Super Hit?

Last week, I had written about corruption and how recent studies on organization behaviour can be used to tackle this menace. And it was pure coincidence that the only Kannada movie that I happened to watch during my month’s stay in Bangalore happened to be on corruption. I was really amazed by the way the movie had been made. If you understand Kannada or have even a little affinity and time to watch a movie, then I suggest that you watch this movie. Everything about the movie is well thought of and well made. I agree that it is overly done in parts and some parts are hard to follow if you haven’t followed the lead protagonist’s earlier movies. But even with all these, the movie still wins because of the style, presentation and the ultimate message it gives out.

Let us start from the title of the movie. Here is the title of the movie as it appears:

Confused? Interested? Amused? Well, you should be. Who makes movies with a title like this? Is this some sort of gimmick? Yes, it is. The movie marks the return of Upendra as director after a gap of 11 years and stars himself in the lead role. Upendra or Uppi as he is popularly called by his fans, has always used titles like these to arouse audience interest right from the word “go” and this movie is no different. In the past, the movies which he has directed have had single letter /single syllable titles like “A”, “OM”, “SHH”, etc and the last movie he directed had his name, ie, “Upendra” as the title. So, his return to direction after a long gap demanded yet another landmark title and he dint disappoint. He just gave the above symbol and asked his fans or the audience to name it. So, what do we call this movie as? A mudra in pranayama? Brilliant? nice? Good? In the censor board’s certificate the movie title is recorded as “Super” and let us stick with that as of now.

Next, we move on to the screenplay and direction of the movie. Uppi is known for his mix up style of narration and use of flashback and fast forwards very notoriously in his movies. In fact, the movie “A” in which he starred himself as an hero had such complex flashbacks that people had to watch it almost 3-4 times to understand. It had the tagline “Srtictly for clever people only”. One more marketing gimmick, you’d say. But it worked to great effect. And he is also popular for shooting movies realistically. His movie “om” used real underworld dons from Bangalore and runs to packed houses in BengLoor theatres even today. So, the screenplay and direction of the movie Super too is on expected lines with story starting from ancient India, moving to 2030 and moving back and forth thereafter. Also famous in Uppi’s movies are his dialogues which are delivered breathlessly. I was left completely speechless by the way some of the dialogues and lyrics were written and delivered. Though people usually criticise him of using too many vulgar and double meaning dialogues, the smartness with which he does so has to be applauded. For instance, he calls the citizens of India “satprajas”. Now, satpraja in Sanskrit is a combination of two words “Sat”, meaning good and “praja” meaning “citizens”. In Kannada, the word “Sath” is also a verb which means “dead”. In a scene where he praises the citizens of the country sarcastically for being uncaring, he calls them “sath praja” with a clear gap between sath and praja (dead citizens). For an ardent admirer of usage of language, this was a treat.

The best part of the movie is the way in which Uppi links two concepts together. There is a story of India on one hand and there is the story of the female lead called Indira(for obvious reasons) on the other. The screenplay is so marvelous that the story of India and the story of Indira go hand in hand and have similar climaxes. In a scene where Indira is attempted to be raped, there is the parallel scene of politicians auctioning off the nation which is nothing but siphoning off all its dignity. In a scene where Indira blames the hero for everything wrong in her life, the people of India are shown to be blaming the politicians for everything wrong in their country and so on. The similarities are striking.

There are boring moments in the movie and places where Uppi’s trademark mannerisms come in to play. It might be too much to take for the class audience but this is just for the frontbenchers. If you haven’t watched a single Uppi movie till now, then there will be few moments where you can just sit back and keep munching pop corn without missing anything, but the first few moments and the last few moments are really worth a watch. Some of the parts give sadistic pleasure when the Whites are shown to do all menial jobs in India and the Indian rupee fetches 80 pounds. The India of 2030 with all super fast trains, excellent roads, world-class airports, etc makes you want to be there right away.

The final part of the movie is what inspired me to write this post as a sequel to the article on corruption. The solution presented is simple – give responsibility to the people rather than politicians. I don’t know if there is a system of governance in the world which does that but it could be called crude democracy. I am sure it has been thought of before. Along with giving responsibility to the people, the solution also emphasizes the point that everyone must know the value of their nation. In the movie, people come to know the exact value of their nation only when their areas are sold off for crores of rupees. It is only that everyone protest the auction and promise to take care of their surroundings themselves instead of the government. Instead of blaming the government, people start cleaning their roads regularly, water the plants on roadside, take up power projects, repair roads, etc. And when this happens, the India of our dreams automatically happens. Though the movie is really optimistic in predicting that this will happen by 2030, I feel this solution, if taken in its essence could be a powerful tool in bringing down the corruption in our nation. This is what the recent studies in organization behavior also indicate.

To summarise, I would say that the movie “super” is as good or if not better than any other movie in its genre like “Nayak”(Hindi), “Indian” (Tamil), “Anniyan”(Tamil), etc. The solution presented is also more realistic than some of the melodramatic Bollywood movies like “jadoo ki jhappi” and “gandhigiri” (I really wish this worked). It also portrays Uppi in a politically active mode which could be a part of his larger plan to enter active politics later. But, for the moment, if you want to enjoy a nice movie with a thought-provoking message, then “Super” is the movie for you. Do let me know your comments on this if you have watched it.

Further Reading:
About Upendra:
The movie Super

Top 5 Patriotic Scenes in Bollywood

Patriotism is always a hidden emotion. We are good at expressing feelings like love, sadness, happiness, etc. Pre-independence, the feeling of nationality got expressed in many ways and many forms by our freedom fighters. But patriotism seldom gets a chance to be expressed these days. It is only during the national festivals like today that we see a sudden surge in the patriotic expression in our nation.

Our main film industry – Bollywood has not lagged behind in the display of this emotion. There have been numerous movies that have been made throughout in the course of Bollywood’s long history that have displayed patriotism and have compelled every Indian to think about what their nation means to them. Who can forget the ever-patriotic song “aye mere watan ke logon” by Lata Mangeshkar which brought tears into Nehru’s eyes… Or the “Vande Mataram” by A R Rahman which dominated the 50 years of India theme. There are so many songs and scenes like that. Below, I present five patriotic scenes from movies which have had a great impact on me in the recent days. It is to be noted that this list is in no way exhaustive and there could be many more scenes which could have made it here. This is just my individual opinion

Top 5:

At fifth place are the scenes from the movie Rang De Basanti(2007). Though I cannot pick one scene from the movie and claim that to be “the” patriotic scene, there are quite a few scenes, especially the ones using the monochrome yellow background to show historical figures like Ramprasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, Chandrashekar Azad and Bhagat Singh. The way the screenplay shifts between present and past heroes is brilliantly done and it definitely raises this question of relevance of yesterday’s revolutionaries in shaping the youth of today.

Top 4:

At fourth place is the scene from the movie Lakshya(2004). Like any other confused Indian youth, Karan (Hrithik) is directionless and lives a lazy life. On an impulse, he decides to join army and can barely survive the rigorous training for a day. He comes back to his girl friend who doesn’t want to stay with him because he cannot respect his own decisions. Dejected and humiliated, Karan returns to the training camp with a renewed vigour. The way he goes on pursuing his training and makes a contribution to the nation is really inspiring and induces patriotism. As like the previous, even this doesn’t describe a particular scene but the scene where he says to his girlfriend what his goal in life can be considered as the defining moment of the movie.

Top 3:

At third place we have the famous and controversial scene from the movie Roja(1992) – the “dousing the flame on flag” scene. Arvind Swamy who works for cryptology department of the Indian government is sent to Kashmir for some classified work for the armed forces. He is captured by some terror groups who demand the release of a notorious terrorist and an independent Kashmir. When in captivity, Rishi (Arvind) finds out about the activities of the people and their operations. When the Govt refuses to release the terrorist, one of the members in the kidnappers gang tries to provoke Rishi by burning the national flag. The way Rishi tries to douse the flames on the flag in spite of being handcuffed and attacked by so many people is a real inspiration.

Top 2:

At second place is the scene from “Chak De India(2007)” where the coach (SRK) introduces himself and starts the training for the Indian Women’s hockey team. Each person in the team introduces herself by saying her name and the name of the state from where she comes from. Kabir Khan dismisses them from the team one after the other until the goalie Vidya says “Vidya Sharma, INDIA”. He makes her repeat the line again and again and then tells that each one of the team member is an Indian first and then whatever they want to. It has a message for all us – that we have to put our nation first in all our thinking. It has a lot of relevance for today’s situation where regional divide between people is used by the politicians to fuel tensions among the people. Every one of us is Indian first and then we can choose our identity based on our preferences.

The Top Scene:

The moving train full of people comes to a slow halt at a small station called “Ajite”. A boy runs along with the train carrying a kettle of water and shouts “paani lo paani” to the passengers. No one seems to hear him but he keeps on shouting “paani lo paani pachees paise mein ek glass”, pleading people to buy water from him. The reason no one buys water from him is that even they are poor themselves and cannot afford to spend on something like water. Looking through the train’s window, the boy notices the lead protagonist Mohan who is already feeling depressed about the state of his nation. He asks him to buy water to which the protagonist immediately obliges. And then, something wonderful happens – the NRI, rich man, one of the few privileged in the nation who has never drank anything other than bottled water all his life takes water in the mud-pot from the boy and drinks it. Tears fill his eyes when he is done. The scene sums up the ultimate divide and almost the entire state of the nation. Brilliant!

This is the scene from the movie “Swades (2004)”. Not many would agree with me when I say this is a brilliantly made movie. For example, the scene which I described about just now could have easily been done away with. It was not required in the lengthy movie. But it is the scenes such as these which make the movie inspiring and patriotic. Mohan goes to a village to ask for money from a farmer Haridas who had taken loan from his maa samaan Kaveriamma. But when he hears about the plight of the farmers who suffer from injustice in his nation, he is deeply hurt. Instead of recovering money from Haridas, Mohan gives some money to him and returns. He keeps thinking about the sorry state of a nation which has everything in it for everyone but still only a few lucky ones enjoy it while others toil hard and suffer. It is during this juncture that we are presented with his awesome scene and I rate it as the “best patriotic scene in Hindi cinema”

Well, now you have read through my favourite scenes, what do you think? Do you think if there could be anything more? Do let me know. Once again, I wish you all a very happy independence day!

Republic Day Post

A few days back there was this controversial issue in Belgaum between the MNS and pro-Kannada organizations. The MNS felt that since they held power in the Belgaum city council, the building should hoist the Maharashtra flag or the “Maratha” flag. The pro-Kannada organizations were dead against this. They argued that only Karnataka flag could be hoisted on top of the council since Belgaum was an integral part of Karnataka. Both the parties were relentless in their stand and this led to violence and unrest in the region. The battle was taken to many local courts, district level courts, Karnataka high court and finally to the supreme court of India. The Supreme Court’s verdict was outright, clean and clear – “if any flag was to be hoisted on top of a government office, it obviously had to be the flag of the union of India”

For all the parties who were involved in heated debate against which flag was to be hoisted, the verdict was a tight slap in the face. But the summary of the verdict is even bigger. It is slap in the face for all the politicians across the nation who try continuously to divide the nation along regional, linguistic or caste based lines. It is big slap in the face for the clan of Thackerays who say people from other states are unwelcome in their city because the city belongs to them; a slap in the face for all those who say they need more states because that will help them get their own identity in a nation which is already flooded with an ocean of misguided identities.

The union of India was declared a republic state on the 26th of January 1950, exactly 60 years ago on this day. We all pledged that ours would be a nation where the governance was “by the people, for the people, and of the people”, we would be the largest democratic nation in the world with every citizen of the nation having a right to choose his/her leader. A verbose constitution or the rule of the land amounting to 90,000 words had already been penned down beautifully by the finest intellectuals of our land. It had the best parts from many countries and some features unique to itself. Inspite of our cultural, regional, linguistic differences we would demonstrate unity. All the other identities like our religion, race, caste, language would come a far second compared to the national identity.

But even after sixty years of being a republic nation, the very multiple identities continue to haunt us. People still demand a separate state because their region needs a different identity than others; native people in the country’s largest city consider few people “outsiders” who come to take away what belongs to them; religious fanatics still believe that government is acting against the interest of the majority community and indulge in large scale communal violence; river water that flows across states is constantly disputed as belonging to the state of origin leading to chaos in downstream states… the list goes on endlessly. We see new cases like these emerge almost everyday.

Our constitution was framed by borrowing the best from all the parts of the world. It is one of the finest written rule of law in the world with clear demarcation between the powers of legislature, executive and the judiciary. It also controls the power of the central and state governments clearly. In spite of having such a finely written constitution with us, the reason we are still lacking unity and development is because of the short-sightedness of our leaders. We have created a form of governance where it is easy for our political class to keep us divided and get votes without taking any steps towards betterment of the nation. The collective will of the rulers as well as the people towards a developed nation is missing today.

Putting national interest ahead of any other vested interest is one of the foremost requirement in today’s scenario. Especially the leaders who use the emotions of the people to trigger violence and spread unrest must realize this first – progress can happen only if we stand united in spite of all diversities and not by demanding segregated development of isolated communities. Be it the Thackerays of Maharashtra who want to deny taxi permits to non-marathas, the TRS who want to have a separate state for sake of a political identity – everyone should realize that true growth and development can happen only when it is inclusive, ie, each and every citizen in the country feels part of the whole and willfully participates in the nation-building process.

On this occasion of India’s 61st republic day, we all should introspect on the reasons that have hindered progress in the nation and give a nice, tight slap in the face to all those who are against the unity of whole nation. I wish that we reach reach our rightful place at the top of the world soon. I hope to write more on issue of nation-states in the coming days. But for now, I just wish you all a Happy republic day! Jai Hind

5 things the elections have taught

“Let me see how these people will go it alone this time. They will definitely need my help to survive!” thought Laloo.

“I am the king maker this time. No party can rule this nation without my support” thought Maya.

“I will take my revenge on the other party of my state by keeping them out of the next government” thought Jaya.

“With all the exercises going on to secure allies, who knows, I might end up being the prime minister once again” thought Gowda.

“The communist party is still strong and we can control the next prime minister like a puppet” thought Karat.

So there they were… the so-called leaders of the nation in the warmth of their bungalows, on the night of Friday the 15th of May 2009 hoping that the next day, as soon as the results were announced, the leaders of all the national parties would come begging for their support and that they could dictate terms for the next five years with some 10-50 seats under their control. They even had secret ambitions of leading the nation themselves. They would be the "king makers". They would be the power centers. They would be more important than the nation itself. They had every reason to feel like that with almost all the exit polls predicting a hung parliament for the country and the decisive roles these people would go on to play for the next few years. How wrong they had been!

Today, all those Paswans, the Yadavs, the Mayas, the Jayas, the Naidus, the Gowdas are alone in their homes, watching the TV with a sense of disbelief. Each one of them has been made to eat the humble pie. No one will turn to them now. Forget about dictating terms, they don’t even know if they will be presented with at least a ministerial berth if they decide to support the government. They don’t even know if they will be approached for support in the first place. They have realized that there is only one “king-maker” in this land – the common man. The Indian voter has spoken – "We don’t need a government that is run by one person and controlled by many others in the background according to their whims and fancies. We need a government that responds to what people want".

The elections of this year are really significant in the entire history of democratic India. Our country is now at such a phase where a strong leadership at the centre is absolutely essential for the dreams and aspirations of the nation to turn real. Also, the time has come to send out a strong message to the world that democracy would eventually be the best form of government for a nation as big as ours. For all this to happen, a clear and concise mandate by the Indian voter was absolutely crucial. And the voter has finally spoken… and in a manner that only an Indian voter can!

To me, the results of these elections mainly convey the following five important points:

1. Democracy Wins
Yes, no matter how skeptical you are about its advantages, democracy ultimately wins. This election was all about creating awareness among the young and upper middle-class voters by means of campaigns such as “Lead-India”, “Jaago-Re”, etc. It was about telling everyone how important it is to cast your vote and be counted in a democratic nation. Although this did not translate into an increased percentage of voters on the Election Day, it has proven to be success. More and more people from upper middle class and the younger generation have realized the power of voting. Many people could not vote this time as the campaigns to enroll their name in the voters’ list was started a little late. But I am sure; these elections have certainly created the urge in people to participate in the voting process. In the coming years, the number of people who vote will surely increase. And with the voter getting more and more intelligent, this is real good news for democracy.

2. Only development is the issue
One thing that has been decisively proved by the voter is that all the pseudo-issues do not matter. The voter votes for only that party which promises development. People just ignore the candidates who have a tarnished image. And the candidates have slowly started realizing that they cannot win an election with money alone. They need to be accountable. This is one of the greatest messages according to me. It has worked a great way in restoring the faith of the people in the institution of democracy. Also, the Election Commission being very strict about the spending of candidates has made it tough for the rogues and criminals to win. Caste, religion, money did not matter. Varun Gandhi’s hate speech did not help the party, neither did Shibhu Soren’s criminal record..

3. Performance matters
The clear message sent out by the voter this time around is “Perform or Perish”. Those leaders that enjoyed power but did nothing for the voters were rejected out rightly by the people. While those who showed improvement significantly were bestowed with more power. Veteran leaders who have shown improvement in their respective states like YSR, Sheila Dixit, Navin Patnaik, Nitish Kumar, etc were voted back to power while the ones who did not do much good to the people were defeated.

4. Nation comes first
Our country has adopted a multi-party system where anyone can form a party, win a few seats and hope to have a say in the national level. But over the years, this has been misused by selfish local leaders for short term gains. The recent example of the election commission’s worries when it had to register yet another symbol for Chiranjeevi’s new party shows how confusing and trouble-some multi party system can be. But the voter has become smart enough to distinguish between national parties and local parties. Giving the grand old party a clear mandate is a step in this direction. This means that the time is up for any local leaders who think that they can dictate the terms of the nations having a few seats with them. This means end of days for veterans like DeveGowda, etc.

5. Exit polls are an utter waste of time
This has been proved time and again. After every election, the media, especially the television channels, conduct too many exit polls and keep screaming at the top of their voices that their exit poll results are the most accurate. They even start discussing the post poll alliance that the parties should look for and the potential future prime ministers even before the results are actually announced. This election has clearly proved the futility of such polls and it is high time that these are banned. If the exit polls were really such accurate, why did we need to conduct an election in the first place?

These are exciting days for the nation. We have a new set of leaders at the centre and a party with clear mandate. There will be no pressure on the party from its allies like last few years and it is free to act on its own. But the leaders also know that they cannot take this mandate lightly and become complacent. They have to take up progressive measures for the all-round development of the nation. How these people eventually fare will be known to us only in the days to come. But for now, there is only one king – the Singh. Let us all wish him all the best and hope to see our nation progress in the coming days. Jai Hind!

My Initiative

The elections for the Lok Sabha are happening on the 23 rd of this month. When I asked a few friends of mine about their awareness about the current elections, I found out that many people were ignorant or had turned a blind eye to the happenings around their area.

This being the case, I thought of creating a one-stop site that consisted of all the information about the candidates contesting the elections in Bangalore, the mapping of assembly and parliamentary constituencies and a few tips on "smart voting". Though this has taken so much of time, there is still lots of scope for improvement.

The link to the site is:

http://bangalore2009.co.cc/

Please check this out and let me know your valuable comments.

Breaking The Routine - Part 2

Please read part one of this post here.

Any living entity that has been following the news closely is sure to know the word "jehad" today. Everyone who calls himself human would despise it. Anyone who watched the cold-blooded massacres in the financial capital of India would want all this jehadis to vanish from this world as soon as possible.

But the very same jehadis have given us a great lesson in breaking the routine. Whenever the whole world thought that it was the ultimate attack and it cannot get worse than this, they have found new ways to breaking the routine and instilling fear on the humankind.

After the 1993 blasts in Mumbai (then Bombay), everyone thought the terrorists would do nothing but plant bombs and run away. In a way, the people started getting used to the bomb-blasts. But the terrorists had other plans. They wanted to instill fear in more ways than one. They attacked the WTC and Pentagon (read 9/11) in a manner that no one had contemplated in the wildest of their dreams. Till then, terror was just land-borne. Bombs exploded in buildings, market places, etc. But they had broken the routine and introduced a new form of attack - the air-borne attack. All countries now had to protect even the air- routes.

The terror did not end there. Till then, terrorists were just suicide bombers who would bomb places or kill themselves. On 26/11, they again broke the routine and started a new form of attack- the fidayeen attack where the soldier goes on killing spree and taking hostages and fights till the last moment of his life. This kind of attack was not thought of before. Probably a TV watcher in the Taj hotel during the 9/11 attacks might have thought, "They will never attack me in a hotel in here! At least I am safe". But not anymore. They have broken all "routine" standards and nothing is safe today - neither the local trains, the markets, the places of worship, the five star hotels, corporate houses - nothing at all.

The terrorist network has established itself inside our nation so heavily that they can target any place and at any time. Neither the sacred temples at Varanasi nor the esteemed educational institutes such as IISc are safe. For all that we know, a terror attack can happen in that very place which we are considering the safest right now - be it the parliament or the Raj Bhavan.

And how have our leaders reacted to all this?

There is one deputy chief minister who uses dialogue form one of the superhit bollywood movies to tell us that we should start taking this as a routine matter. There is one CM who acts like a joker and tells that if his responsibility is to prtect people, then he is ready to resign. To top that he goes on a tour along with his actor son and a director whose movies are enough to scare any terrorist in the world. Then there is a CM who tells us what he thinks of about the brave soldiers of our land through his famous "dog" remark.

In a way, these politicians seem to me like the real dogs in our nation. They are infact old dogs who don’t even bark. When provoked they just give a "grrr" saying that they will attack the enemies of the nation. But even they themselves don’t believe in what they say. No wonder then the jehadi sitting on his warm couch somewhere in Pakistan laughs aloud watching our leaders' remarks on TV.

It is time we changed our attitude of looking at things. It is time we broke the normal routine habit of making harsh remarks on Pakistan initially and moving on after the sorrow dies down. Not even one leader has spoken about a possible war on our crooked neighbours. Not even one strong statement has been made against terror. To add to it, the netas are busy playing political games out of this attack. There are reports that some Congressmen were partying on the weekend when the whole nation mourned. All these days, the hotels which were attacked always had one or the other politician staying in it everyday except for three days before the attacks. Do you smell anything fishy? Doesn’t that explain why no politician got killed in this attacks?

To the never -honorable ex- Deputy CM of Maharashtra, I would like to quote another popular dialogue form the same superhit movie, "Aadatein agar waqt par badle nahin jaate to zaroorate ban jaate hain - Sir, if habits are not changed on time, they become necessities". The netas are already getting used to the habit of making soft statements each time an attack happens. I just hope that it does not go to such a level that we start getting used so much to terrorism in India that a terror attack every 2 months becomes a necessity.

I am deeply hurt by the tragic events that have taken place in the past weeks. Events so painful that even the most powerful pain killer cant cure - the pictures of bodies lying around like sacks of rice spilled all over in one of the busiest railway stations in the world; pictures of the burning Taj, the glorious world heritage site in India; pictures of the calm Nariman house in complete disarray after the attacks; picture of the terrorist himself walking around with heavy ammunition with him - these are the ones which will stay etched in our minds forever. But let us not accept this as a routine this time. The terrorists have shown us time and again how to break the routine. This time, let us give it back to them. LeT us show them what we are really made up of.

Jai Hind

Living after death (part 3 of 3)

[.....continued from part 2]

Read part 1 of this article here and part 2 here

So who is this person who has done so much for the nation that not a day passes without remembering him?

He is none other than "Bharath Rathna" Sir M Visvesvarayya or Sir M V - the most famous engineer India has ever produced. You can spell his name in different ways, Vishweshwariah, Visweswaraiah, etc and each of those spelling can have tens of his achievements listed and still the list would not be complete - he was such a great and prolific engineer.

Born into total poverty and deprived of facilities that we today take for granted, Sir M V's journey from being an ordinary school going village boy to achieving the highest civilian awards of the country, is one that is awe-inspiring and worth emulating.

Sir M V lost his father at a very young age but he was very determined to do well in studies. With no money to pursue this dream, he became a tutor for some rich students and funded himself. He was very disciplined and hardworking and naturally, he topped high school and the Bachelors degree at Madras University. Then he joined the College of Engineering at Pune as a Civil engineering student and graduated as an engineer topping in that too and winning a gold medal. He began his career as an engineer with the Bombay government.

His plan for controlling the flooding waters of river Moosa at Hyderabad earned him great laurels and recognition. He was called upon to construct many a dams, reservoirs, irrigation and water supply canals all of which he did with unmatchable efficiency and brilliance. His innovating skills were at their best when he designed and patented a system of automatic weir water floodgates at Khadakvasla near Pune. The world famous Brindavan gardens and the KRS at Mysore are his master-piece!

Recognizing his statesmanship, the Wodeyar of Mysore appointed him as the Dewan of Mysore - equivalent to the chief minister these days. As the Dewan, Sir M V was instrumental in the scientific and industrial advancement of the state. He rescued and resurrected the Bhadravathi Iron and Steel works limited from bankruptcy, making a profit of 2 lakh rupees - a very huge sum those days. The profit from these was used to start many schools, educational institutes, colleges and job centers. He set-up the Mysore university, SJP polytechnic institute at Bangalore and the nation's first private engineering college in the year 1917 - the University Visvesvarya College of Engineering (U V C E) which functions even to this day. He promoted education for everyone, including girls, and set up Degree College at Maharani's, Mysore. He also established the Kannada Sahitya Parishad (Kannada Literary Academy). Sensing the growing needs of the finance sector, he started the Mysore Bank which runs even today as the State Bank of Mysore. Even one of these achievements are enough for someone to be remembered long. But Sir M V did all of these and even more.

Today Bangalore is the hub of industrial and technological progress in India. It has grown to be the silicon valley of India with every major IT/Telecommunication company of the world having its office here. It is also a centre for research and defense establishments. It has grown tremendously in aerospace and heavy machine tools sector. Each of these are largely due to the efforts of two people - Dewan K Sheshadri Iyer, the administrator and Sir M V, the Engineer. It was their statesmanship and the ability to see beyond their lifetimes that has helped the progress of our state. Asia's first hydroelectric power project was started at Shivanasamudra in the year 1894 by Sir M V and Bangalore became the first India city to get electricity in the year 1917. It was instrumental in making the city a technology hub many years after his death.

Even with so much political power with him, Sir M V never mis-used it. When he was appointed the Dewan, he called up all his relatives and said that he would accept the post on the condition that no one asked for favors from him! How many of today's politicians would do that ? Once, while he was the chief engineer of Mysore, his uncle asked him to use his powers and give him a promotion. Sir M V did not promote him but ended up paying the extra money to his uncle every month from his own salary.

Yesterday when in cab I saw a huge poster which said some youth association was celebrating the 25th year of public Ganesh Utsav. There were huge larger than life cutouts of politicians who looked like rowdies and a very small picture of the lord Ganesh himself. It made me feel sick immediately by thinking how much these people go in projecting themselves. Very much unlike them, Sir M V led a simple and humble life. He was never interested in medals or laurels. But his deeds were such that medals came looking for him - he was awarded the honorary doctorate from almost all Indian universities. The British awarded him the knighthood and the Indian government - the Bharath Ratna award.

Today is 15th September. It is Sir M V's 148th birthday. It is celebrated all over the country as "Engineers' day". Even years after his death, Sir M V lives on in the hearts of each one of us. The farmers of Mandya and Mysore when they water their fields with KRS water, the workers of iron and steel companies in companies set up by him, the devotees who travel on the road from Tirupati to Tirumala, the people of Hyderabad, Pune and Bangalore, the employees of Mysore Bank, the numerous students who study in institutes set up by him - Sir MV still lives for every one of them. Let us all pay our tributes to him and as Engineers let us all pledge ourselves today so that we too will follow the example set by this great man and serve the society. Happy Engineers' day to everyone!

PS: When I finished writing this article, I remembered a recent debate where people hotly debated the naming of the new international airport at Bangalore. Many argued it should be named after Kempe Gowda, the founder. Some wanted it to be named after Tippu Sultan; some wanted Rajiv Gandhi,etc. There was an article in a kannada paper who wanted it to be named after Sir M V. After all, it was Sir M V who started the Walchand Hirachnad company as far back in 1913 which today is known as Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) - the only aircraft factory in India till date! We can name airports after anyone famous but naming it after Sir M V will be more apt as he was mainly responsible for the flying of planes in India. Don't you people think so?

Living after death (part 2 of 3)

[......continued from part 1]

read part 1 here

"Sir, there is a small, narrow, steel ladder that will take you up there. It is over seventy five feet till the top from where you can view how the machine works"

The factory head explained the structure of the machine to the group of officials who had come on an industrial tour. The officials were a group of middle-aged men from a developing nation and they had come to visit the advanced state-of the art machine to study the feasibility of its implementation.

"Well. then lets climb it!" said the leader among them.

Everyone including the factory head were surprised. Saying thus, he started climbing the ladder without waiting for the others. Some followed as a matter of duty, but the others gave up. He reached to the top, inspected the furnace closely and made notes. He then came down slowly as the others stood and watched in disbelief. This person was the oldest in the group. Not even the factory head had plans of showing them the top view of this huge machine. The old man's grit and determination was commendable.

All through his life, the man followed a strict and disciplined way of life. When he was determined to do a thing, no hindrance or troubles could stop him. He was a dedicated worker and helped a lot for the nation's cause even before it became independent. He was a statesman par excellence and was largely responsible for the advancement of our nation. He was one of the most illustrious persons that India has ever produced - one of those rare gems of India.

So in how many ways is he living after death?

[.....continued and concluded in part 3]

Living after death (part 1 of 3)

"This bus-shelter is provided by Honorable MP Sri Jaffer Sheriff under MPLAD scheme"

I was looking out through the window of my cab while coming back form office when I spotted the above line at a bus-stop. It was raining a little and many people were standing under it. The shelter itself was in a very bad shape. The roof of the shelter was leaking at some places and people were getting wet and murmuring to themselves. Before I could observe any further, the cab sped away at the green light and I got back to doing what I do best on the cab- doze off :-)

Today I remember that incident in context of today's leaders. There are banners and poster projecting themselves as super-heroes. They engrave their names on fly-overs, at bus-stops, near airports and whatever they can find space on. Sometimes, they are not even responsible for initiating these development works. In most of the cases, they are just lucky to be in power when the project is inaugurated, as was the case of the new airport. Yet, they shamelessly project themselves as saviors of the country when they cannot even think beyond the next elections.

Jaffer Sherrif, Ananth Kumar, HT Sangliyana, and many others are still alive and into active politics. They have their names put up on as many hoardings / bus-stops / flyovers as you can find in the city. Yet, how many of these visit such dilapidated structures and reconstruct them? In another five or ten years, how many of us would ever remember that these were our leaders? Will we ever remember that they lived at all?

In how many ways can a person live after death?

[....continued in the next post] [Part 1 of three]

Bharat Mata ki Jai!

"At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom"

Sixty one years have passed since the speech by Nehru on the midnight of 15th August, 1947 but each time we hear it, the thrill, joy and excitement is the same. On this happy occasion, I wish each one of my compatriots a very happy independence day.

The very word "freedom" has amazed me from the time I was a kid. Dad used to tell me the stories of sacrifices made by numerous freedom fighters every night when we went to bed. When we were in school, we were summoned to the school play-ground by 7:30 AM early morning in neat uniforms and polished, white, shoes for the "flag-hoisting ceremony". Years later, I used to keenly observe the prime minister (Vajpayee, most of the times) hoist the flag at the "red-fort" and deliver his address to the nation. Seeing the magnificent tri-colour fly atop the grand fort filled me with some kind of respect and pride at the same time. I feel honored to be a citizen of this great country.

On this happy occasion, let us take a few moments to remember all the great fighters who laid down the life for our country. Usually, we associate the freedom of India with one man- Mahatma Gandhi. I don't disagree. But there are other numerous heroes who laid down their lives for the sole purpose of achieving freedom. Since 1857, right from Rani Lakshmi Bai, Mangal Pandey, Maulana Azad, Lala Lajpat Rai till Bhagat Singh, Subhash Chandra Bose, Sarojini Naidu, Tilak, etc numerous people have toiled, suffered, fought and ultimately sacrificed themselves for this nation. Each one of them deserves a special mention and appreciation form us.

From the stories that my Dad told, I feel like sharing the stories(in bits and pieces) of two of the lesser known fighters and the even bigger role they played in making our country what it is today.

*****

"Bharat Mata ki Jai!"

The policman who held the whip in his hand was surprised. This time he hit even harder.

"Vande Mataram!"

How could it be? Was it whiplashes he was giving or some kind of energy tablets? He used all his force to this time.

"Mahatma Gandhi ki Jai!"

With every stroke of the whip, the slogan shouting became harder. The police man grew ashamed of himself. And the fact that he was hitting a small boy of 15 years made it even worse. Who was this boy who showed so much of strength and patriotism at such a young age?

He was none other than Chandrashekar Azad - the leader who inspired a new breed of young freedom fighters - revolutionaries. Their only mission in life was "Complete Freedom" - Azaadi.

Azad was inspired by Gandhi's ideals at a very young age. When he was 15, he participated in a peace rally in Varanasi. He was enraged when a police-man hit unarmed civilians and he attacked the police with a stone. When he was produced in the court and asked his name by the magistrate, he said "Azad". He was sentenced to 15 whip lashes and that was when the above incident happened.

Due to difference in ideology with Gandhi, Azad formed a team of freedom fighters who believed that only way for India's independence was revolt against the British with arms. He inspired the likes of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Sukhdev, RamPrasad Bismil, Ashfaqullah Khan and others to join him. Since he had declared himself free, he never let himself be captured alive. When he knew he was about to be captured, he shot himself, sacrificing himself to the cause of independence.

*****

"Mysore celebrates its 61st independence day today!"

"Happy Independence Day to all people of Hyderabad"

"The prime minister of Junagadh wishes all his country men a happy independence day"

Imagine the newspapers with above lines. Imagine 560 more countries in the world today - all small, small pieces of land that you don’t even know where one ends and other starts. Imagine requiring a passport to visit Chennai. Imagine planning a vacation to Goa and having to pass through 5 different countries for it. Imagine river Ganga to be shared by 80 different nations. Too much, isn't it? This could have been very much possible had it not been for one man - Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

When the British left India as per the "Partition of India cum India Independence act,1947", they also left with us 565 independent princely states and provinces. The power hungry rulers and leaders, immediately declared their independence and wanted to form separate nations. The daunting task of unifying them and making them agree to one nation was taken up by Patel. In some cases he used "smart talk"; diplomacy in others; "brute military force" for others but finally ended up unifying each and every of these states to the union of India. He was rightly titled - "The Iron Man of India".

It was almost a sure fact that India would get independence following "Quit India" movement in 1942 the end of World war2 in 1945. But the demand for a separate Muslim nation in Bengal and Punjab provinces was very strong and the Congress and the Muslim League had almost decided on a proposal to split the nation in number of states based on religious majority. But it was Patel who convinced both the parties and finally brought the current partition plan into place. Though the riots and violence during partition were really bad and provocative, it was important that the nations which had just acquired independence did not run into disarray. He took lead and organized refugee camps, peace rallies and restored order in the nation.

Patel is surely one among elite freedom fighters but he will always be remembered for his efforts of unifying a nation so big and so much diverse.

*****

Each and every fighter who has laid down his life for this nation has given us this sweet fruit of independence. On this joyous day when we celebrate the spirit of independence, let us rasie a toast to all those great people. Jai Hind!

Letter to the void

This post is in reply to a comment posted by Saravanan. Please read the comment before reading this post to have a better idea.

Dear Saravanan,

Thank you for bringing this up. Please read the post carefully. I have never said that I hate all the politicians. Neither have I said that "We are all good; we don’t have bad sides at all and politicians are all bad; they don’t have anything good at all". And no matter how many chances you give me, I would never want to be him, nor closely related him.

I have known you closely and since you are a man of finance, I can safely assume you are just looking at the financial success of politicians. You are looking at it like a business which yields crores of money so that you can achieve your long term dream of “financial freedom”. Many people of our country are looking at it the same way. No wonder then, political wannabes ransack party offices just to get the much coveted Party tickets and contest elections.

But does this have to be done at the cost of your nation? Are we not from the land where we perceive our country as our mother? Of what use is the whole lot of money to you if you cannot ensure the happiness of your mother? Isn’t our country the same?

Look at what your “much admired” son of soil has done – he has used the name of his soil to make money. In your own words, “he has controlled the whole state according to his whims and fantasies”. Is it not equivalent to using his own mother? I would never want to be like him even in the wildest of my dreams. Would you?

Though I agree that politics is not my cup of tea, I have been a very keen observer of the politics in my country and as a responsible citizen I want to be involved in the democratic process of electing our leaders. Right from the time I was a kid, my father used to explain to me the importance of choosing the right leaders. I was very fascinated by the idea that in our country, we get to choose who we want as our leaders. Not unlike most of the countries where there is monarchy/dictatorship where the fate of the country is pretty much sealed. In our country, we have an active part in shaping the country. Is it not why we fought for our freedom? Lakhs and lakhs of our country men withstood cruel treatment meted out to them just to ensure that our land does not fall in wrong hands. They made sure that ultimately “we” could control the destiny of the country. Is it not a privilege by itself? So whenever elections used to happen, I used to be very excited. I used to observe the whole process of nomination filing – campaigning – political rallies – voting day – the result day and finally a new leader swearing in. Whenever I saw a blot on my dad’s finger after he voted, I used to wonder when will I get a chance to do this? So when I turned 18 and got a card my joy knew no bounds. I do enjoy this fundamental right that the country gives me. I do abide by the laws of the nation properly. I fulfil the duties that my nation asks me to do in my capacity and so I deserve every right to make a comment on its affairs.

The politicians of our nation have a responsibility to the people. We in turn have a responsibility to choose our leaders wisely. Though not significant, each one of us has a definite role to play to shape the country of our dreams – an India so rich and powerful that the whole world can just bow their heads in admiration towards. That is what I wish my country became. That is what each of the freedom fighter who sacrificed his life for the nation dreamt. And that is what motivates each of our soldiers on the front to stand guarding the nation braving cold winds, snow and rain. That is what every farmer who toils in his fields growing food for us thinks. That is what a statesman is supposed to think. Even though, we may not live to see a country like that, we can atleast die peacefully knowing that we have contributed towards that end.

And even if one of us fails in this duty, the whole cycle gets halted. If we don’t vote wisely and give power to unworthy people, the country suffers. If the soldiers don’t protect us from enemies, the country suffers. If the farmers stop growing food for us, the country suffers. Similary, if the politicians stop caring for the nation the country suffers. I don’t hate all politicians. Neither do I say that they are all bad while we are all good. I am just saddened that the progress is halted because of the whims and fancies of these few people.

Now you might ask me – how does it matter to me whether they rule properly or not? As long as I am getting my salary and have my job, it is enough. But don’t you think it matters in the long run? Today, Bangalore is the hub of IT and electronics biggies of the world. Why? It is only because of the attractive schemes that the government provided to these companies that drew them here. They provided land, water and power at subsided prices. They gave tax sops. Also, they provided them with talented people by giving permission for a large number of engineering colleges. It was because some government before had a vision – to make Bangalore a prosperous city. But do you think it will remain like this for ever if the government keeps on neglecting the demands of the industry? It certainly wouldn’t. We need a very stable government that takes care of issues like these so that we can progress as a nation.

Politics has become dirty – agreed. But no one is expecting it to be cleaned up all by itself. No one is asking them to spend money on elections. In fact the election commission has banned the use of money to get people’s attention. So why do they need to spend money lavishly now only to come back and recover ten times of it later? I am amused that you think this is honest and in the best interests. The only interest it satisfies is the greed of our politicians. It is only those greedy people I detest. I don’t want them to clean up the whole nation and build a great nation overnight. But it can atleast do some small things that make a huge difference. Can’t it?

For example, the international airport that opens on 23rd is too far from the city and there are no proper roads to it. Can it not sternly argue with the builders of the new air-port and keep the old one open at least till proper roads are built? The fees for medical and engineering courses have sky-rocketed in the past few years shattering poor students dream of studying professional courses. Can it not provide scholarship to these students? People have lost interest in the judiciary these days because all politicians commit crimes and get away with it. For a change, Can they not abide the law and set an example that judiciary is still strong in our nation?

If they cant do good to our nation, let them not. If their only intention is to make money, let them do it. But atleast, they should not stop good things from happening right? Why did the NICE road get stalled? Could it not be opened for public long back? Why do many infrastructure projects get stalled years together for want of funds? Can they not be sped up? If tomorrow, Bangalore’s IT companies feel that some other city is a better option than ours and close down here, what will happen to all of our jobs? Will it not be a mistake from someone else for which we will suffer?

I am sorry if I was harsh to you sir. I dint mean to hurt your thoughts. It is just that these topics are very sensitive and the lack of attention to them by our policy makers makes me so frustrated. It is really a good thing that you brought them up. Please think about these in detail and get back to me with your thoughts.

Best Regards,
Mama

Note:
1. NICE – stands for an ambitious infrastructure project by Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise. They have taken up many nice projects in Bangalore and Mysore cities.
2. May 23rd is the scheduled date of opening for Banagalore International Airport at Devanahalli, about 50 km from city centre. After that, the existing airport will be closed for even short –term flights.