Subrata Roy Sahara: Commonwealth Games, an emotional appeal.

The funniest part of today's papers... an appeal from Mr. Roy... I really enjoyed this one...

It starts of with:

Like any proud citizen, I am filled with pride that our great country is hosting the Commonwealth Games 2010, which are symbolic of our national honor.

I agree with this part...

India is a country of immensely constructive, progressive and cultured people with a rich heritage and our recent economic growth has drawn worldwide admiration. As such, the whole world today looks upon us with respect and hope

This too sounds good. There are hardworking people in India who have created this impression for our country... we should also note that we are not looked upon as the most honest and straightforward Government and administration by the world. There is nothing to write home about the efficiency of our administration too.

The recent continuous and negative media coverage of Delhi Commonwealth Games, 2010 has resulted in absolute negativity among our people and the whole world is talking adversely about our country.

I think the negative media coverage is because the media believes it has discovered malpractices in the organizing of the games. The coverage appears continuous because they are discovering newer issues and malpractices by the day. The absolute negativity is because when someone reads about inflation and also about the amount of public money spent on the games in the same page of the newspaper, they put two and two together. Maybe you can at least ask the paginators to ensure that they put these stories on different pages. And the television to restrict one story to one timeslot.

Due to this continuous and extensively negative coverage we are creating a withdrawal feeling in thousands of organizers, 23000 volunteers, who are feeling totally demoralized and dejected.(Boss, why should the organisers feel dejected and demoralized??? because they have screwed up big time??? well then they rather feel demoralized) This would totally mar the successful conduct of the Commonwealth Games and give a bad image to our beloved country for all times to come. Participating players, officials, and even the guests will have a very negative feeling, right from the beginning. The smallest of flaws will be magnified in the minds and they will go back with quite a weak perception about our country.(when we are spending this kind of money 35,000 crores, why should there be flaws... are we not paying for everything.. don't we pay for all goods and services? then why should there be small flaws... Why can't we ask our suppliers and contractors and workers for good quality work after we pay them? ) All our countrymen are feeling talking, reacting so negatively towards the forthcoming Commonwealth Games at such time when they should be participating in, contributing to and celebrating it as the Grand Festival of India. (should we be? don't we have enough festivals already. and yeah... we just celebrated the FIFA world cup...)

I do not know at all as to who are the culprits, how many people have misappropriated the country's funds/resources and pushed back the preparations with regard to the completion of the infrastructure, as the reports say. If so, the culprits most definitely need to be punished with all their misdeeds thoroughly investigated and all sorts of checks and audits duly conducted by going deep into the matters related to purchase negotiations and payments etc. But it should all be done after the country's greatest ever sporting event is over. Of course, all the culprits should be severely punished, thereafter. (no no no.... isn't it right to trace, find, prove and punish the culprits immediately... The issue that someone misappropriates public funds is more important than the games. This issue should be addressed first. Those responsible should be pulled up for inefficiency to perform their duty and allowing this sort of rampant misappropriation. After we find out the mistakes and who was responsible, we should punish the guilty as per the law of the state, then, if we can, we should conduct the games in a honest manner. Else, we should just accept the fact that we are a nation of inept and inefficient people who make the wrong choices, elect the wrong people to govern us and put up with their corruption and misappropriation of public money. We accept that we have elected a government who is not efficient enough to put together a committee that can honestly organize the games. Sorry. If we do that, we at least tell the world that, we make mistakes, but we don't feel bad to accept them and make corrections.)

I am asking in all humility and cordially whether for the wrongs of maybe a hundred people, should the hopes and aspirations of 1.2 billion people be crushed? it would be such a huge blot on our country's image if we do not conduct the games successfully. (it is not just the hundred people.. it is also the people who chose those hundred people which would mean all those in the country who voted during the elections and those who did not vote... and talking about the aspirations of 1.2 billion, you can count me out. It would be a bigger blot on our image and conscience if we hushed this up. We should clear up the country's system first, before getting on with the Games. )

I myself am running a media network throughout the country and i appreciate that the media has done its duty to expose organisers' misdeeds but at the same time with all humility, we must accept that media has already overdone it, causing very big damage in maligning the image of the country. (the image of the nation has not been maligned by anyone. someone was stealing public money and the media thinks they have seen it. they are just telling everyone what they have seen. theft is conducted by individuals. when theft is conducted by organized gangs it should be called crime and the gang members, criminals. the media is saying that the organizing committee is the gang. (or is it that the ruling party is the gang?) Only when it is proved beyond doubt that whatever the media said is wrong, we can say that the media has maligned the image of the nation.) Certainly the media on its part should not forgive the culprits but should postpone its campaign until after the successful staging of commonwealth games. ( we have a very young television news history. the channels are still fighting for supremacy. At this stage there is a great scope for investigative journalism, to take risks to expose the crimes against society and the like. We should do this correction when the topic is still hot. After the games, the topic will be lost as it will no longer be relevant to the media.) The immediate need is to create an exceedingly positive environment for the present organisers and genuine workers to make the games a grand success befitting the great image of our nation. (The immediate need is not the games. the immediate need is the value systems of our nation. We should be a grand nation with good values, good citizen, good governance and then, only then, need we conduct the games.)

I therefore appeal to anybody and everybody to raise as one united nation maintaining absolute positivity and dedicate themselves whole-heartedly to the cause of the Delhi Commonwealth Games, 2010 for the pride of our beloved country.(Yes, we should rise as one united nation to the cause of the pride of our nation. We will be proud if we can take the drastic step to resolve and put our house in order first) We still have almost 2 months to go and can work wonders if we rise together collectively on war footing and contribute in all possible ways so that we may hold our heads high before the entire world. (Yes, we should use these two months to ensure that we can hold our head high before the entire world. This, we can do by ensuring that we correct our mistakes. We should make a mark in history by solving our issues, and then conducting the games if we can)

I appreciate Mr. Roy's concern and agree with him that corrective measures need to be taken. These measures should be to first verify the various claims of malpractices, bring to book all those responsible for these malpractices, and also find why these malpractices have been going on for such a long time. We should also bring to book those responsible for ensuring that the games were conducted honestly. Then, if we have time left, we should make a fresh effort to conduct the games. It is better to be known as someone who has made a mistake but then, realized the mistake and corrected it. rather than hide the mistakes for pride... After all we are the nation of the Mahatma..

(sorry for the grammar and the spellings. this is the 1st draft)

Man-Eaters of Kumaon: Jim Corbett. Oxford India (1944)

To tell the truth, I feel I should have started on Jim Corbett a long time back. Not because I feel I have missed out on him for so long; but it is a little difficult to appreciate and enjoy him now. I have friends who are absolute fans of Jim. He is a role model to those guys – like people from the WW II comics – a super-human character; a hero.
What strikes me in his book is the style of story telling. It is natural and fluid; and flow from one point to the next like a smooth flowing river or something. He starts off by explaining the reasons why tigers and other wild cats become man-eaters, and this is mostly a man-made condition. So, nature is not to be blamed here. Jim is a born naturalist. A nature lover who is in the profession of protecting human life and cattle when things go wrong in the fine balance between man and animal.
His Book is not just about hunting man-eaters; it’s the story of the jungle. It is the story of what happens when the jungle and its inhabitants come into contact with humans and their civilization. It is also a detailed manual of the sights and sounds of the jungle, its occupants, both large and small, the seasons, the sun, the moon and the starts. He says, these things are absolutely necessary for a hunter (in his words ‘sportsman’) to stay alive.
What I find difficult to acknowledge, is the abundance of flora and fauna during that period. That (the 1920s and 30s) was a time when there was no endangered species, no conservationists groups, no green peace and no ‘save the trees’ organizations. Even at that time Jim was constantly worried about the dwindling tiger population in the area. I just want to say that I did not feel comfortable reading about so many tigers, leopards and other animals being killed, and all in one book. Of course, I understand the conditions, the circumstances and the need for those acts at that time; but I just cannot bring my conscience to accept it, and that’s it.
I know Jim Corbett will not be a very happy man in his ‘Happy Hunting Grounds’, when he sees the state of his forests and the tigers in them today.

Scenes from a writer’s life: Ruskin Bond. Penguin books (1997)

Ruskin Bond has been an enigmatic writer, at least for me personally. Maybe it’s because of my introduction to Ruskin Bond long back with the story about the faceless school boy. That was one of the first stories about the supernatural or unexplainable or to put it simply, ‘ghost stories’ in my life. A chubby cheerful man (from the photographs I have seen of him), he gives me the impression of being someone who is stuck in India. There is always this concern that he does not actually belong here, but is so comfortable in his surroundings that we could actually accept him as one of ‘us’. I don’t have such impressions about all the authors I read, but Ruskin Bond is certainly someone special in that respect. There is always the longing to see a few of his photographs in his books. I have even planned to meet him when I go to mussoorie. (yeah. Some day I will find time to make that trip)
I also absolutely like the relaxed pace at which life moves around him and his characters. His work is an enjoyable mix of laid back life, taking things as they come, observing life from different angles and not missing out on the various characters around you. Every time I read one of his books, it brings in me the fantasy about being a writer, to indulge in life, chronicle it and make a career and a decent living out of it. The mussoorie setting also brings about the romance of the hills, the colonial backdrop, the chill in the cold wind and little things to enjoy in life like a bright sunny day.
This book is about the initial years. It is about the circumstances that made Ruskin Bond the person he is. With a troubled childhood and a very deep emotional bonding with his lonely father, I think the seeds of his loneliness were sown pretty early in life. Learning to fight these bouts of being left alone at home when his father went to work and waiting for those few hours his father could spend time with him, Ruskin had learnt the secret of being lonely in the world and, enjoying it. His descriptions of life in the various schools and about his friends look half hearted. It is like he did not have true friends in school. His friends, I guess came from outside school, among people who lived around him. I guess he was able to relate better to people who expected noting more of him than unconditional love.The book ends with him going to Jersy and London and then making that decision that his heart is in India and he cannot take it away from here, comes back to India. This is the time, when his first book ‘the room on the roof is published’. I have read that one before, but I think I will go through it again with a brand new perspective.

Butter chicken in Ludhiana: Pankaj Mishra , Penguin books (1995)

Travels in small town India. Considering that the book was written more than 10 years back, when the whole country was swinging to ‘choli ke peeche’ and babri masjid was still a fresh incident, the characters and incidents in this book will take you back to moments in your life during that period. The author has projected himself as a 20 something year old, flirting between being a ‘student’ a ‘journalist’ and a ‘writer’.

The book starts off in the Delhi bus depot, with Pankaj waiting for a bus to Muzaffarnagar. Here he introduces us to the first character in the book, a short, stoutish, balding middle aged man; who narrates his family history in detail in that reeking bus depot infested with rats and insects, and then goes to sleep with the authour’s bag as a pillow and suddenly disappears into the night. But then, thankfully the book moves on to many more such characters and situations.

Detailed chronicles about the functioning of state run transport buses, attitudes of travelers, government staff, officials and fellow travelers, subtle insights into cast and cultural ideologies and hangovers in the mid 1990s are a plenty in this book. Pankaj sketches a very vague, even if correct picture about life in small town northern India. Pankaj’s characters are definitely people one would meet on one’s travel: The noisy and brash groups of young pot bellied people who have ‘businesses’ (read shops), the middle level government officials, the aspiring politicians, the modern wife, still in her sari, a modern woman, but still traditional at heart, and definitely that group of Bengali tourists. This is definitely a book you can carry during one of your long travels from one town to another, and can pick off real life characters from around you and fit them into characters from the book.

Some of the predictions made by pankaj have gone totally wrong. But, that is all right, since we are all taken by surprises. And if he could make exact predictions about the future, he should have been a businessman and not writing books. To me, this book was a good entertainer, bringing back the sounds and the smells of my own travels through small town India. The book is true to the point where I sometimes think that it could have been the same group of Bengali tourists I met on the bus on my way to karkal. But analyzing the socio – economic conditions prevailing in those areas at that particular place at that time and drawing inferences about the life styles and cultural beliefs of the people should best have been left to scholars and sociologists.

Somewhere deep down, after reading the book, I felt that pankaj has ignored the positive side of life in small town India. He has seen chaos, disorderliness, and the race to keep up with the joneses. What I find lacking in this book is that strong ‘never say die’ spirit of India