a remake work.  Some of our recent remakes cost a huge amount of money to make and equally huge amount of money to market, and all we see is a reference to the past; a remake of “MOVIE”.

One World?

Vasu Reddy from Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

Continuously looking at the young and old, men and women and children; all of them trying to find a safe place to stay, to just get a drink of water and a meal, staring simply at the cameras that are trying to make news of their misery, driven away from their home, and now simply without any destination.  It is not their fault to live where they were born and be who they are.  They did not commit any crime or do anything to deserve the forced relocation to nowhere.  With communications getting more and more constant the human suffering is getting is also being played out constantly for the rest of the world to become a part of the destitute.  We think we are looking at someone out there being forced to run away from their home, but we are one world, and it can happen to us, wherever we live.  We are watching human suffering played out on television, and that’s exactly what we are doing, just watching our race being decimated, for what?  There is so much written about race and religion, and the national boundaries and individual beliefs, but what have these people done to deserve such suffering?  The image of a small child washing ashore, dead on a beach could have happened to anyone and any place in the world.  It is really tragic, not dramatic for the world to react to.  What have we done to ourselves?  Why do we simply spend so much time and money on defending ourselves, but let the world become a place of carnage?  Does religion promote creating hell on earth so that the people creating the hell here can go to enjoy heaven?  Who has an answer to the killing in the name of religion?

Is the image of the little child lying face down dead on a beach the trigger this time for the world to become one world?  How many more hundreds of thousands have to be killed, and how many more million need to be thrown out of their homes before the world takes interest in helping?  We keep watch television and constantly monitor the news; hundreds of thousands continued to be displaced from their homes for simply being there.  They have been there thousands of years.  Still all of a sudden they are refugees.  Homeless.  Landless. Penniless.  Simply with nothing.  All of their fate simply tied to the whims of religion and other humans, and nothing else.

We humans are older than any religion.  Every religion and its founders have only preached love and tolerance and peace and coexistence.  There is no religious scripture that depicts hatred and killing.  But we interpret otherwise, and along with religion we have never stopped killing in the name of it.  Killing in the name of religion has been as long as what we call religion existed, and with growing time and populations, the killings have become a way of religious life.  We invoke the name of god and religion as a primary reason for inhumanity, which ends us it is towards our friends and neighbors.

From the world wars, the 1947 India’s partition and separation, the east-west war between Pakistan, the Afghanistan crisis, the continued strife Russian federation, the middle east and African crisis, the carnage in Syria and Iraq, the Palestinian battles, Egypt, Libya, Nigeria and African unrest, somewhere in the world we can’t live as one people, and in the name of religion.  There is no end to killing and destruction.  The world continues to experience the misery live.  For some reason the media and coverage seem to encourage the carnage.  All of a sudden the carnage has a worldwide audience, and the behavior getting more and more violent.  We are not just killing each other, we are also destroying civilizations; old and new, without regard to heritage or humanity.  The utter disregard to women and justifying the atrocious behavior in the name of religion has become a common practice.  For some reason or cause, we forget all of us humans have a mother, and she is a woman.  God himself had a mother, and there is no scripture that asks to ill treat your own mother.

The killer’s get no glory for their deeds.  They have no state.  They have no home.  They have no family.  They just have hatred and in most cases all they end up with violent death.  The typical fate for hatred is the same fate they inflict on innocents in the name of religion.  There is no glory in death, especially when god doesn’t prescribe it.

The destruction of nations and communities and their natural and physical resources, along with generations of humanity and history, makes one wonder; is this one world?

There is no cause, however great and important to be used as an excuse to kill innocents.  Nothing more is important to the world than its history, civilization and humanity.  We are supposed to be the most evolved living beings with superior intellect.  Our superior intellect continues to be overshadowed by barbarian within.  We are not just getting smarted, we are also getting more intolerant.  While the world becomes more and more interconnected, it is also promoting the graphic and barbaric acts of the few, making them more exploitative in using the medium to promote horror.

We really are not one world.  We keep turning a blind eye on destruction and intolerance.  We don’t like to help or comfort.  We spend more money on weapons than education.  We love to watch TV and listen to commentary, but have nothing to offer to our fellow beings.  We really are not one world.  Simply live here in indifference and nothing else.  Oh yes; we certainly use religion to justify what we do.

Movie Critics

vasureddy@aol.com
Vasu Reddy from Chicago

You pay a few bucks and see a movie in air-conditioned comfort for a couple hours.  You probably buy a bag of popcorn and a soda for a couple of more bucks and enjoy the solitude of time and the experience, either by yourself or with someone else with you in the theater, and leave with the experience of watching someone else’s point of view on big screen.  Just for a few bucks we escape the reality of life and watch people, locations that we probably will never see and situations that most times defy normal logic for any person; that’s what we expect and get from movies.  There is no language or actor/actress, story or a fib, history or mythology, mystery or magic and anything else we can think of has been made as a movie.  In about a hundred years of making movie magic, directors and producers have just about thought of story-telling that continues to draw us to the theaters.  Language and logic are not criteria for people who make the movies and people who watch the movies.  Until the time we started to see the term realistic cinema, which joined the movie terminology to tell us that the movies are true to real life, movies simply provided a couple hours of escapism to the viewers.  Movies are a great source of escapism to the viewers.  For a couple of hours they are a source of world far away from reality, engrossing the human emotions and locations and plots from the imagination of writers, actors and directors, making things up.  They are very far away from reality.  Movies and celluloid continue to provide to our imagination and state of relaxation, all while escaping to the world that is only on film.

With TV and internet becoming a staple in feeding 24/7/365 updates to people (in just about every language there is) the business of reviews on everything imaginable and comments on everything has become a routine for people to look at before they do anything.  Buying something or going somewhere or watching a movie; everything has a lot of reviewers who offer their opinions online.  Movies have really become punching bags for just about everyone who might have watched a movie.  No question that the professional movie reviewers have been around for a long time, and they do have a pattern of like/dislike on a certain type of movie.  But these days everyone who has a computer has become a critic.

Most of the men and women involved in various aspects of movie making do it for a living.  Almost all of them are professionals and work with large teams of people to bring a movie to becoming a product to get it to the theaters.  It is true that the movie makers cater to movie going audience preferences o bring them to the theaters.  The melodrama, story, action. Locations, men and women, drama, song and dance, editing. Screen play. Direction and logic; and whatever is involved with movie making takes into the consideration into drawing as many people to come to the theaters to watch the movie.  It’s a business that spends money and most times has a hard time recovering the money.  Just like a startup businesses, movie makers invest and hope to recover their investment and also make a profit.  The product they put out is typically tailored to what people are willing to pay to watch.  Men and women are equally displayed, and cinematic liberties are taken to extremes.  That’s what movies and movie making is.

To be critical of a specific movie or a specific person in the movie is entirely valid as they simply can’t satisfy everyone who watches the movie.  No one can simply satisfy the views of all people.  But to criticize a director or actor/actress, and how they were presented in a movie, and how they look and how they behave, is really not being a movie critic.  It’s venting frustration on one’s own idiosyncrasies.  Movie makers, actors and actresses, technicians and directors are all simply executing to their celluloid vision.  They hope that people will go and watch the movie, and enjoy the escapism for a couple of hours by spending a couple of bucks.  Beyond that the choice of the viewers is what make a profitable movie venture.  Taking a person and chastising him or her, taking a situation that represents a small portion of a movie, attaching a race or bias to a person, being critical of a comment or an instance, or a person’s behavior outside of the movie; the part-time critics are often abusive and analytical.  While venting out personal opinion might sound good to the person who is doing it, it is often offensive and degrading to the reader/viewer.  It doesn’t achieve the objective of being a movie critic, rather someone who sounds angry and frustrated, and has a lot of time to put out personal opinions on individuals who are no way connected, and events that are unrelated.

Unfortunately simply googling on the internet brings out all kinds of references to a particular movie, and you end up seeing people venting out their opinions, behaving as movie critics.  Far from being true to the movie, they are simply being angry and opinionated.  No stopping people using their internet and expressing opinions, but the least we can do is make them happy endings.

Territorial Integrity

Vasu Reddy from Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

Having hostile neighbors takes away a lot of resources from a nation; defending itself and defending its territorial integrity.  If you have a large geographical territory to protect and have limited protection against insurgency, especially when there is constant strife with the neighbors. It really sucks up the resources and energy of any nation.  India since its independence and division in 1947 has struggled to be at peace because of the issues with its neighbors.  To start with the division on lines of religion and leaving India as a secular nation was an idea which has not been successful for India, and has caused grief every day for Indians.  Western European nations simply have geographical boundaries on the map and very little need for protecting their boundaries.  The respect the countries have for each other and their neighbors is well represented in the conduct of each of the nations.  For some reason, ill-conceived by the nations with limited or no resources (don’t want to use the term third world, or poor in defining countries) seem to have difficulties with each other, barring the insurgencies in the middle east which do have great resources but have difficulties within the region.

Sharing a land boundary and not having the well to do and working population, and also having different political and religious ideologies create most of the world’s territorial conflicts these days.  All ill-conceived ass it is to fight with the neighbors, instead of focus on the internal issues of a country, it constantly and continuous happening in the world today.  While the wealthy nations focus on wealth creation the poor cousins fight with each other.

Even if the Indians assume that the INC since 1947, did not have the back bone to standup and put a stop to the aggression of its neighbors (ignoring the 1965 and 1971 wars, and some more intermittent skirmishes did not put the neighbor in its place) what is wrong with the government in 2015?  The talk of protecting the nation and the constant talk of defense spending and defense expansion, and the whole lot of talk on national security, but nothing to show that there is seriousness in protecting the nation and defending it.  India gets fired at every day, and people simple cross the border and attack the nation well within the boundaries of the nation, and the insurgents get caught, but still no action.  Is it a nation incapable of protecting its borders, and is it run by big talking politicians who are not really interested in its integrity and its people?

There are so many questions that come to mind with respect to the country and its ability to defend and protect its boundaries and its people.

Why should India speak to anyone about its internal and territorial issues?

Why should India entertain discussions on its own land?
Why does India have different status for a region of the nation?
Why doesn’t India reclaim and reoccupy the land that has been occupied since 1947 by its neighbors?
Why do politicians from India even engage in continued discussions on its own territorial integrity?
Why does India simply brush off terror attacks on its citizens and within its territories?
Why doesn’t India apply the same logic to protecting its people and its territory as does every other nation on earth?

Indians probably look at their daily news and ask a million questions of its leaders.  No other democratic country on earth would entertain such acts against its people as India does and its politicians simply mouth off but do nothing.

The most absurd explanation from the politicians and nations leaders has always been that we need to deal with this situation with caution.  For sure, it has been going on every day since 1947, and caution is not a 100 year old thing to follow.  The politicians in power should have some spine and take tough action on anyone attacking the country and its people.  It’s about time that the talking part ends and the action part to begin to show that the nation is and will be a nation of laws and a nation that can protect itself and its people. Jai Hind.

APJ Abdul Kalam

Only In India 1 0f 10
Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

When President Kalam passed away on 25^th July 2015, I felt that I lost an uncle.  He suffered a stroke in Shillong, Assam, doing what he loved to do.  Speaking to a gathering of students.  He loved to speak, write, teach, outside having been India’s 11^th president.  Before that he was the missile man.  A man of science who spearheaded India’s missile program.

He was a perfect uncle for all of us, a man who was always smiling, always had the time to impart love and wisdom, he was intelligent and brilliant, he worked hard from the days of having a newspaper route as a child to the retired president of India, a writer, public speaker, and everything else you can imagine.  He was a bachelor.  No wonder he would be the best uncle for the nation.  If Bapu was the father of the nation president Kalam was the perfect maternal uncle for Indians.  Here is a man with a suitcase and nothing much else, but love for people.

One of the telling things you notice with the Indians is a pen in their front pocket.  It is a sort of a part of the ward robe with just all politicians and bureaucrats, as is it was with president Kalam.  It means the pen.  It so suited the gentleman.  He wrote a number of books, all of them very simple to read and understand, but extraordinary in content.  He wrote about science, future, experiences, change management, future, spiritual experiences and books for kids.  He was simply full of life and energy and wanted to be available for every one and give to the society his experience and knowledge, above all love for people.

What can only happen in India, Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen "A. P. J." Abdul Kalam, was born in a holy city of Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu.  Much has been written about him before and after his death, and his accomplishments and his teachings.  His beginnings are as they are with much of our vastly populated and vastly under privileged nation.  Personally I love the story of his paper route as a child to help with some money to help his family.  I share the story of my own paper circulation as an hour a week job at Roosevelt University Torch, when I first came to the USA.  It’s no fun not to have money, and it is fun to do something to earn even a little bit to help folks around you.  The effect of employment at any age, and at any wage is something that has been a part of India’s fabric and culture, although the environmental conditions force the child and women labor.  But a child doing his bit to help mom or dad, is something which is a global fabric.  Kalam was noted for his integrity and his simple lifestyle.  He never owned a television, and was in the habit of rising at 6:30 or 7 AM and sleeping by 2 AM. His few personal possessions included his books, his musical instrument Veen, a few articles of clothing, a CD player and a laptop; at his death, he left no will, and his possessions went to his eldest brother, who survived him.  Here was a man of almost all love and very little needs.  Long before we NRI talk of living on a small budget and working for a living, here was our national leader who practiced it from birth to death, and never worried about what he had, he only worried about what he can give, and give.  The glory of India and its finest is that they do make a whole lot of many things in their life with very little to start with.

The term only India here is not loosely referred to.  Many instances in India's history and achievement lies in the Indian spirit.  We have a history of facing adversity, and history of achievement and a history of giving.  President Kalam is a great example of the only in India, and a great one that will inspire us all for time to come.  RIP President Kalam.

Modified

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

Just over a year into being the prime minister of India. Modi’s stance on openness has taken a modification.  We have a self-made and disciplined man, with humble beginnings who made it to the highest elected office of the largest democracy on earth, and the first year in office, and he did present himself and his agenda with the ease of a multinational company’s CEO.  All of a sudden he seems quiet, almost silent and at a loss for words on responding to allegations against his cabinet and chief ministers.  He has lost steam on his words, agenda and public persona.  All within just about a year into the office.

One single man, who no longer is in India, who is a fugitive at this point, who was once close to a central minister and a state chief minister to do things that were humane, but politically imprudent and perhaps illegal.  The state CM was certainly a personal and a longtime family friend, and was also involved in business dealings prior to the Cricket man got into trouble with the law in India and fled to the UK.  The lady chief minister could have simply disclosed what she did to help Lalit Modi and how she was at his wife’s bedside while she was being treated abroad.  By simply giving complete account of the relationship and what was done, would have avoided any embarrassment to the center.  For sure this relationship would have been headlines for a couple of days, but as the relationship was long standing.  Modi at the center would not have had much of effect because of the history and past of the parties involved.  He could have simply referred to the long standing family relationship and association and also a state level issue that his government did not have a direct role with.  But when his central cabinet minister got involved after coming into power at the center, to refer to the UK authorities about Lalit Modi getting travel documents, that too without informing the PMO and the rest of the cabinet, it directly becomes an issue for Modi directly and his ability to govern.

The entire irony of Lalit Modi and his travel documents from the UK could have been easily avoided.  A simple tabling of this matter with the parliament to act upon would have avoided a lot grief to the government and to governance.  For whatever reason appropriate actions were never taken, considering that Lalit Modi is not a law abiding citizen and Sushma Swaraj is not just an ordinary Indian citizen, who can simply defer her actions based on humanitarian grounds.

After weeks of public displeasure and political brickbats, the government still has not acted on what we refer to now as lalitgate.  One of the minister’s recently (after all the commotion) calls Sushma Swaraj a national treasure.  Modi himself has not said a word on the entire episode, nor taken any steps to diffuse the situation.  What is unbecoming of Modi is that he allowing the visa episode to disrupt nations business, and the current parliament simply not doing anything but fight on the particular issue.  It is really uncharacteristic for him to remain silent on any issue, let along his own cabinet minister’s actions.

The entire parliament session has done nothing because of the visa papers issued on behalf of Lalit Modi, who is no longer lives in India.

The more troubling issue is why is Modi silent?  What is behind a single member of the cabinet holding up the entire government’s agenda in the parliament?  Why doesn’t the government release the complete set of documents and communications on Lalit Modi visa paperwork, and put it out in the open?  Would it not be prudent to support the minister if the whole file was out in the open?

With each passing day we get more questions on the episode rather than closure.  The government continues to be in standstill and dysfunctional.  The worst part of the ordeal is no people’s business is being conducted.

No one can blame the opposition as they have a straw to hang onto after the past election debacle, and now they can raise their voice against the government.  Weather the opposition’s outcry is legitimate or not, what was done was simply misguided and needs to be dealt with, and the file should come to closure.  But Modi’s modified persona, his style of communications, and his issue management all of these are far from his regular style of functioning of what we have seen from him.  For the country which voted him and his party to power based on his public persona, the change in his style of communications, decision making and management style is a major modification from what we are used to seeing from him.  This certainly modifies the expectations on openness and leadership from Modi to India.

Human Nature Part 3 of 3 - Weather

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

Every ten minutes you get a weather bulletin in Chicago.  This is where I live so this is the best reference point I have.  I am pretty sure everywhere you go or live in the USA, the weather bulletins are a part of the radio and TV, and the mobile and internet channels.  In about 10 minutes you get the latest and greatest on the weather updates.  We have very fancy names for people who deliver the weather reports, such as chief meteorologist.  Listening to the weather is actually a part of the normal routine for everyone, and I really think no one really pays attention, unless they see something serious happening around them, it is really background noise?

Weather is unpredictable everywhere.  It changes constantly.  It can be anything; harsh, normal, beautiful, hot, clod, sun, wind, snow, rain and any combination.  Weather can be anything we can imagine, but we know it is changing constantly.  We can use any adjective we can think of for weather, and it will happen.  If you live in Chicago, for sure you don’t have to wait very long to experience the changes and that too very quickly and very fast in patterns.  We are fortunate to really see the four seasons in their full bloom in this part of the world.  Each of the seasons in their full splendor and full bloom with a constant what if it was, is the normal routine for people who live in the region.

Too hot, too cold, too much snow, too much rain; and then you will also hear along with a beautiful spring day, perfect beach weather, great winter weather, snow day, rainy day, for Chicagoans a windy day, and colorful fall day; all these are things we are used to from our meteorologists.  It makes us happy to hear about good weather.

Simply thinking of good weather lifts our spirit.  For some reason picking on our nature and equating to the human spirit is really what we are.  Simple things make us happy.  A rain drop, a snow flake, cool breeze, warm weather and any variation of enjoyable combination of living makes us reflect and also happy.

When politics, money and global events make us wonder what is going on the world with unpredictable instances that happen constantly, weather is something that is also that is happening constantly.  But the weather at most times is a relatively predictable change, compared to the human behavior.  For sure we have extremes with cyclones, earth quakes, swelling rivers and severe weather, but just about all of the weather patterns are easily predictable and avoidable.  We can at most times get away from simply following the weather bulletins that are updated about every 10 minutes, and following the directions will certainly avoid any bad weather or find a place to let the weather pass through.  And for sure the weather will pass though and we simply reflect and move on with life.  We enjoy the good, we try and stay away or avoid the bad, and try to go far away from the severe.  It’s simple to deal with the weather and its unpredictability.

Human Nature - Part 2 of 3 - Politics

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

Greeks termed politics as the theory of influencing other people.  The term politics itself is more than 4,000 years old, and since that time has evolved into politics, judicial and bureaucratic systems that govern the democratic nations in the present time.  The late 1700’s and the formation of the United States, and since than the push for freedom of expression, speech and simply the right to do what we like to do has been in the forefront of many a wars and movements; simply people wanting democracy.  Politics continues to evolve with each of the instances where people raise to make freedom a focal point of governance.

When it started out politics certainly was meant to be a noble profession.  It was by definition working for the good of people.  One can’t influence other people without doing something useful to the society.  In reality only through the 1900’s majority of the nations have become really political democracies.  We still have communist governed and dictatorial nations, while we have kingdoms and nations governed by families.  All the while in 2015, the form of democracy continues to be challenged in various parts of the world, while it flourishes in some parts of the world.

At the end of the day the power vested in an individual (or a small group of individuals as ministers) who are elected by the majority of public voting them into power for a fixed duration of time becomes a democratically elected government.  They get either reelected or get replaced with a new set of individuals once the elected term is over, is the most recent form of democracies functioning.  In reality the current electoral process is quite a new phenomenon for the world.  We were used to living under kings and emperors, who ruled over their people with impunity.

At least for a couple of thousand years we have the history of living under kings and queens as subjects.  In essence the rulers simply passed on the governance of their subjects to family.  The growth in human population which has been exponential, and the kingdoms transforming into elected governments is in historic terms quite a small chapter in our existence.

The history of the world as we know is quite fascinating.  We continue to find and dig through our past, and everything we find is intriguing and educational on every aspect of life before the advent of communications in today’s form.  The tremendous influence of radio, television, internet, wireless and wireline communications, and the latest social media and instant access to what is happening certainly is a driving force in the way we live and conduct ourselves.

The fantastic benefits of information and communications at finger tips have a great advantage, and also huge drawbacks.  The politicians use the social media for direct communication with folks around the world.  Millions of people get instant feed of tidbits of information from someone in the position of power.  It could be anything that the individual wants to share; can be a simple greeting, a picture, an opinion, a thought, travel or trivia, anything that they feel is in their mind to share with millions of followers, or people on the www.

Politics has also become quite personal in the recent decades.  For some reason the negative comments get more eyeballs than positive commentary.  People in power and people not in power both focus on what is wrong with each other than displaying the positives of what can be done and what needs to be done.

Politics has in the past 20 or 30 years have become personal.  The money required for getting into elected office has become humungous.  The constant barrage of advertisements and media interactions, almost always point to what the other guy has done wrong.  Also, the democracies and abuse of elected office from around the world has become a common practice.  Scams, abuse of power, nepotism, influence peddling and simply ignoring the law has become a common practice for elected officials.

From a noble thought of influencing people with positive actions and leading them, politics have really become abusive, and for personal benefit.  There is no doubt that the aspiring leaders have high level of insight into the people’s current state of mind.  They probably enter into politics with the intent of great good of the people.  Whatever happens in quick succession is the power of money and power of the office take precedence over the common good.  Either democracies nor dictatorships, and in some cases self-appointed leaders though brute force, all of them somehow fall into the trap of power rather than politics, and forget the common good of the population.

The people themselves are not in any better cognizance in relationship to leaders.  We certainly don’t believe anymore that elected governments are really doing anything for the common good.  We simply cling on to hope.  Hope of a better tomorrow with better governance.  While politics have simply gone from common good to complete focus on individual benefit.

Ignorance or Bias?

Vasu Reddy from Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

Keeping up with India’s news online on a regular basis is simply part of the daily routine for myself and millions of other Indians.  It’s a part of my daily routine and fodder for my weekly blog and also chitchat with friends and family.  We still have the love for cricket, movies and politics.  We troll the internet to check on what our fellow countrymen are doing.  Along with breaking news and sports (mostly Cricket) and movies, the online updates from various web links provide a close connection to homeland on the other side of earth.  I am no different from any other NRI, I love my mother, motherland, cricket and movies, all long side of politics.  My likes have remained what they were since my first step to today.  Nothing changes, except where we live and what we have done, but roots remain.

Until this weekend, I would not notice bias in internet coverage of South Indian states.  I lived in North India for a few years before my journey to the USA. And being referred to as a Madrasi was of little offense to me in general.  I was young and did not know Hindi beyond a few words, but by the time I left I was proficient in one more language, gotten a degree and made lots of wonderful friends, and took the train back to Madras a happy man with great memories, and not the term Madrasi.  Things have changed, including the name of the City of Madras.  I am sure that my friends have not, and I have not.  I am sure of this.  We remain besties after a life time away from each other, still find brotherhood whenever we can find each other, and whenever we continue to find one more of our friends in the old gang.  I don’t believe that there was bias or bigotry in the term Madrasi from people of North India.  It was actually endearing to have them use the term, and also teach them the different languages of South India and also the people of South India.

Online news and coverage of India mainly focus on Delhi and politics with coverage for Mumbai and big industrial houses.  Movies focus on Bollywood, with a sprinkling of tidbits on other industries.  Although death, destruction and scams get great coverage irrespective of where they happen India.  One thing you notice if you start to dissect the coverage is the minimal effort that the writer’s out into the coverage of events that are outside of their comfort zone, especially when they cover south Indian news. One of the blatant references the idiots who write about movies always refer to the actors as south actor, south siren, or something with a south attached to it.  You will never hear a north something when they use 99% of the space in covering Bollywood.  The most idiotic stories are written about children of stars, clothes, homes, vacations and whatever so called life style of the movie actors. Force fed through the internet.  Till date it really did not strike a chord, when the south tag was used for just about every reference to the work of the movie industry.  I thought the age old ignorance was the reason rather than bias, when the coverage was about movie industry outside of Bollywood.

This week’s release of the Telugu movie “Bahubali” was a celluloid event that is worthy of the whole nation taking an interest.  The local Telugu media has been covering the making of the movie for almost 3 years.  The national media just started to cover the movie, days before its release.  What was surprising is some of the news starting to write about movie was somehow “Karan Johar’s” along with giving a second preference to the director of the movie S.S. Rajamouli.  It was only after part 1 of the movie was readied for release, Karan Johar got himself involved in distributing the movie is North India, and nothing else.  He had no involvement in making, producing or any other aspect of this movie.  Just because he became associated with the distribution of the movie, it all of a sudden becomes Karan Johar’s movie?

This is where you certainly notice the Bias.  Karan Johar is definitely one of the names to be reckoned with the Hindi movie industry.  There is no questioning his credentials on his continued contributions to movie making.  But the news of making him somehow a part of being the architect of a movie that has been in the making for 3 years was quite a stretch, that Karan himself would find amusing.

The movie has released and at the end of two days, has shattered every record of all Indian movie box office.  We really don’t know what it will do in its full run but for a Telugu movie it will certainly establish a bench mark that will be hard to beat for years to come, perhaps may be its part 2 that should come out in a year.  It is the most expensive Indian movie to be ever made.  All the lead actors and actresses are accomplished and successful.  Nothing has been written about them.  S.S. Rajamouli, the director has made hugely successful movies his entire career, and has been in the movie industry for more than a decade.  No mention of his accomplishments except for a tidbit about of his movies.  There is absolutely nothing written about the producers of the movie.

Definitely there was hype about the scale of the movie, and its graphics and grandeur, and the scope for the movie to be a global product.  The movie got released and lived-up to every expectation of the viewers.  The two day box office performance is phenomenal and certainly promising for the long run in brining smiles to the producers, distributors, actors as it has so far to the audience.  The national media is silent on the movie after its release, outside of releasing a few numbers here and there.  The same web channels have information on crap movies and gets them tracked on a daily basis.  Even the mention of the plot release related reactions are far and few in between, while referencing to movies that might come next week and may dent into the collections of the movie that puts Indian films on the world map.  My impressions on the national media went to zero.  Such blatant bias?

What is wrong with these guys? Is it that the regional movie makers are not wining and dining the national media?  For a movie that was made on the scale of Bahubali, and with pre-release expectation sky high, and the movie reaching the expectations should have been legendary in coverage.  Why there is no hype and pomp for such extraordinary cinematic achievement?

There is no number tracking, no actor interviews, no follow-up to movie goer reactions, no fan reactions, nothing in national media.  Just a blimp and gone.  This movie has not only lived-up to expectations, but shattered box office records on day one and day two, and will continue to do so in coming days.  For sure the movie has the song and dance sequences that cater to the Indian audiences.  The movie is also a grand adventure filled with excellent performances, great technical values and more than anything audience acceptance.  It has delivered rare cinematic excellence, and still the national media ignores it.

It’s a clear case of regional bias.  The hero, the villain along with the rest of the supporting cast deliver first rate performances, they get very little ink.  What else can be more biased than not covering the director’s vision, the technician’s brilliance and the producer’s belief in a quality cinema, on a global scale?  I am sure we will start hearing about one more superstar this and one more super kid that, and some other unbelievably stupid and personal cinematic news from the national media by Monday AM.   What else can we expect? We are still from Madras (that’s all of South India).

Human Nature - Part 1 of 3 - Money Matters

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

Since India’s Independence from the British in 1947, the prime minister’s office has escaped the taint of money.  From Jawaharlal Nehru to the current PM Narendra Modi (who is just over a year in the office) all the heads of state for India have not been accused of pocketing money.  They have all have had some issues on policy and matters and major portion of the office holders from Nehru/Gandhi family along with the short lived tenure of Lal Bahadur Shastri passed away in the office, and several other short lived tenures in the PM office remained taint free while in the office.  Modi certainly is a candidate that will continue the tradition of Indian PM’s not getting embroiled in the taint of money for favors.  In fact his main electoral message to the nation was “I will not eat and I will not let anyone else eat.”  He was referring to money for favors.  This phrase was probably one of the most endearing thing to hear for the Indian electorate, which believed him and voted his party into the office with a huge majority.

The last two INC governments had a massive share of scams by elected officials.  In just about every area of governance, money was scammed in huge amounts.  Even after the party was voted out of office, the old scams continue to come to light and the ministers facing the investigators and courts.

2014 electoral victory by the BJP and nationwide rejection of INC was primarily associated with the wide spread abuse of the office by the INC leadership in looting the public coffers.

To date with the administration. Modi keeps his immediate group of ministers and bureaucrats on a very short leash.  His reputation for micro management and no money needed approach seems to hold well at the center.

What is beginning to surface is the peripheral issues of his ministers involved in individual decisions that are deviating the government from its focus on issues on hand.  What also is coming as head line news is of the state level leaders being accused of scams and also the past deeds of association with people who are no longer in the good books with government, law and also the public.

The 24/7/365 press and internet play a great part in exposing even the minute issues and there is no escaping the watchful eyes of hundreds of millions of mobile cameras waiting to capture everything.  Nothing and no one is any longer away from the glaring eyes of the prying masses.

The top leadership of the nation barring an instance or two of impropriety, have not gotten in any money related issues in the first year in office.  Modi himself continues to be beyond reproach just like his predecessors.  His public persona is also intact with the money matters.  By and large there is no visible signs of any scams in the center after a year of governance despite the massive drive in investments in both public and private sectors.

There are several instances of the state level BJP leadership where issues have begun to crop up as they did when INC was in power.  Some of the state level ministers have shown their indulgences as the leaders of INC did.  Modi can certainly contain the state level governments as he does the central leadership.  He can crack the whip quickly to enforce the same level of scrutiny as he does at the center with all levels of government.  Exposing the politicians who dig into public coffers and more so to bring them to swift justice will stop future abuse of power.  All Modi has to do is to keep the pressure at all levels of government, and continued scrutiny and continued vigilance will keep the politicians in tow and start to discourage them from digging into public coffers.

The value of communications and constant vigil by the public and the government will slowly eliminate the rampant abuse of power and scams, as it has been shown in the past year.  People getting caught quickly and are taken to task, and the central leadership is dissuading the politicians and bureaucrats form scamming, should at least start to limit the abuses.  Money will continue to matter to politicians as the scale of the economy is only getting bigger and bigger, and the scope for creating loop holes also gets bigger, but the fear of exposure and public censure will definitely limit the blatancy in looting the public wealth.