The Great Farce of Mayawati and Indian politics

Last updated on: July 2, 2008 at 5:20 am By Desh Kapoor

The Indian minorities are played with everyday. And they are very willing to play along with people who use them for their own goals without ever giving these minorities anything in return but an impoverished life. The growth of regional parties - specifically like BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party) - has been on the back of such ignorance amongst the minorities. And Mayawati is the leader of all these idiotic loonies. India and US are engaged over a Nuclear Deal. Some say it is good for India and some say it is bad. The Left Communist parties obviously take their orders from China and oppose it. The less said about them the better - such an insult they are to any intelligent Indian! These useless "my heart beats for minorities" regional parties have found an innovative - but shameless - way to oppose the deal. "The deal is being done at the cost of cheaper gas from Iran and Muslims are vehemently opposed to it," So says this female - Mayawati. Now, let us understand what she is telling the Muslims in India - That - Iran can send cheaper gas to India... and Iran is a Muslim country... and by going for Nuclear technology .. which is in some distant way an alternative way to produce energy as opposed to gas (Natural Gas, mind you.. NOT Petrol!) - and SO A COMPETITION to Gas.. India has BETRAYED GAS and GONE for NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY... therefore.. it follows.. India has BETRAYED Iran.. and SO Muslims.. and so Indian Muslims.. by going to Non Muslims.. since Muslims obviously have nothing to do with Nuclear Technology!! Read more

Obama and Hanuman

Last updated on: June 30, 2008 at 2:03 am By Desh Kapoor

In the last few years, Indian-Americans have become great fund raisers for the Presidential elections. For example the NY Resturanteur Sant Singh Chatwal has raised millions for Hillary Clinton. So, a lot of smart politicians in the US want to do business with the Indian-Americans and have them on their side. Obama is not unaware of that. So what does he do? The guy who has been swearing in every way he can about the infallibility of Christ as the only savior.. has been carrying a small idol of Hanuman, a Hindu God. So, that helps him connect with the Hindus/Indians and makes him a topic of conversation in every Indian family living room engaged in the political process. Actually Obama seems one who believes in a lot of charms: - bracelet belonging to an American soldier deployed in Iraq, - a gambler's lucky chit, - a tiny Hanuman and - tiny Madonna and child Politicians are by nature superstitious and prone to lucky charms so in that sense its not so astonishing.. but it is nevertheless fairly interesting. Wonder if all these Gods and lucky charms will get him his goal? Read more

An encounter with a five tonner

Last updated on: June 28, 2008 at 6:33 am By Jay Sanders

This post was published about 8 months ago in my blog but thought it worth sharing given the encouragement by Desh Sir. Dear all While returning from phulbani's forest areas yesterday, i had a strange experience. Kindly discount the element of drama that i have put in to generate interest. Read more

Is Multi-tasking good?

Last updated on: June 27, 2008 at 10:42 am By Desh Kapoor

The ability to be able to multi-task is great! Right? WRONG! So say the studies. For starters, the US economy loses USD 650 billion a year in lost productivity. Basically its information overload and the effect of inertia.. it takes time to get off the attention from that phone call to your work. Dr. Edward Hallowell, a Massachusetts-based psychiatrist who specializes in the treatment of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder - says in his book CrazyBusy, that people are getting inflicted with Attention Deficit Trait (ADT). Hallowel's remedies? - creatively engineering one’s environment - one’s emotional and physical health and of course - Limiting multitasking is essential From my side, here are some things - sleep gets worse since mind is in overdrive.. lack of attention means most information brushes your minds surface to a lot is lost.. hence decision making is affect. Above all, mental health suffers greatly. So are you multi-tasking? Read more

Your Presence

Last updated on: June 26, 2008 at 9:44 am By Desh Kapoor

It has been 15 years since I last saw you. Heard your name on the street today. It wasn't you. Didn't see who it was. But I felt you. I experienced the warmth of your presence just as it was when you were there when that name was called. Were you there when you were with me or are you there when I can still feel you? Does your presence have to necessarily depend on you? You are as imagined a companion today as you were then. Just that I never knew that. Sometimes we love our imagination.. never can we love without distance. Love is just that - a baggage. A past movie playing itself over and over again... the actor is not performing every time - we know that - just the action has been arrested and played back. It doesn't mean much. It didn't mean even when the actors acted the part. It was someone playing a make believe role which wasn't. So, what is Love? And it is not? Read more

India needs a different answer: Sunita Narain

Last updated on: June 26, 2008 at 8:33 am By Desh Kapoor

Today I was listening in to this NPR program where Sunita Narain was discussing the environment dilemmas in India and how the different protagonists was addressing it within the country and how the world was behaving to the issue at large. I have heard a lot of activists in India speak on this issue and I believe that Sunita's talk was very refreshing. Most of the people are cliched.. and fall quickly into a category. They espouse "an" ideology without any regard for merit or otherwise. Sunita's discussion, on the other hand, was very logical and balanced. It was straight! Some of the salient points: 1. West has gone through the cycle of Rich & Wasteful > pollution > clean up - so it has been a role of "Waste Managers".... its been behind the problem.. as opposed to ahead of the problem. Environmentalists are not that but Waste Managers. 2. India has been Frugal and efficient. For India, it would be foolish to be wasteful and then clean up. It is far better to think up ways which will make us efficient despite being frugal. 3. Over the years, the democratic quotient in US has gone down. Activists are more corporate bed fellows than independent thinkers. Read more

The Cause

Last updated on: June 21, 2008 at 11:50 pm By Desh Kapoor

At times one remains faithful to a cause only because its opponents do not cease to be insipid. Read more

Pakistani Intolerance in Houston

Last updated on: June 21, 2008 at 11:46 pm By Desh Kapoor

Ever since I came to Houston in 1997, I had for the first time come in contact with the Pakistani media. Some of it is interesting, but a lot of it was extremely shameful! Before that - in India - I had only heard praise of the Pakistani dramas etc. On Houston radio, I have heard Pakistani channels fight, slur, abuse (cannot be listened with family at times) each other as well as, of course the Indians (particularly Hindus) and the Americans without remorse or restraint! Specially in the pre 9-11 time, the radio was often intolerably intolerant. I used to go to some Pakistani restaurants in Hilcroft area when I was single, but then once there were shootings between two gangs and I have made a conscious choice of avoiding that entire area South of Hwy 59. There are always fights and arguments during the Eid time.. because there are always two different celebrations of Eid.. and there are two parties fighting to construct their version of Pakistan House.. which is still a mess... the list goes on. But here is an incident that I stumbled across in Houston Chronicle - where a large part of the community shows a behavior that should have been left behind in the home country..... A Pakistani newspaper owner, Sheikh Najim Ali (a Shia) runs a popular local paper called Pakistan Times. Recently, it seems, he ran an ad announcing a local Ahmadiyya celebration and then covered the event. Now, mind you, these Ahmadiyyas are Pakistanis settled in Houston just like the rest of Pakistani community. Since then, most Pakistani businesses have removed their ads from his paper and there have been death threats - yes, death threats in HOUSTON! - to him on phone. Now, even his paper - which is free and kept in most grocery stores and restaurants - has been removed from the Pakistani businesses. Read more

Analysis technique for analysing human relationships

Last updated on: June 21, 2008 at 11:02 pm By Desh Kapoor

Analysis and decision-making is everything.. here is an interesting technique to analyze human relations. Thought it was something useful to share with you all... ************* The dimensional analysis technique is a checklist (Jensen, 1978) that relates to Five Ws and H, and is of most use as an aide memoir for initial exploration of a problem or evaluating options, particularly those associated with human relations, rather than of a technical nature. Jensen defines a problem as a violation of values – a slightly unusual approach that is reflected in this list: Substantive Dimension (‘What?’) * Commission/omission? Doing something wrong, or failing to do something? * Attitude/deed? Is it necessary to change attitudes or practices? * Ends/means? Is the irritant we see the actual problem or merely a symptom of it? * Active/passive? Active threat or source of irritation? * Visible/invisible? Is the problem masked (e.g. covert human relations issues) Spatial Dimension (‘Where?’) * Local/distant? Is it merely local or are their some remote influences * Particular location(s) within a location. Recognise the exact area concerned. * Isolated/widespread? Is the problem isolated or linked to several other problem areas. Temporal (‘When?’) * Long-standing/recent? Which are parts are new and which are old? * Present/Impending? Is the problem happening or looks as though it may happen? * Constant/ebb-and-flow? Is the problem always there, irregular or cyclic? Read more

Samad Khurram – a show of convinction for his country

Last updated on: June 21, 2008 at 4:55 pm By Desh Kapoor

My friend Rubab told me about an incident in Pakistan where the alumni of a famous private school were being honored by the US Ambassador in Pakistan. When the turn came for a young man named Samad - who studies law at Harvard Law School - he walked past the US Ambassador and went to the microphone and declared he refuses to receive the award from the lady.. it was an act of defiance. He gave his reasons and stood up for himself and his country. I think irrespective of where we live.. it is a very impressive sense of convictions that Samad showed and should be respected. Rubab has agreed to share that article with drishtikone.. so, thanks to her. She discusses her talk with Samad over the phone. ============= Some individuals change destiny of nations, some redesign the future, some rehabilitate economy, some strengthen but few are those who rebuild image of a nation. Samad Khurram is the one who revived in real terms what has been the Bhuttoism-meaning strong Pakistani nationalism. His one act restored Pakistan’s image which has been mutilated by those who claimed to be patriots but for US visas, American scholarships for their children sold national interests. He set a model for the entire nation. He fired no bullet, did not raise any hatred-loaded slogan but simply registered his protest in a civil manner convincing people of the world that he belonged to a self respected nation. Bravo we need more people like you. His phone was continuously engaged; I tried several times and always had a reply the number you have dialed is on another call. He called me back as we knew each other for last few months. He along with his friends has been moderating Emergency in Pakistan group, where they use to email to hundreds of people to activate against the unstable position in Pakistan. He has been playing his vital role in making people politically active through his emails and his blogs. Few days back he told me he is coming to Pakistan to attend Long March. He plans to keep lawyers movement alive till judges are restored and Pakistan gets rid of dictatorship. Samad Khurram was so humble when told he has become a celebrity and being treated as National hero and everyone is discussing Samad Khurram. After appreciating his attempt to get his protest registered; my first question to him was, “was this deliberate attempt you made in front of US Ambassador?” He told me he was about to boycott ceremony organized to honor Roots School alumina, but “I would get nothing if I do not attend that ceremony, I thought I must attend and get my protest registered in a way that should be noticed all over the world” he added, “I had grudge over the murders of our innocent people in Mohmand agency and unprovoked American violation of Pakistani airspace, we cant be shameless anymore to bear these immoral acts against our countrymen, some one has to take initiative” Despite the fact his career can be on stake due to this nationalistic gesture, even then he made his presence on occasion and rebuked the U.S. ambassador in the full glare of the media where he knew Ambassador’s activities would be covered by national and international media. He had courage to refuse for his great satisfaction, as an individual he proved he is the youth of Pakistan. While reading responses on blogs about Samad Khurram I concluded that everyone has adored him in Pakistan because this gesture was the voice of their hearts. Read more