A requiem for Shashi Kapoor

Raju Korti

The Shashi Kapoor I saw and would like to remember.

My first meeting with Shashi Kapoor, way back in 1982, was at the most oddest of venues. He had been invited to inaugurate the Great Golden Circus, which in those throwback days, was a popular draw. I was particularly curious to know how he could handle three shifts in a day with the ebullience that was his hallmark. Only a few days before I had asked Dev Anand how actors like Shashi Kapoor could handle such crazy work schedules and he had diplomatically said: "I sleep at 10. May be Shashi has fine tuned that craft."
I recall Shashi, the youngest of the film industry's first dynasty, was dressed in white pyjamas and kurta which he told me later was his favorite attire. After cutting the ribbon, he came and sat next to me in the front row. Within a flash, I whipped out my visiting card and flashed it before him. "Meet me around 9 once I reach home", he told me with that impish smile that could have been saved for posterity in any museum. He was accompanied by his brother-in-law Charni Siyal who also extended me an invitation with a smile that one reserves as protocol.
As it happened, I got tied up with my work and reached his place at 10. He himself opened the door in the same clothes. His eyes were blood-shot and it was obvious to me that he had downed a few pegs. The fault was, of course mine. He seemed to have given up on me and now I had broken his binge. I could see he was struggling with his indignation but the suave person that he was, he let me in. The first thing he told me: "Yaar tum patrakar log raat 10 ke baad mat mila karo, sab utar jaati hai,."  I apologized but stayed put.
He opened up right away. "You know we in the Kapoor khaandaan have two weak points -- eating and drinking" he said helping himself to a plateful of deep fried pakodas. I am better. (Brother) Shammi doesn't wait until dark. He gets cracking the moment shoot is over," he said with the same toothy smile that film critic Baburao Patel unfairly described as 'dog's fangs'.
Seeing that the conversation was going completely off track, I just transported him to his Dharamputra, Prem Patra and Char Deewari days of the 60s. The smile became even radiant on his handsome face and then he was rattling away in that casual, breezy style that seemed to be tailor-made for his persona.
The child artiste that one saw in Shree 420 and Awaara was very much in evidence as he took a dip into nostalgia with the same child-like innocence and spoke at length how the cinematic expression had undergone a ferment in the decades that followed. " I adapted to those changes well", he said and seemed to be proud of it. He wasn't far from the truth. The innocent charm of Shashi Kapoor of the 60s had given way to the kind of dudes that one sees today. However, all through this transition, he retained his trade-mark smile, although a string of inanities like Chori Mera Kaam, Gautam Govinda, Shankar Dada, Apna Khoon and Maan Gaye Ustaad, Phaansi, Salaakhen, Chakkar Pe Chakkar, Raahu Ketu films that he acted in the 70s were eminently forgettable. A few big banners like Trishul, Kala Patthar, Deewar, Kabhie Kabhie and Namak Halaal ensured he was neither out of sight, nor out of mind.
He was very much kicked up about his in-house productions Junoon and 36 Chowringhee Lane and described them as "great films" even if that sounded like patting his own back. He was also fiercely possessive of Merchant Ivory Productions and his own Prithvi Theatres which according to him were his robust attempts to keep the Prithviraj Kapoor torch alive. He recalled Rajesh Khanna and Sanjeev Kumar as the most versatile contemporaries, singled out Mohammed Rafi for lip syncing some of the most memorable songs for him and his pairing with Nanda as the best thing that happened to his acting career.
I met him again in 2001 when the first question I threw at him was "You were such a handsome man once. Why did you allow yourself to bloat like this?" "That's the characteristic of the clan", he replied, with absolutely no regrets. As my mind went back to that old meeting, I felt he probably had a few more pegs just because my interaction with him had sobered him down.
The only faint element of pain that I saw on his face was at the mention of his wife Jennifer Kendal.
I have forgotten much of the casual conversation I had with him then but for someone who "died" a couple of times following rumors, Kapoor held forte for long. So it took time to sink in that the handsome man with that mischievous smile is no more.
Shashi Kapoor is dead. Long live Shashi Kapoor.   

Yes,I am a Janeudhari Bamman

Raju Korti
In a country where preaching and sermonizing comes more easily than practicing, the storm over Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi being called as "Janeudhari Hindu" is just another political fodder. His party spokesperson went ballistic, refuting that the young leader entered the Somnath Temple in Gujarat, (where else?) as a non-Hindu. Just the kind of cud we all like to chew in the social media until the next one appears on our plate.
Janeudharis are those who wear the sacred thread after the "Upanayanam", sometime after attaining puberty. Like many I went through this ritual and this what I was told by the priest performing it: The three strands of the sacred thread has symbolic meanings. A bachelor is supposed to wear only one thread, a married man should wear two and if the married man has a child, he must wear three. They symbolize three debts of a man which must never be forgotten: The debt of one's teacher, the debt of one's parents and ancestors and the debt of the scholars.
I have been wearing the Janeu since then but in hindsight, I suppose I would have repaid these debts anyway even if I were not to wear it born as a Hindu/Brahmin. Many of my friends, patently anti-Brahmin, would poke fun at me calling me a "Bamman" and the thread as a symbol of my caste superiority. A lot many friends would needle me saying that non-vegetarian food had become costlier ever since Bammans started eating it (A point well taken). That most of them eventually married off their sons and/or daughters to a "Bamman" is quite another story. I never took offence because I never practiced casteism. but the concept of debt quite appealed to me. Having been indebted to many people for various reasons, it wasn't difficult at all to adapt to the idea.
For long, I have seen people raise the caste bogey based on the discrimination by upper caste -- and there are others apart from Brahmins -- in the past. With the passage of time, Brahmin-bashing became the name of the game. So much so that most Brahmins today fight shy of acknowledging themselves as one. There is, of course, no denying that caste prejudice has happened in the past, but I refuse to accept that it obtains today to the extent it is made out to be. It is just one of the divisive cards that nefarious politicians use to further their selfish ends. The sad truth is even apparently the sane fall for this trick. On the social media circuit, it has expectedly boiled down to a Janeudhari Vs JNUdhari battle.
Those who debate how and whether a mere thread can symbolize or symbolizes a vision, should ask their wives why they wear the Mangalsutra which should then be interpreted as albatross around the neck. And then I know so many who criticize the thread and its concept but wear one themselves. Symbols are just symbols. It is the concept that should matter and I do not see anything objectionable in that unless you want to use it as a spanner to yank out the social screws. Everything else is just noise with ulterior motives.
Being called a Bamman doesn't offend me in the least, but it is high time we found out who are the real casteists. I am sure the statistics will shock you. Yes, I am a Bamman. I may not be proud of being one but I am not ashamed of being one either. Let Brahmin be a taboo word.
Merit has got me thus far, not caste. 

Finally, it is Pakistan

Raju Korti

Toss up between Musharraf or Imran

I have always believed that for all the sadistic and pernicious streak evident in their demeanor and speeches, Pakistani politicians are far more predictable and less chameleonic than their counterparts elsewhere. Two parallel events as recently as yesterday buttress my argument. One, the open support of 26/11 mastermind Hafeez Saeed by former Pakistan dictator Pervez Musharraf and the other a word of praise for Modi from cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan. That both are adversaries is not germane at this point.
After presiding over his country's army for years and riding rough shod on all democratic institutions, Musharraf, who has had slew of cases against him, lives a palatial life in Dubai. In one of his many enlightenments in self-exile, Musharraf has admitted that Saeed "is involved in Kashmir" and supports the LeT to "suppress the Indian army in Kashmir".
Ever since he has fled to Dubai, Musharraf has not been able to reconcile to the thought of himself without his military undies. The politician in him has quickly latched on to an apparent scenario where the strident clerics are rapidly gaining ground. Saeed is anticipating a drastic change in the durability of country's parliamentary configuration with Imran Khan likely to queer the pitch. If a coalition government with a radical right is represented in large numbers, India can kiss the chances of rapprochement good bye.
Saeed has sensed his best chance and has approached the United Nations to drop the "Global Terrorist" tag against his name which has understandably rankled the United States because it doesn't want this configuration to go topsy turvy. It is here that Musharraf becomes more than obvious. Having licked enough from the American asses during his rule, he was also instrumental in putting Saeed in a house arrest. A house arrest in Pakistan simply means that terror masterminds can work their devious minds with state hospitality. Musharraf who had been vehemently denying the army's support to "non-State actors" now realizes he and Saeed can leverage each other.
Having announced a grand coalition of 23 parties, Musharraf is desperately angling for another of his crooked stint and with Nawaz Sharif's PML looking at a possible electoral rout, chances are might he might well be in the reckoning but Imran may prove to be a thorn in his flesh. If the Parliamentary representation of radical Islamic parties goes up as dramatically in 2018 as it has been in a recent bye-election, it can only be conjectured what it will do to the Army and the battles it has been fighting. It is possible that these parties may remain divided and their influence might be checkmated by PML but that is subject to Sharif's party managing to retain its toehold. In all this maze, what should be of consequence, particularly to India, is what if Saeed becomes part of the next government.
Now for Imran Khan. The Tehreek-e-Insaaf leader has publicly admitted that he admires Modi as a politician and "in the last three years, he hasn't heard the Indian PM ranting against Pakistan". In the cacophony of political choruses, Imran has chosen to play with the straight bat by saying that "we fought three wars with India and learnt nothing. We still indulge in proxy wars." His contention that resumption of cricket ties with India will serve as some sort of a confidence building measure sounds good in theory but poor in practice. Cricket is just another turf for proxy wars.
This is what I wrote about Imran Khan in my blog in Sept 2016:
A notable characteristic of Khan's persona that I have noticed is the opportunist and turncoat in him which surfaces as and when political circumstances suit him. His electoral plank cleverly tries to strike a balance between religious dogma and liberal economics which is a red herring for the poverty and many-other-things-stricken Pakistan.
And this is what I wrote about Musharraf in April 2013:
For his sheer propensity for the holier than thou, one needs to hand it to former president and general Pervez Musharraf. If you ignored the man's chameleonic character, Musharraf, who fled Pakistan to return after four years of "self imposed exile", has proclaimed with his usual bluster that "I am among those people who think of the country and the citizens." His precise timing to return to his troubled homeland shows just that, albeit in a contradictory manner.
Behind the army demeanor, there lurks a hard-core politician. Aware of the rebuffs that dot his path, he has already met with a few. His nomination papers were rejected for his acts of "reason and corruption", a clause Indian electoral system could well draw from. But howsoever Musharraf wants to propagandize his love for Pakistan, no one is hoodwinked into believing that and the man has landed back on his home soil because he hardly had any option. He is obviously trying to make a virtue of his compulsion.There are a string of cases lined up against him. Having trampled all institutions during his cleverly manipulative regime, he is everybody's burden. Elevating such a man at the helm again is fraught with the consequences Pakistani people may not try to experiment with.
Take it. This is a do-or-die battle for Musharraf. He will be consigned to the dustbin of history if his outfit fails to come to power.Musharraf and Imran have their political compulsions within the framework of their ideologies. However, at the end of the day, it is Pakistan. Musharraf or no Musharraf. Imran or no Imran!  

Manjiri Kelkar, classically yours

Manjiri Kelkar: Pic courtesy Pragati Korti

Raju Korti
History has an uncanny knack of reverting to haunt you. More so, if it relates to music and something as soulful as Indian classical music. A masterpiece performance by vocalist Manjiri Kelkar at a friend's residence yesterday took me on a music odyssey imprinted by a school of music handed down in legacy by Moghubai Kurdikar. But the history first.I was occasioned to meet the maverick exponent of the Jaipur-Atrauli Gharana Kishoritai Amonkar (Moghubai's daughter) way back in 1982 when she was in Nagpur for a concert. Until then my proclivities lay with the Kirana Gharana -- which had the pedigrees of the maestros like Gangubai Hangal and Pt Bhimsen Joshi -- mainly because of my family roots with them. Kishoritai's rendition that day woke me out of that operatic stupor and widened my horizons to other schools that parallely captured my imagination and soul.Like some of the other classical wizards, Kishoritai wore classicism as a badge and was loathe to giving interviews but dame luck was on my side that evening. She agreed to speak to me. That she did for two long hours, especially presenting a delightful case study of how she got into the skin of modifying the Jaipur Gharana performance by fusing and reconciling it with features of the other Gharanas.
From whatever I recall of that intense interaction, Kishoritai was particularly critical of the belief that schools or Gharanas of music determine or constrain a singer's technique. She styled herself on using her school as a base but built variations around it, relaxing the link between rhythm and note.
Moving out of the rigid posturing like some of her illustrious contemporaries, she was insistent that musical education should be conducted, emphasizing the importance of enabling students to shift beyond repetitive techniques and learn the tools that allow them to improvise on their own. True to the dictum that charity begins at home, she would listen to her own performances to analyse and improve her technique.Thirty five years down the line I could see and hear how strong an edifice that was when Manjiritai  delivered a performance that Kishoritai would have been ecastatic about. Emotion and spirituality punctuated her singing as she took on those classical notes with the same aplomb that I saw Kishoritai did that evening. To me, it was a dialogue with the divine, an intense focused communion with the Lord. It was a sublime act of the same "sadhana" (medium) to attain "sadhya" (destination) that Kishoritai spoke so passionately about.
Two things struck me about Manjiritai's performance. Her commitment to her roots and the "bhaav" (expression) of the composition that delectably and effortlessly meandered through Raag Lalita-Gauri and Nat-Kamod and her congruity with her accompanying artistes. She would take brief pauses to egg them on and appreciate with a smile when they returned her fervour note-to-note. A confident artiste never runs down her accompanying performers through oneupmanship. Aptly, she consummated the concert with a bhajan.

Kishori Amonkar: Pic Raju Korti

She has a tonal quality that treats the audiences with a melodious opulence and it is easy to discern why. Her transition from an able disciple to a Guru in her own right is tempered by being a performing artiste at heart. It was this finesse of equilibrium that Manjiritai straddled brilliantly, reinventing her classical grammar as a learner and performer. Little wonder that she is keen to take this protracted legacy in the same strain that she has fostered in the last 20 years.
That she has retained the soul of her Gharana and tried to innovate outside it is the best tribute she can give to her Guru.Absolutely down to earth, Manjiritai admits to be a nervous starter but the manner in which she raises the crescendo belies that. The applause that she received after every rendering was received with a humble bow of the head and a beatific smile. Clearly, with music as her refuge, she was able to crawl between the notes and the audience's sensitivity, reiterating the fact that classical music was, is, and will always be the mother of all music in India.
Manjiritai has been blessed with an exemplary legacy. Her first Guru Appasaheb Kanetkar received his granding from Bhurji Khansaheb, son of Alladiya Khansaheb.  She is carrying that torch forward and how!

Rahul Gandhi and Artificial Intelligence

Raju Korti

Rahul Gandhi. (Grab from Congress party website)

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi has an innate gift for making news -- mostly for wrong reasons. The forty-plus man-boy may have become a butt of ridicule with an endless stream of concocted and real jokes but he manages to find silver linings. If the party sources are to be believed, Rahul is headed to the United States where he is likely to address a gathering on Artificial Intelligence, the science that makes machines think like humans.
At the Silicon Valley, Rahul "will expand his thoughts about artificial intelligence". The two key words in that quote from the party sources are 'thought' and 'intelligence'. It presumes Rahul can think and has the human intelligence to hold forth on something as technical as Artificial Intelligence.
The party is genuinely convinced that drafting Rahul to an utterly scientific pursuit as Artificial Intelligence will bring back knowledge and implement it at the policy level in the party's vision documents. It is anybody's guess what would be Rahul's intellectual investment for the knowledge returns that the Congress party is desperately seeking to get. Of course, all this subject to whether the party leaders are left with any vision. Given the dismal state of the party, it could do with some Artificial Intelligence to pep it up since all semblance of human intelligence has proved counter-productive.  
Rahul invariably manages to get the country's ears when it comes to offshore visits. With as much cynicism as Prime Minister Narendra Modi does for his foreign jaunts. Remember the long sabbatical that he devoted to introspection -- which he called meditation -- after the party's debacle in the 2014 elections. If there was any tangible outcome of that meditation it has not reflected in Rahul's speech and action. Recently he met Biotechnology experts in Norway although little to nothing is known as to what transpired in that meeting. It needs more than intelligence to understand the connection between Congress and Biotechnology. Unless Biotechnology can help it arrest the party's sliding electoral graph after a series of shattering defeats and anti-incumbency sentiment.
I recall celebrated Physicist Stephen Hawking saying that the Artificial Intelligence -- a science still in its infancy -- will wipe out the human race one day. I hope the Congressmen survive to see that day.

The politics of Cabinet reshuffle

Raju Korti
I will choose to skip a dissection of the Union Cabinet reshuffle by the Prime Minister yesterday. The Media has already done a comprehensive post mortem on the PM's penchant for bureaucracy at the expense of career politicians or his "master-stroke" by bringing in a woman as the Defence Minister or why the jinxed railway ministry finds no takers.
I am inclined to believe that cabinet reshuffles are a blessing in disguise for the Media to stretch its fertile imagination on the politics of reshuffle, euphemistically called as analysis. Most of it is based on the personal perception of the analyst or the way he is slanted into writing it. An intriguing aspect of all such analyses is they all sound very convincing because there is nothing unconvincing or impossible about politics. It is for the reader to take it or leave it because he is no less slanted. There is more politics in the analysis than it is in the reshuffle.
I have done quite a few such analyses and trust me, they give you full scope to labour over with a logic that comes with years of experience. As a journalist who has spent more than three decades in this thankless profession, I can assure you that writing an analysis is much easier than getting hard news and stitching a story. In short, analyses are an emphatic way of telling the readers that they are first class idiots who cannot comprehend or decipher things on their own.
Confined mostly to the desk as editor, I recall I would often ask reporters and correspondents to seek a one-on-one with the prime minister or the chief minister on what went into the dropping or the induction of a minister since neither the PM nor the CM think they owe an explanation to the people to let in on why an aide was axed or replaced. It is the prerogative of the PM/CM to do so" is the specious stock line that people who mandate them to power are asked to be content with.
Since it is difficult to access the PM or CM and deadlines sacrosanct, analysis offers an easy way out. For the ever conjecturing and speculative media, analysis has more juice than threadbare information. So freak out.
In the editorial meetings there is near unanimity on analysis being an effective way of conveying the news behind/beyond the news. This cause is effectively helped because there is never an official explanation forthcoming on what prompts the PM or CM to rejig his team. In any case the Media knows it will never get the true answers. Its a win-win situation for the government and for the Media. The government is spared of the blushes and the Media some leg work!
Truth always doesn't have to be naked. At times, it prefers to be draped in a skimpy skirt which reveals and yet hides. Analysis is that skirt. 

The labour pains of Pakistan

Raju Korti

Another head rolls. Nawaz Sharif.

In November 2013, I wrote one of my several blogs on Pakistan, ending it with a punchline "Welcome to Pakistan where the most insidious survive." Pakistan continues to plumb newer depths, yet a regular recap of the country's tumultuous existence makes for a spell binding reading with facts stranger than fiction.
With the Supreme Court of Pakistan disqualifying Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, another head has rolled. He joins the elite band of all elected PMs who have never been allowed to complete their terms. A quick recap of this Quixotic turn of events will show how Pakistan has turned into a theatre of the absurd. I shall consciously refrain from making personal comments in this blog since in this case, information itself doubles up as opinion.
The story begins with first Prime Minister Liaqat Ali Khan who was murdered after 4 years. Khawaja Nazimuddin was deposed after 17 months. Mohammad Ali Bogra and Chaudhary Mohammad Ali were forced to resign when they had barely completed two years in office. Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy was chucked out after one year. I I Chundrigar had to resign after one month while Feroze Khan Noon served 10 months before being thrown out. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto managed to occupy the office for four years after which he was toppled and hanged to death. Mohammad Khan Junejo stuck around for 30 months after which he was unceremoniously dismissed. Benazir Bhutto was elected PM twice but was chucked out after 30 months each and later murdered. Nawaz Sharif was thrice elected and removed thrice after serving 30 months, 30 months and four years each. (Looks like 30 months seems to be the standard grace period). Zafarullah Jamali was forced to quit after almost two years. Yousaf Raza Gillani was removed after four years.
General Ayub Khan overthrew a politically elected government and came to power. He set the precedent of Martial Law and ruled Pakistan for nine years. His authoritarian rule finally led to the fall of Dhaka. As a result of mass unrest, General Ayub beat a retreat in 1969. Soon thereafter, it was assessed that Ayub Khan's son Gohar's personal wealth at $ 4 million and his family's wealth at $ 10-20 million. No action was forced to probe his wealth. After he died in 1974, he was buried with full military honours. Ayub handed over the reins to General Yahya Khan who was notorious for his debauchery. He was one of the key players in the dismemberment of his country in 1971. No action was taken against him for the damage and ignominy he brought to his country. He died in 1980 and was buried with full military honours.
In July 1977, Zia ul Haq toppled Bhutto's government, suspended the Constitution and declared Martial law. He used religion to prolong his rule, oppressed people and punished anyone who dared speak against him. After a dubious travel, Bhutto was hanged. Cultural and liberal secular values (much tom tommed in India) were systematically demolished by Zia. Seeds of militancy and sectarianism were sown, which today has put the country under constant turmoil. Kalashnikov and heroin culture flourished and Pakistan was embroiled in an unending war in Pakistan during Zia's reign. After he died in a mysterious air crash in 1988, he was buried with full military honours.
General Pervez Musharraf came to power by staging a coup d' etat against Nawaz Sharif. After Musharraf was forced to step down by two major political parties as President in 2008, he was booked and charged with high treason for implementing emergency rule and suspending the Constitution. He was also named as a prime suspect in an assassination case. In 2013, Musharraf was indicted for Benazir Bhutto's assassination. Till recently, his wealth was put at 2 billion net cash in his offshore bank accounts besides other movable and immovable property but in his official papers submitted to the Election Commission he declared that his worth "mere" Rs 626 million. No action was taken to probe his wealth and though an absconder, he is leading a life of luxury in Dubai.
Sharif's party obtained 1.5 crore votes and has been removed by an order of the highest court. Sharif has not been dismissed on the contention of Panama papers (owning four flats in UK) not on corruption charges but on the flimsy ground of not declaring a supposedly a receivable amount (10,000 dirhams which is Rs 2.5 lakh) from the company of his son. The court gave the verdict that Sharif was no more sadiq (truthful) and amin (righteous). By the way, a very large number of judges and generals do not have a National Tax Number (something like our PAN) and those who do have an NTN and submit their tax returns generally conceal their actual income and assets. So much for sadiq and amin.
The original case revolving around Panamagate was about the ownership of four flats in London, corruption of public money and living beyond means. Neither the Joint Investigation Team nor the Supreme Court were able to substantiate any charge contained in the original prayer. And since Sharif was neither a judge nor a general but an elected Prime Minister, he has been disqualified for life without any trial, without any conviction.
Will Pakistan ever determine the rules of the game and the jurisdiction of the State institutions? Or continue its march towards total anarchy?
(Thanks to Mr Waseem Altaf for some inputs)  

War between hostility and diplomacy

Raju Korti

Modi and Xi: Shake or bake. (pmindia.gov.in)

All those wondering about the continued Chinese threats of a military conflict against India in the wake of Sikkim stand-off, I have borne this before. The Chinese do not issue empty threats. This posturing has worked against Americans right from the days of Richard Nixon but this time, the stage is South-East Asia and despite the Chinese wielding a considerable amount of influence in Sri Lanka, Nepal and Pakistan, India hasn't blinked -- far cry from the memories of that disastrous war in 1962.
With the exception of Pakistan, the other countries have not exactly fallen in line and they still consider India as big brother given the history. Apparently, the Chinese are trying to tackle India by also diminishing its influence in the neighbourhood. So it is not about military confrontation alone. In Bhutan, the borders are not properly demarcated and Doklam is one such contentious area. In all probability this dispute is in for a long haul.For the first time I discern that while a war hysteria has been whipped up by the Chinese, something that Indian people are hugely concerned in the shadow of history, the Indian government has chosen to play it down by not responding in the same measure. The Chinese, true to their style, have quickly massed their troops along the border and although New Delhi denies any such build-up in retaliation, there are unconfirmed reports that the army is not taking the Chinese threat lying down.
There is a school of thought that says China cannot afford a military confrontation because there is a huge market for their goods in India which means that economic considerations over-rule the compulsions of a war. If a war breaks out Doklam will provide the Chinese with a dominant ground by taking the strategic India, China, Bhutan tri-junction. If and when that happens, the Reds will be dangerously close because the corridor would connect them with North-East from where the Indian border is just 30 kms away. Of course, China has a track record of going ahead with its expansionist policies even in the midst of diplomatic moves. Remember when Xi came to India and was talking to Modi, Chinese troops had made inroads into Ladakh. Read it with the situation in 1962 when China attacked India in the thick of Hindi-Chini-bhai-bhai hoopla.
There seems to be a lot of confusion about the way Indian government is responding to the crisis. The issue is bound to come up with the country's National Security advisor in Beijing. Much depends on how the governments deals with the situation at the diplomatic level because despite the much touted improved capacity of the Army, the fact remains that it still is a lopsided comparison. What goes in India's favour is that there is some political upheaval in China and it cannot do more than raising a full scale war bogey. That gives India some breathing time. There is also a feeling among the Chinese people that Xi is just trying to cash in on raising nationalism as public sentiment like Modi is doing in India. I foresee only skirmishes and not a war at least until September. Besides, the Indian Army is well prepared this time and they would be no pushovers as they were five decades back.
The Chinese have a 70 billion dollar business with India which is a huge deterrent but China believes in muscle flexing more than its external economic compulsions. As for the army might, the Chinese are an untested force. They haven't fought a war as against India which is more war-tuned given the Pakistan factor and the military drills it conducts across many countries. However, there are several imponderables in the situation from which it is difficult to predict if there would be a war.
Until then there will be a war between hostility and diplomacy.

On the positive side, this is what I wrote barely a year back.
If there is one thing that you got to give it to the ruthlessly pushy Chinese, it is their clear perceptions in not mixing bilateral trade with security issues. So even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi carries forward his investment caravan by hosting the incumbent President Xi Jinping with Khaman Dhokla and Won Ton soup for the starters, there is a reasonable sense of optimism that the country's creaking infrastructure will get a much needed boost from this new-found engagement.
Naysayers will, of course, be quick to harp on China's past record in treachery as also its meagre investments post-2000 but much water has flown under the bridge since the visits of President Jiang Zemin and President Hu Jintao where diplomacy had taken precedence over bilateral trade. One should not be surprised if Jinping has come with a baggage that aims at arresting the growing trade deficit against India. Modi actually deserves a pat for making it implicitly clear to Beijing that the only mutually beneficial option was trade investment rather than tariff concessions. While investment per se may not be a conduit for bringing down the trade deficit, it could help the country's manufacturing sector through imports from China.

Harmanpreet as part of Indian XI

Raju Korti

Harmanpreet, the new rock star. (File grab)

Let me make an honest confession. I do not watch women's cricket as avidly as I watch men's cricket. Not because I consider them less talented and entertaining but just because it is not often that you see them on the big stage.
Watching Harmanpreet Kaur yesterday late evening brutally savage the Aussies in the Women's World Cup Semi Finals at Derby with a flurry of audacious strokes, I have decided to go beyond the regulation accolades that have been pouring in. Why not have Harmanpreet in the Indian playing XI? She performed on the big stage, delivered a swashbuckling performance any male cricketer would have been envious of. The sheer power that her willow exuded -- some of her big shots landing more than 80 meters -- made me wonder in what way was she less than any of the Kohlis, Yuvrajs and Dhonis. Even they don't hit seven sixes in a crunch match like the one yesterday. This is, of course, just a figurative comparison.
Harmanpreet is an Indian first. I am quite enamored by the thought that she should be included in the Indian playing XI. Among other things, it will be an exemplary beginning to end gender discrimination that follows the putrid male chauvinism and what better than to begin with Sports?
The electrifying knock transported me to 1975 when West Indian Roy Fredericks punctured the bloated egos of Lillee and Thomson at their furious best with a stunning 169 of which 100 were brought in in just eight overs. Mind you both West Indies and Australia were playing to their full potential with a cream of players. In an informal chat much later, former Aussie captain Ian Chappel told me that it was the most amazing batting display that he had ever seen - a view concurred by many others of that era. That was a Test match. Harmanpreet did it in limited overs do-or-die match.
It is saddening to see the Indian media, which is over-obsessed with politics, not taking enough cognizance of a player who did India so proud almost single-handed yesterday. And it goes ga ga over men's cricket, writing reams.
That intense, clinical demolition from Indian women, however, left me penitent -- of having missed out on earlier matches. A victory is a victory is a victory. Let's raise a toast to this wonderful team. And one way of doing it could be rewarding them as handsomely as they do men cricketers. I am sure Mr Moneybags BCCI, which has lakhs to pay for one six and one catch, can dish out enough money to these women to motivate them into a more fighting outfit. If the coach of the Indian cricket team is worthy of being paid Rs 8 crore annually for coaching players that need no coaching, surely we can do by diverting some of the overflowing coffers to those who have brought India no less glory.
Till then, at least bring in the red carpet.     

War with China then, war with China now

Raju Korti

Chou en Lai and Nehru: Comrades in arms!

The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing. Long since it fought a disastrous war with China in 1962, the Indian government seems to have learnt precious little. The Chinese are not known to give empty threats. Three weeks into the Sikkim stand off with China, the Communist country has warned of a even more severe backlash. China believes India is using its military might as a leverage in Sikkim and thus a case of blatant provocation.
The Indian Army's track record has been impeccable but the 1962 war, which caught it off guard, remains a black spot on its reputation. To be fair to the Army, the war was lost much before it moved to defend the country, thanks to the spineless political leadership of the time.
Political leaders including the Leftists and then home minister Krishna Menon in their considered wisdom thought that the Chinese were merely indulging in sabre rattling. However, once the conflict started, even old friend USSR left India to fend for herself.
Such was the ineptitude and carelessness of the government of the day that it even ignored a carefully prepared report of the Army about China's impending aggression. The stone-faced Krishna Menon, close chum of Jawaharlal Nehru, seemed to live in their ivory towers. Had the warnings been heeded to, India would have been spared of the blushes and tragedy of a massive defeat and large number of casualties.Clearly, the Indian government, without a think-tank, had underestimated the Chinese resolve. The attack happened when the country's leadership was sitting and discussing policies that were utterly unrealistic, not realizing that a treacherous, expansionist neighbour cannot and should never be trusted. As it turned out, the attack in Ladakh and Arunachal (then NEFA), took the incompetent leadership by complete surprise. To cap it all, a post war report laid the blame squarely the Chief of Army Staff and Chief of General Staff for the debacle.
Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai was a standard diplomatic line that got undue and unfounded importance in the late 50s and early 60s from the likes of Nehru. Though the reasons for this sudden build up of such high levels of trust on China was befuddling, it was actually utter foolishness. As events unfolded, this over-affectionate posturing towards China spelled doom.
From what emerged of the post-war reports, it was India who provoked the Chinese Army despite being well aware that it lacked the capacity to take the latter head on. The trigger was also a provocative statement that Nehru made and irked Mao Zedong.
It is widely believed that the Indian Army ran out of food, artillery and ammo supplies during the war. The back up was weak and a long status quo only resulted in compounding the situation on the border. In short, logistical failure was also among the reason why the Indians took a beating.
The most embarrassing part of the story was the weak and inefficient political leadership. Nehru leaned too much on a tactless Menon who just wasn't able to anticipate the seriousness of the situation. India lost far too many soldiers because of poor leadership.
If the leadership was inane and ludicrous, the Army was thoroughly unprepared. Though particularly impressive in its own backyard, absence of strategy and advanced weapons was a recipe for disaster. From the war emerged an Army whose morale had chafed.
That was 55 years ago. Today if India's military might has gone up manifold, so has China's. That brings the stand off situation to Square One. Moral of the story: The error of the past is the wisdom and success of the future.

Emergency and a 20-year-old Me

Raju Korti
I was barely legal when (then) Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed a state of nation-wide emergency on 25th June, 1975. The lady who invoked more or less the same levels of hatred and appreciation as Modi does today, wasn't able to reconcile to the thought of her and her party being thrown out of power even after being unseated by a historic judgement of the Allahabad High Court. The emerging hero of this political fallout was the national clown (and therefore Socialist) Raj Narain who had filed a case against Indira for electoral malpractices. As it turned out, the decision led to an unprecedented situation in a country that always made for loud speeches about its pledge to democratic credentials.
In hindsight, I can safely vouch that at 20, my knowledge of political affairs was sound enough to understand the implications of what a national emergency meant. What I wasn't able to put a finger on was the repercussions it would lead to. I didn't have to read the National Herald -- the mouthpiece (euphemism for fiefdom) of the Gandhi clan to know where it was leading the country to. The tensions of the Emergency were palpable as the one-man government of the day attempted a desperate gamble to retain power through a debauchery, the scars of which, refuse to go away. It was all so evident and blatant that I didn't have to be a student of Political Science or Mass Media to know that Emergency is a rule by decree used primarily by dictators, despots, absolute monarchs and the Military Junta. Indira added a mew dimension which in my definition was an action by a democratic government that made no bones about unduly bypassing parliamentarian or popular scrutiny. The twisted justification came through a presidential proclamation on the perceived threats to the nation from internal or external sources. (There was this interesting story of how the then President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed signed the presidential proclamation in the midst of his bath, scared as he was of Indira and since she wanted the proclamation be signed "at once") . That wasn't altogether surprising since presidents in India have been traditional rubber stamps of the successive governments until Congress' own Sardar Giani Zail Singh waved the red flag at Rajiv Gandhi. In Indira's case, the threat never came from external sources which meant its hostile neighbours Pakistan and China. The threat was mainly from within, and directly to her throne. Such was the "gravity of the internal disturbances" that the Emergency lasted until March 1977. What happened in these two years was absolute anarchy which Indira herself couldn't apparently control. I say "apparently" because Indira's pet political strategy while dealing with all problems was to allow the problem to fester and then solve it to hog credit. Of course, that policy backfired in Punjab, Sri Lanka and North-East where the "trouble-makers" turned out to be feistier than Indira thought.
My personal understanding of the Emergency was it was a monster that Indira unleashed but wasn't able to control. As a student of engineering then, I could see and feel that India lived more in a Police Raj than a Political Raj in those two years of disorganised non-governance. There were horror stories about people, including school-going children being randomly shunted behind bars on the slightest pretext of saying anything even remotely against the government. There was complete mistrust and as I spoke to people in hushed tones, I could feel alarm, fright and panic in the air. No one wanted to open mouth and get victimised. In all this muddle, the irrepressible Sanjay Gandhi, the heir apparent, took upon himself to bring down single-handed the growing population of the country with forced vasectomies. There were true and/or exaggerated stories about how anyone was picked up randomly -- including children -- from the street and forced to be sterilised. I was among this frightened clan who dared not stir out of the house unless it was dead necessary and if I did, I returned looking at almost everyone suspiciously lest I land on the operation table to be robbed of my "masculinity".
The Congress had a wide spectrum from which to blame -- their pet peeve Sanghis from within and Jewish, Mossad, Zionist, Israeli and CIA from outside! This wild conspiracy theory was rejected by the country when the country went to polls in 1977 that brought the top-heavy opposition Janata Party to power. As it happened, the Janata Party government frittered away the electoral advantage by internal bickering and silly fights that would have amused even the teenagers. The government fell like nine pins in just over two years, forcing people to bring back Indira to power with a two-third majority. Clearly, Politics is a game of expediency, selective amnesia and compulsions borne out of helplessness.
As one who attended almost all the speeches of Indira, Sanjay and those of Morarji, Charan Singh, Jagjivan Ram, Madhu Dandavate, Madhu Limaye, Nanaji Deshmukh, Vajpayee, Advani, Ram Vilas Paswan and others during that politically surcharged period, I could see where the country was headed. Indira's famed "Utpadan Badhao" speech was met with justified suspicion. The Opposition did not exactly give a glorious account of itself in the months to come and the country fell back in the lap of the very same people who threw it into wilderness. But such was the upbeat mood in the Opposition ranks after their electoral triumph that it was the first time I saw a silent RSS march.
Today, when I try to put these frames into a perspective, I wonder what has really changed.
All political parties -- their so called ideologies be damned -- play only blame games and it is ridiculous because even a novice knows that each has a feet of clay.
Governments have changed. Governance remains the pathetic same. In a democracy, people don't have to be powerful. They need to be sensible. But that's asking for moon when personal agendas take precedence over national welfare.

Kohli Vs Kumble, queering the pitch

Raju Korti
While Team India gears up to take on sworn rivals Pakistan in the ICC Champions Trophy at Edgbaston tomorrow, there is also a grating sense of apprehension over the alleged rift between captain Virat Kohli and coach Anil Kumble. Apparently, the two have been sharing cold vibes after Kumble wanted a player to be included during the IPL and Kohli least interested. If reports are to be believed, there is a growing concern in the Kohli camp that Kumble is overbearing in his demeanour and approach.
The rift came as a surprise to the cricketing fraternity when the combination had yielded rich dividends with India winning five consecutive series victories. But the clash of egos was waiting to happen. By very nature Kohli and Kumble are as different as chalk and cheese. Kohli, much in the style of Sourav Ganguly, is impetuous while Kumble has been a picture of courtliness and grit all through his illustrious career.
After the exit of New Zealand's John Wright and to some extent South Africa's Gary Kirsten, the relations between the captains and the coaches of their time have been at best lukewarm. There is a fair allowance of debate on who should have a final say in the team selection at the last minute. Both the captain and the coach look at the issue from their vantage points -- the captain draws from his instincts and claims to know what he wants while the coach feels he is objectively a better judge sitting in the dugout.
The brief of a coach has assumed a wider significance in today's context. He is no longer just the conventional cricketing coach but also as some sort of mentor and advisor. Whether that makes for a unjustified case of coach exceeding his brief is another debate but it leads to a situation where they either complement or clash with each other. With the kind of stakes involved, invariably the latter happens given the king size egos the players and cricketing administrators nurse. History provides testimony.
Remember the running battle and acrimony between Ganguly and Australian Greg Chappel. Chappel's authoritarian style of functioning didn't go down with Ganguly, himself not the one to take anything lying down. What it did was it also cleaved the team in the dressing room. Chappel exited unceremoniously, leaving behind an unending debate whether India should have a foreign coach or someone from within the country's cricketing fraternity.

Not seeing face to face: Kohli and Kumble

As it has turned out, the captain and the team have the last laugh on the issue as the Cricketing Board cannot afford to antagonise players, whatever the stature of the coach. There is some merit in the argument that analytics and strategizing should be left to the skipper and his think tank since finally what happens and is executed on ground is his responsibility.
Kumble's own track record is outstanding and he is known to be a man of convictions. To be fair to him, his views cannot be given a short shrift but I feel the coach should just prescribe rather than insist. Their symbiotic relationship can be an advantage or disadvantage depending on how they handle each other.
My childhood friend and cricketer N S Krishnan puts it in the perspective. Says he: "Trying to impose a football-like coach driven culture may not be the best idea and the rules of engagement between the coach and skipper have to be evolved and negotiated for each pair. There cannot be rigid rules that govern the engagement between the two. If there is a breakdown it is unfortunate. There has to be a proper role definition after a lot of thought, reasoning and debate. No easy solutions ahead unfortunately."
Kumble's extension of contract was a foregone conclusion but it won't come as a surprise if he is sacrificed at the altar of the skipper. If he has been officious, he cannot escape part of the blame.
Kumble's former team-mates Tendulkar, Ganguly and Laxman form the BCCI's  Cricket Advisory Committee and they have an unenviable task of taking a decision on a man whom they fully respect. Virender Sehwag's name is emerging as a front-runner if its curtains for Kumble.
Irrespective of whoever takes charge, the imbroglio doesn't look to fade away. Ego gets you inches, it doesn't get you impact. 

Of Naxal attack and ex-gratia

Raju Korti

Foot soldiers die and the government salutes

As someone who is pathologically averse to violence of any kind and for any reason, I have had the mortification of covering the Naxalite movement when it was at its peak in the eighties. The media which is conventionally urban-centric, keeps floating occasional and half-baked stories about this movement without getting its proper import. So it was quite a cultural shock for me when I trekked the bumpy terrain of the Naxal-infested pockets straddling Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh border to paint a terribly dismal picture of the failure of the successive governments to stop this cult of violence in the name of ideology even as the main constituency of this extreme Left-leaning elements continued to languish in utter neglect.
Inaccessible topography, men having nothing to do except burn their lungs with beedis made out of tendu leaves, women moving around naked with not even a fig leaf for cover, deprived of even the most basic amenities and exploited for decades at the hands of unscrupulous landlords and self-seeking politicians was just the script that would have excited any journalist. It excited me alright but it also exposed me to the excruciating pain of having to watch this show of squalor and poverty.
In their dispossession, the tribals had found saviours in Naxals who periodically brainwashed them into believing that the root cause of their meaningless existence was the State which had to be overthrown if their lot was to improve. The gullible tribals reciprocated by offering the Naxals a hiding place since the movement was outlawed. The only semblance of human face of the movement showed up in the Human Rights and Civil Liberties activists always ready to fight the criminal cases against them. On its part, the government either turned blind eye or had little clue how to tackle this ticklish issue and kept drifting.That was sometime in 1984. I was informed by a source that the Naxals were planning a hush hush convention at Kamlapur -- an apology of a village -- nestling a little across the Maharashtra border. Drafted to do a story for The Hindu by my News Editor, it was with great trepidation that I decided to venture in the area. I had an unarmed Police Patil (a lower-rung cop) for company who looked more scared than I did at the prospect of visiting areas from where chances of returning alive were at best faint.
It was more by fluke than judgement that we managed to zero in on the place without being struck by a bullet. But my breath which I had been holding out of fear, came out like the hiss of a punctured tyre when we learnt that the Naxals who had come for the meet fled when they found the police had caught their scent. Not a single Naxal could be arrested. It was a convention that got aborted before it could take off. I still tried to attempt a meet with Dr Kondapalli Seetharamiah, a brilliant economist and the head of the Naxal outfit People's War Group (PWG). I heard stories that he was so influential and powerful in his oratory that he could convert anyone into a Naxal within a few minutes of meeting him. My luck ran out here too as the man was sick and didn't address any of his weekly indoctrination. However, I did manage to get pretty close. I gleaned out elements in the Naxals who were a little media-savvy. They looked at me suspiciously thinking I was a police informer and frisked me several times over while one man poked his gun at my chest. I must have died several times in those few minutes. Finally, convinced that I was a media person after seeing my identity card, they promised to take me to Seetharamiah. As it happened the man was hospitalised with no one in the government even aware of it. And by the time someone in the government did, Kondapalli escaped by jumping from the first floor of the hospital. It was billed as a sensational escape and the funniest part was not even the hospital authorities had any clue that the man they were treating was a dreaded Naxal leader who swore by the Maoist philosophy of power firing from the bullets of the gun. A couple of years later, I did manage to catch a sneak preview of the man when the PWG was in the news again for killing eight policemen in Bhamragarh of Chandrapur district. Since the police were hot on his trail, he refused to meet strangers including media personnel which otherwise he wasn't averse to meet. He shifted places in the areas which were beyond the vision of the police and did a better job at it than what Bin Laden could do in Afghanistan. I saw him in military undies with a gun in his right hipster speaking to a bunch (called dalam) of rookie Naxalites who looked at him as if he was a demigod. From whatever I heard I realised that if only there were more men like him in the mainstream, they would have worked wonders with the country's governance.
Thereafter I did several stories on Naxalism and its socio-economic impact in the tribal land but in the course of this journey, it was amply clear: The governments over the decades have neither been able to rein in the Naxals nor wean away the tribals from their clutches. Although to an extent it was rightly interpreted as a socio-economic issue, the government couldn't do much beyond some cosmetic steps. The tribals, provided with food and some rag tag help, remained suspicious of the government's intentions. The mask fell with the advent of nineties when this so called ideological movement started degenerating into plain brigandry and thuggery. The Naxals show of sympathy towards the poor tribals is now a total sham. They want poor to remain poor and landless so they can run their shop and keep targeting the establishment with the violence they have institutionalised since the movement's inception. The truth is the day the tribals come into the mainstream, they will become redundant and will be left with no agenda to pursue their policy of firing bullets at those in power. Having seen the movement from close quarters and interacting with some of them of their front organisations -- one of them a reputed media guy himself -- I know where exactly the shoe bites. And despite being a media man myself, I came to know that my fellow journalist from Sunday Observer Kobad Ghandy, a tall handsome and articulate man, was a Naxalite after he was arrested. His pretty wife (late) Anuradha, a regular contributor to newspapers, was also one and I had no clue that she could harbour such ruthless ideology; sweet and docile as she was in her demeanour and disposition.
The brutal killing of 24 CRPF men by the Naxals in Chhattisgarh district proves that the the veneer behind which the movement is being run, has slipped while the government has always found itself on a slippery ground.
The government could have done with a sense of purpose and a resolve to settle the issue. It didn't. The Naxals could have used better methods than to just lift the gun. They didn't. The End.

Bangladesh and India's hospitality

Hasina with Modi (File grab from narendramodi.in)

Raju Korti
It requires an extraordinary piece of luck and fortune to be saddled with a neighbour like People's Republic of Bangladesh. Having presided over its birth and extended its most gracious hospitality to its refugees after its liberation in 1971, India has had a roller-coaster relationship with this fractured and bandaged part of what once was East Pakistan.
With its proven track record of political and economic instability, it makes for an interesting case study at least as far as India is concerned. The Atlas says Bangladesh abuts India on three sides, sharing a 2500 km long border. Nepal, Bhutan and China are also located close to it but do not share a border. India's sworn motto of Atithi Devo Bhava (guest is god) has gone down well with Bangladesh which makes a healthy contribution to India's burgeoning population. Only that these guests are uninvited and unsolicited! Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed, whose father Sheikh Mujibur Rehman died fighting Pakistan's hegemony, is in India and is believed to have signed more than 22 defence and civilian pacts. The amusing part of such pacts is one doesn't get to know much about them because the media finds it too boring and officialese to report them. In any case, such pacts have only cosmetic value and one knows about them only when they are breached. While you wrack your brains on how India and Bangladesh must cooperate in defence matters, the real issue of illegal immigration remains buried. With the border along Bangladesh and Nepal the most porous, hordes sneak into India in search of a better life. The Indian administration has been ill-equipped to deal with such elements, many of whom have valid documents like the ration card and Aadhar card. That makes them as genuine citizens of this country as you and me. Now that this munificence has become institutionalised, India must officially give these to the visiting Bangla Prime Minister. That will be an official admission that India does have an open policy towards is neighbour -- policy of open arms.
I find it hugely amusing that India has a security pact with its mercurial neighbour while an unspecified influx keeps pouring unabated from the latter. The fact that Bangladesh happens to be the eighth most populous country in the world makes it even more alarming. It has already changed the demographic pattern in the north-eastern states. So India is secure with Bangladesh but not with its fleeing citizens and chooses to fight its own natives in the process. There is a running joke that an illegal Bangladeshi immigrant is more likely to be possessing an Indian identity document than an Indian Bengali who may take his/her Indian citizenship for granted. This Indian generosity was in evidence even when its neighbour was grappling with military coups -- a bad habit picked up from its fallen out brother Pakistan.
On the other hand, one got to give it to Bangladesh. It accepts frigates and missiles from China and signs a defence pact with India. That calls for some diplomacy. This is what Prime Minister Narendra Modi was quoted as saying the other day: "India has always stood for the prosperity of Bangladesh and its people. We are long-standing and trusted development partner of Bangladesh. India and Bangladesh are also determined that the fruits of our cooperation must benefit the people."
That is unintended humour for you.

Chidiya Rani did you say?

Raju Korti
As I reclined against my settee and looked aimlessly out of the window, I caught the sight of a sparrow perched on the cable wire across the balcony. As a bird lover from way past and someone used to the presence of these winged angels around me -- thanks to the National Park in the vicinity --  I kept watching it for a few amusing seconds. On an impulse, I rose and went close to the sparrow which was chirping away furiously without break. It did not fly away. Rather it chose to stay put and continued its prattle. I am no ornithologist but it sounded as if it was trying to tell me "come on, take a long look at me. May be you will never see me again after a few years." I made a few pampering noises and it looked at me despairingly. And then it fled.

Two years ago on this day -- the World Sparrow Day -- I had written how this cute little angel would one day figure in only fairy tale stories. Their numbers have dwindled even more, hurtling the species into the "endangered" species. Viewed against this backdrop, it is absurd how the civic body has brought Penguins to this hot, humid city when they should be better off in the icy glaciers.
This is what I wrote exactly two years on this day:

Way back in 1975 I was occasioned to meet one of the most affable and genial personalities that I can ever vouch for. In a long-winding chat over issues relating to environment and ecology, Sunder Lal Bahuguna, the architect of the path-breaking Chipko campaign (Hug the Trees) told me "there is one simple yardstick to know the status of ecology around you. If you don't hear the chirping of a sparrow and the croak of a frog, it means the ecology is headed for an unmitigated disaster."
The tiny little friendly bird once an integral part of a peaceful cohabitation between Man and Nature has become so sparse now that people exclaim with surprise "Oh! that's a sparrow! when they actually see one. This rather taken-for-granted bird, because of its believed familiarity, is hardly seen flitting in and out of the balconies of houses any more. And unless conservation measures are rigorously pursued the common sparrow will soon become fabled. Out of sight and out of mind! The saddest part of this story is not only from cities, these little but powerful symbols of bio-diversity are exiting even from the rural scene. The Nature Forever Society which is spearheading an aggressive campaign for the cause of the sparrow feels, although it may sound far-fetched to some people, that "Sparrow and conservation should be an election agenda." Sensibility and wisdom should second that. While events like Sparrow picnics, Sparrow Contests and Sparrow Walks do promote the cause, what is actually needed is solid action on ground.Mumbai has been particularly uncharitable to the common sparrow. The haphazardly growing metropolis' urban landscape punctuated by unbridled urbanization, greedy concretization, mobile towers, changing lifestyles, excessive use of chemicals and pesticides, lack of food and little empathy towards nature have contributed generously to the decline of this petite bird. Mercifully, the sparrow can still be spotted in the western suburbs beyond Goregaon towards Virar, thanks mostly to some forestation that obtains in the stretch. But the picture on the other side up to South Bombay is dismal to the extent that even children know about it only through books.
The BNHS findings are telling. The sparrow population has shrunk to almost half in the last decade. Since 2005, there has been an almost 60% decline in the big sparrow clusters. Areas with no sparrows have also gone up by 50%. The survey compared sparrow spotting by people before and after 2005.
The Bombay Natural History Society survey found that sparrows are seen in fewer places now than they were before 2005. Where they are still found, the numbers are lower than earlier and fewer nests are seen as well. This suggests that the number of sparrows has indeed declined and the low number of nests might mean that they are continuing to decline.
Mr Shekhar Bopardikar, a friend and an ardent conservationist points out as do other environmentalists: "The most obvious reason is destruction of sparrow habitat. Their nesting places have disappeared with rampant urbanization. But all is not lost. Things can be turned around by creating conditions conducive for the sparrows to thrive and multiply."
The Nature Forever Society has a more clarion call. "We don't want our future generations to see sparrows in photos and books. Sparrows are among our last hope to stay connected with what remains of nature in our cities. With sparrows will end human civilization itself."
Let's save this Nature's splendid icon. In it lies our future hopes and well being. I recall a lovely, 
rib- tickling song that often use to be played on the radio during my childhood:
Bhookh lagi to chidiya rani
Moong ki daal pakaayegi
Kawwa roti laayega
Laake tuze khilaayega..
Chun chun karti aayee chidya
Mor bhi aaya, kawwa bhi aaya chuha bhi aaya Bandar bhi aaya...
May the chidiya rani's tribe grow.

Hope it is not wishful thinking.

Sport with an endless charm

Raju Korti
There are three sure ways to fail at everything in life. Complain and crib about everything, blame all and sundry for your ills and never be grateful. To my credit, I have failed inspite of resorting to any of these. Blaming people for your mistakes is a faster route to the dungeon of uncreativity. The thought of losing that creativity -- or whatever else is left of it -- unnerves me more than anything else. There is an expedient thought that glides me through this unproductive philosophy. There are practically no chances of me owning anything else in life and playing blame games is a luxury an impecunious person like me can ill afford.
Having spouted these words of wisdom, I can also understand the irresistible lure of playing blame games, a sport turned into a fine art by the social media. The best thing about this sport is it never produces any tangible result, yet the charm endures. Sp the best way to avoid becoming a scapegoat is to find one.
Not that there is anything profound about these observations but they still need to be said. So here I go with some routine samples. It is a ready reckoner and guide for any learner who wants to master the craft of whining, moaning and groaning. (Credit to Rajiv Gandhi for giving those words a cult status).

Photoshopped grab.

Election debacle: Blame the electorate. If nothing, the EVMs and rigging.
Game lost: Blame the turf, poor umpiring/match-fixing.
Not chosen to play: Blame the biased selectors.
Deprived of promotion or a raise: Blame crooked bosses.
Not being able to reform: Blame the corrupt system.
Poor rains, crop: Blame the weather.
Contradictory opinions: Blame it on others for being ill-informed/hypocritical.
Failed at the exams: Blame it on bad teachers and institutions.
When life goes round the bend: Blame God.
Failure to catch bus/train: Blame traffic jams.
Soured relationships: Blame it on lack of reciprocity.
Lost litigation: Blame courts, Judiciary.
Cannot dance: Blame the song/stage.
Cannot fulfil commitments: Blame it on lack of time.
Caught in corruption/scam: Blame it on witch-hunt, political vendetta.
Product doesn't sell: Blame whimsical and unpredictable customers.
Lack of civic sense: Blame it on civic bodies.
Failure in general: Blame it on others' success.
Tough situations/circumstances: Blame destiny.

I am told that the Olympics Committee has refused to include blame games in their tournaments. They know Indians will win them hands down and beaten nations will blame it for match-fixing.
Here is a bully off. Blame everybody and everything until you have got nobody left around but to blame yourself.