Waking down my music memory lane

 ( This is a self indulgent walk down memory lane which you might have no interest in - feel free not to proceed further ).

I enjoy listening to all kinds of music,with the exception of  Western classical. I like rock, blues, jazz, country, folk, gospel, blues , country , blue grass,sufi, quali, and some Bollywood numbers. I rarely listen  to the modern rock groups or rap singers as they all appear to deliver the lines  in the  same monotonous style . Even singers such as Usher seems to sing all his songs in the same style. If you have heard one you have heard them all.

My earliest memories of listening to music was that of Elvis Presley ,Cliff Richard and Ricky Nelson while in middle school in Rangoon. Even better was seeing Elvis in movies such as Jailhouse Rock and  King Creole.The school which I attended required us to go to the chapel twice a week where we sang  hymns and other songs which I found out much later were American gospel. While I mouthed the words ( since I am close to  tone deaf) , I did develop a liking for gospel music which surfaced again when I went to the United States in the early seventies.

It was the early sixties and soon after the Beatles phenomenon started. I remember that my father brought me the full set of the Beatles albums from London in sixty-four or sixty five. Must have listened to the Hard Days Night, Please Please Me and the others over and over again.  Apart from Elvis, most of the exposure till then was to the British pop stars. In high school and undergraduate school,  the list broadened  to include Jimmi Hendrix, The Doors, Steppenwolf, Ike and Tina Turner, Rolling Stones and some  esoteric names such as Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass which for some reason was quite popular in Chandigarh. In 1970 my brother went to London and came back with a modern turn table, amplifier ,stereo speakers and  a couple of dozen albums. Among others they included names such as The Grand Funk Railroad, Isaac Hayes ( of Hot Buttered Soul fame ), two Canadian groups, The Guess Who,The Band  and other names which we had never heard of . I became very popular and almost every evening our living room converted into a informal music room with friends listening to this extremely loud music. Fortunately my mother was very tolerant . My Grandmother who was in her eighties would occasionally  sit in a corner seat with an amused look on her face.  The Guess Who ( and their American Woman ) is still  on my all time list of my all time favorite albums.

In Dallas in my first year year at graduate school, I bought a really cheap music system and remembered one of  my favorite albums was  Carole King's Tapestry. A year later I attended my first open air  live rock concert  by The Grateful Dead  in a open air stadium on one of the coldest days ever in Phoenix. That however did not stop the Deadheads from having a good time. People were smoking grass, some discreetly sniffing coke, a lot of them stripped to the waist and some totally naked . It was quite a experience. While I do not mind their music, I am not a particularly big fan of theirs.

After finishing graduate school I ended up job hunting in  Los Angeles. I stayed  in Westwood Village across the street  from UCLA. In between sending out my job applications to kill time I would hang around the book and record stores. Since funds were limited, I would always sort through  the bargain  bins and pick up blues recordings such as  Muddy Waters, Memphis Slim, Lightning Hopkins, John Lee Hooker  and BB King with his electric guitar.Also gospel singers such as Mahalia Jackson , Aretha Franklin and The Staple Singers.

I would also visit  the UCLA campus and remember a particularly memorable performance by the New Orleans Preservation Hall Jazz Band. The players were mostly in their seventies and eighties,but it was a joy to see them perform as  they really seemed to have such a good time playing.They came into the aisles and got everyone on their feet.That was my first exposure to jazz. I saw the band again  in Hong Kong in the late eighties.Recently watching a TV series Treme', I was pleased to see the Band is still around but obviously must be a newer generation.

In the late seventies Jean Michel Jarre came to Hong Kong . According to Wikipedia he is" a pioneer in the electronic, ambient and new-age  genres, and known as an organizer of outdoor spectacles  of his music featuring lights, laser displays and fireworks."There were no fireworks in the indoors  Hong Kong show, but it was quite a performance overall.I was fascinated.However these days at weddings when I walk by or pop my in head to the party after party for the younger generation and hear the techno music, I do not find it appealing.

To me the hey days of modern music was from the fifties to the early eighties. My favorites both solo and bands are mentioned  below .I have tried to analyze my preference for these singers and have come to the conclusion its because of the variety of their musical styles. Its not just straight rock and roll. You have a mixture of rock & roll, you have blues, you have ballads, and occasionally you might have a hint of rap . Their chameleon like ability to change and adapt is what makes them most interesting.

Unsurprisingly in my mind the best band was the Beatles. They took the traditional rock  & roll and as they themselves got exposed to the world their music changed as well.  They experimented with the sitar, they added orchestra . Their Sergeant Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band was supposedly under the influence of drugs.Their lyrics were original and amazing,  not just about love and broken hearts or blues. Their creativity and their gradual widening interests showed in their solo albums with George Harrison and John Lennon going down different paths, whereas Paul McCartney  sticking to his " silly love songs" but which are still loved .While Bob Dylan's lyrics are interesting, his monotonous nasal delivery can be boring after a few songs unlike the Beatles who you can hear all day long. 

The other bands ( or solo artists with back ups ) which I like are The Doors,Queen, Prince  and Micheal Jackson. I found The Doors fascinating because their music and lyrics were so different. Jim Morrison  the Lizard King was such a different performer and was the soul of the band.Queen's music was also so varied with Freddie Mercury at the center of it all. I like some of Micheal Jackson's later years performance. In the early  nineties as my children were growing up, we went to a live concert in Singapore. He was a incredible performer.The Who could be classified as great performers specially with Pete Townshend's guitar smashing act, but their music never appealed to me. I remember taking my ten year old son to their Rock Opera Tommy in London, but have to admit wanted to leave after about 30 minutes.

Among the female  singers apart from Carole King, Judy Collins and Joan Baez are names are I like. I love Judy Collins Amazing Grace being sung without any music backing her .Her voice is just fascinating. Sheila Chandra is another person who I have heard singing without any musical back up.

 There are numerous others  in all categories such as Simon & Garfunkel, Peter,Paul & Mary, John Denver, Check Berry, Ray Charles, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Otis Redding, Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff, Harry Belafonte, Tom Jones, Englebert Humperdinck, ( I could keep going on ) whom I enjoy listening even though they might not fall in the category of favorites.

With regards to South Asian music ( broadly including Bollywood, bhangra, quali's ghazals. sufi etc ), I enjoy it all. The Bollywood actors /actresses were way ahead of some of the recent rock stars in terms of lip synching, but there some songs which I remember Mera Joota Hai Japane, Budha Mil Geya,Junglee, Eena Meen Dikka, Tere Ghar ke Samne. Nowadays of course ever movie has to have a hip shaking , bosom heaving "item number " which are titillating and extremely peppy.

I remember taking some Punjabi records by Ramta for my  host family in Dallas. While not understanding the words they loved the bhangra beat. Today's bhangra interpretation seem to have a even faster beat. In the mid-nineties,I was introduced to sufi/quali's at a dinner at a Citibank Pakistani colleague The first time I heard Nusrat  Fateh Ali Khan, Sabri Brothers and others for the first time and immediately  went and got their CD's.

My music collection started with long term playing records( I still have a case full  in my store room ). I then replaced them with cassettes and starting in the nineties, replaced them again with CD's. I have drawers full of music CD's. Now of course with the continuing change in technology, I find that I no longer need to buy and build up a library. Streaming music sites such as Spotify for a  nominal charge per month, will stream my favorite music any time  I want.

I shut my musical clock in the eighties . Perhaps there some present day  groups,bands, singers whose music is just as good as the ones I like, but like older people I feel its not as good as when we were young. 

India - The Ironies

This is part of a chain letter forwarded to me by a friend. It is so true that I could not resist reproducing it here.I do not know who the author is?

________________________________________________

Its dangerous to talk to strangers but it's okay to marry one!

You have to look both ways to cross a one way street!

Its okay to piss in public but not okay to kiss in public!

Everyone’s in a hurry, But no one reaches on time!

Priyanka Chopra made more money playing Mary Kom than Mary Kom made in her entire career!

Swear in English and people think you are cool , Swear in Hindi and people think you are uncouth!

Most people who fight over the Gita and Quran have probably never read either book!

In our election we don’t vote for the candidate we like the most, We vote for the one we dislike the least!

Ours is a country where sayings like ‘ladki ghar ki Laxmi hai, ladki baap ka bojh hain‘’ coexist!

We’d rather spend more on our daughter’s wedding than on their education!

The shoes we wear are sold in air conditioned showrooms and the vegetables we eat are sold on the footpath!

You need to have studied till 8 th class to become a peon, you don’t need any educational qualification to run the country!!

Thoughts on dying

In his book The Tibetan Art of Living & Dying, the author  Sogyal Rinpoche, relates an incident in 1976 when he was visiting New York, with his teacher Dujom Rinpoche.

A middle aged American woman suffering from a terminal illness came to see them . She cried" My doctor has given me only a few months to live. Can you help me ? I am dying"

To her surprise, Lama Rinpoche began to chuckle. Then he said quietly:"You see, we are all dying . Its only a matter of time. Some of us just die sooner than others" 

With these few words, he helped her to see the universality of death.... this eased her anxiety.

In my last blog I mentioned about the recent deaths in our immediate family . That gets you to start thinking about your mortality. Much as we hate to talk or think about it, the fact is that we are all going to die.

Most people  fear death. I am not sure if that is because we worry that death might not come easy and that we might have to suffer for a long period or because it might come so sudden that we are not prepared for it. Or perhaps deep within us there is unspoken fear of the unknown. What happens when we die ?  Will we go to heaven or hell ? Will we be reborn in another form ?

Different religions have differing  views about what happens after death. With a view to ensuring that you live a good decent life in harmony with your friends, fellows, colleagues and strangers, most religions tend to pressure you. Some by the concept of heaven and hell. Others by telling you that you will be re-born, as a person, or some other living form until you live the life in which you do good deeds and  which ultimately  helps you escape the cycle.  

While I understand the need for people to live harmoniously and in a broad sense follow the Ten Commandments or its equivalent in other religions, it is difficult to accept  God as Big Brother or Santa Claus keeping an eye on you twenty four seven , to see if you have been good or bad ? Instead of not  getting presents you get assigned to purgatory and continue to burn for eternity and have the devil sticking his pitchfork into you to turn you over to ensure that you are getting roasted evenly. The other alternative is for you is to be  re-born again and again , sometimes in different forms and continue to  suffer until you rack up all the x's and win the lottery ticket to enlightenment.

If these menu of choices of life after death are indeed true I can picture Stalin  or Mao, or Hitler or Pol Pot  and numerous others in history who were responsible for the death of hundreds of thousand if not millions of people, all meeting their just deserts. However in the case of some of these people, and some still presently living, life before and after death got reversed. Mao and Stalin died in bed. Hitler and Pol Pot are believed to have committed suicide. During their regime people did not have to die, they suffered hell on earth whereas these dictators all lived in  luxury. The victims saw hell and their tormentors saw heaven on earth.

There is  a television show Persons of Interest  which I enjoy seeing,  where a bank of computers through the various CCTV cameras scattered all over the country monitor the citizens. Its complex algorithms are able to predict whether a crime is about to be committed and the star of the show rushes to prevent it. Another variation of that was the movie Minority Report with Tom Cruise. If in the future this comes true,  as it has in some other science fiction stories, then hell is going to be a lonely place and heaven running out of space,  because no crimes or by extension sins will be committed.

As a simple layman and not understanding complex theological thoughts, one wonders about the  question of re-birth .Since most religions do not appear to accept the concept of evolution, I wonder how the re-birth theory works out with the ever increasing population. It should  be a zero sum game.

Looking at increasing scientific discoveries being made in terms of cloning if the governments permitted, some scientist will eventually be able to clone human beings. If Dolly the sheep, why not John the human ? Difficult to understand how theological  theory  reconciles with science which is now  in the early stages of growing human organs in laboratories. Presently organ transplant is restricted to taking donated organs replacing non-functioning organs including  the human heart.How does re-birth work here ? In some religions it is the soul which is considered eternal not the physical body. Where does the soul reside ?

As is often been said and written about, no matter what you think about your role in life and even within your family, realistically you will be surprised to find out how quickly you are forgotten. The minute you stop breathing you are no longer  a he or she, you  become a it or the body.

From a personal point of view, if your death comes after a certain age, say over seventy five years, it should be a cause of celebration for two reasons. If your death is sudden and unexpected, what more can you ask for ?You have lived to a good old age of seventy five and you died without suffering. In my mind you are blessed.  On the other hand if you die after a long illness, should the family not be relieved that the suffering has finally ended ?

"Ashes to ashes , dust to dust "  from the Anglican Burial Service is a phrase I have read and seen in movie burial scenes. Having been to some cremations and the immersion of ashes, I am finally beginning to understand the phrase. I am perhaps taking it too literally, but reality hits you when you see a person who is active one day and next day he/she is reduced to a bag of ashes. 

On Growing Old

In a few weeks time I will be sixty five.

Over the last decade I have gone from being middle-aged to senior citizen.My son says I am greying gracefully as my hair is now salt and pepper. Sometimes when I am at a social function and the question of age comes up, I am told that "its hard to believe". I normally take it as a flattering comment. It just occurred to me  that perhaps the person  meant that I look as if I am in my  eighties and was surprised to find out  that I was much younger. I will however give myself the benefit of the doubt and take it as a compliment. This is of course contradicted increasingly by the  forty year old parking car attendant or some similar aged person calling me "uncle ji "  Perhaps when my hair goes all white the I will graduate to "bau ji ".

We were abroad for a long period and  were away from our family.We missed the illnesses, deaths in our families and tended to be more casual about reaching out to friends and relatives.We did not quite appreciate how in India friends and family circle together at time of stress.Over the last few years we are gradually  beginning to see the fading of our parents generation.There have been  a number of deaths in our immediate family. We had relatives and friends who we had not seen for decades and friends with whom we had lost touch with getting in touch and in some cases showing up at the memorial services.This made us realize how lax we have been in terms of maintaining our relationships.

Frequently these days when we get together with friends and cousins,the conversation inevitably  turns to health, illness and similar issues.We exchange notes about specialist doctors-who is good and who to avoid? When the need arises and where we know the practitioner concerned, we make introductions to ensure personal attention is given.

On a more cheerful note since a lot of our friends have children who are working or settled abroad , we travel and share experiences and talk about our children ( and in some cases grandchildren).

 Increasingly we find our friends going off on cruises to the  Artic, Antartic and other exotic places.That has never appealed to me.I dread the cold and the  idea of being cooped up on a boat no matter how big it is , and having to socialize and make small talk to strangers.Even when we are at a social function with a large number of guests I hesitate to go around introducing myself. At my age I am quite contented with the circle of friends I have and do not see the need to network.

Because of my past health problems, I have to be careful about my diet which  is becoming a challenge. Until my early fifties I could walk away from desserts after dinner. Now to say no to a bowl of ice cream or a slice of apple pie, requires a sharp look from my wife. When we are on holiday with the children I often get reminded that  what I am about to eat is not good for me .Woody Allen got it right when he said " You can live to be a hundred if you give up all the things that make you want to live to be a hundred ".

 It is interesting how your relationship with your children changes as they become independent and you get older. The roles get equal if not reversed. Instead of me telling my daughter to eat her broccoli I get told that vegetables are good for me and I should finish whats on my plate. I remember a few years ago on a family  holiday we had a discussion about my  need to pay more attention to my diet. We then  went down and I ordered a steak. I got a earful from my son.It was then I realized that roles were starting to change. How the wheel turns.

As I grow older I am reminded of  an incident during my Citibank Hong Kong days when I was in my  mid-twenties.I had just returned from a customer call. My boss asked me" How did it go?"  My response was " It was ok. He was a oldish guy  in his forties ". My boss  who was a natty dresser immediately preened himself and responded " My friend forties is not old ". It is now my turn and  I often quote a line from an article that "sixties is the new forties". After all look at Mick Jagger and Tina Turner, now in the seventies still cavorting wildly  on stage. Watching their performance on television, you fear they might clutch their hearts while the band is playing " another one bites the dust ".

I have to confess I feel no different mentally than when I was in my forties. Physically I might feel a bit tired then when I was younger. Of course this also works to my advantage when I do not  want to go somewhere.The excuse is I am tired or I need to rest. People tend to be understanding. 

A Guatemalan proverb best describes my thoughts on growing old " Everyone is the age of their heart."At heart I am still forty. Now if I could only have a bowl of  Haagen Dazs cookies and cream.

Spectator sports and balls

 For the last two months,you could not have picked up a newspaper or switched on a news channel without being inundated about the Soccer World Cup  or the Wimbledon. Billions of dollars  were spent on organizing, training and advertising on these events.

 In ancient times emphasis was on man's ability to run, throw, wrestle and compete on a one to one basis. The only team sport was going to war with each other. 

The  exception was racing horses which still continues to date. Horses in chariot races have been replaced by horsepower in Formula 1. 

For what ever reason the majority of spectator sports which attract the maximum viewership these days center round balls. Difficult to explain why this obsession with balls, perhaps because of its ability to roll across different terrains.

Golf - where men and women  go around hitting hard balls with curved  steel sticks .

Tennis - where two opponents whack a bouncing ball across with all their might. and within a constrained area.

Soccer - the mother of all sports in terms of viewership, where two teams go kicking a air filled hand sewn leather ball from one end of a field to the other and then shoot it through a rectangular bar .

Cricket - played in a large circular field rather like a Roman arena but played in a more gentlemanly manner.
In this game the batsmen tries to whack a hard ball thrown at him.

Rugby/Football  - a slight modification of  soccer, but which appears to be a rougher tougher version of pass the parcel. A oval shaped leather "ball" is tossed,thrown  and occasionally kicked across a field.

Basket ball - where grown up's bounce and toss a air filled rubber ball.

Hockey - where people using curved sticks hit a hard  ball from one end of the field to the other.

Ice Hockey - a variation of hockey played indoors and on ice. The ball is replaced with  a  puck made of vulcanized rubber which performs the same functions as a ball in ball games.

Volleyball - where you hit a air filled ball across a net using your hand instead of your feet. 

Yes you might have other sports such as badminton but in terms of viewer ship they do  not even come  close. 

The sports men  (or women) who can hit, kick, throw a ball are idolized and paid  huge sums  of money.Sports is a level playing field where your ability to manipulate a ball can take you out a slum to undreamt of riches. 

History Is Written Now, Not In The Future .

History is normally written by the conquerors, glorifying or justifying their actions, except in some  instances where you might find some isolated cases of dairies kept, or maybe decades or centuries later when some historian writes a unbiased version of what actually happened.

Historically Genghis Khan has been portrayed as a blood thirsty Mongol who came from Central Asia , conquered a large part of Asia , Middle East and near Europe. According to history, he killed, raped and pillaged towns and cities and left nothing but waste in his wake. He certainly did that , as did all conquerors in history up to the modern times including World War II.

A few years ago I read " Genghis Khan And The Making Of The Modern World " by Jack Weatherford. From his book  you come to realize the other side of Genghis Khan. How he brought about an "unprecedented rise in cultural communication, expanded trade, and a blossoming of civilization. Vastly more progressive than his European or Asian counterparts, Genghis Khan abolished torture, granted universal religious freedom, and smashed feudal systems of aristocratic privilege." He first put in place the early stages of globalization . He took the best skills and practices from the lands he conquered and spread them through his empire to make these uniform practices. He encouraged trade and  implemented centralized  administrative systems to enable him to manage his empire. You never hear about all this whenever there is mention of Genghis Khan, because Western literature always portrayed him and his tribe as wild, fanatical , blood thirsty lot. 

Since the end of World War II, most of what you hear was the atrocities committed by the Germans and the Japanese, most of which is true. But the history of World War II ends there. A new book " Year Zero : the History of 1945 " by Ian Buruma which I have just finished reading presents the other side of the coin. It  goes into depth the crimes committed after World War II by the liberators or who closed their eyes or tacitly encouraged the killing, raping and looting of citizens or people who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Most history books about the war mention very little about the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people  all over Europe or in Asia, including China .These were done secretly and bodies buried in unmarked mass graves.The people who were killed were not just traitors, or collaborators, but in some Jews or communists who managed to survive the concentration camps, but who were killed later.

In Europe and  in other parts of the world, the conquerors or the colonialists who left behind enclaves such as Germans in Poland who had been there for decades or in some cases for generations, were targeted. Similarly the hundreds of thousands of Japanese who had been settled in Manchuria.In other instances the reasons for killing were to loot , exploit or to take over the wealth or property by extermination. With Russia being a major party in the group of Allies, they managed to carve out territories which came and remained under their sphere of influence long after the war ended. They  went on a killing spree.One of the many example given in the book was the killing of the Cossacks. Apparently in the Russian Civil War, the Cossacks had fought against the Communists and when the latter took control, their lands were forfeited. During the war some of the Cossacks had sided with the Germans to regain their lands. When the war ended the British, knowing what their fate would be, effectively handed over a large group of Cossacks to the Russian, who exterminated them. In other parts of Europe it was the other way round where suspected communists were hounded and killed. 

The other example of history being distorted was by the British in India. You can read about how the British ruled India and everybody lived peacefully, but no sooner had the British left it was portrayed as to how the Hindu's, Sikhs and Muslims were at each other and millions of people killed. The fact is that the British a few years before depature tacitly encouraged the Muslims to create their own homelands by portraying how they would be a minority group in the newly independent India. According to Wikipedia, on June 3rd Lord Mountbatten , the last Viceroy of India announced June 3rd the creation of the two dominions with the date of India' independence being set for August 15th, a mere 10 weeks later. At the time of independence the British brought in a bureaucrat,Sir Cyril Radcliffe  who was given a mere 5 weeks to divide the country into three parts, India, East and West Pakistan, with total disregard of the history,culture and relationship of the people concerned. This led to about 14.5 million - the largest migration in history-  of people moving from Indian to Pakistan and the other way around. Because of the religious bogey, killings tantamount to ethnic cleansing took place on both sides of the borders in  which hundreds of thousands of men, women and children were killed.While the Holocaust still draws attention the Partition, other than for  the the people in the sub-continent, is a closed book and is generally portrayed in the west as the fanatical Hindu's and Muslims running  amok, killing each other, once the British left.

Things started to change with cinema and television, but there again the governments were able to control the medium and showed the version which they wanted to be seen. Apparently the American government saw fit to show the horrors of the concentration camps, but chose not to show the devastation caused by the atomic explosions over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 

Its only in the last two decades with the arrival of the internet that things started changing. This has now been accelerated with the  mobile phones. Social media now immediately transmits the vivid images of violence instantly in spite of the best efforts of  the governments to try and  stop them.

As a result  history is now being written on the run rather than in the future when it is all done and dusted, and the winner decides how he wants to present it. The Arab spring in Egypt and in other hot spots are the best examples of history now. The rulers try their best to block it , but are as successful as King Canute was in  trying to hold back the tide. The new media presents history as it happens, the good , the bad and the ugly not a sanitized version of what the governments want you to see.

The Difference Between the United Kingdom vs the United States

Today's Financial Times had a column by Janan Ganesh who writes regularly on the British political scene.His column today was appropriately  headed " Britain Loudmouth Literary Crowd" in which he tore apart a column by a British writer of children's books amongst with  titles such as   You’re Thinking About Doughnuts" and "Little Rabbit Foo Foo". Rosen had written a open letter questioning Javid's credentials for being appointed the Secretary of State for Culture, Media, & Sport. Prior to that  Javid was the Economic Secretary and Financial Secretary to the Treasury. The reason apparently for Rosen's ire is not because Javid, a son of a immigrant Pakistani bus driver, is because he is not an  artist or been involved in art or culture organizations,and also because  he was a very successful investment banker at Deutsche Bank, which he gave up to become a Member of Parliament..

That is the difference between the UK and the United States.In America he would have been lauded for rising from such humble beginnings, and giving up a successful career to serve his country. Most ministers in almost every country do not come from the profession for  the constituency they take on when they join the government. I wonder how many former Ministers of Health have  medical training or for that matter Ministers of Education have been academics and so on.

Unfortunately in this case it smacks of the the resentment that this rich successful investment banker is now going to decide how much of a subsidy the likes of Rosen and his ilk receive. Among his mandate is to manage the budgetary allocation including the necessary cuts which are necessary to manage the deficits and the financials for the future generations. Surely his financial experience will help him do this.

In the United Kingdom it is impolite to talk about wealth, but dig below the surface and you will find that politicians and minor royals always have their hands out , at times from questionable partners. The recent reluctance to impose serious sanctions against the Russia is yet another example of the British turning a blind eye to the human rights because it might affect their bread and butter. The United States has no qualms of doing this. England continues to offer sanctuary to former dictators and corrupt rulers.

At least with the Americans you do not have this hypocrisy. They make money and are not shy about displaying it. The American billionaires are among the largest donors for philanthropic causes around the world. I would like to be able to name one or two British billionaires who have followed Bill Gates or Warren Buffet's example. You might have a long search. 

Election Day

For the first time in my life I voted yesterday.Contrary to what I had expected, it was totally painless and took less than ten minutes  Since this is the first election in which I am participating, I have been watching the process with keen interest. The results are expected in mid-May.

Since late last year we have all been inundated with news, advertisements , emails  sms, about the various parties and candidates. There have been  accusations, charges, innuendos, scandals galore.All  parties are making different pitches to differentiate themselves.

The grand old party as Congress is often referred to, appears to be a cross road. To paraphrase a line from Twelve Night , the reluctant heir having " greatness thrust upon him " is manfully rolling up his sleeves and making a go at it. You get the feeling that he would rather be partying at the night clubs at Ibiza where they are supposed to be playing Bollywood music. For the viewer listening to his speeches, it is confusing to hear him saying that  "we have to start empowering women, we have to start cleaning up corruption"  etc. While we realize that he might be living in a bubble, is he in a time wrap ? Congress has been ruling for ten years. As we saw from the Lokpal Bill incident, all he had to do was to come out publicly in support and like Moses parted the opposing members in his party and the bill  presented to the Parliament within days.The sycophants who had earlier opposed the bill,  changed their colors faster than a chameleon.  So why did  he not do the same for corruption and women empowerment  earlier on ?

The Congress party talks about cleaning up corruption, but due to political expediency does not hesitate to nominate candidates with spotty records. It talks about communalism and their leader has acknowledged that there were Congress party members participated  in the killing of the Sikhs in Delhi and these people are still regarded as senior leaders and given important assignments in the party.

Based on their priorities and public actions of  of senior Congress leaders, their game plan appears to be to open the money taps  in the form of subsidies,  and promise jobs by reserving quota's.In the process reputable  established institutions  are being destroyed by the induction of candidates who are not qualified but who are selected based on their religion or caste.They continue to wave the secularization flag as if only the Congress has the patent rights to it.

In anticipation of being able to garner the votes of the party pushing for  the creation of the Telegana state, the government pushed through the bifurcation of  the state of  Andhra Pradesh. Unfortunately the Telegana party turned out to be an Indian giver ( pun intended ) by taking back  its commitment.Most of its alliance partners have started walking away from them, except for those who have no choice as they are not large enough to be effective or who cannot find other partners. 

Across the street, the main opposition party  BJP is going through a churn . It is being usurped by the Gujarat Chief Minister. Its advertisements do not talk about the  Bharatiya  Janata Partty government, but the Modi  government. The candidate says you are voting for me as if he is the personal candidate from all the constituencies across India.

Unfortunately BJP and the candidate himself  cannot seem to get rid of the impression that it is communal and does not regard all communities to be equal. While there some in the Muslim community who are willing to give Modi a chance, a large segment still holds him personally responsible for the Gujarat riots during which a large number of Muslims were killed.  

Similar to Rahul Gandhi who is trying to remake the Congress , Modi is in the process of shaking up the BJP, but more effectively and with a iron fist . As is often reported  in the media, he is shaking up the Delhi club if not destroying it. The so called Delhi club consists of Delhi based politicians a lot of whom come from a certain class.There are certain unofficial rules such as you will not go after the children or other family members. While on television and the newspaper they vociferously criticize each other, in the evenings they socialize together and exchange gossip and favours. They all know where the bodies are buried in the opposition camp, but follow the protocol unless it is totally out of line.

Na Mo as Narendra Modi is often referred to, is changing this. He is not running the campaign out of the Delhi .He is not hesitant about mocking Rahul Gandhi or Sonia Gandhi. The latter on the other hand gives as good as she gets, accusing Modi of sowing seeds of communal unrest, but using a deadly term by referring to it as the sowing of poisonous seeds.  Na Mo is in the process of sidelining the old guard of the BJP who in spite of being their late seventies and eighties refuse to go gracefully. At present the force (and Rashtirya Swayamsevak Sangh) are with Modi and the old timers are stepping or being pushed  aside.As in the case of Congress the BJP talks about getting rid of corruption as one of their top priorities , yet do not hesitate to partner with regional parties with tainted reputations.

Corporate India appears to be solidly behind Modi. They believe that he will remove the obstacles and get the economy moving.The general consensus appears to be that based on its track record,  the Modi government (rather than the BJP government) will focus on the infrastructure ( roads, power,ports, rails etc), remove roadblocks in terms of approvals and put the economy back on the fast track. Congress however questions the actual growth and economic development to which Modi lays claim.

Modi's ability to operate will be dependent on the number of seats the BJP wins under its own banner rather the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) - a grouping of the smaller regional parties. If their numbers are strong, the concern is that Modi will steam roll and be it will be my way or the high way.

The other party which burst on to the  political scene like a firecracker, the Aam Admi Party ( AAP) initially caught everyone's imagination. Its focus on austerity, good governance and removing corruption resonated with the working  and the middle class. They effectively decimated the Congress in the Delhi state elections.

After swearing on his children's heads that he would not team up with any other party, he accepted "outside"support from the Congress. However after forty nine days with one incident after another, he resigned. While he argued that it was a matter of principle, it is widely perceived that it was an admission that he was not able to govern. While he initially had a huge amount of goodwill among the working class and the middle class he appears to have dissipated a lot of it, at least among the middle class.

Unlike Congress and the BJP, not having a large campaign war chest for advertising, he kept lobbying political hand grenades and running a guerrilla campaign by making charges and claims against prominent business figures or politicians, which got him the attention in the media without paying for it. However of late,because of his insistence of not wanting personal security, he has had his face blackened, eggs thrown at him and slapped a few times. This certainly gets him the media attention but probably not the kind he had been hoping for.

Then you have  the others - the Third, Fourth or Five Front .A grouping of the regional parties from various states  such as Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Bihar and  Odisha, where individually and combined they control a large number of seats.In the case of either BJP or Congress not getting a majority,emerge as king makers. However most of them have made no secret of their desire to become Prime Minister. So for the sake of the country one hopes that one of the above two makes a strong showing. According to the pollsters and bookies it is likely to be a Modi government, however two elections previously when India was supposedly shining under the BJP government, the people surprised them and voted in the Congress.

No matter what the results are , it will be interesting to speculate as to what will happen to the major players.
If Congress does not make a strong showing, what will happen to Rahul Gandhi since this is supposed to be his campaign ? Probably nothing , although clamor has started  for his sister Priyanka to play a more prominent role. The main issue for the Congress is that it is the Gandhi family is the glue which holds the party together. Without them the party will disintegrate. There is no other central figure. So expect to see a Gandhi at the helm of the party for the foreseeable future.

If BJP does not get a significant number of seats to be able to form a government ( with a little help from their friends),will that be the end  of Modi's political career ? Difficult to say. He has come a long way and now has a  strong grip over the party. However if he does not deliver, there will attempts to dislodge him.

If Kejriwal's party is unable to get more then five to ten seats, Aam Admi will be considered a shooting star which flamed out, which will be a shame. The masses had great expectation but as it happens so often Kejriwal overdosed on the  power aphrodisiac. He should have heeded the words of the American Archbishop Fulton J.Sheen

"Patience is power.
Patience is not an absence of action;
rather it is "timing"
it waits on the right time to act,
for the  right principles
and in the right way"

If he had the patience he could have changed the political land scape of the country. What a pity that he was in too much of a hurry.

.........................................................................................

India never ceases to amaze, while most of the time it is on the negative side there are times when you shake your head and say, if we can do this why is the country not doing better ?

The Election Commission has a gigantic task of organizing the election across the length and breath of the nation. It needs to have the infrastructure  in place to enable the eligible 814 million to vote.Apparently the Elections Commission has to ensure that no voter has to walk more than 1.5 kilometers from his door step to vote.This places a huge burden on the logistics especially areas where there are no proper roads.

Speaking of my own experience everything worked like a well-oiled machine. About two years ago people came to our residential complex to register those who had not done so ( my wife and myself ). Starting a few months ago, you could log on their website , punch in your voting card number to determine the location of your polling both. The website is well designed and unlike other Government websites we had no problem at all trying to locate the necessary information. A few months ago the representatives from the Commission visited the complex again and you could ensure that you were registered and all the information details were correct. About two weeks, we received our elections slips which showed the location of the booths where we had to go.

In our enthusiasm we showed up at around 8:30 am . The voting slips were checked, we were required to sign a register, our left forefinger was marked with a indelible ink. We cast our vote and were out of the polling station in less than ten minutes from the time we arrived.

Like the Kumbh mela we organize these most complex logistical problems, and yet we cannot maintain our roads, keep our drains clean , improve our traffic flow.  The only conclusion you have to come to is that the individuals ( bureaucrats, politicians ) driven by corruption ensure that  things do not work smoothly to line their pockets.

I hope and pray that the new government ( regardless whether it is BJP, Congress, AAP or the Third Front ) surprises us and ensures that things work. I look forward to that day.

My Religion My Faith

Religion never used to interest me. However, I have recently been reading a book " No God But God " by Reza  Aslan. While the book itself is fascinating what caught my attention was his definition of Religion. He says

"Religion ......is not about faith. It is the story of faith. It is a institutionalized system of symbols and metaphors (read rituals and myths) that provides a common language with which a community of faith can share with each other their numinous encounter with the Divine Presence.

In my view it very succinctly summaries what  religion should be, but that is not what it  has become.It should be to communally observe certain rules of society and share their encounters with the Divine Presence.

But regretfully religion has been hi-jacked by  minders in the form of priests, mullahs, pundits, Brahmins  and bhai ji's. All along they have led the common folk to believe that religion was too complex for the common man to understand and that they were the only ones who could interpret it. With increased media coverage and transparency,  we are seeing examples of how these people have exploited the system for their own gratification, which ranges from sexual, financial to power and control.

This has lead me to think about my self , what I believe in and what do I have faith in ?

I was born a Sikh. When we were young my Father, who was active in the Sikh community in Rangoon,  made it a point to take us to the Sikh gurudwara (temple)  most Sundays. However it was more of a social event for us children. While the elders listened to the kirtan and the sermons by the bhai ji's , we kids were outside playing , buying toys and eating ice cream from vendors who would gather there.

My formal education began in the Khalsa (Sikh) primary school. The principal was a  Anglo-Indian lady called Ms. Cooper. I do not remember any emphasis on religious education or even any attempt to teach Punjabi. The medium of instruction was English. Strangely enough my next school an International school run by the Methodist's  required us the visit the chapel a couple of times  every week and to sing hymns and American gospel songs. Back in India, I  finished my high school run by  the Irish Christian Brothers.I subsequently went to graduate school at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and stayed in the Theology School dormitory.  None of these schools had any religious  influence on me.

The closest thing to religion in which I participated  was having to recite the Japji Sahib while my Mother plaited my long hair into briads at the back of my head. This went on until I was about twelve and  started tying a turban.

 According to Wikipedia " Japji Sahib  is a universal sacred hymn about God composed by Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the founder of the Sikh faith. The Japji Sahib consists of the Mool Mantra as the beginning followed by 38 hymns and a final Salok at the end of this composition. The Japji appears at the very beginning of the Guru Granth Sahib, the Holy Book of the Sikhs. It is regarded as the most important Bani or 'set of verses' by the Sikhs and is recited every morning by all practising this faith.

I recited this every morning  without understanding a word and rattling it off as fast as I could,trying to see if I could finish it off before my Mother finished with my hair.As we entered our teens our visits to the gurudwara  got fewer , although we did have a prayer room at home and on certain days of the months we were required to attend and listen to the prayers being read. Also on every important occasion, birthdays, exam time, interviews and a special prayer or ardass would be read , requesting God to ensure our success.

Following my post-graduate studies in the United States I ended up in Hong Kong. For the first few years, on occasional  Sundays I would visit the gurudwara , more from a point of eating the langar ( the communal food ) and seeing if I could find others with a similar back ground and with whom I could socialize.

After my marriage and with our two children, our visits to the temple became less frequent, except when we visited India, when my Mother and my In-Laws would insist that we visit the gurudwara to offer a prayer of thanks.

As I grow older and start reading a bit more about other religions, I  have come to the conclusion that essentially all religions are the same. There is the ultimate belief in the concept of  one God, Supreme Being, Wahe Guru, Allah or what ever name you want to give it. All religions preach communal living and living in harmony. From a personal point of view I feel that religion is essentially  rules for society to live by. Look at the Ten Commandments. It is a set of rules which is observed by both Judaism and Christianity. According to Reza Islan , Islam incorporated some of the features of the Jewish religion  such as abstaining from eating pork, fasting on Friday.

I have come to recognize that the Sikh religion is probably one of the most enlightened. Its founder Guru Nanak Dev took aspects of of both Hinduism and Islam and the holy book the Guru Granth Sahib ( " the living Guru") contains hymns and sayings from both these religions. It does not stop people from any faiths( or caste,or gender ) entering or eating the communal food. All the gurudwara's in India and abroad are among the cleanest places of worship and almost all the maintenance work  is done by volunteers ( Seva) . All these temples have four entrances  symbolizing that it is open to all. It is not a proselytizing religion . Its religious programmes or its preachers do not  proscribe any hatred or dislike of any other religion or community. Its ceremonies are short and simple. Women are treated as equal and you will find Sikh women among the most emancipated.Even the Sikh names are unisex ? You will find a lot of boys and girls having the same name - such as Harjit, Simran, Manjeet or Jatinder.

Sikhism's beliefs are simple . Like all religions it believes in one God. Its rituals are minimum.

"Recitation of religious books, penance, religious discussions and all meditations,
The exposition of six schools of philosophy and Hindu ceremonial books,
The practice of yoga and the performance of religious rituals,
The abandonment of everything and wandering in forests,
The performance of many efforts of various types,
Alms giving, oblation to fire and bestowal of many jewels,
Cutting off the body into small pieces and making them an offering of fire,
The performance of fastings and vows of many varieties,
All these are not equal to the contemplation of Lord's Name".
(Guru Arjan, Ashtpadi, pg. 205)

 "One man shaves off and calls himself a sanyasin, another passes for a yogi or a celibate. One calls himself a Hindu, another a Turk, one a Shia, another a Sunni, ("another a Christian or a Buddhist" )but know ye, men all over are the same. He alone is the Creator of ("all" ) Hindus ,Muslims ("Christians or Buddhist"), the Compassionate One, the Allah, our great Giver: nay, know not another, for there is not another. So serve they all the One alone: for He the One is the only God of us all: it is His Form, His Light that is diffused in all." (Guru Gobind Singh, Kabitas 71-90, Akal Ustati)

 "The temple or the mosque are the same, the Hindu worship or the Musalman prayer are the same; all men are the same; it is through error they appear different. Deities, demons, Yakshas, heavenly singers, Musalmans and Hindus adopt the customary dress of their different countries. All men have the same eyes, the same ears, the same body, the same build, a compound of earth, air, fire, and water. All and Abhekh are the same, the Purans and the Quran are the same; they are all alike; it is the one God who created all. The Hindu God and the Muhammadan God are the same; let no man even by mistake suppose there is a difference." (Guru Gobind Singh, Akal Ustat, pg. 275)

Source: www.sikhs.org  Words in parentheses  are mine.

Having said that I am not a rigid practicing Sikh.I do not carry any of the five symbols associated with  Sikhism.These are the five K's. Kesh ( long hair /beard), Kanga ( comb to keep you hair tidy), Kirpan ( short dagger or sword ), Kara ( steel bangle ) and Kachera ( long drawers - I dont know if boxers would qualify?). These symbols to identify a Sikh from a distance were given by the last Guru Gobind Singh when the Sikhs took on the role of defending the Hindu's against persecution by the Mughal rulers.

While I am sure most Sikhs would disagree with me, perhaps these symbols were necessary at that point of time. I personally am not convinced that it is as relevant in today's world, but then it is up to the individual to decide. I still consider my self a Sikh and will be for the rest of my life.

I do believe in God or a Supreme Being  or a Wahe Guru to whom I utter a prayer at  times of stress or when I desperately want something  positive to happen.I do not go to the temple or make offerings. The one way communication could be when I am walking in the evening or when I am about to sleep or some other time when I am by myself. When my prayers are answered or something good happens, I quietly offer my thanks.While no saint, I do try to live a decent life within the constraints of the modern world.

I do not know whether my children and  their children will continue to be Sikhs (or follow any religion at all ), but hopefully they will keep a open mind and view Sikhism vs other religions and then decide for themselves.

On Most Parliaments

The following was sent to me by a friend.

This is so appropriate for most Parliaments in today's world ,
both of the emerging and the developed world.  

 Full text transcript of Oliver Cromwell's speech
 dissolving the Rump Parliament,delivered at 
London, England - April 20, 1653.

It is high time for me to put an end to your sitting in this place, which you have dishonored by your contempt of all virtue, and defiled by your practice of every vice.

Ye are a factious crew, and enemies to all good government. 

Ye are a pack of mercenary wretches, and would like Esau sell your country for a mess of pottage, and like Judas betray your God for a few pieces of money.

Is there a single virtue now remaining amongst you? Is there one vice you do not possess? 

Ye have no more religion than my horse. Gold is your God. Which of you have not bartered your conscience for bribes? Is there a man amongst you that has the least care for the good of the Commonwealth? 

Yes or did prostitutes have you not defiled this sacred place, and turned the Lord's temple into a den of thieves, by your immoral principles and wicked practices?

Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation. You were deputed here by the people to get grievances redressed, are yourselves become the greatest grievance.

Your country therefore calls upon me to cleanse this Augean stable, by putting a final period to your iniquitous proceedings in this House; and which by God's help, and the strength he has given me, I am now come to do.

I command ye therefore, upon the peril of your lives, to depart immediately out of this place.

Go,get you out! Make haste! Ye venal slaves be gone! So! Take away that shining bauble there, and lock up the doors.

In the name of God, go !



Thoughts for the day : 

Who  voted them in  ? 

Are they a reflection of the society we live in ?

Are they a reflection of ourselves ? 

India Elections Notes

The Indian Parliamentary and state elections for the majority of the states are just around the corner. Santa Claus has come early  in the garb of the political parties. They are all trying to out do themselves in terms of offering freebies whether it is in the form of subsidized cooking gas or waiver of outstanding dues or free lap tops or the I Pad copy cats.

As mentioned in my last blog, the BJP fired the opening salvo in gunning for the Congress party by accusing the Chief Minister of being corrupt. Rahul Gandhi in the meantime is going around the non-Congress states accusing their administration of siphoning funds allocated by the Center for welfare programmes. The enfant terrible of Indian politics the Aam Admi Party in its desire to outdo the establishment and to prove that it is serious about rooting out corruption, filed a First Information Report ( charge ) at the local police station in Delhi accusing the Oil Minister, some of the bureaucrats from the oil ministry and to top it all against one of the most prominent business tycoon Mukesh Ambani the Chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd.


The English twenty four hour news channels in the meantime breathlessly report " breaking news" every hour and starting around 7 pm, all have panel discussions. The panels consisting of representatives from the various political parties plus others are  harangued by the moderators who act as the prosecutor, the judge and the jury in making charges and trying to get the parties on the defensive. While accusations are hurled at all the parties, most of the time it is the Congress party representative who is put on the defensive trying to defend the comments made by Rahul Gandhi or one of the party leaders or why its own party members are trying to stop the Parliament from functioning. While some of the members try to brazen out by totally side stepping the issues, the others take on a self righteousness or condescending tone or being obnoxiously rude as was the case of the one of the former Congress minister. Invariably it all ends up in a shouting match with every body trying to out shout the other and brings the discussion to an end.


The two major pan-Indian political coalition parties are the ruling United Progressive Alliance dominated by the Congress party and the Bharitiya Janata Pary led National Democratic Alliance. The Aam Admi has ambitions and is planning to be nominate candidates from most major states. This will differentiate them  from the regional or state parties such as the Akali Dal, or the Samajawadi parties. Whether they succeed in doing so will be seen in  a few months time.


Since this is being seen as a Rahul Gandhi led Congress campaign  this time, it will be interesting to see what happens within the party if it does not perform well.This is increasingly becoming a personal election between Rahul Gandhi, Narendra Modi and the new kid on the block - Arvind Kejriwal nipping at their heels lobbying grenades or perhaps more appropriately stink bombs at the others and shouting if he does not get his way . From appearances it Congress after being in the saddle is increasingly running a defensive campaign with its main target being Narendra Modi personally rather than the BJP. Aam Admi's  Kejriwal appears to be  a firm  believer in the  maxim "there is no such thing as bad publicity" is in the news daily with some outrageous charge or accusation or complaint against the Central government. Narendra Modi in the meantime appears to be running a well organized juggernaut criss-crossing the countries hurling accusation against the Gandhi family , the Congress and the regional parties. The Aam Admi Party is not worthy of his attention and is totally disregarded.

The Greatest Show on Earth as the Indian elections are often  referred to is going to be on for the next few months. The fun, action and drama has just started. Stay glued to your seats.

Is 2014 going to be a free for all or the begining of a clean India ?

In my blog of October 28 " Looking at India Through a Glass Half Full " * I had expressed optimism that unlike the past ,  positive changes would happen in my lifetime. The recent win by  the Aam Admi Party "AAP", the passing of the Lokpal bill are signs of this happening. I now feel that 2014 would be the start of the cleansing of India. Unlike the past where a incoming government would blithely carry on with the perfidious activities of the  previous government and go through the motions of uncovering the corrupt activities, it was always business as usual. Within forty eight hours of its swearing in, the  AAP initiated actions in uncovering the perceived mis-deeds resulting in over charging  in the areas of water and electricity supply for the Delhi populous.

Interestingly enough the Bharitiya  Janata Party " BJP"  has gone public with corruption charges against the ruling Congress Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh. The BJP in doing so, perhaps has forgotten the Biblical quote of "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone"  It is now  going to be a matter of time before the Congress retaliates,  and throws dirt at some of the BJP party members.It is expected that AAP once it settles in will look into the major scandals such as the Commonwealth Games which were brushed under the carpet by the previous government. This will be just the start. 

The AAP has also emboldened the cleaner members of the bureaucracy to report the activities of their corrupt colleagues. A TV channel India Today interviewed a bureaucrat from the Delhi Jal ( Water ) Board who said that on a yearly basis , the Board spent close  to thirty million rupees on lunches for its senior management. That works out an astonishing amount of Rupees of Eighty two thousand per day. An amount large even by major  corporate standards.

The AAP has now set its target on going national prior to the Parliamentary elections in the second quarter of this year, with a focus on the urban areas where it feels it has the highest level of support. On a daily basis, it has hundreds of thousands of people joining up and contributing to their campaign funds. Some prominent corporate executives have also signed up. This is clearly a sign that the country is fed up with the two major parties, Congress and BJP.

While Congress has already felt the impact of the AAP wave , the Narendera Modi juggernaut might get derailed as well. If AAP wins a respectable number of seats in both the houses of Parliament, it also will result in bringing to an end the business-political nexus and make the business environment more of a level playing field. Business houses for whom the ruling party did not matter, because they took care of both sides will find AAP a tougher nut to crack.

If  the AAP is successful in achieving its goal for the elections, combined with the Supreme Court decision on convicted criminals not being able to serve in the legislature, the Right To Information , the Lokpal ( even in its diluted form ), you will see India changing. As a citizen I am looking forward to the next few years.


* http://avib-randomthoughts.blogspot.in/2013_10_01_archive.html