United States of Andhra Pradesh

Vasu Reddy from Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

If we have three people from Andhra Pradesh, we might have several factions and groups, which might be aligned with everything under the sun.  One has to wonder how we can be called Telugu people with so much uncommon in our attitudes towards each other, and so much animosity to each other, even if we don’t belong to different districts of the state.  We can be neighbors and still don’t like each other.  Our differences are with everything from language, slang, caste, religion, and even street to street, from the regional differences.  Even our language has its own nuances and there is nothing that holds us together as one people and one state, and it is hard to imagine how the Telugu language survived such animosity between people that speak the language.

The late and beloved NTR fought for pride of the Telugu People until his death and his success as a politician was primarily based on the self determination and upholding the pride of Telugu people.  We Telugu people somehow were in one state of Andhra Pradesh for more than five decades and most of it strife ridden and un-cohesive as a unit of one language speaking people.  If there was a group of people who really lived together in indifference to each other, there is no better example than people of Andhra Pradesh.  Within their native places in India and when they migrate to other states or countries, we are so divisive in projecting ourselves as one unit.

The current situation with declaring the division of Andhra Pradesh into two separate states by the central government should come as no surprise to the people of Andhra Pradesh.  It does not behold the wishes of the common man, but is true to the politics of congress (divide and rule) and a few politicians in the state that keep driving the wedge of hatred on the regional basis of the current state.  We the people really believe in the constant badgering of hatemongering through every media outlet, and some innocents have given their life to the cause of separate statehood.  No amount of blood and destruction and hatred has been instrumental in declaration of separate statehood for the regions in Andhra Pradesh, but a political decision by a party that clearly doesn’t care about the socio-economic issues of any state, but only self-interest of its survival at the center.

We have destroyed enough infrastructures and killed enough innocents and spoke badly of everyone and anything in the world, and then come this unilateral declaration by the center without consultations and relevance to the state.  No one seems happy about the division once it was announced and the pro-division leaders and parties will no longer have any relevance to existence, and the anti-division leaders have no plans for a divided state.  The people are so polarized amongst themselves they have no idea of the impact or relevance of the division of the state and how and what needs to be done to make anything better in their environment.  The pro-division forces have already made comments on sending people to their original regions and the reactions from opposition have been swift and with some more violence.

There is no place for anyone to look from ten thousand miles away and make a recommendation on the separation or unification of any state or people.  The well being of a language and its race is more important than politics or people’s agendas.  The current state of the Telugu people is really up in limbo as their best interests or their economic considerations have not been fully thought out, and the leadership that might lead the divided state is not really showing any inclination to a partition that bears fruits to the people.  All this looks staged and political and has not put Telugu people first.

Goodbye Henry

Vasu Reddy from Chicago

vasureddy@aol.com

Henry was put to sleep on 24^th of July 2013.  The Greek term” Euthanasia” or the good death was upon him as he was no longer able to function on his own.  Animal euthanasia (from Greek, meaning "good death") is the act of humanely putting an animal to death or allowing it to die as by withholding extreme medical measures. Reasons for euthanasia include incurable (and especially painful) conditions or diseases, lack of resources to continue supporting the animal, or laboratory test procedures. Euthanasia methods are designed to cause minimal pain and distress. Euthanasia is distinct from animal slaughter and pest control, which are performed for purposes other than an act of mercy, although in some cases the killing procedure is the same.

In domesticated animals, this process is commonly referred to by euphemisms such as "lay down", "put down", "put to sleep", or "put out of its/his/her misery".  When he was put to sleep, Henry was 12 ½ years old when he really was unable to survive on his own and was very sick.

Henry was a yellow Labrador, and he was runt of the litter when Jamie picked him up from the owners’ of his parents.  Jamie was there when he was born, and since his adoption has always lived with Jamie and his family.  Jamie and his three children; Alex, Andrew and Alison and their cat Milo were a team.  Jamie is my brother and friend, every day I would get an update on how the guys were doing and never forgot Henry and Milo’s update, until last week when Henry’s time has come to go.  The kids are on holiday and they are away visiting grandparents and still don’t know of Henry’s passing away, and Jamie has not yet figured out how to tell them.  It will be hard to tell them that Henry who has been a part of their entire life is gone, and will not be around to watch them.

I have never seen Henry in person, but he was very much a part of Jamie and his family and they were very much attached to him, and he towards them.  I never had a dog, as I did not live at home most of my life and when I grew up never made an effort, but always admired the animals and their love of humans.  Dogs, cats, horses and domesticated animals in India such as cows, buffalos and chickens and goats, and whatever we chose to raise and care for, and at the same time they have their undivided devotion to their owners.

Henry’s loss is deeply felt, and also brings into the question of Euthanasia.  The doctor, the owner and the surroundings determine the final decision to put down the animal, and it must be a difficult choice to make for the humans involved.  It is just to see that the suffering ends in a kind and gentle manner, albeit a very painful and heartfelt decision to make.  Good bye Henry.

Financial Reality

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

Last week the newspapers highlighted that the City of Detroit has declared bankruptcy.  It’s a major city that is renowned for it its car manufacturing; being the home of the biggest car manufacturers in the world including GM, Ford and Chrysler along with many other auto businesses, and their suppliers and support services. This is the motor city which is the capital of auto manufacturing in the world, and just went bankrupt.

Detroit not only lost its good credit, but also a major portion of its population.  Only in America this happens that a major city is allowed to follow the natural course of correcting its financial abilities, and Detroit declaring bankruptcy should not be regarded as a shameful event, rather the nation facing the reality with changes to population, jobs, infrastructure and a slew of financial and accounting issues that are a fact of life.

It is quite commonplace for individuals and companies to face bankruptcy and restructuring the balance sheet to get back into facing normalcy of the day, after going thru tough economic times.  It is also fact that not having the foresight forces bankruptcy, and the country allows for restructuring and reentry into a normal financial status after a period of time where you are allowed to restructure the balance sheet, and start fresh and start contributing to the economy once again.

What is a cultural shock is to read about a major city like Detroit declaring bankruptcy.  It probably is a long time coming for this city and perhaps a few more big and small cities that have lost a large portion of their tax revenues and also population.  Detroit is still a great city with a big suburban population which is still very much blustering with people and jobs, it is just that the city of Detroit that has lost its people and revenues beyond a reasonable rate to sustain its cost structure.

The news papers cover the story in front pages and display the empty streets and boarded-up homes, and lost population.  They also highlight the imbalance with the balance sheet and the city no longer able to pay its bills, and also highlight all the wrongs of the situation now.  No one wants to take into account that a major or minor city cannot go bankrupt overnight.  The support for borrow and spend attitude of the people in power goes from Washington to states, major cities, small cities and small towns and villages.  Everyone wants everything on earth and the best services to be provided, but no one is willing to pay for the benefits that they are asking the cities or states and the country.  The gap between incoming revenues and outgoing expenses along with the demand for services (along with growing dependence on the state and national support for services for the new population) only gets wider and wider as people don’t want to pay for the demand for services by the new population, along with the old commitments that are already on the books.  It should come as no shock to people who are leading the city to bankruptcy, and everyone wants services but don’t want to pay for them.  As drastic as bankruptcy sounds, Detroit declaring bankruptcy should be an an eye opener for both people and administrators.  You cannot have a good thing going on forever and not account for it or pay for it.  No free lunch.

As bad as it sounds about a major city going bankrupt, it should serve as an eye opener for managing the resources and also the people.  Jobs, relocation, immigration, changes to economy, demographics, management and whatever else is required to manage the resources of the entire nation needs to be in focus, rather than a single city facing bankruptcy.  All People in the country, politicians and the administrators; all as a group needs to start to look at this as an exercise to live within available means.

Equality for All

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

The democratic nations are still undergoing the metamorphosis of acceptance that all people are created with equal importance and equal rights.  Granted that women and men are biologically different, and people come in all shapes and sizes and colors; all said and done; we humans are equal to one other.  Over centuries of cultivated traditions and cultures and the human behavior to make rules that best suit the powerful, many things we know as norms have been followed by societies.  In varying degrees men and women have different behaviors and roles in daily life, and the society itself over time has made up some way of life for men and women.

In the recent decades there has been a gradual detachment to the age old rules and traditions laid out for men and women, and people in some parts of the world have been embracing the equality aspect of all a bit more progressively than others.  Democracies have also been fostering the equality for all a little more actively than other forms of governments.  Many of the democracies such as UK and India, along with many others have already had women national leaders, demonstrating that women can lead large nations and do so effectively.  There is no question in the equality aspect for humans when it comes to intelligence and dedication; just that we must be in an environment that fosters education and dignity.

Civil rights movement, gay rights movement, fighting for religious freedom and minority rights movement and many other instances where a certain group of people raise their voices to achieve equality in the society have been done and will continue to be in force as long as human beings exist.  We as a clan disagree often and show individual preference for way of life often.  There is nothing wrong in individual choices, just that we don’t want to trample on others right to exist.

Although India is the largest (and probably going to be) democracy on earth the differences of opinions of people are rampant.  We are a country which fosters secularism, and thus a greater variety of disagreements within the population.  The languages spoken, the caste system, the parochial attitudes and whatever human fragilities we can imagine are engrained in the population of the country, which is at best difficult to have any kind of consensuses.  We constantly argue and debate and disagree more than any other human population, and just about every Indian wants to see the other guy be a fool rather than achieve.  We seldom have praise for our fellow citizens, and rarely have one voice against our nation or our people.  We squabble over everything and disagree on just about everything.  The sates and districts, towns and villages and even small gatherings of people typically are against something than for something.  Granted that democracy offers people a choice of opinion, but we are so opinionated; we have multiple opinions on everything.  We as a society thrive on argument rather than unity.

The nations around us; big and small step on our people and policies and we simply argue internally about non-issues rather than act as a unified nation in response to the unprovoked aggression.  When disasters happen we try to blame someone or the other, rather than lending a helping hand.  We have many laws and regulations, but we only want someone else to follow them, and none of us feel that all laws are equal to all people, but we still want equality for all.  Such a dichotomy for our nation but wanting equality, but will not want to follow the rules.

How we can have equality for all if we only want the other person to follow the rules and we ignore the obvious?  A nation of vast population and equally vast values and traditions but people of the nation who disregard the laws and think they are only made for others.  The politicians and leaders who fume the people’s passions based on hatred and distrust continue to feed on the intolerances built into our society, and will continue to want to have people fear of something that is not really there, but believe that it could happen.

We are a very long way from equality for all in the society, and it is difficult to fathom when we can foster such a democratic country.  The politics and policies are continuing to be more regressive to the best interests of the nation, while focusing only on being in power.  The country will be pretty soon out of scams as there is not a single field that has been untouched by some form of a scam.  We are quite some time away from equality for all, as the current crop of politicians and leaders have forgotten what it means to strive for equality.  They are all too busy in trying hard to be in power, and those who are not, trying very hard to get into power.

Divide and Rule

Vasu Reddy from Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

From the ancient Greeks to the British until they ruled most of the world use the divide and rule concept quite effectively.  The concept refers to a strategy that breaks up existing power structures and prevents smaller power groups from linking up.  After the British split India 1947 before leaving the Indians and Pakistanis to their own self governance, (later Pakistan and Bangladesh in 1971), they also left Indians with Indian National Congress (“INC”) to govern the newly independent India.  Along with the independence the INC also inherited the divide and rule policy of the British, so well learned were the congressmen in the policies of British, they have continued to follow the divide and rule administrative polices even after many generations of independence from the British.

There is very little of INC and British influence from 1947 on the current crop of politicians.  The ideals of the original founders of INC might have been noble in the cause of driving out the British invaders out of the occupied land, but they rarely thought of self-governance of a large country with diverse religions, languages and agendas.  India is and was very diverse from its original existence, and the land was always of different cultures and traditions.  Prior to and with the invasion of the British, French and Portuguese and others the larger Hindustan was nothing but a loose confederation of kingdoms that coexisted with each other.  They fought with each other and the invaders from the time of Alexander the Great, and even before.  Before the invasion of occupying forces of the Europeans, the greater Hindustan survived and flourished with their kingdoms coexisting with each other and each with great diversity and tradition that is still etched into the societies of today.

Many hundreds of years of invasions, and occupation and the eventual British rule prior to the modern day India, and countries around it, have kept the people and their traditions and languages intact.  The changes in geographic boundaries and technology that allows for instant communications have not been able to wipe out the age old bickering, which was instilled by the British pitting one Indian against other for their gains, and long after the British and other invaders have left India, the bickering continues to exist among the various groups of Indians who are segregated by language, culture and traditions.

The current crop of politicians are continuing to practice the policies of divide and rule even today, while the people seem to be oblivious to the politicking which is continuing to erase the importance of using the limited resources of the nation to build the future, rather keep themselves in power.  There is no question in not being able to meet the demands of many sections of Indian fabric, as each of them have their own fascination with what was wronged to their particular community by the country, ignoring that it is impossible to get representation of every person in the nation at every planning stage.  The politicians who are in power typically try to take care of their own constituents to make effort to represent their electorate, and that is typical of any elected politician.  Some politicians try to play to keep their positions and play to the national leadership and ignore the voices of their constituents, and if the requirements of a certain section of the population get ignored there is bound to be dissatisfaction in the regions that feel ignored.

India for more than a couple of decades has been grappling with center verses states issues that continue to plague the national governance.  The population is getting so large, even a very small percentage of the people are a fairly large vote bank.  Everyone is disgruntled at the leadership, and the leadership really doesn’t have the resources to address the issues of the people.  The bigger issue for the government is to retain power and they continue to only do enough to be in power.  There is no planning to meet the growing population and its needs; rather the government is busy full time in surviving.  The large number of scams in every level of the country and states eat up most of the resources that the nation has, and the government is unable to curb the scams at any level, and they keep cropping up every day.

Now Congress is going to use the divide and rule policy once again, as they have done many times in their rule.  If this one occasion was the only time they have contemplated the division of a state, there could be merit to the decisions heeding to the demands of the people, but the decision making is being contemplated only to keep one party from coming into power, and retaining the power at the center.  Although no decisions have been publicly communicated, the INC seems to adopt the policy of divide and rule once again, but doesn’t seem to take into account the needs and requirements of the population that will be affected by the decisions it will make for the sake of being in power.

Learn and Rebuild

Vasu Reddy from Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

The devastation caused by heavy rains is continuing to raise the human casualties along with unimaginable loss of property.  There is really little evidence on how many people have been lost in the floods due to the way the Indians keep track of their near and dear ones.  One might never know how many people might have perished in the floods and the loss of livelihood in the aftermath.  One can only imagine about the number of people who perished in their path to devotion.  There is also a lot of talk on the loss of businesses around the temple along with washed away guest houses and other areas that were built around the temple premises.

Now that the devastation has already happened and the human fragility has been completely in the open, it is perhaps a great time to do the right things to necessitate the rebuilding that will allow for the holy places to be intact for thousands of years to come.  To start with these places of worship have been standing the test of time and weather for hundreds of years and they have seen every possible natural causing that we can possibly imagine.  The holy shrines are not new to severe weather; be it snow, rain or any combination thereof, and have been free standing in their pristine surroundings for centuries.  The weather has always been unpredictable, and trying to fight the might of the weather gods has not been possible for humans from the beginning of time.

The devastation caused is not just because of severe weather, but stripping the natural surroundings of the cover it provided to the holy places, and as well as the areas surrounding the mountains and rivers.  Human greed and unplanned development, and me syndrome are the causes of stripping the natural surrounding that protected the pristine places of its protection from flash floods and severe weather.  It is not just the remote and pristine places that are being bulldozed by humans but the entire nation is being abused beyond repairable stage by people, and they simply don’t care about what might happen to their surroundings and what will remain for generations to come.  

The nature has a way of reinventing itself and despite the harshness shown by humans it can typically bounce back with its beauty by rebuilding its natural surroundings by getting a little care from who occupy its surroundings.  The cost of what has happened is immeasurable to both human and natural environment, but steps can be immediately taken to help both the natural habitat and human workforce.

Instead of the country’s politicians bickering over their helping hand to the affected population and the environment, they should immediately adapt to the idea of conservation and reforestation, along with planned development along the forests and rivers.  India has an abundance of people power and intellectual power to develop and execute to preserving the environment and saving the human life; both simultaneously.

With so much rhetoric from the politicians, no immediate actions are taken to help with the physical and psychological aspects of the devastation.  The plan can be very simple to find eminent and experienced people in conservation and have them devise a plan for India’s rivers and forests.  Every nation has natural calamities, and typically the nation comes together to help and restore the environment, while lending helping hand to those who suffer natural calamities.  India with its vast population and fairly reasonable resources should seek the expertise of its people to rebuild its rivers and reforest the nation.  There is no lack of political support to help the people and save the holy places, just that the focus is more on political one-upmanship, rather than helping the needy and saving the environment.

The government and the opposition parties should simply use every resource it has to help rebuild the rivers and canals, and deploy all its resources to reforestation, along with curbing illegal building and development.  While the idea might be simple to say, it will be difficult to practice in India as the national interests will be rarely put ahead of personal and political gain.  When you see the coverage on the plight of the pilgrims compared the coverage of the politicians bickering and taking credit is given more prominence, which clearly shows that idiocy is television worthy.  The nation should react to the disasters as a whole; the volunteers of India can always outnumber the politicians to take charge of protecting the country’s wonderful and pristine landscape, by simply taking steps to help protect the environment.  Before and even after independence India and its population are capable of putting nation first, and putting India’s natural resources first is not out of bounds for the citizens.  It is time to start respecting the precious nature and our surroundings and every able person can help a lending had to rebuild and recreate the magic of India that it was.  God will certainly smile on us when our environment turns back to green forests, wild life and humans coexisting, flowing rivers and pristine and unpolluted nature all around, along with people having respect for each other and mother nature.  Each and every person can help in rebuilding the beautiful country that was and can be with a little bit of effort from every individual.

What Can God Do?

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

The flash floods and devastation caused by the melting snow and continuous rain in the holy places in India has been long time coming.  Human greed, human neglect and encroachment, and unplanned development, careless attitude towards nature and every imaginable use of natural resources is the cause for devastation that is unprecedented.  God has always chosen to reside at faraway places which are pristine in nature and hard to reach for thousands of years, but man who with his greed and animosity and utter disregard for the environment and nature is the cause of devastation which is becoming a common occurrence not just in holy places, but the world over.

Far off and pristine places where god chose to reside have become places of worship for everyone, and have become commercial enterprises with roads and buildings, shops and restaurants and hotels and motels; and whatever needed to have humans visit these once faraway and remote places with relative ease.  Everything around the holy shrines once protected by nature and trees and hills and wildlife has been converted to tourist spots with total disregard for the ecosystem and environment.  The holy shrines have survived for hundreds of years without floods or avalanches and natural destruction, but have always welcomed the devotees who were willing to trek to the holy places in faith and devotion, and also taking the most difficult path to see the lord.  Sometimes it took days or weeks by foot, and through the forests and only at a certain time of the year to visit these holy places, but devoted pilgrims made the effort needed to pay their respects to the almighty despite the difficulty of the way to see the good lord.

The last generation or so have made a tourist trade of visiting the holy shrines, and even the remotest of places are being bombarded by tourists who want to be quick pilgrims.  As much as the human indifference to the almighty and the nature surrounding the lord, the encroachment of the surrounding areas of the shrines and deforestation and unplanned building has continued to contribute to the demise of the natural habitat that protected the shrines in the remotest parts of the country.  Everywhere you go, and every place you visit the sea of humanity over powers the feeling of devotion.  People push and shove and shout and spit and have very little regard for people around them.  If you have a little bit of money you use the holiest of the shrines as pleasure trips and bribe your way through the line to see the lord.  The concept of religion and devotion has been taking a real beating by human greed and disregard.

Whatever is happening with Kedarnath, Badrinath and other holy places is truly the causing of the humans.  God cannot help with stopping the human greed and human disregard for fellow humans and nature, god can only point humans to do the right thing.  We; humans are solely responsible for the destruction and devastation of the resources on earth and now we are even targeting the solar system.  We only think of ourselves; just me and me and me, and no one and nothing else.  The greatest gift god gives us is our life, and we choose to destroy and abuse our surroundings and environment, and have no remorse in causing destruction.  We have in a span of four or five generations have destroyed the natural wealth of the earth to extinction, and now are looking for far away planets for occupation and further destruction.

God can’t help us with thinking and planning, as when we are given life we are given the reasoning to do the right things and live the right way.  We seldom adhere to the human reasoning and human nature, but only to use and utilize the surroundings around us.  The man upstairs made us smart but we choose to be too smart for our own good and others around us.  God can’t save us, we have already abused every aspect of life and nature and we really don’t care about what happens to others or even ourselves.  The common phrase “only god can save us” is a thing of the past, as no one can save us from us.

Limitations of Being an Indian Politician

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

Although there are opposition parties in India that are simply opposing the Indian National Congress “INC”, the main opposition party that has come to force has been Bharatiya Janata Party “BJP” that has come into existence as a political party of national stature in the 1970’s.  There are many regional parties that align with a language and or a particular caste or sometimes even a leader or a family.  The main political parties typically rely on a leader and typically try to follow the personal philosophy of the individual.  The biggest asset for the party and its followers is the philosophical and ideological inspiration that comes from the leader, and during the lifetime of the leader he/she influences inordinate influence on the working of the party and its cadre.  The utmost respect that is bestowed on the party leaders is unparalleled anywhere among the free societies of the world.

India although continues to embrace western economic theories and open markets for wealth creation and somewhat of a modernization of its infrastructure, still lives in age old habits of living and following traditional attitudes.  Albeit the country has its share of hooligans and wasted individuals who rob and rape, kill and do all things that are anti-social and anti-people, by and large the country which wants to be very modern in life still continues to live in the olden days of traditional and religious structured society.  Repressed people who live in constant stresses of daily life where culture does not meet development, where people who want to progress verses people who want to intimidate, so much clash of all types of life styles and attitudes; all of them account for news worthy items of 27/7/365 badgering on viewers and readers.

There is no dearth of material for scribes in India, and in all languages.  With all the news worthy stories, politics and politicians remain constant front page news to keep the channels occupied.  Politicians have such a narrow outlook on their views of the world, their constituents and the nation, and often have no comprehension of the needs of the people they represent.  The whole nation is so parochial, to the extent it simply has no ability to look beyond the political bosses of the party they represent.  The special parochial attitude is no engraved in the INC, they leaders have absolutely no individual style, substance nor thought process.  They get into the party because of their background or money, and then pledge undying sub-severance to the leaders of the party.  For the third generation of politicians and their followers for generations simply follow the leader, and don’t have a people agenda.  The leaders only want to be in power, and run the nation irrespective of what is happening to the day to day needs of the people of the country.

It is well documented that a few people/families have been highly successful in building vast business enterprises in infrastructure, and some in information technology and telecommunications, but the majority of the Indians still have the greatest parochial attitude that has existed on the earth.  For some reason we as a society continue to look at the same leaders again and again for direction and leadership to bring better days and better living standards.  The world itself has constantly evolved with one revolution or the other, one development or the other, one technology or the other, and something that keeps making advances for a better society.  For some time during the information technology boom, India seem to have caught on the global economic boom, which was also fueled by the telecommunications industry boom, which seem to have fizzled as quickly as it took off.  The world constantly evolves with ideas that impact the life of the global population, and often when deployed and effectively adopted; it benefits enormously in reaping the benefits of the technological or philosophical changes.

We as Indians always are looking for either adopting technologies that are already extensively in use, or try to copy other economies, sometimes follow them at the end of the adaptation cycle where the benefits are not as typical as of early adaptors.  The country keeps boasting of individual brilliance, but will seldom push for a nation-wide plan of education, planning and successful indigenous processes and technology.  The parochial attitude of our leaders seldom allows for the nation to look for opportunities beyond normal.

The love for the nation and its wellbeing is seldom put in front of the national agenda, due to the blind and often narrow outlook of the politicians.  The difficulty of thinking beyond the political leaders and their interests will not allow the politicians to do anything beyond self-interest and keeping their leaders entertained.  In a democratic society, parochial attitude will not allow for forward thinking to help build plans and executing them to the good of the people.  Indian politicians have 100% limitations in just being what they are, and until we move away from the parochial attitude, we will never be able to focus on the needs of the people.

Someone Is Watching You

vasureddy@aol.com
Vasu Reddy From Chicago

All over the world people are doing something that is good, bad or ugly every second.  There is no escaping whatever you are doing or whatever place you are, and with whomsoever you are in any situation you might be in.  Some is watching you, every second of your life.  As I write every time, the emails or text messages, and probably every call that is made, even a missed call or an unanswered call; every one of them has a track and someone has a way of monitoring the communications.

For those who like music, the song “Eye in the Sky” from Alan Parson’s Project from1982 is a wonderful recollection and reminder of someone is watching you.  Perhaps the wonderful song captured what was to come with the communications revolution of the last 30 years with mobile and internet, and telephony and video and any which way we have developed the ability to communicate with each other.  The ability to reach each other by voice or video, or find someone immediately or instantly is an opportunity for people who want to be in touch, and need to communicate.  Much of the communications between people personal and most times frivolous and are done in media that is inexpensive, and people simply want to talk and talk and even see one another constantly.  With unlimited calling plans and cheap and fast internet available to everyone, face time and Skype and the messengers and many other communications media has become as common as drinking water or eating a snack.  There is constant use of the mobile phone and internet based chat systems is as common as watching TV these days.

The airwaves and internet pipes are full of chatter both voice and video, along with words being sent across without abandon.  In the olden days when communism was prevalent there was a constant watch on the people who lived under the communist regimes, and there was governments looking into groups or individuals for antinational activities in democratic societies.  While the communists monitored their populations openly and aggressively, the democratic societies were not so open in admitting to the snooping of its people.  Many years, sometimes decades after the actual incidents things were out in the open, and only when people who participated in the activity were no longer living and or the statute of limitations were expired.

It should be no surprise that the governments are watching just about every call you make or every message you write.  The reason might be to look at extremism or terrorism; which might lead to destruction.  It is also likely that they have specific target groups of people that might instigate anti-national activities or international disturbance which will impact the overall well being of societies.  Sometimes the governments have been in successful in preventing incidents that would have caused major damages to both property and life.  In face governments probably prevent thousands of such activities unknown to the public or will never make them public in the best interest of the society in general.  Snooping is a part of counter-intelligence and has been since the beginning of time, and has been helpful in preventing anti-social elements from destabilizing the societies.

There is no secret to what the governments are doing in trying to track unsavory elements and preventing the loss of life and property.  Also, if some act of terror or espionage is forced on the countries they use the eyes watching to catch the perpetrators.  The last few global incidents that have caused harm have been quickly and successfully been traced to the perpetrators, and governments being successful in catching the bad guys.

 

If the utility of the man watching from above is for the purpose of benefitting the society and catching the bad guys, it is commendable.  There are thousands of incidents that have been prevented because of the eye in the sky.  For someone who is simply communicating and has no intention of wrongdoing there should be no worry on the eye in the sky, and also assuming that the governments and the intelligence agencies are tracking communications to stop the bad guys.  We as a society has always known that someone is watching what we do, and now with the continued evolution of communications, we should have no doubt that someone is watching us.

Time to Work and Govern

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

If the elected politicians spend all their time with traveling to meet the party bosses, throwing allegations and challenges to their own colleagues and opponents, and raising money to contest the next election or fatten their bank accounts; when will they have time to do people’s work and manage their responsibilities in the government?

All the elected officials and the ones appointed by them have a schedule by season to attend the appropriate sessions to debate, discuss, argue and also participate in the democratic process of governing the people’s business.  Of late much of this time is spent on accusations and arguments on everything but the people’s business.  Parties in power and parties in opposition make it a point to do everything but hurl accusations and insults in the very chambers they are representing people, and where they are supposed to discuss, debate and make policies to manage the people’s daily business.

The country which has meager resources, but vast population needs every bit of attention by the politicians and bureaucrats to manage their resources with great care to maximize the value of the country’s holdings.  But we see no inclination from anyone in the elected office to show any inclination of helping with resources management or people issues.  Before and after elections the focus of the politicians is constantly on making more money and defaming opponents.  The assembly sessions have often turned into shouting matches and sometimes fist cuffs; often turning into confrontations between old men and women, neither beholding the office they hold nor the people they represent.

The politicians have been hurling accusations against every person who they oppose in choice language and every imaginable crime that they can think of.  No one is being spared of the abuses, even the highest office holders in the nation.  Men and women are abused equally disregarding their age, office, qualifications and their experience.  At the end of each day we have the same set of politicians, who are either in power of in opposition over decades of life in politics, but none have learned the art of governance after getting elected, rather they seem to be perfecting the art of abusing and accusing.

We have rarely seen a politician making a policy speech which is of importance to their countrymen.  We have seldom encountered an elected official represent the best of the country to the world.  We have yet to see a short or long term plan to address the many evils of the society, and its failings in decency and common sense.  We don’t see the desire to make India what it should be leading into one more century, rather simply thrive on blurting out what the other person did wrong.  If our politicians only invested the negative energy to delve into the many issues the country faces, and even for a short amount of time invest into people’s issues, we certainly will see a greater India.

There are so many common issues we have as a nation we can address and fix, and so many common sense matters that can be constantly addressed by people in power to better influence the people of the nation.  The entitlement people have in being an elected representative of the people, should enlighten them to work hard in representing the people’s issues and spend time in governing their office.  So much can be done in simple communications to the people on a daily basis on civic responsibility and education and tolerance.  If all the unwanted publicity towards accusations and anger if pointed at the people issues and advocating democratic principles there will be a pointer towards issues management that are of concern to the citizens.

Our politicians must learn from the principals of the three monkeys; see no evil, speak no evil and do no evil.  The massive media and communications channels available to public officials can be directed at areas of civil obedience, respect for fellow citizens, education, tourism and entertainment; rather than public display of anger and abuse.  Even if we grant that media wants to sensationalize the events and is only interested in arguments and fights, we can still start to instill working and governance as main objectives of the politicians, rather than fist cuffs and abuses.

We are a country which in a matter of less than 20 years went from a few minutes of television and no mobile or internet communications to a country which is saturated with media and internet, we can also become a nation of appreciation and proper planning to cater to the needs of the people.  In a country which has such diversity of needs, there is no need to think of the negatives, rather project the future that is full of promise and work towards the bright future which is something all citizens look forward to.

A Reason to Shop

Vasu Reddy from Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

USA has a lot of days where the shops advertise massive sales; just another way of keeping the prices very high and announcing a reduction in price due to sale.  As much as 50% or more and in some cases as much as 80% or 90% is offered as reduction from the original price.  There must be no place on earth the idea of sale is as widely used by the retailers as in the USA.  Everywhere you go, and just about every week the stores advertise in the newspapers, fliers and internet with sometimes on sale to keep customers coming into the store, and buy what they need and also on impulse.

Today is Memorial Day and one of the busy days for retailers who advertise massive reduction in their entire inventories.   Colorful advertisements show massive reduction in prices on everything that is available in stores; especially the big retailers make every effort to attract holidaying shoppers into walk into the store.  Along with millions of Americans and families, I too walked into the mall with the sale papers cleared marked for items that we wanted to buy at attractive prices.  Primarily the selection of stuff were things we need every day for the already here summer season.  A whole car full of us went to the mall, and I dropped everyone at the door and parked the car and walked into the store.  As always I forgot the papers that we spent time marking-up, and planned for a whole week to purchase.  After walking into the store is when I remembered I had forgotten the papers that had the list of things we wanted to buy.

After going through the store and spending at least twice the amount of money as we planned to spend prior to going to the mall, and getting back into the car and driving home is when we started to think that we did not buy one thing that we had planned on purchasing while looking through the sale papers and palling for the big spending trip to the mail on Memorial Day.  There are absolutely no regrets in what we did and how we spent the money, but the fascination with massive sales and how we simply forget to buy what we plan to buy, rather buy things that catch the eyeballs.

Along with a hundred million or more Americans in the malls and shopping complexes today, I am very sure we were simply a part of the crowds who follow the American way for shopping.  We buy on impulse, but we travel to the mall on a purpose.  I did ask the sales lady of she had a copy of the sales papers before we ventured into buying stuff.  She said they did not keep them in the stores.  I know for a fact if she looked she would have found bundles of sales papers, but she did not want to and simply said they did not keep them in the store.  It did not matter to us as we were already digging into the shelves in finding what appealed to us and started to stack them up to go the cash register.  It did not bother us that our focused planning on looking through the papers and making up the things we wanted to buy.  We all walked away with hands full of stuff, and looking at the sales on what we bought, and were happy with what we bought.

Only after driving a while we thought that we did not buy one single thing we planned to buy prior to making the trip.  Just like a 100 million others, we too have been religious American shoppers through the years, simply looking to be a part of a system that is so well planned to get just about everyone who lives or visits the USA to be drawn to a shopping complex at every major day (we have so many each season to name them all), and every season typically requires different things for people to be drawn into the mall.

I have no regrets or issues with just being one more average person who gets drawn into serious planning, but when the time comes to simply follow the isles of the shop.  Plans or no plans you got to keep buying stuff, even if you don’t have any place to put them.  Eventually you will have enough stuff to have a garage sale, but that is a topic for another day.

As much as you enjoy the time at the mall on holidays, it is fascinating how every time a major holiday comes we get drawn into the shopping mall buy only buy things that are really are not on the list.  A sale is a sale and especially at major holidays it is difficult to be drawn away from using the credit card, and pay later.  American way of life well orchestrated, but unplanned.

How Much Is Enough?

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

In a never ending saga of professional atheletes continuing to display greater greed, we have the latest of the Cricketers throwing in the towel for money.  Literally throwing in the towel is a reference to playing for money, and nothing more.  They might have definitely influenced the outcome of the games where they cheated on behalf of the gamblers, and for very little financial gain throw away the games and the very hard work of their teammates and the great following of millions of fans.  It makes little common sense to throw games in the age of electronics and communications; as getting caught doing something (good or bad) is always a certainty.

In the same game where Dravid, Tendulkar, Kumble, Ganguly, Sehwag, Harbajan and others are still active, these youngsters worked for bookies rather than their teams.  They have had great teammates and leaders who have played the game for a long time and exemplified the hard work of a professional athlete.  They also are involved in the tournament which pays everyone a handsome fee for a short season and very short time on the field.  They still chose to chase a few bucks to toss games and destroy the enthusiasm of millions of fans.

The sad story is that these fellows did not learn from their counter parts who were involved in mat fixing before and got caught, and were taken to task.  The world over the lure of quick money and other incidentals along with the money are a constant lure to the sportspersons.  At every stage of a competitive situation, there a lure of throwing in the towel to the advantage of bookies betting from the sidelines, but the fame of a professional athlete is a lifelong and everlasting compensation which can never be measured in money; although the professional athletes of today make enormous amounts of money outside of the fame bestowed on them by the every adoring public.

The biggest lie is to cheat on your team and the bigger sin is to think you will get away in this age of constant monitoring by the media and enterprise; both police and criminal.  The communications and contacts once made cannot be erased, and if there is any doubt that someone will get away with a brazen act of public action such as throwing a game away is simply imponderable.  These guys are not just selfish, but plain stupid.  The very fact that they got to play at the level they were playing was a blessing in itself in a world with such vast amount of talent.  Outside of the luck they had in being picked for playing in IPL, they were also paid very handsomely for a few hours of work, and outside of money the fan adulation was immeasurable.  Still these blessing were not good enough, and they had to chase a few more dollars on the side and betray the trust of the team and people.

Whatever the repercussions of the deeds of the few, the game and the teams suffer consequences beyond just the few games of the season.  Everyone who is playing will be scrutinized for every action, and it will take quite some time to regain the fun of the game and the professionalism of the players who are hard at work.

 

Unfortunately there are always going to be a few bad apples in the bunch and will cause a whole lot of grief to the following public and the serious professionals who play hard every day.  However many times we have seen the match fixing saga in different continents, it may never seize to exist in professional sports, but attacking this with vigor is important for future of the sports; people who will think of cheating again must be made to see the consequences of their actions, so at least they will think twice about cheating again.

No Way Out

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

What will happen to India and its people?  If we continue to be held hostage to scams, murder and rape, and disinterest in the society by the ones who are a privileged few in a large country with a vast population.  Earlier today one of the fellow NRI’s was wondering what will happen to India, if we continue to face such serious social issues that are highlighted everyday in India.  He wondered what kind of future the generations of today will have if we don’t make appropriate adjustments to the behavior of the general public and callousness in dealing with fellow human beings.  For a moment one has to wonder why a man 10,000 miles away from his home is worried, and what will be going on in the minds of the men and women who live in India, and have to deal with these instances every day.

Everyone loves the country, and no question about it.  Why don’t we show the same respect to our fellow men and women and children?  Why don’t we respect the other person space and property?  Why don’t we follow the rules and regulations?  Why don’t we work hard for what we have and what we need?  Why don’t we find ways of self-sustaining?  Why don’t we stop looking for ways to cut short the queue?  Why and how and what if; so many things we can be doing as a democratic and civil society, but we choose not to.  No one has the answer to the many questions on why we don’t want to be a society of laws and regulations.  Each and every person of Indian descent; if they live in India or living elsewhere must wonder what is happening to India.

A government full of yes men who got elected with the power of the money or on the name of the party, managed by a group of old men and women who are far too removed from the civilians, autocrats that are just sitting and following politicians orders, government agencies working on the whims of elected officials, any other agency or organization that is a part of the system that is not independent and cannot function to its principals.  Government in power at the center being far too removed from the states and functioning of each of the local bodies to be able to help and guide them to meet the needs of the people.  So much disconnect in the country that no one knows what the plan of action to deal with the ever increasing demand for resources and education and infrastructure.

While the country so how sustains on year to year basis; there is no plan for overall development and how the needs of the billion plus people can be met.  The continued emphasis is on keeping the seat or continuing in power at any cost.  The nation does have highly intelligent and educated leaders, who for some reason have forgotten their experience and education.  Many of the center and state level politicians have the ability to plan and implement programs for the requirements of the people, but they have simply forgotten their abilities and only focus on retaining their seats.

India has skipped the industrial revolution, financial revolution and information revolution, web revolution and whatever other revolutions that might have been a part of the global phenomenon in the last three generations, and only embraced the intolerance and impertinence of a whole country’s population.  Whatever gains the country makes in participating in the global enterprise, gets quickly erased by the deeds of its citizens and specially politicians.

In a country where there is no respect for laws and the country cannot embrace adopting laws that will protect its citizens, it will be very difficult to find its way out of indecency and incompetence.  Just a few pockets of excellence cannot be termed as guiding lights to the entire population.  We must do soul searching and self-respect for the country, its citizens and the society as a whole.  It is improbable that the current leaders and the standards they have set and the path they leading the country, will be ever a basis for a true and independent democracy.  We have become a society that has no respect for our fellow beings, and we are run by leaders who neither has the courage to tackle the nations wrongs nor the encroachment by the neighbor nations.  We are simple in run by leaders who are looking out for their seats and how to win the next election, and while in power making sure that they make as much hay as possible.  There is no way out for the citizens from the vicious circle of scams and incompetence.

Self Respect Of Telugu People

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
Vasureddy@aol.com

NTR is probably one of the most beloved Telugu leaders and long after his passing away he continues to be in the hearts of Telugu people.  World over NTR and Telugu folks associated with one another, and his passing away has never diminished his aura as a man of the masses, and a man who represented the self respect of the Telugu people.  When I left India NTR was still romancing Sri Devi, Jaya Prada, Jaya Sudha and other young ladies, and entertaining our people prior to the age of TV serials and Internet.  There was absolute adoration of NTR along with other heroes of his time and the movies were a great source of entertainment and relief to the people of all generations.

For many generations of people NTR will be and continue to be the foremost bearer of the pride of the Telugu People.  He was on screen and off the screen a man who had great command of the language and issues and the pulse of the Telugu people.  He reached out to all around him and was simple yet charismatic in his approach to delivering to his audience’s heart and mind; together and appealing to the sense of pride of a language and its people.

Hundreds of movies portrayed him in just about every social, political, historical and mythological get ups, and he enthralled one and all with each one of them.  When he entered politics, his simple formula for success was self-respect of the Telugu people, which appealed to every man, woman and child who was of Telugu descent.  The message was simple to reach to the people from their favorite star reaching out to each and every one of Telugu ancestry as the self-respect is a matter of pride.  It strikes a chord with every person to speak of their language and its people in terms of dignity and respect.  It doesn’t mean that NTR was the first person to raise the consciousness of Telugu pride, but no one spoke of it in terms of reality of the situation in India and treatment that was being meted out by the center to the state.

NTR was magical with his performance on the screen and equally electrifying in politics.  He had no experience with politics when he entered into the scene, and he really did not need any experience to reach out to his Telugu brethren.  The man knew how to reach to each any every person who was listening to him, and was very effective in communicating his message to the people; and the message was what the people wanted to hear.

Politics are a profession where words that are said and deeds that are delivered after elections are like day and night.  In case of NTR his promises were also simple; outside of the pride of Telugu people, he offered simple schemes and implemented them effectively.  It is not to say that his rhetoric was delivered to every bite he said, but he did deliver to his major promises, outside of highlighting the self-respect of his people.

His statue once again is well deserved and well place in the Indian parliament.  He belongs with the Indian greats and politicians who defined the charisma of individual brilliance and the ability to reach to the masses and also deliver to the masses.  NTR belongs in elite company and as time goes by his legacy as a performer and a politician will continue to shine brighter.  In a long list of gaffes and goof-ups of the government, the unveiling of NTR’s statue is one bright spot of politicking for the current government.  Whoever initiated or help place NTR at Indian parliament deserves applause, and all those who appreciate the great man’s legacy also need to be applauded.