India Special » Issues

All For A Few Pages!

Nars — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 20:40:14 +0000

It’s probably a pain, but something that we have to go through at some stage!

In preparation for this, I did my initial research. I logged on to the website and got the information that I possibly needed, surprisingly, the website was not too forthcoming and I hence had to follow it up with a call. The guy answering the phone was not too friendly, spoke as if he had something stuck up his backside and was going to pass out in a few minutes. That said, he provided me the information that I needed. The website also clearly stated that I had to do this on my own and could not use the services of an agent!

Obtaining what I needed to know and also downloading the forms that I needed, I worked on the sides to ensure that I had my picture and the needed documentation to proceed. With it all being set, I needed to go for the document submission process. Could I not get an appointment online? I tried to get online and explore this option – but guess what, the website made it clear that you couldn’t get an appointment online and that you had to go and stand in a queue! Alright then, what time is a good time then? I chanced my luck on the phone and got to a slightly more helpful dude this time around! He told me that things can get pretty crowded and that it is best advised to get there early. So that you know, the official opening time was 0915 hrs and tokens would be given effective 0830 hrs!

With the so called insider information, I planned to get there by 7-ish… I live in the UK and at this time of the year, it can get pretty cold. My rationale for picking 7 AM was that people would take a while to get there considering the weather! Diligently, I set up an early morning alarm, get through my morning chores in a rush and ensured to carry some decent warm clothing along. The famous London Underground which has recently had a reputation for not being able to get its act together at this time of the year & provide customers with reliable service was operating a good service! Smiling for the first time, I hopped on and got off where I had to. A friendly, smiling young officer guided me to where I had to go when I asked her for clarity on directions – ( No, I didn’t ask her for directions because it was a she! I’m truly terrible at reading maps! )

With daylight yet to break and the destination in sight, I was surprised to see no one in sight! As I got closer, arrows guided me to a side and another side and then I saw this long line of people! I joined the queue, 15^th in line and felt good as more and more people came along with passing time. The office was closed and there was not an official in sight. With an hour and a half to go, I started chatting with folks to get a sense of what they were up to! The guy who came in first showed up at 0500 hrs! I think we picked the wrong day! With temperatures as low as -4 deg Celcius, I realised that my warm clothing wasn’t warm enough to sustain standing out in the cold for an our and a half! I was not alone in feeling that way as my feet started to get really cold! Time seemed to crawl!

Surprising at 0830, a window opened and someone started issuing tokens! Boy, was she efficient? I got mine in a few seconds from the time she opened that counter by just answering some simple questions. With a token in place, we had to get to the next queue. This one was again in the open, the only difference being that the daylight had broken through, but the weather still freezing! An hour and a half with your feet on the ground means that you start to go numb! Again, I wasn’t alone!!! The wait to 0915 seemed to take an eternity. At 0915, the sesame did open and out came this well dressed man speaking my local language ..”Token haat mein ?” he said, as he conducted a 3 second body and bag search letting us in. Glad tog et out of the cold, I was hoping to see some folks who will do what we wanted!! We were asked to be seated and wait for our turn. No one showed up till 0940!

When they did, they all didn’t show up either. It was like a game that some kids would play hiding and showing up – Counter 9 went up first and then counter 1 –would it be 2 next? No way – was counter 5! The magical sequence of counters opening went on for about 10 minutes and the shop was technically, fully functional in about 10 minutes – 0950 now!

An elderly English gentleman, the first guy to show up was called to counter 5. After some conversations, everyone in the office hears this – “I can’t stick your photo! If you can’t stick the photo, go and ask someone for glue – else, go home and stick it and come back later. The poor gent’s face turned pale and being shouted upon! He dragged himself out of the counter for someone to offer help by lending a glue stick! With that done in a matter of moments, he returned to the counter again to hear – “ Why are you back again – didn’t you hear what I told you?!” – I’m all set said the old man as he managed to get serviced again. I could hear a few other foreigners sitting behind me say – “Isn’t that rude for a diplomat?” I couldn’t help but agree and was nervous waiting for my turn!

I was called forward – I stepped in and said “ Good morning Sir!” – No response! I then reached out for my papers from my “searched” bag as I heard – “ Token”” – Give me the token first!”. I promptly did and then went back to submitting my papers…A little scrutiny and I tried saying that I needed something… as I was shot off asking to wait! I waited and then by God’s grace, my papers were accepted! Happy that it was mission accomplished, I asked the gent, when do you think I can get this back? No response as I asked the question again! A cold stare and a response – see your receipt that I give you!! Alright!!! I get my receipt and it says 12^th Jan 2010, 1530 hrs!

Welcome to the High Commission of India, London!! I was trying to get extra pages on my passport!!Similar Posts:

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The Maid In India Controversies

Kandamangalam — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 02:33:29 +0000

When I was in India, every morning when I read newspaper, I would come across one or the other story involving a crime by or against maids. For some strange reasons, they continue to persist even though we Indians continue to progress as a civilized society.

More often than not the maids in India end up being the victims although there are times when they are on the erring side too. Sometimes they are accused of stealing petty household goods and at times they become cynosure of all eyes for all the wrongdoings. All said and done this so called “Maid In India” controversy doesn’t seem to die down.

The latest on the list involves a tinch of Bollywood masala. Long story short, the recent Shiney Ahuja rape case – one which shocked the nation, convinced us there is quite a bit of villain among the heroes too. I might be prejudging the case, but going what has been reported in the news it seems likely that Shiney will stop shining for a while. The point is the maids have become a victim of their own circumstances, like most women, in front of their own heroes.

Brings me to the point-Will we, in India, ever get to a stage where we rely on professional maids for our saaf-safaai ? Can this unorganized sector be made more organised so that crime of this sort can be rooted even before they occur ? Will we, the middle class Indians, can ever live without a maid ?

Well, quite possible…if the government wills. May be its time for the government to step in and regulate that unorganized market and show a ray of hope to the poor and downtrodden by bringing in professionalism, accountability and most importantly security for the server and the served.

Food for thought ?

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H1N1 – Are we really doing enough?

Uttkarsh — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 05:24:18 +0000

Epidemics know no borders. They know no race, no language or religion. The WHO has declared the H1N1 (Swine flu) as the first global pandemic in 41 years. As of 17:00 GMT, 15 June 2009, 76 countries have officially reported 35, 928 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection, including 163 deaths.

In 2 weeks, India has moved from cautious to infected. The numbers continue to grow on a daily basis. For a disease that is highly contagious and with symptoms that could be easily mistaken for common ailments, the danger is omnipresent for a nation like ours – rich in people, average in medicare and poor in awareness.

Thankfully, India has finally raised a travel advisory yesterday. They have also requested for infected nations to screen air passengers at the source rather than just at the destination. The media is trying to bring in awareness to the masses and doctors and hospitals immediately refering suspect cases to the Govt. medicare centers.

Despite all this, a suspect escaped from a hospital quarantine a couple of days back. Officials were seen desperately trying to track down fellow passengers from flights that brougnt in confirmed cases to the country. Govt. centers are trying to arrange for adequate stocks of Tamiflu and Relenza. All this as research is now showing that H1N1 can further mutate to resist these drugs and yet hoping for a vaccine in then next 3 months.

As science tries to find a solution, and research better ways to counter the threat, we must acknowledge that no one is beyond this danger. Thankfully H1N1 is still treatable and many nations are already prepared to (hopefully) contain it.

Prevention is better than cure. If you are interested to know more about H1N1, visit the WHO pages for:
- All about H1N1 and latest updates
- What each of us need to know about reducing risk of infection
- How we can help our our communities fight this dread

Spread the word! Awareness is the need of the day.

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The Boyles And The Underdogs

Madhavan — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 03:17:52 +0000

There seems to be some correlation between Underdogs and British/Scott people with the last name Boyle. First, it was the turn of Danny Boyle to direct a film about an underdog and stun the world with his rags-to-riches story. The film, Slumdog Millionaire, went on to become a huge commercial success and was awarded 8 Oscar awards. Now, it is the turn of another Boyle, Susan to stun the world.

Consider this – At the time of writing this article, Susan Boyle-related videos have generated more than 100 million views in Youtube. As you are reading this, there must be thousands of viewers watching Susan Boyle’s videos. The video that I watched had 40 million views, 162,000 ratings (all 5 stars- can anything beat that?), 613 video responses, close to 200,000 text comments. Moments later when I went back to check these statistics, I was completely surprised. These numbers had gone up significantly. There cannot be a better example of an outrageously successful viral video.

So Who is Susan Boyle? What makes her a sensational figure? You will get the answers to these questions when you watch the video. It is so self-explanatory. I suggest that you watch the video before reading further.

Watch the video here

Susan is a 47 year old poor unemployed woman who took part in the UK reality show – “Britain’s Got Talent”. She had a not so pleasing personality and was quite awkward when she was put in front of camera. When she entered the stage, people looked at her mockingly and wanted her to get off the stage as soon as possible.In short, she was written off even before she performed on the stage. But when she started singing, the audience was stunned by her sweet voice. Within seconds, she became a sensation. The audience wildly cheered for her and gave here a standing ovation. The judges were equally stunned and awarded her the maximum possible points. With that, another rags-to-riches story was born. Another underdog, in this case Susan Boyle, fought against all odds and won.

The common thread between the successes of Danny and Susan Boyles’ underdog stories is that people are so tired of bad news and any feel- good story that is soothing is warmly embraced. There are stories in the internet about how audience felt exhilarated after watching “Slumdog Millionaire”(SDM) and about people watching Susan Boyle’s videos repeatedly and weeping with joy every time they saw it. There are also critics who slam both SDM and Susan Boyle’s videos as over-hyped and opine that both are mediocre at best. And these critics have a valid point.

However, the bottom-line is, in both the cases, the audience were not “thinking” and analysing critically. Instead, they were “feeling” and giving vent to their emotions. Looks like the heart continues to be more powerful than the head. Isn’t it?

PS: Here is an article about the Susan Boyle phenomenon that I found quite interesting

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Jarnailism- The Neo Journalism ?

Kandamangalam — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 03:04:06 +0000

Yesterday, a 41 year old journalist from Dainik Jagran made the headlines. He probably would have been the most searched name or word in Google, yesterday. The media was abuzz with his photos and interviews flashing on all channels.

The reason – Jarnail Singh, a senior journalist threw one of his shoes at the Home Minister of India, P Chidambaram. It seemed too good to be true.

But then it reminded me of the Zaidi, a journalist who became a national icon in Iraq and neighboring countries for having thrown a shoe at George Bush. If that’s not all, there are people who offered incredible rewards to this pseudo hero included huge sums of cash, daughter for marriage, land, citizenship etc.

Similarly the so called representation of the Sikh community, the Youth Wing of The Shiromani Akali Dal, offered Jarnail singh Rs.2 lakhs and several others offering their support in some form or the other. This, in retaliation to the injustice meted to the Sikh community for having acquitted the likes of Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar, who were supposedly involved in the massacre of the Sikhs after the Indira Gandhi assassination in 1984.

Now coming to my point of view on this whole episode of the Sikhs protesting and the government in a mode of silence over the entire issue.

This is definitely a blotch in an otherwise illustrious administration. Whether it is for the court to decide or not or if CBI has completely exonerated Mr. Jagdish Tytler, the Congress should have taken a stance that Tytler is in the center of all this harakiri and hence should not be an electoral candidate for them in the forthcoming elections. There is no denying the fact that the courts look at hard evidence and in this case they seem to have ruled out despite an NRI, Jasbir Singh, coming forward as an eye witness.

Whether justice has prevailed or not is a matter of contention and time will be a witness to that – as there are several faces to this coin, what has really shocked me is the level at which the journalistic standards have been stooping down, in recent times.

That Jarnail Singh apologised unconditionally, speaks high of him and his ethical standards but on the same coin, the incident should have never happened and this country should never have witnessed something like that. It is unforgettable and unforgivable by any standards.

Take the instance of Zaidi – The very next day he was taken into custody and put behind bars for 3 years (Now I hear his punishment has been reduced to a year) speaks high of the standards that even a wounded country like Iraq follows. And here we are, letting him off just because there is an emotional crowd backing him.

I am surprised that Jarnail Singh has not been booked under any charges. I definitely understand the sentiments of the Sikhs and I respect that. Having said that, Jarnail Singh, to me is an Indian first and a journalist next…nothing beyond that. This whole episode has been so much politicized that bad behavior went unnoticed which indirectly is a sign of encouragement. I will not be surprised if very soon you would see others too resorting to such cheap tactics without the fear of being punished

If Indian media and those who manage the law and order in the country do not resort to punishing the guilty when there is ample evidence, it will only further wreck the already weakened judiciary system of our country.

Understood he was emotional, his adrenalin was pumping and that he cares for his community. But then who doesn’t ? Ask the friends and relatives of the scores of Hindus or Muslims who died in communal riots or the Godhra incidents, weren’t they emotional too.

A majority of the criminals are also a victim of high level of adrenalin rush…If they can be punished, why should Jarnail Singh be spared?

Whatever said and done, the bottom line is that in India the standards of journalism has decreased significantly in recent times. We have seen in the case of the 26/11 coverage, some failed and pseudo sting operations and now this. Not sure if it was ever like this or is it coming to limelight only now.

True journalism seems to have paved way for neo journalism or better still call it Jarnailism, for the lack of a better word. They are definitely condemnable and sometimes punishable, too. What say you ?

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Does God Favour The Rich?

Monika — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 03:00:52 +0000

Why do we go to temple?

Some go there to have a dialogue with God about what they want or to complain about why they haven’t got what they want. Few others go there to reduce their suffering and to feel a connection with God. As for me, it is to get some mental peace. I go there to sit quietly, away from the world and reflect on my deeds.

Temple is the least corrupted place where everyone is equal before God. It does not have any kind of discrimination. My last visit to Tirupati – the richest temple in the world changed my idea about visiting temples for mental peace. I actually came out thinking ‘Does God Favor The Rich?’

I had been to Tirupati lot of times and the idol of Lord Venkateshwara here makes my faith in God stronger every time I go there. I always felt some kind of divine presence there. I always felt that it is God himself who is standing there and not the idol.

Generally, when you come out of temple your mind is very content and peaceful. Even my mind was at peace but this time it was the satisfaction or happiness of coming out safely from the temple. It was a long weekend and the weather was also good so we thought it was a good time to walk from Tirupati to Tirumala.

It is approximately 9kms and 4000 steps to Tirumala from Tirupati. I had been to this place lot of times but this was the first time I decided to walk up. I was very impressed with the route. It was all covered to protect you from sun or rain. There were lots of facilities on the way to take rest for sometime or to eat. I took my time and made it in 4-5 hours. So far so good, but I did not know that having a glimpse of God will be more difficult than the walk up.

You struggle so hard to see God and at the end what you get is a 5-10 seconds glimpse of God and that too while being pushed from all the sides. Here it was pure business. The more you pay, the more time you get to spend with God. You have to be a special donor or a VVIP to get to see God peacefully. The temple is hardly closed for 2-3 hours. Each and every part of the temple is pure business; the security guys, the guys distributing prasadam, police men… everyone takes money and does as you want. If people cannot be honest in a temple, can they be honest outside?

It is very irritating to see people pushing each other to move ahead. I actually had to stop few of them and remind them that God is not running away. The idol is going to be the same irrespective of the time they look at it. When the authorities do not let God rest for even 3 hours why can’t they use some of the money earned to make things better for the people who visit the temple. Even if you want to spend money and buy the few Seva tickets (these tickets get sold out sooner than the time you take to blink your eyes) that are available, they can be obtained only through some recommendation.

You need a recommendation or donation to get accommodation, darshan and even some extra prasadam.

The worst plight was of the senior citizens and the disabled people. They have a direct entrance through the main gate of the temple and they have a different time too for darshan. So far so good but that is it. Once they enter through the main gate, their queue merges with the normal queue at the main entrance of the sanctum sanctorum. Even the old and disabled are pushed by the people in normal queue.

Will God be happy with us if we are not courteous to people around us?

On the other side are the families of the rich and famous or the so called VVIPs (including our honest politicians and actors) for whom the crowd is stopped and they get to see God personally. Of course they donate money in lakhs and we just spend few hundreds to see God.

How can God discriminate between a follower who pays 500 Rs to see him and a follower who pays 500000 Rs to see him? Doesn’t devotion matter more than money?

After all the pushing I was so tired and so eager to get out of the crowd that I forgot to thank God for whatever I have got. The purpose of visit to temple is lost in the efforts to get out of the Q.

Finally, when we had the darshan it was the prasadam Q. You quietly pass a 10-20rs note to the guy distributing prasadam you get prasadam enough for 4-5 people.

There is a Q even for putting money in the hundi and there too people are in a hurry to offer money to God before you.

They were in an equal hurry to get out of the temple and there was a mob pushing for that too. You spend so many hours in the journey and come so far just to push people and make a record of getting in and out for the temple in the least time? This visit taught me the art of self-defence. Passing through a crowd of thousands of people and coming out alive was a win in itself. I felt victorious.

But I really want to know why God favors the rich who donate enough money to spend some good time with him and people like me are meant to stand in crowd for long hours just to catch a glimpse of God.

I wish people could understand the real purpose of a visit to a temple. I wish God was given some more rest and we could actually get mental peace in the temple and not outside the temple.

Anyways, I came back home safely and vowed to go back to Tirupati only if I become a billionaire or if I have a BIG recommendation with me.

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Earth Hour – Let’s Be A Part Of This Initiative

Vigil — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 08:00:00 +0000

India is joining the Earth Hour 2009 for the global fight against climatic change. The alarming climatic change has finally made people realize it is a bigger threat which questions the existence of human race. Lights will be switched off for one hour on March 28 at 8.30 pm Saturday to start off the campaign.

What’s climatic change?

It’s the abnormal variations in the climate in earth’s atmosphere and it’s subsequent effects on other parts of earth.

What are the causes for it?

They are as follows;

1. Variations in glaciers.

2. Ocean variations- interaction between atmosphere and ocean.

3. Volcanic eruptions and Earthquakes.

4. Solar variations.

5. Orbital variations

6. Human Influence.

The other factors are beyond our control. The only one which is in our control is the human activities.

What are the human activities?

Burning fossil fuels:

Human consumption of fossil fuels has increased the levels of Carbon di oxide, nitrous oxide and methane in the atmosphere. This gases cause the green house effect which is the cause for global warming and climatic changes.

Land usage:

Indiscriminate deforestation, wildfires had taken away large quantities of trees, acting as balancers, from earth.

Industrial wastes:

Emissions from industries are another prime cause of concern. Cement manufacture contributes carbon di oxide to atmosphere.

What are the effects noticeable?

Well there are lot too many. I will touch upon the important few;

1. Changes in the sea level.

2. Changes in glaciers.

3. Changes in climate (uneven rains, very hot summer, disturbances in oceans, cyclones to name a few}.

The only way to reduce the greenhouse effect is through an international treaty on climatic pollution when global leaders come together and sit and take notice.

The Earth Hour initiative was started in Sydney in 2007 by World Wildlife Fund. In 2008 it spreader to 35 countries and now finally in 2009 film star Aamir Khan is the face for the same in India. This will surely be a positive step for a better future. A failure to come to terms with the realities will result in disaster for the human race.

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The Burning City

Avineet — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 07:00:00 +0000

The petite town of Jharia, located in Jharkhand, ‘resembles a cremation ground at night’. Jharia has one of the world’s largest deposits of coal, (read: Black diamond), where the mining history dates back to the 18^th century. ‘Dhanbad’ district (read: wealthy in Hindi), basked in it’s glory and shared the infinite wealth churned out of it’s womb. Where ancestors like mine once prospered, is now seeing Nil to negative population growth. Appreciation of assets is unheard of and depreciation is the word. Jharia was recently surveyed to be the cheapest city of India.

Jharia being the largest coal producer has 23 large underground and several open cast mines. The town has been stationary on a bed of fire since 1916. Colossal deposits of coal lying un-mined have been burning underneath ever since. Presently more than 70 mine fires are reported from this region. Such is the intensity of the fires that even a mid-summer sun pales in the smoky haze that they generate. Some 40 million tonnes of India’s coal is said to have turned to ash and another worth Rs. 60,000 crores is still laying in it’s bed waiting to be mined.

Few years ago the town’s temple snapped into two. The next moment, flames leapt out from underneath spewing noxious gases. The people of Jharia then realized that the underground fire had finally reached their doorstep, until then it was thought to be on the outer circles of the city. This has become a usual site now, with schools and roads developing cracks and at times even collapsing due to land subsidence. The hungry daemon has engulfed significant tracts of land and who’s will be the next turn is the cause nightmare for it’s 90,000 odd population.

Present challenge: Dousing the fire has been one of the major challenges for the miners, who dig holes and stow water mixed sand through the holes and fill the concavity, created by the raging fire, with sand. Mass re-location of it’s dwellers, who have been awaiting either to get a compensation or be re-located to safer towns around Jharia, however this seems to be a distant dream if not impossible. State & central governments have drawn up umpteen number of plans but they are yet to see the light of the day.

As a last resort, and in the absence of tangible solution, several families, one of them being mine, have moved out of the city leaving their ancestral homes and age-old livelihood for safer havens. Numerous NGOs and even political parties, of the likes JMM, have sprung up to help rid the residents from the perils of this morbid town but much needs to be done. People concerned should hasten the process of relocation or compensation, before it is too late and several thousand lives are put to the axe.

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The Golden Bird of Education Has Flown

Avineet — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 23:37:23 +0000

In order to savour the taste of the outer world and prepare for the coveted institution called ‘school’, my little daughter was lately inducted into a ‘play school’, as they name it these days. Play schools were not heard of, a decade or two back and now they have mushroomed all over the place. You might find one in your friendly neighborhood. With dreamy eyes and expectations no less than a Harvard student, you set out to get your child to embrace the new world.

Hallucination meets reality once the child frequents the ‘school’ for a couple of days, and makes you ponder if it was a desirable decision. The school, where majority of the times children are left alone to play with little or no attention. If at all you get to hear some music in the school, it’s the latest Bollywood number, and the teacher with their wannabe students dancing away to it’s tune. Talk about Nursery rhymes, any.

Fewer schools have play grounds and fewer still extra curricular activities and sports. You may squabble and contend, “Why not knock the door of the next big school, offering quality education and development of a child”. Differ, I claim, as my right, for the mass doesn’t have the might to chose the right, instead a change in these foothills of education is the need.

I introspect my days in school, where not analytical and reasoning but test of memory was the Caesar. Memory enrichment skills was the prime, be it the pristine Kindergarten or the High school. Pupil with higher memory staked claim to all the accolades and were the chart busters of sorts. Stronger does my belief gets when I recall my yesteryear classmates, now orthopaedic surgeon in Gangaram hospital and another a barrister in Delhi’s High Court, who never saw a mention in the toppers list through out.

Cut to recent and the trend is not worthy of a praise, if not lambaste. Ever growing need for specialized coaching to conquer the epitome of Indian education, vis-a-vis the IIMs, RECs & IITs, are adequate attestation of the education, the young students are being doled out. Ranking system and not the much needed grading system still in use. It’s disheartening to know India’s expenditure on education, is a meagre 4.1% of GDP, 82^nd of 132 nations. India produces 2.5 million graduates each year -of which 350,000 are engineers, twice the number produced by the US. Contrast this with the success rate of these graduates. Depressing are the number of these graduates who pursue higher education and PhDs, contributing to only 2% of the world’s research.

Our education system is dated, and need for an immediate overhaul would be to say the insignificant. The impending revolution in education can be brought about, when corporates and individuals join hands with the government and establish Universities which can rise to meet the talent, ambition and intelligence of Indians. Until then the brain drain may continue and the west will bear our fruits of labour.

With the progression of time,as my daughter inches closer to mainstream education, my soul prepares and warns me to the imminent risk of type casting her in the age old mould of our education system and produce, may be, just another housewife or money minting machine!

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Gays: Stereotypes, Prejudices and Discrimination

Ramu — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:00:48 +0000

The Nazis vilified and exterminated an entire race of people. Their anti-Semitic propaganda machine spewed venom against innocent men, women and children. Everything from their dress to their religion was attacked.

We gays are going through such a phase, albeit in far subtler ways. Psychologists dealing with the dynamics of prejudices say that stereotypes, prejudices and discrimination go hand in hand. Homophobic people perform generalizations on the behaviors of gays.

Here is an example: “See that guy walking like a girl? He is GAY. Is Deep also gay? Hmmm, no wonder I saw him buy a tube of fairness cream at Shopper’s Stop last night”!

A miniscule number of these generalizations are positive: “Artistic = Gay”.

Some of these are pseudoscientific: “It’s a chemical imbalance”.

When stereotypes are widely quoted they assume the halo of “facts”. For example the 1999 edition of Merriam-Webster (the largest dictionary publisher in the United States) listed thesaurus terms for homosexual such as “fruit” and “pederast”. In India, doctors go through a five and a half year M.B.B.S. degree course with Psychiatry as one of the minor subjects. One of the prescribed textbooks being studied by our future pain alleviators is the 3rd edition of Mayer-Gross, Slater and Roth’s “Clinical Psychiatry”. It clearly lists “treatments” for gays. It quotes “recent” studies by scientists, “as late as 1957″ in support of “aversive deconditioning”!

Sadly no mention is made of DSM IV TR (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, textual revision) published by the American Psychiatric Association or the ICD-10 (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems) published by the WHO. These works published after 2000 clearly do NOT list homosexuality as an illness needing a cure and are the “de-facto” modern benchmarks of Psychiatric care in the western world.

Rigid categorical thinking is central to prejudice. Let me quote from a famous book by Gordon Allport, “The Nature of Prejudice”:

The human mind must think with the aid of categories….Once formed, categories are the basis for normal prejudgment. We cannot possibly avoid this process. Orderly living depends upon it.

However, categorical thinking tends to distort perceptions by either minimizing or exaggerating the differences between categories. Here is an example:

“Snakes have fangs, poison and bite. That big, fat earthworm looks like a snake. It will bite!”. Or, “That serial killer used to have sex with his wife and men. I knew it! Gays are like this only”.

According to the “outgroup homogeneity effect” any numbers of people who do not belong to the majority “ingroup” are all lumped under one “outgroup” having the same characteristics.

Hence, in India, till not so long ago people thought of “lower casts” as dark skinned, low intelligence, violence prone, poverty stricken wretches. In other words, any one who does not “fit” is an outsider. And every outsider looks, thinks and acts alike. A member of the “ingroup” is less likely to come in contact with a member of the “outgroup” and hence remains unaware of the diversity of members of the “outgroup”.

Here is an example: “My wife and I have one homo friend, but we don’t let him come into our house and meet little Bunty. I have heard of a friend who had a homo neighbor who used to have sex with kids!”

In 2002 Brett Pelham and his colleagues carried out a study which indicated that in each one of us there exists an “implicit egotism” or an unconscious preference for things associated with the self. Thus, a straight teenager will more likely associate with other straight teens even though he does not have any overt animosity towards gays.

The straight teen maintains his self esteem by identifying with the “ingroup” of heterosexuals. It is when he detects a drop in self esteem that he is likely to become prejudiced. Hence, a weak, pimply faced teen whose “self esteem” has been challenged by a personal failure (maybe rejected by his macho group or girlfriends) will abuse gays loudly enough to bolster his “ego”. Hence prejudice represents a way to maintain self esteem. One of the ways to counter that is to ask the homophobic straight teen to write down ten things he values about himself.

When a child is growing up, society shapes his implicit attitudes and beliefs by a process known as “priming”. Thus, in the school books of thirty years ago (and, sadly, even now in some cases) the word “woman” is more likely to be read in the same location as “home”, “kitchen”, “cooking”, “housewife” and the word “man” with “doctor”,”pilot”, “army”, “brave”. Hence a child’s mind is “primed” by words or images that thematically relate ideas or associations. “Priming” continues in the adult modern world. Here is an example from a recent report in a leading Indian newspaper: “the beggar was a drug addict, a gay and a serial killer in Mumbai”. Has any news reporter used the phrase “the heterosexual serial killer of Noida”?!

All human beings observe the environment through a process known as “automatic filtering of salient stimuli”. Things which “stand out” seem more important to us than those which do not. Hence a doctor’s effeminate behavior and homosexuality is quickly commented upon, only as an afterthought is his profession mentioned.

Categorical thinking and focus on salient stimuli allows us to observe the environment efficiently. Yet both can lead to distortions in perception, and, at times, to prejudice and stereotyping.

Stereotypes can become self-perpetuating when stereotyped individuals are made to feel self-conscious or inadequate. Hence a man whose effeminacy and homosexual feelings is ridiculed by his peers and parents is more likely to perform badly in college and his career thus giving rise to the stereotype “gays are losers and queer”.

It is up to us gay men and women to counter homosexual prejudice at every level in society.

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Ragging Rears Its “Ugly” Head Again!

Nars — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 13:13:45 +0000

My first brush with ragging happened when I was doing my engineering. I still recall the day I walked past the parking lot to be caught by a bunch of seniors who wanted to have some fun at my expense. To give them credit, they made me do some silly things like walk up and talk to a girl, throw a stone as far as I could and measure the distance with a match stick, sing a few songs and whatever.

While I was embarrassed doing some of what they wanted me to do, the 20 minutes odd that I spent with this group of boys was so much fun for me. The ensuing 3 years with them was so much fun. They turned out being my best friends and seniors whom I could always look up to in college. To be brutally honest, I benefited immensely from this relationship!

I had the advantage of being a day scholar and hence get away with what my friends called “minimal” ragging. My friends who stayed in hostel had a fair share more and to be honest, they loved it. I still remember this boy from Bihar who landed up being the most ragged boy in hostel. He wasn’t complaining one bit though. Needless to mention, he grew up in college to be one of the most popular and lovable boys around. Everyone seemed to know him and his deep pockets in terms of the connections that he established helped him immensely – helped us and all the groups he was associated with in hindsight.

Realizing the benefits, we made sure to extend the olive branch at the end of every ragging session that happened as more and more students came in through the doors, year after year. That said, farewell parties was a teary affair and the treats demanded from the seniors who got jobs would certainly mean hiring a restaurant! This was a legacy of sorts were I studied and was mutually appreciated.

There were a few snobs there too. They’d run at the sight of seniors and were clearly loners. Our friends would loathe this group and they I am sure don’t have too many nice experiences or friends at the end of the 4 years they spent doing their engineering.

The recent news article on the death of a first year medical student is now doing rounds. This is not the country’s first incident either. It is very sad indeed to see a bunch of jerks go to the extremes of beating up someone to death! I fail to understand what could have driven them up to such extremes.

Being seniors in the system, they are sure “victims” of ragging themselves. If they were victims themselves, they won’t be alive today right? Initial reports in this case and the other cases in the past have invariably unearthed a link to two extremely potent elements – Drugs and Alcohol.

Historically, it’s been proved that the guys who are actually involved in such gruesome acts cross the line under the influence of both these elements – together, this sure is a killer and the effects seen, sadly on others.

The ensuing few days will have increased scrutiny, renewed rigor around the controls to ensure that ragging does not happen and whatnot. The bottom line is the plot has been lost. Knee jerk reactions like this will only ensure that people apply band aid to the situation. Over time, many students will only miss out on a opportunity to know their seniors and know them well.

It is isolated acts like these that can potentially harm a lifetime of friendship and relationships. I wish the root causes are eliminated rather than the larger issue of “ragging”. People must certainly no their limits and I am sure most people do. As someone who has eaten the fruits of the so called pains, I’d hate to see future generations pay a large price for silly acts of a few.

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It is NOT Hindu Vs. Muslims!

Priscilla — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 01:28:56 +0000

Editor’s note: This article was originally written immediately after the blast that rocked Delhi on Sep 13th 2008.

I want to believe – Islamic anger against India is a myth! Hindu-Muslim conflict is manufactured by inhuman politics! There is NO Huntington’s clash of the civilizations in India. That is why I cant make sense of these bombings! Who are really responsible and what do they want?

The Indian Mujahideen is taking responsibility for all these attacks and sends emails just before the attacks. It sounds prankish and childish to me. Are we living in an Enid Blyton world where the criminal leaves clues behind for the CBI or the police to promptly trace? A report as recent as November 2007 says that Indian Mujahideen is a previously unheard of group – I am not suggesting any political conspiracy theory here, especially in light of the coming elections, however, I have trouble believing all that I read in the newspapers – the diagnosis and conclusions that come rather quickly.

What could be the result of bombings such as the ones we have experienced in the past few months be in our country?

It just kindles the Indian and specifically Hindu anger against Muslims and as a result all innocent Muslims get targeted as jihadis. I do want to state here, even though I am not a Muslim, and even if these bomb blasts are carried out by some Muslims, that they DO NOT reflect the sentiments of the majority Muslim population of the country. Please let us not politicize or communalize these events. Your Muslim friend and neighbour is still your friend and neighbour. Whoever is responsible for these attacks have stopped being human. Finding and punishing them is where our anger must be targeted.

Today yes, we have to agree, there is some friction and hate between religious communities in our country. Think deeper, aren’t they all reactions to attacks and events such as Delhi bombings of Sep 13th. The feelings of anger towards either Hindus or Christians or Muslims are not really deep rooted, they are reactions to the bad things we feel they have done to our community. Here, I am raising my voice to say please do not allow these events, however brutal, to change your views on your friends and neighbours who have nothing to do with these events. Because your friends and neighbours did not do these brutal acts.

I am extremely upset and so pardon my French thinking! Imagine TV channels interviewing a 11 year old for clues! What is wrong with our media?! Also the media should not carry news about compensation to victims immediately. It seems to portray as if money is going to make everything alright! For all those who have lost a loved one, 5 or 50 lakh make no difference in their sorrow tonight!

And for all the NGOs who have jumped in to help Rohit tell his story, please listen, if you are so damn concerned, 11 year olds should not be in the first place selling balloons in the streets of globalised Delhi. And our media reports Gujrat Chief Minister Narender Modi’s comments on warning the Primer Minister a month back about the attacks – it all sounds irritatingly childish and ridiculous. I wonder when will both our media as well as our politicians ever grow up. People are being slaughtered and we do not want some politician posing as the saviour of the Hindus to take advantage of this situation.

Pardon my venting but I have a deep sense, that we as a country need to grow beyond thinking communally. Tonight even as India sleeps, many including me are angry and upset. And none of the people we personally know irrespective of their religion or communal identity have done anything to bring about these feelings. And therefore, let us be careful that they do NOT become the target of our wrath and anger.

Let us weep with those who are weeping and channelize our emotions to stand with the weak and help those who are hurting. Let us dream of an India in which Hindus, Christians, Sikhs and Muslims or Brahmins, Baniyas and Dalits all will freely love and cherish each other irrespective of their caste or religion. Where we will learn to celebrate our commonalities and respect our differences. Where we can give our daughters and sons in marriage to the other irrespective of their caste or religion. Where our love will transcend our differences and make our country truly a better place for our children.

Jai Hind!

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Designer Babies-Going Against The Nature?

Kandamangalam — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 20:22:03 +0000

I was travelling recently and chanced upon a newspaper whose headline read “Designer Babies-Parents could soon choose their kids’ genes”.

Since the newspaper was not in my hand, I could hardly read the full content. Initially, my thought was that it was some fashion statement where “genes” was misspelled for “Jeans”…but later on I realized it could be very well beyond my imagination. I couldn’t stop my curiosity and wanted to find out more.

The same evening, I did a little bit more research on Designer Babies and guess what I found out ?…Just what I had feared when I found this interesting article in Time. It says

Until just a few years ago, making a baby boy or a baby girl was pretty much a hit-or-miss affair. Not anymore. Parents who have access to the latest genetic testing techniques can now predetermine their baby’s sex with great accuracy

It further goes on to say

Within a decade or two, it may be possible to screen kids almost before conception for an enormous range of attributes, such as how tall they’re likely to be, what body type they will have, their hair and eye color, what sorts of illnesses they will be naturally resistant to, and even, conceivably, their IQ and personality type.

It sounded like a baby shopping experience, just like buying a car and then its accessories. How ridiculous is that?

Agreed science and technology has made our life simpler in many ways more than one. We can no longer live without them – they are part of an urban life, these days. But having to think that my grandchildren will be a combination of the traits picked and chosen by my children, brings butterflies to my stomach. At least that is a path that I would never want my kids to take.

It is a dangerous road that is being laid out in front of the world. I hope that India, even at a distant future, doesn’t encourage such innovations or technological advancement. It does seem unlikely that India will follow suit given that it is illegal even to determine the sex of the child, leave alone its genetic traits.

This, according to me, is totally against the nature and anything against the nature will have its own repercussions.

America –Are you listening?

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Political Exploitation Of Innocent Children?

Kandamangalam — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 05:06:24 +0000

On March 06^th, I read this news on IBN and it disturbed me hell of a lot

The Congress party may rope in child actors of Slumdog Millionaire – Azhar and Rubina – for Lok Sabha poll campaign, Mumbai Regional Congress Committee (MRCC) president Kripashankar Singh said in Mumbai on Thursday.

“We may use their services if they volunteer to campaign for the Congress,” Singh told reporters.

When I heard the name Kripashankar Singh, it reminded me of a news on him a few years ago for a wrong reason. Midday in Mumbai had published an article by Syed Hussain Zaidi on Mr. Singh. The title read “Kripashankar’s Guns to Goon”. This is the same guy who approved an unprecedented 349 arms licences in a month and that too just before the poll. Apparently, some were for his friends and some for criminals. Now you know why the news disturbed me.

Coming to the point – That it was Mr. Singh who was speaking to rope in the child actors was one concern, the other and more alarming concern was why are children being dragged into politics? Just because the film was a runaway success and half the population in that film are Indians and that too kids from slums, why are these 10 year olds and 12 year olds shown a world that they are totally unaware of.

Is it not exploitation of children by national leaders? What is wrong with Congress ? Is the Congress lacking in adult star campaigners that they had to rope in kids for their campaign ? Wouldn’t Anil Kapoor or Irfan Khan been a better representative for them than these poor kids ?

This is exploitation of children, of the first order. I have not heard the Children’s Rights Activists speaking out on this matter. Where are they ? Are they waiting for any Shubh Muhurtham to showcase their concern for children – or are they like the many reactive cells who do nothing but talk, talk and talk and when something noteworthy happens, their hearts suddenly starts pumping like nobody’s business.

And what is the Minister for Women and Child Development, Renuka Chowdhury, doing ? I heard her talk well when Muthalik and his men attacked the pub in Mangalore and rightly so – I respected her for that. I haven’t heard her this time.

Oops!!! I forgot, she is also from Congress.

Of course, this is election time and the last thing you want on earth is a tug of war between a man and a woman involving the children, all claiming to be under the same banner – Congress!

There is no denying the fact that in the last 4-5 years Congress government has done a phenomenal job in positioning India in the global map under the able leadership of Dr. Manmohan Singh and his very accomplished Cabinet.

However, in my mind, of late Congress seems to have lost it when it comes to making the right decisions, doing the right things, setting examples. How else can you explain their logic of picking up children for political campaigns ….children who don’t even know how to spell POLITICS.

“No Shame” is the name of the game!

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How “Well Connected” Are You?

Nars — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 17:05:00 +0000

I don’t know if it is the similarity regarding the way you say the names of these two cities or what – Mangalore / Bangalore. The similarities with incidents seem to have just followed.

Last week, a group of women were attacked on the rest house road, just off Bangalore’s happening Brigade road. I happened to speak to a friend of mine who was in someway connected to someone in the group that was impacted. This was a group of middle aged working women, pretty independent in their careers who decided to have a night out in a watering hole. They had finished paying the bills and were waiting outside for a few of their friends to return, some smoking a cigarette when the unimaginable happened.

A group of hooligans in a spanking new Audi SUV came tantalizingly close to hitting them while they were waiting outside. Bangaloreans know how wide our roads are! Being pretty independent women who have never been bullied, they protested. Their protest didn’t go too well with the men inside this millionaire toy! They came out cinema style hurtling abuses and not even hesitating to man handle / misbehave with these women! People attempting to help these women are beaten up, fear grips the place and everyone becomes a by stander including a patrol cop.

As the trauma for these women continues over the next 20 minutes as a cop van finally arrives. The hooligans apparently claim that the trouble was started by these women and ask for them to be arrested. Guess what? The cops comply and these poor women and the people who attempted to help are in the nearest police station. The arrested group realizes that the cops in the police station know these hooligans. The inspector refuses to accept a complaint from the lady impacted most, on the grounds that she was drunk and couldn’t speak to local language forcing another “not so drunk and local language speaking” lady to lodge the compliant. Accepted with resistance and jeers from the hooligans, the situation calms down to re-start the next day.

Being fairly “connected”, some of these ladies reached out to their friends in the media, some to other friends in a position of influence overnight and through the early part of the day. A 6 hour stint at the police station with both parties, an audience for the local MLA with the head of the station and an audience for the affected ladies with the constables, it all happens before someone decided to accept a complaint and file an FIR – needless to mention, the complaint one sided! The rest is history and the numerous forwards doing the rounds say it all. For a change, the media did a good job to get some facts to light – from getting the number of the car published to identifying the names of the folks, they did it all. But guess where the hooligans are? Not in jail!!

Why does one have to protest so much to have an FIR registered? Aren’t all citizens equal under the law? How does it matter how high up you are? So much of hell for these poor women who just wanted to have a nice evening outside together!

I compare this situation with something I recently saw in the States. I was walking from my hotel to the office and there were two cars parked on the road. They had an accident and there was so much calm. The two people involved just sat calmly in their cars and waited for the police to arrive. As a curious Indian onlooker, I hung around to see how the situation was being handled. I was amazed to see the way the whole issue was handled – calm, composed and quite. The only noise was that of the EMS vehicle!

If lives are lives around the world, why does our system treat them differently? Being connected or having the money means nothing if you are guilty – period. If protests and connections are an absolute pre-requisite to get an FIR lodged, welcome to living in Bangalore. I am sure the scene is the same wherever we are in India. It may be a Bangalore today – who knows what’s up tomorrow.

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