Hazar Hazares

The Gandhian Anna Hazare's crusade against rampant corruption prevailing in the bureaucratic and political circles of the country, has evoked a response that has stunned the three pillars of our democracy, the media and possibly even the civil society itself. Within a week of the launch of the Jantar-Mantar dharna, the central government was on its knees, and it gave in to the demands of the civil society.

In the euphoria that ensued, some columnists and observers claimed that Hazare's revolution had even surpassed the JP movement of the 70s.The JP movement , I am told, had the youth quitting jobs and universities and sacrificing their lives in response to the Jail bharo calls of the socialist leaders. Hazare's movement in contrast involved facebook virtual events, signature campaigns on online forums and RDB candle light marches. While the JP movement shook the mighty Indira Gandhi, Hazare's movement targeted a government that was led by possibly the weakest PM ever , a government that was already in shambles thanks to ministers like Raja and Pawar.

Hazare's movement might be against what JP movement was all about: “A democratically Elected government”. While there is no denying the fact that the country is in a dire need of a revolution against corruption, the Jan Lok Pal bill proposed by Hazare will change the administrative setup in a manner that is too serious for the bill to be drafted and passed in two months time. At a time when the judiciary seems to be losing credibility, when the armed forces, considered once to be epitomes of patriotism and integrity, have been tainted , and when a politician whose future lies in the hands of Jan Janrdhan is neck deep in corruption, the idea that the many members of the independent Lokpal appointed at the state and central levels, will be Lord Rama personified seems to be naïve.

Morever, who has given the authority to a father-son duo and a retired Judge to decide the future of a country of a more than billion people? Lets be honest, the support on facebook and the candle light marches was an emotional response of the netsavy youth who was already buoyed by the world cup win and was looking for ways to vent out its anger against the corrupt practices of the Manmohan Singh government.Still a vast majority of Indians are undoubtedly unaware of the proposals of the Jan Lokpal bill.

I am not at all against “the fight against corruption”. We have reached a point where the country has to take a radical initiative to reign in corruption.I am just concerned that when we can't find three “spotless clean” Hazares to draft the bill,where will we find Hazar Hazares, who as members of Lokpal will cleanse the country of corruption.

Should he have walked off??

On a sultry summer afternoon, the Chepauk crowd watched in stunned silence as the Master trudged back to the pavilion. Braving the oppressive heat, the thirty thousand strong crowd had come to witness the much anticipated ton of tons. Instead they were treated to a display of integrity, that makes the little man so big in stature.

However by walking off in the referral age, Sachin seems to have opened the Pandora's Box. The jury is out on the Ricky Ponting brand of cricketers who insist on waiting for the umpire’s decision.

However let us give cricket a break and move on to the other hot topic that is jostling with cricket for the prime time slot on  news channels. The  embattled Manmohan Singh government is facing a fresh barrage of corruption charges. However Manmohan Singh the batsman cum captain refuses to walk off, despite being stumped on many occasions in the political arena. Instead, he is taking refuge under the referral system of Indian democracy-”The General Elections”. He believes that his General Elections victory in 2009 is a "not out" decision by the third umpire.

However, like the cricket referrals, the elections too are not devoid of flaws. In spite of clear indictment in innumerable scams, the incumbent Prime Minister may yet again crawl to a majority, thanks to coalition politics. Also, while a bad referral decision in cricket may cost a match, our country will loose thousands of crores of the taxpayers’ money if this Manmohan Singh government remains in the office.

 Manmohan Singh, like Sachin Tendulkar has long been venerated for being a man of impeccable integrity. However his obdurate justifications of all the scams and the shielding of the scam tainted ministers have done his reputation no good. It is hard to believe that one of the sharpest brains in the country was unaware of the thousands of crores being siphoned off under his very nose. How could he be ignorant of the crores being paid to MPs to protect his government.

Still, all is not lost for him. The Rajas and Kalmadis of his government will provide him enough opportunities to walk off the political pitch without waiting for the decision to be referred to the Indian Public. I hope that next time Dr Singh will take a leaf out of Sachin's book and will leave the political arena to the Ricky Pontings of Indian politics.

Dhoni Bashing: Justified??

I felt so shattered by India's heart breaking loss to South Africa that I missed my early morning flight to Mumbai :P. However, while I am waiting at the airport for the next available flight,I would like to use this opportunity to finally make a foray into blogging. Needless to say , no topic would be better for my debute than " Dhoni Bashing":The country's favorite pastime.

Many of the questions that are being raised over Dhoni's captaincy have no merit.

1)He is being criticized for his timing of the batting powerplay with experts suggesting that he should have taken it when Sachin and Gambhir were going great guns. Well, he did take it when both the batsmen were on the crease. The batsmen were the ones who made a mess of it.

2)We all seem to have gone berserk over Nehra being chosen for the last over. Over the years Nehra has proved himself to be the best Indian Bowler in death overs, having won many crucial matches. An inside edge to the boundary wasn’t his fault. A spinner like Bhajji would have been smashed in the last over.

3)The shuffling of batting order. A couple of big hits from unpredictable Pathan's blade and I wouldn't be writing this blog.

I wonder how Dhoni Manages to evoke such mixed feelings of love and hatred in the Indian Public. One day he is decorated with titles like 'Captain Cool ' and 'The Most Successful Indian Captain', the next day his house is pelted. The Australians call this 'tall poppy syndrome'. When a poppy plant grows too tall, they lop its head off.


I feel that the Indian public see themselves in the “Plumber's son turned Millionare”. The average Indian draws inspiration from the Middle Class boy who redefined success and dreams of emulating him. At the same time, subdued in some corner of their heart is a feeling of envy for the one among us who now plays in Millions. We vent out this envy on Dhoni when India looses and we are jolted out of our dreams, back into the harsh reality.

I know my views won't go down well with most of the readers(Incase any one reads this in the first place :) ).But a bit of honest introspection with a cool mind and you will realize that my blog is not just a Mumbo-Jumbo.