The Farce called 'Development'!

So, we had this dinner meeting in the GRT star hotels; We all met to discuss the cancer screening project which is being piloted by us along with another department in some interior villages of Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh.

And with a beer in his hand, the sponsor who had funded this project, hailing from a western country asks this question; "What do you think about the modern developed India?"

Modern Developed India? I looked at him. An old man! Should be in his 60s. A nice man. He means good for the country of India; He means good for the human race;

Am I not used to this word by now? Still, coming from a foreigner it took me by surprise.

So, sir, how do we define development, I shot back? So all these big IT companies, the big industrial estates, the bridges in the cities, and the roads in the towns are all the development we are talking about! Isn't it sir? I asked. Ya, I know, there is poverty but still....he lingered on. I know, what he was driving unto.

I am suddenly realising how a farce image of this development is being throttled in to our throats. Any country for it to be developed, should give education(Atleast till the school level) and health care to every single citizen of it, without any money or with money which is affordable to every single one of them. And India, has not even started that process. Without, giving health care and education, every other development for me is farce!

Tax me all you can. Every where you can. But give me good quality, honest, education and health care, at affordable cost without any delay, I consider that development.

And for all of you who rave about Indian development in the modern era, twenty years from now, we cannot trust any private health care professional in this country for the simple reason, we won't know where did he do his degree. And ten years from now, we will be paying our blood for our children's education just because, our government's educational machinery has failed and the private players are going to rip you to the barest bone.

I don't mind driving along a bad road to drop my kid to a good quality government school or to take my parents to a hospital whom I can trust and whom I can afford; I would prefer that any day than to drive in a four lane expressway to a school who will fleece me, or to a hospital whom I cannot trust.

Don't get me wrong. Not that I don't want the economic development and the good roads and the newly developed cities. Just that I would prefer we also think of the educational and the health sector when it comes to development.

I know my voice is shrill and frail in this constant bombardment of the word development by the newly elected government. I understand the world looks at development very differently than how I look at it. But still, this is my idea of development. And I truly believe without this, we have no hope for development.

And after this discussion, we went back to our goal of preventing cancer in the interior villages of MP and Chattisgarh. And that is the irony of our development.

Genius, takes your breath away!

How many of you played a sport in school? I did; Every single day of my school life. In fact that was my solace. Most of my present day memory revolves around the ground. Either the cricket field or the basketball ground.

And always, there was this boy who made playing sport look ridiculously easy. When the most talented among us, huffed and puffed through an inning, he would walk straight in and hit that remarkable cover drive, which made us all look pedestrian. There were many many days when I had opened batting with one such guy, and you have to keep telling yourself that you cannot do what he is doing. 

That is what separates the men from the boys! The most talented from the genius. And watching the genius perform his art, is among the greatest joys of sport. 

And what if at the same time, two genius perform their art together!They take your breath apart. They are too much to fathom. A sight which happens once in a blue moon. Imagine Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan playing on the same team? When Sachin at his peak is partnered by Viv Richards at the crease? What if, Roger Federer and Pete Sampras play each other? Or Serena play alongside Steffi Graf? 

That was what we witnessed when the unbelievable Virat Kohli plays alongside the irresistible De Villiers. Whoh! What stroke play. They made Dwayne Bravo, the greatest exponent of death bowling in the modern generation look ridiculously stupid.  

For all I abhor IPL, its greatest achievement for me is making these two bat together. And when they are in the mood. Make way and have fun! For genius, should stand alone. And when two of them stand together. We better watch out.

The day that defined cricket for our generation!

What a six! What a six! Waaaayyyyy in to the stands! Sachhhhin Tendulkaaaar! Whadaplayya!Whadaplayya! What a wonderful player! I could hear Tony Greig shouting in the microphone now! 18 loooong years after the day that happened.

As a little boy of 12, sitting there in front of the TV, those words defined cricket for me. For a generation of young Indians, it was that day that defined cricket.

India was down and out. Needed a miracle from somebody to enter the finals. And, there was only one man then, capable of any miracle. It was the God of cricket himself. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar!

They were dancing in the aisles of Sharjah, said Tony and we sure were dancing at home. Me and my little younger brother. Every single run was cheered. Every stroke was copied. Every small movement of this body was noted down. It was an aspiring cricket generation taking notes from the Master himself. For the next week and the month and for years after that, that inning was played and replayed again and again and again. Of course in the Idiot box! More so, in our hearts.

The Previous generation was built upon the 1983 world cup win! The next generation had that Dhoni world cup winning inning. But for us, the starved of victory generation, that was the day! That day, I decided I will play cricket. All my life. Every day.


Sachin went berserk that day. In my mind still the greatest inning ever played. The straight six over the head of Kasprovicks, is still for the me, the best cricketing shot ever played.  The generation which thinks that Kohli and Dhoni redefines running between the wickets, should have seen Sachin run on that day. Oh! he was something else.

If cricket was the religion for my generation and Sachin its God, that day was Christmas - when the God reincarnated in human form.

Thank you Sachin for that vivid memory. For that day. And for that Inning. For making our small cricketing Journeys. For whatever it was worth, all started that day.

How I wish Life is that easy Chetan!

Have you guys read Chetan Bhagat? The man who made it big in life? I mean, he is an IIT, IIM A product, who worked in a big investment firm in Hong kong before deciding to become a writer! How cool is that? His first fiction novel gave him another contract and the next one and the next one sold a billion copies. And both were made in to movies. Are n't they stuff made of dreams? How many of us dreamt of this life, during our boring geography classes?

And then the newspapers' offers started to pour in, and wow! Suddenly Bhagat, the IITian engineer, the IIMian investment banker, became the social thinker, the conscience of the youth. Suddenly he was giving ideas for the youth, solutions to solve poverty, famine, the problems of the petty youth and now even the Kashmiri issue.

But life Mr. Bhagat,  Sadly is too complex than simple mathematical solutions. When you borrow from bank 'A', the bank 'A' is supposed to get a profit! But, in reality 'A' might go off to the UK. And there is a 'B' helping him do that, with the help of the govt 'C' which prodded the bank to give off loans to 'A' in the first place.

And worse if it is a Kashmir Issue; Every death is accounted for. Had to be! There is no such thing as collateral damage! You can't wile away atrocities done by anybody on any one's  'body'. Be it the army, or the terrorists or whomsoever it may be. It may seem stupid for somebody not to think of simple monetary benefits and let go off lives for the sake of their passions; But, that is how it is Mr. Bhagat. That is what we call life!

I wish there is a solution for every problem in the world Chetan. I wish they are as easy as you make them out to be. The way you solved problems in the IIT's. But this is life chetan! And it is complex.

Just another small bit of advice Chetan. Now that, you are the father of advices, I presume you also accept some coming your way.

"There are enough sociologists, political scholars, hardworking social thinkers and other good minded people trying to solve complex life issues" They are far better in this trade than you are. Your life as a fiction writer, writing about love, and passion is cool in itself. Please stop giving solutions to complex social issues. We have enough nonsense already!

Driving like crazy!

So, the much awaited trip to the Hindi heartland is on! As the, 'recent best friend' and I, started on this sojourn, memories came haunting by for me. Memories of the last trip to the same place which was one of those "once in a life time" trip. We drove down from New Delhi to Sivakasi then.

Drove? From New Delhi to Sivakasi? Yes, we did. The year was 1997. Phew! That was 19 loooong years ago. Just to think we did such a crazy thing so many years ago gives me goose bumps now.
Crazy thing, coz now with the advanced communications, and the modern cars, if I embark on a 7-8 hour car journey, people are up in arms. My mom would have been on her knees those seven days, I presume!

And so we started off from New Delhi; And reached Sivakasi. In a Maruthi 800 car. Four of us! Two of us just ten years old. Just a map guiding us, without knowing any route. One man learning driving; The other known for his bad driving.

What fun that trip was! Fun, pure and pristine! Any long trip with the dad is fun; But when Benny, the best friend and the ever present in your life 'chithapa' is there, it can't get better. But do you really need, people to enjoy loooonnnnngg crrrrraaaaazzzzzyyyy drives?

It took us 7 days. We drove in the morning and slept off during the nights. No, not in five star hotels on the way. That is not my dad. In remote mission hospitals; In ashrams; where they just give us some thing called food and a place to lay your head. We ate everything given to us along the way. The roads were bad. Not the modern 6 and 8 lane highways. Not the 160 Km/hr modern engines. It surely was blazing hot. Would have even touched 50'c. But who cares?

I'm getting ready for another of those long crazy drives. Who is in?

"Bharath Mata Ki Jai", syndrome!

Bharath Mata Ki Jai! There I'm. No longer Anti National. I have done what is the most needed thing in the country and more importantly I can now live in this country in peace.

The latest diktat by the nationalism party is that you don't have any right to live in this country if you don't shout "Bharath Mata Ki Jai"! None lesser than the Chief Minister of Maharashtra said this. So, please all of you reading this, start chanting this slogan to be a part of this great nation.

Now comes the question, when should we chant this? Morning before brushing the teeth? Or at the end of every day? Or after the end of the national anthem; Why not like Inzamam Ul Haq, saying "Inshallah, we played good cricket"; We should be like, "Bharat Mata Ki Jai, "Virat Kohli played a great knock"!

Aiyo, I forgot! what will happen to the dumb? And the deaf? Can they get this country's citizenship without reciting this mantra? By the way, what if I shout, "Bharath pita ki Jai"? Why should this country be feminine? And what if you are a tamilian who has no idea of what hindi is? Is saying,    "பாரத தாய் வணக்கம்" allowed

Ssssshhhhhh!!!! Says a friend; Be quiet!  Why can't we just say whatever the hell they ask us to say. That will help us be at peace. And after all "Bharat Mata Ki Jai", is a patriotic statement. Nothing wrong in saying that, said he;

Hear this people! Hear it well. No man, can stop you from being a part of this very great, beloved nation except for the following reasons.

                    1) By voluntarily renouncing Indian citizenship or acquiring another citizenship
                    2) If you have got the citizenship by fraud in the first place,  or been disloyal to the                                    constitution or have given away a secret to another country

So next time some idiot tells you to go to some other country, ask him to book tickets for you and your kith and kin to the United States of America! For it is better to live outside the country than to live under morons.

Talking your way through life! Smriti Irani style!

Everybody close to me knows that I'm a loud mouth! I simply talk too much. And talking is an integral part of life especially in the Indian context. In India especially, if you can talk, you will be considered great.

BJP, the ruling party has clearly understood that I presume! Clearly they have some of the most efficient public speakers. The prime minister won the whole country single handedly by his sheer ability to talk his way through anything. And now the education minister, has learnt what it is to talk your way through problems.

And speak she did! What a speech that was. And if you can emote a little. nothing like it; The actress in her brought forward the emotion quotient and the orator she is, no doubt floored the nation.

No, no! The speech had absolutely no content. She did not talk about a master design on how the education system of this country could be changed. She did not talk about the curriculum being designed and redefined for the children of this country. She just spoke! Plain and simple.

It had nothing to do with truth! I mean, the entire speech had so many lies, but who cares? Do we even need truth to give brilliant scintillating talks? Hell, who cares about truth and honesty anyways!

So, you don't need to have content, neither do you need truth, to become successful public personalities. You just have to be a loud mouth and you can talk your way through life! And with the way things are going, you just have to be a loudmouth to be a politician!

I'm pretty sure I have it in me! To talk my way through life! Politics is waiting for me, I presume!