The ticking in my arse

I am often called a total cynic by readers and friends, but I think in this instance, most die hard optimists will reluctantly agree with my highly negative view: I think we are heading for a huge disaster in the coming future, I think we are on a free fall to mass death and destruction.

The terrorists, helped and abetted by disgruntled locals, are toying around with us, I guess their delicious dilemma these days is which target to choose next. Much the way we discuss where to meet for a drink this weekend.

And in the democratic system we have, the two national parties have ensured our path to destruction is smoothened and ready for use by the agents of terror. The Congress and its allies will not do anything to smoke out people who provide a base to the foreign terrorists, as they consider the Muslim community to be a key vote bank, and they would never risk offending any innocent. In harder States like the US, UK and Israel, this consideration would not exist at all… even as you read this, in similar circumstances, they would be knocking on the doors of every suspect. I recall how the Brits used a battering ram to break open the doors of a popular mosque in London, because they thought it harboured terrorists. Signora Sonia would not even consider such an option.

And then we have the BJP and its allies, who began all the trouble in the first place when they inspired the demolition of the Babri mosque, and achieved great success in their vote garnering strategy: totally polarise the society, thus inflicting an irreversible rift between communities. How can there ever be unity in a divided India? The members of the minority community will forever feel alienated and bitter.

Bottomline: Either ways, we are screwed. One party wants to take no hard action, and the other is determined to cut us into parts. And the people who pay the price for this criminalised democracy is we, the condemned junta. As bombs explode up our arses when we go out to eat chaat or watch a movie. I don’t think anyone is asking if there’ll be a next attack. We are only wondering when and where the next explosion will be. All depends on where the dice drops on the board of terror.

Chak De blues

Here’s the reason I completely loved Chak De, and if you haven’t seen it yet, please do so: The lessons in organisational politics and leadership skills the film showcases. Forget for a moment it’s the game of hockey, and you’ll notice the same issues we deal with in organisations. The backstabbing, the plotting, the favouritism, the selfishness, the inability to work with others, the ego clashes… we see all that in our workplaces all the time. But sadly, what we don’t find is the sort of leader the coach plays, his commitment to the cause of the team, the fanatical urge to succeed, the courage to keep team ahead of oneself, the ability to slot the right workers for the right jobs, and then to motivate them… such leaders don’t exist in the corporate world.

I can well imagine if the coach had been the CEO of a company, what might have happened. He would have fed on their division and ruled, he would have covered his arse for the hockey association by bad mouthing the players, he would have sacked girls with ‘attitude problems’, he would have leaked stories to the media, promoted himself, and in the end, taken all the credit for the team’s success, and blamed them for failures. And perhaps even slept with some ambitious ones and promoted them out of line.

And if such leaders like Kabir Khan do exist, they would get knocked out sooner than later, labelled as being difficult to work with, and inconvenient.

They say cinema is all about escapism, and I sure agree. And it’s good to see the escapism with Chak De has gone beyond soulful love stories and expensive Karva Chauth songs. We now can escape into the arms of a leader who can only be imaginary.

AAAAIIIIIEEEEEE….

Two days back, a nameless, faceless, housemaid went diving down to her death from the 16th storey of a building in my neighbourhood. And the security guard who saw her body crash down like a piece of unwanted trash, heard the teen girl call out to her mother in her most desperate moment.

The routine happened. The society officer summoned the cops. Who met the maid’s masters. Some quick investigation was done. Rookie journos from the media landed up to earn their daily bread. The dead servant’s relations arrived, cried hysterically, cursed their luckless existence, and went back to their daily chores. And within hours, life was back to normal in the building. The master claims the maid climbed to clean the glass windows, tripped and fell, as simple as that. The cops seem to have accepted this as a fact, and soon the file will be closed.

What no one is asking is the one unanswered question: Why was the maid cleaning the glasses on the 16th storey of an apartment, whose owner had not fitted in grilles as a protection device? And if he hadn’t, why had he not given strict instructions to the maid that no cleaning will be down without adequate supervision? (I don’t think anyone is even considering the possibility that the maid may have actually been instructed to clean the glasses minus the protection… but that’s hard to prove in any case.) So clearly, a large part of the responsibility for the poor girl’s death must lie with the landlord, if for nothing else, then at least for recklessness.

However, this is India, life of a poor citizen counts for nothing. She’s already forgotten, and the building complex is right now busy planning the Independence Day celebrations. During which, members will belt out desh-bakhti songs, cheerfully wish each other, and then partake of the buffet lunch organised for the event.

No, I shall not be there. I never do participate in flat hoisting ceremonies. Not because I don’t respect the nation, but because I don’t respect the fact that we have built a nation where the life of an individual is measured by the price tag attached to her dead body.

Sorry, this is not the India of my dreams.

… But now for vertical integration

So, Sanjay Dutt is behind bars and all’s well with the world. Or is it? There are murmurs yet again about punishing the folks who committed atrocities during the riots that triggered the bomb blasts (as in Narendrabhai’s famous action/reaction principle). The Sri Krishna Commission report has been tabled and accepted, and it’s high time the State Government took some hard action so we know even if justice is delayed, it’s still unbiased. But this gutless government will only be provoked by mass morchas and agitations; else it will simply bury its head in the sand, as it does on all controversial matters. The deed of doing justice has to be larger than simply punishing the bombers and the rioters… we need to nail all the politicians and religious leaders who caused all this damage to begin with… the people who incited and energised goons into bringing down the Babri Masjid. It was THAT mother event which led to a chain reaction of other crimes, including the Bombay riots and blasts, and then the Gujarat riots. If we let these divisive, hate-mongering sharks get away with it, punishing a small fish like Sanjay Dutt will serve no purpose. So while Justice Kode may have done his job on Sanjay and the other Bombay bombers, the nation’s highest court needs to find a way to get the big villains of this saga. It is only then can we speak of true justice.

Kudos to Kode

(In case you missed this... wrote it today in the Mirror.)
People often forget our judges are human too, and are a part and parcel of the society we have created, and in which we live. And surely all the emotional hysteria and the huge media interest in the Sanjay Dutt case must have put the TADA judge under a degree of pressure. But yesterday, Justice Kode stood up for what is right; he neither let emotional pressure nor the star’s cult status come in the way of dispassionately following the law of the land. All those of you who think the sentence on our Munnabhai was too harsh, must remember that the crime against which Dutt was convicted was a very serious one too. Imagine if all those of us who get threatened begin to arm ourselves with weapons of mass destruction… we would be at war within the country. This is not only a landmark judgment in India’s legal history, it will serve as a great precedent for future trials which involve public heroes and stars. A whole lot of us who have interacted with Dutt (and that includes me) truly believe he is a lovable man, and is always kind and helpful. But the law simply cannot ignore a grave offence committed by a man who may now have been reformed. I don’t know if Sanjay will get a chance to read this piece, but if he does, this is what I would say to him: Much as though the punishment may seem hard, do remember, in your own way, you have helped push the envelope on justice in this country… a whole lot of ordinary people who were losing faith or had become cynical, will now have their faith restored. The politicians have badly let us down, the judiciary is the last hope of this nation, and we just cannot afford to lose that hope. You brought Bapu back into our lives with your cool film, now you are helping us believe in the law, even if you didn’t want it to turn out this way. Perhaps that’s the silver lining that will see you through the oncoming cloudy days.