Obituary

When catastrophe strikes, it does not sound a warning bell in advance. And then it hits you so hard, you reel with the force of it. We mourn the death of the Radio.
There must be over 15 FM Radio channels in Bangalore now. The Radio revolution in Bangalore got a much-needed shot in the arm sometime around 2002, with the debut of Radio City 91.1 FM. The FM station started off with playing English songs, and then gradually introduced some Hindi ones as well. Like any smart enterprise, it was giving its target customers what they wanted: good music, that the target market enjoyed listening to. It wasn't long before fundamental elements attacked and ransacked the Radio City office, yelling that they play Kannada songs as well, coz Bangalore is in Karnataka, and Kannada is the official language. Struck with fear, the station started playing Kannada songs.
The story of the rest of the stations is pretty much the same, maybe without the ransacking part in some cases. (The yelling was always there, I tell you. Always.) Today, all the stations play 10 Kannada songs for every 1 non-Kannada song. Now, I have been in Bangalore all my life, and I can tell you with reasonable confidence that the ratio of the Kannada speaking to the non-Kannada speaking population is definitely not in the proportion mentioned above. Also, for any company, the best thing about competition is that it forces you to differentiate yourself, to offer the target customer a melange of music that is unique to the station. Sadly, this is also missing in the existing scenario. All of them play the same songs, the RJs speak in the same fake happy way and worst of all, there is more of talking than music.
For the Radio: May your soul rest in peace.

Just Like That

The "April Showers" are called so not only because of their timeliness but also because of the short (but intense) rain. At home, I always smell the rain before I hear it. Sitting on a ledge in the balcony, a tree stump in the adjacent plot of land caught my eye. Such a sight has become increasingly common in Bangalore nowadays. This particular stump was a tall and imposing coconut tree, that dared to spread its branches into the neighbour's territory and drop a coconut or two there when time was ripe. It paid for its natural insolence. I will always remember the day it was cut. It put up a good fight. It took upto 6 strong men morning to night to reduce it to the stump it is today. Is it easier to remove a problem rather than solve it? Just like that?

The binding force

Was flipping through India Today's special edition on 60 Greatest people in India. Most of our freedom fighters top the list (Bhagat Singh, Subash Chandra Bose, Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhai Patel..). Bhagat Singh topped the poll, and the editor intepreted the choice to be that of a Young India, who was more daring today and rooting for nationalism more openly than before. I say: Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe Mahatma Gandhi's actions/sayings/principles have been used/misused/abused to such an extent till today that no one is really sure about what he actually said/did. On the other hand, Bhagat Singh's actions have been clearly chronicled, both in literature and on screen (the script writer of the movie The Legend of Bhagat Singh wrote the article on him).

Another striking point I noticed was the politicans of various hues who all came under the umbrella of the Indian National Congress during Colonial Rule. Though they had differing view points on many issues their goal was the same (a Free and Prosperous India) and so this difference in opinion turned out to be a boon rather than a bane. All these freedom fighters were very accomplished and educated. They chose to give up a cushioned and comfortable life for a greater cause. Sadly, this is not the state of politics in India today. The best minds work for private institutions or go abroad. We have become more and more risk-averse. But what is the solution? Maybe the party the IITians have formed is a start. Maybe banning people with criminal records from standing for elections is another start. I am not as brave as those IITians, but I will try to give back in my own way. Being a responsible citizen is definitely a start.

Son of the soil

I chose to name the post with the cliched phrase purely to highlight how it has been misused today. Sometimes I cannot help wondering if I am incredibly intelligent or if our political representatives are incredibly obtuse.

• Education is in need of some serious reforms: accepted
• Quality of education, especially in government institutions needs to be improved: accepted
• So the logical thing to do is to fix what is not going well, right? But, no! I will go and meddle in the one thing in this entire blessed country that is running as smoothly as a well-oiled clock - the IIMs. To hell with primary education! To hell with producing employable graduates instead of those who have a namesake degree and are unemployable! Son of the soil indeed!!
• It also seems stupidly simple to me that apart from caste, economic status must also be considered before reserved seats are allotted, so that the truly needy benefit. But considering that the previous point has been completely missed, I should not be surprised that this point has been missed as well.
• I wonder about the long term repercussions of such reservations on the younger generation of OBCs. An OBC candidate gets an IIM seat because of his/her caste even though his/her CAT percentile was much lower than those of the GM category. And here I am talking about a student who is economically well-enough to be supported through private education in one of the premier engineering colleges in Karnataka. This has generated resentment amongst his classmates, who also worked just as hard (an in fact did better than him). In the long run, this can result in further ostracizing of OBCs from mainstream society.

I suppose that my views on politics may seem naive to some. After all, elections and votes are the ultimate leveller and if there is one thing that our politicians do not lack it is focus on this leveller. But I have never understood the reason for this complete apathy towards public interest just to get votes. Do you guys have a conscience or not??

Take me instead!

This was my instant reaction on hearing reports of Rahul Gandhi becoming PM incumbent. Not only does it show the utter disregard for the existing PM, even comparing a greenhorn like Rahul Gandhi with Dr. Manmohan Singh is blasphemy. I mean, come on guys! Our current PM is one of the most highly educated people we will ever find, and the fact that he has chosen to give back to the country by entering politics speaks a lot for his character. But since Politics is so simply because it doesn't make any sense, I say that if you think Rahul Gandhi will make a suitable PM, let me tell you, "Take me instead!"
Let me see why:
1. I am an ordinary Indian citizen who has seen the situation in India for what it is, without the comfort of a famous surname as well as fashionably breaking security cordons to "meet the people"
2. I have no political affiliations (I think this is more of a positive than a negative)
3. I will take my role more seriously because it was not handed over to me in a silver spoon
4. I would take up the post because I want to use the power to make a difference to the million of lives in India, and not to make money/garner mind share/win elections
I think there are atleast a million people in this country who will fit this bill along with me. So Mr. Rahul Gandhi, you have competition, and how!