Psychology 101

A few days back I was sitting in Hotel Sangeeths. I noticed a girl with a weird hairdo behaving oddly. People were sitting in a corner chair and she would walk past it again and again. Someone went to wash their hands and she tried to take their seat. She would not look at anybody and the hotel staff had to tell her to wait.
I was irritated by her behavior and initially thought she was rude. Then I saw her again another day, again trying to take that seat. Slowly I realized she must be suffering from some mental disorder.
Now, when I say this, I do not mean any disrespect. I feel sorry for her and hope people understand her behavior. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) or other such mental disorders ruin the lives of a good percentage of a population at any time. Most of them affect young people (15-35). They take away the productive years of a young person.
I had always been interested in psychology as a discipline - ever since I read about Freud and the science of psychoanalysis. I have some information I have accumulated over time and I would like to share it with you. I assure you that I am not a "psycho" myself; and I am also just an amateur.

The Subconscious, Ego and SuperEgo
Freud's theory (refined later) postulates that humans develop a subconscious very early in their lives. We are NOT aware of it in our adult lives. But, our experiences (in childhood and later) filter down, like water through earth and become stored in the subconscious. Our actions, much later in life, get subtly influenced by the subconscious (although we are not aware of that influence).
For example, in your childhood, let us say you have been abused by your father. He beats you up regularly for trivial reasons such as not doing homework or asking for some candy. This filters into your subconscious. Later on, in life, you will likely not able to negotiate with anybody. Let us say you board an autorickshaw and try to negotiate with the driver. Your subconscious will cower at the sight of any adult and prevent you from negotiating a fair price. You also may not be able to negotiate with your boss about your salary.
Now, the suggestion that there IS a subconscious is revolutionary - it is similar to Pasteur's discovery of germs invisible to the eye.
As you grow up, religious and other social rules take over and form another layer in your mind called the Superego. The Superego forces you to obey certain rules and behaves like a parent. In between the Subconscious and the Superego is the Ego - this is your identity (Id). The Ego is the true adult and it is buffeted on either side by the Subconscious and the Superego.
Frued also went on to explain the sexual desires and influence of primal instincts on the human psyche but that is out of scope here.

How to know the subconscious
For a well-adjusted life, there is not much need to explore the subconscious. But, unfortunately, most of us do not get the chance for such a life, thanks to experiences during childhood or adolescence. Psychologists use different methods to tease out the subconscious.
One of them is shown in the movie, "The Sixth Sense". This is the technique of free association. Basically you cannot consciously explore the subconscious. There is a barrier built in the mind - for your own good. Sometimes, that barrier breaks.
In free association, get some pen and paper and start writing randomly without thinking of anything in particular. As you proceed, certain words and sentences may appear - and these offer hints to the trained doctor about your subconscious. Do not try to interpret this yourself. There is no need to do this unless a doctor asks you to.

Another technique described in the classic novel "Flowers for Algernon" is interesting. The patient is asked to lie down and just allow their mind to wander. As it keeps wandering, it reaches a point where the mind goes blank - completely. That blank is the mental wall in your mind. You are standing before the wall and beyond it is the subconscious. Normally at this point, nothing happens - you turn back. But, rarely, the wall breaks down. The subconscious allows a peak within. When that heppens, a flood of thoughts from long back, deep down flow to the top. Sometimes they help you understand the real motivations for your actions.

Directions in Psychology
Psychology originated primarily as a study of the subconscious; and its "cures" were performed through therapy. But mental disorders such as OCD and schizophrenia are treated by administering medicines. The reason is that over the last century these problems have been associated with certain chemicals in the brain. You CANNOT treat OCD or schizophrenia or Somatic disorders merely through therapy or "positive thinking" although they show up as problems in thoughts. For example, somatic disorders cause recurring, uncontrollable thoughts about inflicting pain on oneself. To a normal person, these seem like an issue of the mind than the brain. But more and more such disorders are treated using medicines and only such treatment can cure these disorders. Modern medicine has reduced the side effects from these medicines largely. It is no use trying to cure OCD or somatic disorders by meditating or such "mind control" techniques.

But behavioral therapy for many problems of behavior are still used effectively.
That is, although there are many disorders that are cured by medicine, there are also problems that can be cured by exploring your past and your responses to situations. The determination of which problems need medicine and which do not can ONLY be made by a trained doctor. When the doctor suggests medicine, there is no point in resisting it.

Behavioral Therapy
ALmost everyone in the world can benefit from psychotherapy. Large corporations in the West have inhouse therapists with whom an employee can discuss their personal and work issues at any time.
The former Chief Minister of Tamil nadu, J.Jayalalitha, at one point hired a psychotherapist for members of the legislature. This led to some protests. The fact is this was a very progressive move.
It has become common practice to measure the number of mental health professionals per thousand people in a country.
Seeing a therapist does not:
1. Make you crazy.
2. Make you dependent on them.
The science of behavioral therapy basically says that "errors" in thinking lead to errors in behavior. It does not try to stop you from thinking thoughts. Working with a therapist, you can realize how these errors crept in over time and deal with it by being aware. The purpose of psychotherapy is to make you self-aware.

For example, let us say that in your childhood, you were beaten up by a drunk parent regularly. Let us say these beatings had no reason and did not follow any pattern. Over time, the child tries to relate a cause to these beatings. But, there is no real cause. Therefore the child loses the thread between cause and effect; and also starts ascribing a false cause - that he is so bad that he can be beaten without reason.

When grown up, this person may feel insecure and may not have self-worth or an identity. Working with a therapist can make them aware that their father was the original cause and thus restore self-worth.
Restoring and building up an identity is a major job of therapists and the surprising fact is it can be done even after you are an adult.

Childhood and the effects of Parenting
Please note that I have given multiple examples of mistreatment as a child. This does not mean that any minor childhood incident will destroy a child. Different people have different responses. If abuse is consistent, it will have an effect.
This also does not mean that you cannot constrain a child in any way. Being aware of society and its rules is a big part of an identity. Your child's psyche will not suffer just because you denied him/her permission to go play in the sun.
It is the parents' responsibility to make sure a child is well-behaved and that can be done without abusing. Whenever you discipline a child, make sure that he/she understands the causes of censure.

Psychology and Religion
Psychotherapists do recommend meditation sometimes. But the relationship between religion and psychoanalysis is tense.

One of the main ways that religious thought differs from modern psychology is this: All religions emphasize that you should control your thoughts; that you should root out bad thoughts and channel your thoughts.
Psychology says this is impossible to do and an absurd goal to attain. There is no need to feel guilty about your thoughts.
This, of course, is glaring when you come to sex. Suppressing sexual thoughts is unhealthy. Celibacy during adolescence, which many religions advocate, is pointless and can lead to problems in your mind, according to psychiatric theory.
We also have to realize that many people cannot worship or meditate at all because of disorders such as OCD. Their brain prevents them from concentrating. There is no reason to feel guilty about that.
Psychotherapists view a strongly religious childhood or adolescence as not healthy.
Just as religion stepped away from a theory of origin or of a theory of evolution, it should also step away from mind control and a theory of the mind.

Depression
When a close relative died a few months back, I experienced a lack of motivation for some time. I was not enthusiastic about work and felt there were deep questions about "Life and Its Purpose" that I was missing. At that point I spoke with a friend of mine. He had a background in psychology and actually had gone through a brief period of depression.
He explained that whenver you get questions about Purpose in Life - do not think you have suddenly become wise. Our mind is wired to ignore such questions for a reason. If you do get such persistent questions, it is more likely you are under depression.
Depression is a word we use commonly to mean we feel blue - but it has a specific meaning in psychology. It is normal to feel depressed when you face a setback or are ill for some period. It is NOT normal if this continues over 2 or 3 months. If it does, you need help. Clinical Depression is a psychological condition that can be treated with mdeicine. You can stop the medicine after a few months usually.
There are a list of symptoms for depressions such as appetite change or not feeling motivated.
I was fine after a month and got back my motivation.

Psychotherapy and Indian Society
As I said earlier, a healthy society recognizes the need for mental health. And proactively provides therapy. For juvenile delinquents and young offenders, a program of building self-awareness and self-worth is key. Research has proved this.
In India there needs to be better awareness of mental health as essential as physical health. Depending on "positive thoughts" to cure is pointless.

Psychotherapy and the Workplace
We often deal with aggressive people at work. We face conflict situations. We may not get promotion at a certain time or may be denied a raise. All of these are unique problems that we face at the workplace. There have been known instances of an employee attempting suicide after having been passed over for a promotion.

The core idea in psychotherapy is to follow natural behavior. It is natural to be upset about a promotion. If you feel very upset, talk to someone in your family or at work.
One of the common cliches is that you should forget about work when you reach home. This is absurd. Your spouse is your best friend and there is nothing wrong in ranting to your husband or wife.
It also helps to have a person at work whom you can confide in. If you have a superior whom you do not like, and you have a colleague who is a friend, feel completely free to discuss the superior with your colleague (provided you trust him/her). It is a very good practice to have a support system at work - a network of friends.
In a corporation it is common for management to expect very high fidelity or loyalty. I have always felt that much of management logic is contrary to human nature. Remember that loyalty should be deserved.
If someone is over aggressive at work, keeping in mind that they could be insecure will help. Make sure you do NOT enable over-agressiveness. Be aware of where you draw a line. For example, there is no need to smile and nod to a superior who uses swear words.

Conclusion
Remember the Tamil movie "Kaadhal Kondein" in which the final line is "everyone has a psycho within them"? Although that movie was good, the final line spoiled it for me - there is nothing called a "psycho" and it is definitely not in everyone. There is a much better treatment in the movie "Analyze This". A ganglord develops psychiatric issues and a therapist successfully treats him.
If you have a relative who has a mental disorder, be aware that they are probably suffering from a problem similar to a wound in the physical body. It is not fair to laugh at them or to insist that they are just "arrogant" and need some smacking (I have actually heard people say this).
Also be aware that visiting a therapist once a month is a good idea in case you have problems in your personal life or professional life. If your boss upsets you and workplace is unbearable or you are not motivated at work - go talk to a therapist. They are your best friends.

My trip to Coorg

When me and my wife discussed going somewhere far from civilization, we did not expect that all our wishes will be answered this fast and this accurately.
The Coorg district of Karnataka is north-west of Mysore. We reached there by taking the train to Bangalore and then catching a bus from there to Madikeri (6 hours). The buses are easily available, even during peak season. Madikeri is the biggest town in Coorg and is also known by the English name - Mercara.
The district is in the middle of the Western Ghats; does not have any railway tracks in it; and is also known as Kodagu Nadu. The region has a rich history (of kings fighting other kings mostly) and is the first area in India where Coffee was planted. It still is known for its coffee estates.
General Cariappa was from Coorg - the region is known for its military service. The indigenuous people of Coorg are a minority now in their own district. At one point they had their own country, requiring a visa to get in from Karnataka, apparently. Then God punished them by making them a part of Karnataka.
Their way of life is fast disappearing.
Anyway, it is better to reserve a hotel before getting to Madikeri. Even in peak season (summer months) Madikeri is not very crowded - yet reserve your room just to be sure.

Where to Stay
There are a number of hotels -
Hotel Coorg International - rates vary from Rs.3000 to Rs.4500 per night. You do not need AC in Madikeri - it is cooool, even in summer.
Orange County Resorts - This is 5 star and somehow charge Rs.12000 per night! They are nuts.
I stayed at a resort recommended by one my friends - Capitol Village. The rates are Rs.1200 per night.

How long to stay
The one question you may have is how long to stay in Coorg. Now that depends on your goal in life. Let me explain:
Basically in life, there are two kinds of people - those who go to vacation areas and want to SEE everything. They get a kick out of dragging their spouses along and SEEING. They don't want to miss a single notable place. When they come back after vacation, they hate it when someone points out they have not visited the place where the King went to toilet. They are thorough - they get a guide book and tick off items with marker pens.
They also cannot stay at any place after they have SEEN everything.
For such people, the entire Coorg district can be covered in a couple of days. Start at breakfast and by 7PM you can come home deeply exhausted but satisfied that you did not miss the King's concubine's horse stable.
Now the other category involves people like me - I like to go on vacation and SLEEP. That is my idea of a good vacation - a nice bed. I would travel hundreds of miles and spend thousands reaching that bed; but that is what I look forward to - a bed.
Whatever unique places are near that bed (such as the Niagara Falls) are purely incidental. They just happened to be close to the bed and I may peek at them. But only if I had enough sleep.
So, I can stay at Madikeri for 4-5 days because it is the best place to sleep.

Our Adventures in Coorg
Capitol Village is 6 km from Madikeri. I was sure that the auto guy was going to kill us and take our belongings when he turned off the dark road into a darker non-road. But deep in that path lay the resort of Capitol Village.
Our room was facing a valley - we could barely see it in the night; but early morning, it was obvious - it was a deep valley, surrounded by hills. The hills had mist on them. Our room was in the middle of a jungle. The consequences of this unfolded later.

On the first day we went to Abbi Falls. On the way we were taken to the Raja's Tomb. This Tomb has a weird architecture. Actually, the Omkareshwar temple also is weird. Basically because the Coorg was ruled by Hindus, and these Hindus were heavily influenced by Muslim architecture, the temple and the tomb both have minarets - like a mosque. I thought this could be a great scene for some future Maniratnam movie, where everybody joins their hands together and proclaim love for India.
By the way, it seems the Raja fought Tipu Sultan. That is right - he is one of the bad guys in the television serial.

We also went to the Raja's Seat. I was puzzled by the name of this landmark. I expected that the Raja had some kind of huge chair and I did not want to waste time looking at furniture and the Royal bottom's impressions on said furniture. But, it turned out this is a scenic park which overlooks a beautiful valley encircled by the Ghats. We sat in a bench looking at the valley for a long time and left when I started expressing interest in sleeping in the Raja's Seat.
When we were in the park, we noticed some Tibetan monks around. They wore the distinctive red and orange robes. Then we went to a hotel to have lunch and the monks were there too, munching on Aloo Parotta. I was curious about this invasion of the Monks until I found that in KushalNagar (a town on the way to Madikeri), there is a Tibetan Golden Temple. We never saw it but have it marked for the next time.
Madikeri also has a Fort. We unforunately took the wrong way into the Fort and landed by the Central Jail of Madikeri. We were turning back and I saw a few very old iron vessels lying around and commented to my wife about the historically antique material in the fort. She pointed out they were rusted cement mixers and probably were only as "antique" as fifty years.
Abbi Falls did not have much water because of summer - but the pathway to reach it was beautiful. I wish they had provided an easy way to get down to the falls. You have to slide down a steep slope to reach it and by the time you are down there, you are forced to bath because you are all dirty.

The fauna of the Tropics
That night we lost electric power. The room was closed and hot and we came out and sat in the verandah overlooking the balcony. It was raining outside, with lightning and thunder. It was pitch dark and we heard sounds very similar to the ones you hear in Jurassic Park. I was convinced that a Ty Rex was heading our way.
We found that there were different insects and birds that like to scare the hell out of humans. One of them, for example, liked just knocking the tree branch next to us. He would knock all day and all night.
There was also the weird, guttural "Khooooo Khoooo" insect. This guy pretended he was looking for his mate, but it was obvious he was doing it just to keep us awake.
One of the insects sounded like my grandfather's snoring.
This is the extent of my naturalist knowledge.


TalaCauvery
So, I had always been excited to see the place, the very source from which the river Cauvery originates. The idea excited me a lot - and I had seen the river Thamiraparany's origin in Vaana Theertham (Tirunelveli).
We hired a taxi and went towards TalaCauvery.
We travelled along very quiet, narrow Ghat roads and reached, on the way to TalaCauvery, a town called Bhagamandala - the town that they said had a Thriveni Sangam (where three rivers meet). Now the term Thriveni Sangam is heavily abused because Hindus just flock to these places and start praying and pleasing their ancestors. The famous Thriveni Sangam is in Allahabad where the Ganga, the Yamuna and the invisible Saraswati meet and then flow forward as Ganga. Thriveni mania has gotten to such an extent that now if three small canals meet, people call it Thriveni Sangam.
Now, I hate to break it to the dear residents of Bhagamandala - but what you got is not a Thriveni Sangam. At best you got a TwoVeni Sangam (ha ha). Because there are three branches ONLY - that means two of them are combining into another and that is definitely TwoVeni.
The three "rivers" are:
Cauvery, Kannika and Sujyothi. Either Cauvery is formed by Kannika and Sujyothi (which means TalaCauvery is a scam) or Cauvery disappears into one of these rivers, in which case we got a major naming problem.
After successfully mathematically explaining this to my wife, I went to explain this to the brahmin priest who was handling the ancestors. My wife intervened and dragged me away.

Then we started climbing the road to TalaCauvery. TalaCauvery is 8 kms from Bhagamandala; and you can take a bus from Madikeri to Bhagamandala and then take a taxi from there. Hiring a taxi directly from Madikeri to TalaCauvery and back cost us Rs.1200.
As we climbed, at around 3000 feet, I saw this sign that showed a monkey and said "Do not tease the animals".
I was excited to know there were animals around and informed my wife.
Then at 3500 feet, there was a sign that had a bison in it and said, "Sanctuary".
I was still more excited, and I told my wife that Karnataka was very environment conscious.
Then at 4000 feet, one km from TalaCauvery, I saw a sign that showed a Tiger and said "Protect the Tiger" and I freaked out.
I was like, "Let us just turn back and leave. There are tigers around".
I mean, they should have put these signs in reverse. If I had seen the tiger sign in Bhagamandala, I would never have come up. These Kannadigas are crafty.
And then we saw the temple of Cauvery. It was beautifully situated and was white with marble. Unfortunately the Karnataka Tourism department has decided they want to "enhance" the tourism "potential" and so they are there with heavy earth equipment spoiling the whole area. The tank where Cauvery is born had very little dirty water and I thought that was construction water. The priest there said that was Cauvery.
Right behind the temple are a steep series of 400 steps going up to a peak. We climbed up there and found the climb enchanting. Mist and clouds were moving in and we were actually standing among clouds. The temple was far below and the whole basin of cauvery was beautiful.
On the way down the steep steps, we saw some dung. I cannot imagine that a cow climbed all the way up there -I think that was tiger dung and the tiger was probably coming back to cover it up.
You should definitely visit TalaCauvery.

The Decision
I was enjoying coorg immensely. I could write, read a lot (I finished a classy book called "The Remains of the Day" there). It was all good, and I planned to spend two more days there.
But then we were walking along this small lake in Capitol Village and enjoying the peace, the unification with the Soul of the World..when something broke next to us and THOUSANDS of little insects started swarming towards us. These were hatched by the rain the previous day.
We reacted as the Marines did in "Black Hawk Down" - I screamed "Go, Go, Go" and we ran like crazy with our eyes closed and hands slapping the insects crashing into us. My wife was trying to cover both her ears and at the same time slap the insects and run - it was hugely comical and any person from a distance (who could not see the insects) must have thought we were released from the local asylum.
We ran and then reached the door of our room, ready to burst in and stopped short: There was a HUGE BLACK SPIDER sitting on our door.
I screamed. My wife stepped up and aimed a wild kick at the spider and fell down. I caught her and by the time we recovered - the spider was gone. That is, it disappeared.
We had no idea where it went. It could have gone into our room, and even now could be plotting its way out from our bags in Chennai. Or, as we prefer to think, it got scared on seeing our lack of enough legs and went back to Mordor.
Anyway, the next day we were out of Coorg. We will go back there definitely, though.

Rats like my books!

A few days back, I was working in my home. It was midnight and the clock below struck twelve. I felt an eye on me...basically a "presence". You know that creepy feeling.
I turned suddenly to catch what I expected was a ghostly apparition floating around. Instead there was a small rat staring at me. The rat was not particularly upset at being caught redhanded. He just twitched his moustache as if to say, "Whazzup", and then turned leisurely and walked away. I am serious - I have always seen rats running around like crazy but this guy was a well-adjusted rat.
I yelled for my protector, my wife. She woke up; said she had seen the rat a couple of times walking around. I was mad at her for not killing him; she said if I was brave enough, I should do it myself.
Now, this was a taunt - the last time a rat visited my home, my solution was to lock the bathroom (because he was in it) and not go to the bathroom for an entire day till the maid came in.
I ended up treating her taunt as an authentication issue and tried to close all our windows every night. But this rat apparently (like the velociraptors in "Jurassic Park") was engineered by a mad scientist - he could open windows. I saw him continously take his walk at 12 midnight. I basically gave up trying to convince him to stay outside. We just started locking our room in, so that he could take his walk undisturbed.
Now what has this blog post got to do with technology?
I have a pretty good collection of technical books - books that I collected in the USA. I keep them all in a store room and keep loaning them out to the team in Photon. Many of these books do not seem to be returning. I was beginning to get concerned - I generally forgot which books were loaned out to whom.
Anyway, I walked in to that room to get a book and found a weird smell assaulting me. It had been some time and I was sure the smell was coming from the book collection.
I took a book out and found what made the rat take his walk.
He was "marking territory"; doing the same thing most Indian males do when they see a nice wall; to put it crudely, he was using my book collection as a very private, custom built designer toilet.
I was outraged by this travesty - I mean any self-respecting rat could have torn my books to shreds or other wise leave them with a shred of dignity. This rat, as my wife put it, was using it as a septic tank.
As I held my nose and stared at my poor books, an idea suddenly dawned in me - as Buddha said, this could be used an opportunity. I saw the sunny side of the rat menace.
I plan to email the staff tomorrow at work and point out that my books are "polluted". I am going to narrate the story of the rat.
I am confident that all the books will be nicely packaged and returned.

My post in DailyKos

This post on different narratives between the "West" and the Third World got 83 comments. The link is here: A Third World Perspective for Kossacks

The content is below:

Reading about foreign policy diaries in DKos and debating American foreign policy with some AMericans has led me to write this diary - it is obvious your narrative of world history is vastly different from a citizen of the Third World (as you call it). I have been called radical by some of my friends - but my opinions are shared by many millions around the world. I read counterpunch, and most Americans and Israelis writing in counterpunch express the same views. I will start with the difference in narrative and then address some talking points.


In the views of most Americans (trained by History as taught in American text books and popular history books), there is no better way human society could have evolved than the stage in which America and the "West" find themselves in. The frequent use of the term Western democracy implies not that another form of democracy is present in the east - but that democracy is a Western invention. The use of this term is aligned with a repeated emphasis on Greece as the birth place of democracy and any democratic ideals that the "West" currently follows. This is stretched to such an extent that books have been written about the Battle of Thermopylae (as shown in the movie "300") as the pivotal event that "saved" Western civilsation - meanwhile, Alexander's invasions of the East are themselves considered positive efforts in spreading civilsation. I think you can see the discord here - one invasion is termed evil while another is glorified. This is NOT unusual, different sides in a war always provide different versions of history. What IS unusual, is the extent to which present day "Westerners" identify themselves with Greeks and Romans. See quote below on the movie 300 (from this link )

That freedom of expression explains why we rightly consider the ancient Greeks as the founders of our present Western civilization - and, as millions of moviegoers seem to sense, far more like us than the enemy who ultimately failed to conquer them.

This is unusual particularly because there is little evidence that ancient Greece or Rome were in any way similar to present day United States or England. Greece and Rome were not even unique in social structure compared to other civilisations of that time.
The narrative for Western civilisation starts with Greece, moves onto Rome and claims exclusivity and identification of the term Western as a single homogenous group. I think this is historic revisionism. This claiming of a 3000 year democratic value system for the West has enabled (to some degree) politicians like Bush to wave it around while following a colonial mission.
The narrative for the West, in the 20th century focusses on the Second World War and the rise of fascism. The extent to which this narrative is distorted can be seen in present day America in a couple of issues:

1. The identification of the Second World War as the primary just war of the 20th century.
2. And the consequent glorification of Britain and Winston Churchill.
I see this in DailyKos also - when Iran seized the British sailors, many of the diarists considered Britain as the mature power (compared to the USA).
Let us consider the following quotation from Winston Churchill about the Palestinians (in 1937):

I do not agree that a dog in a manger has the final right to the manger, even though he may have lain there for a very long time. I do not admit, for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of Australia. I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people, by the fact that a stronger race, a higher grade race, a more worldly wise race, to put it that way, has come in and taken their place.

The narrative for the West, thus, justifies the current patrolling of the Iraqi waterways by Britain; the sanctions against Iran for exercising her rights under the NPT; and the existence of the UN Security Council.
This is because the narrative for the West does NOT consider the primary just war of the 20th century - the fight against colonialism and exploitation by the peoples of the Third World.

Alternative Narrative
Now consider an alternative narrative:
Conquering other nations and exploiting their resources was not new in history. What is different about the slavery in the USA or the colonies of Britain and France was its coupling with Industrialization; the mass scale of exploitation; and the xenophobia surrounding this evil enterprise.
Nationalism did not exist in the countries of the East or the South. So they were fair game for drawing borders in the sand.
Colinialism and its effects have been blunted in the Western narrative - one American asked me, "Don't you think you would have been better off with Britain ruling you?"
That is, colonialism's effects were interpreted as purely benign - this is so surprising in the USA. The USA went through colonialism and overthrew it - the length of time the USA was under colonial rule roughly equals the time that India was. Yet Americans obviously consider their own colonial struggle as a brother-against-brother fight - primarily because of race.
As an example, during the late Victorian famines in India it is estimated that 30 million died. India's last famine was in 1942 - when a million Indians died in Bengal because the British government diverted food grains to the war effort.
The fundamental misery of slavery or colonialism is lost on Americans and most Westerners.

In the narrative of the Third World, there is death, destruction in the 20th century in a war between colonial powers. Meanwhile, a greater fight for self-determination and freedom from oppression was being fought by the citizens of the colonized world. This was the just war for us; and our greatest generation fought violently and non-violently against Britain and France and Portugal.

This difference is vital, because most rhetoric that Americans employ sound familiar to us - we have already heard enough spin from the British. When Gandhi was working to create non-violent agitaions, he was still called a trouble maker and arrested and beaten up multiple instances. The British accused Indian freedom fighters of terrorism; tortured them in prisons; claimed a civilisng mission; cited that we were never really a nation. Note that the Palestinians are now in same plight we were in. It never stops.
In one famous instance, in the Nothern state of Punjab, General Dyer of the British Army shot a thousand unarmed protesters to death in a massacre at Jalian Wala Bagh. The peace-loving, democratic, brave citizens of Britain collected money to defend him.
Colonialism is never benign.

At the end of the Second World War, when the UN was created, UN Security Council was formed with former colonial powers as members. In the Western narrative, this was to make sure nobody does what Hitler did earlier. But from the Third World perspective, the composition of UNSC was unacceptable - because our fight was against colonialism and the colonialists still decided which invasions should be sanctioned.

Now consider an alternative narrative:
Conquering other nations and exploiting their resources was not new in history. What is different about the slavery in the USA or the colonies of Britain and France was its coupling with Industrialization; the mass scale of exploitation; and the xenophobia surrounding this evil enterprise.
Nationalism did not exist in the countries of the East or the South. So they were fair game for drawing borders in the sand.
Colinialism and its effects have been blunted in the Western narrative - one American asked me, "Don't you think you would have been better off with Britain ruling you?"
That is, colonialism's effects were interpreted as purely benign - this is so surprising in the USA. The USA went through colonialism and overthrew it - the length of time the USA was under colonial rule roughly equals the time that India was. Yet Americans obviously consider their own colonial struggle as a brother-against-brother fight - primarily because of race.
As an example, during the late Victorian famines in India it is estimated that 30 million died. India's last famine was in 1942 - when a million Indians died in Bengal because the British government diverted food grains to the war effort.
The fundamental misery of slavery or colonialism is lost on Americans and most Westerners.

In the narrative of the Third World, there is death, destruction in the 20th century in a war between colonial powers. Meanwhile, a greater fight for self-determination and freedom from oppression was being fought by the citizens of the colonized world. This was the just war for us; and our greatest generation fought violently and non-violently against Britain and France and Portugal.

This difference is vital, because most rhetoric that Americans employ sound familiar to us - we have already heard enough spin from the British. When Gandhi was working to create non-violent agitaions, he was still called a trouble maker and arrested and beaten up multiple instances. The British accused Indian freedom fighters of terrorism; tortured them in prisons; claimed a civilisng mission; cited that we were never really a nation. Note that the Palestinians are now in same plight we were in. It never stops.
In one famous instance, in the Nothern state of Punjab, General Dyer of the British Army shot a thousand unarmed protesters to death in a massacre at Jalian Wala Bagh. The peace-loving, democratic, brave citizens of Britain collected money to defend him.
Colonialism is never benign.

At the end of the Second World War, when the UN was created, UN Security Council was formed with former colonial powers as members. In the Western narrative, this was to make sure nobody does what Hitler did earlier. But from the Third World perspective, the composition of UNSC was unacceptable - because our fight was against colonialism and the colonialists still decided which invasions should be sanctioned.

Let us try an exercise here:
Islamic women banned from wearing burqa in France - seems a natural, right thing to do. But from our perspective (I am not Muslim), it is merely another attempt to acquire hegemony over cultural minorities. With what moral right does France, the occupier of Algeria, (and the French people who have enjoyed the rich fruits of colonialism) even talk about what Muslims should do?
You see? This is how we think, when we hear any attempt by "Western" powers to acquire the moral high ground.
Iran seized British sailors, and then Britain said they were in Iraqi waters. My immediate reaction was that Britain had no business to be in Iraqi waters. This will be the reaction of most citizens of the Third World.
The argument that Britain used, of course, was that it was on a UN mandated mission. So that becomes the second issue:

Modern Nations and the UN

One commenter in one of my previous diaries argued that aerial bombing was not terrorism - because the people who do it wear uniforms. This and a variety of other arguments are used to justify military action by the powers.
The problem is that modern nation states and their rights were not created in an equal world. Not all of the peoples of this world are organized into nations. That does not mean they do not have rights. They do have the right to struggle for their freedom in violent or non-violent ways. We should note that the USA and Britain do not respect sovereignty of other countries - they have tried to pretend that countries ruled by dictators are not really soveriegn nations. Thus the whole system of international law is not respected by colonial powers themselves.
When I hear Bush complaining about Saddam - I want to ask, "How are you any different?" America or Britain have no right to talk about democracy or exporting democracy - their democracy has not prevented them from violating international law and launching aggressive war.
Who has the right to talk about democracy? Nobody.

We have to realize that the current state of the world is not ideal - it is not ideal for citizens of the Third World; it is not ideal for citizens of "Western democracies" either. We need to have a clearer goal - for example a world without immigration laws should be the goal; no set of people should suffer from lack of resources.

Let me finish with a note on Israel and Palestine:

Frequent rants by pro-Israelites talk about Israel's right to exist.
I do not think Israel has the right to exist - mind you, I am talking about the nation not the race. It is useless going into UN resolutions to seek justification for the creation of Israel.
There is constant pretense by the Western media and pundits that only radical Islamists are against Israel. Let me inform you - I am not a radical Muslim. I have no connection with Israel or Palestine - but I AM a Third World citizen and I can assure you that most of us do not think Isreal should exist as a nation. The reason is the whole narrative I described above - Israel was created by a movement hat considered Paletinians as "the dog in the manger". Palestinians did not have a nation, so anybody can take over their land. The Jews do need a nation - how about giving Scotland? Or Utah? Why was Britain's generosity unbounded when giving away Palestine?

Every news report, every speech by Bush and Blair remind us of the fight ahead against colonialists. Bush has served a purpose though - he has helped pulled the veil of the whole setup.

Are native languages "unprofessional"?

Early on in Photon, we went to a party and the discussion came around to talking in Tamil at work.
One of the drunk developers felt passionately about this - he said in a meeting we should NEVER talk in Tamil. He said it was unprofessional.
I was surprised by the vehemence of this comment - I said if even one person who spoke in another language is present, this is true. But if a meeting consisted ONLY Tamil speakers, I do not see why it should be unprofessional to speak to each other in that language.
I also argued that if this was true, how far do you take this? Is it okay to speak Tamil in casual corridor meetings or is English mandatory for this? What if two people are talking business by the water cooler - can they talk in Tamil? Or does the English rule apply only when you walk into a conference room?
My point was that this rule was unnatural - and I was not objecting to it because I am a "fanatic" - but because it is contrary to natural behavior.
But, of course, the drunk guy veered completely away into how "even China" was switching to English. And how the whole reason India had succeeded in the IT industry was because of English.
This is a digression here -
China is not "switching" to English - Chinese are learning the English language as a language. They are not learning every subject out there in English - that is, there is no English medium in China; they are learning English as a second language.
This is vastly different from India where the middle and rich classes have lobbied for learning everything in English, taking things to such an extent that kids are actually being punished for talking to each other in their native language during recess. Some schools fine you for talking in the native language.
Whenever somebody raises this, he is branded a cheap fanatic or someone brainwashed by the politicians. I respect Tamil politicians for making this an issue.
Secondly, Indian success in the IT industry also happened because of many, many thousands of studnets who learnt in the native medium but learnt English as an additional language. By claiming English medium as a reason for Indian succcess in IT, I only see the usual attempts of Indian urbanized upper middle classes to corner credit for the IT boom.
Digression ends here
Anyway, that argument was fruitless because the guy ended up blaming Tamils for this "unique" behavior - and I had seen most Indian linguistic communities talk to each other in their language at work. By bringing race into the argument, he lost the argument.
This was an year back - I was thinking about this last week and asked another friend of mine this question - say you went to an interview in a company; the interviewer ascertains your native language; say you are Telugu. The interviewer is also Telugu and proceeds to interview in Telugu.
Would you join that company? Would you consider that unprofessional?
His answer was yes - he would consider it unprofessional and he would reconsider joining that company.
This friend of mine is far more reasonable so I could argue with him. My points were:
1. We use English as a common communication medium. That is the sole purpose. If there exists another common communication medium and if it is your native language, then doesn't it make sense to use that? It will probably relax both of you.
2. What makes English professional and Telugu unprofessional? What causes that judgement? Mind you, I am not talking about an artificiallly constructed "pure" Telugu conversation. If a normal conversation you have with a friend at work can be in Telugu, why can't it happen with a candidate?
I believe the one good reason to not ask the native language of a candidate is because it could result in discrimination. But then HR should not ask for age either (you should not discriminate based on age either). Most candidates will gladly mention even passport numbers in their resumes in India - so why is asking for and conversing in a native language such a bad idea?
I do think my friend is accurate about this - I think most people would react the same way. But I am not able to understand why such an opinion about our native languages exists. I would appreciate if readers can share their views.

The Human Development Index (HDI)

This essay is meant to counter the views of many middle and upper class Indians who believe that India is exceptional; those who believe that India should try and will become a "super power"; those who believe that we are a mere generation from attaining a developed country status; and those who believe that India is simply a better country to live in than what they call "Muslim" countries such as Iran or African countries such as Namibia.
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) introduced the Human Development Index (HDI) in 1990. here is a link to the Human Development Report (HDR) home page: http://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/statistics/
The HDI was introduced principally based on Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen and Martha Nassbaum's principle that "human capabilities" had a role in defining well-being of humans. They defined ends (such as liberty) as more important than means (having money). They defined some parameters to measure such ends, such as bodily health and control over one's environment.
In India, we focus a lot (in the past few years) on GDP growth; GDP as a measure of a nation's health has been criticised for a long time, because it focusses on the means. For example, if oil is spilled in our seas often and we clean it up often, the GDP includes the amount aspent on cleaning up those spills as a measure of growth!
The most common reason why GDP is confused with the well-being of a society is because of 2 reasons:
1. People believe that growth "trickles down" to poorer people.
2. When it fails to trickle down and causes income disparities, governments wiill correct that situation.
Both these assumptions have never been proved true, although most educated people in India take it for granted. hence the exclusive focus on GDP in India over the past few years.
What we have in India is called by Sen and Dreze as "unaimed opulence".

A partcularly crude version, consists of attempting to maximize
economic growth, without paying any direct attention to the transformation of
greater opulence into better living conditions.

The UNDP says:

People are the real wealth of a nation. The basic objective of development is to create an enabling environment for people to enjoy long, healthy and creative lives.

The definition of HDI
The HDI includes three components of human capabilities:
Health, Education and a decent Standard of Living.
Health is represented by Life Expectancy
Education by Literacy and School Enrollment
Standard of Living by GDP per capita

Where do nations stand in HDI?

In 2006, Norway, Iceland and Australia ranked in the top 3.
India stood at 126; above us at 125 is Namibia.
Iran is at 96. Indonesia is at 108. Almost all Arab countries are better ranked. Lebanon is at 78 (50 ranks ahead of us).
China is at 81. Oman at 56.
Cuba (oh, those communists) is at 50 (70 ranks ahead).
Almost all Western European countries (which are generally socialist) occupy the first 20 ranks. the USA for all its power is at rank 8.
Over the last 10 years of "development" in India, India has gone from 128 to 126.

So the next time someone goes prattling about how backward Muslim countries are or about how developed we are, quote the HDI at them.

Sambar and Other Recipes for Hapless Indian Bachelors

Ye Tamils stranded in foreign countries, here is your beacon of hope - the holy grail for bachelors: a Rainman Recipe for simple Sambar online:

Sadha Sambar

1. Keep Puli (Tamarind; not Tiger) in water soaking

1a. Cut Capsicum ( That is the only kind of Sambar I know)

2. Boil Toor Dal in cooker

3. After cooker whistle,

4. Take a vessel and put Puli water (filtered) with Kuzhambu podi flat 3 spoon, turmeric, LG Perungayam (very little), Salt (2 spoons typically) and the cut Capsicum

5. Ready heating vessel, with 2 spoons coconut oil,

6. Put mustard in it and heat

7. After mustard blows up in your face, Add Vathal chilli(1), Dhaniya(little) and fry light

8. On this boiling oil, pour Puli water with all that you mixed in step 4; pour fast and run

9. Let it boil for 15 minutes

10. Pour Puli water second time (that is make some more)

11. Boil again for 10 minutes

12. Take Toor Dal from cooker and pour into the almost ready Sambar

13. After 2 minutes stop heating (that means switch off the gas - not pouring water on the fire) 14. Add Karuvepilai for flavor. You got yourselves some Sambar. Now if you only had some poriyal..
Poriyal:
I. Plantain Curry1.Cut two plantain - cut in half, remove skin, cut each half into 3, then cut more.
2.Boil plantain, with turmeric and salt in vessel with 3 times water - till is looks thoroughly defeated (at least 20-30 mins)
3. Cut some green chilli into small bits
4. Put oil, mustard in a vessel and after mustard gets angry at being so treated, add Urad Dal (Ulultham Paruppu) and wait till Dal brown.
5. Take some cut coconut
6. Put plantain (after filtering out water) in oil and run.
7. Fry somewhat
8. Add more salt(2 spoons typically)
9. Switch off
10 Add some karuvepilai
11. Add the coconut
That finishes plantain.
You can make poriyal with cabage the same way - except that cabbage is a green vegetable. So no need to boil it in water first or even add lots of water while it is boiling.
If you are in the mood for Koottu:
1. Cut cabbage (into little pieces - don't cut in two halves and wait for me to call you a moron)
2. Wash
3. Fry Paasi Paruppu. no oil
4. When it is light brown, pour water.
5. Now add turmeric, salt and cabbage
6. Take Green chili - 4, cut coconut, cumin (Cheerakam), LG perungayam, little water, put in mixie and grind
7. When Cabbage "looks" glassy (this is my wife's term)
8. Pour ground items from mixie
9. Boil - till bubbles come.
10.Add milk 1/2 cup (don't ask me why; I have no idea)
11. Light boil - 1 minute
12.Add little Coconut oil in top(not on your top; on the boiled cabbage) and Karuvepilai

Now, if only we had some Rasam (Amma used to make it; I miss Amma...boo hooo)
Hold on cry baby - it is not so difficult. Here is Rasam:
Refer to the Sambar recipe if you do not understand some stuff. Rasam is really Sambar (according to the Sambarites) and Sambar is really Rasam (according to the Rasamites). Come to your own conclusions:
1.Soak Puli in water
1a. Cut tomato
2. Boil Toor Dal, turmeric in cooker - 2 hand fulls of toor dal - double water
3. After cooker whistle,
4. Put Puli thanni with Kuzhambu podi or Rasam podi flat 1 spoon, turmeric, LG Perungayam, Salt, Cut Tomato
5. Keep Vessel, with ghee, mustard and heat
6. Add Jeeragam, Vathal chili after mustard goes bananas; fry light
7. Pour Puli thanni
8. Boil - 10 minutes
9. 2nd time Puli thanni
10. Boil light (5 mins)
11.Pour Dal from cooker into rasam
12. After 1 minute stop boiling
13. Add Coriander (Kothamalli), Karuvepilai
With Rasam, if you got the smell you are done - who cares about how it really tastes.
Now, how do you cook Aracha Sambar, a special version of Sambar that only the most superior cooks know and pass on from generation to generation?
Refer the Sambar section for some details;
1. Soak Puli in water
1a. Cut Sambar Onion without skin.
1b. Get some drumstick ready
2. Boil Toor Dal in cooker
3. After cooker whistle, -- take Kadalai Dal, one red chili, Dhaniya, small amount Toor Dal and fry without oil
4. Take cut coconut and fry Mix with the above

5. To Puli thanni add Kuzhambu podi flat 3 spoon, turmeric, LG, Salt, drum stick
6. To vessel, add 2 spoons cocnut oil, mustard and then wait for mustard to express its displeasure

7. Add the cut onion- fry well

8. Pour Puli thanni

9. Boil - 15 minutes

9a. Add the above combination from 3 and 4 and mix in the mixie.

10. Add 2nd time Puli thanni

11. Boil well - 10 minutes

12. Pour Dal from cooker into Sambar

13. Boil 1 minute

14. Add the above Mixed stuff

15. Boil one more minute

16. Add Karuvepilai

You are done!!!

A few notes to cokking poriyal - as you have seen I have not delineated how to make potato fry and other poriyals. They all follow the same logic of plantain - except that with cabbage, Lady's finger etc you should not boil them too much in water (except if you want to do it for fun and that is your idea of fun). With potato:
1. Cut potato
2. Put oil and mustard in vessel and heat
3. After the noise dies down, add potato, turmeric, some sambar podii, salt and water
4. Let potato boil
That is it - very poor man's potato poriyal is ready!
I think most of the above should work - if you had some common sense. For example, the LG is meant to be added in little bits. I know of people who added lots for flavor and then almost passed out eating the result.

Also watch other cookers (I mean people who cook) carefully until they get uncomfortable. Ask stupid questions. That way you can learn more.

To Saral Or Not To Saral

I believe there are two kinds of men – those who look forward to filing Form-16 (saral or whatever) and those who get diarrhea thinking about it.
My friend Ramesh is of the first kind – he said he feels the thrill of adrenaline as he contemplates a tax form; he knows Tax law better than most lawyers. He has a separate tax chair where he sits and pores through the ancient lore of tax evasion; loopholes; deductibles;HRA; nothing upsets him.
I, on the other hand, think deductibles are sea monsters.
I believe tax evasion has a long history – if you asked American scholars (Howard Bloom, as an example) they may trace the earliest tax evasion to Athens; and go on and on about how they fought against taxes and the Persians. In American history, everything traces back to Athens; then they move onto Rome and then jump straight to 1776.
But why do people feel the need to not pay taxes?
I interviewed an anonymous source (Ramesh) for this and he explained I am looking at this the wrong way – it is not that he is avoiding tax; he said tax loopholes are similar to the Easter Egg celebration. It is an annual game in which the government hides some statement such as “Whereas the wherewithal for hereupon the party of the first thereafter habeas corpus Ramesh no pay tax” in the 1179th page of the budget. And then they go, “Now go find it”, to all the kids. Ramesh wants to be the first to find it.
What does finding that information give him (apart from lots of money)?
So, I asked him, “Why do you find loopholes in tax law?”
And he said, “Because they are there”.

My company’s accounts department helpfully sent all employees an excel sheet with formulae for everything so that we could easily figure out the tax we owed.
I opened the sheet and looked at rows and rows of “HRA (18-C)” and thought, “This must be simple”.
I entered all my information and scrolled down eagerly to look at my tax liability.
It came up to 200000036749.50.
It seemed huge even to me; I experimented with adjusting the numbers and got it down to 174642397.8.
At this point I thought I needed to get out of the country fast because I seemed to be paying the most tax in the country. I had two choices – either get out of the country or go to the accounting department at 4th floor.
I steeled myself and decided to get out of the country.

I had heard horrible stories of the 4th floor accounting section – there were people who went there and never returned. Some came back permanently scarred waking up screaming from nightmares in the middle of the night.
The accounting section also sent weird emails with lots of explanations (that they probably thought were helpful). I put them in junk mail and was now paying for it (literally).
I was packing up to go to some place where there were no taxes (Moon – I know that the astronauts in the International Space Station pay taxes; it is called tax deduction from space) when a couple of other tax-challenged zombies suggested going up and talking to the accounting guys. I went up.
I have always noticed that accountants have the same smirk on their face when talking to employees as auto mechanics. Have you ever tried to explain what is wrong with your car to a mechanic? He scratches his ass when you are talking, shares jokes with other mechanics, blows his nose, spits on the ground and then blows cigarette smoke in your face. The reason is they believe you are a moron – if you do not know that the carburettor power screw nuts are slightly bent, then how good a programmer are you?
Accountants are the same way – if you do not know that section 418C is one of the three health savings account deeds under which you can claim standard exemption – what good are you? Why do you even exist? You are the reason the country is going to the dogs.
(By the way, both automobile servicing and accounting are apparently men’s jobs. I have never seen a single female accountant yet.)
But accountants do not scratch their asses while you are talking to them. You have to give it to them. They are much more sophisticated.
So the accounter guy stared at me with thinly vined contempt.
“This is your excel sheet?” he asked me, showing the printout.
“Yes”.
He surveyed it and then showed it to the guys sitting next to him. They all had a hearty laugh.
He then asked me what I paid last year.
I told him.
He smiled again and said, “I did not ask your yearly tax; I am asking about the monthly tax”.
I said, “That is the monthly tax”.
Now all of the department was paying attention to me. I smiled to myself; “so you bastards now know how important I am”.
But the accountant said, “You cannnot have these kinds of savings for that monthly tax. You need to buy a home”.
I was still smiling. “I am going to buy one soon”.
The accountant nodded, looked at the excel sheet and did some calculations. Then he said, “You are not going to be paid for the next 4 months.”

“And we need your passport.”

The war for Earth

Probably I am more politicised than most Indians, but I thought I should build a primer Political ideas and their relation to International politics – basically about a set of patterns that politics follows in most countries. I also believe there is a giant fight looming ahead (I compare this to the War for Middle Earth).
The reason I focus somewhat on America is because the fight there is well defined; the positions are well marked; and the internal politics there has repercussions across the world. I believe the same war is going on in India, but here it is more at a visceral level than at the level of ideas.
We know that most developed countries have a two-party system – in UK it is the Conservative and the Labor. In the USA it is the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. Very soon after the USA became the world’s first constitutional republic in 1776, the leaders of the revolution split out and formed the Republican and the Democratic parties. For a hundred years after that the Democrats represented the Southern slave-owning white farmers; while the North got more and more industrialized and was heavily supportive of the Republican party. In the runup to the elections of 1860, Abraham Lincoln was the Republican candidate.
How did the Republican party move from being the party of Lincoln to the party of Bush?
To understand this we have to consider the flow of ideologies since the Industrial Revolution.
The Ideas of the Modern Era
Voltaire, prior to the French Revolution had come up with the idea of human rights – that all humans are basically created equal; that the they had the freedom to express their opinions; that governments were formed from the consent of people; that they had the rights to pursue life and liberty.
This was a departure from the then prevalent ideas of a government as an aristocracy. Government became an arrangement that people would form themselves; that they would choose a set of people among themsleves to take care of forming policies; and implementing them.
This was in line with the pure forms of democracy and self-government that had existed all around the world (not just in the West). In Africa, in China, India, the counties of England and in the puritan societies of 17th century New England – there existed village councils. These were adminsitrative and regulatory councils whose members were generally elected; in which most male members of the society could debate decisions.
So, the idea of human rights was radical; but that of self government was not. But both of these combined to inspire the founding fathers of the USA.
At this same time, philosophy of secularism had also originated (and reflected in the constitution of the United States). That government ought not to discriminate against citizens of minority religions or races was expressed in the constitution (but not fully realized until the 20th century).
Adam Smith had published his “Wealth of Nations” by this time. There was a consciousness of the market and its cycles. Capitalism was recognized as a mechanism of creating wealth. Immediately, there was tension between two sets of ideas in regulating economy – Adam Smith was of the opinion that since the market regulates itself, government ought not to interfere in business. This is the idea of “laissez faire” capitalism. It means “leave alone” in French. The people who believed in laissez faire, believed that governments ought not to step in and regulate business at all – if they do so, they will upset the market dynamics. They COULD cause a less capable business to survive better than a more capable business. This will, as an end result, affect consumers. Laissez fare capitalists also believed that government should stay out of business – that is the government itself should NOT run any business. They believed it would be inefficient to do so and would again go against the laws of the market. (This is what we call in India as a move towards privatization). As an example, laissez fare capitalists will not approve of the Government of India running the Indian Railways.
The opponents of laissez fare thought businesses, if unregulated, would completely pursue profit by all means and thus ignore public good. For example, a business would not respect protection of the environment and would completely exploit resources and labor unless it is regulated. Some of these opponents also believe that the government SHOULD run some services – such as transportation or water supply.
As a summary, we see a set of ideas taking shape in the world of 18th century – democracy, constitutional republics, human rights, self-government, secularism, and ideas of economics and regulation. Some of these ideas existed before – but they were crystallized in the constitution of the United States.
Let us consider one more pivotal idea before moving on to the 19th century – the concept of a commune.
In the 16th century, the “Utopia” was published. This book talked about a mythical land were people live in a small “commune”. They do not own priivate property. They all work together and share the fruits of such work. Since the Utopia came out a small group of philosphers contributed more to the idea of “communism” and thought this is where human society should head for.
It is critical to understand that Utopia was meant to be a GOAL that the world should work towards. The ideal of communism at that point had not been associated with labor and the revolution.

The Effects of the Industrial Revolution
The sum of ideas explained above were radical; for example secularism was a major departure from previous ideas of government policy. When these ideas originated, they were immediately met with opposition. The idea that all humans are created equal meant slaves would have the same rights as their owners. In the beginning of the 19th century, the United States was going through a period of religious revivalism. Mormonism was founded around mid 1800s. The Mormons challenged the idea that government could interfere in private beliefs. If government could regulate economy, could it control who owned guns and who did not? There were obviously limts of government regulation. Opinions varied from zero regulation (that is the philosophy of small government or Libertarianism) to complete regulation. For example Libertarians in the USA do not believe that drugs should be banned; they believe government should NOT control individual use of drugs.
So, the ideas of democracy, secularism and government’s own role were being challenged already. Meanwhile, industrialization was creating a new class of humans – Labor.
At this time, of course, the world was in the grips of powerful colonizers such as Britain and Spain. Colonialism and racism were being justified by intellectuals across the world.
In this specific context, Karl Marx published the “Communist Manifesto” along with Engels.

Communism
We should remember that although Karl Marx’s name evokes strong reaction around the world, he is still respected as one of the three great economists of all time (along with Adam Smith and John Maynard Keynes). Marx’s theories are taught in top economic schools around the world; and they have not really been refuted. Marx was first and foremost an economist – then a philospher.
When Marx analyzed the economics of Industrial world, he came to the conclusion that the world was heading towards complete exploitation of labor by capitalist businesses. He wrote that businesses, in their natural process, tended towards complete control of the three means of productions – Capital, Resources and Labor.
This led to the frightening scenario of a world dominated by huge corporations that “owned” the labor – a complete polarization of the haves and the have-nots.
In order to prevent this, he advocated revolution – organization of the labor into unions; and collective bargaining. He also thought ultimately such a revolution would create a world in which private property will not exist; the market will not exist; and “the State will wither away”.
The difference between communism and capitalism is summarized in these statements – Capitalism advocates from each according to his need; to each according to his capability. Communism advocates from each according to his capability; to each according to his need.
This is just a hint of his opinons; Marx also had wide ranging thoughts on colonialism; imperialism;even the Indian caste system.
Marx was chased from country to country for organizing labor and advocating communism.

Socialism
The idea of socialism is that government should play a major role in making sure that resources of a country are spread equitably. Socialists may not be opposed to the market or private property; provided government meets the above objective. The modern ideas of universal free health care for all citizens, public transportaion, social security and pensions are all in the socialist spectrum.

The Formation of the Left
Broadly, the philosophies of communism, socialism, liberalism, progressivism, environmentalism (the greens) come together to form the leftist spectrum of ideas. What do typical leftists believe in?
They believe in democracy – they believe that government should be representative. Contrary to popular beliefs, even communists believe in democracy.
They believe in decentralization – atleast most do. In the Indian context, they believe that states should have more powers. Leftists such as me believe that states should give more powers to panchayats and city councils.
They believe in strict government regulation of the economy and businesses. They believe businesses should be environment conscious; not allowed to exploit their emloyees. The whole idea of corporate citizenship that is being promoted is rightist. Leftists hate that idea.
They believe workers have a right and a say in the businesses. They believe in trade unions and collective bargaining (such as negotiations on bonuses).
They believe that government should run basic services – for free. They should do this by taxing the rich heavily. Governments should provide free health care for all; build public hospitals; build public schools; run public transportation.
Governments should protect what are called “public commons” and never give it to private ownership. An example is water bodies.
Governments should NOT discriminate against any religion or race. In fact governments should provide special protection to minorities and allow them to flourish.
For leftists such as me, nationalism and patriotism are worthless ideas. In an ideal world, nations will not have borders restricting immigration, because it prevents an equal distribution of resources.
Leftists do not believe in Free Trade – they believe that this is calculated to promote the products of richer countries; and they believe it is anti-poor.
Leftists also believe in consumer protection.
Leftists are generally against capital punishment (the death penalty). They believe prisons should be reformed.
Leftists believe that corporate ownership of media is wrong.
Leftists oppose huge defense budgets; any aggressive war.

As an example, I oppose sending an Indian manned mission to the Moon – I believe it is a fruitless exercise of nationalism; and also that with that budget we can provide free primary education for all in India.


As you can see above, the broad thrust of leftist philosophies is based on the belief in human rights; the belief that humanity is a common brotherhood; and the belief that human nature is basically good and it is the duty of society to provide the right conditions for development. As Harold Lasky said “Liberty is that state in which a man can realize his full potential”.
Now ranged against these are rightists – but rightists do not share a common thrust as leftists do. A collection of groups challenged by leftist philosphies form rightists – such as
Religious right – these (in any country) consider their religion as threatened. They consider the leftist philosphy of secularism as evil and unacceptable.
The Corporations – these are challenged by regulation,and cannot fulfill their goal of profit maximization.
Capitalists – these consider the path to wealth fastest if government has a small role; and also consider any regulation of the market as dangerous.
Nationalists – these consider their nation to be exclusive; unique and exceptional. They pursue importance in world affairs and believe in geo politics as ameans of gaining power. They are challenged by the left’s denial of borders; promotion of immigration; and the assertion of universal brotherhood.
Racists – these are similar to nationalists.
Fascists – These believe in unbridled corporatism and militarism. They are challenged by the left’s insistence on human rights.
Libertarians – who believe in small government and zero regulation.
Colonialists and Imperialists – Those who believe that their countries have the right to attack and conquer resources (including labor and markets).

We should remember the following while staking out the above positions:
Leftists are organised in a spectrum – for example, progressives believe that in the fight, we do have the right to comment on certain indvidual beliefs – for example, a progressive has no problem saying a religious person should be corrected. A liberal would balk at this position because of its judgemental attitude. Leftists fight as fiercely among themselves as with rightists.
The United Nations (other than the Security Council) is organized in the principles of liberalism. The United Nations Charter is a good expression of liberal beliefs.
The constitution of India is based on liberal beliefs – Sections 36 to 41 of the constitution are called the Directive Principles of State Policy; these are clearly liberal.
Gandhians are leftists.
Nazis were rightist.
Some of the first laws passed by the Indian Parliament were for labor protection.
Most leftists agree that there should be a market – they just think it should be strictly regulated.


Given the above let us walk through the war over the last hundred years playing out all around the world.

The 20th Century and the War Against the Right
In the beginning of the 20th century most of the world was faced with wars; racism; unbridled capitalism; and colonialism under which a billion people lived. Meanwhile, Gandhi had started the Satyagraha in South Africa – he had expressed interest in civil disobedience.
Meanwhile the “suffargatists” were fighting for voting rights for women and all adults in the USA and Britain
Meanwhile there was an armed revolution in Russia and the establishment of the first Socialist state.
Meanwhile the First World War had started and ended killing millions. Fascism as a movement was born in Italy and Germany.
Meanwhile the Great Depression was under way in the United States.
It was obvious that the prevailing governance model in the world could not be sustained.
There was a global consciousness of community mobilisation – that people had to come together as a community and fight for their rights. In the USA, both the left and the right were organising well – the left for civil rights and desegregation and the right for racial purity.
It was at this time, as the USA was coming out of the depression that Roosevelt announced the New Deal. The New Deal basically established Social Security; more than that it was a giant acknowledgement of the leftist ideal that society has to share its resources equitably. With this, the developed countries started incorporating more and more socialist principles in their public policy.
The Right fought back – while it won some, it lost many. The Left won the battle for civil rights (for blacks) in the USA. The Left won abortion rights for women. The Right has tried to hit back at Social Security repeatedly – seeing it as opposed to capitalist ideals. But it has failed till now.
Most developed countries are more leftist than the USA – Sweden has tax rates upto 60% and provides free health care, free education and good public transportaion for all. Sweden, Canada and Newzealand have the best living standards among nations and have the highest Human Development Index.

The Corporations, on the other hand, have also tried to fight back; they lead the fight for Free Trade and Globalization. The World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank – all have highly secretive unelected members and all have played havoc in developing countries with policies such as “Structural Adjustment”. The IMF policy of privatising education has directly led to the current plight of thousands of students in India. McKenzie consulting’s restructuring advice in Andhra Pradesh led to the thousand of farmer suicides there.
The Religious Right in the USA is now in direct alliance with corporations – the Right successfully mobilised voters to put George W. Bush in power.

Developing countries are trying to cut down on public expenditure – water was privatized in Bolivia; this caused riots to break out. Genetically Modified (GM) crops have been banned in most European countries – and still the Indian government appoves them.

Thus there is a global war going on, right now between the Right and the Left. In India, most people are not aware of this war. The Indian middle class has trite beliefs – that “Socialism is dead” even though it is the principle by which most Western governments are run.. They readily believe in the superpower myth created by the media. They do not understand what philosophies have survived; been proved good; and what have lost.

Thinkers and Designers

I was chatting with a potential recruit to my company. He was thought to show promise by HR; he was confident, expressed himself clearly. Around 5 years of experience.
I asked him what his role was in his company. He said he was a designer. (Ofcourse, he meant software design). I asked him if I could ask him coding questions.
He gave me a condescending look and said he had not coded for the last 9 months. He purely "designed".
I asked him how he "designed" without reference to technology; he dismissed that question. He just decided how things should work. It was upto lesser "programmers" to implement his design.
He also informed me that his company had a special design team; that people were promoted to it for "outstanding" performance. They apparently stopped the lowly job of coding on reaching that team; they just designed.
I asked him specific questions on a couple of simple technologies and he had no clue. He had no knowledge about design methodologies; software development processes or any knowledge of design as a discipline.
I have always been surprised by this - how can technical people, in the beginning of their career, reject coding as menial labor and style themselves as designers? Isn't that career suicide? I would never hire a person to a technical position if they did not know hands-on coding. It is my belief that you can never really design a good software system without knowing the technologies used to some degree. Technology-agnostic design does not exist.
Does this mean a .NET architect can never design a good Java based enterprise system? It does not mean that. But it is essential to have a good grasp of atleast one suite of application technology.
As an example, let us say you are asked to create a data warehouse that aggregates data from different systems. It does help to know the concepts of Extraction, Tranformation and Loading; it helps to know multi dimensional querying; it helps to know dimensions and measures and aggregate queries. If you did not take into account specific technologies; if you have not even tried your hand at MDX; I would claim you cannot come up with a useful design.
All that you can do is draw a few blocks and say this little box talks to that big box and sound knowledgeable. CTOs can do that - not system designers. Design is more than that. It is actually creating an integrated system taking into account functional and non-functional requirements. If someone says "I sit and design a web application without being skilled in any programming language", then that person is a worthless hire.
I had the same experience with a guy in my neighborhood. He was 3 years out of college and he said his job was to "think". I am serious - he said his company pays him to think. I pictured him sitting in his cubicle contemplating the monitor. He thinks and he thinks and then he said he comes up with a solution. He then kindly shares it with the dumb programmers and they go and just do the simple job of coding. He said he did not do coding. I was surprised by this and he explained to me that he does code - sometimes - because he takes it upon himself to do a module. He was careful to clarify that nobody actually makes him code the module; he does it out of the goodness of his heart.
Actually that is what this attitude comes down to - these guys are ashamed to say they code because then that means they take orders from someone. They bow to no one. And they want to be tech leads.
That is the other aspect of interviewing - I have noticed that some people love to be questioned on "concepts". To them, a set of coding questions is insulting - one guy I interviewed in Philadelphia said it was like a quiz. I think this is just a sham attitude. If you did hands-on coding, it is the duty of the interviewer to find out. I can keep on asking vague questions about your last project, your attitude to team work, your strengths and weaknesses and crap like that - it does not help in judging your value as a technical person. A technical perosn must know coding and must answer specific coding questions, period.

My experiences in Karuthu

Around an year back, Kanimozhi Karunanidhi and Karthik Chidambaram started a message forum called Karuthu (http://www.karuthu.com). They wanted to promote free expression of thoughts - this was the peak of PMK's Talibanism, and during the Kushboo episode.
I became a member right away - I enrolled on Nov 13 2005. Since then I have regularly posted there till a couple of weeks back.
Why did I write in Karuthu?
Karuthu over time became a very vibrant community with around 10000 members (although only around 200 of them are active, regular). There is no doubt that these are kindred spirits - that like me, they feel passionately towards social, economical, cultural issues. They feel the need to communicate and reach across to others around the world. Almost all are Tamils and they are spread across the world. I found an opportunity to challenge people on capitlism, religious fanaticism, historical beliefs. Initially my goal was to project ideas about liberalism, and clarify where opinions stand - if they are conservative or liberal. For example, language promoters in Tamil Nadu have been accused of being fanatics. An opinion such as "Let us make Tamil education compulsory in all schools" is thought to be fanaticism - even though such an opinion in the global spectrum is actually liberal. Media and higher classes have successfully projected such opinions as retrograde. But, kids go around in Tamil Nadu without even knowing their native tongue. They have no connection with modern Tamil literature and have a tendency (along with their parents) to communicate entirely in English when outside. Is it true that they are doing this because they are liberal? No - they are doing this because they have no conception of what the social, cultural and even economic effects are of not learning the native language where you live in.
The way these people misunderstand is exemplified by this question - "How would our children survive outside Tamil Nadu?". Survival outside Tamil Nadu does not require learning all subjects in English. It means you should know English as a language. And nobody is preventing that. All that we ask for is coexistence of Tamil. All that we ask for is that Tamil be also learnt. For this we are branded as fanatics.
Thus protection of language is a liberal cause - it is conservative to say a language should not be protected.
This difference in ideologies and where opinions fall under - this I wanted to highlight.

My experience in Karuthu
In several posts starting in November 2005, I could convey my sets of opinons. I wrote a piece criticising President Kalam - and it became a general discussion of capitalism and India's path to modernism. I also participated in several discussions on women's role. I could convey my position with the underlying principle of post-modernism. I recently wrote a post on "The Good Fight" on the looming fight between leftists and the neo-liberal, corporate, religious right. I generally got attacked by right wing economic champions; but the discussions were civil. The admin moderates responses very well.
Our community involved a few colorful online personalities - many of them posted opposing views, but I respect them as fellow debaters.

Now, about the actual views of the modern Tamil onliner:
The most positive aspect with Karuthu is that many people are from ordinary backgrounds and care for the disadvantaged. Many of them have struggled in life with poverty. I rarely found Hindu fanatics. I would say many were more liberal than, say a typical North Indian posting in rediff.com. I have got ino debates in rediff.com, and there is no doubt that Karuthu users are more knowledgable, down-to-earth and none have the fantasies that rediff readers seem to have about Indian ultra-nationalism.
1. Generally there were many who supported the DMK heavily. I found very few ADMK supporters. The people who supported the DMK could not defend it much, but still supported the party. Many of these did not have a clear idea about the role of political parties in a democracy. They treated parties as rivals and supported one camp or another, as if it is a football game. The belief that a party is a private, monolithic entity is well entrenched. This is not good for democracy. For example, most of them did not see anything wrong in Dayanidhi Maran's sudden appointment and rise in prominence - they thought it was fine as long as he did a good job.
2. There is a widespread belief that Periyar and his DK were fighters for social justice - even though most evidence points to them being a fascist entity. I wrote a post about this.
3. There is lots of space for Tamil race fanatics - by this I do not mean supporters of the Tamil language (of which I am one). I mean the ones who think the Indus Valley civilisation is Tamil; those who believe in Lemuria; those who cannot stand Sanskrit as a language. These people are as bad as the Hindu fanatics; and they think they are liberal!! I frequently got into very depressing debates on history with them.
4. One unsurprising note is that there is lots of anti-Brahmin feeling among the debaters. many of them drag in Brahmins into debates that have nothing to do with them. The overall Tamil attitude to Brahmins is very similar to the Hindu fanatics attitude to Muslims. Most Tamils seem to regard Brahmins as an alien race and think evidence for that is well-established.
5. People have a very flexible attitude towards history - most people read things online and found nothing wrong in forming outlandish conclusions. I pointed out in a post that history is as much a science as physics. While nobody would question the theory of gravity, I found people ready to say "Violence was brought into India by Aryans" and then defend it.
6. The discussions on economics were very illuminating - people were pretty knowledgeable. But, I did find that the standard (untrue) view that "Socialism has collapsed" expressed repeatedly.
I have to point out that most of the negatives above are actually more pronounced in national message boards such as rediff.com or indiatimes.com.
Overall I found it a very vibrant, self-aware community. Some of the debates were very bitter and I got into several fights. Surprisingly the bitterest fights were with fellow leftists - particularly progressives. Missionary-like zeal runs through many progressives and I found their attacks more disturbing than the rightist fanatics.

My post in DailyKos on American Patriotism

My first diary in DailyKos was about American Nationalism and its effect on the world. The post was titled - "World cannot afford American patriotism".

Barack Obama to the Chicago Council on Globl Affairs:

Only through this phased redeployment can we send a clear message to the Iraqi factions that the U.S. is not going to hold together this country indefinitely -- that it will be up to them to form a viable government that can effectively run and secure Iraq.

I am not American; I am an East Indian who had lived in America. I was in America during the September 11 attacks; during the attack on Iraq; during the Kerry challenge to Bush. I have been a member in Daily Kos for some time, and this is my first post.
When the attack on Iraq was being planned, I was talking with a friend, an American, member of the Democratic party. I said atrocities WILL be committed by American troops in Iraq. He laughed me off - he claimed the American army was far too disciplined for that.
Another friend claimed that Iraqis who were bombed to death during the war and subsequently, deserved it - his argument was that America had declared war on Iraq and whoever remained should have been prepared to be bombed. I argued that America actually never declared war and that by the same logic, the 9/11 attacks could be justified (Osama had declared war on America).

I noticed that Americans had a very narrow view of the world and its history - including the Leftists. For example, the guy above thought all the Iraqis should have left for Jordan when the Americans started bombing; no idea about the size of Iraq or its population (let alone the unfairness of requiring that people leave when America decides to bomb).
The American character, I have found, has a very strong belief in their government system and its capabilities. An indomitable conviction that their military is different from everyone else in the world (inspite of every evidence to the contrary). Americans appeared convinced that their democratic legacy traces from the "origin of democracy" Athens. A lot of historic revisionism has established to the average American that their system is the best that could have evolved.
But, the battle for morality has already been lost by America - even the America of liberals such as Obama.
Obama, Clinton and many Democratic public figures keep complaining about Iraqi leaders not being good enough. The debate in public space in America is suddenly about how bad the Iraqis are - the Bush camp asks for a little more time with them and Democrats want to give the Iraqis an "ultimatum". The MSM reports these worthies' statements religiously with no challenge.
Americans have succesfully taken the death of a hundred thousand Iraqis and made it a domestic campaign issue about liberalism and conservatism - without any analysis of their culpability in these deaths. Most of America is discussing the deaths of their beloved Marines, the debate is about "our sons and daughters" - not about the innocents slaughtered by their own military. Human interest stories abound in WaPo and the NYT about the Marines' families and their morale.
Now all the blame for this slaughter has been posted over the wall to the bloody Iraqi militias and their not-so-civil war. The whole world is supposed to be in thrall over the opinion polls of this great country - about how many points this president's approval rating went up or down.
Actually the world has moved on; most people around the world realise that the moral war is lost.
America has no hope unless its politicians and citizens realise their country is no more unique, no more greater than any other nation - They are no different from any other coloniser in history. Their war-time idol cannot be Winston Churchill, seriously - the Churchill who presided over the war-time famine in Bengal that killed a million Indians? The Churchill who called Palestinians a Mongrel race?
The world cannot afford this continuing expression of American patriotism now in the bloody streets of Fallujah, Ramadi, Baghdad or Kabul, previously in Vietnam.
How about apologising to the Iraqis, promising a percentage of American GDP to Iraq for the next 50 years, and pay compensation to every killed Iraqi's family?

May I sit down, sir?

I did have my doubts before returning to India - my experiences with Indian HR had not been pleasant. I had never been promoted in a single Indian company. During performance review periods we were expected to submit essays about why we deserve a raise and promotion. To me, it was a throwback to English class in secondary school. I would labor over the review essays for a week, consult a dozen people and submit a patchwork of "achievements". Then HR would return it back to me and ask me to work further on it. I remember spending whole nights working on my essays.
My first experience in company W was instructive - I waited two hours in the lobby. Then the guy offered a hasty apology about the waiting and proceeded to dismiss my salary expectations as unreal. Then came the standard question - "Why did you return back from the States?".
Now, this question bothers me; I can understand the question, "Why did you leave your company?" The question about my return seems to suggest that there is an ulterior motive behind the dumb guy that was "sent back" from the States. Who in their right minds would leave the States of their own volition?
I always end up offering labored explanations that involve my patriotism, the ills of capitalism, globalisation and my wife's studies. People are not really interested in the answer. An unsettling question is supposed to throw the candidate offguard and show their "true" nature.
Much of the famed HR interview is about this clairvoyant, X-ray visioned super men that HR has become and their power to gauge if the candidate will go psycho in the middle of a project. Hence the offensive questioning. See, these guys should fight crime.
Remember in Victorian English novels (including Sherlock Holmes) the author or the narrator always determine strength or weakness of character by the width of one's chin? HR in India is in that stage. You think I am overreacting? Wait till I describe the other interview.
Anyway company W never responded after the HR interview. So, I put my profile in naukri.com. I got a call one day from a consultant (recruiter). He wanted to setup an interview with his Boss. I had to interview with the Boss before I interviewed with the client.
I land at the Boss's office. I walk in, the guy gets up, I shake his hand and say "Nice to meet you" and sit down. Little did I know this would cause a chain of events that would keep me jobless.
The guy asked the usual questions about my background. He apparently had a background in HR for a long time. Suddenly he said, "I am saying this like a father or an elder brother - why do you present yourselves as so aggressive?"
I was surprised by this.
Then he said, "When you walked in you were stiff and unsmiling. Why didn't you say 'May I come in sir?' or 'How are you?' or 'May I sit down, sir?'?"
Since he said he was talking like my father, I readied myself for a beating. Usually that followed the mere talk.
He asked me, "Didn't your wife or mother-in-law say something about this to you?"
Why would my mother-in-law be involved?
Then the guy went on and on about positive thoughts and how I radiated negative thoughts, first impression being the best impression. Then he mentioned body language. Aha! Now I understood where he came from.
I knew that there was a book about Body Language that came out when I was in college. Just as "The Secrets of Positive Thinking" (Norman Vincent Peale) had convinced a generation to try control their thoughts, Body Language had given Indian amateur psycholgists (the same guys who read "How to Win Friends and Influence People") a splendid opportunity to pre-judge others. The book promised that you can gain insights into the "other" and predict their actions and thoughts from their unconcious body language. It was the modern equivalent of the width of the chin
measurements.
Why is the other an enemy? Why would you want to predict their actions, influence their thoughts?
Anyway, this guy was one of those body language specialists. He started talking about the way I leaned forward, I leaned back and I leaned sideways. He also offered to counsel me on these issues.
The last thing I needed was counselling from an amateur psychologist. So I left and never returned.
The other thing I noticed about Indian companies is that your experience does not matter. They still want your Secondary School marks.
One of the "proofs" they want is your passport and photograph. When company W asked for these prior to my interview, I refused. I am sure asking for your date of birth before an interview is illegal. But Indian HR is the master of all they survey - after all they are the providers of invaluable jobs, Air-conditioned cubicles and promotions. Where would we be without them?

Letter on Intelligent Design published in the Metro

This is the text of the letter written by me to the Philadelphia Metro magazine and published on Oct 4 2005:
This letter concerns Christine Flowers' column about
the Dover "Intelligent Design" trial(Metro -
09/30/2005).
Christians should realise that no other religion in
the world has problems with teaching evolution. Even
"fundamentalist" Islamic countries teach evolution.
Thus, the issue is not simply a separation of church
and state. It is about the separation of the Christian
church and state. Teaching intelligent design in
schools is thus not a matter of religious freedom, but
actually of religious discrimination against other
religions.
The same goes for the Pledge of Allegiance. I am a
Hindu and believe in a Goddess, and thus the pledge's
"Under God" statement is an infringement on my
religious beliefs. In fact, my religion lets me
believe in multiple gods and goddesses. To accomodate
the beliefs of all religions in this simple pledge
would be impossible.
Religious Christians should stop representing these
issues as a matter of religious freedom: It is their
usual zealotry to force their beliefs on others.

My letter to The Metro, Philadelphia

This is the text of the letter by me, published in the
Philadelphia Metro newspaper, dated Aug 5 2005
They removed the reference to Vietnam.
--
This letter is in response to the comparison between
Bush and Saddam Hussein that offended a reader(August
2).
Americans seem to assume that being a democracy
assures that their perspective would be right in all
wars. In their perspective, Saddam was a psychotic mad
man killing Kurds and Shiites. But from an Iraqi
perspective Bush's attack on Fallujah was as psychotic
a overreaction. The difference was only in the number
of people killed. What Americans may assume is
"legitimate" collateral damage, would be mass murder
to Iraqis (and the rest of the world).
Lying to attack a country, killing 10000 innocent
people - most of them women and children, making sure
all rebuilding contracts go to American companies and
building 14 permanent bases in that country - these
are not acts of the "psychotic mad man"; they are the
actions of a democratically elected "leader of the
free world".
Being a democracy does provide immunity from mass
murder on own soil - it does not prevent crimes
against the rest of humanity.

Hindi movies - why do they suck so much?

Update: If you read this article, you may be interested in my latest take on Bollywood - http://ramsrants.blogspot.com/2010/06/bollywood-is-not-about-movies.html

After watching biological weapons stored in what looked like a janitor's closet in the Hindi movie "Qayamat", I decided I would wait for judgement day before I watch Hindi movies again.
I have made such resolutions before and broken them when I read the exciting promos for Hindi movies.
Nowadays every Hindi movie has a English tag name. Sometimes, these tags are just translations such as "Baaz - The Bird" or "Khel - The Game". Then they innovate. Here is one - "Fareb - Twisted Love". I don't know why they come up with these tag names. They are so cheesy.
Then there are interviews by "script" writers. For the movie "Khakee" (tag name- The Khakee) Sridhar Raghavan, who co-wrote the "script" gave an interview in rediff. I read the interview and was overwhelmed by Sridhar's words. Sridhar talked about the "premise" and other knowlegeable sounding words. Then I watch the movie - God, what a piece of crap. I renewed my vow.
Hindi movie "industry" is all about making someone watch the movies. Nobody in the industry is worried about providing good movies. I was convinced that the problem was with North Indians and NRIs - until "MunnaBhai" was released. This movie did NOT have a tag. Nobody knew about this movie until it hit the theaters and then what a huge hit it turned out to be! I would watch MunnaBhai (and Gracy Singh) over and over.
Then all the Bollywood fraternity turned out and pretended that it was their victory.
Here are a few things Bollywood needs to STOP doing now:
1. Stop talking about the "script". Stop saying how "taut" the script is and how it was a "bound script" and how good the script writer was. When I was growing up there were very good movies in Hindi (including Sholay, Arth and Mirch Masala) and nobody talked about the script so much. Stop pretending your movies are script-based. Munna Bhai was, Dil Chahta Hai was, Lagaan was - not any of these John Abraham, Dino Morea, Bipasha Basu starrers.
2. Stop having premieres. I mean, is it not enough for you to copy Hollywood "scripts"? Where did you come up with premieres and red carpets? The media dutifully covers these, and reports "world premieres" for what are basically soft-porn movies.
3. Stop pretending you are an "industry". If you are, you are in worse shape than government run industries. 9 out of 10 Hindi movies flop - in spite of premieres and bound scripts. Stop calling yourselves Dream Factory.
4. Stop starring star children. Amitabh Bachan says Abhishek has "succeeded" without his influence. Amitabh Saab, how many new comers to Bollywood can star in 6 consecutive flop movies - and still get acting offers? Stop the dynasty. Actors in your idolized Hollywood go to acting school. In Hindi India if you are a model or you are a star-child - you got yourselves a career. While there are hundreds of poor theater actors trying to get a break.
5. Stop showing an India and Indians that do not exist. Palatial buildings in which party-goers land on helicopters do not exist for ANY Indians - not even for the taxi drivers in NYC. The Indians we see in daily life are not people to be ashamed of. The India we live in can be shown in movies - as regional language movies so successfully do. Nothing wrong in showing a normal sized home or a poor person.
6. Stop talking about International attention. Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Subhash Ghai are big culprits in this. Bhansali's Black is full of cheesy, corny English dialogues that are plainly there so that Bhansali can "move on to the International stage". Where did realism go? What about an artist's honesty? Bhansali's Black is set amidst colonial mansions and snowfalls - so it would appeal to white people. Subash Ghai even said he is targeting his movies solely towards NRIs and foreign audiences. For that, his movies repeatedly flop.
7.Stop taking credit for the achievements of other Indians - Night Shyamalan in American. Gurinder Chadha is British. They are not part of Bollywood.
8. Stop making movies with New York City and stop talking about the "spirit" of NYC. You spent 2 hours in the airport - that does not make you an expert in the "spirit". There are other spirits in India to worry about.
9. Stop making movies about "relationships". These movies look like "Seventh Heaven" reruns.There are plenty of social messages to deliver.
10. Stop copying scenes from other movies and calling it a "a nod". You are not nodding - you are stealing.
Now, I don't think there is anybody really listening; the current situation is advantageous to talentless people and the star dynasties. It is an aristocracy in Bollywood. I am personally happy with Tamil movies - inspite of the fat actresses.

Crappy stories

I know nobody reads tamil magazines anymore unless they give free bottles of water, but has anybody noticed the really crappy stories they publish now?
One story called Masala Dosai (in Vikatan) was about a divorced woman who hooks officers at work to spend a night with her by offering Masala Dosai.
The Masala Dosai was supposed to be a very smart allegory of - you got it - SEX. Ignoring the implications about divorced women and their tendency to jump in with anyone, this story was the worst written ever! Here is Vikatan, after boosting the careers of the likes of JeyaKanthan - now publishing Masala Dosai.
Then there is Kalki - my magazine of choice - vastly improved, beacon for new writers. At least 5 pages in the magazine are gone to the teachings of different gurus. Kalki's short story competition last year awarded the second prize to a story about two former lovers who marry different people. The female marries a good guy, who understands her. The male marries a bad female. All the females in the story are unsure and talk a LOT. The men are either wise or harassed by their women. And this story was written by a woman!
Here is my problem: Writers in the whole wide world are good when they are liberal. Conservative comedians and conservative writers suck. But somehow tamil magazines (except for Kumudam) seem to publish stories with conservative values again and again. This is not just limited to story writers. Kalki's position on the dress code controversy in colleges and Kushboo's virginity comment was anti-women and anti-rights. None of the magazines come out and take a liberal position on any issue.
The field therefore is left to literary magazines like KalaChuvadu, Uyirmai and Theeranadhi. But how many people read these magazines?
Coming back to crappy stories, why is every story about bad sons and their sad parents?
There was this guy, Shankar Babu who wrote some really cool stories in Kalki. I wonder why he does not write anymore. One of his stories - Pinnorgal - is a comedy classic.
Anyway, I am not any closer to getting myself published. I guess I should write a story called Idli. Tamils like stories about food items. That is how you reel them in. Remind them of food and get them to read. Most ancient Tamil literary works are filled with references to good food, I think.
Anyway, Idli it shall be.
It will be about this old couple who always make Idli for their son. He eats them all. They would starve. Then he gets married. Ill-treats his parents. Then finally Idli somehow makes him come to his senses. I don't know how, but it will come to me.