Dear Mr Yadav

Dear Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav

With all due disrespects, I would have wanted to draw your attention to your infamous sexist remarks in association with the Women's Reservation Bill, but I am sure the media has done that enough. What I would like to ask you, though, with all the politeness that I can muster, is, What the F*** were you trying to say? We are all aware that you are prone to severe bouts of verbal diarrhoea but we had never known it had gone to a terminal stage, you have our sympathies, sire. “What can I say about the kind of women who will enter Parliament. The wives and daughters of officers and businessmen, who invite whistles from boys.”, you had proclaimed, after careful thought and deliberation, as you continued to claim. I am sure you have been asked this question a zillion times but, seriously sir, what, in the name of heaven and earth and everything that lies in between, were you trying to imply? Would you care to shed some light on precisely how do you define the kind of women that invite whistles and catcalls from guys? Were you, by any chance, referring to the fact that the likes of you wont be able to stand educated women, the ones who wont blindly follow your instructions? You went ahead to establish a link between increasing the number of seats for women in Parliament and eve-teasing. Is that a confession, Mr Yadav? Are you trying to tell us all that more women in Parliament would actually become an excuse for the male members to salivate and lech? Dear God, I hope not. Your party members, in an effort to come to their dear M(C)P's aid, went a step further saying that what you really meant was that having more women in the governance would render men unemployed and out of sheer frustration they would resort to eve-teasing. (Your verbal diarrhoea seems to be highly contagious, whats worse, it seems to follow some rule of biological magnification upon being passed on). I am confident, sir, that the majority of males in this nation would have been thoroughly embarrassed by this corollary to your original theorem. I am an officer's daughter, Mr Yadav, and I would like to know how exactly my being so would invite catcalls and whistles. By the way, last I checked, you had a daughter-in-law whom you fielded in the bye-elections for the Ferozabad seat. What did she have to say about your little insight?

Adieu to the Maharani

I was in my seventh grade, if I remember correctly, when I came across the name Maharani Gayatri Devi for the first time. It was on this show Rendevouz with Simi Garewal, Amitabh Bachhan was asked to name who, in his opinion, was the most beautiful woman in the world, and he answered, Maharani Gayatri Devi. I asked my mom, she told me about the Princess of Cooch Behar who went on to become the beloved Maharani of Jaipur, smashing several stereotypes along the way. Coincidentally, the India Today edition of that week carried a piece on her and I saw the above picture for the first time. There was something about her mannerisms, the air of sheer dignified grace about her that made me wish I could hold myself like that. I later learnt of how she was different despite being royalty, how she didn't stick to prescribed norms. I also remember this coffee table book, her memoirs, A Princess Remembers, at an Uncle's place and I distinctly recall a conversation which explained why it was so daring of her to play polo wearing riding breeches. I have talked about how rare such grace is today in one of my previous posts. She was an extraordinary woman who lived an extraordinary life. Here's my personal farewell to the Maharani.

Mr Sibal, You Reading??

While the HRD Ministry is busy making plans for further expansions of IITs, students are busy sending out signals begging them to stop. Over 500 students this year have refused to take admissions into the seats alloted to them at the new IITs (a reference article can be found here) .And I dont really blame them. Institutions do not become premier centres of excellence just by sticking labels on them. Though I agree that the chief reason for the global respect for IITs stems from the rejection rate and the selection process, what follows post admissions is considered equally crucial. The new IITs can be cited as case studies in frugalism and minimalism as far as infrastructures as concerned. A dearth of good or for that matter any faculty is something I am sure even they can't choose to ignore. Why would students want to risk their futures through such a compromise. They got through the toughest undergrad filtering examination on the planet, naturally they understand that a four room structure holding the Indian Institute of Technology Indore sign is not going to guarantee them a better future and definitely not enrich their education. They are aware that the nation has institutes other than the IITs which are highly reputed and house facilities to help their intellect grow. If enhancing the quality of education in the nation was the primary agenda of the Human Resources Development folks, why do they not consider it more worthwhile to spend a comparable amount on bettering the infrastructure and research facilities at the existing institutes. If I remember correctly, demand for more IITs was projected as the chief reason for their creation. Sorry to point it out to you sirs, but the numbers don't really support your claim.

Satyamev Jayte eh?

A hugely popular game show in the West, Star Plus, in an attempt to salvage its plummeting TRPs, recently bought the format of the show which involves hooking the contestants up to a polygraph and asking questions which are scandalous to say the least. Not sure, however, if the Indian audience is ready for something of this sort. Oh yes, their taste in voyeuristic entertainment would not be an issue, given the success of Splitsvilla, Big Boss and Rakhi ka Swayamwar. Still there does exist a probability that the format might be too bold for the Indian audience to swallow. Anyways, my sister and I compiled a list of questions that we would have liked to ask people, living or dead, on such a show.

• Pranab Mukherjee: Was CII influential in drafting the 2009 Union Budget?
• Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose: Did you really die in the 1945 plane crash?
  
• Shahrukh Khan: Have you and Karan Johar done it?
• Sonia Gandhi: Did your decision to decline the Prime Ministerial post, after having been the Congress candidate for the job, have to do with the Bofors case?
• Bill Clinton: Were there more before Monica?
• Pravin Mahajan: Was there external influence in your brother's murder?
• Marylin Monroe: Did Robert Kennedy discuss classified information?
  
• Amelia Earhart: (Not really a Moment of Truth format question, but one I have wanted to know all the same) Where the hell did you go?
  

Further suggestions are welcome...

Womens' Bill: The rose paved road to the abyss

It might come as a surprise for many, but I , being a woman, do see the idea of introducing a Womens' Bill as being preposterously ridiculous. This is because I am a woman and not in spite of. Any proponent who argues that the Bill seeks to bring about empowerment of women in the country is only kidding himself. The Bill shall make women dependent on its crutches and turn them handicapped for ever. True empowerment will happen when the nation shall willingly give deserving women their due without attributing their success to reservations and excuses. Merely incorporating more number of women in the Parliament does not translate to the uplifting of the status of women. Which is why no woman sang or cheered when Ms Pratibha Patil became the first woman President of the nation. Moreover the Bill might just became a weapon of installing puppets controlled by powerful males and shall further hinder the rising of the deserving females, since males can only stand a maximum number of women in positions of power. Having a Rabri Devi for a CM did not do much for the status of the women of Bihar. The Bill shall just remain a mere notion of women empowerment.
No self-respecting woman would like her rise to success being attributed to crutches the State wants to supply. She wants to be there on the basis of her merit and not her gender. She needs support from her family, especially from her father, her brothers, her husband, and from colleagues at the workplace. That is all she needs to help claim what is rightfully hers. If the State really wishes to help, it should provide incentives and facilities to help educate more girls, help create a safe environment for them to grow and prosper.

The Year That Was: Hits n Pits of 2008

Another year has gone by, leaving behind an assortment of bittersweet memories encompassing pride, joy, pain, resentment, shame, an eventful year all the same.

HITS: What the year ought to be proud of
CHANDRAYAAN: India's first unmanned mission to the moon,gave a major boost to India's space program, as India joins Asian nations China and Japan in exploring the Moon.

BEIJING OLYMPICS: India bagging 3 Olympic medals, in individual events, along with a gold, gave the nation three new heroes.

INDO US NUKE DEAL: After much opposition at home and abroad, India finally became a part of the Nuclear club, also in the course of affairs, defeating coalition politics and blackmails.

UNITED STATES OF OBAMA: Indicating a new era in American and international politics, Barack Obama became the first African American President of the world's most powerful nation promising to bring about the 'change we need'. Also promising a positive turn in the roller coaster ride thats Indo US relations.

PITS: The year packed its own cauldron of tears, anguish and resentment

GLOBAL FINANCIAL MELTDOWN: The bears took as ugly run around markets across the globe with the recession hitting nearly all sectors of the economy and the proponents of the laissez faire system all turned to the government for bailout packages.

MUMBAI CARNAGE: In the worst terror strike faced by the nation in recent times, the world watched while India's financial capital came under seige. It not only brought forth the increasing daring of the terrorist organizations but also gave an insight into their skilled training with the backing of hostile government establishments. It also showed us how the entire JuD operation was supported at every step by Indian incompetence.

RAJ THACKEREY AND MNS: Communal voilence raised its ugly head in the nation once again, starting with the row over the Amarnath land transfer, Bajrang Dal supported voilence in Orissa and Karnataka, and moving on to the Marathi and non-Marathi clash in Maharashtra which resulted ultimately in the death of three persons.

Terrorists in White Collars

While this is definitely not condoning the heinous atrocities committed by those men on the right, its certainly saying that the deeds done by those in the left deserve reprimand too. The Lehman collapse can be viewed as a 2008 version of the Enron collapse. Crimes committed by intellectuals will remain crimes all the same. Introduction of highly sophisticated and complex trading instruments like exotics and other derivatives which resulted in gross over-valuations and price rise due to speculation eventually resulted in the average commoner, irrespective of nationality, losing a substantial part of his savings. Dangling the metaphorical carrots promising higher returns and lower risks and drawing high commissions with the hike in the volume of deals, the working man's hard-earned income was siphoned off to pay for corporate retreats and summer villas. The Armani-clad, ivy-schooled professionals are no less villians and must be dealt with appropriately

Wanted: PR Consultants for the Indian Government

The Indian bureaucracy and the police establishments should feature in case studies on "How to most effectively put both your feet into your mouth". Nowhere else in the world do we have investigating agencies sharing evidence and snippets on an ongoing investigation especially those pertaining to national security. The Indian police and government machinery is so eager to prove that they are not as incompetent as they are believed to be that they end up proving the charge to be correct. A proper approach would require the establishment to follow the classic JFK media policy: Minimum information with maximum politeness. Here, our officers are free not just to discuss crucial evidence on camera but also share their theories and future lines of investigation (and they have apparently been selected to the services through a rigorous examination system testing their intellect). While discussion of cases like the Arushi Talwar murder case botched up an investigation and helped murderers walk off scott-free, there is much more at stake when information related to concurrent operations and investigations involving national security are shared. The most recent case is the well publicized arrest and subsequent release of the RAW agent who had supplied SIM cards to the terrorist cells. It takes a lot of effort and risk to plant undercover agents in the field, after all, it is only through information gathered from covert intelligence sources that terror attacks can be prevented. But it takes only the stupidity of the Indian Police Force to blow up the cover, and that too on national television. Arresting an agent planted by your own intelligence unit can be circumstantial. But publicizing him as a terrorist in front of national and international media requires a really high level of dumbness that can only be achieved here. God save them, and us.

Jurassic Returns

The period 230 million years ago to 65 mya was characterized by gigantic fearsome beasts walking the earth. But then an asteroid hit and all changed. The dinosaurs went extinct . The smaller mammals, on the other hand, survived on the frugal resources and also made a feast out of the carcasses of the dying dinosaurs.
Yes, the Jurassic age is back, or at least the end of it is back. With all due respects to the Lehmano-Rexes and Citigrouposaurs of the world (May they R.I.P.), its time for the smaller firms to grow and flourish eventually. The small shall rise. I hope my disheartened friends sitting for campus placements got the message