The Lie Detector

It was heartbreaking to watch all the jubilations at Tahrir Square in Cairo.  It was sad because though the non-violent movement of the people was successful for the time being, it was obvious that the military was moving in to take control.  As the history of the world has amply demonstrated time and time again, a military take-over seldom results in happy outcomes.  The people of Egypt, a once glorious civilization, have suffered much and one can only wish them well.

Back home, it was quite interesting to watch India’s quondam telecommunications minister Arun Shourie getting the last word with the ebullient Karan Thapar.  Mr. Shourie, as always, was very convincing in his earnest arguments, and moralistic outrage against everybody connected with the spectrum allocation under scrutiny, including his own party members.  The only question he could not give a convincing answer to was: why now?  He said he seldom comes to Delhi now, and has understandable commitments at home.  However, his stature and reputation would have summoned any journalist to him wherever he wanted, particularly given the magnitude of what he claims as the truth now.   His revelation that he had first brought up his concerns regarding the improprieties in connection with spectrum allocation with the Prime Minister while standing in the corridor of the upper house of Parliament, and in Punjabi, though entertaining, failed to impress!  One can empathise with the frustrations of an idealistic person stymied by a corrupt polity, a corrupt bureaucracy, handpicked inquiry judges, and a fourth estate that does nothing more than “swallow and vomit” (Mr. Shourie’s words and implications, not mine), but his timing makes his protestations suspect. 

An Odd Image

I was going through the January 2011 issue of the Readers Digest, and came across an article 'The Taste of Cambodia' by Elaine Moore.  I quote the first paragraph:  "In the midday heat, a woman weaves her way between the jostling motorbikes, cyclists and cars on the streets of Cambodia.  On her head is a basket filled with roasted crickets.  Every few minutes she bends down, scoops up a handful and sells them to a customer."  Now there is an odd image, if ever there was one ;-)  Where was she?  Hanging upside down in the air above her basket of roasted crickets?  But then the basket would have been below her head, and not on her head as the author specifies.  Perhaps she was detached from her head which was below the basket, which was below her headless body, as she bent down to scoop up a handful every now and then to sell to a customer?   

On a more serious note, I am sure most of us have been watching the drama play out on Tahrir Square.  (An Australian journalist on CNN mispronounced it throughout her report, but that is nothing new.  We've all heard CNN and BBC journalists refer to Eirak and Eiran).  It is eerily reminiscent of the uprising against Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos, and the banding together of the students in China.  Both had very different outcomes.  I wonder what the world is going to witness here.  Mubarak is desperately clutching on when letting go would be so much easier, and perhaps safer.  You've got to admire the man's tenacity, whatever else his motivations might be! 

Watching this made me think about democracy in India.  There is Egypt, rising in protest against the man who has ruled it for thirty years and challenging the rule of hierarchical succession.  And here are we, the great Indian democracy, who have, since freedom from British rule more than sixty years ago, worshipped at the altar of the Nehru-Gandhis.  What will it take to shake us out of this feudalistic mindset?  For sure, let them be in politics if they so desire, but make them earn their stripes.  In a democracy, the vote to govern is not an inherited entitlement to rule; and the vote must be worked for.  One of my pet peeves is the 'India Inc' that the media has so faddishly adopted.  Well, if we are a family owned corporation, then we really have no right to complain about the sons and daughters inheriting the most coveted positions!


Speaking of media, what is going on with our newspapers?  The reputation of journalists has been muddied for a fairly long time now, and newspapers have been getting more and more outrageously unethical in the way they sell advertising space.  The shocker some days ago was the front page of the Times of India.  I wonder if others found it as offensive to their sensibilities as I did -- anybody??  The front page that I am talking about was the one with all the news columns printed incomplete and the product being advertised claiming at the bottom of each incomplete item that anything that was not complete was annoying.   Sadly for the advertiser, I do not remember the product that they must have spent a bomb advertising, but I do remember thinking that the owners of the paper obviously suffered from a total lack of dignity and gravitas! 

More Difficult than I imagined?

I have always been technologically challenged, and have a somewhat uneasy relationship with machines.  Today, a friend called and while chatting happened to mention that his wife was blogging quite regularly.  Deciding to check her blog out, I typed in her url.  Instead of her blog, what I got were prompts on how to set one up myself.  Taking it to be divine direction (I had been toying with the idea for a few days but was kind of intimidated at the thought of actually doing it) I followed all the prompts, and voila!  I was excited but apprehensive.  Tentatively I wrote out an initial entry delighting in the fact that I could express my thoughts without being interrupted.  It mattered little that there were no interruptions because nobody was listening :-)  After completing the entry, I clicked on the preview tab at the bottom.  So far so good!  Victoriously, I clicked the 'publish post' tab.  Mysteriously the posting seems to have vanished into some cyber black hole, taking with it the automatically saved draft as well.  Not so divine, hunh! 

For this one reaching its destination I have to thank my husband!