Review of "A New Idea of India"by Harsh and Rajeev

Indian authorship is coming of age. The quality of authorship is improving and also becoming clearly more contemporary, although, i am not too sure if I could say the same about the readership. 

My generation is more familiar with India getting decoded more by foreign writers - self professed Indologists who’s works, Indians both from the political right of the spectrum scramble to critique, and political left of the spectrum lap up - some in context of their own stated positions that is so inherently divergent and some for political correctness. But, no matter however so much foreign authors endeavour to decode india, the signal noise defies dubbing and their interpretations are sometimes too simplistic. 

The interesting part is that engineer MBAs and investment bankers that both authors Rajiv and Harsh are, trampling the pastures - discussing and defining India -  till date habited by left leaning Lutyen humanists is itself a phenomenon that is mainstreaming what was earlier fringe.

Lot of the content is contemporary. The citations are often of a period just before the publication in 2020. So there is lot of relatability. Some chapters like ‘Saving Secularism from the Secularists’ are quite well written. Beyond malleable motives of political parties, there is enough allusion to court judgements, election manifestoes and government orders of the recent times to establish brazen minorityism that hallmarked governance in India both at the national and state level.

However at many places the content lacks fidelity to the title and betrays the scholarship that authors who have taken upon themselves the arduous task to expatiate upon a title so esoteric should exhibit. 

Not gainsaying the above, I don’t see any 'new idea of India' really emerge in the book. I would hate to say, their primary premise and its exposition both are quite banal and betray the title. Yet the narrative is riveting, the flow and flair are good. Had Shyama Prasad Mukherji or Pt Din Dayal Upadhyaya been alive, they would have felt ideologically redeemed and politically vindicated.

Embedded in the narrative throughout is an underlying approval of the initiatives of the current political dispensation and often the narrative brinks on a smouldering sycophancy that emerges as a persistent thread. BJP is not the epitome of the Civilizational state that India is. BJP is merely an adept encasher of the chronic denial of the civilisational state’ that India is, by successive non-BJP governments.

Having said that, I would recommend even the millennials to read this book, as it does dissect the dichotomous disdain with which the successive political dispensations have espoused minorityism in the garb of secularism. The book does a good job of bringing facts to a reader. It does a good job of propounding arguments that you may choose to agree or disagree but with data.

Given that Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilisational states lost to Islam and the Chinese to communism, India is the only civilizational state that still exists today and retains vestiges of 3000 years of age and antiquity that impart and element of continuity and causal linkage with the past.

Overall, I would say the book is a good read and informative. But betrays the title.

My Travels to China

In the last one year, I would have travelled to China times more than a couple and never did I return home more enamored than this time, by the manifestation of the Keynesian model that China has like a religion co-opted for its growth.

Ill-liberal governments, indefatiguably long for legitimacy that liberal ones take for granted and often resort to a top down model of growth to compensate for the smoldering resentment and discontent in their hoi-polloi. Build and build more is one, spend and lend more are the most usual ways of doing so, the former spurring state investment and the latter putting money in the hands of the people to invest.

Massive construction driven by a state that is invested in business, imposing structures and architecture borrowed from the west, is a phenomenon that now pervades even the tier III cities in China. Their equivalent of our Sitapur looks like Manhattan. 

While my travel was restricted to the 3 pharma zones on the east coast of China, I am sure, other parts of the country are no different. The government is now specifically incentivizing the de-localization of the pharma industry from the East Coast to Central China and even if new companies do not emerge in that area, significant investment will come from the existing ones in form of additional capacity or distribution channels.

Of course, something that Keynes did not see or predict was the inflationary impact of such policies and also the drain they may have on the resources of the state. And the state in all cases, has only two ways to fund the yawning resource gap, one by way of taxation and other by deficit financing.

Had India done something comparable in magnitude, it could have fueled chronic asset price inflation and significant consumers price inflation. With money in the hands of the millions of workers consumer price inflation would be sure to occur. And land being in short supply due to a state continuously acquiring it for newer and newer projects, asset price inflation would have fueled even a more recalcitrant parallel economy. 

But India is unique in many ways. Hard labor and working with hands is looked down upon. Hence hard labor is done by lower castes or by immigrants, who remit outside and don’t spend where they work. Secondly, demonetization sucked out the high denomination currency that is the main means for most murky deals.  The governments’ assiduously changing narrative about black money, fear of the taxman on trail and transparency brought in by digitalisation, all worked to prevent such asset price stagflation.

Bajpeyi, the Indian PM who, who like none other before or after him, had the ability to carry contradictions and deal with dissent alike was also a builder and apparently a believer in the Keynesian model. His launching the NHDP with the objective of giving India 85,000 kms of roads had hints of Keynesianism. But the full impact and benefit of such a model could never accrue to India as it would have in any other  for basically two reasons - 1. a vibrant parallel economy and 2. the massive delays and time overruns in implementation. 

You can hold me guilty of editorializing in the paragraph above, as Bajpeyi may have just felt that road connectivity of India was so poor that it needed a massive uplift, and creating jobs and spurring an economy which was the bedrock of the Keynesianism may not have been Bajpeyi’s intended purpose , but an author’s outreach cannot be denied to me if it is not denied to others.

Trump Derangement Syndrone and the "Towering Lies"

This hip shooting and pugilistic president of the United States has not much to lose, but for the assurance of a second term. That he would win the first time was itself something that he himself was surprised at, but playing the contrarian party spoiler has been his penchant from the start and perhaps that is what he had set out to do by standing for the post.

Today, in politics or any public position - with social media granted freedom of speech sans all accountability, with novices making expert comments on subjects they do not know a whit about, with rumors running the round robin at the speed of light - being thick skinned is an essential pre-requisite. And Trump has it in abundance.

Trump recently was in Scotland accompanied by his wife as well as his constant consort - controversy - which this time was about a date. Trump claims he predicted the Brexit one day in advance of the vote that the Englanders cast in favor of it. But dates don’t lie. The Guardian chose to call it Trump’s “towering lie”. But the English are still grateful to American Presidents for standing by them in their times of need, but they are even more grateful to Trump for not affectionately whacking the queen on her butt or brushing dandruff off her shoulder. While the cowboyishness is fine, the English take the queen as a relic of their colonial past and wish to preserve the aura of that institution. 

I have, in my personal travels to US not met a single person who admits having voted for Trump, but some sure did, and foisted Trump to the presidency. But one thing is clear. With a dyed in the wool Red State Alabama glossing over a Republican to elect a democrat is not an aberration but a presage of what holds in the times to come. While one could argue that it was not Doug Jones the Democrat winning, but the teen sex scandal stigmatized Roy Moore, a Republican losing. Yet, undeniably, Alabama the most Red state voted for a democrat against Moore who had Trump’s support and backing does not augur well for the Trump.

The summit at Helsinki has triggered a spate of TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) victims. The twitterati have admonished Trump as a “traitor”. That is harsh, unless proven otherwise. But surely, right from his accession, there has existed a constituency that nurses a consistent and smoldering desire for his impeachment. The growing factionalism in the Republicans not withstanding, I think, impeachment, due to the sheer Republican numbers is a foregone conclusion, at least till the party is willing to throw its lot behind Trump, yet a censure for sure seems more likely. How the party fairs in the mid-terms in November will also decide how the party treats Trump going forward. 

But regardless, the one thing that can be undeniably said is that Trump is the most   unpresidential president that United States has so far had.

Gender Bias

Gender equality is such a hot topic for the modern liberatarians that sometimes the hyprocracy of it hits you. Impassioned about the cause not because it is hip to uphold, but because, it is insane to not believe in it, particularly as an Indian, since Indians celebrate and even worship female power.

The western world obviously believes that its record is significantly better than the eastern one on this parameter, but I guess, nothing would be farther from the truth than this.

The very fact that we notice and highlight such behavioral patterns is an indirect admission of guilt and cause for triggering a defense mechanism.

Interestingly, in one of the recent Times Magazine edition, a female doctor criticizes the world for celebrating Madam Curie more as the “first female” scientist to win the Nobel, far more than for her work in radio-activity that led cures for cancer.

Ironically, the same article that exhorts us to cast away such gender bias extols her for being the excellent mother and wife that she was, as though that added to her scientific temper and achievements. While the writer had perhaps set out to challenge a cliched stereotype, she actually contributed in reinforcing it by such superfluous qualification. Never would the scientific genius of Mr Curie - husband - be contingent upon or be reinforced by the good father or husband that he would be.

The foot note that identified the author was even more ironic as that said “first female” African American doctor to receive a medical patent. Some habits die hard, and those embedded in the DNA never die.

Spoilt for Choice

I seem to have broken quite some rules for myself. I have quit my work- outs, increased my food intake and exhibit a morbid addiction to inane and melodramatic soaps that I access free of charge on Netflix or Amazon like Californication - a pathetic and puerile soap brinking on risqué

For this departure from a self concept, I sometimes pity but mostly curse myself. Being old school, any indulgence, and this clearly I see as one, which does not - build one by way of adding knowledge and skills, nor contributes to society - the very propensity to view on the soap box a drama that stimulates the nether regions far more than the neural pathways seems to be an act inane enough to wallow in self pity.

Today, we are so spoilt for choice. I was obliged to take some guests out for dinner, and we had the choice of 4 hotels in close proximity. In those hotels, we have the choice of multiple restaurants, and within the restaurants, we had the choice of multiple tables, on the tables we had teh choice of multiple waiters, and from the waiters, came rattling by way of rote learnt, the choice of multiple cuisines on offer and finally at the time of payment I had the choice of paying the facility of paying the bill by my multiple credit cards

In an experiment on mice, there were several paths to the same food. The direct path lead the mice to the same amount of food as the path, which has several options, from among which the mice could choose, and eventually get to the same outcome.

It was observed, that all the mice preferred the pathway, where they had the option to choose, and get to the same amount food in this case representative of the final outcome.

And it is these options which on one hand spoil us and on the other temper our attitude.

Patel

Patel would smile wryly when asked how he kept  India from dismembering, how he persuaded or bullied the princely states into submission, and strung India into one entity, much to the dismay and dis-satisfaction of the British, who did their best to ensure, that the India they leave behind remained at best a geographical expression, far less a nation that would survive more than 7 decades.

The specter of Sardar was enough to bring the princely states into submission. Sardar was a part of the landed pleasantly himself, but not of the Zamindar type.

The Rajkot satyagraha, where he participated with the peasantry, had sent a very strong signal to the Thakur of Rajkot that Patel would be last to support them against the people.

The Princely States had been reduced to status of paltry puppets propped up by the British as indirect and disingenuous tools of oppression. All states had British residents breathing down their necks, and administered their kingdoms not only on the directions of the British but also at the pleasure of the British.

The Rajkot Satyagraha had had the impact of establishing the character of Patel. It had also established that the power of the people will be far to great to resist after the support of the British is gone.

While Patel was himself a great grassroots leader, he always showed deference to Gandhi. When Gandhi addressed rallies, Patel often stayed silent. When Gandhi gave a call for Swadeshi, Patel was one of the first to cast his western clothes away and thereafter wore only a Kurta and Dhoti and never even a topi or a cap.

Once, at the Yerawada jail, Gandhi asked Patel, what post he would like to take, after gaining independence - he would become a sadhu - was his reply. The lure of power or pelf was non-existent for Patel. But for some reason, Gandhi had an unwavering soft corner for Nehru, and not Patel, while it was the latter who shared in measures far greater, similarities with Gandhi, nevertheless, it was Nehru who got benefits which in retrospect I would say did dis-service to the country far more than the benefits that came from Nehru.

On the day of his assassination, Gandhi and Patel briefly conferred with each other. That day, Gandhi agreed to let Patel “demit” office at the laters insistence, however Mountbatten vehemently opposed it. “Patel has his feet on the ground, while Nehru has his head in the clouds” he spurted very matter of factly. And Patel somehow agreed to stay.

This blog is not meant to be an encomium for Patel, but somewhere in my heart I do hold Gandhi responsible for debilitating the future of the country he so toiled for, by several of his prejudices that people like Patel and Bose fell victim to.

Invoke Gods to manage Disaster

It was a shoddy prayer that President Trump offered for recovery and restitution from the devastation wrecked by Hurricane Harvey. I doubt if he invoked the right Gods. He should have relied on his friend Modi, who could have sent a team of Pandits from Varanasi, the latter's own constituency. The Pandits would have enjoyed a foreign trip on state expense, and Harvey would have met more than its match in the power-packed invocations to Indra.

Well I never thought that American people would have to resort to such hypocrisy, particularly when they have moved so far away from nature and its divinations. For us, it is still believable, as alongside our cosmic culture that is extremely elite, philosophical and more about the one-ness of man with God, there exists a ritualistic tradition that is replete with “karmakanda”. But that notwithstanding, Vedic Indians did invoke Nature Gods to ensure their wrath did not befall them. So I am in my right to ridicule the shoddy invocation done by Trump, in public gaze, when the Pandits of Benaras could have done so much better. 

But it is indeed admirable, the alacrity with which the president and Federal administration reacted on Harvey. The coordination between the Federal and State agencies was superb, and I wish, India would learn something from there. I also saw some good vibes between the wheel chair bound governor of Texas and the president Trump. Texas was the most affected by Harvey.

The states in India, hardly have a disaster response mechanism, and when the centre, lethargically steps in to participate in rescue, it is the centre that is leading the relief charge and the minions of the state, particularly the IAS scoot out of the ring and take on the mantle of merely scoring the points. What a travesty of the system this is, when in peace you rule, in times of need, you side-step and return only when all is well again.

Take another example. Baba of Dera Saccha Sauda. That the police ran away and was not able to quell the rioting, was caught on camera. The gathered swathes were too much for an untrained force to confront. About 50 people were killed in various incidents mostly in police firing, yet not one IPS officer scathed. The army was called in take charge and restore normalcy. Today most IPS officers are property brokers, getting murky deals brokered. Traveling abroad for training. Helping politicians to get votes or settle scores. The constables are working in homes of officers and gunners are escorting wives and mothers in shopping malls. How will such a force lift weapons overnight and rise to an occasion which is like a rebellion. We must sit back and think.

Brutal Baba - Gurmeet Ram Rahim

I vividly remember, several years ago, when I was returning to Gurgaon from Hissar, a convoy of about 100 cars, all recklessly driven, packed with goon-like armed men, -aggressively posturing to get on the kerb any vehicle that was on the road - had overtaken my car. There was no police, to help normal vehicles, which were all hauled up by the facilitators of this motorcade.  

Besides, there were baton wielding men standing at every 100 ft for "Seva" (facilitation)  when the convoy of the Baba passed, it was an ugly spectacle orchestrated by a so called holy man, in a resurgent 21st century India. In an India which in technological advancement, not limited to IT or space research, is a frontrunner in the world, such god-men playing on the in-security, obsequiousness and superstition of people, is a dichotomy hardly anyone can comprehend.

Political class with the bureaucracy in tow, help the rise of such Godmen. They provide such self declared agents of Gods, VIP treatment, with perks like Category Z security at the cost of the exchequer, sometimes in return for votes, or loaning of cadres during elections and on others just godly blessings.

These godmen draw legitimacy from this political patronage and feed on the gullibility of the people to enhance their personal pelf and power from such legitimacy, and garner more followers whose teeming numbers add to the socio-political cloud of these self-styled godmen. With time, they acquire swagger, larger than life size image, and small funding from the bottom of the pyramid class and large funding from the biggies, along with land-banks at throw away prices from the government for their ashrams. They all build hospitals and orphanages, as they serve as a front to all their nefarious activities.

Their diminutive intellect eventually starts feeding fat on this sense of power and  entitlement which eggs them to be so covetous, that they disrespect the law, both in letter and spirit, disregard property and defile others’ women, not once twice or multiple times, but repeatedly till they get caught and punished.

Gurmeet Ram Rahim is just one such case.

Triple Talaq

Social democracy is the bed rock of political democracy. The courts in the case of triple talaq, took the expanded meaning of the term : ‘socialist, democratic’ enshrined in the constitution to imply social democracy and that ‘triple talaq’ is a clear aberration in the way of social democracy.

Triple Talaq, bad in law and bad in theology, its only claim to currency is an established code of conduct, age old custom with the force of law, all of which the courts have a right to strike down, in the interest of equity and justice and in alignment of the overarching values enshrined in the constitution and equipped with this right they struck down this provision, just as they did in the case of sati, polygamy or child marriage and thereby engineered a huge socio-economic transition.

While a regressive Kapil Sibal continued to argue on the behalf of the Muslim orthodoxy, one, on the premise of non intervention with personal laws, and two, court judgements leading to abrogation of the Triple Talaq in other theocratic and secular muslim states could not be treated as valid precedents for abrogation of the same in India, I think, the stance taken by the SC is path breaking and perhaps a step in the direction of the Uniform Civil Code.

People's Army and Indian Army : Variance of Ethos and Riparian Terror

While, Indian media has been more restrained this time in waging a blitzkrieg against a hegemonist neighbor, it is the Chinese media which is going overboard in revving up war hysteria much more than India and cautioning India of the consequences of the Dokhalam misadventure. While Modi has been firm, and his government more assertive on the Dhokalam issue, it is the Chinese premier who has been more pugilistic including his relentlessly poignant speech on the Chinese army day celebrations.

1962, once slighted, forever shy, India on the other hand, has been ghosting Chinese border infringements and incursions as a part of the Nehruvian policy of perpetual denial of Chinese threat,  under Modi however, practical realism has been much more pervasive than ever in the past, and the mood has been changing. Had a Dhokalam been orchestrated by Pakistan, the Indian media would have by now tried Pakistan on its multiple channels and declared war on it. With China, somehow, the reportage is more controlled and calibrated. The reasons notwithstanding, the outcome is good.

Relationship with China has always been precariously balanced. The Chinese army owes historical allegiance to the Communist army of Mao. That army was raised from a poignant peasantry, trained in guerrilla warfare and fed on the hate of the class struggle, very different from the Indian army, which fights more for valor and honor much more of the soldiers’ village than of the country.

While, the stand off at Dhokalam may continue for some more time, till China relents or reconciles with India's nascent penchant for upping the ante against China's policy of crawling encroachment, India must get prepared for the riparian rivalry that China will unleash to punish India's standing up to it. In defiance of the historical treaties and international conventions, China may release more water to flood Indian rivers or release so less that India craves for more, either way causing riparian terror to disrupt and distress the Indian NE.

The Black Swan

The Black Swan

The western world always thought swans are always white, till I guess as late as the 17th century, when some naturalists discovered the black swans. We like to predict life and all of us want to inhabit a deterministic world. Whether, determinism holds or not, is not clearly the subject of this blog, but using the past to predict the future, is clearly a fallacy that most of us fall pray to. And one black swan event, which may not always be for the bad, changes all that we have known and all that we plan or project. 

Russel in his own uncanny manner illustrates this using the example of the chicken  who starts to believe in the innate kindness of humans, as they feed it, till one day it is slaughtered. Events can always buck the past or currents trends, and take us by surprise and it for such contingencies that we need build personal and organizational resources.

But Black Swans could also be for the good for some, like a usual neighborhood girl getting married to a billionaire and everything changing.

Rezang La

But 1962 should have been a lesson bitterly learnt. India lost due to Nehru’s indecisiveness, lack of foresight and bonhomie with the Chinese. While an unprepared India, still reveling in the lately gotten independence, suffered a humiliating defeat, the Chinese must not forget Rezang La, where a mere 120 strong company under the leadership of Major Shaitan Singh repelled 3000 strong Chinese force and killed about 1200 of their soldiers.

War favors none and leaves a country bereaving its brave. If China believes, war would make it stronger, the example of a decadent USA, which though very smartly kept war off its own land, yet smarts under its deleterious effects, should be an eloquent testimony to the destruction that it causes both to the winning and losing side. 

China has clear numerical superiority. More than numerical superiority, it has very clear superiority in weaponry, which is a generation ahead of India. While, India still struggles to keep the bureaucracy and brass aligned with the IAS hating the uniform, but the subordinate services hold the men in uniform in awe, and this dichotomy delays defense deals, priorities and procurement. To the extent that a JS can tick a Brigadier off, he is happy to preside on this delay, But it hurts the army as a fighting machine in a time, when change in warfare is happening faster than in civilian life.

Chinese army on the other hand is under a monolithic ruling party directly and the bureaucracy works in tandem to support the army. The processed of procurement are aligned to making the Chinese army a robust fighting machine, unlike India, where the largest scams are buried under defense deals.

Xi Ping wants the World to Listen

Xi Ping is about 3 years younger than Modi, but that Modi will beat him in Yoga is something which none should ever doubt.

Ping is rather tall for a Chinese and should be standing over 6 ft with shoes on. I was, till date of the bounden belief, that leaders with dictatorial tendencies are usually short, Hitler (5’8”), Napoleon (5’5”), Mussolini (5’6”), Churchill (5’6”), Modi (5’7”), Lenin (5'5"), Stalin (5’5”), Putin (5’7”). But it appears, Xi Ping is a clear outlier.

Xi Ping, with a slight slant of neck, decked in battle fatigues, made a tough speech to a resurgent nation restlessly seeking the respect which it believes is now so much overdue. I don't recall having ever seen a Chinese premier in battle fatigues. This theatrics has shades of the Fuehrer.

While many political commentators may like to believe, Xi Ping’s speech was a call to the world to acknowledge China as an emerging super power and message to its neighbors to stay cognizant of China’s growing military might, but I think, that is a stupid premise. While China may be a straight jacketed single party polity, nevertheless, to a leader public opinion is something of paramount importance. Stanceful, strident and subtly pugnacious Xi Ping’s audience was determinedly domestic, and that he succeeded to do - draw international attention was a bonus.

Just like Fuehrer, he relies on re-kindling national pride, he relentlessly alludes to the century of humiliation of the Opium Wars and leverages the fear psychosis to drum a xenophobia that could be both dangerous and disastrous.

India for once showed adroitness in handling the Dokalam tri-junction ingress, and responded to the Bhutanese SoS with the alacrity that behoves a friend and strategic ally. The political polemics and shady shenanigans not, withstanding, she braced up to the blatant Chinese attempt to gerrymander geographical borders, and pushed the Chinese back to their position prior to their impudent ingress. She acted decisively with calibrated force and position of strength that for a change was devoid of chauvinistic chest beating.

It is China’s chastened belief that Tibet, Sikkim, Bhutan, Arunachal and several adjoining areas are a part of its territory of which India is in wrongful occupation. It would not be out of place, if on some parallel logic, India would set out to reclaim parts of Afghanistan, all of Bangladesh and Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Sind back.

The Mnemonists

The Mnemonists

In the olden days, the reliance on memory was excessive and it was an essential tool for interpersonal transactions.

The method of learning whether of academics or of the common person in daily life transactions depended largely on his memory. The learning was from mouth to ear, and I am surprised, how the fidelity of the learning was maintained in such mouth to ear methodology. 

More interestingly, the Vedas, Illiad and Odyssey, were all transferred from mouth to ear, and yet the fidelity of their length and metre was preserved.

How incredibly tough such an environment would have been for a person of my dispensation, for whom, rote learning was like a Sysiphian Labor, repeat to only lose what you thought you had  committed to memory already. But I must admit, while I may be challenged as far as the Semantic memory (memory for facts), but I am very cogent as far as the Episodic memory (that for events and episodes) is concerned.

While the written word did find existence even in the time of Socrates, but it was still disdainful to refer to the written word.  The reliance was still on memory, though the written word was primarily to aid memory and not so much to propagate the philosophy or the content. 

Interestingly, it took several of hundreds of years, to bring in simple innovation in writing like leaving gaps between words, and both poetry and prose were scribed as a continuum, which made personal judgment critical to decipher the difference in “God is now here” and God is nowhere” when written as a continuum : GODISNOWHERE (scriptio-continua).

But since the written word was not for propagation, but more as an aid to the author such deciphering was not an issue. Interestingly, it took about 900 years for the gaps between words in the writings to come in, and to that extent, it is very interesting, that the Indian scripts evolved with a structured gap built in into the script itself in the form of a headline.

And as one would imagine, the scriptio-continua was first over come by gaps in Hebrew than in Greek. But from modern research wherein sophisticated models of speech recognition have been developed it is obvious, that we speak as a continua and hence if the computer was to right, it would right as a continua. 

Even after the onset of writing and later printing, the books were not indexed, and to find the part of relevance meant trawling through the entire book to bait it. And the reason was that the book was more for the aid of the writer or for those who understood the context so well that could devour the whole document which in the old days used to be in the form of continuous scrolls sometimes 60 ft long, than for the education of the commoner.

Many civilizations over came this complexity by attaching an overarching importance to a Guru who would hand hold and guide you to the relevant parts of the maize of the knowledge.

I remember, even as late as the time of my grandfather, the reading of a book was about memorizing a book. It had to be returned to its owner - individual or a library, and before doing so, at least the relevant parts had to be memorized. And only that which had been memorized, was yours, rest was yonder.

A large part of the curriculum in monasteries was to skill the monks in the art of developing mnemonics so that texts particularly the canonical texts could be committed irreversibly to the memory lane.

Of course, as we know, technology, often the one that has recourse to the masses, has often been the singularly most important tool to disrupt ossified behavior and cause behavioral changes. And this was the case, with the onset of the printing press in early 1400s. With the access to books as a reference and guide in your possession, dependance on the memory lane declined and pattern of reading commenced the transition from “intensive” - which involved reading just a few books but committing them to memory to “extensive” where you will read many and yet not be obligated to memorize them.

And now of course with all time internet, the need to memorize or even to index has become redundant.

How to Make a Good Leader

As a youngster, I always dreamt of being a great leader, and not just a self doer or a goal oriented manager. And I believed, that in such pursuit, the single most important requisite was competence or capability .

As time elapsed, hair greyed, androgenic alopecia advanced and neural faculties felt challenged in recalling names of the multitude of people you met, wife and kids, finding my ways increasingly weird and rebelled more than ever, a queer realization dawned on me that pretty much altered my transactional style with the people that I engaged with, on and off work.

As a youngster I always believed, JRD could provide leadership to Air India, because he was an avid aviator himself. Wrong! Flying was his passion not his profession nor his primary domain, and the leadership that he was providing was across sectors of a diversified conglomerate and aviation was just one of his investments. It was therefore clearly not his passion that made him a good leader.

History witnesses, most leaders have not necessarily been good at what they have lead people into accomplishing. Our own ancient teacher, strategist and nation builder, Kautilya Chanakya, who was, I would say, one of the greatest leaders who not only united the frontier states of the north west to resist the Greek onslaught, but successfully united the peaceful and non violent Snataks (graduates) into picking up arms against the marching Greek armies. Churchill a poor soldier and more in staff than combat roles inspired the Brits into a successful victory against the Germans.

A leader must inspire people and inspire trust in his abilities and more than his abilities, in his commitment to the espoused cause. Both Chanakya and Churchill inspired trust in the hearts of the people of their time. One very easy way of inspiring trust is by listening to people, and being empathetic to their positions.

There is also no point in denying group dynamics. The head in the cloud scientist, steeped in research, will always disdain the ‘get it done’ engineer, and latter will always mock the former for lack of practicality and translatability. Even if we may deny, this group rhetoric and dynamic will exist and as a leader it is important that for the success of the product we smoothen this transition.

There is sometimes also a conflict in the gut oriented and the hyper-rational. The latter relentlessly relying on data and algorithms to forecast the future and the former going beyond data and taking a more emotional or sometimes more heuristic approach to the whole thing.

In leadership, cognitive empathy or emotional empathy is a very relevant aspect, and cannot be glossed over. Ability to decipher and decode the feelings of your team and where they are coming from enables you to help them, which in turn enables you to influence them, which in turn allows you to guide them, and that is what a non-positional level leadership is all about.

And of course if you are adept at reading emotions, you can exploit them also, and use them as part of an overall negative construct. Often, in the prevalent narrative of political pragmatism and petty political polemics, the leader exploits popular sentiments, and in doing so, he shows traits of a sociopath -a word now commonly used in place of the earlier used psychopath. With their ability to acutely gauge feelings or popular sentiments, sociopaths engage in a parasitic relationships in which they thrive at the expense of others. Such brand of leadership is seen world wide, and Trump archetypically one.

The Monumental Folly of Demonetization

Sahaya Sadhyam Rajatwam Chakram Ekam na Vartate : Chanakya

This was one of the maxims of the great statesman economist of the 3rd Century BC : “The King and the Council are the two wheels of the cart and the cart cannot move on one”

Chanakya was very clear. The king should be extremely diligent in nominating his Amatyas, but having done so, he must resign the governance to them, retaining titular, veto and dispute resolution powers with himself. I believe, this was a very evolved structure which provided autonomy to the permanent executive but at the same time had built in checks and balances.

It is very essential that the King has learned council and that he heeds it. The king must not be surrounded by sycophants or people who are not ideologically soaked into making his monarchy a benevolent state that works for the safety and happiness of his subjects.

People say, one of the advisers of Modi for the demonetization was Ajit Doval. I don't believe this one bit, as why should an IPS officer who spent a large part of his professional life snooping in the IB, be the one to advise Modi on matters of economy. This would mean, there is a drought of economists and thinkers in this country. I don't have high regard for Doval as I believe his handling of Pathankot was highly ham-handed. Besides, any man, who lacks the conviction to own and admit failure in my view is a timorous and weak kneed namby-pamby. And Doval despite he being lionized by the media as the James Bond of India, I would place in that category.

I am sure, a whimsical Modi, had not imagined the scale of disruption and misery that the demonetization would cause. This is the very reason why you need strong council with stalwarts who can stand up to you and decant your disastrous decisions.

I feel, with Rajan as the Governor of RBI, the demonetization would have been implemented with far greater preparedness. The mint, the currency chests, the ATMs the banks, their rural outreach, the cash distribution channels, the cash transporting staff and vans all needed to be in order to make the operation smooth and successful.

The Finance Minister Jaitley and ilk are now shamelessly changing the narrative. The whole narrative of black money is now being morphed into transitioning to a cashless economy. It is child’s logic, that a certain element of cash in the economy is actually healthy for the economy. So the logic of a completely digital economy, and that too without fool proofing security features needed to support such economy being put in place really beats me. 

Regrettably, since the woes and throes of demonetization don't seem to end, and most of the money that used to be in the channel now demonetized is reaching the banks back, the specter of black money is now fading away, and a hapless government with egg in its face is now changing track from black money to a cashless economy, and who better to shamelessly trumpet this than Jaitley himself.

I am Modi supporter and I want him to succeed, but it saddens me no end to say, with such measures he may not.

Aggravated Reality of Modinomics : Arun Jaitely you must answer

Aggravated Reality of Modinomics : Arun Jaitely you must answer

Ministers like Jaitley could be Modi’s undoing. His apathetic comments in a speech has all ingredients for it.

Jaitley people say was instrumental in peddling Modi as BJPs prime ministerial candidate and also unflinchingly standing by him when Vajpeyi condemned him and contemplated his removal in the aftermath of Gujarat riots. Vajpeyi somehow could never comprehend how Gujarat could be retribution for Godhra and condemned Modi for not acting fast enough to quell the violence.

Additionally, Jaitley unknots the Lutyens Delhi’s Machiavellian spoils system, in which he is far senior to Modi who is still a struggling neophyte and relies on the outreach of Jaitley’s tentacles for facilitation - or let us call spade a spade - fixing. There is also a tacit understanding amongst all parties how much of the others’ corruption they have to ignore - chor-chor mausere Bhai.

But it is true, Jaitely’s criticality to this government and the cabinet is more for these softer skills that he brings than his distinction as a legal luminary or a financial wizard, or even a statesman, who harbours some grand vision for India.

In this backdrop, we should not grudge him his failure in triggering growth, his ineptness in handling industry or his reforms, and not being able to fire the imagination of the countries’ youth. As that is clearly not what he is retained for. 

There is no gainsaying the fact, regardless of the good intentions, the drive for demonetisation has been handled in a ham-handed manner. But we should also not grudge Jaitely his uncle Podger like handling. Organisational excellence is not his forte. And permanent bureaucracy has no accountability. 

There is a lot of goodwill riding on brand Modi. A vicious opposition not-withstanding, a large majority of people want Modi to succeed. I too want him to succeed. I think, he is the best that we have. The people are inclined to support any move that he undertakes. It is true, that lots of people are braving serpentine queues and the concomitant trouble of demonetisation smilingly on the promise or greater good of the country. 

But Jaitley apparently is the architect of the demonetisation’s mismanagement. Several of his political polemics and public posturing has also been most cavalier, crass and contemptuous of the hardships that people are facing. Yesterday, he was shown on TV equating demonetisation to the August 15, 1947 freedom and its news paper coverage of the historic moment then. He pitched that if the 1947 period media had the sentiment of the today’s media, instead of euphorically reporting Independence they would have reported the carnage and dance of death that unfolded as an aftermath of Independence.

I have some questions to Jaitely :

1.Can one suffering condone another. If there was misery and suffering at Independence then it does not imply that misery is a rule

2.Do you understand that Independence and Partition are two completely historical events although concurrent

3.The misery of partition mitigated the joy of independence and for that reason Gandhi refused to celebrate an independence so dearly bought. But you are not denying yourself anything.

4.Do you know that Britain was a colonial power and had no reason to be empathetic to the plight of the people. Is your government to be evaluated in the back drop of a exploitationist colonial power.

5.Has anyone from your family queued up for cash? How are you running your household?

I know there are no answers with you. And you get to power anyways, hence even if you had answers, you would not deign to reply to my questions. But never underestimate the electorate. Their anger sometimes survives eons….

A Paroxysm of Petulant Patriotism

After an extremely diffident and dilatory Manmohan SIngh whose allegiance was more to a decadent family than to the country and its constitution, the people foisted to power, Modi, a diametrical opposite. Self assured and unapologetic about his roots, and with no family to fend for, he rose like a phoenix and gave the nation a sense of confidence that it perhaps was longing for. 

While his electoral demagoguery was unabated, a calibrated dispersion of statistical content in his speeches made him stand tall in front of contenders like Rahul Gandhi, who were still using the old guard's - Dig Vijay Singh - rhetoric to connect with a youth that had since moved on.

In stark contrast to a matronly Sonia, whom it took many decades to even accept Indian citizenship, who had made silence a virtue, who scripted a model that divorced accountability from power, Modi was a man who in a presidential style campaign profusely pledged to take back India to its golden era; he would chest beat to showcase the green shoots of his model in his home state of Gujarat.

A savvy politician, who recognised that perception of performance was as critical as performance itself, Modi took extra care of the optics. Prostrating before stairs leading to the Parliament or addressing POTUS with his first name, all went into defining what he was and stood for. He was poised to lead India on the path of economic vitality, political resurgence and international stature.

His message was loud and clear. His ascendancy would mark the end of decades of plundering and looting of the country by either siphoning off the tax payers money, or conceiving convoluted schemes, which although would pass without demur an accountant’s scrutiny, but fail miserably in the test of ethicality - like the land grab of Vadra, or the National Herald Case for the Congress.

And all these promises he made with an air of Hindu resurgence without any overt reference to it. And it is never difficult to make that, as Hinduism is not a dogma and does not ordain its exponents to interfere, regulate or dominate any other religion, faith or school of thought.

In a majoritarian Hindu country, which though partitioned on religious lines, yet chose to stay secular, where it had become fashionable to appear modern at the cost of tradition, and was led by darned apologists, an overnight shift to Modiism was a transition with its own complexities. 

Besides, a perpetually hostile neighbour - Pakistan - upped the ante in Kashmir which further spiked the surging saffron nationalism.

As a consequence of all this, lot of rowdy elements, like advocate Chauhan, till date marginalised under the erstwhile regime of the apologists’ joined what they believed was the ideological mainstream by asserting their nationalism. Prime time TV programs - the contemporary pulpits of society - started streaming a brand of jingoistic nationalism. 

While Ma Bharti convalesced under corruption, poor health of its women, under nourishment of infants and joblessness of its youths, the chant “Bharat Mata ki Jai” became the new litmus test of nationalism to which this rowdy fringe started subjecting others.

There is a growing crop of people who proclaim to be more nationalist that others because they are willing to chant Bharat Mata Ki Jai. A lot of such people are residing abroad and from their comforts of their homes incite passions in India. They upload provocative video and try to pontificate to you on nationalism, when they have themselves left the country for a better life overseas. 

Ma Bharti is venerable, and is the underlying soul of Indianness. Its a call for nationhood from times when the concept of nationhood was not even born in the western world. But the stage at which the country is, it would be better if nationalism would be tested by ones deeds and the contribution that he makes to the nation and opportunity of personal growth that a person forsakes for a social cause.

Despite having acquired the best education, one is still willing go return to his mofussil town or village to impart education

Despite being a great doctor , one is willing to forsake crores to serve teeming million who lack access to primary health care

Despite being a great actor, one does a social cause commercial like Polio eradication or of Dengue or on the girl child free of cost

One declines positions of political importance because he knows there are others who can contribute more than him in that role

One pays his taxes with honesty

One waits at a traffic signal even when there is no cop on the other side to fine him

One stops to clear the litter of person who was walking ahead of him

A bureaucrat forgoes a sight seeing tour during an over seas trip and works over night to make a good presentation about his country at an international forum and brings back a qualification or membership that would hold his country in good stead.

Corporates vie to bring best quality products and work ethos to be called world class in their respective segments

People ask their representatives if they are working in interest of the people

All of the above is a better test of Nationalism than merely chanting Bharat Mata Ki Jai

That there is no gain saying the fact that Vande Mataram or Bharat Mata Ki Jai of course should be a given for any one of us and not a test.