Sole responsibility

Just yesterday, I saw a dirty street and I used my pet curse word for the government department responsible for it. My family and friends immediately protested, 'But you can't blame the government alone for it? People too have to assume their part of the responsibility'. And I lost my shirt, again.
The concerned department alone has the responsibility. We pay our taxes and select people who manage the system on our behalf. That's where it ends.
Of course, people are part of the problem. But who is charged with managing the ' people's part of the problem'? Surely, those who have accepted responsibility and get paid for it. They have the power to coax and motivate - and if it doesn't work, to penalise.
So, let them not get away with it.

Fallen angels or risen apes

Where we are today, doesn't matter. What matters is whether we are on our way up or way down. The direction of the journey matters.
Claims of a glorious past actually underscore the point that we are fallen from being angels, rather than risen from being apes!
But falling we are, and rising others are.

Kyaa baat hai kuch pyaas zyada lagti hai yahan
Log kehten hain kabhi is jagah par tha kuan
( Why is it that one feels more thirsty at this place? It is because, once upon a time, these used to be a well here )

There should be more pride in saying that my family history starts with me than in saying that mine ends with me.

Servicemen effectively tackled - mostly a self goal

I have been pondering over the ease with which successive governments have managed to take the armed forces and the ex servicemen ( ESM ) for a ride. It is now clear. The serving officers are kept in check by the agonisingly low chances of promotion. A slight assertive move by any and it is sure curtains for him. The same government allows IAS officers to have an association since their promotions are almost assured. The government also allows their own ministers to make anti-govt statements, since the government is dependent on some ministers and not the other way round. That takes care of the serving community. As for ESM, the community has committed hara-kiri by wanting to maintain its officer like behaviour in their dealings with the government. They like to retain their 'correct' image and are not prepared to be the street-fighter. This is surprising since they would surely be seeing the success rate of those who do so and the failure rate of those who, while in Rome, do not behave as Romans do. They pride themselves on holding all the correct cards without realizing that the game being played is chess. So the service community and the ESMs are destined to get an occasional crumb here and there, few and far between.

I today, You tomorrow

As an ex service man ( ESM ), I have analyzed the reason why the govt has managed to be so unfair to the armed forces and the ESM community. Whether it is the OROP, rank pay issue, table of precedence, ECHS facilities or the wherewithal available to the services, the govt gives them the bare minimum or less. It is not possible to give such treatment to any other organ of the state simply because of their nuisance value and their willingness to use it. The service community does not do so and that becomes the cause of its own undoing. The commuity is so tied down with the image of being ‘ good guys’ that it is ready to accept any degradation or financial loss just to keep that image alive. They are unable to see how this is chaining them. With such ingrained love for discipline and officer-like-behaviour, the community is the easiest to manipulate. The saying ‘ give a dog a bad name and hang him’ has become ‘ give the sufferer a good name, and ignore him’. The sad part is that the feedback of despair of the community gets blocked. The community is suffering today but the state and society too will have to pay the price one day. Ask not for whom the bells toll; they toll for thee and me alike.
The community is equally to be blamed for being so naive and indifferent.
‘ You fool me once, shame on you
You fool me every-time, shame on me’
Most of the civilians I have spoken to about our miseries, say, 'You guys are like a football asking to be kicked. All you ask for is to be addressed as ' Dear Sir ' while getting kicked.Who can resist such a temptation which has such a low price tag?'
Guys who know so much about man management, tactics and strategy can be so gullible in real life! This can make a good case study of ‘ psychology of military incompetence’, if ever an Indian version of Norman Dixon’s book is written.

Martyrs or unfortunate victims?

Just heard on TV that President Obama will pay homage to the martyrs of 26/11 during his Mumbai visit at hotels Taj and Oberoi.
Martyrs?
The word suggests that the tourists who died during the terrorist attack had laid down their lives willingly in order to save others. Not true. Also,I am sure their last moments were spent not reciting the national anthem but in cursing the police.
It is a fairly common occurrence. People who were simply victims are labelled martyrs. There are candle light processions for victims of murder and genocide.It is OK for family members and friends to pay such homage to the departed soul but why should bye-standers do so, beats me.
Another variation of this stupidity is the announcement made by the local people ( read - media ) every time terrorists hit a shopping centre. Lighting candles for the 'martyrs', the marketing association announces - 'This terrorist strike proves that the terrorists are getting frustrated. We will never let them win. Let us open the market tomorrow' ( Why lose money, old chap)
In fact, I find that the victims of Jallianwala bagh massacre were also not martyrs. They were killed, but were not martyrs. Helplessness does not add to martyrdom.
In the same series, I find it ridiculous to find three Indian embassy officials who died during the Kabul bomb blast were given Kirti Chakra. Do people know that Kirti chakra is equivalent to Maha Vir Chakra?
How does it matter? It matters for those who are really brave and are sidelined. It lowers the credibility of the award and that hits the real bravehearts unfairly.

Army career - Utilitarian approach or nobility personified

I hold the view that the Indian army is losing its effectiveness. Slowly,but surely. Bad organisational practices e.g. corruption and using the organisation ( read subordinates) to further ones career are on the rise. The question that confronts us is this -Why are officers not doing their bit to stop it? If complaining means curtains for their careers, so be it. If they expect their soldiers to risk their lives, why are they not ready to risk even their careers?

There are two views on this phenomenon.

1. View 1 - Abhishek Bachhan's movie ' Guru', can be used by OD (Organisational Dynamics/Development) practitioners to understand what goes on in organisations. The most instructive scene is towards the end when his company was charged with several financial misdeeds and he had to appear before some committee ( Roshan Seth as chairman ) to answer charges. Guru (enacting the saga of Sri Dhirubhai Ambani ), the controversial but eminently successful industrialist, says -
' I came poor to Mumbai to do business and found all doors closed. Some needed a kick ( unfair means ) to open, others needed a salaam ( chaploosi, corruption ) to open. I kicked the ones that called for a kick, I did salaam to the ones that asked for salaam. Because that was the only way to do business. And, as I said, I had come to Mumbai to do business. And now you guys say - This guy kicks too much, this guys does too much of salaam. Why so? Did you allow me any other way to do business'
In the same vein, officers join the army to make a career. If the only way to make a career is by foul means, how can you blame them for using those means. Just like the motivation for the businessman is to make more money and not to clean up the system, the motivation for the fauzi is to make a career and not to keep blowing the whistle.You set up a system where being honest pays and people will be honest.

View 2 - The army is a not a career; it is an institution. If fauzis also wish to be guided by market forces, they have no business to claim the high moral ground that they always do.

So, which of the two views seem right to you?

As for me, I see no need to choose between them. View 1 is a model of how humans/organisations work, View 2 is what the army would like things to be.

Indians versus Westerners

I was brought up on a staple diet of ' Indians are great human beings from a centuries old civilisation; while the westerners are upstarts with totally materialistic dispositions'. Well, I have seen light in the last about 20 years.
Generalisations are always wrong but here I am using them to make a point.
Indians seem to be about the most cruel, selfish and inhuman people you can ever come across. We rape young girls, slit the stomachs of young mothers, burn people by putting tyres around them and vandalise the helpless in ways a westerner can not even dream of. Our people in power - government, police, other officials etc - are actually the cause of all our miseries.There is absolutely no hope.
As for being materialistic, you just can't beat an Indian. And the bigger the tika on the forehead, the more materialistic the guy is.
On the other hand, westerners are pretty decent people.

Look inwards - hang the ugly Indian

There is too much emphasis on Anderson which suits the main culprits. Let us drop this focus on all things phoren and look inwards. The real problem is the ugly Indian. The guys who are responsible for the Bhopal people still drinking contaminated water, even as of today, are Indians. And they are in India,very accessible. In Krygystan, the people who tormented 120 Indian students may be foreigners but the embassy officials who treated them so inhumanly thereafter are all Indians. The guys who blocked the Manipur highway may be inaccessible goons but those who decided it was a matter not worthy of central intervention for 64 hellish days are all accessible Indians. It is also known that those who engineered this blockade are Indian marwari families of Imphal who benefited by blackmarketing scarce commodities during those days. Let us listen to Nehru and hang the black marketers, and other ugly Indians, by the nearest lamp post. The practical problem, though, is - how will you get so many lamp posts!
Let us clean up India even if it means letting go of Anderson. Charity must begin at home.

India's 'Success' on 26/11

I wrote the following lines just after the Mumbai terror attack ( 26/11 )
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Mumbai terror incident and our responses thereof have been a microcosm of what the national security is today. Let us analyze it dispassionately.
Operational conduct of the anti terrorist operations was not at all effective. The very fact that it took around 300 NSG commandos, supported by MARCOS, the local military units and the whole state machinery to clean up 10 poorly trained, poorly equipped and poorly led civilians and that it took 3 days in doing so is proof itself. If someone claims that Kasab and friend were well trained, well armed and well led, one would be at a loss of adjectives for the equipment, training and professional leadership available to our security forces. The crowning glory came just a few days back when it was known that the terrorists managed to sleep one entire night after starting the mayhem!
Recently, one saw telecasts on Special forces ( Line of Fire – Times Now), NSG training ( Dhoni show ) and the glittering military might on 26 Jan. But what did they achieve during the Mumbai terror? They were neither able to deter the enemy, foil the attempt or counter it effectively.
Thereafter the country showed no spine in hitting out at where it itself claims the terrorists live and train. Some cost benefit exercise seems to have prevented the country from taking action. It is true that we have lost the military edge long back but that is no one else’s fault. All that our people see on a day to day basis is the sensex and cricket. So this loss of military differential obviously went unnoticed. Now, it is payback time and too late.
But if you think that cost benefit exercises are the way countries with honour behave, look South. Just next to us is the small island of Sri Lanka. At one point Sri Lankan army was being clearly pushed around by LTTE. But with national honour at stake, they decided to get up and get counted. It took them some decades and massive casualties to do so, but they retrieved their honour. Even if they hadn’t trounced LTTE and had perished in the effort, the world would have treated them with more respect than they will ever treat India. When one’s family members get raped, one has to get up and go after the rapists even if it is at unacceptable cost. We have consistently failed that test. We, who did not act when our parliament was attacked, did as has been our pattern.
And our people have shown that nothing can shake them out of their self induced tupor. For whom do the bells toll? The toll for thee and me. The VIPs have NSG security.

Government versus its soldiers

Here is one more shocker about how the govt treats its soldiers. Officers holding the rank of Capt to Brig as on 01-01-1986 suffered significant cumulative losses in pay/pension since successive pay commissions had used wrong data for fixing the pay scales. This issue had been going on in courts for some years. Recently the Supreme Court granted relief to all such officers, with 6 % interest on arrears. Having read this news, we were very sure that now we will get our dues. However, it shocked us to be told that the govt has gone in for appeal against the SC order.
Were we too naive to assume that the govt should have no problems in paying us our dues, particularly when the highest court has okayed its legality? Actually, good governments should be finding ways to pay their soldiers well irrespective of the legal position but here the opposite is true.
Would this leave soldiers with a high regard for their government? You judge.
I am quite clear that I am not proud of my government.

Op GreenHunt - Right or Wrong?

Anything wrong with the government's decision to launch op Greenhunt to combat Naxalism? Yes and No. Of course, use of force is the only way. To that extent, it is a bold decision that only Congress led government could have taken. BJP, which is crying hoarse with their 'half a battle' remark mobilised the whole army after the Parliament attack but called it off after several months without a shot being fired. So, well done, UPA.
However, the problem is that the HM has not been able to assess the battle worthiness of his para military forces before tasking them. It has been quite like Mr Nehru saying before the 62 war that ' I have ordered the army to throw out the Chinese'. Para military forces are poorly led, poorly trained and poorly kitted. It is easy to blame units for violating the SOPs. However, SOPs regarding not visiting villages are implementable only if the units are so well administered that they do not have to depend on villages for day to day survival. That is far from being the case. Not only the para military, we have seen even the army men having to enter combat without full authorized equipment.
Our men are as valiant as any in the world, only our leadership is not worthy of them.

Crime committed but no criminals

Why are some of us so amazed that some radio active pencils have been lost by Delhi University and no one has been able to trace then till now. Or that the killers of Arushi have still not been caught.
Ours is a country where thousand of Sikhs could be massacred over several days, hundreds of muslims could be torched and a masjid could be brought down in full view of hundreds of policemen and a few dozen senior officers. That these things happened is not so detestable - human beings will be cruel. What is being pointed out is that when perpetrators of crimes of this magnitude, carried out in broad daylight over several days can not be traced for several decades, should expect anything better this time?

Hang only Kasab? Great mistake.

The overwhelming desire of the Indian people to see Kasab hanged is understandable. What is not, however, is their indifference towards inaction by the state against those who helped Kasab succeed. I am referring to the policemen who ran away from CST, senior officers who for years did nothing to improve the capabilities of the police and NSG force and national leaders who did nothing after the parliament and other previous attacks on India. All of them helped Kasab succeed more than those who trained him. Hanging Kasab alone will as good as ensure we have another such incident pretty soon. In acting only against Kasab, we will behave as our own worst enemy.
This reminds me of something I read somewhere long ago. It seems that the culprit of the great train robbery ( England ) was being escorted by policemen to court. In the same area, Lord Balaclava ( the person who ordered the unprofessional 'charge of the light brigade' resulting in hundreds of needless deaths, but was romanticized by media ) was being garlanded. Seeing this the train robber sighed,'This is luck. I am being incarcerated for merely stealing some money. But the guy who caused a few hundred deaths is being honoured. Alas'.

Bigger crime - Genocide or money garlands?

I find a lot of criticism of Mayawati and her style of politics - statues, money garland and now a force to protect the statues. Most of the criticism comes from Congress and BJP. That makes me laugh.
Coming from these two parties, the criticism is as much out of proportion as a pot calling an off white piece 'black'.
Both these great national parties are openly accused of genocide - organising killing of a section of their own junta, using the power of office. Who can forget the Sikh killings and the Gujarat killings? Are the crimes of Mayawati anywhere near that scale? To those postgraduates, she is a mere kindergarden kid.
Of course, we should neither have genocides nor the Mayawati style of politics. But, c'mon, have some sense of perspective. I am not even prepared to speak of both in the same breath.

Has independence been worth it?

A seriously wonder if independence has been worth it. Has it made the life of the average Indian better than what it would have been otherwise? That is the ONLY criterion. Pride and nationalism have nothing to do with it. We should be proud of our rulers if our average brothers and sisters get a better life and for no other reason. As a matter of fact, our expectations from leaders who are our own kin should be higher than expectation from foreign rulers. And remember, despite all the romance attached to the concept of self-rule, there are always people who rule you. No man is an island.
From how my grandparents used to talk about the lot of the common man during the British raj and what I see today, the common man was better off under the British. Period. Whatever improvements have taken place since then are due to natural evolution, despite the government and not due to it.
And no, I am not ashamed of saying so.Those who should be ashamed are not. I am only commenting on the state of affairs. Don't shoot the messenger.