History Repeats Itself...

When Karl Marx said, “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce”, probably he didn’t realize the 21st century truth. Had he known the reality of 21st century, he might have as well said, “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, and then as comedy every time after that time after time to make us roll out on the floor with laughter”. I blame, err… give social media the full credit for making a non-issue into one, that too at the national level. And for getting a guy to prominence which neither he nor his political outfit deserved. It would have totally gone unnoticed by me had it not happened that about a dozen friends of mine shared some YouTube clippings on their Facebook profiles. I would never have gotten to hear one of the humorous speeches that would have given even top late night stars like Jay Leno a run for their money. Had I stopped at listening to just the clippings or had I not known the background of the speaker or his party or the life of an average Hyderabadi, I am sure I too would have reacted the same way – shock and dismay. I read the way some prominent national level journalists have responded in their editorials. I wish I could present them with a CD of ‘Angrez’ because it had a character of ‘Salim Pheku’ in it which is what I would compare this speech with.

When I heard about the jingoism and as one of a trainer friend of mine used to say ‘thigh beating’ for the first time, (and that was when I heard THE speech in bits and pieces I should admit), the first thought that crossed my mind was that of a Déjà vu. It took me back to my childhood days when I was as curious as I am now and asked my dad about an old structure bang opposite our family home at Kothapet. He told me that it was a ‘burj’ that was of great help during my grandpa’s times. And when I prodded more, he said that it was from the top of that ‘burj’ that villagers of Kothapet (someone from our family was the ‘Mali Patel’ of Kothapet, my dad was the last ‘Mali Patel’ of Kothapet until N T Rama Rao abolished that post)used to keep an eye for the ‘Razakars’ and to protect the village from those Razakars. I was curious as to whom on earth were those! I left it at that, but, kept it for another day. Later, I asked this question again, but, this time, when my dad was sitting with one of his friends. That friend happened to be the ‘Mali Patel’ of Singur, the town which is the source of Manjira water for the twin cities of Hyderabad Secunderabad. He was kind enough to tell me in detail what/who the Razakars were. Razakars were the private militia with a vowed to lay down their life for the leader (read Nizam) and the party (Majlis-e-Ittehadul-Muslimeen) and would fight to the last to maintain the Muslim hegemony in the State of Hyderabad and were working under the leadership of Qasim Razvi. It is this Qasim Razvi who is the ‘tragedy’ of my post. He was from the times of the last Nizam’s rule and was a practicing lawyer in Osmanabad who got a bit too much carried away and was the Frankenstein monster that the Nizam himself has created. Here I would want to share what I know about this original ‘Sher-e-Deccan’. Qasim had his roots from UP and has moved to the Hyderabad state in search of greener pastures. This lunatic had a dream of unfurling the Nizam’s flag on the Red Fort, New Delhi. I couldn’t believe this when I learnt it first, but, based on my research, I now know that it indeed was a fact and there are quotes attributed to him. Qasim was a prominent face of ‘Majlis-e-Ittehadul-Muslimeen’ (this MIM is the mother of the current day AIMIM, detailed story later in this post) and went on to be the last president of ‘the King’s party’. The original Sher-e-Deccan didn’t just stop at saying that he “would plant the Asaf Jahi flag on the Red Fort in Delhi” (yes, in his dreams! Red Fort is waiting for that!).

He also said:

- “There is a need for the banks of Musi and Jamuna to converge”

Aah... I wish that happened. I still wish that would happen, in my life time. Rivers should be nationalized and linked to avoid irrigation and drinking water issues

- “The day is not far off when the waves of the Bay of Bengal will be washing the feet of our sovereign” (remember that the Hyderabad state was a land-locked princely state with allegiance to the British crown)

Not sure if he had a plan to submerge the coastal areas so as to get Bay of Bengal to come till Nalgonda or Khammam. I wish there was some documentation on the ‘stuff’ he was ‘high’ on and which made him hallucinate to this extent

- "It is constantly being said for the last six months that Hyderabad would be attacked. The Indian Union cannot attack Hyderabad for another 600 years. If she does, she would destroy herself... The day Hyderabad is attacked I would not be responsible for the safety of the Red fort. A fire would spread in every direction"

With the advantage of hindsight, I can say that it took exactly 6 days (from 13th September to 18th September, 1948 and it didn’t need 600 years. And yes, there were fireworks and not fire in all directions

- "If Hyderabad's fate would be that of Junagadh then Red Fort's fate would be worse."

Not many people remember what Junagadh is, but, they sure do know what Hyderabad is

- “Death with the sword in hand, is always preferable to execution by a mere stroke of the pen” boasted the MIM head and ‘Sher-e-Deccan’ when Nizam was advised to sign the instrument of accession by some of his advisor

- Again, with the advantage of hindsight, I can say that after all the boastings and verbal diarrhea he didn’t practice what he preached

- But the topping on the ice is what he said when he went to New Delhi post 1947 in an attempt to ‘threaten’ the Union Government. It was a dud, as expected, and he is quoted to have told the ‘Sardar’ of Bardoli “…if Government of India insisted on a plebiscite, the final arbiter could only be the sword”. Though it is not documented, I am pretty sure that the Iron Man of India would have laughed at this statement at Qasim’s face.

It is this kind of talk that invited/expedited the ‘Police Action’ though I do not want to sound in any way undermining the atrocities committed by the Razakars on the citizens of the Hyderabad state. Loot, arson, terror and murder – these have started to replace peace, tranquility and justice for the people of Hyderabad. I have seen a sense of fear in the eyes of people who faced the wrath of Razakars in the almost one year prior to Operation ‘Polo’. The biggest slap on the face of the father of Razakar movement came from none other than the Nizam himself for whom this militia came into existence. In his first (and last) radio broadcast indicating the surrender of Nizam’s state to Indian union where the Nizam said “In November last, a small group which had organized a quasi-military organization surrounded the homes of my Prime Minister, the Nawab of Chhatari, in whose wisdom I had complete confidence, and of Sir Walter Monkton, my constitutional Adviser, by duress compelled the Nawab and other trusted ministers to resign and forced the Laik Ali Ministry on me. This group headed by Qasim Razvi had no stake in the country or any record of service behind it. By methods reminiscent of Hitler-ite Germany it took possession of the State, spread terror… and rendered me completely helpless.”

At around 4PM on 18th September, 1948 when the Nizam’s army headed by an Arab Gen El Edroos surrendered to Major Gen J N Chaudhari, there was no trace of the ‘tigers’ a.k.a. Razakars anywhere around. India’s fate and that of the Red Fort were better than ever and will remain so even after Hyderabad’s fate was exactly the same as that of Junagadh. There was no ‘fire’ that spread in ‘all directions’, just fireworks of jubilation in Hyderabad. Musi never met Jamuna and nor did the warm waters of the Bay of Bengal wash the feet of Nizam who was sitting in the King Koti palace at that time. The ‘king’s party’, MIM was dismantled and banned. The ‘Sher’ has been tamed, tried and sentenced to a seven year rigorous imprisonment for the atrocities committed. He served the sentence partly in Chanchalguda prison and partly in Pune’s Yerwada prison (in the news recently because it was where Pakistani Kasab was executed). When he finished his term he was released with a condition that he would leave Hyderabad (and also India) in 1957. He came to Hyderabad for a day or two to pack his bags and summoned MIM leadership (or whatever was left of it). He wanted to migrate to Pakistan and wanted to hand over MIM. Of the 140 odd members, hardly 40 came to the meeting and no one was ready to take up the mantle of the dissolved/banned party. Qasim was desperate and it is told that he was ready to hand over the ‘reigns’ to any Muslim over 12 years. At the end Wahaab Owaisi took over the ‘party’ and it was renamed as ‘All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul-Muslimeen’ (AIMIM) which still exists as a political party confined to the twin cities. Qasim Razvi migrated to Pakistan where he lived (and died) a non-existential life quite opposite to the ‘Sher-e-Deccan’ life of his Hyderabad times.

This was about the ‘tragedy’ (taking a queue from good old Marx). I say that this is a tragedy because Qasim Razvi’s life and acts resulted in a lot of pain, deaths, duress, and a deep mark and created a divide between the Hindus and Muslims which was not known or heard of until that time in Hyderabad. Qasim Razvi is nothing more than a tragedy according to me even after quoting his speeches which can be termed as anything between hilarious and was an epitome of lunatic gibberish at its best. Now I turn my post to the ‘repeated comedy’ part of all this, to the now famous speech of Nirmal. The irony of both these characters is so glaring that it cannot be missed:

- Both these 'leaders' were referred to as ‘Sher-e-Deccan’ (the song ‘Slim Shady’ runs in my head. Can the real Sher-e-Deccan, please stand up… please stand up)

- Both speeches made in and around Hyderabad, my birth place, a place which I always knew as a place where Hindus and Muslims (and people of all religions) lived a peaceful life

- Both these people belonged to the same political outfit, and ideology

Coming to the neo Sher-e-Deccan, Akbaruddin Owaisi, he is supposed to be the ‘fire brand’ of his political outfit, AIMIM. I feel that his speeches and style can be compared with a Raj Thackeray of MNS. This Owaisi is the grand son of the Wahaab Owaisi who took over the reigns of the banned outfit MIM from Qasim Razvi. AIMIM is a strong force in the old city areas of Hyderabad. Akbar strikes a chord with the younger generation of AIMIM supporters, predominantly Muslims thanks to his mostly inflammatory speeches. I have listened to the full speech of this ‘neo Sher’ that he delivered at Nirmal and the one that has become very famous with millions of clicks/views on YouTube. I am not interested in going into the anti Hindu utterances by him in that speech. He is neither competent nor capable of talking about any religion, let alone his own religion. Hinduism or for that matter any religion is so magnanimous that it has seen many a Owaisi come and go in sands of time and they cannot be tarnished by such utterances. However, I pick four ‘gems’ from that speech which are worth discussing:

i. “hum gaye to khaali haath nahi jaayenge taj ko le jayenge, laal quila ko le jayenge, aur qutub minar ko le jayenge” – “if we are made to leave (India), we wont go empty handed, we will take the Taj, the Red Fort and the Qutab Minar along with us”

I am not sure that the learned MLA is in knowledge of reality that it is India that is home to the second largest Muslim population on earth, second only to Indonesia and that no one has (and I am sure will never) ask any person from any religion to leave India. India has never agreed the ‘Two Nation Theory’, fortunately so. And our constitution in its preamble declares India as a ‘Socialist, Secular, Democratic Republic’ and the fundamental rights of the land bestow upon its people to freely practice any religion without fear. If these facts are known to the ‘neo Sher’, he wouldn’t have thought or imagined or hallucinated that someone is asking Muslims to leave India. Muslims and Hindus (and all the people belonging to all other religions) are the assets of this land, if a Hindu Dr Rajaramanna was heading Pokran I, then; it was a Muslim Dr Abdul Kalam who was heading Pokran II. They never thought of getting things to India, not of taking things away

ii. “Arre Hindustan, hum 25 karor hai na, tum 100 karor hai na, theek hai, tum to hamare se tine zyaada hai, theek hai, 15 min ke liye ye police ko hataalo, bataadenge kisme himmat hai, kaun taakatwar hai!” – “Oh Hindustan, we are 250 million right? You (Hindus) are a billion right? Fine. You are so larger in numbers than us right, that’s fine. Remove this police for 15 minutes and we shall show you who is brave and who is strong”

Hindustan is another name for India derived out of ‘Sindhu’/Indus (Sindhu+sthan – Hindu+sthan) and is an Urdu word. Hindustani does not just refer to Hindus but it refers to everyone who lives in this land. I never knew that India is a big ‘akhada’ where domination is the name of the game. Does he represent the entire 176 thousand odd people of Chandrayangutta constituency or just a section of it? I do not want to know his answer to this question! Remove the police? For what again? This ‘responsible’ politician is known to take law into his own hands or to threaten to do so. He threatened to behead not just P V Narasimha Rao but also Salman Rushdie and Taslima Nasreen. The actions of these three are debatable, but, taking law into your own hands? He went to the extent of slapping Taslima while she was on a visit to Hyderabad. This not just tarnished his image, but, also that of Hyderabad

iii. “muaaf karnaa, mere bhai, kasha bhi kuch hua, kahi bhi hua, to phone aata hai, 'Akbar bhai, yaha gadbad ho gaya aa jaiye. Akbar bhai aisaa ho gaya, Akbar bhai waisa ho gaya'. kasha humara bhai phone karke nahi bola ki 'Akbar bhai aisa hua, to mai aisaa kar diya'. aayinda phone aaya to bolnaa 'aisaa hua thaa, aisaa kar liye, ab Akbar bhai ab tum sambhaal lo'” – “sorry my brother, whenever something happens anywhere I get a call ‘Akbar bhai, there is an issue here, please come. Akbar bhai, this happened, something else happened’. None of my brothers have called me to say ‘Akbar bhai this happened and I retaliated in this way’. Going forward when you call me, tell me ‘Akbar bhai, this has happened, I have retaliated in this way, now please take care of us and the situation’”

I guess this is what every politician does and this is how most politicians confide in their battery of lawyers and chartered accountants. I am pretty sure that he might have said something on these similar lines when media raked up this issue and the law started to catch up with him – ‘my dear lawyers, I said this, I did this, now please save me’. I wonder that this forty plus year old guy has the strength to talk passionately (and rake up passions too) for hours together. This, he could do despite having a bullet in his abdomen (which was a result of a ‘gang war of dominance’). But when the cops called on him, he had to hide behind the fact that he has a bullet in him and he cannot sit at a place and stand the questioning. He can sit in a flight to London, but, not in a prison cell. Playing innocence and playing victim when there is evidence mounting against one is the best way to retaliate I guess

iv. “Aye Allah ka shukar hai mere saamne ye mic hai. Kal ko ye mic nahi kuch aur thamaalu, to Hindustan ke 1000 baras ki taareeq mein duniya ne utnaa khoon kharaaba nahi dekhaa hogaa jo iss mulk mein ho jaayegaa” – “Thank God that it’s a mic in front of me. Some day I might as well grab ‘something else’ and not a mic and on that day, there would be so much of bloodshed that in the thousand year history of India, the world would have never seen before”

WOW! I am still rolling on the floor laughing.

I am very clear when I say that if I do not like someone talking (or acting) bad against any other religion, caste, region or ethnicity, I do not distinguish and take a different stand if the speaker is a Hindu or a non-Hindu. I condemn any ‘anti-anything’ speech that fans animosity irrespective of it coming from anyone be it an Owaisi or a Gandhi (the ‘new’ Gandhis… I don’t want to shock the poor old man in his grave) or a Thackeray. I hold my country and its constitution in the highest of regards and take immense pride in the democratic, multi-cultural and multi-ethnic lifestyle of our land.

But, as I have mentioned in the first paragraph, both these paper tigers remind me not of any tragedy or farce as Marx has guessed, but instead as a comedy. And as I said, the first character that I can think of which closely resembles both is that of ‘Salim Pheku’ from the movie ‘Angrez’. This Salim Pheku is a quintessential looser from Hyderabad who wants to make the world believe that he is the winner and is ready to create a story to prove that he is a winner and is the best. Here is a sample why I say that:

Salim Pheku: kal Krishna oberoy mein daawat thi... daawat mein jaate, manageraan venageraan poora hallo hai bole... main bola party kidhar chalri boleto, 'BLANKET' hall mein chalri bole... (kounsi hall mein???!!!!!) BLANKET HALL yaaron... blanket hall mein aisa ghusthe hi, poore loga nachre… Mein bola apun nachenga to poore pottiyan mereku lapat jaate, to mein aisa baaju se nikal raha hoon... to do loga thaire the, jaate vaate logan se kya bolrai maalum, "arey inhe English filmon ka hero dikhra nai?"

(Ismail bhai: Abba....)

Ab mein hallu jaake table pe baitha, waiter aa ke bola "sir any thing thanda garam", ab sharab to mein peeta nai, mein ek all mix fruit juice la bolke bola... aisa baith te hi saamne se Mallika dekhli...

(Ismail bhai: Mallika??!! kaun?)

Arey 'MURDER' yaaron, baajuk leke aake boli "Hi Salim where are you, how do you do, naayudu" bolke...

Phir mereku lapatli ustaad, lapat ke idhar puppy, udhar puppy, tum samajhrai na, idhar puppy, udhar puppy mera phulnaa shuru ho gaya...

(Jahangir: kya phulnaa shuru hogaya baap Salim..?)

Arey saas phulnaa shuru hogai yaaron...

Mallika-"Salim mujhe long drive pe jaana hain"

Salim -" ab main usse Hyderabad mein long drive pe kahaa le jaoo? Aaisse banjara hill se panjagutta se sida necklace road se tank band par lete he kya boli maloom?”

Mallika-"Salim mereku ice-cream hona" bolte he to main moazzamjahi market kane roka… Arre mashoor ice-cream hain na yaaron? Wahaa paanch paanach cup ice-cream khaaye.

Ismail bhai "panch panch cup??!!!"

Salim-"arre ithe ithe cupaa the yaaron"

“khaliye baad mai bola ab to tum thande hogaye sidha usko lekar gaya Krishna oberoi tak… Ab tum jao ghar ko main bhi jaroo. Goodnight.” Toh woh kya boie maloom "Salim aab tum jaana vaana nahi aise kaise hota? Tum mere saath room ko chalo kuch bataana hai"

“Ab main kya kara woh bolri bolke room ko chalaa gaya. Ab room ku chale jaaneke baad raat bhar kya hua maloom? Nakko pucho!”

1041 Days...

1041 Days...

That is exactly the number of days that it took to bring the last perpetrator to book from the day he, along with nine others came onto Colaba in inflatable speedboats and rook over their 'targets' and committed the most daring attack aimed at the business capital of the country in order to gather international attention and to put to practice his ISI-Pak Army training of "kill to the last breath". I have seen a lot of reactions to this act of serving the sentence upon Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab. One can recall the reactions right from 26/11/2008 when the wounds were fresh and a shell shocked country saw things unfolding right in their drawing rooms. Emotions ran high. Heart overpowered head. It was a mob hysteria that at that time stated that he should be hung in full public view for the world to showcase that India is not weak and cannot be played around with, especially by a country which uses terrorism as a state policy. It was a mentality of 'show me the blood' that existed at that time, rightly so. As days passed by, the voices got shriller to hang Kasab. Reason? Details of the way he was being kept in Arthur Road jail, the way he behaved in the courts, and the large amounts that were spent to keep him alive. There were online petitions, Facebook/Twitter/social media posts, making a mockery of the existence of Kasab in the jails. He laughed at the judges, behaved moody while in court rooms during the trial, was provided with biryani, all this at the expense of the exchequer.

Right from day one, from the time he was captured, it was the right things that the Indian state has done. I do not say Union government nor the state government of Maharashtra because it was the Home minister of the same Union government who was so incapable that he had to be shunted out and it was the CM of the state government who gave a 'guided tour' of the horror to a film director. But, as I always believed, and still do, that it is the statute, the constitution that has always stood up and it is because of the constitution of India that India still exists. It has never let me down. Even when people were getting impatient during the days of the seize and wanted him to be shot right then and there, or later when the trial started and so did the tantrums of this person started and people were shocked that he was being served biryani while the families of the victims (including that of high profile IPS officers) were still running from office to office, babu to babu just to get what was due to them, be it jobs or compensation, the decibel levels of people asking for his blood has gone up, I still had faith in the government. Yes it took 665 days for the case to be heard and a judgment pronounced. No lawyer came forward to represent Kasab in courts, to the extent that one of the local bar council has passed a resolution that none of its members would take up this case. Finally, some lawyers came forward after legal luminaries like Fali Nariam and some others and tried to point out that for it to be a fair trial; Kasab should have legal assistance in the form of a lawyer. People have even gone to the extent of attacking the lawyers who came forward to argue 'for' Kasab. Finally the trial started with the voices of 'hang Kasab' playing in the background. As time passed by, those voices again started getting louder as people started getting impatient. But here are the reasons that make me have a sense of immense pride in the constitution of India:

- There is a difference between a law abiding state and a terrorist or a state that sponsors terrorism and it has always been kept intact

- Had Kasab been killed on the spot or right during the course of the attack being unraveled, how could India prove to the world that these were Pakistanis? Everyone knows that these are Pakistanis, but, for it to be fair as per any court of law, there need to be 'proof'. I know it sounds funny when someone asks you to prove something like, say, pain, but, that’s how it works

- Had Kasab not been provided with all the evidence, case, and most importantly a lawyer before pronouncing the death penalty, how different would the Indian state be from those terrorists? At the end of the day, both would have fit the bill when someone wrote 'they killed a group of people irrationally'

- Had all the legal options not been exhausted before executing Kasab, how could the Indian constitution be upheld? After all, we take pride in our constitution. The legal recourse was that the trial court had to pronounce a judgment, then, Kasab should have recourse, and then if it won’t be in his favor in the High Court he should have recourse in the form of a Presidential review. It is only after this door closes should he be executed and that’s precisely what happened

Yes there was a delay, it took 2 years to pronounce the judgment, but, it is a quick one by looking at the backlog of cases in Indian courts. Yes, he was kept as if he was a 'state guest' as many said, but, if he was not treated fairly, then what is the difference between a terrorist outfit which abducts people and the world's largest democracy? At the end, he was executed after all the legal options were exhausted, he was executed as per the jail manuals that are in line with any human rights court, and he was executed while respecting Islamic religious sentiments.

If I have vociferously argued and debated with my friends against the way Saddam Hussein was executed by the US and NATO, if I have argued against Mamur Gaddafi being executed by the rebel troops, in the same breath I say that Kasab was executed as per law and no law was breached, not even a wee bit. There is the most powerful country on the face of the earth which could not or did not have the will to capture its most wanted criminal alive but instead chose to eliminate him and give him a 'at sea burial'. Then, there is India which followed all the laws - personal, human rights and religious laws. This puts India ahead of a lot of countries on the 'ethical and follow the land of the law to the 'T' quotient'.

But, alas! Not many are ready to acknowledge the greatness of this constitution, let alone take pride in it. I saw people distributing sweets, dancing, celebrating today’s event. There were politicians jumping at the first moment asking for the status of Afzal Guru from the parliament attacks. Yes, the government played its game, firstly by advising the President on Kasab's case before Afzal Guru's or the other people whose petitions are piled up on Raisina Hill. Yes, they might have hurried on this as the Parliament is reconvening tomorrow. But, don't forget that this is the land where the Buddha walked and no one has a right to seek another's life. This execution happened because the statute allowed (and still allows) capital punishment. But talking of lynching him or shooting him in public are jingoistic and uncalled for. I would want to end this post by quoting Anna Hazaare, the 'super hero' of the urban middle class and asking a question to the reader if it is correct to say "Kasab should have been hanged publicly"? I certainly feel it is not the right mindset and proves the immaturity of the people who say that.

Remember, the difference between a terrorist and a state is that the terrorist can choose a place, time and mode of carrying out menace, but, the state needs to prove the guilt however evident it is lest it becomes another terrorist state. This execution can utmost get a sense of completion to the kin of the victims, but, it is not something that should lead to joy and celebration.

Satyameva Jayate... Truth Prevails! Long live Indian Constitution.

A Tribute To The Milkman Of India

There have ever been only two milkmen whose fame has been unmatched. Both of them belonged to India and had chosen the same part of India - Gujarat as their 'karma bhoomi'. One is Lord Shri Krishna and the other is Dr. Verghese Kurien. There have been a good amount of obituaries on Verghese in the media after his death yesterday, 9th Sep. 2012. Here is my take on this great man who changed the face of India in many ways and impacted the way agriculture was done - just as any other business enterprise.




1. Dairy: India's Dairy farming had the best moment when Verghese Kurien, being his stubborn self, has insisted on processing and converting milk to milk powder. This he did inspite of the so called 'best in industry' - Nestle and scientists from New Zealand said it that it is bound to fail. He was proud to be stubborn. What started as a small revolution in a small milk cooperative in Gujarat's rural heartland has, in no time transformed into what we know as the White Revolution. It changed India from a milk importer to the largest producer of milk on earth. Till date business schools across the world are amazed and do case studies on the way Indian dairy industry transformed it self



The Times of India has famously quoted that when it asked Dr. Kurien to pose along with a cow for one of its featured articles, he insisted on posing with a buffalo. The reason being that it was the buffalo that changed the face of Indian dairy industry and was instrumental in getting India to self sufficiency in dairy



2. Processed Food: It wont be untrue if I say that this industry started with Dr. Kurien. His insistence of processing milk to milk powder so that milk can be stored for a longer period in time coupled with the transportation/logistics/storage/supply chain associated with this industry were all a result of his vision. It is said that Nestle has declared the idea of converting buffalo milk to milk powder was a failure to begin with. The world until that time has known of milk powder made out of cow milk which was more freely available in Europe and ANZ, the two biggest dairy cultivating countries until that time. I read somewhere that he stormed out of Nestlé’s board meeting when his idea of 'milk to milk powder' was termed as a failure. We were fortunate that he stuck to his guns. It is very important for a country like India to focus more on storage and processing of food so that we eliminate poverty and malnutrition from our country. This is more relevant in this day and time when there is a big debate on FDI in retail and the advantages that it might get to the entire food processing and supply chain system



3. Cooperatives: Verghese Kurien has not just been instrumental in Operation Flood or the White Revolution but he was also instrumental in the 'cooking oil revolution' of India which was done under the 'Dhara' umbrella whereas the dairy revolution was under the 'Amul' umbrella



It was this cooperative movement that started well before the micro-credit program by the Bangladeshi Grameena Bank started by Muhammad Yunus was in limelight. This was the cooperative movement that empowered women and small time farmers and got them the bargaining power that they needed to stand to their point against the middlemen and big milk producers/companies. The revolution on the oil front was not as huge as the milk revolution and the reasons attributed to this is the politics of the big fish in this game and the political lobbying.



4. Rural Management: It was another examples of the Malayalee visionary who did not understand Gujarati when he embarked on his journey of transforming India. He has made the Gujarati old man very proud with his vision and the need that he felt that Indian agriculture, cooperatives and rural development needed professional management a la any other corporate entity. This is the basis on which IRMA, one of the best known institutes of its kind in the world was formed. Yes, Indian agriculture and rural development needs professional management. Can anyone deny that? Has anyone thought about this need earlier? This is what makes Dr. Kurien an extraordinary visionary.



An offshoot result of his vision is the 'Amul Cartoons' which are considered as a corner stone of Indian advertising history - with a cartoon and an Amul girl commenting on the issues of the day. The day when Dr. Kurien passed away, the cartoon paid him a tribute with:

Dr. Varghese Kurien rightly deserves a Bharat Ratna. He is one, even without being awarded that. He shall remain a ratna in the hearts of the millions of the three million odd small time farmers who are members of the cooperative that he has founded. Let’s not forget that one of the greatest pacifists to have walked on this earth, another Gujarati, has never been awarded the greatest peace prize of this planet. But, that has not belittled him. Nor would government recognition of the contribution of Dr. Kurien will endorse his dedication. If the government chooses to award him with a Bharat Ratna, albeit posthumously, then, in reality it will be recognizing itself.

Tried my hand at sketching after a long long time... guess I still didn't forget that one. :)

Top 5 Biggest Moments of 2011 that will show an impact on India in 2012

5 - Jasmine Revolution: Its this name given to the revolution that happened in Tunisia which lead to a string of revolutions now collectively called 'Arab Spring'

Keep an eye, this string of revolutions are bound to have an increased NATO/US interference in the Middle East and it will create a much more dangerous world though it will weed out a lot of dictators at the end of it. It will show an effect on the oil prices but more importantly, with Indian Foreign/External Affairs babu's and ministers what they are - incompetent, will show an impact on India's stature as a world power and its relation with some of the oldest countries of the world

4 - Inflation/Price Rise: No one has a clue where this is headed and if it would halt and when it would slow down, if at all. If there is a hike continuously for a couple of weeks, a prompt mandarins from the Govt., either the Planning Commission SPOC Montek or the FM himself comes out and says 'we expect it to come down in the next couple of months' and we wait like a Godot

3 - Change of guard: Be it NRN calling it a day and handling the mantle to KV Kamath or one Premji passing the baton to the other Premji, or Ratan hanging his boots and getting the highest taxpayer of Ireland and a foreign national to head what is now a true 'Indian Multinational' and sit in the hot seat at Bombay House, it is a real change of guard and it will give a different direction to corporate India

2 - Money Money: Euro collapsing thanks to Greece, Italy and the 'weak block' and creating a 'class within a class' by making Euros of Germany more favorable than the rest, or our own Indian Rupee tumbling not just because of any recessionary pressure but because of political reasons and under performing stock exchange leading to flight of capital out of the country, it has been a very strong negativism that is seen all around. FDI fiasco added to it in Indian context

1 - Corruption: The 10 letter word that made a government to goof up big time, an 'aspiring father of nation' and his courtiers to hold a country and its parliament to ransom, an opposition to get a point to play dirty as they got an issue after a long long time, some senseless dharnas and mobs and ill-informed crowds come out in hundreds without knowing what they are supporting for, but, just displaying a khadi cap or a caption 'I am Anna' a fad even in fashion circles, culminating in taking the Rajya Sabha into the darkest moments it might have ever seen on the last working day of the year at the stroke of midnight hour. There were the Kalmadi's, Raja's, Kanni's, Gali's who shined like 'crazy diamonds' in 'Corruption's Hall of Shame'

Liberation - Making Sure Nothing Else Matters!

yam hi na vyathayanty ete purusam purusarsabha
sama-duhkha-sukham dhiram so 'mrtatvaya kalpate

O best among men [Arjuna], the person who is not disturbed by happiness and distress and is steady in both is certainly eligible for liberation

Liberation - One word, powerful, deep and is thought provoking. If one is trying to liberate a person, a country, a thing or an animal, then it is very simple. You free the person, country, thing, animal, bird, whatever. But how about liberating one-self? How can you liberate your own self? How can I liberate me? What do I liberate me from? How do I do that? Is it possible? One can easily liberate anything else but one’s own self. In order to do that, one needs to recognize the fact that we are not liberated. But are we really not liberated? Let us put this question the other way round. Are we bound by anything? If one says no, then they are bluffing, nothing else. Are we not bound by our own self? Yes we are. We are bound by many material things, relations, thoughts, and above all we are bound by our greed and our fears and ambitions. If we go and wish and pray, what do we wish for? Almost all the time we wish for comforts, money, relations, success, promotions, material things, what not? We also go to the extent of ‘bribing’ Him. What a joke! How can you even think of asking for material things and sundry when He has made you for a purpose? And to top it, we go to the extent of bribing Him so that he gives us what we want! Wow! How narrow can we get in our mindset?

The day we bid adieu to this material world, we do not take any money, any materialistic things no matter how big or small and also no relation. All we take with us is us, our soul. Not anything more, and not anything less. Annamacharya, a Telugu composer and musician, in one of his songs slaps it in our face when he says ‘it’s the same sleep that even a King or a pauper sleeps. It’s the same place where all of us end up – no matter what our birth and life has been’. All you need is at the most that 7x3 piece of land. That is all you need, or to put it better, that is all your body needs.

But for our soul, it’s a different story all together. It can be liberated, in its true sense. A person with a liberated soul will be totally unattached. Nothing can shake him. Nothing can affect him.  Happiness, sorrow, ups and downs, wealth, poverty, relations, all of them has the same influence on him – none of them matter. None of them can shake him to either side. He is always elated. Constantly. For him, sorrows and distress does not depress him or even shake him; and at the same time he would not fly in air, to cloud # 9. His feet are firmly set on the ground, to reality as it exists. Mind you it is reality as it exists and not as is perceived.

To quote Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan on this verse ‘… remains the same in pain and pleasure, who is wise makes himself fit for eternal life. Eternal life is different from survival of death which is given to every embodied being. It is the transcendence of life and death. To be subject to grief and sorrow, to be disturbed by the material happenings, to be deflected by them from the path of duty that has to be traversed, ‘nityam karma’, shows that we are still victims of ‘avidya’ or ignorance’.

It is the simplest thing not to be influenced by things around. But, it is the toughest thing to stay immune. Take it as you like. The day everything is equal and does not affect you is the day when you have opened for yourself the doors of eternity. And eternity need not be heaven after you are gone. It also can be sheer bliss. That is the ultimate truth and ultimate knowledge. Everything else is your perception.

This is my take on Verse 15, chapter 2 of the Gita :)

STOP TACTICS, THEATRICS AND BLACKMAILS! PLEASE! GOVERMENT & ALSO HAZARE TEAM! INDIAN CONSTITUION & DEMOCRACY ARE AT STAKE!

STOP TACTICS, THEATRICS AND BLACKMAILS! PLEASE! GOVERMENT & ALSO HAZARE TEAM! INDIAN CONSTITUION & DEMOCRACY ARE AT STAKE! by Sridhar Patel on Friday, August 26, 2011 at 3:10pm Mr Hazare: What next? Want to 'gherao' parliament? If your condition is to pass a bill that ONLY YOUR bill be passed, NEED NOT NECESSARILY THE BEST OMBUDSMEN BILL, then why do we need a parliament? Why do we need to discuss? Why do we need any other pillar of democracy? We will make life simpler... If we need a solution for anything, we will go on an 'indefinite fast' (Mind you: It is not a 'fast unto death'. Not sure of the choice of words by the team B of jokers). We will get a law without a discussion, and get santri to CJI under its ambit, blackmail, instigate, provoke people at the same time say 'I am peace loving'. If a 'Gandhian' says 'gherao parliament, MP's, 7 RCR, then poor old Gandhi must be turning in his grave now that his last name hijacked and mistaken for another family and now if his idealism too is hijacked. Did anyone who blidnly get carried away by this wave know the meaning of an 'Ombudsman' (English for 'Lok pal') mean? Merriam Webster defines an Ombudsman as: 1: a government official (as in Sweden or New Zealand) appointed to receive and investigate complaints made by individuals against abuses or capricious acts of public officials 2: one that investigates, reports on, and helps settle complaints It DOES NOT say get Judiciary. It is not a way to get judiciary under a Lok pal. If say one doctor was reported a quack in a newspaper, does that mean that the next time you visit a doctor, you ask him to prove he is a doctor? Yes, judges too can be corrupt. But you cannot get them under an ombudsman. Get judicial reforms for that. Nothing else. Even if you drop this, it still does not give you a right to subvert the Constitution of India and Democratic System of India. Those are supreme. Politicians have let the country down and do not forget, We, Indians have let the country down (by making corruption a way of life and 'chaltaa hai', 'jugaad' as part of our life). It is not the other way round. If you say ALL politicians are corrupt, then why on earth did you elect them? Or is it that you didn't even vote? Do not even attempt to hijack the parliament. A lady tried doing it in the mid 70's and left an indelible mark on the face of India called Emergency. Next thing is to get this Lokpal to cover all the states. Remember Indian constitution says that (and I quote the preamble) India is a Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic, Republic. It is a an amalgamation of Federal and Union structure. How can Centre force states to go for Lokayuktas? That is a state subject for God's sake! Go to the states and fight it over there. Please start it with the North East. That is the most alienated part of the country. Can you? Would you? And Mr. Kejriwal, stop your arrogance and SHUT UP. It is not as much that the governments inaction that is hurting the health of Hazare but your arrogant ways. Whenever I see you talking, I am reminded of the climax scene of a Hindi movie 'Guide' where Raju is forced to go on a fast for rains without his will and wish and then, not let to eat until it rains. By the time it starts raining, people forget that there is someone fasting until death and he is forgotten, and the poor guy dies in a bid to become immortal. Please do not let this old guy die like that for your aspirations. Indian rural society needs more and more of people like Hazare to improve their standard of living - irrigation, grain banks, strengthening grass roots democracy and much more. Lastly, surprise from the most unlikeliest of quarters. Yes, why not make the ombudsman a constitutional body? Prince Gandhi might have had a great media manager and a political advisor who have planted this thought, or he himself might have gotten a 'Eureka' moment, but, I care the least where it came from. But, if the Election Commission is spotless, if the Lokayukata has been spotless, if the CAT (Central Administrative Tribunal) is spotless, if CVC is spotless (Thomas had to quit, and that is because of the checks and balances in the Law and not because he wanted to quit or not because the government wanted him to go), why not have a constitutional body of Lok pal? Think! Act sensibly! Please! India deserves nothing but the best. Let it get it out of discussions, and brainstorming, but not with blackmails.