Playing BUSH

The shoe fling at George W Bush arguably the most powerful man in the World has got lot of media attention! However, I felt that all angles of the issue were not brought out. Hence the post!!!

• Can Bush's embarassment be quantified?? Beyond doubt this was the nadir of prestige for any First Person..let alone that of SUPER POWER America. Researchers of human psychology could now perhaps develop a relative metric that pegs the ultimate embarassment a human being could face in his life term to this one. :D 
• Another important observation is that Bush could actually duck both the attempts. What if, the shoe had actually hit Bush? Could it have embarassed him further? If yes, how much more? Point to note for psychologists. 
• Interestingly this incident perhaps explains why America is a superior military power. Bush-who trained with the American army 3 decades ago has sharp enough reflexes to duck 2 consequtive attempts; It also explains as to why Iraq has neither a cricket team not a baseball team. Missing a 6 foot, 200 pound frame within 10 feet distance could amount to blasphemy in India/Pakistan.
• Had the jurno tried to fling the shoe directly off his legs, it would have perhaps hit Bush straight on. Courtesy, their decent footballing skills. :P
• How close did the shoe actually get to Bush? I feel, by far this could be the closest Bush got his face to a shoe in a long long time. It is only obvious that the President of America would not polish his own shoes. Not that Laura would do it for him, but he would surely have some bunny in the White House! Mind you, he had Tony Blair across the Atlantic for a bunny. 
• Given the adventurist that I think he is, can we now safely call journalist Muntazir Al-Zaidi the bravest man on the planet? Both Bin Laden, Saddam have both attacked Bush from the safety of the forts they have built around themselves. 
• The last angle that needs to be pursued is the possibility that the Pentagon had cautioned Bush with some intelligence tips of a shoe attack on him. Possible that Bush also trained in ducking. 

Questions remain. 

Avoidable Suffering and Unfulfilled Potential

Can anything else more aptly describe the current state of affairs? Just a reflection on the thought-chain..

• Do we leave it to the 'evolutionary process' to work out a mechanism that is sustainable?
  
• Can we accelerate the system? Who can change gears? Does a phoenix always have to rise from the ashes? 
  
• Why is public memory so short?
  
• Who can fix it?
  
• Why do we gauge people so wrongly often..Why do we completely mess up when it comes to gauging people in public life?
• Can the political sytem do it? I wont bet my money for sure...
• Is the media providing answers? Will the answers work?
• Does the issue require a larger societal perspective? 

Bubbling Boom !

I maintain a couple of  blogs which is by design. The point being that I wanted to devote this particular blog to refelct on the beauty of life..hence the name BooOtYpHuL LyFe. The tweaking in the spelling also done with the intent of bringing in a bit of humour. 

The current post I don't know if it actually has any element of humour or even an element of optimism or even an appreciation of human spirit. But still I go on. More because most people liked it when I first put up a part of it as a caption on my GTalk. Here it goes: 

The problem with us Indians is that we are so fond of basking in hype and when that hype is not there we oursleves create it and bask in it. Facts matter so little to us. 

• A test series win our Australia can make us think of ourselves as world champions. No matter if it just comes just after a thorough drubbing in Sri Lanka just a month ago. 
• Just half a decade of 8% growth can make us think as a part developed world. No matter that countries that have grown at this rate for almost half a century are going bust. No matter that more people die in India of starvation and under the weight of their debts than elsewhere. 
• People continue to invest in stocks even with Sensex @ 20k. The joke is they expect it to still give bumper results. 
• Even middle class Indians get buoyant to invest in apartments spending upwards of Rupees One Crore. No matter all you earn is a just 5 digit salary. No matter the economic sense the decision actually makes. 
• A 3 feet something cube (Moon Impact Probe - MIP of the Chandrayan) lands on to the moon. The media reports it as THE thing. Agreed that it was an achievement of sorts. But the others have decades ago landed manned expiditions and brought them back to Earth too.  In contrast our achievement only pales. 

It is perhaps high time we learn the difference between BOOM and BUBBLE! Or may be just another facet of the colourful Indian psyche. That we can collectively as a society get so euphoric about nothing and go into collective mourning so often only to bounce back with a vengeance. 

Of cricketing Phoenixes

Few things are more interesting than a phoenix like rise. Perhaps more than the interest that such rare occurances generate, I appreciate and keenly follow them for the inspiration that they are...

The 2nd day of the fourth and final test of the Border-Gavaskar trophy (still underway) will possibly be remembered for a couple of such reasons:

• Dada's last test. Because he could have played his last test long back - much against his own will, though - but for his phoenix like rise to come back to the team so well as only possible in a fancy dream. To add fact to the fancy, he finishes with his best average ever in a Test series against the Aussies and on his terms. Kudos to you Dada!!! You shall be loved more than any other cricketer for the sheer passion that you brought to your job...
• Jason Krejza. But for the devastation he almost caused to a nation's dream (courtesy his 8 wicket haul) I would have perhaps perpetually wondered about the spelling  of his 2nd name - if the 'J' preceded the 'Z' or if it was otherwise. To debut in the last test of the series and then have THE WALL for the first international scalp, and follow it with Laxman, Ganguly is simply fabulous. Perhaps fantabulous!!! 

Failing Media

As I kid, I remember asking my grandfather which party he voted for. Among the many questions I asked in all my childish inquisitiveness, this one I remember for the profound depth I could sense. Not that the question was extra-ordinary, but the answer he gave surely was.

He said that he always voted against the incumbent and later explained that Democracy is necessarily a system of checks and balances and a stronger opposition meant better governance. This logic seemed to captivate me for sometime and in retrospect i realized that it influenced many of my opinions.

Of late, however, I am confused with the propriety of the logic 'With Competition comes efficiency'. Today, most of us have already resigned to accept the corrupt intentions and ambitions of politicians across parties. It is publicly accepted that politicians are meant to be corrupt. The perception of 'the invaluable vote' has denigrated to become 'the indifferent vote'. The number of charge-sheeted Parliamentarians across parties is only a superficial metric to say the least.

In such a scenario, the booming media unvieled itself as a source of rescue. Extrapolating the logic to media, I thought that a strong media was the remedy for the malice of corruption.

I welcomed every new news channel for the increased accountability it would usher in all the 3 tiers of the governnment (as I did with every new political party). I believed more players brought more effeciency to governance as does competition in a business sense. The way the media chastised the wrong-doers by exposing their actions/in-actions instilled in me a sense of satisfaction and pride as a citizen of the world's largest democracy.

But the institution of media looks on the verge of collapse. The media seams lost in the fight for survival.

• The jargons that have come to be used by the news presenters speak volumes. They no more 'cover issues'; they 'cover /track stories'. The etymology of such jargons roots from the pressing need to stay on top in the TRPs.
• Their attitude of carrying only 'sansani khabar' has done more than its bit of harm and the general public I sense is only on the brink of fatigue.
• No wonder, political parties have started funding media houses. Worse so, some of them own media companies. Jaya TV of Jaya Lalitha, Sakshi of Dr. YS Raja Sekhara Reddy family, SUN TV of the Marans.
• Worse so even the ToI - perhaps the biggest media group in the country seams lost too. Its recent 'Lead India' campaign too, with no tangible contribution to the society, looks only a marketing gimmick than a strategy for resurrecting Indian politico.

Are we on the verge of ignoring the media too, just as we ignore most of our politicians ??

OOH >> Object Oriented Hobby

I have had numerous occasions when was I forced into thinking..thinking hard. Not that I am an intellectual, not even that I was trying to fake being one, least that I was exerting my grey matter on a difficult subject. But the focus of my thoughts was all about a hobby.

Before my readers (I am sure there are hardly any that don't know me well) jump to any conclusion of me pursuing some rare intellectual challenge for a past time, I must honestly admit that I have exhausted more grey matter finding a hobby than actually pursuing one. Happily for me there is a whole club of people who are just like me spending more hours pondering on suitable hobbies than pursuing one.

Having created (rather failed to create) sufficient drama around something as simple as a hobby - with the 2 para intro style that I was taught for my ICSE X - let me plunge into the actual essence of this post which is only to list a recent occasions when I was forced to think..err..actually 'think hard' for a hobby.

Whenever I tried to find myself a hobby, one question that preceeded any other was:

• Can this hobby catch the imagination of peers, superiors and sub-ordinates?

I must also admit that 'catchy' has been a genuine qualifying characteristic that define most of my endeavors. And therefore I prepared a list of hobbies that I could quote (please note - only 'quoted') from. My list included some real fancy and varied activities like F1 racing, studying religion, sci-fi (literature and on celluloid), quantum physics, venracular movies, Keats, indi-pop music, medieval art, world history, world history, trekking, child psychology and what not.

-- A collection of hobbies that would any day give numismatics and philately - their classical counterparts a deep deep rooted complex.

Truth be said, I have done no more than just be a couch potato and no more than give my library that comprises of hardly anything beyond my college notes a rare glance.

• Michael Schumacher, Narain Karthikeyan is all I know about F1.
• 'Merchant of Venice' is the only Shakespearean work I can recall.
• Michael Angelo, Van Gogh are the only artists I ever heard about.
• Digital Fortess by Dan Brown is the nearest I have got to Sci-fi.
• Newton's laws is the zenith of my knowledge in physics.
• My watchman's 3 year old daugther who tore the leather of my bike seat cover is my only tryst with understanding kids.

The most recent occasion when I almost broke my head over finding myself a 'catchy' hobby was just a weekend ago when I found myself amongst the crowd surrounding a caricaturist.

As a part of his effort to induce comedy to his version of the subject's appearance, the artist dutifully enquired his subject's hobbies and used the past-time to creatively distort the subject. I was comfortably placed with a whole list to quote from. Mowever this time I had the previlege of listening to my predecessors (in the queue) and add. To my fancy, I realized that they belonged to my club with no genuine hobby to quote. Most thought harder than me, and in all genuineness found some really laughable ones.

• Somebody said, he actually raced cars...where I thought..on Bangalore roads.. ???
• Another said, snow-gliding...this guy must have come from Kashmir..a terrorist of some kind i thought. For the next few moments, a train of visuals followed (no wonder i work for the Image sensors division in my company) - pictures of the artist's current subject sneaking the border - all to be shattered completely when the guy spoke up in telugu :)Nah how could a telugu speaking guy be a militant??? ..thats my mother tongue
• The next guy said, he drove horses and blurted out something vague..hahahaha..'driving' a horse..i only thought one could ride a horse - how foolish of me :(
• Somebody said wind-surfing; as if he were bird i thought. The guy looked like he just woke up from a dream. India according to me was no place for adventure sports...
• Someone said he played the guitar, reasonable I thought...that guy was married and with his wife next to him, he did not have a reason to lie...
  

All the while I was comfortably banking on my exhaustive list of 'catchy' hobbies to draw from.

Tdaang tdaang Tdaang... Came my turn and as i took my seat in front of the artist, i experienced a sudden unease; so far i had only put up claims of 'catchy' hobbies that would catch the imagination of the recruiters during the placement season and was panting for ideas; this one would have spur the creative genius of the artist to produce a 'catchy' my caricature. I suddenly wondered if I could actually 'bajao' the guitar, 'drive' horses and race cars 'in Bangalore'.

In this flurry of thoughts, also came in spurts my usual list of hobbies that i quoted from. But how would medieval history, Shakespeare and Keats be of use to a caricaturist that is hell bent on distorting me...I also knew that there was no Escape button for my plight :( The caricaturist was getting impatient in the wait...

Cricket buffs that we Indians are, a group of kids playing the ball game in the park nearby came to my rescue and I blurted out 'cricket'. And hence came out from the artist's brush - the cricketer me. Thus came my realization that 'catchy' is not the adjective that needs to define a hobby; OOH >> Object Oriented Hobby - this is how a hobby needs to be and hence the title for the post.

Starter

Did I ever care of what exactly people thought about me? err...a more reasonable question would be Did I ever care of what I exactly thought of myself?

Egzzatly! most of my meeting (not mating, too much a 'single' Indian to try it yet) time so far has been an obsession about leaving an impression.

"How on earth would i ensure that this dumb ass carries an impression of a sane, sober individual of relevance and utility to the context??" - An impression that i expected to fetch me good in the next appointment. That goddamn effort of faking - that i have almost mastered - made sure that expletives were completely absent in conversations though not off my mind.

And so, one fine day which happens to be today, i realize that i haven't really bitched about anybody who could be a somebody or a nobody someday (as if i cared who they are and what they become).

Therefore, in the most mathematical fashion I postulate "thou shalt spend enuff time bitching" and follow it with a vow to spend 3,567,432,435 bitching thoughts.

Thinking, as i punch in the text of this damned blog....FLASH...FLASH...FLASH !!!
Nah, these are not about the scrollers on newschannels..but thoughts, strangely thoughts relevant to the subject of 'bitching'..

• Is bitching an art or a science? Does it require a sound vocabulary? Does the language matter? Can i bitch aloud? Does it take gumption to bitch?
• Can I bitch about politicians and politics?..George W Bush..(sounds a soft target, huh!)..How do I find a target to bitch about?...soft ones tough ones?...bhaiji or doshi?
• With whom and on what do i start? Usko bura to nahi lagega..(as if i wanted to care about how the bitched would feel..)..what shit! i am starting to think in Hindi..not my mother tongue..I was only supposed to only express in other lingo...oopss..eerr...
• Can I bitch about a language? Is bitching allowed constitutionally?
• Why does the constitution not have a law on bitching? NO..Oh shit...Why dont the bloody lawmakers make one (that is what they do in the parliament anyways)?
• Are there any lobbyists for the saintly cause of bitching?..Hurray, (light at the end of the tunnel) I can fill in the space! I see a career becoming a political lobbyist and spend a lifetime as a master proponent of bitching...and then there will be a law "The Bitching Act of 2XXX" entirely my contribuiton.
• Will that be lucrative for a career?..WILL THE SOCIETY ACCEPT IT? MONEY and SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE for bitching!

And like in good social beings, the fear of society and financial securty bring me to 'THE END' of the thoughts galore..to a numbing tranquillity.

Goddamnit! bitching isn't just an easy job. It is perhaps far easier to make..err fake all those pleasant faces than just go on a bithcing spree..definitely not my cup of tea perhaps not anyones..
aahH, and then i resign to be enlightened with the knowledge of the vast gulf that divides fancy and practice.

And therefore comes the 2nd postulate of the day.."Thou shant waste time bithcing; Thou shall only carry on". no more FLASH FLASH FLASH FLASHES...i am almost blank..feeling pleasant..
Yes 'pleasant' is the word and i shall dedicate this metaphysical space to all things pleasant...and hence go back bottoms up to (re)name the blog...BooOtYpHuL LyFe!!!

So this still remains a bitching spree...of all niceties inLyphe!

India says ‘I (may) Belong’!

Somebody somewhere is listening! Have my anguish (in my previous blog) along with that of the millions of Indians over the government’s losing sovereignty been heard?

India has perhaps finally proved that it can stand up to voice its concern over the Tibet – Beijing Olympic imbroglio. In rejecting to ban anti-China or rather the pro-Tibet protests during the token 3 km Olympic torch relay in New Delhi, India has conveyed to the Chinese administration that it is still a functioning Democracy that respects the right to peaceful protest. It looked like India was standing up to be counted. The announcement brought respite to the millions of Indians who have been sulking over the losing sheen of India’s independent foreign policy.

But should the announcement be seen in isolation? At the cost of sounding cynical, I see shades of Gordon Brown’s decision to not attend the Olympic opening ceremony abetting India’s rediscovered vocal cords. Please mind a similar voice also emanating from Washington.

Agreed that India has already done much for the Tibetan cause by granting asylum to the Dalai Lama, the Karmapa and thousands of other Tibetans, but no such decision has been taken in the recent past. It was years and in fact governments ago that any such decision was taken.

As a student of Political Economics, I cannot but appreciate the seamless integration of politics with economics and at such scale that involve the world’s foremost economic powers that also wield the most political influence the world over.

The Couch, The TV and the Presenter

The past few days, courtesy my tryst outside India have suddenly woken me up to the huge market that India is!

Post-working hours in a foreign land are a bit of threat to a neo-conservative bred on values that admonish indulging in alcohol and the opposite sex - the only interests of most people i meet during the day, unfortunately though. All this led me much closer to the idiot box so much so that, I chose to discard the cozy comfort of my bed to brave the cold lazing all night on the carpet near the Television on the loft.

Truth be said, an analysis of my abject surrender to the four Indian broadcasters - NDTV, Sony, Zee, B4U - revealed how dumb I could be. On an average I watched the same news broadcast 2.5 times each, Hindi movies that were absolute disasters, soaps that would never move.

With trouble comes opportunity

'Sport'y Politics and 'Policy' Sport

Sporting events - none bigger and grander than than Olympics - have had selfish overtures since time immemorial.

Nazism to Berlin Olympics, Apartheid to South African sport, BCCI's high-handedness to International cricket all stand testimony. More often than not, 'politics' has transcended to become the national aggregate of 'selfishness'. The case in point: Beijing Olympics 2008.

Lot has been said by the Who's Who of International realpolitik on Tibet's right to autonomy in line with the current string of protests by Tibetans worldwide. Definitely a knee-jerk reaction.

Tibet has borne the brunt of Chinese oppression over the last 60 years - the same time frame that has witnessed China rise like a phoenix to not just being the sourcing hub of the world but also the only challenge to American economic and military supremacy.

Interestingly, never in the past few decades has the world woken up to issue Human Rights violation in Tibet as now. What a paradox! Are 'we' not squarely responsible for letting the Chinese climb up to these distinctions unchecked, all along? Have all the so-called world leaders gone into a slumber to wake up only now?

Surprisingly enough, India - the hope and home to thousands of Tibetan refugees including the Dalai Lama himself - shocks the fundamentals of its very own cherished founding as a non-aligned sovereign, socialist, secular democratic republic.

Never more in the past has Indian policy been as weak. True, the issues in Jammu Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh might not find Chinese favor should India speak. Perhaps, Indo-China economic integration might also suffer.

Do these reasons sufficiently explain our hypocrisy towards our slogan of 'Satyameva Jayate' (Truth alone Wins)? Do the Gandhian thought, Nehruvian policy hold any relevance in this context? Have we digressed from being principles, policy and strategy driven to just being as opportunistic as the Americans?

If truth is that Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh are Indian territory, so they shall be for 'Truth alone wins'. Are we not distancing ourselves from the truth of the 'Tibetan respect' - a fundamental human value?

No doubt, the digression from Nehruvian Socialism has brought us a few rewards- economic empowerment. But is it all? Questions remain.

Is instant gratification reason enough for us to dis-associate ourselves from truth and human values? To recall, how else can one explain jeopardizing the Iran pipeline for benefit from America?

Definitely, being a realist is different from being a strategist. Much higher than the both is being a Statesman.

Are we losing our stature from those days of the NAM? As a new generation Indian I am afraid that Pokhran-II could have just been the last statement of free Indian policy.

Indian Cricket - Jumbled Paradox

A 'Paradox' itself refers to something confusing. 'Jumbled Paradox' - perhaps my contribution to English etymology - confuses beyond imagination. For, how else could one explain the signals the recent selection decisions by the BCCI send across to the cricket crazy nation ?

First, Rahul Dravid continues to sit out of the ODI team, and his predecessor captain and by far the most gritty cricketer in world cricket in current times, Saurav Ganguly is dropped. The reasons looked scantily logical at best.

Second, the very next day, player categories for IPL - whose genesis itself was more due to revenge/competition than cricketing - were announced that give both the former captains 'icon' status.

• If agility on the field was the reason for omission of Ganguly from the team for tri-series, can rational thought get him a place in the Twenty20 format which is far more demanding in terms of ground fielding.
• Players who have opted out of the Twenty20 world cup in South Africa have all been included in the IPL. Does the IPL reduce to only being a revenue generator ?
  

If this is not hypocrisy, then what else is ?