Mumbai vs Bombay: We The People - NDTV

It was really sad to see the kind of discussion that was going on, on the show. It seemed that Bombay (yes, it sounds really awesome) was a city in Peter Pan's wonderland where Alice and for that matter, Batman could also reside. I could not see anything being said for development of the city that Bombay is. We talk about making Bombay a world-class city. Where, may I ask, is the will to pursue that dream? It surely is not a concrete idea, just a dream.I understand that we, the Indians, would put Don Quixote to shame, given the chance. But bickering about what name a city should have, what kind of people can live in the city and what rights must they have, would not get us anywhere. Going by what I have said, ghettoisation, if not annihilation (how Raj would have wished for it), is what this would lead to.
A labourer from eastern UP or Bihar leaves his home to find a job in a city where the natives consider it demeaning to perform hard labour. The high-rises that Bombay's skyline is witness to, have the 'migrant's' sweat plastered all over them.I would draw a parallel to the situation in Bihar in times of Lalu Prasad Yadav with the current political situation in Maharashtra. Lalu Prasad Yadav realised, quite cunningly though, that as long as the average voter is illiterate and intellectually challenged, they will vote for theatrics and aura. On a similar note, the Shiv Sena and the MNS (Congress enjoying the spoils from the side-line) are stoking fire that exists due to incompetence, to a certain extent, of the native Maharashtrian. It is easy to add fuel to fire by raking up regional jingoism, but it doesn't change the situation on the ground. You tell a person that they will get a job, although not qualified for that job, if they beat up migrants. Why in the whole wide world would they make an effort to improve upon their skills?

At the end of the day, Raj Thackeray has to travel on Bombay's roads in his SUV with his English medium educated children conversing in German. But this is nothing new. We have seen such things earlier, and we would continue to see them in the future as well. But one thing has stood the test of time across the world. A migrant would work twice as efficiently as a native because he has to build a life in the new environment. A migrant is the pillar on whose shoulders great cities and nations have been built and would continue to be built. People like Raj Thackeray would just give an impetus to move the business and life out of a city to another city. That would be the zenith of their existence and sadly, the death of the city that was once alive.
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/new/NDTV-Show-Special.aspx?ID=384

Its a Gujjar on the Street!

I had thought that I would not be bashing the 'Gujjar cause' sometime in the near future, but well, what can I do! The circumstances won't just let me sit and watch like a dumb-ass!
So in total media glare (its more like a reality show these days on the TV than journalism. Hmmm, journalism....think that sort of a thing existed), the wrath of the Gujjar was unleashed in National Capital Region (NCR) today. There were disruptions for hours owing to the glorified demonstrations taking place all over the place.

Trains. Vehicular traffic. Grocery supplies. Sanity. Everything just stopped in their steps.

Why? Because the Gujjar was angry that he was not down the social ladder and that he was better placed in the social heirarchy! I would term it as 'insanity of the worst kind'. What were they trying to prove by stopping the movement of trains and blocking roads? As if they had not created enough problems already!
Let's just outline the reasons why the Gujjar youth, or reverently called as 'Gujjar ka chhora' by few, was on the street on a weekday, creating a whole lot of havoc more than the Left's stand on the Nuclear Issue (a post on that would be here soon!)?
Was it to, let me recollect, agitate against the decision to prevent them from sliding down the social ladder? Or was it to come on live TV? Or was it to just kill time destroying something, rather than sitting obscurely in a village under a tree?
Why wasn't the Gujjar youth in a college or a school, studying?
Why wasn't he preparing for an examination for a job?
Why wasn't he putting in efforts to clear one of the entrance examinations to get into a prestigious place of learning?
You know why?
Simple. RESERVATION. Who the hell needs to study for a job, or for a place in a great place of learning, or even who needs education, when you can get all of that by scoring a mere 30%, as seats are going to be RESERVED for you?!
What if people from other castes and tribes come out on streets every other day, demanding RESERVATIONS? A long summer break, eh?!
One one hand is this naked dance of high-handedness and bullying and on the other side is a man who is hell bent to make a mockery of the whole official machinery and the integrity of the country! Where are we heading to?
When such questions arise, we turn to the armed forces and the armed forces personnel.

But here in Rajasthan, we have an ex-serviceman, a Colonel (Colonel Kirori Singh Bainsla, for the uninitiated) for God's sake, leading a bunch of people as if he were waging a war against someone! You protected the borders of the country to prevent the intrusion from our external enemies, and today, you are the reason that people are not able to go back to their homes, they are not getting essential supplies, and there is chaos wherever you see!
An officer is a gentleman for life!

Is it a battle zone or a society that we want to live in?

When would the Indian Government at the Centre and the Governments at the State level have the balls to provide reservation in jobs and educational institutions, just ON THE BASIS OF THEIR ECONOMIC SITUATION?
Have we sunk so deep in the dirty and obnoxious quagmire of vote-bank-politics, that we have forgot what a civil society needs for development? The answer today is yes. And it will be the same for centuries to come if the undeserving get the resources meant for the deserving.
There will be many such agitations and there will be many such disruptions if the very basis of the reservation (it was a noble idea to start with. Refer the Constitution of India for that) is distorted to favor a few, instead of the ones who really need it.

Bangalored!

I must say, this weekend turned out to be a real good one for Bangalore. First, it gets a spanking new airport, which should conform to world standards to justify the 2500 crore spent on the first phase of the infrastructure development. We've heard a lot about the connectivity problem, so I won't delve into it. But would love to ask the well-heeled industry people who are lobbying against the new airport on grounds of poor connectivity......Where were you for the past 6 years that it took the airport to come into shape? Don't you think that the same pro activeness shown now could have brought about a whole sea of change had it been taken up a year in advance? But that's a different story for a different day, isn't it?
So where was I? Yes, the new airport!
Well, there were 'teething troubles', for sure. Reports of no power, baggage claim taking aeons and the likes.It sure shouldn't have been there as we are now in a process of building an India based on 'First Time Right' quality standards. More so apt to Bangalore, considering the fact that the economy of the city, and that of the state to a certain extent, depends on the IT/BT sector. These two sectors are always 'striving hard' to achieve 'First Time Right' quality standards. And just adding to the point of the airport being out of city limits, the Suwarnabhumi Airport at Bangkok is 25 kms from downtown Bangkok.
It's pure economics. Cheap land. More possibilities to expand. And the city stays quiet.
So, coming back to the new airport. It surely has more conveyor belts for International Arrivals and Departures (the HAL one had just ONE belt). So that is nothing to worry about now. Three lounges and a host of luxuries to splurge on. It just isn't easy to go 100% trouble free when going live with an airport. It's a huge task, for God's sake! Take the example to the new Hong Kong International Airport which was commissioned in July 1998. Quoting from Wikipedia : " For three to five months after its opening, it suffered various severe organisational, mechanical, and technical problems that almost crippled the airport. At one time, the government reopened the cargo terminal at Kai Tak Airport (name of the old airport) to handle freight traffic due to a breakdown at the new cargo terminal, named Super Terminal One (ST1), however after six months the airport started to operate normally."
I just hope the airport comes up to international standards and the travellers too rise up to international standards and stop spitting in corners at their leisure at the airport. They surprisingly become very American or European once they land in the US or Europe and despise the act of spitting in the open, as if they had never done so!

Coming to the second good news would be the total wipe-out of JD(S) in the recently help assembly elections. Just for statistics' sake, here is the final seat count:
BJP : 110
Congress : 80
JD(S) : 28
Others : 6
Discussion on the whole 'Dance of Democracy' ( I love this term!) would be a totally different blog story, maybe a series of them! So, why the elation at elimination of JD(S)?Well, how long do people think they can fool the masses?!! You fight with your dad and create a political drama. And then you join hands with him to create, what else, another political drama! To witness the way JD(S) withdrew support from BJP reminded me of kids in class I. One kid likes candy, but he had promised in front of the Headmaster that he would share it with his friend after he has had his share of the candy. But the kid just can't get his hands off the candy, and doesn't give the other half to the other kid, as promised. what ensues is a kiddish bickering over issues, and before you know, the candy is out of reach for both the kids! It was just amazing to see old men squabble like kids, and that too on National television.
So now Mr. Yeddy is going to be sworn in as the CM of Karnataka. The BJP has finally been able to form a government of it's own in South India, in the backyard of a calamity-stricken populace that JD(S) is.Now all the people of Karnataka are hoping is that BJP delivers on the promises that it had made, or it's going to be a long holiday for the BJP in Karnataka, as far as working as the Government is concerned.

And why does the blog read Bangalored?
It's because I witnessed something, none less than a miracle, on the road today. Taking a U-turn at Sony World junction today (the amber traffic signal lights blinking), an oncoming car driver actually stopped and gestured to the young couple on a bike, right in front of me, to take the turn before the car. And that was a polite gesture! I mean, I thought people were getting more and more rash and road-rage-enthusiasts. But this was such a great relief! I can't forget the car driver's face. Calm as a llama. All of us become like him, and voila! No traffic woes! But that's a Utopian concept that I have put forth!