Five Rupees has a very interesting discussion between three political science PhD candidates on the Indo-Pak issue in the backdrop of the Indian side recently proposing to renew talks with Pakistan. The talks had been halted rather abruptly after the terror attacks on Mumbai on 26th November, 2008 and India since then had been understandably sulking about it. It's been over a year though since that horrific incident and a lot has happened since, not least of which is the rapid decline in the internal security situation in Pakistan.
The discussion is enlightening in many ways as it touches upon several topics of relevance for people in that region (and outside as well). Topics include nuclear deterrence, Pakistan's strategy of strategic depth against India by its involvement in internal Afghan politics, the Indian reasons for coming to the table for talks, the water dispute between the two countries and of course Kashmir.
With regards to the talks, it seems that one of the main reasons for India initiating the new rounds of talk is its perceived weakness in the Af-Pak region. India has seldom wielded real influence in Afghanistan except for its support to the Northern Alliance during and after the Taliban rule. But what little influence it had just suffered a still larger blow with the powers-that-be in the region, i.e. US, UK, Canada and Pakistan, having recently consciously chosen to sideline Indian concerns on Afghanistan. This despite India having invested billions into redevelopment efforts in Afghanistan since the dismantling of the Taliban regime. The US of course wants to assuage the concerns of the Pakistanis so that they can focus on going after the extremists in their midst and worry less about encirclement by India.
But the Indians seem particularly alarmed that everyone (except India) seems to be very inclined to start talks of some sort with the "good Taliban" in the Af-Pak region to solve the region's problems. The Indians insist that there is no such thing as good Taliban - a view expressed by Indian foreign minister S M Krishna recently. Of course, Krisha was forced to backtrack somewhat on those comments and suggest some flexibility on the issue because its stand has fallen on deaf ears, with the powers-that-be only intent on offering whatever confidence builders are desired by Pakistan for now.
It does seem that the security situation in the western part of the sub-continent has changed little since the Mumbai terror attacks. India's standing has not enhanced much and for the moment at least, despite its recent warming to and alignment with the United States. While the internal terror threat has been tackled with a lot of vigor, the external threat to India primarily in the form of anti-India extremists residing in Pakistan still exist largely untouched by the govt. of Pakistan and are not the focus of US action in the region. This could definitely be perceived as a failure of Indian foreign policy in the region.
There seems to be little option for the Indians than seeking the help of the nascent Pak civilian government in reducing that external threat, even as the Pak govt. once again tries to battle on many fronts. As in the past, the perception remains that it is still the Pak Army and its intelligence agencies who call the actual shots. In that context does it make sense for the Indians to talk to the civilian government in Pakistan?
It does seem as if its just the start of a new cycle of "Talks - catastrophic security event - Confrontation and No Talks" a sentiment expressed by Five Rupees as well. Any bets on the breaking of that cycle this time around?
Showing posts with label India. Show all posts
Showing posts with label India. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Monday, January 04, 2010
Royal Restaurant Mahal Indian
Among the things we expat Indians invariably ask about when we get to any destination outside of India is - Does this place have any Indian restaurants? If so - how many? And what kind of food do they serve?
Not all cities are equal. Some have a few Indian restaurants and some have a whole lot to choose from. Of course, the restaurant scene is constantly evolving, growing and Indian students and IT workers play a huge part in that phenomenon here in the USofA where I be located currently.
Besides the quality, the type of Indian restaurants that you encounter in the many cities and towns also vary. For me, I'd say these joints (restaurants) come in 4 Types:
Type 1:
Which is: A restaurant named using a combination of the words "Taj", "India/Indian", "Spice", "Curry", "Palace", "Sitar" and of course "Royal", serving what used to be once called North Indian cuisine but is just some pale, bastardized imitation and reduction of both the palate and the range. They get by serving mostly nostalgia. When you walk in on a weekday for lunch - the buffet has Chicken Tikka Masala, Saag Paneer, various Naan bread types, some Pakoras, and salad with ranch dip on the side.
You look around and there are pictures/potraits of various dead Kings who you've never heard of in your history lessons, and if you strain your ears you'll probably hear some morbid sitar music or instrumental old Hindi cinema music (i.e. Bollywood stuff). You'll also notice that most of the people eating at the restaurant are non-Indian (unless you're in a small college town where the university has a graduate engineering program - in which case you will most definitely seen a smattering of Indian graduate students too - usually the ones who have a scholarship of some sort).
Now there might be places that get those dishes reasonably right. If you're not Indian and you don't have any baseline to compare the dishes to you don't really care as long as the stuff tastes good. But if you are Indian you know that they rarely ever get it right. And that's probably because the owner doesn't care about being authentic because his clientele for the most part isn't you - its people who tell him that they like Indian food except for the spice part of it (Go figure!). Any guesses what he's going to do in the name of customer retention.
Where they at: A small, occasionally miserable, city or town in the US more than a couple of hours from a major US city by road.
Type 2:
Which is: A North Indian restaurant that opened very recently whose menu caters to the Indian palate for the large part - and what's more - the food's almost good! Well - except for the lunch buffets of course which still sucks because thats when the non-Indian office goer who likes the food but not the spice comes by. But coming back to the menu - it actually has a lot more items to choose from and they serve a lot more than nostalgia. Even the Bollywood songs they play are new and not necessarily instrumentals inspired by the 80's.
Where they at: A medium sized city with a few IT establishments and/ or a reasonably large college town nearby. Type 1 places still exist however because the locals have finally gotten used to them. If you're living in just such a place, you may also have recently heard at the local Indian grocery that a South Indian restaurant is going to open up soon in your neighborhood and you're now looking forward to boasting to your Indian friend going to school in Wyoming or Alabama, about this recent development. Which brings us to...
Type 3:
Which is: A decent, recently opened South Indian restaurant serving idli, dosa, utthapam and sambhar. (Note: These are on par quality-wise with Type 2 places but the only reason they are a number higher is because they usually start showing up after Type 2 places do. Let's not get into a North India-South India debate here.)
Where they at: A large city with several IT establishments and a few universities (big and small) around. There are the usual Type 1 places around along with a few Type 2 ones as well. If you live in such a place, you wouldn't want to be caught dead in a Type 1 restaurant ever again unless there's you had to be there because your American friends at work operate under the impression that its a great restaurant and dragged you there for the lunch buffet thinking that you'd be happy to eat over there. You've also realized the pointlessness of explaining to them that an Indian lunch buffet, however inauthentic, is a soporific like no other and you'd much prefer Mediterranean/Mexican/Chinese/Soup&Sandwich for lunch.
Finally, Type 4:
Which is: ...And this is f***ing GOLD, a no-frills, self-service style Indian Fast Food i.e. Street Food restaurants where you're going to get chaat, bhel, vada-pav, pani puri, dahi puri, Indian Chinese and a whole bunch of other stuff the dinosaurs running Type 1 places only remember as distant memories of a past life or have probably never heard of at all.
Where they at: A large city with several IT establishments that has been this way - large and booming - for a while. This place also has Type 1, 2 and 3 places. By now, you'd probably have detected the pattern - the smaller town has only Type 1 restaurants, the medium-sized has Types 1 and 2, a large city has Types 1, 2 and 3. But its only in the really large cities that you're going to find a Type 4. And if you're a new expat - its these Type 4 places that help keep India fresh for you. If you're current location has one of these, then you've got it made bud!
Now if you could just keep your job...
Not all cities are equal. Some have a few Indian restaurants and some have a whole lot to choose from. Of course, the restaurant scene is constantly evolving, growing and Indian students and IT workers play a huge part in that phenomenon here in the USofA where I be located currently.
Besides the quality, the type of Indian restaurants that you encounter in the many cities and towns also vary. For me, I'd say these joints (restaurants) come in 4 Types:
Type 1:
Which is: A restaurant named using a combination of the words "Taj", "India/Indian", "Spice", "Curry", "Palace", "Sitar" and of course "Royal", serving what used to be once called North Indian cuisine but is just some pale, bastardized imitation and reduction of both the palate and the range. They get by serving mostly nostalgia. When you walk in on a weekday for lunch - the buffet has Chicken Tikka Masala, Saag Paneer, various Naan bread types, some Pakoras, and salad with ranch dip on the side.
You look around and there are pictures/potraits of various dead Kings who you've never heard of in your history lessons, and if you strain your ears you'll probably hear some morbid sitar music or instrumental old Hindi cinema music (i.e. Bollywood stuff). You'll also notice that most of the people eating at the restaurant are non-Indian (unless you're in a small college town where the university has a graduate engineering program - in which case you will most definitely seen a smattering of Indian graduate students too - usually the ones who have a scholarship of some sort).
Now there might be places that get those dishes reasonably right. If you're not Indian and you don't have any baseline to compare the dishes to you don't really care as long as the stuff tastes good. But if you are Indian you know that they rarely ever get it right. And that's probably because the owner doesn't care about being authentic because his clientele for the most part isn't you - its people who tell him that they like Indian food except for the spice part of it (Go figure!). Any guesses what he's going to do in the name of customer retention.
Where they at: A small, occasionally miserable, city or town in the US more than a couple of hours from a major US city by road.
Type 2:
Which is: A North Indian restaurant that opened very recently whose menu caters to the Indian palate for the large part - and what's more - the food's almost good! Well - except for the lunch buffets of course which still sucks because thats when the non-Indian office goer who likes the food but not the spice comes by. But coming back to the menu - it actually has a lot more items to choose from and they serve a lot more than nostalgia. Even the Bollywood songs they play are new and not necessarily instrumentals inspired by the 80's.
Where they at: A medium sized city with a few IT establishments and/ or a reasonably large college town nearby. Type 1 places still exist however because the locals have finally gotten used to them. If you're living in just such a place, you may also have recently heard at the local Indian grocery that a South Indian restaurant is going to open up soon in your neighborhood and you're now looking forward to boasting to your Indian friend going to school in Wyoming or Alabama, about this recent development. Which brings us to...
Type 3:
Which is: A decent, recently opened South Indian restaurant serving idli, dosa, utthapam and sambhar. (Note: These are on par quality-wise with Type 2 places but the only reason they are a number higher is because they usually start showing up after Type 2 places do. Let's not get into a North India-South India debate here.)
Where they at: A large city with several IT establishments and a few universities (big and small) around. There are the usual Type 1 places around along with a few Type 2 ones as well. If you live in such a place, you wouldn't want to be caught dead in a Type 1 restaurant ever again unless there's you had to be there because your American friends at work operate under the impression that its a great restaurant and dragged you there for the lunch buffet thinking that you'd be happy to eat over there. You've also realized the pointlessness of explaining to them that an Indian lunch buffet, however inauthentic, is a soporific like no other and you'd much prefer Mediterranean/Mexican/Chinese/Soup&Sandwich for lunch.
Finally, Type 4:
Which is: ...And this is f***ing GOLD, a no-frills, self-service style Indian Fast Food i.e. Street Food restaurants where you're going to get chaat, bhel, vada-pav, pani puri, dahi puri, Indian Chinese and a whole bunch of other stuff the dinosaurs running Type 1 places only remember as distant memories of a past life or have probably never heard of at all.
Where they at: A large city with several IT establishments that has been this way - large and booming - for a while. This place also has Type 1, 2 and 3 places. By now, you'd probably have detected the pattern - the smaller town has only Type 1 restaurants, the medium-sized has Types 1 and 2, a large city has Types 1, 2 and 3. But its only in the really large cities that you're going to find a Type 4. And if you're a new expat - its these Type 4 places that help keep India fresh for you. If you're current location has one of these, then you've got it made bud!
Now if you could just keep your job...
Friday, September 25, 2009
Racism redux: Race in the mirror
Tehelka's latest edition has a series of stories/pieces on how racism is not something new to Indians - they are indeed old experienced hands at practicing it themselves.
These pieces are for the most part short in nature and are personal experiences and opinions expressed by individuals. For instance, in How to Draw Within the Margins, Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih talks about how people, particularly women, from the North Eastern Indian states are treated.
In another story, Navdeep Singh talks about how Indians in general perceive blacks, or being black or dark-skinned people. In particular, her generalization that:
Stories like these help construct a much broader picture of how prevalent racism is in Indian society and how there is very little done to address it.
(Older post on racism with an Indian twist.)
These pieces are for the most part short in nature and are personal experiences and opinions expressed by individuals. For instance, in How to Draw Within the Margins, Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih talks about how people, particularly women, from the North Eastern Indian states are treated.
In another story, Navdeep Singh talks about how Indians in general perceive blacks, or being black or dark-skinned people. In particular, her generalization that:
"Most middle class Indians grow up with a sense that White > Indian > Black. (For some reason, East Asians aren’t competing)"and
"...We often nominate ourselves as honorary white."are quite telling summarizations.
Stories like these help construct a much broader picture of how prevalent racism is in Indian society and how there is very little done to address it.
(Older post on racism with an Indian twist.)
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Origins 06: Amar Chitra Katha
Origins 06: Amar Chitra Katha
Amar Chitra Katha (or "Immortal Picture Story" as translated by me from the Hindi title) or ACK is a graphic novel/comic book series started by Anant Pai (aka Uncle Pai) under the label India Book House (IBH). Early on, they were largely focused on ancient Indian mythology (as opposed to modern Indian mythology) - which is mostly Hindu in origin of course. But very soon, they expanded to include all stories pertinent to India including history, religion and folklore. The Wikipedia entry has more details - but of course.
These comics have been around for a while. They were a staple diet while I was growing up. My sister and I, being voracious readers, devoured them. As a result we grew up fat on Indian mythology and history. The fact that these books were well researched made them immensely educational as well.
Mythology is of course an extremely fascinating topic. Indian mythology, like other ancient mythology is extremely rich and you could spend years reading stories from it and yet still not know all of them. I was fascinated with it in my much younger days, like several other kids my age. Primarily because like the others I was a sucker for a good story. I wasn't old enough to find blonde haired princesses from foreign lands all that fascinating - not just yet (and no - I'm not referring to Paris Hilton or Pamela Anderson when I say that). Not that we didn't read about them and stuff. But Indian was where it was at.
When I was a kid growing up in Mumbai, we would travel to my father's hometown Elluru frequently where we would spend time with my grandparents and occasionally, some of our cousins too who would be visiting around the same time. In the evenings, around sunset just before dinner was served, us kids would sit on the steps leading up to the verendah outside the family home and my grandmother would sit down with us and tell us stories from Indian mythology. Those story sessions were fascinating.
As my sister and I grew older those trips to Elluru grew more infrequent (not entirely a bad thing as that meant we at least got to visit other places - sorry Dad!). ACK helped keep those stories alive and helped expand that knowledge-base considerably.
Of course, now that us kids of the ACK generation are older and stuff, we're all into interpretations and implications of those mythological stories. Part of the great Indian culture of discussion and argument as endorsed by Amartya Sen in his "The Argumentative Indian". But looking back, the basis for all that lay in that age when we were suckers for a good simple story, especially those rendered in ACK comics.
In summary, if you're a fan of mythology in general and want to learn about Indian mythology, you wouldn't do too badly if you picked up one of these.
Amar Chitra Katha (or "Immortal Picture Story" as translated by me from the Hindi title) or ACK is a graphic novel/comic book series started by Anant Pai (aka Uncle Pai) under the label India Book House (IBH). Early on, they were largely focused on ancient Indian mythology (as opposed to modern Indian mythology) - which is mostly Hindu in origin of course. But very soon, they expanded to include all stories pertinent to India including history, religion and folklore. The Wikipedia entry has more details - but of course.
These comics have been around for a while. They were a staple diet while I was growing up. My sister and I, being voracious readers, devoured them. As a result we grew up fat on Indian mythology and history. The fact that these books were well researched made them immensely educational as well.
Mythology is of course an extremely fascinating topic. Indian mythology, like other ancient mythology is extremely rich and you could spend years reading stories from it and yet still not know all of them. I was fascinated with it in my much younger days, like several other kids my age. Primarily because like the others I was a sucker for a good story. I wasn't old enough to find blonde haired princesses from foreign lands all that fascinating - not just yet (and no - I'm not referring to Paris Hilton or Pamela Anderson when I say that). Not that we didn't read about them and stuff. But Indian was where it was at.
When I was a kid growing up in Mumbai, we would travel to my father's hometown Elluru frequently where we would spend time with my grandparents and occasionally, some of our cousins too who would be visiting around the same time. In the evenings, around sunset just before dinner was served, us kids would sit on the steps leading up to the verendah outside the family home and my grandmother would sit down with us and tell us stories from Indian mythology. Those story sessions were fascinating.
As my sister and I grew older those trips to Elluru grew more infrequent (not entirely a bad thing as that meant we at least got to visit other places - sorry Dad!). ACK helped keep those stories alive and helped expand that knowledge-base considerably.
Of course, now that us kids of the ACK generation are older and stuff, we're all into interpretations and implications of those mythological stories. Part of the great Indian culture of discussion and argument as endorsed by Amartya Sen in his "The Argumentative Indian". But looking back, the basis for all that lay in that age when we were suckers for a good simple story, especially those rendered in ACK comics.
In summary, if you're a fan of mythology in general and want to learn about Indian mythology, you wouldn't do too badly if you picked up one of these.
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Origins - Part 23: Vividh Bharati
Maybe I still carry a grudge with my parents for cutting (figuratively speaking) me from Cable TV in high school in India. Twice. Both before important end-of-school-year exams (10th Std. and 12th Std.). Their reasoning: I could never probably have enough entertainment. Now, with only the regular TV channels on (all 2 of them - both run by state-owned media) instead of the several other enticing stuff on Cable, they thought that I'd spend very little time in front of the TV and spend more time studying for those exams instead.
They were right - about the first part at least. However, the part that satellite TV would have played was instead taken over by radio - via an old transistor radio that my Dad had bought. That radio, about the dimensions of a decent-sized hardbound novel, was more than 10 years old at that time.
Circa 1991, radio broadcast in India was still state owned and operated, just as terrestrial TV broadcast in India was until a little over a decade ago. During those days, cable TV was actually Satellite TV, transmitted locally within neighborhoods via cable from the neighborhood satellite TV hub. These hubs consisted of huge satellite dish antennas from which overhead cable lines spawned out to buildings across the neighborhoods. Each building hub then had several connecting cables that went into people's homes via windows. This form of cable TV then consisted of channels from all around Asia, the more popular of which were those owned by Star TV - based in and broadcast from Hong Kong.
Prior to 91, India not only had nationalized TV and radio programming, they had also closed borders to stations broadcasting from outside India. All that changed in '91 when the country finally opened up its skies just as it had opened up its economy in response to an economic crisis of great magnitude. Star TV was the first foreign entrant into Indian skywaves, and had quickly started to become pretty popular among the city dwellers. My parents contemplated getting us hooked as well. However, wanting their good-for-nothing yours truly to somehow surprise them pleasantly by doing well in the 10th Std. public exams, they decided against it.
India's state owned radio broadcasting corporation was called All India Radio or simply AIR. At that time AIR broadcast mostly on Medium Wave (MW) and Short Wave (SW). While discussions on starting an AIR FM broadcast in India were on, with private entities allowed to broadcast segments of time, they still hadn't begun yet.
"Vividh Bharati", was the main entertainment feature of AIR, and was broadcast on MW. It carried a broad range of programs from music, to radio plays, etc. These soon became staples for me. Most of these programs were in Hindi. And since I was cooped in my room pretending like I was preparing for exams and stuff, the radio was almost a constant companion. It actually made practicing math problems a lot more pleasant.
So - over the course of a single day, I would end up listening to a whole bunch of old Hindi songs ("Bela ke Phool"), new Hindi songs, trailers of new Hindi movies, famous radio hosts like Ameen Sayani hosting the Hindi music countdown show "Cibaca Geet Mala" (originally the Binaca Geet Mala), request-a-song shows, entertainment shows like the Diamond Comics radio show on Sunday afternoons (I think), radio plays like "Hawa Mahal", and so many more that I can't recollect on the spot.
While I had always enjoyed Hindi music - both old and new, there's nothing like listening to them all the time to really learn about them. I can't imagine how else I would have been introduced to so much Hindi music in so little time.
Another favorite on radio was to listen to the BBC world service on Short Wave (SW). This was especially the case when Vividh Bharati service on state owned radio stopped around 11.35 p.m. on weekdays.
All this while, I remained a voracious reader of English fiction and an avid listener of Western pop and rock. You may think that those multitude of influences may have played a large role as well in me being screwed up, or having experience being screwed up, or whatever.
Cable TV was briefly hooked up in 1992-93 for about a year or so. However, as all Indian kids educated in India, I had to start preparing soon for the public end-of-year exams for the 12th Std. It was decided again, that for my own good, Cable TV would be disconnected once again. Obviously I was pissed like any rebel-without-a-cause teenager worth his salt. But I didn't panic. I had my fallback.
So - being an avid radio listener in general, and of Vividh Bharathi in particular, especially during those 4 years i.e. 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1994 - probably ended up becoming a huge influence on me. Sure, all that reading, watching all that TV, MTV and getting hooked on to FM radio, were all pretty influential as well. But I think the one exerted by "All India Radio" has manifested itself in many ways; those that I recognize and those that I may never be able to.
Still not sure if I should stay mad at my parents for cutting me from Cable TV. Maybe it will be as they say:
"When you'll have kids one day - you'll know."
.
They were right - about the first part at least. However, the part that satellite TV would have played was instead taken over by radio - via an old transistor radio that my Dad had bought. That radio, about the dimensions of a decent-sized hardbound novel, was more than 10 years old at that time.
Circa 1991, radio broadcast in India was still state owned and operated, just as terrestrial TV broadcast in India was until a little over a decade ago. During those days, cable TV was actually Satellite TV, transmitted locally within neighborhoods via cable from the neighborhood satellite TV hub. These hubs consisted of huge satellite dish antennas from which overhead cable lines spawned out to buildings across the neighborhoods. Each building hub then had several connecting cables that went into people's homes via windows. This form of cable TV then consisted of channels from all around Asia, the more popular of which were those owned by Star TV - based in and broadcast from Hong Kong.
Prior to 91, India not only had nationalized TV and radio programming, they had also closed borders to stations broadcasting from outside India. All that changed in '91 when the country finally opened up its skies just as it had opened up its economy in response to an economic crisis of great magnitude. Star TV was the first foreign entrant into Indian skywaves, and had quickly started to become pretty popular among the city dwellers. My parents contemplated getting us hooked as well. However, wanting their good-for-nothing yours truly to somehow surprise them pleasantly by doing well in the 10th Std. public exams, they decided against it.
India's state owned radio broadcasting corporation was called All India Radio or simply AIR. At that time AIR broadcast mostly on Medium Wave (MW) and Short Wave (SW). While discussions on starting an AIR FM broadcast in India were on, with private entities allowed to broadcast segments of time, they still hadn't begun yet.
"Vividh Bharati", was the main entertainment feature of AIR, and was broadcast on MW. It carried a broad range of programs from music, to radio plays, etc. These soon became staples for me. Most of these programs were in Hindi. And since I was cooped in my room pretending like I was preparing for exams and stuff, the radio was almost a constant companion. It actually made practicing math problems a lot more pleasant.
So - over the course of a single day, I would end up listening to a whole bunch of old Hindi songs ("Bela ke Phool"), new Hindi songs, trailers of new Hindi movies, famous radio hosts like Ameen Sayani hosting the Hindi music countdown show "Cibaca Geet Mala" (originally the Binaca Geet Mala), request-a-song shows, entertainment shows like the Diamond Comics radio show on Sunday afternoons (I think), radio plays like "Hawa Mahal", and so many more that I can't recollect on the spot.
While I had always enjoyed Hindi music - both old and new, there's nothing like listening to them all the time to really learn about them. I can't imagine how else I would have been introduced to so much Hindi music in so little time.
Another favorite on radio was to listen to the BBC world service on Short Wave (SW). This was especially the case when Vividh Bharati service on state owned radio stopped around 11.35 p.m. on weekdays.
All this while, I remained a voracious reader of English fiction and an avid listener of Western pop and rock. You may think that those multitude of influences may have played a large role as well in me being screwed up, or having experience being screwed up, or whatever.
Cable TV was briefly hooked up in 1992-93 for about a year or so. However, as all Indian kids educated in India, I had to start preparing soon for the public end-of-year exams for the 12th Std. It was decided again, that for my own good, Cable TV would be disconnected once again. Obviously I was pissed like any rebel-without-a-cause teenager worth his salt. But I didn't panic. I had my fallback.
So - being an avid radio listener in general, and of Vividh Bharathi in particular, especially during those 4 years i.e. 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1994 - probably ended up becoming a huge influence on me. Sure, all that reading, watching all that TV, MTV and getting hooked on to FM radio, were all pretty influential as well. But I think the one exerted by "All India Radio" has manifested itself in many ways; those that I recognize and those that I may never be able to.
Still not sure if I should stay mad at my parents for cutting me from Cable TV. Maybe it will be as they say:
"When you'll have kids one day - you'll know."
.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Geopolitical butterflies
India and Pakistan have problems. Several.
Once again, they're trying to talk those problems out in the backdrop of India trying to shake off the rope of regional conflict holding it from really flying off into the progress statosphere, and Pakistan trying to recover from the monster within fed on 3 decades of zealotry and hate that now wants to swallow its own master.
Each attempt at conversation has its own hurdles. The court of public opinion is the one that really matters though.
Here's an NPR attempt to wrap people's mind around the geopolitical dimension to the India-Pak conflict in the form of an NPR program with three experts from India and Pakistan lending their perspective. The whole discussion is an hour long so listen at leisure.
For a lot of people around the world the so-called "war on terror" depends greatly on the India-Pak conflict and its possible resolution. Thats because as long as Pakistan wants to get at India (for whatever reason), they will continue to go soft on the jihaidis within their midst.
Once again, they're trying to talk those problems out in the backdrop of India trying to shake off the rope of regional conflict holding it from really flying off into the progress statosphere, and Pakistan trying to recover from the monster within fed on 3 decades of zealotry and hate that now wants to swallow its own master.
Each attempt at conversation has its own hurdles. The court of public opinion is the one that really matters though.
Here's an NPR attempt to wrap people's mind around the geopolitical dimension to the India-Pak conflict in the form of an NPR program with three experts from India and Pakistan lending their perspective. The whole discussion is an hour long so listen at leisure.
For a lot of people around the world the so-called "war on terror" depends greatly on the India-Pak conflict and its possible resolution. Thats because as long as Pakistan wants to get at India (for whatever reason), they will continue to go soft on the jihaidis within their midst.
Thursday, December 04, 2008
Did the Indian media give away too much info to the bad guys? NDTV (India) responds
One of the many concerns voiced by several Indians ,who watched the almost 3 day attack on Mumbai, which began on Nov. 26th, 2008, was that the "too close to the action" live coverage of Indian news channels of the entire event may have communicated important information about the anti-terrorist operations conducted by the Indian military back to the terrorists. Live coverage of army operations against terrorists holed up in the Taj and the Trident (formerly Oberoi) hotels and the Nariman House apartment building in Mumbai, could have perhaps been a factor in the terrorists being able to successfully hold out against the Indian military for so long. The fact that the terrorists had Blackberrys and satellite phones supports this theory as well.
Now one of the Indian news channels, NDTV, has responded to these concerns via their senior correspondent/reporter Barkha Dutt.
Several statements stand out from her op-ed piece. Here's one:
Nevertheless, they provided the transparency that such things lacked in previous situations. One hopes that this transparency ensures that officialdom can no longer spin excuses in such situations. These channels, while frequently not reporting with any reasonable levels of journalistic integrity, are providing a medium for the disgruntled populace to express themselves, and ask tough questions, and for millions of others to hear them and sympathize with them, and wait, along with them for a response to those questions.
Now one of the Indian news channels, NDTV, has responded to these concerns via their senior correspondent/reporter Barkha Dutt.
Several statements stand out from her op-ed piece. Here's one:
"Please do note that at all times, the media respected the security cordon- a cordon that was determined by the police and officials on site- and NOT by the media. If, as is now being suggested, the assessment is that the media was allowed too close to the operations, here is what we say: we would have been happy to stand at a distance much further away from the encounter sites, had anyone, anyone at all, asked us to move. In the 72 hours that we stood on reporting duty, not once were we asked to move further away."It's clear that there really was no coordinated strategy on how to deal with media coverage between the various security agencies involved in the anit-terrorist operations. as she outlines in her piece:
"Across the world, and as happened in the US after 9/11, there are daily, centralized briefings by officials to avoid any inadvertent confusion that media coverage may throw up. Not so in Mumbai. There was no central point of contact or information for journalists who were often left to their own devices to hunt down news that they felt had to be conveyed to their country. No do's and don'ts were provided by officials."The op-ed piece also has a whole lot of self-congratulatory language in it as well - detailing how several important folks thanked NDTV in particular for their coverage of the whole event. I noticed the same in TV spots on the various other Indian news channels as well - congratulating or self-promoting themselves in some way or the other. Some of the accompanying stunts included: encouraging people to light candles (this is actually clever: the number of candles lit across the country would convey to that particular channel the proportion of people actually watching their channel - so much better than TRP ratings. Besides, lighting of candles is becoming off late a popular response to tragic events. This first began in response to the then fast-going-nowhere investigation on who killed Jessica Lal. The movie "Rang De Basanti", an Aamir Khan starrer earlier in 2006, may have provided the inspiration in the Lal case. I saw candles being lit in a few places across Mumbai), observing a minute of silence in respect, showing 30 second, 1 min and 2 min spots of clippings of the terror attack coverage with accompanying grim music and such, and various others.
Nevertheless, they provided the transparency that such things lacked in previous situations. One hopes that this transparency ensures that officialdom can no longer spin excuses in such situations. These channels, while frequently not reporting with any reasonable levels of journalistic integrity, are providing a medium for the disgruntled populace to express themselves, and ask tough questions, and for millions of others to hear them and sympathize with them, and wait, along with them for a response to those questions.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Lap Timing
I wonder who gave the idea to the Tibetans to launch their agitation against China a few months before the Olympics are scheduled to commence in Beijing.
It truly was/is fantastic timing.
Wonder if the Indians had something to do with it. Perhaps they gently prodded the Tibetan refugees (largely settled in India) that this was as good a time as there ever was. The world will be watching unlike these past several decades when they didn't give a f**k (as usual).
The Commonwealth Gamhes are to be held in Delhi in 2010. Will China return the favour? Could they end up prodding Pakistan to prod the Kashmiris into organizing protests and as such, cause some serious embarrassment to the central Indian government?
Are Tibet and Kashmir even related in any way?
Perhaps China's problem is that its rise coincides a little with the fall of eminence of some parts of the West. The West does express itself a lot though, doesn't it!? And not all of it is necessarily introspective. According to those representing the West, their slowdowns in economic growth (read obesity) are largely the fault of oil-starved China and India who seemingly want to strip the Earth bare and leave nothing for our fat brethren due somewhere West. Obviously, China and India wish to deprive the vibrant West, particularly America, of its rightful consumption of stupendous amounts of energy.
And while the Western xenophobe loudmouths keep ranting away, the Chinese xenophobe loudmouths remain largely quiet. It may have something to do with the lack of freedom to freely express themselves about political matters in general. It may also have to do with the fact that not all of those Chinese loudmouths who do have official sanction to fire away are fluent in English. Or French. Or German. Or Redneck for that matter.
They did have a lot to say about Mr. Spielberg though. Yup - that's right - Steven Spielberg. Apparently, he was part of the Beijing Olympic committee. Sometime ago, he decided to resign from whatever capacity he seemed to be working in. It was admirable, righteous and courageous - all at the same time. You've got to agree with him that the Chinese were wrong to not interfere in Sudan to help put an end to the genocide (which was his stated reason for resigning from being involved with Beijing 2008). It's natural for the Chinese to get pissed off at Spielberg for his principled stance. They don't care about people dying anyways. Not like the West does.
Of course, Spielberg doesn't have to defend his reasons for not "pulling out" of the United States after the USA declared war on Iraq on the basis of fabricated evidence, i.e. lies. He also does not have to defend US foreign policy of propping up brutal regimes such as the Saudis and the Pakistani military (until recently), rescued the Kuwaiti autocratic regime, helped arm to the teeth Afghan militia and also (surprise! surprise!) does not interfere in Sudan on humanitarian basis. And he absolutely does not even have to defend his joining up with the Chinese in the first place for Beijing'08, despite perhaps being aware of their excellent human rights record (in particular their lovely restraint at Tiananmen Square). How dare you suggest that Steven Spielberg take a moral stand on that issue as well? He's Spielberg man!
There is a moral at the end of it all, certainly for India (and perhaps for most other developing nations around the world):
Don't bother hosting the Olympics, India. It's just a monumental waste. Not because everyone thinks you are poor and stuff, and that your air and water is so very dirty and polluted. Not just because it would be a perfect excuse for eminent Western economists to allude to that endearing, oft-repeated stat of mysterious, mythological origins that more than 50% of India still lives on less than a dollar a day and yet they wish to spend billions of dollars in hosting the Olympics. Especially not because they think:
"C'mon now! This has gone on for too long. What's with you hosting the Olympics and all? Shouldn't you be out begging on the streets, speaking in your funny accents and smelling funky? Besides, what do you expect us to do when we get there? You seriously don't expect us to sleep in thatched huts in the monsoon and crap in the open fields, like the rest of you, with those snakes and man-eating tigers around, do you?! And anyways, I'd hate to have a tiger pounce on me when I'm in such a compromising position. That's some scary sh*t!"
No. The number one reason why you shouldn't bother holding the Olympics India...
Ya obviously don't care enough about it to win a frikkin' medal!
It truly was/is fantastic timing.
Wonder if the Indians had something to do with it. Perhaps they gently prodded the Tibetan refugees (largely settled in India) that this was as good a time as there ever was. The world will be watching unlike these past several decades when they didn't give a f**k (as usual).
The Commonwealth Gamhes are to be held in Delhi in 2010. Will China return the favour? Could they end up prodding Pakistan to prod the Kashmiris into organizing protests and as such, cause some serious embarrassment to the central Indian government?
Are Tibet and Kashmir even related in any way?
Perhaps China's problem is that its rise coincides a little with the fall of eminence of some parts of the West. The West does express itself a lot though, doesn't it!? And not all of it is necessarily introspective. According to those representing the West, their slowdowns in economic growth (read obesity) are largely the fault of oil-starved China and India who seemingly want to strip the Earth bare and leave nothing for our fat brethren due somewhere West. Obviously, China and India wish to deprive the vibrant West, particularly America, of its rightful consumption of stupendous amounts of energy.
And while the Western xenophobe loudmouths keep ranting away, the Chinese xenophobe loudmouths remain largely quiet. It may have something to do with the lack of freedom to freely express themselves about political matters in general. It may also have to do with the fact that not all of those Chinese loudmouths who do have official sanction to fire away are fluent in English. Or French. Or German. Or Redneck for that matter.
They did have a lot to say about Mr. Spielberg though. Yup - that's right - Steven Spielberg. Apparently, he was part of the Beijing Olympic committee. Sometime ago, he decided to resign from whatever capacity he seemed to be working in. It was admirable, righteous and courageous - all at the same time. You've got to agree with him that the Chinese were wrong to not interfere in Sudan to help put an end to the genocide (which was his stated reason for resigning from being involved with Beijing 2008). It's natural for the Chinese to get pissed off at Spielberg for his principled stance. They don't care about people dying anyways. Not like the West does.
Of course, Spielberg doesn't have to defend his reasons for not "pulling out" of the United States after the USA declared war on Iraq on the basis of fabricated evidence, i.e. lies. He also does not have to defend US foreign policy of propping up brutal regimes such as the Saudis and the Pakistani military (until recently), rescued the Kuwaiti autocratic regime, helped arm to the teeth Afghan militia and also (surprise! surprise!) does not interfere in Sudan on humanitarian basis. And he absolutely does not even have to defend his joining up with the Chinese in the first place for Beijing'08, despite perhaps being aware of their excellent human rights record (in particular their lovely restraint at Tiananmen Square). How dare you suggest that Steven Spielberg take a moral stand on that issue as well? He's Spielberg man!
There is a moral at the end of it all, certainly for India (and perhaps for most other developing nations around the world):
Don't bother hosting the Olympics, India. It's just a monumental waste. Not because everyone thinks you are poor and stuff, and that your air and water is so very dirty and polluted. Not just because it would be a perfect excuse for eminent Western economists to allude to that endearing, oft-repeated stat of mysterious, mythological origins that more than 50% of India still lives on less than a dollar a day and yet they wish to spend billions of dollars in hosting the Olympics. Especially not because they think:
"C'mon now! This has gone on for too long. What's with you hosting the Olympics and all? Shouldn't you be out begging on the streets, speaking in your funny accents and smelling funky? Besides, what do you expect us to do when we get there? You seriously don't expect us to sleep in thatched huts in the monsoon and crap in the open fields, like the rest of you, with those snakes and man-eating tigers around, do you?! And anyways, I'd hate to have a tiger pounce on me when I'm in such a compromising position. That's some scary sh*t!"
No. The number one reason why you shouldn't bother holding the Olympics India...
Ya obviously don't care enough about it to win a frikkin' medal!
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