Anna and Olympics – India dreams!!

Well, it has been a long time. But I am glad to be back again. Hope nobody missed me.

I have had a lot on my mind recently. But I narrowed down to 2 things for today’s post.

Anna 

To me, Anna represented a face and a voice to the middle-class’s frustration over corruption and government apathy. I was hoping and praying that his approach of Satyagraha would bring the change we all wanted.

But that was not to be. Now, Anna wants to provide a political alternative without himself holding any office or position. To me, its like what Gandhi did during independence.

I have my concerns and I have my doubts. Instead of re-asserting them again, I think I would just redirect you to another post. Its from one of my favorite journalist, Sagarika Ghose.

I don’t tend to agree whole-heartedly to everything she has to say, but she does make a convincing argument. I do believe that we need a truly inspirational leader – one with a mission or a purpose that will bind everyone beyond caste, creed, race or religion. Sagarika is right in saying corruption, even though it’s a curse for a common man, its not something that can unite 1b people to help vote a single party in power.

Do I have solution to this problem? Not really. But I would love to give SRK the country’s rein and see what happens. This guy is a natural diplomat. He is arrogant too. But he knows how to earn and keep people’s trust and loyalty. What else do want from our representatives?

Olympics 

Once again, the Indian Olympic team for hockey disappointed us. It didn’t even get past the preliminary stages after losing all 5 games scoring mere 6 goals against an aggregate of 18. Also disappointed with the tennis team. So much drama but absolutely no action.

Really impressed with Mary Kom, though. My heartiest congratulations to her and her family. I am also pleasantly surprised with Saina. Badminton and Women Boxing - Two sports which I thought didn’t even have international participation from India. I am loving it!

But I am also depressed for 2 reasons

1. We don’t seem to be winning any team events. Not even as doubles in Tennis or badminton for example.
2. Its even worse that we see rewards going out to individuals rather sports. 

I would love to see more government funding to promote individual sports by setting up community games centers. I think the government never invests in long term projects because they know that the credit will eventually go to someone else.

The movie "Arakshan"

Yesterday, I watched this movie directed by the talented and one of my favorite, Prakash Jha.

Exactly 24 hours later, I am still thinking about it.

I have always felt that movies are supposed to be an escape from reality. I do not go to a movie hall to get inspired or educated. For that, I would go to a library or spend time with a trusted friend.

But Arakshan did raise some important questions. Too bad, instead of taking them head on, Jha conveniently looked the other way and made it a fight between socialism and capitalism. The climax was typical bollywood - melodramatic to say the least. By giving a fairy tale ending to an issue of this magnitude, I think Mr. Jha took the easy way out and made his audience look like a fool.

It also brought back some painful memories. It was only in my first year of engineering did I realize why I couldn't get a free seat in any of  the colleges of choice, inspite of a reasonably decent score. I lost 2 precious years trying to protest by withdrawing and turning into a recluse. I know it was a pretty dumb thing to do. I also lost love and respect of so many people. I can't say that reservation was the only reason which ruined me but it was definitely something that triggered the chain reaction.

Anyways, I think I am digressing. Lets come back to the questions raised by Arakshan. I think there were 2:

1. Is reservation really necessary?

2. If so, how much is enough?

Before I could form an unbiased opinion, I decided to educate myself. So I tried to skim through the Wiki pages of Indian Constitution, Mandal Commission Report, Sachar Commission Report and few others that listed as references in the wiki pages.

I honestly don't have a straightforward answer to the questions above and I definitely don't think there is a short-cut way to get around it either. Nevertheless,

1. Yes, I do agree reservation in our country is necessary. We are a young nation. This is the first time, India as a republic or a federation has come into being. We need to lay the foundations for social equality and justice. However, I do oppose reservation on the basis of single qualifying criteria such as caste or religion. We need well-rounded policies to ensure that the scarce resources are distributed rather evenly.

2. Whether the current structure is enough or effective, would require some statistical and quantitative analysis of the census and the income tax returns of all citizens. We should also have some kind of targets to assess ourselves based on the outcome of the analysis. 

I hope the civil servants and the politicians come up with real and smart solutions. I don't have one!!