Between blasts and everywhere

Lately, I seem to be going back to my state of numbness, not wanting to do anything mentally and physically, and slowly and surely slipping into a lethargy that I thought I had managed to pull myself out of a while ago. Perhaps it is the weather that is bringing me down. I hate showing up at work drenched regularly, and being in that wet state makes me quite irritable, so much so that I begin hating a lot of things I normally enjoy doing, and a lot of things that I would simply not bother about begin getting on my nerves. So unfortunately, that has been my mental state the past few days.

In this state of mental frustration, its very easy to doubt everything, and even easier to lose one's faith in everything positive and representing home. At least for me, i've become a very cynical being these days, and in my cynicism, I see that nothing around me is changing. The media continues to feed us the same muck, or rather, the people in the news continue to feed us the same muck, and the media presents the same muck to us with one or two variations in its flavour and presentation.

When I have to look at what is happening politically, I see that there's nothing new to write about. I wish I had the political insight that would allow me to read into actions and decisions of politicians and political parties, and I believe most of the media lacks the same, most unfortunately. If I had to think more on this subject, I think that it is perhaps prudent of the media to not focus on conspiracy theories. Now there is two rebuttals in my mind regarding the same. The first is that while the media steers clear of conspiracy theories (well, most of them anyways, those that remain I think are part of a plan), the fact is that more often than not, there have been such ridiculous truths unearthed in recent times that one wonders what the truth in Indian politics is any more. So my first point is that now I believe more often than not, prevalent rumours regarding our governments and politicians seem to hold more weight than before. Especially in this environment of government unaccountability and misgovernance, the nation is merely a spectator in some big game being played at the highest levels.

The second point is that if the media is so careful to steer clear of conspiracy theories at the political levels, surely that had not stopped them from accepting conspiracy theories at other levels, and all these "human interest" stories that the media churns out are an example of that. Numerous stories have been nothing but a big, pointless, and inexplicable media circus, something to keep the people glued to their television sets. At the political levels, I trust nothing what the media reports, anything that comes with an opinion attached, which is most often the case now. The Radia tapes showed that the media is merely a fiddle for the political class to play with each other, and my trust in them is really low. So my second point is that if most of the Indian media - print and television, wastes no time in cranking up their tabloid expertise at all levels, at the political level, they are only interested in indulging in propaganda and spreading bias. Of course, these are very broad and sweeping generalizations I am presenting here, and I wish I had more proof or examples of what I write, but I am relying more on anecdotal evidence here than anything else. If anybody pays attention to what is going on in the media, they will agree that the Indian media of today has a huge credibility issue.

After the Mumbai blasts (the latest one), lots of newsreel has been spent on who is saying what (mostly from the Government of India, but mindless), what evidences have been found, and what the cops are up to. The good sign is that there are indeed a few leads that police from multiple states are following. There is no mistake in my mind - India is at war, but it is overt and most are unable to see it. Our politicians on the other hand, do not want to act on it because it goes against their interests.

The Government of India started the National Investigation Agency (NIA) post Mumbai blasts so that a national level agency directly under the center could be created that would assist state police in probing terror. As far as I remember, P Chidambaram was really gung-ho about the whole thing, and now that it faces its first crisis, it has to "pull out".

Call me a cynic (and since I am in that state of mind these days), even if India faced the most horrific of wars, our government structure would still not be able to coordinate with each other and put together a unified response. People can say that it is a very exaggerated statement, but I think it depends on conditioning. We just don't seem to have good administrative leadership in this country at the highest level, and there are just too many egos and self-interests for Indians to come together. The reason the NIA pulled out was because it was not getting the support it needed from the Mumbai police. At the same time, the police say that NIA wants to go alone, and it is just not capable of doing so. That India's law and order is in tatters is a statement I keep parroting, and like I said, no matter what happens in the country, I think our security forces will always be deprived of good equipment and training and on an invisible political leash.

Coming back to other things, 9 July was the first Independence Day of Africa's 54th and the world's 194th country, the Republic of South Sudan. One of my buddies in Philadelphia was a South Sudan boy, so he must be pretty happy. Here's to you Mike. From the little I know, South Sudan was a separate land culturally and linguistically different from the more Arab north, but the British (who else?) put them together. It was Mr. Nelson Mandela's birthday yesterday, a great son of Africa. I was reading an article written by a Sudanese teacher how the white President of South Africa when it ended apartheid also received the Nobel Peace Prize along with Mandela, when he led the community, or whatever you want to call the white people, that till then still practiced the most shameful of segregation seen in modern times? So basically the lady was saying that Omar Al Bashir should also be given the prize because even if the country was being broken, he would let it happen, and in fact ensure that it happened peacefully.

Oh, heres something new. Shri Ramchandra Guha writing in the Financial Times about how "India is too corrupt to be a superpower". Well, my initial first thought would be that its not that we are too corrupt, its that we are just not that driven to be any sort of power, least of all the common man/woman who struggles to make ends meet. Just like how you can't preach religion to an empty stomach, so you can't expect the millions of have-nots in the country, in terms of food, education, housing, healthcare, to care even an iota whether India became a 'superpower' or not if they still can't bask in its benefits. So yeah, its the intent. When the top leadership can't think big despite being on top of the political food chain, I don't suppose they can lead the rest to think big too. A few big M&A deals and lots of Bollywood do not make an Indian century.

Goodnight everyone.