An Open Letter to Vineet Jain, The Times Of India

November 11, 2010,

To,
Mr. Vineet Jain,
Managing Director,
The Times Of India,
Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.
Mumbai

Congratulations Vineet Jain & The Times Of India for taking the lead...

….the lead in cleaning the corrupt India... Well, India is shining, but behind the glare are a huge number of corrupt individuals who are in a looting spree raping India day by day.... And you and The Times of India have in the recent past shown the courage to bring these demons in public which others have not been able to.

Being born and brought up in Bengal, have been fed by the rich media of The Telegraph and The Statesman, which let me be upfront, had and has much much higher quality of editorial and literature, may be the intellectual Bengal touch... But, even in the communist driven state they could not do what u guys have started....

My compliments once again for shifting your core from being just an “Aggregator of news” to becoming a “Social Change Agent”. I sincerely hope its not just momentary... this is what me or any common Indian has noticed in the past few years only... Be it the 26/11 or the CWG or the recent Adarsh Society Scam, you guys have done a good job and are responsible to get biggies like R.R. Patil, Vilasrao Deshmukh, Suresh Kalmadi and the latest one being CM Ashok Chavan get thrown out of their chairs, which the “Aam Aadmi” only wished, abused over a cutting-chai and forgot !

Some of your critics say that since you and TOI did not get the CWG Business contract, you screwed up the Common Wealth Games. It is not that it is for the first time in India, that some scam happened. But yes, it is definitely for the first time in India, that a Scam of a stature was brought out and people behind the same exposed, and the system pressurized to take a tough call. Some say that Vilasrao Deshmukh or Narayan Rane or the Opposition and others have used you to open up the Adarsh Society matter against Ashok Chavan... But for a commonner like me, it doesnt matter as far as the facts are coming on table and actions are being taken... Tomorrow, there will be another TOI to take care of Vilasrao and others... Some people say that you and your paper write only against a few segment or sect or lobbies of people, but for a commoner it does not matter, as the Awakening you have started, would create some other TOI to expose the segment you may be avoiding, if at all.


So in this Media Awakening, for whatever reasons be it, hope commoners like us are awakened and benefited in whatever ways. Thanks Vineet Jain and Team TOI for giving India the required literacy, being the medium of that lieracy. There are yet many areas that you - TOI initiated for eg. Avinash Bhonsle- Cidco and MKVDC Scam, the Lavasa scam, the Citiscape issues of Mumbai, which are as of now, hope not permanently lying low. Look forward to see them reach the right logical end, courtesy TOI !


Many literates and educated segment like us do mock down your “Aman ki Asha” or “Lead India” or “Teach India” as pure CSR activities which would bring in huge mass visibility and ofcourse the Ad revenues (Come on, lets not shy away from the core of the business we are talking about). I too personally feel the same at times, but well the above activity which you have not branded otherwise is the one which a commoner is appreciating and applauding and wish you the best and hope to see you playing this role of a “Change Agent” and not just a “Commercial Media” !


With Best Regards,
Jalpesh Mehta
Citizen of India
www.jalpeshmehta.blogspot.com

Kalmadi should be sacked and Indians should note 3 points !

As the CAG report emerges this evening, Suresh Kalmadi’s crime gets formally endorsed (Don’t understand why the F*#$ were we waiting for this, when every day we are seeing multiple proofs of frauds and scams worth Rs 2000 Crs in the Commonwealth Games (CWG) which are of huge budgets of Rs 11494 Crs (ref TOI headlines dtd. August 10, 2010) which is Public money – your and mine tax money (I just paid some more tax on July 30, 2010! And it pinches !)

TOI carried Headlines news in its Front pages for a week as below :

August 6, 2010 – Despite denials of shady Games contracts, heads begin to roll. Flower pots worth Rs 30 crs…
August 7, 2010 – OC had hand in all big deals
August 8, 2010- Kalmadi says – ready for judicial probe and would not quit as 40 days left for the game.
August 9, 2010- Kalmadi cleared payment for AM deal which he claimed he had never heard of. (Documents exposed)
August 10, 2010- Indian Medalists at CWG to get raw deal
August 11, 2010 – TOI forgot the issue in awe of the full page BigBazaar Ad;)
August 12, 2010- Key investors in top CWG supplier have fictitious village addresses. Got hockey turf contract at twice the market rate, lawn bowls at 8 times.

Despite all this, do not understand the heights of shamefulness of Kalmadi that he is still having balls to stand up and not resign and the as usual gayish stand of Manmohan Singh’s government to sit silent on this matter for so long ! This evening, post the CAG report, Arnab in Times Now was triggering the issue of Kalmadi to be sacked or stepping down..seconded by all the panelists from Sitaram Yechuri, Vinod Mehta, Kirti Azad etc. But, when I look at one resigning or being sacked, it gives me a feel of ridiculousness and mockery as the same joker lies underground for a while and springs back equally or more powerful…forgot Chhagan Bhujbal & the Telgi scam ? and today Bhujbal is the king once again, forgot RR Patil and his stupid comment on 26/11 ? and today he is back into the chair…its mockery and lets not discuss sacking or resigning for that matter ! There are many such examples….

I ridicule Subrata Roy Sahara (don’t say that he too has some hand or involvement, but he is not a patriot for sure to think about the country and advice the citizen and media to hold back the issue till the games are over.) I ridicule Sahara for even bothering to waste time convincing media and people.

Let us understand 3 things now :

Point 1 : PROTECT THE IMAGE OF INDIA : Whenever I have kept meeting investors abroad, they have been showing immense confidence in India, more than that of China or any other BRIC Country…primarily because of our demographics, DNAs and stable and better image of the government. Else India always had a reputation of being a corrupt country (Lets us accept the fact that we are…. I don’t want to go negative on the branding of the country as the readers of this blog belong to various countries and origins, but since majority of you are Indians, don’t mind sharing that its still easy in the country to do any level and intensity of crime and roam free and even win an election post that and rule the country too…..look at Satyam and Ramalingam Raju for an instance…

So coming back to the point, since only 40 days are left and the whole world is coming to India for CWG, it is important to sack Kalmadi and all relevant officials involved and revamp the whole board else the focus of Media would be more on the scam, scamsters rather than the game as each day a new skeleton would pop out of the box and the world would carry back the wrong image of India and because of handful of corrupts we all would suffer, right from entering another country to doing business with them, all would see us with a sight of suspicion. Media has done its job and no one (Subrata Roy or others) can stop them as they are bringing out facts, but dammage control is required with revamping the whole administration and the government giving confidence to us and the world that no one is indispensible and irreplacable and India has more qualified and experience people to run the show much well and much clean...net net, without Kalamadi and team... the show can go on..

Point 2 : ITS TIME WE WAKE UP AND LEARN TO REACT IN OUR OWN WAYS : India is one of the most literate country – I agree to it and the figures say so….but there is a difference between Literate and Literacy….We are literate but lack literacy….complicated ? Let me put a perspective….We are literate means educated and academically strong, but when it comes to literacy, we lack literacy ….literacy of what is happening around, what has happened and what are our duties….Indian memory is short and we believe in Chalta hai attitude…. We pay tax and we spend 5 minutes to crib about such issues, be it IPL corruption, Satyam Scam, or be it CWG….it is a gossip and time pass topic for us over a cutting chai and we immediately forget it…and when it comes to doing our duty, we fail…we never stand for injustice (I am generalising and not being specific that all do so), push back the corrupt officer for asking for bribe, rather we encourage as we are getting late to work and shelling out a hundred rupee note is simpler and the biggest point we crib about politicians….today we crib about Congress and tomorrow we may crib about the BJP….but most of us don’t even bother to go out and vote ….look at South Mumbai which contributes around 18% of the countries TAX, only 40% people bother to vote…rest take Holidays, enjoy movies and have Page 3 parties on an Election day which is just another Holiday ! This needs to change.

Point 3 : SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS TO FRONT : Last point…. When I had been to Pune in 2000-2002, Kalmadi was a huge name there…. As Huge as Shivaji Maharaj in Maharashtra ! But if you go to Pune today you will not even hear K of Kalmadi. Even the paan-waala knows that Kalmadi has shifted towards sports where he makes more Money. Same is the story of almost all the heads of such associations (rich associations which are better on a cost benefit analysis than a city or even a state) are people not belonging to that field. What does Sharad Pawar understand of cricket ? Does Kalmadi even know how many games are there in CWG? Even Lalit Modi would not know what is “Manka dead”, and we have such people heading these bodies…. Where would passion, feeling or push come of one would not even understand the game and well, if you say they are good administrators, please give me a break....our IAS/bureaucrats are much better to do that or even someone from a common walk like Nandan Nilekani, N.Narayan Moorthy, Deepak Parekh, KV Kamath with fair credentials could be identifed to take this responsibility, if we feel Gavaskar, PT Usha, Milkha Singhs of the world are just sports men and incompetent for this job !. Well, or it should be a mix body comprising of specialists, administrators and if required (you cant do without because of various reasons) politicians. But all these should not be politicized. I dont know how much of this could a common man like me or you contol, but am sure somewhere down the line, this would make an impact !

Coming back to Kalmadi….but India, we are loosing confidence !! For us Kasab and Kalmadi are similar, (besides their last names starting with K;)…there are for similarities (1) Both played with Country and countrymens trust and money (2) Both are standing untouched today and god knows till when ? But one things is proven now…unlike the perception, the enemy is not next to us or in our neighbours, it is right there in our house and we meet him every time we tolerate or encourage corruption and contribute in building another Kalmadi !

And sincerely hope, that the Media (compliments for the initiative) and citizen like us with our own capacities and ways are able to throw out this Kalmadi in the next 24 hours and other Kalmadis in our daily lives !

26/11 Mumbai Terror Attacks - One year has passed !

As we near 26/11 Anniversary, there are a lot of thoughts coming to mind…ofcourse not at all on the “Spirit of Mumbai” – That is a farce word to camouflage the looser in us. The so-called “Spirit of Mumbai” was back on track just after a few hours of attack in Mumbai last year. This “Spirit” evaporates when Raj Thackeray tries to divide Mumbai…this “Spirit” evaporates when its time for the citizen to setp up, vote and create their own future – only 40% people turn out to vote, rest 60% sleeping (I should call them traitors if I could). I guess those 60% don’t have rights to complain or cry foul when something happens to them. Actually, the so-called “Spirit of Mumbai” exists in the person or the family which is not a victim….ask the victims family or near and dear ones, where is their “Spirit of Mumbai’? A city like Mumbai which provides such great opportunities to people can not have a Ganpat absent at work for a day – He will not be able to pay the school fees of his child, if Rameshbhai bunks office, he will loose the trading deal and will be unable to fund his daughters wedding, if Pankaj does not attend an important meeting at 9, his counterpart Vijay would bag all the attention and will get the promotion, not just that – even being 30 mins late, Vilas will loose his half day Salary – will not this keep up the “so-called Spirit of Mumbai “? It’s a no brainer… And well, the citizen are practical – of something is destined t happen it will not happen – even if you are at home…so run..

Well, a year has passed and if you look at the impact on the Civil Liberties, there is much- even in the US post 9/11- the civil liberties were impacted – so even in India- the society is going through a lot of pains of being scanned, harassed but for good, the state is spending huge monies on security devices and the Metal detector companies multiplying their profits – all is fine…we all can take this pain, but what is the result - The result is Zero !

(*) Today, anyone can again attack Mumbai from the coast or the land as we are yet not adequate. The terrorist does not come through the metal detectors or the malls, they are masterminds, much smarter than our Intelligence agencies and they will find better and safer ways to come and attack…who knows in Mumbai, if your own neighbor is a terrorist?
(*) Judicial system forms a part of Civil liberties and here we are offering more liberties to the culprits than the civilians – Afzal Guru is still enjoying after attacking the parliament and Kasab dares to ask for a favourite dish and our system cries hue and cry if Manu Sharma is pubbing in parole…. Please for God sake get serious !
(*) We have freedom of speech, religion but still a representative of public gets slapped for using the National language in the parliament much against his civil liberties and we talk of Civil liberties for the citizen.

Net-net, as we near the Anniversary of the 26/11 Attacks

1. Why was RR Patil asked to leave (erstwhile Home Minister for his remark of Terror attacks as in such big cities, such small things keep happening) and what has he done or what confidence has be build that he is again made the Home Minister ? It is a complete joke and ridiculing of the Civil liberties, but I don’t blame the politicians for this – it’s the 60% sleepers (non-voters) who have chosen this minster again – Congratulations and bear the heat now.
2. Why are only Motor bikers and Tourist Taxis checked in Search operations by police (Naka bandis) ? I have never been stopped in my private car except just once immediately post the attacks. Does it mean that Terrorist will not come in normal cars or bus ? Or the police is smart to know who is an easy target to harras ?
3. Why have the police and their search operations (naka bandis) totally disappeared post the recent elections in October ? Guess, Police have information that the Terrorists would not come post the elections or the farce visibility drive that the state is hard on security is over now post the elections and its time to mint money by catching drunken drivers – that’s where the money is.
4. Why are people still avoiding Metal detectors at Railway stations and police seeing silently and waiting for another attack ?
5. I just traveled a few days back and the security at the Airport is as strong as it should have been – why is the difference between the security seriousness of CSF and Mumbai Police. When I asked a police man – he ignored the fact and said, they are yet not equipped or trained for the same and when a Neta comes – they all become equipped and trained. He has a point – its frustrating to check each passerby knowing that you are not going to find anything.
6. Supposedly Security boats were bought for patrolling on the coast and understand that the same is not having any fuel – where is mine and your tax money going ?
7. Someone very rightly asked the MNS guys – where was Raj Thackeray during the attacks ? The same remains unanswered !
8. Some famous politician (forgetting the name, was it Narayan Rane ? – see how short sighted a Mumbaikar is) made public claims that the Politicians of Mumbai

NDTV 24X7 triggered the thought of sharing my views on the Subject by asking the avid bloggers on the Social Issues share their Views and Questions with Barkha Dutt, who would represent us on a Talk show, but there are many more questions and Mumbaikars will keep on asking, that’s the best we do – but finding answers ? I guess not many are really interested !!

Prepaid Taxis at Mumbai Airport on a looting spree !

Yesterday (4th Oct), I arrived from Delhi to Mumbai at the Mumbai Airport - Chatrapati Shivaji Domestic Airport and proceeded to the PRE-PAID TAXI Counter in the Departure section and got myself a Pre-Paid Taxi booked by paying the designated fare plus Rs 10 Service Charges. This is a good service initiated by “Domestic Airport Pre-paid Taxi Service” especially better for foreigners who were forced to pay exhorbitant monies for cabs – I remember a cabbie asking me for Rs. 500 for a distance of Rs 60/- some years back and I said “bahargaon ka nahin hoon…ch***** banata hai?” (I am not from outstation, I belong to here and don’t try to fool me) and then he came half price and I had to bargain further as no cab was willing to travel by meter. I saw foreigners paying Rs. 700 for Airport-Juhu ride instead of Rs 110 and there was no process or system to stop this money exhorting act of the taxi-drivers. Thanks that the Pre-paid taxi system was introduced in Mumbai that faulty metered taxis and arrogant taxi drivers charging exhorbitant prices finally ceased to exist, though some might yet argue that private taxi’s like Meru and Mega Cab (022-44224422) are better and professional than these Unionized yellow black Fiat taxis of Mumbai.

While booking the cab at the counter – I was asked – do you have any bags and since I had only strolleys (60 cms X 40 cms) which we carry for week long holidays, I said no and they guy cut a receipt of taxi fare and service charges and no luggage charges, which are Rs 10 per bag of 70 cmsX50 cms (Pls see the scanned copy of the Receipt - circled area). Many fellow passengers with small kids and families declared these similar strolleys as bags, when they were asked “kitna bag hain” (how many bags do you have?) and the pre-paid counter guys added Rs 10 to each and billed them, which they conveniently paid.

When I moved out, I was directed to a cab by the private security agency (GIC) person and the taxi driver post seeing the receipt refused to move as he said I had 3 strolleys/trolleys and the receipt should have 3 luggages – ie. Rs. 30 more. I argued that all the bags are much smaller than the HUGE – 70cmsX50cms bags and hence I do not have to pay the luggage charges. He asked me to come with him to the pre-paid counter and I refused and asked him to get the manager of the “Domestic Airport Pre-paid Taxi Service” – The officer who cut the receipt came and said I will have to pay luggage charges and when I asked him to get the measure-tape and measure the size and threw some big names, he was scared and asked his manager to intervene. Being a Sunday, I was free and fighting for human rights is a passion and hence waited for the manager. Till the time Cops came and were quite supportive and literally screwed the Cabbies for refusing to go. Let me acknowledge the support of the constable Mr. Nalawade and his Senior colleague who acknowledge the behaviors of cabbies asking for extra money from the customers and since customers are in hurry and Rs. 20-30 is not a big deal, they silently pay up. Time is more important than money, but if you see collectively, which I saw- almost every 7 out of 10 passengers, depending on their outlook were charged 2-3 luggage charges and these 20-30 ruppees does not matter – had it been a Monday morning, even I might have paid, to reach early to office rather than saving a few bucks.

The manager came and he also tried telling that I have to pay luggage charges and when the cops also saw on the receipt explaining the bag size (70cmsX50cms), they cornered the manager and the manager asked the taxi driver to go without the luggage charges.

The taxi drivers in frustration were trying to explain that they have to wait for 7-8 hours in queue and there is a nexus wherein the extra money for luggage is shared between the taxi drivers, the union and the service agency which is roughly – Rs 1 Crore as per rough estimate and back of the envelope calculations ( Rs 86 lacs as per the rough calculation- 1700 taxis X 70% = 1190 X Rs. 20= Rs 23800 per day X 365 days = Rs. 86,87000/=)

In this age of RTI and empowerment of knowledge the key, in my small way, I want to help all fellow passengers understand the concept of luggage, which no one bothers to look at as the quantum of amount is small – The rule (on the receipt) says that any BIG BAG of more that 70cmsX50cms size only. The taxi drivers can not charge for any bag smaller than this and not even for Big hand-bags – however bulky they are or even cartons which are small. Since there is no weight system in India, the taxi drivers and the private authorities – hand in gloves are trying to make bug bucks – and the concept remains subjective – but it is clearly written in black and white on your Pre-Paid vouchers that the Luggage charges are for Bags above 70 cms X50 cms– though small for each one of us individually, but imagine these 20-30 bucks can buy food for a poor family.

Hope this helps all understand and fight for their rights and was quite happy to see the Mumbai Airport Police supportive to the customers. One can look for the cops around the area as the GIC Private Security guys are useless as they also get tips for positioning the taxis ahead. One can call Airport Police Station on 26156315 /09 or even a toll free number 1800 2099 596. (I tried calling all these numbers before writing on this article and they pick up calls). Understand that these 20-30 bucks are no big deal but the attitude to give in to corruption is a big deal and all of us talk about changing India all the while, when it is in our own hands – in our own small ways ! And yes – let us stop such unionized cabbies and agencies spoiling the name of our Mumbai and India right from the first step one enters the land !

RACISM - The Slow Poisoning !

Human Rights being a close topic to my heart, my cousin Rajvir gave me a DVD of “AMERICAN HISTORY X” which I just saw. This was based on our discussion a while back on one of my friends being mugged in the South Africa by some localites and the recent racist attacks in Australia. One of us commented on the blacks as the spoilers with a past family incident of a group of blacks looting my cousin brother’s departmental shop in the US some years back. This movie was a touching one, clarifying the actual situation in the US and the fundamentals of racism to an extent that triggered me to write this piece.

Before we get into Racism, a summary of this 1998 American film directed by Tony Kaye – The film tells the story of two brothers, Derek Vinyard (Edward Norton) and Daniel "Danny" Vinyard (Edward Furlong) of Venice Beach, Los Angeles, California. Both are extremely bright and charismatic students, and Derek is drawn into the neo-Nazi movement after their father, a firefighter, is murdered by a black drug dealer while trying to put out a fire in a South Central neighborhood. There is one Doctor who promotes anti-black activities and entices young whites to join. The gang commits acts of intimidation, such as damaging a store owned by a Korean and challenging basketball games against groups of black players, in order to win the basketball court as turf. One night while Derek is with his girlfriend, he kills two black gang members trying to steal his truck, and is sentenced to three years in prison for voluntary manslaughter.

In prison Derek joins the Aryan Brotherhood – the White prisoners lobby, but has differences over the group's friendly dealings with a Mexican gang. When he voices these opinions, he is quickly shut down by the other white supremacists, so Derek chooses to not associate with them any more and is beaten and raped in the showers. It is while working in the prison laundry room that Derek gradually becomes friends with a black inmate named Lamont (Guy Torry).

The story shows how Danny is influenced by his older brother's actions and ideology and how Derek, now radically changed by his experience in confinement, tries to prevent his brother from going down the same path. The movie is a hard one and also violent at some points, but leaves one with a one liner well said in the movie – “Life is too short to get pissed.”

WHAT IS RACISM ?

Although the term Racism usually denotes race-based prejudice, violence, discrimination, or oppression, the term can also have varying and hotly contested definitions. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, racism is a belief or ideology that all members of each racial group possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially to distinguish it as being either superior or inferior to another racial group or racial groups. The Merriam-Webster's Dictionary defines racism as a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular racial group, and that it is also the prejudice based on such a belief. The Macquarie Dictionary defines racism as: "the belief that human races have distinctive characteristics which determine their respective cultures, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule or dominate others." One can find a good content around the fundamentals of racism on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism but if I were to define Racism, here it would go – An activity or action or a reaction for the benefit of an individual, community or a group by demeaning any other individual, community or a group is Racism. Racism is an action as well a reaction to an action. What our Indian colleagues are facing in India might be a reaction of something wrong done with them, maybe a threat of loosing out to our people in terms of success in jobs and life. Many brand Muslims as Terrorists which is absolutely wrong and racist thought, but that might be a reaction of 9/11 or 11/26 any multiple such incidents creating top of the mind recall as we marketing strategists would call.

Its not just the US ten years back, but also India since centuries witnessing Racism and doing absolutely negligible to curb it. Below is some analysis on the same and certain actionables which can help the society at large. Racism is like chicken and egg story in a little different perspective. You can not kill and egg because there are chickens around to lay more eggs and you can not kill a chicken as there are enough eggs to create these chickens. What one can do is reduce the eggs and chickens – on a lighter note somebody rightly said – Go vegetarian !!

RACISM IN INDIA

India perhaps is not the victim of Racism but to an extent mother of racism too, there are many mothers though. Its hypocrisy to crib about our Indian students being victims to the recent Racist attacks in Australia or Shilpa Shetty being a victim of racism in the UK’s Big Brother Show by Jade Goody or the latest being SRK being detained at the US Airport recently or Imran Hashmi being denied a flat in Mumbai because of being a Muslim. There are enough evidences on the first one, but there is a huge chance the rest three examples might be real cases or also publicity stunts or overhyped claims – Its hypocrisy to crib about the same when we ourselves call our North East brother and sisters as “Chinki’s” or “Nepali”- even the Mizoram Chief Minister recently shared the same feelings in an International conference in July 2009- damn it – they are equal Indians….and we are the ones who is building another Al-Qaida or an LTTE within India by such negligence, soon we would see a Kashmir like situation where our brothers would feel more comfortable of becoming Chinese.

Its is ridiculous when most of Indians even today classify any fellow Indian living below the Tropic of Cancer as “Madrasi” – Its just illiteracy or rather failure of the education system in India which taught me some illogical subject called “Trigonometry” in school which I have never used or will use in life, instead of teaching “Ethincity” which could have defined our fellow brothers below the Tropic of Cancer as “Malayali”, “Tamil”, “Kanadiga” and so on…. Instead of calling them “Madrasi”. Living in Mumbai for more than 10 years, I still don’t understand why Non-Marathis in their local lingo or slang call every Maharashtrian a “Ghati” !!! This is racism or a seed to it and this is purely a failure on part of the Education system in India.

Well, its not today, but since the time of Kings ruling India that we had Un-touchable as a species in India and they even exist today. We flush in a lot of money after so many causes right from Health, Education etc but when it comes to Equality, we do not hear much – sometimes it feels atleast Mayawati is doing some good for Dalits even if people say she has a personal agenda – who does not have these days!

If one reads the recent newspaper (Times of India –September 2, 2009, Pg1 and Pg13), it shows the shameless side of India wherein the Government in the state of Rajasthan has instructed the Bureaucrats – the highest strata of India Civil Citizens – Indian Administrative Services Officers to stand up when an MP or an MLA (Public elected representative) comes. This ridicules the whole system and the essence of Racism at the highest order.

RACIST VIEWS ABOUT OUR MUSLIM BROTHERS IN INDIA- COMPARISON WITH TERRORISTS

Ofcourse as a Marketing Strategist, I would agree that if you keep on hearing every day that praying to this deity results in this or drinking water empty stomach is good, you start believing in the same – its nothing but “belief” which comes from repeated triggers, data points and repeated trends – the “belief” becomes “belief” – how weak or strong is a factor of “personal feeling multiplied by number of triggers touched”. The same has happened for our Muslim fellow citizen – 9/11 in the US, 1993 Bombay Bomb Blasts, The Black Tuesday Train blasts, 11/26 Gate of India attack added with reports on the D-Gang and perception of Pakistan, Kashmir etc has created a wrong image of every Muslim being a terrorist. Here, some one would hold Media and Politicians responsible, politicians to an extent of our Independence fighters with basic disconnect of letting India divide on Religion, which itself is a debatable topic. But, net net, such repeated events create a perception which overshadows and outnumbers one of Hindu Terrorist attacks and who can change this – the Media, Politicians and us. Some one rightly quoted – that “All Terrorists are not Muslims- the assassinator of Mahatma Gandi was a Maharastrian, the killer of Indira Gandhi was a Sikh and the killer of Rajiv Gandhi were LTTE – so one can not brand Muslims as terrors, but data has to change to change the perception and it is a collective process. Imagine, to top on it, our own ministers claiming that India knew about the 11/26 Terror Attacks in Mumbai shows how things could be hand-in-glows, but such important statements are buried and what remains are such perceptions which are racist and harmful to the society as a whole.

RACISM IN MUMBAI

Mumbai, the financial capital of India, has been in headlines offlate for racist attacks on North Indians. This was not the first type of such a racist attack in Mumbai. South Indians and Gujarati community has been on the point long back. The reason for the North Indian attacks by Raj Thackerey’s MNS Party has been analysed by analyst as a political move. The reason is somewhat reasonable from Mr. Thackerey’s perspective where everyday 10000 people from UP & Bihar come into Mumbai. But naturally, they use the infrastructure and make a living also at times chipping into the livings of the local maharashtrians. There are job quotas already for localites and the jobs the so called “North Indians” do would never be doable as per the dignity of a Maharashtrian. Asked commonly, a maharashtrian would refuse to milk cows, drive a cab, launder the clothes. These jobs are largely done by the North Indians in Mumbai. Similarly, most waiters and cooks in Mumbai are from East India- Bengali and Oriyas. Well, it’s a matter of an eco system – who fits in fits in and who doesn’t doesn’t. But, any political party, especially a new one, would need an agenda and it was a successful agenda, but the same resulted in disharmony and racism at the ground levels. The strategy at the top is different and the repercussions on the grounds are different, which is a known fact and that creates the gap here. I always think of why no one thinks of the Illegal Bangladeshis immigrants in Mumbai who could cause terror too or the illegal local urban poor increasing the slums and encroaching lands in Mumbai – guess this segment might be sensitive from a votebank perspective versus the former which has its own niche.

RACISM ON INDIANS IN OTHER COUNTRIES

When there is so much of Racism within India, how much do we speak of the same outside. But the fact remains, the same is a huge concern with more than 14 attacks in a period of 30 days on Indian students in Australia.

We would have heard of racism against our fellow Indians in the US, Middle East, UK etc, but this time, the frequent series of racist attacks and the role of Media has somewhat helped us notice and feel the heat more.

Just guaranteeing the victims of racism in Australia some seats in colleges in India or the foreign minister wasting the tax payers money to go to Australia does not solve the purpose. Though there have been political acknowledgements and regrets on both sides – the same is not justified. Ofcourse, various students groups and associations have come out and protested and that is the way out to begin with. The Indian High commissioner should have been thrown out long back, but guess no one dares to or no one is really concerned.

It is not just Indians who are victims here. It’s the worldwide phenomenon where people are classified as BLACKS (Primarily from Africa), BROWNS (Asians), YELLOWS (Chinese) who are seen as lower strata as compared to the WHITES (British, Americans). My work has helped me visit many countries and have friends from various ethnicities and castes. They on a personal note have spoken about their insecurities from Asians, who are perceived to be aggressive, go-getters and smarter lots with cheaper cost, who can snatch their breads. Infact, racism is something, which exist almost everywhere – not just amongst foreigners but within their own people too – for eg. One of my friend had diverse views on Jews. Similarly, there were huge differences in the Christians – Roman Catholics and Protestants.

We need to agree that universally, the Eco system is something which can not be changed entirely or overnight (there always would be a higher and lower strata in the society), but definitely things can be better for all. Somehow, Australian attacks have given us a clue to look at racism in a different view

(1) by coming out in unity, without any political backdrop, but as citizen like in Australia.
(2) by creating more awareness on ethnicity and culture right at the ground levels. Here, media would play a big role.
(3) To remind the relevant authorities as citizens about their duties on Racism control and Human rights. Also working along with agencies and organizations (NGOs) by sparing some of our time and energy towards this cause.
(4) Treat a lower strata person with equal respect and dignity (servant, cab driver, beggar, urchins, call centre cold callers etc)
(5) The movie “American History X” left me with a single line learning which I would repeat – Life is too short to get pissed !