Making India Awesome by Chetan Bhagat

8/20/2019 Making India Awesome by Chetan Bhagat

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Chetan Bhagat is the author of seveblockbuster books. These include sinovels— Five Point Someone (2004)

One Night @ the Call Center (2005)The 3 Mistakes of My Life (2008),States (2009), Revolution 2020 (2011)

alf Girlfriend (2014)—and the nonfiction title What Young India Want

2012). Many of his novels have beeadapted into successful Bollywoo

films.TIME magazine named him amongs

he ‘100 most influential people in thworld’ and Fast Company, USA, liste

him as one of the world’s ‘100 moscreative people in business’.

Chetan writes columns for leadinEnglish and Hindi newspapers, focusin



on youth and national developmenssues. He is also a motivational speake

and screenplay writer.

Chetan quit his internationanvestment banking career in 2009 t

devote his entire time to writing anmake change happen in the country. Hives in Mumbai with his wife, Anusha

an ex-classmate from IIM-A, and hiwin boys, Shyam and Ishaan.



Praise for the author

Bhagat is a symbol of new India. Aorch-bearer for an unafrai

generation…’ — India Today

Many writers are successful aexpressing what’s in their hearts oarticulating a particular point of view

Chetan Bhagat’s books do both anmore.’ —A.R. Rahman, in TIME magazine, o

Chetan’s inclusion in the TIME 10Most Influential People in the Worl

The voice of India’s risinentrepreneurial class.’



— Fast Company Magazine, oChetan’s inclusion in the 100 Mos

Creative People in Business Globall





The thoughts and opinions expressed ihis book ar e those of the author alonand do not necessarily reflect the view

of Amazon Publishing or its affiliates.

Text copyright © 2015 Chetan BhagatAll rights reserved.

o part of this book may be reproducedor stored in a retrieval system, oransmitted in any form or by any means

electronic, mechanical, photocopyingrecording, or otherwise, without expreswritten permission of the publisher.

Published by Amazon Publishing, Seattlwww.apub.com

Amazon, the Amazon logo, and Amazo

http://www.apub.com/

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Publishing are trademarks o

Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates.

EISBN-13: 9781503987371

http://www.amazon.com/



To the awesome youth of India



Contents

Start ReadingMaking India Awesome: A Letter to the

Reader

AWESOME GOVERNANCE:

POLITICS AND ECONOMY

POLITICSSeventeen Commandments for Narendra

ModiGames Politicians Play

Revenge of the Oppressed: WhyCorruption Continues to Be AroundDespite the Outcry Against It

We the Shameless



The Kings in Our MindsThe Telangana EffectAnalysing the Modi Effect

Can India’s Backward Polity Provide aPro-growth Economic Environment?

Rahul’s New Clothes, and the NakedTruth

Swachh Congress Abhiyan: SomeEssential Steps

Once upon a Beehive

ECONOMYRescue the NationTo Make ‘Make in India’ Happen, Delet

Control

Pro-poor or Pro-poverty?The Tiny-bang Theory for Setting Off

Big-bang Reforms



AWESOME SOCIETY: WHO WE

ARE AS A PEOPLE AND WHAT WE

NEED TO CHANGE

Time to Face Our DemonsWe Have Let Them DownWatching the Nautch Girls

Let’s Talk about SexThe Real Dirty PictureSaying Cheers in Gujarat

Our Fatal Attraction to FoodCleanliness Begins at Homendia-stupid and India-smart

Bhasha Bachao, Roman Hindi Apnao

Mangalyaan+Unlucky TuesdaysA Ray of HopeJunk Food’s Siren Appeal



AWESOME EQUALITY: WOMEN’S

RIGHTS, GAY RIGHTS AND

MINORITY RIGHTS

WOMEN’S RIGHTSLadies, Stop Being so Hard on

Yourselves

Five Things Women Need to Changeabout Themselves

Home Truths on Career Wives

Wake up and Respect Your Inner Queenndian Men Should Channelize Their Inner Mr Mary Kom

Fifty Shades of Fair: Why Colour Gets

under Our SkinGAY RIGHTSSection 377 Is Our Collective SinMINORITY RIGHTS



Letter from an Indian Muslim YouthBeing Hindu Indian or Muslim Indiant’s Not Moderate Muslims’ Fault

Mapping the Route to Minority Success

AWESOME RESOURCES: THE

YOUTH

An Open Letter to Indian ChangeSeekers

We, the Half-educated PeopleDU-ing It All Wrong, Getting It All

Mixed UpHow the Youth Can Get Their Due

Scored Low in Exams? Some LifeLessons from a 76-Percenter

Concluding Thoughts



efore you begin reading, it might b

helpful to understand the words tha

comprise the title, so that we know th

ask at hand better .

Making /'meɪkɪŋ/ verb

1. to bring into existence, to produce; bring about; render.

2. to convert from one state,condition, category, etc., toanother.

India /'ɪndɪə/ noun

Officially the Republic of India; country in South Asia. It is the seventhargest country by area, the second-mos

populous country with over 1.2 billio

people, and the most populou



democracy in the world.

Awesome /' ɔ:s(ə)m/ adjective

1. causing or inducing awe;inspiring an overwhelmingfeeling of reverence, admiration,

or fear: an awesome sight.2. exhibiting or marked by awe;

showing reverence, admiration,or fear.

3. informal . very impressive:typically used by the Internetgeneration.



Making IndiaAwesome: A Letter to

the Reader

Dear Reader,

Thank you for picking up this book. This not a story. There is no romance i

here, nor are there page-turning, thrillinmoments. Rather, this book is about dream both you and I share—to makndia a better place.

hy This Book?

The current political environment an



public sentiment are so cynical that on

wonders if there is even a point iwriting a book about a better India.

As I sit down to write this openinessay, I hear political noise everywhereThe ruling party, the Bharatiya JanatParty (BJP), brought to power a year agwith love and votes, is now in the midsof battling several controversiesCabinet ministers are accused of helpin

a fugitive; the fugitive, on his part, irying to lay blame on multiple senio

politicians. State government scams arcoming to the fore in Maharashtra an

Madhya Pradesh, one of them triggerinmany deaths. The bane of favouritism iback—with the news that a flight full opassengers was held up for an hou



because an Indian AdministrativService (IAS) officer in a chieminister’s contingent forgot his correc

passport at home. The prime ministehasn’t spoken about any of these issueseven while everyone else is talkinabout them. The Congress is blaming thBJP. The BJP is reminding the Congresabout its past sins. Their followers oTwitter are sending abusive tweets t

one another.The image I have presented is

snapshot of Indian news right now, buhis could be the situation at any give

point in time. There is nothing unusuaabout such noise. Chances are that if yohappen to read this some years later, anurn on the television, you will see



couple of fresh, new controversies—with a lot of debating, pontificatingfinger-pointing, outrage and no problem

solving. The noise from one controverswill ultimately fade and make way fohe next…and then, the next.

Youth and National Consciousness

With all this chaos, an average vieweor reader will either be totally confusedor, more likely, will opt out of thconstant cacophony generated bunsolvable national issues. No surpris

hen that most of India’s youth don’t carmuch about politics or the government.

Applying the 80:20 rule, I would sahat 80 per cent of our youth don’t eve



care about politics or government. Whahey care about are their lives— thei

obs, their boyfriends or girlfriends and

well, that’s about it. We can call this seof people Self-focused Indifferen

ndians. This is a huge segment, and th

actual number of people who just doncare about what happens may be evehigher than 80 per cent!

Of the remaining 20 per cent who d

care, most have decided to takpermanent sides, as this helps solvconfusion. These sides are often baseon a personality. For example, it’s jus

simpler to assume that Modi is alwayright, or that Kejriwal is the person tback, no matter what. The derogator

erms, ‘Modi-bhakt’ and ‘AAPtard



have emerged because of this set opeople. They are politically consciousbut are aligned. They defend anythin

heir chosen party says, and are ready tabuse and insult anyone who even hintat disagreeing with their great leaderSuch people create a lot of noise osocial media and may be wellntentioned about the country; howeverhey solve nothing. They have take

sides and stick to them, no matter whahe issue. Hence, their contribution t

public discourse is limited. Again, usinhe 80:20 rule, 80 per cent of peopl

who care about politics and nationassues fall in the ‘taking sides’ category

We can call these people Caring bu

ligned Indians.



Finally, there is the tiny segment thamatters—people who actually carabout the country, have an interest i

political issues, but don’t have fixesides. These are—to do the maths—2per cent of the 20 per cent, or a mere

er cent of our youth. We can call thinarrow set of people— Caring

Objective Indians. These are the peopl

who give me hope. For they want to giv

support to the right issue, not to particular party. And if we have enougpeople of this kind, we can actually pundia on the right path.

This book is an attempt to reach ouo, and expand the narrow segment of

Caring Objective Indians.



The Sad State of Caring Objectiv

Indians



Caring Objective Indians are oftegnored or shouted down in debates

They are also labelled as fence-sitters

opportunists, or indecisive, confusedcontradictory or weak.

Say, a Caring Objective Indian, whwanted change, voted for the BJP in thLok Sabha elections. However, the samvoter dislikes the way the BJP ihandling the current controversies. Whe

he voices his protest, Caring but Alignendians will attack him. BJP supporter

will call him ignorant and label him adiot. Non-BJP supporters will abus

him and question why the hell did hvote for the BJP. Faced with such attackhe Caring Objective Indian wil

withdraw and eventually become silent



Every issue will, therefore, become free-for-all between the already alignesets, each side shouting down the other

Such screaming and blaming solvenothing, though the emotions anwhipped-up drama entertain for a whiland make for good TV. After all, it is fuo see educated people shout and belittl

other educated people!

The Way Out

Just as people gather on the road to see fistfight, India gathers at night to watc

TV debates. However, soon, the noveltof the fight wears off, and as nothing isolved, people get bored and move on. Is time then for a new controversy, an



for each side to start a duel againBreaking news, fiery debates, nsolutions. Rinse and repeat. Sound

familiar, doesn’t it?So, what do we do in such

scenario? Is there any room for a sanvoice? Is there even a point to writing book like Making India Awesome whehings are so messed up? Does anyon

actually want solutions instead of th

drama? Is it simply easier to ignore all, and be a Self-focused Indifferenndian? Or even better, to becom

aligned and at least have the comfort of

group, a virtual mob that lends support?All these doubts bubbled up in m

head when I conceived this bookUltimately, I felt there is a need for this



n all the noise, there are people whwould care for a voice to simplify thingand point to a solution. Thus, this boo

was born. The fact that you have picket up means that, at least to a certai

extent, I was right; there are CarinObjective Indians who want to heareason.

India 2015 versus India 2011–2014

think it is interesting to compare thmood of the nation now versus a couplof years ago. In 2012, when my boo

What Young India Wants was publishednot only was I a different person, but was also looking at a different IndiaHow so? Did this nation not hav



problems then?Sure, we did. We had tons of issue

hen, and some would argue we had the

on a much larger scale. The mindboggling numbers associated with thCWG, 2G and coal scams prove thisThese cases shocked some of the mosndifferent Indians, and brought to th

fore a problem each one of us faces—corruption. The growth of social media

which allowed accumulation anaggregation of public opinion like nevebefore, helped coalesce people’s angeagainst corruption.

The United Progressive AlliancUPA) government in power then—

Congress-led hotchpotch coalition—missed all this until it was too late



either did the government act quicklon the scams, nor did it sense publianger fast enough. Meanwhile, we ha

street protests, hunger strikes, sociamedia hashtags and a sort of a mini-AraSpring, all in the span of two years.

In all this frustration, something wadifferent from what we have today. I2012, we felt anger instead of cynicismWe also knew how to give our fur

direction—we believed that thCongress-led government was at faultThis party—ruling the country for sixtyodd years and in power for 90 per cen

of Independent India’s life—seemed tbe the obvious reason for the nation’woes.



2011–2014 Recap: The Ann

Movement, AAP and Modi

The massive anti-government sentimenof 2011 was amplified by the media ansolidified by new social media. It led the rise of several phenomena. One o

hese was the Anna Hazare movementan anti-corruption drive that sought thave a Lokpal, or an independen

ombudsman, in the country. The fact thahe movement had an end game, solution of sorts, made it different froprevious protests against corruption

People from all walks of life backed itncluding me. Had the governmen

relented with a reasonable Lokpal, thmovement might have taken a natura



course. However, the UPA governmen

dithered and the Anna movement createa new political party, the Aam Aadm

Party (AAP). While Anna Hazarwithdrew from the political entity, gave birth to a new political star calleArvind Kejriwal. Smart, wellntentioned, media-savvy, relativeloung and from a humble background

Kejriwal was ready to take on anyone i

he establishment. His passion anaggression won him many fans, and evehough we didn’t have a Lokpal, peopl

saw Kejriwal as one of the solutions t

ndia’s crises. While Kejriwal’s journeo power in Delhi is well known, it i

only now that his position has assumesome stability as the state chief minister



Before his recent electoral victory (iFebruary 2015), Kejriwal wanconsistent, exhibiting traits tha

showed earnestness but alsnexperience. While people liked him

wanted him to have a future in Indiapolitics and knew that he could take ohe Congress, they weren’t sure that h

could be a viable alternative to it.Hence, this created another gap an

simultaneously led to the rise of anothepolitical star—Narendra Modi. Thcurrent prime minister of India was thehe four-time chief minister of Gujara

one of India’s most affluent states. Hbelonged to the BJP, the Congress’raditional rival, and thus offered a

alternative to the Congress. Unlik



Kejriwal, Modi had far more politicaexperience and a proven track record irunning a state. In fact, his initiatives i

promoting the successful Gujarat growtstory cemented his position as an abladministrator and visionary. While thCongress lost touch with the massesModi and the BJP began to echo populasentiment—‘Congress-Mukt Bharat’, thwar cry of the BJP, became instantl

popular. Since Indians seem to likpersonalities in politics, the entircampaign revolved around NarendrModi. ‘ Ab ki baar, Modi sarkar ’ wa

splattered across hoardings annewspapers in every city. The rest, ahey say, is history.

The BJP won 282 seats, comfortabl



above the majority 271-mark in thParliament. With its allies, the tally wawell over 300. India was set to enter

new era. Publications around the worlcelebrated India’s mandate for stabilityand for a leader focused on developmenand not much else.

The Hindutva card of the BJPsomething it had capitalized on in earlieelections, was kept aside; instead, th

party promised an India that wacommitted to communal harmony as welas development. With great pomp anshow, Modi was sworn in at th

Rashtrapati Bhavan lawns. Thousandwere present, including the heads ostate of eight of our neighbourincountries.



Could it get any better for India?

2014 until Today: A Reality Check

The new government came to powerThings started to move. We had newreports of government employees bein

pulled up for not being punctualMinisters worked long hours. Manpending government proposals began tget cleared. The prime ministeannounced initiatives like ‘SwachBharat’ or ‘Clean India’, which werwell received.

And yet, not all expectations wermet. The pace of economic reformexpected to accelerate with the newgovernment, didn’t change much. Man



n the government managed expectationby saying, ‘Don’t expect big-banreforms.’ While the government launche

a ‘Make in India’ campaign to invitforeign investors, reports of ‘taerrorism’ multiplied, with overzealouax departments hounding foreignstitutional investors.

The education sector didn’t transfor significantly. Employment rate, often

result of economic growth, didn’t picup very much either. Communastatements from a few BJP leadercontinued. The prime minister—voca

ike no other prime ministerial candidatbefore the election—became mordiscreet. He spoke, but often about hiown agenda, rather than abou



controversial or tricky issues.The ‘Modi wave’, a sort of a fando

for Narendra Modi that had swept th

nation before the election, turned intit’s still early days, let’s see wha

happens’.

The Ebbing Modi Wave

A strong sign that the Modi wave haended came with the Delhi statelections of 2015. In February 2015Arvind Kejriwal, won 67 out of the 7seats in the Delhi Assembly. Severa

reasons were attributed to this landslidvictory, including the fact that peoplwanted to give a real second chance tArvind Kejriwal. However, one coul



not deny that the euphoria surroundinhe new BJP government had ended, aeast in Delhi.

Of course, soon after Kejriwaassumed power, controversies broke ouabout his government as well. The firscame when Prashant Bhushan anYogendra Yadav, two founding memberof the AAP, were ousted from the partyKejriwal was the only brand tha

mattered for the AAP; everyone elswas dispensable. Another controversnvolved the AAP law minister for Delh

forging his educational degrees. The

came the report about the AAP spendina mindboggling 500 crore plus for advertisements highlighting its owachievements.



Neither Modi nor Kejriwal seemed thave sustained their pre-election hype.

The Hope and Disappointment Cycle

So what’s the pattern here? It seems thawe, as Indians, do realize that there ar

problems in the system. However, tsolve these problems, we place our faitn one messiah and bring him or her t

power. Once we bring the messiah tpower, we discover that s/hunderwhelms us, getting trapped icontroversies or hemmed in b

imitations. From the Congress to thBJP to the AAP, every party seems thave tried its luck at the top in somcapacity. However, no clear path i



visible and the cycle of hope andisappointment continues. Change islow, despite all of us agreeing that it i

needed. We hear reports of how India ihe next superpower about to take off

However, that take-off seems to havbeen stuck on the runway for a couple odecades now.

The realization that India’s problemwon’t go away by changing

government creates both despair anhope.

First comes despair. It idisheartening to learn that we stil

haven’t done enough to put India on thright path. After all, we did manage thave a Congress-mukt centragovernment, the so-called cure. We als



placed our two big political stars—arendra Modi and Arvind Kejriwal—

as prime minister and chief ministe

respectively, with a full majority. Yet thproblems haven’t ended. The faces havchanged, not the issues.

Reality Check: The Despair

We are still far from being a confidensuperpower of the future. We are still hird world country with third worlnfrastructure; the roads in Mumbai stil

have potholes after the first rain! We d

have a few achievements on the worlstage in sports, science, defence or ispaces that ask for creativity. But whave millions of poor people. Job



opportunities for the youth are limitedEconomic growth is modest. Primareducation is in poor shape. Most don

have access to quality healthcare.I don’t want to paint a sorry picture

However, before we get lost in ousuperpower-India fantasies and othesuch patriotic porn, it is important tface reality. Economic backwardness inot India’s only bane. While a countr

ike the USA has legalized gay marriagewe consider homosexuality illegal anare yet to repeal the draconian Sectio377. Our women aren’t treated well, an

a whole bunch of gender issues such afemale foeticide, sexual crimes againswomen, female malnutrition andiscrimination against women at wor



exist in our society. Our religiouminorities feel unsafe, and local HinduMuslim issues easily spiral into nationa

unrest. All this is reason enough tbelieve that we are far from beinawesome.

Awesome

Awesome is what I want to turn Indinto. Awesome is a term the young use t

describe anything that is cooaspirational, worthy of respect and thaessentially inspires awe. While we al

ove our country, and that will nevestop, to take it to awesome status needsome work.

Reality Check: The Hope



While the bitter truths about our systemay create some gloom, there is alshope in present-day India. For unlike th

2011–2014 period, Indians today have better grip on reality. For once, we donhink that there are a few bad guys at thop making all the mess. Fewer among uhink that a messiah will come to sav

us. We finally have the niggling feelinhat perhaps there’s something wron

with us —that no law or leader can fisociety unless society wants to fix itselfThe realization that we are responsiblfor the mess we are in—and that it isn

their’ fault—is the best hope India hahad in decades.

Hence, our mild disillusionment witour political stars may not be a ba



hing. They are not saviours, and it iunfair to expect them to be. It’s not thembut we, who have to solve our problems

How to Make a Nation Awesome

The anger and outrage on displa

between 2011 and 2014 wasn’t wrongn fact, we needed such fury to brin

people together and acknowledge thproblems we confronted. We may nohave solved issues, but at least we trieo do something about them by protestin

on the streets and voting for change

However, this wasn’t enough, and nowwe know it.

Making a nation awesome takes morhan just Twitter outrage, street protest



and a toppling of governments ielections. It asks for a fundamental shifn societal values, culture and habits.

Transforming society’s values iespecially important. Let’s take aexample. If we want to eradicate thmenace of corruption, every dishonesact must create deep revulsion within usFighting corruption is not restricted tnaming and shaming a few corrup

officials. If we think it is okay to cheat iexams, lie to a ticket collector in thrain about our kids’ ages and pay a b

of money to avoid a big traffic fine, the

at some level we clearly don’t carabout eliminating corruption all thamuch. At best, we hate the politiciawho gets to steal (while we don’t!).



To take another example, it iunthinkable for Hindus to enter templewith their shoes on. Even so, why don

we, as Indians, cheat and enter places oworship covertly in our shoes? Simplbecause we feel it is disrespectful to dso. No law is needed; no politician ahe top needs to remind us. It is ou

society’s core values that guide us—whave learnt that places of worshi

should be treated with respect, anremoving our shoes is one way oshowing deference.

Now, if only we felt the same wa

about corruption! Well, hopefully wwill, one day.

The Homogeneity Challenge



Spurring reform in a nation also requirehomogeneity in thought. People shoulgenerally agree on what a country’s to

problems are and the solutions needefor them.

This is a massive challenge in Indiaone of the most diverse countries in thworld. We have people from differencultures, communities, religionsethnicities, income groups an

educational backgrounds. Many geexasperated with India because we, itcitizens, just never seem to get alongSome experts even say the idea of Indi

s wrong; it is not more than a leftovepatchwork of disparate kingdomcreated by the British. After all, whadoes Kerala have in common wit



Assam, and what do the two share witRajasthan? How can all these diversgroups ever agree?

There is some truth to sucscepticism. Countries that havdramatically progressed in the last fewdecades—Taiwan, South KoreaSingapore and Japan—have a morhomogenous population. Even China, huge country, is culturally a lot les

disparate than India.Are we, as Indians, then fated t

disagree with one another? Will oudreams be destroyed by interna

disharmony? How will we ever becomruly awesome?

My Role



This is where I feel I, and others likme, have a role. By God’s grace anhanks to my readers’ love, my book

have reached almost all corners of thcountry.

Each book is a unique Indian storyabout people from a particular place india. The stories have worked all ovendia. Doesn’t this mean that, at somevel, we are homogenous? We can an

do empathize with Krish Malhotra’attempts at getting married to a giroutside his community (2 States). Areader in Rajasthan can relate t

Madhav Jha’s struggle with spokeEnglish ( Half Girlfriend ).

As a motivational speaker, I havravelled across India; I have visite



over a hundred cities in the last threears. While there are geographica

differences, I find that ultimately, a

ndians, we are the same.The average Indian anywhere in th

country is looking for a better quality oife, a certain amount of hope an

security and the freedom to makpersonal choices. The issues that reallmatter to us are the same. Difference

exist, but they don’t run as deep as oupoliticians would have us believe. AMaharashtrian father wants a goocollege for his son and doesn’t car

whether his MP is a Maharashtrian. AAssamese girl wants the freedom tmarry her boyfriend, as does a woman iKarnataka.



This similarity of aspirations, at fundamental level, is what gives mhope. It offers me—and others like m

on a national platform—an opportunito connect everyone. While fiction is fu

and entertaining, writers like me alsneed to share common concerns with thpopulation and propose a fewdeliverables.

Making India Awesome

t is my belief and conviction that if wall come together, we really can mak

our India awesome. We can have nation that we are proud to be a part oand others choose to emulate.

We will do this by working o



ourselves. The fix is not quick, and won’t come from electing an awesommessiah at the top. It will come fro

working on several aspects of oucountry.

For the sake of simplicity, I’ll dividhe work demanded of us to make Indi

awesome into four main areas. Thesare:

Awesome Governance: Makingour government, politics and policies right

Awesome Society: Fixing

societal values, culture andhabits

Awesome Equality: Enforcingand respecting minority, gay and



women’s rights

Awesome Resources: Utilizingour best resource pool—the

youth

This has been graphically represented ihe chart on the next page.

My columns over the past six yearhave tried to address each of these fouareas; they have emphasized that ou

nation will become awesome only whewe get an awesome report card in eacof these four subjects.

All the noise and fury until 201

about corruption and the need for change in government did contribute this end, but only partially—to the firs

part, Awesome Governance. The othe



hree segments still need to be tackled.

Pushing for equality, a shift isocietal values and the proper utilizatio

of resources won’t be easy, and thourney will be long. But I am excited

After all, how often do we get to be parof a generation that can actually fix thnation?

I do believe we can make Indiawesome by embracing a fresh identit

—by moving from our original positionas Self-focused Indifferent Indians oCaring but Aligned Indians, and growinnto Caring Objective Indians. I believ

we can achieve global eminence bremembering the lessons of the recenpast—that no law or leader can solvour problems if we fail to display som



nitiative. I think we can dream oharmony and happiness if we celebrathe qualities that bind us as citizens

even while making allowances fodifferences. Most of all, if wunderstand the issues that confront Indiand help others understand them, wwill have contributed to our commogoal—making India one of the greatescountries on earth. The fact that you hav

picked up this book means that you sharhis goal with me and other readers.





I have one request. I never write aessay or discuss an Indian proble

without proposing a solution, no mattehow simple that resolution may sound. urge you to do the same when yodiscuss a national issue anywhere. Let u

not only complain and whine, buunderstand things and work them out.

Also, I am not perfect, nor are all m

houghts in every section in this booperfect. But let this book be a startinpoint. Let it generate more ideas abouhow we can turn our shared dream into

reality. Disagree with me, but at leashave a point of view about the probleand a solution in mind. Do that, and imy eyes you will be what I call a



awesome reader.

And when we will have enougawesome readers who care about ou

country, nothing can stop us from Makinndia Awesome!

Love



AWESOME

GOVERNANCE:

POLITICS AND

ECONOMY





The cornerstone of any country, thcontrol room containing the lever

hat manipulate the economy andsociety, is the government. In ademocracy, the government is bor

out of politics. The kind of politics whave, the way voters think and thkind of people we elect to sit in th

control room have a huge impact ohe destiny of our nation.

Handling the levers of our countr

s what we call governance. nvolves formulating andmplementing policies, laws, ruleand regulations to run our country



Unless we make this governancworld class, there is no way ou

country can become awesome.Hence, a lot of my writing revolvearound politics and policiesWherever possible, I try not to blam

only the politicians. Politicians arreplaceable. What is more importans what we, as voters, need to

change about ourselves, in oueveryday behaviour and thinking, toensure that the people who enter th

control room do indeed give uawesome governance.

In this section, ‘Games Politician

Play’ talks about how the prejudiced



ndian voter can easily bmanipulated. ‘We the Shameless

and ‘Revenge of the Oppressedaddress how corruption doesnoccur just because of politicians, bubecause of how different classes o

society think and place a differenmportance on the issue. In ‘ThKings in Our Minds’, the India

mentality of being over-subservient toour political leaders and its resultanabuse by them is discussed.

Essays such as ‘Rahul’s NewClothes, and the Naked Truth’Swachh Congress Abhiyan’

Seventeen Commandments fo



Narendra Modi’ and ‘Analysing thModi Effect’ talk more directly of th

dynamics of the main politicaparties in our nation. Apart from politics, it is equall

mportant to understand policies. M

writings on ‘The Telangana Effecton the division of Andhra Pradesh)Rescue the Nation’ (on the role o

he bureaucracy), ‘Pro-poor or Propoverty?’ (on the Food Security Bill)Can India's Backward Polity Provid

a Pro-growth Economic Environment?on the state of the Indian economy)The Tiny-bang Theory for Setting O

Big-bang Reforms’ (on the new



government's cautious economireforms) and ‘To Make “Make i

ndia” Happen, Delete Control’ (oattracting foreign investments) talabout specific government policiesweighing in on the pros and cons o

each.



POLITICS

Seventeen

Commandments for Narendra Modi

After a long time, we havehad a stable mandate at the

top. If the BJP blows thisopportunity, it will set India

back by a decade.



L

et me forewarn you, dear reader—this inot going to be pretty. But, over year after the Modi governmen

came to power, it is important take stock of what needs to be done.

Here is a list of seventeen actiopoints if the Bharatiya Janata PartBJP) wants to remain the dominan

political party in India. After a lonime, we have had a stable mandate a

he top. If the BJP blows thiopportunity, it will set India back by decade. So, here goes.

The prime minister, with all duerespect, is floating too high.Come back to earth. Don’t try to present an image of a global



statesman. You won an anti-incumbency election when theCongress was weak, by

increasing the BJP’s vote share by a few percentage points. Youhave not transformed India yet.Don’t be happy with just theapplause from non-residentIndians (NRIs). If they love youso much, ask them to pay. If one

lakh NRIs commit to paying theBJP $1,000 a year, that is a $100million of clean money annually.Use that to clean up party

funding. When are you going todo that anyway?Learn some valuable lessonsfrom your trouncing in the Delhi



elections in 2014. The resultsremoved the halo around Modi,or ended the ‘Modi wave’. They

showed that the top leadershipwas clueless about the feelings o people on the street, or even theiown party workers. They alsocast doubt on Modi’s ability todeliver on promises.Get the Lokpal Bill passed.

Empower the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and CentralVigilance Commission (CVC).Clean up corruption systemically

Don’t say that if Modi is there,nobody can be corrupt. What if Modi isn’t there tomorrow?Don’t bully the media or juniors



in the party. Inspire respect, notfear. Don’t be smug. Don’t killtalent in the party because it

could be a threat to you one day.It’s not in the BJP’s DNA to be aone-man party.Shut up regressive Hindutvafanatics. We’ve heard them talk poisonous nonsense. You ignorethem. They are your supporters.

You have to tell them loud andclear this is not okay. The younggeneration doesn’t find it cool tosupport a leader who doesn’t

believe in a free and equalsociety. Send some of your old-fashioned partymen abroad tolearn about gender issues and



minority rights. They will makeyou sink otherwise.Don’t be overconfident in your

speeches. Keep a circle of criticaround you, not just those whokeep singing ‘Modiji isawesome’. Everything you utter in public must be pre-checked. A prime minister cannot be a rabblrouser.

Dress down. Charisma comesfrom integrity, competence andcompassion. Not from expensiveclothes.

Stay connected to, and dosomething visible, for the youth.They screamed for you in the LokSabha elections and filled their



Twitter feeds and Facebook walls with your praises. Whathave you done for them? You

went to Shri Ram College of Commerce to give a speech before the elections. Have youvisited any college after that?Why not? Are foreign visits moreimportant?The party president may be

really clever. But sometimes itisn’t about who is the most cleve but about who genuinely cares.Chess moves don’t win elections

all the time. A connect with people does. The party presidentgiven his perceived persona(which may be at variance with



who he really is), doesn’t inspireconfidence. You standing next tohim is like Amitabh Bachchan

standing next to Amar Singh. Didit help Mr Bachchan?Don’t talk down to people. Talk to people. Don’t address peopleif you never want to takequestions. Don’t givemonologues on the radio. It

reminds one of Indira Gandhi and North Korea. It’s not cool. Doyou really think a kid in DelhiUniversity will tell his friends,

‘Hey, can’t miss that “Mann KiBaat” on radio?’Open more colleges. Open uptourism. Reduce taxes on high-



employment sectors. Give tax breaks for companies that moveheadquarters to smaller cities.

Do anything to take skills and jobs to the interiors. Fix the primary schools. They have toteach well. Half our schoolkidscan’t read properly.The cities need extensions withvery low-cost housing solutions,

with good water, electricity andtransport infrastructure. That isthe only way the urban poor canlive a life of dignity. Give them

dignity. They didn’t vote for youin Delhi, remember? Win them back.Be real. Have a work–life



balance. Why can’t the primeminister catch a moviesometimes? Or eat chaat in Delhi

somewhere? A humanized primeminister works better than aglorified one. No statues, please. School or statue? Hospital or statue? Noneed to explain further. No personal attacks on

opponents, no matter how punchythe joke or the temptation to sayit. Again, run it past those criticaadvisers first.

No hanging out with richindustrialists. Of course, you mayneed to officially. But it doesn’thave to be a media event. Hang



out with the billion people, not billionaires.

Finally, all of the above comes down the party listening and acting accordino the wishes of the people.



L

Games PoliticiansPlay

If a father buys his child

toffees instead of books forschool, it may make for a

happy child. But does it make

a good father?

ike certain flowers that blossoonly in spring, Indian politic

comes alive, and shows its true coloursduring election time. The strategieadopted by political parties tell yo

what matters to people, or answer th



elusive question—how exactly dndians vote? Certain moves announce

by political parties, whether absurd

controversial or unethical, provide yommense insight into what works for th

average voter. Even the most rationamodern-thinking politicians adopprimitive and regressive measures irying to pander to the electorate. The

do this for one and only one purpose—t

win. In fact, victory becomes smportant that they forget, or ignore, thong-term repercussions of their action

on our society and nation as a whole

Whether it is taking in corrupt memberonly for the votes they can procure froheir communities or announcin

unrealistic freebies or quotas on th



basis of caste or religion, politicbecomes a circus at the time oelections.

If a father buys his child toffeenstead of books for school, it may mak

for a happy child. But does it make good father?

For a change, I am not blaming any ohe politicians for such actions. If w

were in the same situation, perhaps w

oo would be left with no choice but tadopt similar measures. The problem inot with the politicians, who simplmirror and adapt to the environment. Th

ssue is with the Indian electorate, or usThe great Indian mind is filled witprejudice. Centuries of persecution andiscrimination—even in the present da



—on the one hand and a belief in thsuperiority of one’s own kind on thother, have led to these prejudices

These in turn have led to a haphazardemocracy—more cacophony thaconsensus. The ruckus that we often sen Parliament is nothing but

visualization of the average Indian mindof chaos and confusion about who wreally are. Even the most educated of u

are prejudiced. One simple test oprejudice is this—will you allow yousiblings or children to marry outsidour community or religion? If you

answer is no, then no matter how mucou cheer for the Indian team, stand a

attention for the national anthem or cheehe Indian flag, you are prejudiced. An



as long as most of us stay prejudiced, wwill have the confused and mediocreadership that we have right now. N

matter how many fasts activistundertake or good policies economistsuggest, if we don’t get the concept obeing Indian in our heads and treat thaabove anything else, we will remain messed-up country.

Yes, Dalits were treated badly in th

past, and some still suffer. Muslimwere—and some of them still are—discriminated against. However, thinghave improved. If you shed you

prejudices, they will improve evefaster.

If there were no prejudices, therwould be no need for political parties t



play the caste card or to announce quotawithin quotas.

If we don’t change, however, we ar

moving towards disaster. There will back of decision-making, inefficienc

and a stalling of progress and growth iour country. The young generation wilfind it even more difficult to get a gooeducation and well-paid jobs. After alf we choose our leader based only o

he toffees he gives us, then wsomewhat deserve our fate.



F

Revenge of theOppressed: Why

Corruption Continuesto Be Around Despitethe Outcry Against It

Everybody wants to removecorruption. However, not everyIndian feels it is the number

one priority.

rom speaking engagements t

dinner with friends, one questio



s constant: why isn’t corruption goinaway? The question baffles the educatemiddle classes. Why is a reasonable

universal and noble demand for ahonest society so difficult to achieve in democracy? And why is it that corrupparties win elections time and timagain?

Frustrated, the educated middle clascomes up with elitist theories like ‘9

per cent of Indians are stupid’ or ‘mosvoters are dumb’. None of this is trueThe Indian voter is rational. Howeverhe is rational within his own framework

t is important to grasp the demographicand social context of Indian voters.

Sure, at one level everybody wants tremove corruption. Every Indian woul



ike a clean society. However, not everndian feels it is the number one priority

For a lot of Indians, corruption doesn

determine their voting behaviourRemoving corruption is important them. However, it is not as important as

say, (a) one’s identity; (b) their safetyand (c) obtaining some instangratification from politicians durinvoting time.

Clever politicians understand thisThey work to deliver on these prioritieand, in return, are allowed to be corrupby the voters. This often occurs amongs

he section of voters that has historicallbeen oppressed or sees itself as subjugated minority.

Of course, this is an oversimplifie



generalization. The situation is changingFor there are Muslim voters or lowercaste voters or low-income voters wh

want corruption removed more thaanything else. However, a lot oMuslims also vote to feel safe (henchey may avoid voting for the BJP)

Many low-income voters would rathehave ‘bird-in-hand freebies’ at electioime (as later on the politician wil

forget them—a completely rationaview). Similarly, many lower-castvoters may feel happy to see theicommunity’s candidate in power, as

makes life seem a little fairer aftegenerations of oppression.

With such conflicting agendas, thssue of corruption gets clouded. Votin



patterns do show corruption as variable (hence ministers step down)However, it is not the top influencer yet

Thus, a corrupt party can enjoy power aong as it keeps the oppressed classe

happy and can play Robin Hood to themEvery party knows this; thus, every parts corrupt, though to varying degrees.

In some ways, the stickiness ocorruption is the revenge of th

oppressed. It is we, the educatedusually upper-class, upper-caste Hinduswho are empowered enough to havhigher-order needs of an honest and fai

society. The oppressed won’t let us havt just yet. They do want to remov

corruption, but they also want certainjustices fixed and other scores settled



For this, they send agents to power whmight loot the nation, but protect theand even share the booty through th

occasional handout.It isn’t fair to today’s youth, who wan

a corruption-free India to maximizopportunities above anything elseHowever, there were centuries ounfairness that the oppressed had to beaoo.

Will it ever change? Yes. It has tchange because plunder anredistribution is a highly inefficienmodel for societal fairness. We are

poor country. There isn’t much tplunder anyway. The solution lies isetting aside differences for a while. Thupper-caste, upper-class Hindus have t



et go of their bigotry and prejudice. Thoppressed have to let go of theiustified but expensive urge for reveng

and retribution. All over the world, thoppressed have only risen through selfempowerment—look at the Jews and thParsis. Oppressed community voters arrealizing that many of their currenrepresentatives have harmed the nationfilled their own pockets and done littl

for them.We are not a nation of stupid voters

We are simply a nation where peoplwant different things, and that’s okay

However, removing corruption wilrequire it to be made the number onpriority for all Indians. It is a seculassue, and removing it will be beneficia



o all.When the roof of the house is leaky

ou need to fix the roof first rather tha

fight family feuds. We do become onduring cricket matches, and we did wihe World Cup in 2011. If we ca

become one on this issue of fightincorruption, we will be able to wiagainst it as well.

Game for it?



T

We the Shameless

It’s time to stop blaming justour politicians for corruption

and look within.

ime and time again, we have seeour political parties defend thei

corrupt members and even back them fomportant posts. Their first standar

excuse is ‘nothing malafide is proveet’. The second classic excuse is ‘loo

at what other parties have doneTherefore, a murderer can be spared, aong as he can find another murderer.

It is important to understand why al



political parties back their corrupmembers, despite massive allegationand enough circumstantial evidenc

against such people. The answer lies ihe way Indians think. While it is easy t

blame politicians, the fact remains thaour politicians are not ethical becauswe aren’t ethical. A large number opoliticians have lost track of the idehat every profession in this world ha

ethics—it may not be illegal to breahem but still is definitely wrong. A

doctor must treat his patient as soon apossible, it is assumed, under ethica

medical practice. But if he delayreatment, it would be hard to prove llegal. A teacher must try to teach he

students well, though if she doesn’t,



won’t be illegal. Society needs ethics amuch as laws to function well.

The simple, bitter truth is that th

electorate just doesn’t care much aboufinancial impropriety. Sure, we bickermoan and fuss about politicians lootinus. However, it is not that high up in thhierarchy of wrongs a politician coulcommit. A moderate amount ocorruption is almost expected an

accepted. It is only when graft is done ian obvious large-scale and arroganmanner that Indians get somewhat upse—and that too for a short period of time

Do it, but don’t be so blatant and rub n our faces,’ is what we seem to belling them.

Tax evasion, dubious accounting an



shady friendships are almost seen anatural behaviour for an Indiabusinessman. We don’t see them a

crimes. We treat them on a par with, sayeating four plates of dessert—a bgreedy, but understandable.

Until we, as a society, really feel thagraft, unethical behaviour and nepotisare huge problems, and start to truly carabout all of them, politicians will no

change.Take, for instance, a hypothetica

situation. Say, a prominent politiciawent into a temple with his shoes on

with a bottle of alcohol and kicked thdols. What would happen? Of coursehere would be huge societal outrage. I

our value system, we hold our religiou



shrines extremely dear. Such a persowould never be allowed to remain partpresident. In all probability, the person’

political career would end overnight.But this value system does not appl

when we see shady businesses beinconducted, state coffers being looted opoliticians placing self-interest abovnational interest. Even abuse of power isomething we only talk about in public

Deep down, we are complicit. We mawant political leaders to not abuspower, but do so ourselves. Just take onexample, the status of domestic help i

ndia. How do Indians treat theidomestic help? Why don’t we ever talabout a minimum wage for them? Operhaps a compulsory day off ever



week? When we ourselves have nqualms abusing our power, it is difficuo attack others for doing so.

We, the Indian society, need to reflecon who we have become. Organizationike the Rashtriya Swayamsevak SangRSS), which claim to care for India’

glory, should be fixing this bpropagating good values in society. Anparties which claim removal o

corruption as their topmost agenda, likhe Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), shoul

also send out the message that it is a lacof values within us, and not just a few

bad guys at the top, that has turned Indicorrupt.

More than anything, we ourselvemust change, and see the sense in doin



so. A society without values cannosurvive or function, let alone progressWhen this realization dawns on a large

section of society, politicians wilchange. The BJP might fire NitiGadkari and the Congress might creatan uproar to take action against RoberVadra.

Right now, they don’t, because thehink you, the voter, doesn’t care. Tha

ou will see Gadkari’s punishment as slight to the RSS, or to the community ocaste he belongs to. Similarly, nCongressman will stand up for what i

right in Vadra’s case, as the Congresvoter cares for the Gandhi family morhan for right or wrong.

We live in shameless times. Whe



ong-overdue self-reflection and shamstrike us, India will be ready for changeWe have seen many exposés on corrup

eaders in the past few years; it is timwe did an exposé on ourselves.



I

The Kings in Our Minds

Kings and colonizers left our

country nearly seven decadesago. It is time they left our

minds.

remember one afternoon when therwas a traffic jam on the Wester

Express Highway in Mumbai. This vita

suburban highway connects varioumportant points of the city, including th

airport. I, like several others on th

road, had a flight to catch. On a norma



day, it would have taken ten minutes the terminal. However, that day, thraffic had not moved for over half a

hour.The jam wasn’t due to roa

construction or a vehicle mishapnstead, a few cops had intentionall

stopped the traffic. ‘VIP movement,’ iall a cop told me when I asked. Some ous begged the cops to let us pass, lest w

miss our flight. The cops shooed uaway. The stranded crowd smirked at usas if saying how stupid of us to even try.

I saw the faces of people waiting o

heir bikes, in cars, buses anautorickshaws. The long jam meaniterally thousands of people waiting t

move behind us. People were late fo



work, business meetings, doctor’appointments, social visits and collegeYet, while everyone was uncomfortable

nobody seemed agitated either. After alhis was a part of Indian life. A net

passes, the world around has to stop.I made frantic calls to the airline staf

and managed to get a boarding pasprinted. When traffic finally cleared, was lucky to make it to the flight. Th

airline, aware of the jam, had delayehe plane somewhat. It would now dela

other flights elsewhere in India. Despithis, many passengers couldn’t make i

These people spent considerable timeeffort and money to rebook themselveo their destinations. I had a speakin

engagement in my destination city. If



had missed this flight, the function woulhave had to be cancelled.

Meanwhile, I assume the neta arrive

n Mumbai, had people salute him, lifhis bags and shut his car doors. Hwould have zipped off on the highwayon his way to cut a ribbon somewhere ofor a meeting; probably important but noerribly urgent either. If the road had no

been cleared for him, he would hav

still reached his destination, perhaps teminutes later (and with a more realistipicture of the roads and traffic iMumbai). However, to ensure hi

comfort, thousands waited for an hourairlines upset schedules and at least onevent planner in the country had a paniattack.



Who was this VIP? He was a membeof Parliament, a minister. He was neithehe king of India nor the colonial ruler o

our country. We don’t have thosanymore. The person was an electerepresentative, someone people hachosen to do a job. Sure, to handle ministry of a large country is not a smalob. He does deserve respect for it

However, does respect mea

subservience? If someone has powerful job, does that mean we accepany form of power abuse from him oher? Do we think it is okay for a bus

city to stop just because some electeeader needs a smooth ride to his or he

meeting? If we do, aren’t we at somevel accepting, and even becomin



accomplices in, the subjugation?Of course, some would argue: wha

other option do we have? Creating

ruckus on the jammed road would onlcreate more havoc. A public protescould turn into a mob-like situationwhich isn’t the solution either. Thanswer to power abuse is not anarchy.

So what do we do? Before wanswer that, we need to see why ou

elected representatives continue to thinof themselves as little monarchs.

Our political class inherited a Britiscolonial system, which had zer

accountability to the colonized. Quitcleverly, they didn’t change laws tbring in accountability, the cornerstonof any democracy. Till date, our netas tr



o rule us like colonial rulers and hatany proposals that reduce their poweror demand accountability. No wonde

he Jan Lokpal Bill hasn’t yet beepassed!

While such legal and policy battlecontinue, a large part of the problem ialso the Indian mindset. We do see theas our kings. We do think that ‘they arn power’ means ‘they can do anything

We do not realize that ‘being in powermeans ‘being in power only to do thingn the national interest’.

If Indians change this mindse

changes to laws and policies wilfollow. Specifically, if a majority of usee and expect netas to be servicproviders instead of rulers, it wil



rigger a huge behavioural change in thpolitical class.

How do you change mindsets acros

he country? Well, start with yourselfand then try to change as many others apossible. If you suffer, talk about it. Texfriends, talk about it on social networkand to your colleagues. Tell everyone iou witness abuse of power, especiall

when your service provider neta act

ike an entitled prince. Sure, they drivour nation, but just as a hired drive

drives a bus. The driver cannot starbelieving he owns the bus. The drive

should also know that if he doesn’t drivwell, he will be removed.

So let us work on changing thimindset if we want a better India. King



and colonizers left our country nearlseven decades ago. It is time they lefour minds.



A

The Telangana Effect

The answer to India’sproblems is not a new state. Itmay be, rather, a new state of

mind.

n endearing, almost cute trait o

Indians is that we never reallose hope. We always feel that a messia

or a great grand scheme will soon com

and deliver us from our woes. It is narrative reinforced by Bollywoodwhere somehow a hero works things oun the end. Our mythology, too, talk

about good forces (God) with amazin



powers coming and killing the evil onedemons).

It is perhaps due to this gullibility tha

many of us feel that the sure-shosolution to the miserable common man’ife in India is a new state.

Yes, ‘stateitis’ is the new virus iown, affecting everyone from the souto the east to the north. So, what is thatest solution for the common man’

suffering? A new state. Not gooeaders, not even new leaders, not new

criteria for voting—such as governancover caste—not an end to identit

prejudice.We will change none of this. We wil

simply solve all our employmentnflation, power, water, safety, healt



and education problems with one magisolution—a new state. If thconsequences of such naïve thinkin

weren’t serious, it would be anothecute, hilarious trait of Indians. Howeverwhat we started with Telangana isomething so harmful, vile and terriblewe will all regret it in times to come iwe don’t check it now. And that terriblhing is this: making states at gunpoint.

No, making new states is not problem. In the right circumstances, imay well help. What creates problemare coercive demands for a state, wher

sections of the population threateviolence or strikes and try to gouge out state for themselves.

However, if we want to stem suc



movements, it won’t be through forciblshutting them down. It is important tunderstand where such demand

originate, and if something can be dono address the underlying issues withou

constantly redrawing the map of thcountry.

So, why the almost sudden desire foso many new states? Well, the demanseems to be coming from the mor

economically backward pockets of thcountry. The simple reason is thispeople are sick of poor governance andon’t know where to look for answers o

place the blame. A new state, even if flawed idea, seems like something newo try.

Also, Indians are prejudiced, aidin



such thought. Many of us Indians feel oucommunity/religion/caste is somehowsuperior to others’. We also feel a leade

from our own kind will have morempathy towards us. Hence, a new statseems like a reasonable solution.

Of course, this is highly flawehinking. For our prejudice itself is oftehe reason behind our woes. If we wer

not prejudiced, we would not have vote

on the basis of identity. We would havchosen instead a leader based on abilityWe didn’t, which in turn led to thgovernance mess we find ourselves i

oday.This bitter truth, of course, doesn

cut much ice with us Indians. We nevebuy stories involving us takin



responsibility. We never blamourselves. It is always an externademon, and usually from anothe

caste/community/religion, that causeour woes. Not us.

Unfortunately, caught amidst oudesperate life situations and prejudiceminds, we forget the damage pseudofixes like new states may cause. For, nmatter what your local leader may tel

ou about the utopia that will come aftemaking a new state, there are mandrawbacks. Here are four.

First, small states have little clout a

he centre. Let’s face it, the chieminister of Uttar Pradesh carries morclout than his counterpart in TripuraSize matters in politics.



Two, it creates separatist, almosanti-national sentiments that are harmfufor the country. There were reports o

people in Telangana being asked tmove out of the new state. If new stateare created in Assam or West Bengahere could be violence. Indians livin

peacefully for generations could becomadversaries overnight. How can this bgood for the country?

Three, business investors are likely tstay away from a newly formed stateespecially if the state is created undevolatile circumstances. This will mea

fewer new jobs and a worse-ofsituation for the new state. Franklywithout investments, no backward arecan develop. Politicians may yield t



shrill voices, investors will run awafrom them.

Four, it reinforces and almos

validates something we Indians shoulbe ashamed of—our internal prejudices

Today, the world is looking at India tget its act together. We, on the othehand, are busy finding differences anreasons to hate each other. AndhrPradesh was a wonderful state by itself

Sure, it may have had issues like another. Cutting it up, making many parts ondia vulnerable and legitimizin

prejudice hardly seems like a smar

solution.There’s nothing wrong with making

few new states, but it has to be done ohe right terms. The intent has to b



rational and the process objective anpeaceful. The reason for making stateshould be administrative and no

ndulging prejudices. The answer tndia’s problems is not a new state. I

may be, rather, a new state of mind. Amodern, unprejudiced, thinking Indiamind. Can we add that to the list of newstate demands please?



F

Analysing the ModiEffect

Figuring Modi out gives us

insights into who we are asIndians.

ew politicians are as fascinatinas Narendra Modi. And for nearl

a decade and a half, no politician habeen as controversial. Neither has an

politician been accused, blacklistedvilified and treated like a pariah amuch. Yet he has not only survived, buhrived.



It has been over a year since Modwon the 2014 Lok Sabha electionsWhat’s amazing is that the criticism ha

not stopped even as the Godhra riotscensure has subsided.

Anyhow, one thing is clear—Modi’political graph has continued to riseEven the always-righteous-but-notalways-right Arvind Kejriwal, who hasuccessfully tarnished many reputation

so far—Nitin Gadkari, Robert VadraMukesh Ambani, Sheila Dikshit, to nama few—has been unable to reallpuncture the Modi effect. As he enter

his second year in office, Modi’popularity has not nose-dived, as soften happens with politicians who arvoted into office with landslid



majorities by voters who think that theseaders are their new messiahs.

Why is that so? Is it just Modi’

development agenda? Is it a lack ochoice? Is it Modi’s personality anoratory? Or is it his never-overstatedet-always-present Hindutva stance

Other BJP leaders have run states wel—Manohar Parrikar and Shivraj SingChouhan, for instance. So why doe

Modi command a wild and passionatfan base like no other BJP leader?

Answering these questions important.

First, understanding Modi’popularity is important for hiopposition. For now, opponents seem tbe helping Modi more than hurting him



Criticism is Modi’s polish, making hishine even more.

Second, figuring Modi out gives u

nsights into who we are as Indians.An aspect mostly overlooked abou

ndian society is its understated, oftesubdued but strong sense of Hindentitlement. Sure, our Constitution anaws are secular. Our public discours

shuns communal arguments, and rightl

so. However, this doesn’t mean thsense of entitlement goes away.

With an over 80 per cent Hindpopulation, comprising the majority o

he world’s Hindus, it is nearlmpossible to eliminate that sense o

majority entitlement. Add to that thCongress’s strategy of turning Muslim



nto a vote bank and responding better tMuslim issues. This triggered the Hindsense of dissatisfaction even more.

In this context, a leader representinHindu pride found resonance. This iwhy many people do not ascribe mucmportance to the handling of post

Godhra riots when it comes to judginModi. For one, his role wasn’t cleaand hasn’t legally been proven)

Second, to a section of people it felt likretribution.

Of course, this ignores the fact thahe Muslims who allegedly burnt th

rain or organized terror attacks hanothing to do with the Muslims whsuffered during the riots. Howeveremotions often supersede reason and



disgruntled Hindu populace has mostlpardoned Modi. Again, I make nudgement whether this was right o

wrong, but this is what has happened.Third, the reason why Modi did wel

s his ability to manage expectations. Hworked in Gujarat until it showed aeast some good metrics. Mormportantly, Modi never made tal

claims beforehand. He worked hard firs

and marketed himself later.Fourth, his personality is the exac

opposite of Manmohan Singh’s. Modi ia straight talker and people like that

They want a prime minister who haopinions, even if they are not the mospolished. It doesn’t hurt that Modi has sense of humour. Humour create



connect and adds charm.Five, Modi represents practicality

Most Indians know that while it is goo

o remove corruption, nepotism, dynastyoppression of women and a millioother wrongs, it isn’t easy. Thingchange, but slowly and over time. Theader many Indians seek is nodealistic, but someone who can do

fairly good job despite the muck in ou

society.Finally, Modi was, plain and simple

ucky. Rahul Gandhi was weak as major opponent. The scam-ridden Unite

Progressive Alliance (UPA) decade haupset most Indians. The arrogance oCongress leaders didn’t help eitherModi arrived at a time when peopl



wanted change.It could be luck. Or, as they say i

Hindu terms, it might just be destiny.



A

Can India’sBackward Polity

Provide a Pro-growthEconomic

Environment?

We were, and to some extentstill are, in the middle of an

economic crisis.

bout a decade ago, enthusiastiinvestment bankers and financia

research analysts were tom-tomming th



ndia growth story. India, they said, haso much potential, it could be one of thworld’s biggest economies in the nex

couple of decades. For this, they usespreadsheet models, in which theplugged in a growth rate of 8–10 pecent and projected it for the next thirtears. They learnt this in busines

schools.Of course, anything growing at

compound annual rate of 10 per cenwill become pretty massive in thirtears (17.4 times, to be precise). Hencehe sharp minds made an earth-shatterin

prediction: that anything growing verfast will become very big over timeClients of financial institutions, seduceby such a rosy picture about the land o



miracles, bought into the idea.The boring economies of Europe

growing at 1–2 per cent, just didn’t carr

he spiciness of India. Billions came intndia, and the sudden rush of money diead to some growth. The government i

power took the entire credit for it. ‘Whave created growth,’ the governmenspokesperson used to say. The party hastarted.

The analysts were rewarded anflushed with heavy bonuses at the end ohe year. Young mergers and acquisition

bankers bought apartments with a slum

and-racecourse view or a slum-and-seview in Mumbai. Of course, the idewas to ignore the slum and focus on thsea view or the racecourse.



In all this, a few uncomfortablquestions were never asked. Fonstance, was the then governmen

committed to providing a pro-businesspro-growth economic environment? Wahe Indian polity ready to accept thi

new capitalist system? Are we socialisor are we market-driven? Could wactually grow so fast every yearconsidering that each power plant o

new road or mining approval takeears? Are we efficient manufacturer

for the world? Are our taxation anregulations in line with fast growt

requirements? Do we have an educateor skilled workforce to grow averagncomes seventeen times in the nexhirty years? Is our infrastructure i



place? No, no and no. But you don’t as

hese questions when there is a goo

party in progress. You sound like thneighbourhood uncle who crashes party and demands that the music burned down. Naysayers are seen to bealous, doomsday mongers who can

bear to see India come into its own.Of course, with none of th

fundamentals required for such massivgrowth in place, the money coming inthe country had little to do. Sure, a few

projects did take off, and the first few

companies that arrived did find theiproducts selling well, given the pent-udemand. However, soon, growth petereout.



The government had, of course, usehis temporary growth phase to start it

own mini-party. Budgets showed highe

revenue but even higher spending. Thgovernment spent way more than earned. Consequently, private playerfaced interest rates of 15 per cent foborrowings. The government printed smany rupees, it flooded the market anhe currency bought less and less.

All this was going on behind thscenes, while growth numbers wergood. Hence, all was forgiven. Medianalyses of the budgets included th

finance minister’s sartorial tastes and thcouplets he recited in his speechEverybody was happy in wonderland.

Of course, soon the penny dropped



People never saw returns for theimoney and stopped investing. Dollarstopped coming to India. Local player

ook their money out too. Growth sloweand the government blamed the mediahe opposition, the foreigners and evehe middle class for it. At the same timet spent even more, further increasin

borrowing costs and inflation.One day, the party ended. Peopl

figured it was a bubble. Reality is morhan just a growth-rate formula in

spreadsheet. A socialist country cannourn market-friendly overnight. A corrup

nation cannot be competitive in thworld. A divided population cannoarrive at decisions fast. A nation cannodecide to welcome investors one year



but pull a fast one on them the next year.We were, and to some extent still are

whether the government likes to admit

or not, in the middle of an economicrisis. We have seen many companies gbust, large lay-offs, massive inflatioand high unemployment. The reformnitiated by the new government hav

brought some relief, but the crisis is fafrom over.

The economic numbers were baenough; but they also led to somethinmuch worse—a crisis of confidenceThe same analysts who were celebratin

ndia a few years ago told their clients tavoid India and its unreliable regime. Ihe world stops trusting India, this trus

will take years to rebuild. This is wh



Prime Minister Narendra Modi launchehe ‘Make in India’ campaign, to instirust among foreign investors again an

encourage foreign companies tmanufacture in India. It has worked tsome extent, as the last economic surveby chief economic adviser ArvinSubramanian projects an 8 per cen

growth for 2016.* For this, India needo rein in its expenditure and fisca

deficit, and focus on public investment.Forget growing seventeen times i

hirty years, but hopefully, the reformnitiated by the new government wil

pull the country out of the crisis it waheading into. Otherwise, the future of aentire generation is at stake. And yes

next time, don’t ignore the slum view



while taking in the sea view.

*

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/nesurvey-2015-india-headed-for-8-plus-growth-in-2016-says-arvind-

subramanian/articleshow/46403068.cm

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/economic-survey-2015-india-headed-for-8-plus-growth-in-2016-says-arvind-subramanian/articleshow/46403068.cms



I

Rahul’s New Clothesand the Naked Truth

If there is a new Rahul

possible, we need to see him,and soon.

n school, I remember taking part in play called The Emperor’s New

Clothes. The plot revolved around king who was tricked into believing tha

he was wearing a special outfit, when ifact he was naked. His sycophantcomplimented him for his wonderfuchoice of clothing. When the empero



went out on the street, scarecommoners praised the invisible suitFinally, an innocent little kid screamed

Look, the emperor has no clothes!’That one loud comment sent the entir

own into shock. However, since it wahe truth, nobody could deny it anymore

And eventually, the emperor came baco his senses.

The Congress desperately needs tha

kid. Someone, perhaps, who could stanup at an All India Congress CommitteAICC) national convention and shoutLook, Rahul Gandhi is not working a

all!’One can almost predict the silence i

he auditorium thereafter, akin to thsilence in the town square. The firs



reaction would be denial, or eveattacking the person who said it. Bettestill, labelling him elitist, biased, paid

bigoted, idiot, evil, ignorant or any othenegative adjective that comes to mindHowever, as the Enrique Iglesias songoes—‘You can run, you can hide, buou can’t escape my love’ (in this casehe truth).

This truth is particularly bitte

because the Congress has little ideabout how to fix the problem. As mansay, if the family doesn’t work, what ihe Congress? Right now, the part

hasn’t done much besides cashing in ohe Gandhi family’s legacy. In fact, it ha

used the family name to hidncompetence and even abused it t



cover up scams. The family brand is sdepleted that there isn’t much legacy lefanymore.

Whether it was rampant corruptionrecord inflation or the latest, the safetof citizens—the Gandhis did not answeany questions. This riled the educatemiddle classes. The Gandhis hardly eveook questions, in public or in the media

Rahul Gandhi gave his first T

nterview as late as January 2014. Thestill address political rallies with wellrehearsed speeches. There are nnteractive sessions or audienc

questions. The rare press conference istage-managed, with answers that oftedeflect the issues and no counterquestioning allowed. People expec



rapid, direct, relevant and heartfecommunication from people in chargeThese expectations rise in times o

crises, which the nation had seen aplentduring Congress rule. The peoplwanted the family to talk—nospokespersons, agents, sycophants orained deflectors. They also wanted th

family to speak with sincerity and whahey truly feel, not read from rehearse

scripts. This is why Prime MinisteManmohan Singh’s relatively harmlestheek hai’ in 2012 caused so muc

outrage. It cemented the belief that th

prime minister didn’t speak from thheart.

It was not inflation, corruption oeven lack of safety that ultimatel



brought the Congress down. What madpeople lose faith is this silence, whiccame across as a mix of smug arrogance

ncompetence and lack of compassionThis silence once meant restraint anpoise. Later, it was seen as insensitive.

The young generation doesn’t knowwhat to make of them. Should theassociate the Gandhi family witsacrifice, or see them as people wh

keep silent and help cover ucorruption? Are the Gandhis interesten making Indian lives better, or are the

merely self-preservers? What is th

answer? It is all a big confusing messand youngsters see no reason why thsurname means that the party deserveheir vote. The results are there for all t



see.The bigger issue is: how to restor

he legacy? Well, when a legacy ha

been destroyed, you either restore it, obuild a new one. It will serve thCongress better if it does both. One, needs to restore the Gandhi family’pride. For this, they have to becomrelevant to the times. The world hachanged. The silent treatment jus

doesn’t work with people in the digitallconnected world. Social networksmultiple TV channels, mobile phonupdates are tools that didn’t exist i

ndia two decades ago. Their penetratiowill continue to grow in the coming fewears. The overload of media

connectivity and content means scrutin



evels are way higher than beforentegrity can no longer be feigned

Clever words, or even calculate

silences, if faked, backfire.If there is one thing the Congres

party should, and could easily change, is to get the Gandhis to talk—not jus

read out speeches, but engage, interacand respond to questions and concerns.

It’s simply the new reality of India

politics. The fact is that if Rahul startengaging with the people, the Congrescan regain a lot of the lost trust.

But Rahul doesn’t have to only tal

about being honest and caring; he has tbecome honest and caring. If there is new Rahul possible, we need to see himand soon. He needs to apologize fo



hiding when the nation needed him. Hhas to show he cares for India. Nglibness, no cleverness, no attempts t

say something deep and profound. Hhas to say sorry for not acting when hneeded to. For trying to be too cleveand keeping mum (no pun intendedduring scams. For claiming to be a youteader but letting youth down. Fo

posing as a messiah of the downtrodden

but only using them to secure a castebased vote bank. These tricks, possiblhanded down to him over thgenerations, do not work in the Interne

age. Sincerity, or the lack of it, can bspotted. Frankly, he not only has tbecome a good politician, but also good human being. In the current climat



—goodness is the new cool. He needs talk, give more and better interviews, ge

shamed even, but plough through it al

and deliver despite that. While leaderdo not look good apologizing, if couplewith firings, it will have a positiveffect. However, if the apology is stagemanaged, especially with some cleveuncle guiding the proceedings behind thscenes, it will backfire.

On the subject of firings—seniopeople need to be publicly humiliateand fired in the Congress, not those whost an election, but those who destroye

he legacy.The Gandhis of today need to own u

o mess-ups and mistakes. Rahul needo talk regularly and take questions fro



he people and the media. Yes, thiwould mean more criticismmisinterpretations and perhaps eve

slander. Yes, actions matter far morhan talk. However, communicating wit

people will show his openness anwillingness to take feedback. It wilshow that in his heart he cares for thpeople. He and the Gandhi family havo become the ‘ideals’ for the nation. Ar

hey up for it?This is not an easy task, but no

mpossible either. The Gandhis have losrust amongst many. They need to win

back. The bigger issue is, does thCongress want to rebuild itself? Morhan anything, does the emperor have th

courage to listen to the kid who is right?



T

Swachh Congress Abhiyan: SomeEssential Steps

Since the Congress and theBJP are the only two plausible

national alternatives right

now, we must keep thingscompetitive between them.

he Congress used to project itselas the perfect party led by

wonderful family that could do nwrong. After all, it had remained i



power longer than anyone else.But it is also a party where nobod

opens their mouth, even if the empero

has no clothes on. The members delivepre-rehearsed messages, which glorifhe Gandhi family and bash al

opposition. Hardly any Congress partmember speaks his mind, or comeacross as having any sense of personaconviction. Ask him a question about th

Gandhi family and he freezes. It iunderstandable. A Congressperson’nightmare is the first family being upsewith him or her. An ex-chief ministe

confessed to me once how a mere sterook from Sonia Gandhi could cause hi

nightmares for weeks. For, if you falnto her bad books, decades of har



work come to nothing. In 2014, Congress minister was suspended focriticizing Rahul Gandhi. Thus, an

career-conscious Congressperson woulalways ingratiate himself/herself withe family.

This nice, happy arrangement workeill 2014. The set-up operated becaus

of one thing—the absolute charisma ohe Gandhi family. Put them in front o

ndians and they would, almost breflex, vote for the Congress. Such magic-wand family was priceless. Yocould be inept, corrupt, arrogant

naccessible, but come election day, onflashing smile from the family, and thvotes would come pouring in.

However, that is not the cas



anymore. The first family cannot help thCongress party win elections. In facthey could not even make their party wi

n their own constituencies of Amethand Rae Bareli in 2012, or even one seaduring the 2014 Delhi elections. And ocourse, their loss at the national staghas been much talked about. Thesshocking and significant developmentwill cause a permanent, tectonic shift i

ndian politics.Does that mean all hope is lost for th

Congress? Not really. It can readjust, buhat would take a major restructurin

within the party, including taking somdecisions that were unmentionable a fewears ago. But first, let us see what haed to this situation. Rahul Gandhi, see



as the ultimate youth leader some yearago, is unable to win elections for thparty. In fact, wherever he is involved

he party loses miserably. Why?The most important reason is the ris

of regional stars, fuelled by thelectorate’s need for a leader who wilunderstand local issues. India is trulurning federal now, where people looo their state chief ministers for progres

and meeting their needs. People wanheir own local star chief minister. This mainly because India is large an

diverse. The issues in Kerala ar

different from those in Chhattisgarh. ThCongress, with its culture of sycophancand hoarding power at the top, wadeeply ineffective in making local stars



particularly in big states.Second, the Congress kept such

weak prime minister for the last decad

hat people lost faith in that position tilModi came to power. The Congresprime minister was akin to oupresident, more a ceremonial positionBy demeaning the prime minister’s posthe Congress brought this upon itself.

Of course, other issues lik

corruption have also made a dent, bumore than the corruption, its arrogancand lack of repentance irritated votersThe first family, or the prime minister

never talked to the media. Neither dihey instil confidence in the party’s set o

values. There didn’t seem to be anmoral compass guiding the party. It wa



all about stage management, thunderlying assumption being people arfools, and somehow we have to wing

n elections with gimmicks like quotasThe prime minister should have resigneover such massive scams as the 2G ancoal block. The first family should havapologized to the people for violatinheir trust. Yet, they continued to pretenhat everything was normal and shielde

he corrupt, hoping the issue would passCan the quest for an honest society baseon good values ever pass? Who werhey fooling but themselves? Today, thus

hey are in a situation where the familhas lost credibility.

But before writing on reviving thCongress, one must answer the mora



question—should the Congress brevived at all? Is it more in India’nterest to let it flounder and die

because the party’s past sins can nevebe forgiven, and we have a decengovernment in place anyway? Or is necessary in a democracy to have aeast two strong national alternatives

which in turn creates competition ankeeps politicians on their toes?

Both arguments have validity. ThCongress’s arrogance, scams annsistence on dynasty despite the countr

rejecting its heirs makes one wonder

why should one bother at all? Let it stewn its own mess; what could be bette

retribution for repeatedly ignoring thpeople who gave it power?



Well, there are reasons for fixing thCongress. One, a healthy and reasonablstrong opposition is only good for

democracy. In fact, even the BJP coulsuffer if the Congress is too weak. Lacof accountability is what has led tproblems in the past. If we kill alcompetition for the ruling party, I donsee how we will bring out the best in thgovernment. For it is when politician

fear no competition that they becomsmug and arrogant and make irreparablmistakes. Since the Congress and thBJP are the only two plausible nationa

alternatives right now, we must keehings competitive between them, rathehan make any one party feendispensable or invincible. Also, w



must understand—political parties aramorphous, dynamic organizations thachange over time. The mandir-lovin

BJP of the 1980s, for instance, idifferent from the present-day BJPCitizens can and should hammer partiento the right shape. The Congress is n

exception.So what should be done? The numbe

one issue, of course, is leadership an

he role of the Gandhi family. The issus perplexing because the Gandhi famil

serves two purposes at the top. One, it ia nationally known brand. With a legac

and history, the Gandhis are the face ohe Congress. Two, they hold the partogether. If they leave, there would be

mad scramble for the throne, creating



risk of implosion and chaos.The first purpose—the Gandhis as

selling point—no longer holds. The

bring limited value in terms of winninelections. Whatever few seats thCongress wins now are usually due the appeal of the local leader. In fact, th

bitter truth is that the brand may evehave negative effect. At the momenRahul Gandhi is a vote-cutter, not

vote-getter. Many Indians hold the viewhat he is either incapable, or nonterested, or doesn’t quite get us. I

could all be a huge misunderstanding

with Rahul’s inherent genius lost ocommoners, but perceptions matter ipolitics.

The second purpose is tricky. Th



Gandhis are still needed as the poweglue at the top. Which is why confuseCongressmen want to replace Rahul, bu

only with another Gandhi. Sadly, evePriyanka may not work, with littlexperience, inclination or capabilitdemonstrated so far. What thenCongressmen? Well, replacing Rahuwith Priyanka is not the answer. Morhan anything, if the Congress or, for tha

matter, any national party wants to starelevant and in sync with the people, ihas to change the power order within thparty. It simply has to turn into

manager of local stars, rather thahaving one family shine at the top.

In order to be solution-oriented annot rub salt in wounds, here is a quic



five-step solution to get the revivastarted in the Congress. It’s drasticunspoken but needed. Well, someon

needs to bell the cat, so here goes:

1. Create a triumvirate of power:Three young Congress leaders

hold potential in terms of their capability as well as brandrecognition. Sachin Pilot, Milind

Deora and Jyotiraditya Scindiaare somewhat known and seen asthe newer avatar of the CongressControl must be handed over to

them, and between themselvesthey can carve out roles for eachother. Since real power is awhile away, there won’t be a



need to choose the super bossamongst the three for a long time

2. Graceful handover of power:

The trick is to not come across asthough the family has beentoppled. The triumvirate shouldnot go head-on against the familyin party elections. Rahul needs tofeel more secure and adopt amore collaborative style, not be

the sole and final voice on everyissue, but have his team do it. Hehimself must anoint the three asheads of the party, with full

freedom to run the show. Rahulneed not himself exit. He can play the role of a moralconscience-keeper, speaking



when needed from the marginsand on high-level conceptualissues, which seems to be to his

liking anyway. In fact, the role ofthe entire Gandhi family mustchange. It should work out agradual, phase-wise schedule of handing over power to peopledown below—Congressmen whoactually do the work and deserve

to be the leaders. The family’s best bet in the future is to remainas the moral compass of the party, enforcing good values and

throwing out people who don’tadhere to them. It should not become a spent force shieldingthe corrupt, campaigning non-



stop or trying to hoard power.3. Weed out the unnecessary: If party members are old, rusted

and tarnished, there is no reasonto keep them. If Modi can havethe courage to remove ministers,who were tall leadersthemselves, in five months, thetriumvirate can definitely dosome weeding out (with Rahul’s

tacit blessing). The Congressneeds to publicly fire some partyheavyweights. Many of their senior leaders had become the

face of the party’s arrogance andcorruption, at least in perceptionif not reality. They will probablynever win another election and if



they stick around, they won’t letothers win too. Since politics isabout keeping only the useful, the

Congress should make a hugeshow of humiliating these peopleand showing them the door. Of course, the family will enjoy a permanent immunity card, just as popular celebrities are never evicted early from a reality show

But the rest, well, you know whathey say about horses andusefulness. Same in politics.Sorry.

4. Take on the ruling party: Nobodcan or has ruled withoutmissteps. Modi is hands-on andenjoys people’s trust. Thus,



attacking him does go against the public mood at the moment.However, the triumvirate can

pick the genuine mistakes, fightthe right battles and reclaim som political ground. The BJPgovernment will make mistakes,and the Congress has to spotthese opportunities and react tothem with grace in a fair and

constructive manner. It has to besolution-oriented criticism, not‘they are all crooks’ nonsense or glib comebacks.

5. Tell us how things will bedifferent: What has changed inthe Congress that, should it come back to power, a CWG or 2G



will not, and cannot, happenagain? How will we be sure thatarrogance won’t be tolerated in

the party? How are we to be surethat Rahul, and the triumvirate,will make themselves chamcha- proof? Unless these questions areanswered with real actions, trustwill never be regained.

These steps aren’t easy, and requirransformation of an old organizatiohat isn’t used to losing and changing

Still, for the sake of our democracy,

cleansing is worth the attempt. Time irunning out. Change, or perish. SwachCongress, anyone?



O

Once upon a Beehive

nce upon a time, there was giant beehive. It was located i

an ancient tree that was situated amidsmeadows and gardens filled with brighand colourful flowers.

The beehive had a queen bee, whoalong with some senior bees, had bee

chosen to run the hive. Collectively, thelected were called the governmentWorker bees entrusted the governmenbees with storing their honey an

keeping them safe. The government alshad to discover new gardens, to providnew sources of flowers and nectar fo

he new generation of baby bees.



To ensure stability and avoid chaoshe government bees made rules an

passed laws. The worker bees had t

follow them, else they could bpunished. This was particularlmportant because the beehive ha

different kinds of bees, who could enup fighting with each other. The blacbees and the brown bees were the twmain kinds. They essentially did th

same work. However, they had slightldifferent looks and practised their owprayer habits.

In good times, it was the perfec

beehive. Over time, however, thingchanged. Government bees had theiown kids, relatives and friends. Moscould not join the government. They ha



o become worker bees like everyonelse. However, one day, a seniogovernment bee’s son told his father tha

being a worker bee was too much workWhy not let me take a bit of honey fro

our reserves?’ he said.‘But that would be wrong,’ the fathe

bee said.‘Nobody would find out. Wha

happens in the government, stays in th

government,’ replied the governmenbee’s son. He was right. Worker beerusted the government more than the

did themselves. A bit of honey los

would not be noticed at all.And then it started. Slowly, al

government bees’ children, cousinsrelatives, friends and well-wisher



started stealing a bit of honey every dafrom the reserves. They didn’t have tslave in the gardens all day anymore

The worker bees did notice that thhoney levels were not going up aexpected. When some worker beepointed this out, the government jusordered everyone ‘to work harder annot be lazy’.

The worker bees worked harder t

make more honey. However, honeevels refused to rise. In fact, the

started to fall.Soon, government bees starte

another practice. Whenever they found new garden, they gave it to theichildren, friends and relatives firstWhat the worker bees don’t know, th



worker bees won’t miss,’ was thhushed conversation in governmencircles.

Over time, not only did honey levelfall, the discovery of new gardenstopped for the kids of worker beesThey remained idle and hungrySometimes, the queen bee tossed somscraps at the worker bees, and everyonpraised the queen. However, the scrap

were not enough.‘Who is stealing the honey?’ a

nfluential worker bee finally asked onday.

The government noticed that thnfluential protesting bee was black. She government said, ‘The brown bee

are doing it.’



Then the government called thbrown bees, and told them, ‘We think thblack bees are stealing all your har

work.’Hungry and tired, the black an

brown bees were filled with anger. Thefought with each other. The governmenbees enjoyed the distraction ancontinued to steal. As brown and blacbees died and suffered, the governmen

ossed some more honey scraps. Workebees praised the queen again.

Soon, there was a drought. Thflowers became few, and it was time t

urn to the honey reserved over all thesears. However, to everyone’s shockhere was no honey in the reserves at all

Worker bees, normally trusting of th



government, went to check thgovernment bees’ and their relativeshomes. They found everyone fat an

sitting on their own private reserves ohoney. What’s more, they also founmaps of hundreds of new gardens thawere discovered but never shared withe worker bees.

Dismayed and shocked, the workebees came back to their poor homes. Th

brown and black bees looked into eacother’s eyes. They realized they habeen fooled. They hugged each other anapologized for all the hurt they ha

caused each other.‘We will teach them a lesson,’ th

black and brown bees said in unisonThe worker bees realized that the tim



had come to use their sting, not againseach other, but against those who hacheated them.

Meanwhile, the queen bee sensed thension. She presented her beautifuoung son. ‘He will save you now. Lik did all these years.’

However, the brown and black beewere smarter now. They gathereogether in a swarm and unleashed thei

stings on the government and their facronies. The government bees barely haany time to collect their belongingsThey simply had to run away from th

hive. Soon, they were all gone.The brown and black bees decided t

select their best people to be in chargeAlso, they decided to never blindly trus



but monitor everyone. The hivrecovered, and the new generatioworked hard to restore the honey stores

ew gardens led to new prosperity, anhe beehive became the most successfu

beehive in the world.A few years later, an old bee, talkin

o her grandson at night, said, ‘Did yoknow we had a queen bee at one time?’

‘Yes. But we don’t anymore. Becaus

deep down, there’s a little king in all ous,’ replied the baby bee.



O

ECONOMY

Rescue the Nation

If the babus want, they can fixthe system much faster than

any external activist, artist ormedia person can.

ur bureaucracy runs our countryOur politicians have littl

nterest in the nuts and bolts of runninhe country. Politicians like symbolis

—meals at Dalit homes, presidentia



selections and cartoons. Or they lik

ssues that appeal to vote banks—religious quotas, temple locations an

dividing up states.While politicians entertain us, th

babus ensure the country doesncompletely shut down. Railway officerensure that trains run, municipal officerget garbage collected, junior IndiaAdministrative Service (IAS) officer

manage districts and senior IAS officerrun entire ministries.

The stereotype of the babu isomeone who is lazy, conservative

arrogant and corrupt. For sure, significant number of babus may justifhe typecasting. However, a larg

number of civil service officers wor



hard and are honest. Many of my owcollege batchmates are part of the civiservices. They work twelve-hour days

n hostile, demotivating conditions at enth of the salary they could earn in th

private sector. It is perhaps theimadness, a misplaced idealism, a lovof the country or a feeling that they armaking a difference.

These are smart people. Clearing th

civil service exam is no mean featThese people would be highly valueoutside the government. Any foreigmultinational setting up in India woul

do well to hire an ex-IAS officer, if onlfor his or her ability to work through thndian system. Civil servic

professionals are well-educated



ntelligent, influential and capable.And yet, one shortcoming keeps thi

entire class of people from earning a

much glory as it could. And that is—nguts.

Sorry to say, but despite all theiqualities, government babus are some ohe most scared people on earth. The

are scared of their politician bossesworried about their annual performanc

appraisals, too attached to theipromotions and afraid of lagging behinn their careers. They enjoy job securit

and periodic raises in their salaries an

perquisites even if they do not showextraordinary performance. On the othehand, they can suffer if they stick theinecks out, suggest improvements or poin



fingers at wrongdoers. So they oftemaintain the status quo. Hence, some ohe brightest people in the country, clos

o the corridors of power, aware of whas right and wrong, do little of what i

required.They are doing their jobs, for sure

However, they are not fighting fochange. They are petrified. And that is shame, not only for the civil servic

community, but also for the entire nationThe babus should answer some basiquestions. What are you so scared ofMissing a promotion? Not becoming

secretary? Losing out on an extrbedroom in the subsidized governmenaccommodation? What is the worst thacould happen if you raised your voic



against inefficient and corrupt mastersLose your job and this fake temporarpower? Do you have no faith in you

alent, that you will be able to make iving outside? After working so hard t

clear a merit-based exam, does youconscience not trouble you every timou see your bosses plunder the country

More than anything, babus need tanswer this—what is your dharma? T

isten to your masters or to do the righhing?

According to the MahabharataKrishna advised Arjuna to fight his ow

cousins. Since Arjuna was fighting virtuous war, it became his dharma tfight and not give in to attachment. Thbabus need to sit down and reflect o



heir own new dharma.For if the babus want, they can fix th

system much faster than any externa

activist, artist or media person can. Thbabus are in the system and know whas going on. The babus are the mos

powerful lobby in the country. If theagitate, politicians in the corridors opower will have to listen.

Don’t sit idle and watch injustic

happen. Rebel if you need to. Donbecome part of the evil, because yohave enough talent to be successful bbeing good.

Rise, fight and rescue us. The countrneeds you. Your time has come.





citizens, whom the kids refer to auncles’. Over a hundred uncles use th

park for their morning/evening walks

society meetings and yoga classes. Eacuncle also carries a stick, and uses it ohe few kids who happen to venture inthe park. If a kid jumps too much

squeals in delight, climbs up a tree oplays cricket, the uncles whack the kidsAfter all, the uncles feel, the park mus

be kept in order. There is even microphone system installed that warnkids to behave.

As expected, the kids soon abando

he park. They go across town to ChinPark, where they are made to feewelcome. There are rules in that paroo—the kids are told to keep the plac



clean and not hurt anyone. But apart frohat, they are encouraged to have fun

The only kids who still use India Par

are those who have figured out how tmanage the uncles. Whenever they como play, they bring treats for the uncles—

a box of sweets, cold drinks onewspapers. The uncles then leave thealone for a bit. However, the number okids doing this is small, as bribin

uncles is not what most good kids dondia Park, hence, is mostly empty an

underutilized.Then the uncles of India Park star

wondering why few kids come to plahere while twenty times the number go China Park. The uncles have meetings

sticks kept on their laps, to discuss th



solution. They put up huge signs outsidhe park, saying ‘Kids Welcome

However, nothing seems to change.

In the above story, replace the unclewith the Indian government, kids witforeign direct investors, fun witegitimate profit and India Park witndia. This sums up how we approache global investor community. We want here, but we want to beat it with

stick and shout at it the moment it starthaving some fun (or earns rewards, ierms of legitimate profits).

This is why we have a long way to g

o achieve the prime minister’s ‘Make india’ goal. The hardest part in achievinhis is not the manufacturinnfrastructure we need to set up; it is th



control freak’ mindset that exists in oucorridors of power (or rather, in anndian entity with power).

So we say we will never use thretrospective tax laws (whiceffectively allow the government tchange tax laws for previous years anake more money), but we don’t removhe laws either. The uncles say, ‘We wil

keep the stick, but we will never use it.

Well, maybe not today, but what ianother uncle comes tomorrow? Are thrules going to depend on the uncle’personality? We want companies acros

he world to invest here, but thgovernment places so many controls anrequires so many permissions that effectively controls every business. W



call it free-market capitalism, but ireality it is state-controlled capitalismThe only way the uncles will let you d

business is if you keep giving theenough treats. This is how India habeen run since Independence, and that iwhy it is difficult to change the mindseThe unfortunate part is that this uncleand-stick model keeps the park empty. Investors don’t come, we don’t hav

obs or growth. Kids can play in otheparks. Asian economies, Eastern Europand Latin America are all competing fonvestor dollars and to be manufacturin

hubs. The only way the investors wilcome is if the rules are clear, simple annot politician-personality dependent—ispirit, writing and practice.



If we really want them to ‘Make india’, the government has to let go

Keep business rules, but align them wit

nternational standards. Get thgovernment out of business, not just ierms of selling public secto

enterprises, but also having no arbitraror discretionary control over individuabusinesses. All this should bpersonality-proof. The current financ

minister may be investor-friendly. Thnext one may not. If I have investemoney in India, how can I be sure thnew guy won’t come after me with

stick?All these issues have to be addresse

f we want economic and employmengrowth which, come to think of it, i



what makes ‘acche din’ happen. Let gof the sticks, uncles; let the kids comand play.



P

Pro-poor or Pro-poverty?

We are still one of the poorest

nations on earth.

overty is a terrible thing. Ther

are few things as demeaning thuman beings as not having the means tfulfil their basic needs in life.

India is one of the poverty havens o

he world. We have all heard of India’poverty-stricken millions, probablsince childhood. While one could blamhe British for all our mistakes pre-1947



t has been nearly seventy years sinchey left. We are still one of the poores

nations on earth. Many countries in Asi

hat started with similar poverty leveln the 1940s have progressed faster—

some of them dramatically. Wehowever, remain poor.

The continuance of poverty iparticularly surprising because there arso many smart and powerful people wh

claim to be representing the poorPoliticians, academics, developmeneconomists, non-governmentaorganizations (NGOs)—there are s

many people trying to help the poor. It ibaffling, then, why we can’t seem to gerid of poverty. Our public debates arvirtually controlled by left-leanin



ntellectuals, who are some of the mospro-poor people on earth. And yet, theseem to be getting nowhere.

Well, they won’t. Because while themay be experts on the poor and theisuffering, they have little idea about thone thing that eventually removepoverty—money. Yes, it is oversimplistic, but it is perplexing how littlour top thinkers and debate-controller

know about wealth creation, trueconomic empowerment, productivitand competitiveness. For, if they didhey would not support one of the mos

hare-brained schemes to have ever comout of our illusionist politicians’ hat—he Food Security Bill, which is now thational Food Security Act.



It is a tough act to write against. Thfashionably left, almost communisntellectual mafia will nearly kill you

The subject is sensitive. You may arguhat the numbers just don’t add up—tha

we will ruin our already fragileconomy further if we do this. The retorwill be ‘at least a poor mother will seher child sleep peacefully at night on full stomach’.

Try arguing with that! You may sefinancial ruin for the nation, but howwill your data-filled presentation evecompete with the picture of a hungry

malnourished child in an Indian villaget can’t. I submit that all economics

basic arithmetic, common senserationality, practicality fails whe



someone confronts you with ‘sbasically you don’t want to help thpoor, right?’

Nobody does not want to help thpoor. Nevertheless, after being labelleanti-poor, you will be labelled an MNCfavouring, FDI-obsessed capitalist. Staong enough; you will be branded righ

wing, perhaps with a ‘communalist’ sluadded. Welcome to India, where on

doesn’t debate based on reason bubased on emotions, moral oneupmanship and attacking the debaterather than the argument.

Therefore, like any sane, selfpreserving individual, I’d say that mofficial line is that I was always ifavour of the act.



In fact, I propose a better alternativeWhy just two-thirds of India, let’s extenfree grain to the entire country

Moreover, why not some vegetables anfruit too? And don’t poor kids deservfresh milk? We should provide that toof the debate is going to be won by th

guy with the noblest intention, then I agoing to make sure I am the one.

Every Indian family must get grain

fruit, vegetables, milk and whatever elst takes to have a healthy and balance

diet. It should be free. There, am I nohe good guy now?

When irritating questions pop up imy head about who will pay for it, ohow will so many commodities bsecured, or how will the already debt



ridden government finance this, I wilell my mind to shut up. I’ll avoiooking at the astronomical bill (lakhs o

crores over a few years). If I feel thimoney could be used to transform ruraeducation, irrigation or road networkswhich would make our pooempowered, employable and richer, will scold myself for thinking logically.

It is not important to remove poverty

t is only important to come across as person who cares for poor people. And do, more than you. That is why my acwill have fruit and vegetables. Doe

ours? So what if our fiscal deficswells, the rating agencies downgrade uo junk credit and foreign investors stonvesting in our country? We don’t nee



hem. They are all our enemies anyway.We won’t have money to spend o

productive assets, we’ll scare th

foreigners away and we will never havgood infrastructure, schools or hospitalsSo what? At least we care for poopeople. We’ll keep caring for poopeople until our money totally runs ouhe nation gets bankrupt, inflation is ou

of control and there are no more jobs.

Of course, that means far more peoplwill be poorer than from where wstarted. But isn’t that a good thing? Afteall, it gives us a chance to care for eve

more people. So, bring on my FoodFruit, Vegetables and Milk Security ActDid I miss something in that? Oh yesnuts. We do need nuts. Some nuts for al



ndians, please. You know the kind onuts I am talking about, right?



The Tiny-bangTheory for Setting

Off Big-bang Reforms

Yes, Indians want changebut, at the same time, arescared of it. The trick is to

come up with creativepolitical and economic

solutions that lead to reform

and minimize politicaldamage.

ne of the most honest statements from



Ogovernment official in recent times cam

from chief economic adviseArvind Subramanian, who sai

big-bang reforms are not applicable to country like India. At a recent event, hsaid, ‘If you look around the world, bigbang dramatic reforms happen arouncrisis.’ He also added, ‘Big-banreforms are not easy to happen idemocracy. In democracies, you hav

multiple veto centres, multiple decisionmaking centres and it is very difficult tpush through decisive change, and if yoook at India at this juncture, we are no

n crisis.’There you go. All you big-ban

change seekers, the party is over evebefore it started. The government has, i



effect, said it doesn’t want to rock thboat. Things won’t change much anhings won’t change fast. Doesn’t matte

f the election campaign promised a bolnew government. We saw TV ads thahad farmers saying ‘acche din aan

waale hain’ (good times are about tcome). Investors and businesses werpromised a dramatic change for thbetter in a Congress-mukt Bharat. Voter

were asked to deliver a decisivmandate if they wanted real change. Anhey did. They came out in droves an

gave a mandate no single party ha

received in thirty years.What could stop India now? Nothin

really.And yet, the big changes didn



happen. A soft interim budget, calibrated full-year budget, a fewpositive statements on taxation (only t

be contradicted by an overzealous tadepartment) and a stuck LanAcquisition Bill show that the newgovernment is tying itself up in knotsnvestors are turning impatient, stock

and the rupee have started to slip, anwhile no India Inc. CEO will publicl

criticize the government, the profuspraise has certainly stopped. The onlhing going for the government right nows Rahul Gandhi, who at least at presen

s struck more by wanderlust than poweust. Any reasonably organize

opposition would be able to take on thigovernment, and this just within a yea



of the historic mandate. Look how easilhe anti-farmer labelling has stuck. O

how the Delhi elections were lost. O

how there is little certainty about thBihar assembly election.

Sometimes the government asksWhat big-bang reforms do you want uo undertake anyway?’ Well, that i

pretty clear. They revolve arounopening up the economy, buildin

nfrastructure and making it easier to dbusiness, all of which create jobs angrowth and raise revenues for welfarprojects. I think the intention is there

The government has manextraordinarily capable people, fullaware of what it takes to restore higgrowth—full rupee convertibility



simple taxation, the goods and serviceax (GST) law, no hounding o

businesses to score political points

broadening the income-tax base, sellinnon-productive government assets anhe like.

So why don’t they do it? Because, ahe chief economic adviser stated

change isn’t easy in a democracyThough a billion-plus people feel thing

need to change, everyone has a differendea of what that change is. I might thin

a more capitalist approach is betterAnother citizen may want all bi

companies to be banned. Some believevery time the government doesomething business-friendly, it onlhelps rich people. Others may be of th



view that thriving businesses lead tgrowth, jobs and tax collections.

And since Indians are close

socialists, trusting a more capitalist setup is proving difficult for our citizensAbuse can occur both in socialist ancapitalist systems, but a capitalissociety does tend to get richer. Howeverndians would rather have fewe

opportunities and be in a familiar

oppressive system than trust a newsystem. Until that mentality changeswhich means until all of us change, thercannot be a big-bang reform. Th

political risk of shoving change opeople who are not ready for it is simploo high. The only time it happened wan 1991, a time of crisis, and that i



somehow the only time Indians becamone and listened to reason.

If we do want big-bang reform, man

iny-bang changes are required in thmindset of Indians. The rich versus poorfarmers versus corporates, foreigversus desi conflicts that we havcreated in our heads deny us the beliehat win–win situations are possible. Alhis doesn’t mean that the governmen

does nothing. It promised an agenda ogrowth, and it has to somehow deliveon it. Some political risks will have tbe taken for India’s good—what else i

a bold government anyway?Yes, Indians want change but, at th

same time, are scared of it. The trick io come up with creative political an



economic solutions that lead to refor and minimize political damage. Rupeconvertibility, for example, is a les

political issue than the land bill, anperhaps that could be taken up first. Afew big-bang items, along with propecommunication to change mindsetswould do us all good. Giving up, ogoing too slow, won’t. Sometimes, iife or politics, not taking a risk is th

biggest risk.



AWESOME

SOCIETY: WHO WE

ARE AS A PEOPLE

AND WHAT WE

NEED TO CHANGE





What is a country, really? A piece oand and a group of people who

decide to organize themselves. Thand is inanimate and fixed. If yowant to change the country, it is th

people who need to do it. It is thpeople who can change themselvesand in turn change the country. Thi

change could make it more awesomor make it worse.

We often feel that it is not we bu

someone else who is at fault fondia’s problems, usually thauthorities. The fact that we, acitizens, refuse to take th



responsibility of making India betters a huge roadblock in making Indiaawesome. We could have the mosamazing leaders, the best policieand the strictest laws; however, if whe people don’t care about what th

eaders do or about following lawsnothing good can happen.

Let us take an example, of traffic i

a city. The best traffic cops in thworld cannot do anything if thentire traffic decides to not follow th

rules. If all we care about iourselves, or our own agenda, wbecome like the vehicle in traffic tha

cuts lanes, honks for no reason



drives on the wrong side and jumpsignals if nobody is watching. Now

f all vehicles were to behave likhat, who would make the roadawesome?

Collective responsibility, a sense o

he greater good versus just one’own good, and a strong set ocollective values are imperative fo

mproving society. These are the aimof all these pieces about our society.

In ‘Time to Face Our Demons’,

have attempted to make people owup to the fact that we are prejudicedand we would rather point finger

han look within. ‘We Have Let Them



Down’ talks about how we don’t treaour fellow Indians from th

Northeastern states right. 'Watchinghe Nautch Girls' discusses thdraconian ways of the BCCI andhow they impact the sport we a

ove. ‘Let’s Talk about Sex’ and ‘ThReal Dirty Picture’ urge us to confronsexual issues, a taboo in our culture

but extremely important in currenimes, given the rising rate of crimeagainst women. ‘Saying Cheers i

Gujarat’ talks about the hypocrisand senselessness of prohibition iGujarat, something that is anyway a

otal failure in implementation. ‘Ou



Fatal Attraction to Food’ and ‘JunFood's Siren Appeal’ talk about how

ndians need to eat right to remaihealthy. ‘Mangalyaan+UnluckTuesdays’ talks about the need for uo think in a more scientific way and

et go of silly superstitions. In ‘Indiastupid and India-smart’ I discussome of the irritatingly stupid

procedures followed in Indiaairports. ‘Cleanliness Begins aHome’ is a contribution to th

government’s Swachh Bharacampaign, and talks about how can actually happen. ‘Bhasha

Bachao, Roman Hindi Apnao’ is a



radical thought, talking about thmportance of Roman Hindi—Hind

but in the Roman script—in today’imes of Whatsapp messaging andFacebook statuses. Finally, ‘A Ray oHope’ celebrates the Jaipur Literatur

Festival, which is among the besiterary festivals in the world. All thssues covered in this section are no

only of national importance, but alsodirectly touch an individual.

After all, an awesome society wi

automatically lead to an awesomnation.



I

Time to Face Our Demons

We don’t really want to

understand what it is aboutus that we can be so easilyincited to burn trains or to

riot.

n all my years of writing columnsthis has to be the most difficult piec

o write. For I’m going to discuss one ohe darkest chapters in India’s history—he Godhra train carnage and th

subsequent riots that took place i



February–March 2002. You may wondewhy I’m doing so now, after all thesears. Why open old wounds that wil

only cause more pain? Why not just burhe past?

Well, you can bury the past, but yocannot bury wounds. Wounds need to bhealed. The event has been covereddiscussed and unceasingly analysed ihe media and public forums. It ha

shaped the politics of our country. Anet, I feel we have not done somethin

essential that is required to come terms with such a tragedy. We haven

faced our demons.For if you start any debate on th

Godhra incident, within minutes degenerates into these two arguments—



a) the Hindus retaliated because thrain carrying Hindus was burnt first; ob) innocent Muslims were targeted b

fundamentalist Hindus, who used thrain incident to commit genocide. Bot

arguments look reasonable enoughHowever, they do not provide a solutionnherently, these arguments are abou

blame. They can be reduced to (a) ‘yodid it’ or (b) ‘no, you did it’. Littl

wonder no closure has been reached ihirteen years.

We have also tried to attach villaino the incident. Blame that guy, he cause

t. It is usually the slimy, wily, greedpolitician—whom we love to assign ahe root cause of all problems in India.

It is amazing how every Indian feel



here is a problem in our system ansomeone else is to blame for it. We neesomeone we can point fingers at, fo

misleading us, looting us, dividing uand keeping us backward. It is comforting narrative, ‘I am a goocitizen who cares for India. The rest ohem are keeping us behind.’

Really? If everyone feels the probles with the rest, then who is really a

fault? Perhaps the problem may actuallbe with us?

We don’t want to face the ugly truthWe don’t really want to understand wha

t is about us that we can be so easilncited to burn trains or to riot. We donhink we are in any way responsible fo

what happened.



Sure, the reader of this book isn’t criminal and didn’t kill anyoneHowever, ask yourself this. Are we, a

some level, guilty of feeling sentimenthat are not in the best interest of India

Do a lot of us not, at some level, harboumistrust for the other religion? Ipeaceful times, we can talk about unitand peace. However, God forbid, fiverror attacks happen in the next few

months, perpetrated by criminals whare Muslim. Will Hindus not stardoubting Muslims again? Will we nostart calling them names, or talk abou

sending them to Pakistan, or how theare the reason for almost every Indiaproblem? Will we not develop a publiopinion that the Muslims need to be kep



n check? And then, in that environmenf there are anti-Muslim riots after a

attack, will we not give the perpetrator

of those riots some sympathy ovalidation? If yes, then have we changeat all?

Similarly, if Hindu groups target few innocent Muslims in a few straattacks, will the Muslim community nostart to feel vulnerable? If you are

Muslim, will you not feel that Hinduare out to get you? Won’t you feel yoneed special protection, compared to thother Indian citizens? In this scenario, i

some politicians come and offer supporo your community, will you not bachem unconditionally? Will you no

pardon all their corruption, inefficienc



and lack of accountability, just to feel ittle safer?

We are still divided. The attacks o

churches in 2015, the Muzaffarnagariots in 2013 and the riots in TrilokpurDelhi, in 2014 prove this. We are stilunable to respect India as much as wrespect our religion. In peaceful timeshis doesn’t surface much. However, i

volatile times, this brings out the wors

n us. The Godhra incident was aexample of the worst in us. It was thcost of keeping the country second anreligion first. It was the price we pai

for thinking religion is so important as tgive us the right to break laws or abusdemocracy. Unfortunately, the familiehat suffered in the incident paid th



biggest price.We find reasons to hate each other

We huddle in our groups, not marryin

our children to theirs, a clear sign ware divided. We hurt, but we never try theal. We point fingers, but we neveself-reflect. We make little effort tcommunicate or find common groundhe biggest being that all of us jointl

have to take the nation forward.

It isn’t just this incident. We have losa lot as a nation because of thesdivisions—whether in human life, obad politics leading to poo

development. It is time we stop. It iime we reflect, feel the shame and como terms with it. There is no one perso

who needs to apologize for this. We al



need to. It is time we face our demonsand tell them we will never allowourselves to feel the wrong way again

That we will always put the nation firstand not let that resolve be threatenedeven in tough times.

If we do this, the healing will beginWe will move ahead as a society that haearnt from the past. We will no longe

be swayed.

We cannot compensate for the pain ohose who suffered and lost lives. But i

we can move on from this as bettepeople, perhaps they will, from th

heavens above, forgive us.



E

We Have Let ThemDown

The rest of India needs to

reflect on how our shallowracist thinking has hurt not

only the Northeastern people,

but also ourselves.

very time one visits the Northeastthe locals make one resoundin

request—please help us get attentionPlease treat us like Indians and not aoutsiders. Why do they feel this way

Why don’t we listen to these eight of ou



wenty-nine states more? Why does thisection of fellow Indians feel isolateeven in today’s digitally connected age?

Events such as the Assam riots i2012, the panic exodus o

ortheasterners from certain cities i2012, the abysmal coverage of thAssam floods in 2013 and the racisattack on Arunachal Pradesh studen

ido Tania, in Delhi in 2014 makes

clear we have not been listening to themThe region and its people have severassues, but they fail to get mainstrea

attention. They fester, and we often don

discuss them until it is too late.Apart from addressing issues, w

also need to show empathy ancompassion towards the Northeas



migrants. The usual route is to bpolitically correct and say how we arall one and should treat them as ou

brothers and sisters. Frankly, sucsermons don’t work. India might be oncountry. We may be mostly good peoplat heart. However, we are probably thmost internally racist nation on earthYes, we all stand up for the nationaanthem. We also cheer for our cricke

eam and Olympic medallists. When thaends, however, it’s almost like we try tfind a reason to hate and mistrust onanother. And as part of our shallow

hinking, one of the first reasons wdiscriminate against someone is becaushey look different from us.

The Northeastern people are beautifu



and attractive. They also have slightldifferent, more Oriental, physicafeatures as compared to the rest of us. S

we use it as a reason to ignore, mock oexclude them. It is shameful, disgustingprimitive and sick. Did our schools noeach us to be open-minded, or did ou

parents reinforce the racism? It inothing to be proud of. It reflects poorlon us, the discriminators, rather than th

ortheasterners. It is also worrisomeFor if we cannot accept such superficiadifferences between our own peoplehow will we ever engage with th

globalized world? Are we going tmock every foreigner who comes tndia for business and is not whittowards white people, we ar



automatically servile)?Is this the nation we want? Wher

people look for differences rather tha

similarities? There is more in commobetween the Northeastern people and uhan we think.

The young people in the Northeast arhungry for a good education and a decenob—much like youth in the rest of Indiaortheastern youth also suffer from

ack of good, ethical leaders, poonfrastructure and high inflation. The

also see their natural resources beinplundered. Like the rest of us, the peopl

of the Northeast pay exorbitant amountfor petrol, an energy price loaded witaxes even as politicians’ friends ge

coal mines for free.



Yes, the Northeastern citizen is one ous. If we all work together, we can pupressure on our leaders to end some o

hese problems. Or we can continue tfight internally. Just what the politicianwant, so they can continue to loot uwhile we become their vote banks.

The rest of India needs to reflect ohow our shallow racist thinking has hurnot only the Northeastern people, bu

also ourselves. Meanwhile, they coulake proactive, practical steps that wil

put the Northeast back in the reckoning.Here are five ideas that could wor

and need further thought:One, tourism in the Northeast needs t

be stepped up. It has some of the mosspectacular sights of natural beauty i



ndia. A few more hotel permits, couple of world-class resorts, sompromotion and slightly bette

connectivity can work wonders there.Two, lobbying for a low-tax/specia

economic zone (SEZ)-type city or arecan help. India needs a place like thaanyway. It will attract investments, joband a cosmopolitan culture badlrequired in the region.

Three, Guwahati to Bangkok is onl2,400 km by road and Imphal to Bangkos less than 2,000 km. In contrast

Guwahati to Mumbai is 2,800 km away

There are talks of a Thailand–Myanmarndia trilateral highway in the Northeas

and that must be put on top priority. Thortheast can be the gateway to Eas



Asia. It can control a significant portioof India’s trade. Once you have busineso do, people don’t ignore you.

Four, the Northeast can providncentives, such as land, for the media t

move there. Once there is enough medipresence, the region will be bettecovered.

Five, some spectacular events—whether it is the biggest music festiva

or a carnival—that tie in with the locaculture, yet attract the rest of the countrycan integrate the region better.

The Northeast has been in the new

for the wrong reasons. The rest of uhave let down the people there a little. Iimes to come, let us open our minds these eight beautiful states. Let us hop



hat the Northeast finally finds its rightfuplace, and is no longer an ignored childbut a blue-eyed star of our nationa

family.



T

Watching the NautchGirls

Like a king’s nautch girls, our

cricket players have to dowhat the BCCI tells them.

he spot-fixing scandal in thIndian Premier League (IPL) 201

had everything to keep headlines buzzin—money, sex, sleaze, gambling and eve

a towel visual. Soon, the narrativbecame about degrading Indian valueand the players’ greed. Nostalgia expertreminisced about the time when cricke



was a gentleman’s game. Some blamehe IPL. Others said it was just ‘a few

rotten eggs’. The typically naïve solutio

suggested was for the Board of Controfor Cricket in India (BCCI) to bstricter, and keep players under control.

It is laughable that the BCCI wacharged with the responsibility okeeping players fair. For, it is one of thmost talent-exploitative and unfai

organizations in the world. Its thepresident (who is now the chairman ohe International Cricket Council [ICC]. Srinivasan’s son-in-law, Gurunat

Meiyappan, was one of those alleged thave a hand in the spot-fixing. The BCCwon’t have a solution. It is the problem.

Much has been written about th



BCCI’s lack of accountability andishonesty. However, the problem lies ihe BCCI’s fundamental structure, th

power abuse of players it allows anhow the IPL is part of that exploitation.

The spot-fixing may have surprisepeople. However, far more shocking ihat we as a cricket-loving nation hav

allowed our entire cricketing talent tbecome pawns. Like a king’s nautc

girls, our cricket players have to dwhat the BCCI tells them. Else they risunemployment, banishment and an end twhat is an already risky career. Th

BCCI pays players what it feels likestops them from joining other leagueand decides the terms of its own leagueOne can understand an inherent natura



monopoly required to create a nationaeam. But how can the BCCI have

monopoly over the IPL? How can it tel

players to play the IPL, and nothing buhe IPL, when it comes to revenue

generating side activities?It is important to understand how th

BCCI is able to run a sweatshop-likenterprise in full public eye. The BCCIa private club, through its membership o

he ICC, has the mandate to select thnational team. This one mandate haallowed the BCCI to exploit everprofessional Indian cricket player eve

born. For, the BCCI will blacklist yofrom being considered for the nationaeam if you don’t dance to its tune. I

2007, a domestic league called th



ndian Champions League (ICL) wafloated. The BCCI banned players frooining the other league. Why? It wasn

an alternate team to Team India. How oearth did the BCCI get the right tpublicly blackmail players into doinwhat it wants, even when it doesnaffect the national team? Why couldnour players join domestic league teamwherever they wanted? We, the people

didn’t raise questions then. We just sat ihe king’s durbar and watched the nautc

girls’ new show.Soon after, the BCCI copied th

CC’s model and launched the IPL. Ibrought private team owners, but thBCCI decided the revenue sharinbetween stakeholders and kept control



The IPL had nothing to do with nationacricket. And yet, the BCCI could dictaterms to every IPL team owner an

player. We, as a nation, did nothing buwatched. For, the show was good.

Here are some facts: the BCCI’s owwebsite (with very limited, specioudisclosure) cites a 526 crore overallsurplus of income over expenditure fo2013–14. Of this only 11 crore was

paid to players, a steep dip from 49crore in the previous year because o

lesser media rights income’.* Is this fair split? Who decides if it is? I

spectators pay for cricket, where woulhey want the money to go? Of course

add the lack of accountability an

control over players, the BCCI also ha



ample opportunity to milk extrunaccounted-for earnings.

Some may feel that our players ar

well paid. However, fair payment is nowhat you decide is reasonable. It ibased on the revenue they can generateFrankly, on that metric, the averagplayer is highly underpaid. Considerinhe short career span, the competition i

reaching professional level and th

housands who try but don’t make it—thmedian player incomes are low acompared to what the game can and doegenerate. The reason—the BCCI. An

when incomes are unfairly low, thmother organization is exploitative andoesn’t respect talent, is it a surpriswhen players choose the wrong way o



boosting incomes?What needs to be done? Well,

structural fix will work best. The BCC

can keep the national team mandatsomeone has to). However, the BCC

should be divested of the IPL. The IPL ia separate revenue-generation activityLet our cricketers have control over italong with the partners they chooseDomestic leagues have no bearing on th

national team, and the BCCI has nreason to exploit players for the sameWe as spectators, too, need to realize thurgency and importance of cricke

reform. If you care for cricket, help fit. Raise your voice, share your concer

and reach out to your politician againshe BCCI’s exploitation of your stars



The players will thank you for itRelease Indian sport from the clutches ohese mediocre power exploiters. That i

he real game right now. Otherwise wwill continue to remain spectatorwatching the nautch girls.

* https://relaunchive.s3.amazonaws.com/cms/documents

https://relaunch-live.s3.amazonaws.com/cms/documents/BCCI%20AR%20Media%20Book.pdf



T

Let’s Talk about Sex

We need to refresh oursocietal values around sex.

Else, the problems andhypocrisy related to sex will

never go away.

he title of this piece alone wa probably enough to make yo

close your book and look around t

check that no one was watching you reat. Yes, we Indians don’t like to talabout sex. It is taboo, against our culturebad for society, corrupts young mind

and distracts people from the right path



n fact, it is perverted, dirty ansomething to be ashamed of.

With so many pejoratives, it is n

surprise that most Indians keep theiviews about sex private. Else, they feabeing branded characterless personsWomen have to be extra careful. A goondian woman is supposed to be almos

asexual, to be considered pure anchaste. Indian culture wants us to b

sexual only in the institution of marriagefor purposes of procreation. Andeviation and you are a person of loosmorals, harmful to yourself and society.

We weren’t always like this. Historscholars would agree that our ancienexts, such as the Mahabharata and th

Puranas, are quite candid about sex an



portray a fairly liberal society. So, whahappened? What made India so stuck up

Many theories exist. Some sa

centuries of rule by conservative Mugharulers and the puritanical British madus this way. Others say influentiaBrahmin priests created draconian rulesWhatever the reason, India today iargely conservative. No politician, fonstance, will even discuss sex, let alon

express his views or take a stancaround a topic of a sexual nature. Thdefault strategy of living in Indiasociety is to pretend that sex doesn

exist (ignoring how our population got tover 1.2 billion, of course).

Unfortunately, such a strategy doesnwork over time. This is because we ar



ndians later, humans first. Nature hamade sex a powerful internal force. Thiforce is so strong that despite all th

progress and comforts designed bhumanity, the desire for sex still remainsPeople, Indians or non-Indians, arnterested in sex.

However, since we shun it so muchwe have two major problems. Onerepressed sexual desire often comes ou

n unsavoury ways. Two, we are unablo discuss or have a meaningful debat

around any topic to do with sex.Repressed sexual desire, for instance

s manifest in child sexual abuse, whics rampant in India. Apart from this, th

many instances of molestation, thfeeling of a lack of safety amongst ou



women, the brutal rape cases are all aeast partly due to this repressed desir

gone bad.

Another less harmful, but significanand widespread trait due to sucrepression, is the double lives manndians lead, especially amongst thouth. People are not open to talkin

about dating or sex with their familieswhere they are expected to be falsel

pious. As a result, there are lies anavoidable hypocrisy.

The second major problem of oulet’s pretend sex doesn’t exist’ societ

s that nothing sexual can bmeaningfully discussed. The clumshandling of the age of consent issue i2013, shifted from eighteen to sixtee



and back to eighteen, is a case in poinThe legal age of consent is a compleopic worldwide. It involves severa

ssues such as prevalent practices isociety, individual liberties and thpotential misuse of existing lawsHowever, with our prevalent anti-seattitudes, we view the age of consent anothing more than a licence or eveencouragement to have sex. Anyon

arguing for age sixteen, even though may be better suited from a practicaegal and current societal standpoint

would be seen as encouragin

promiscuity. Little wonder thgovernment panicked and withdrew thproposal to reduce it to sixteen.

Similarly, the rape law amendments



while mostly welcome, saw limitedebate. Our society doesn’t allowdebate around such topics. ‘Punish the

as harshly as possible’ is the onlguiding principle. There is littldiscussion on potential abuse of lawshe difficulty in proving charges in man

of the cases or what else we could doutside of setting up new laws to prevensexual crimes against women.

In several ways, India is modern anfree compared to other nations. We havfree speech, a free media ansecularism. We have no laws forcing u

o practise any religion or dress in particular manner. Recent advances iechnology have meant that people ar

also connected like never before. Thi



means that our youth, brought up in thimodern environment and curious abousex, like their counterparts around th

world, will be unable to follow ouraditionally strict anti-sex attitudes.

This does not mean we should opehe floodgates and make it an ‘anything

goes’ society. However, we need trefresh our societal values around sexThe traditional versus modern balanc

needs to shift a little towards thmodern, and be more suited to currenimes. Else, the problems and hypocris

related to sex will never go away.

Where do we want India to be ierms of sexual attitudes today? I don

want to propose or impose an answer. Iwill come only if we discuss the issue i



an open and inclusive manner—betweerich and poor, young and old, feministand others. Only then can we fin

solutions to the problems around sex thandia faces today.

So take a deep breath and say, ‘Ware Indians. And yes, sometimes we caand need to talk about sex.’



F

The Real Dirty Picture

By shunning pleasure we aresimply turning ourselves into

a society of liars andhypocrites.

ew things bring out India

hypocrisy more than any referenco sex. We blush, pretend it doesn’t existook the other way, change the topic

hate the person who brought it up and dwhatever we can to avoid confronting healthy, balanced discussion on it.

In fact, many say sex is against India

culture, a bizarre notion for a countr



hat reproduces faster than most othersPerhaps what the culture-protectors arsaying is that sex for pleasure is bad

And since Indian culture does nothinbad, sex is against Indian culture. Hencepoliticians maintain a public stancabout women covering up and premarital sex being immoral, and censoanything remotely sexy.

And yet, I can bet a number o

politicians and babus watch pornRemember the incident in Karnataka i2012, when some ministers were caughwatching porn in the state legislativ

assembly? In fact, most people who havaccess to porn watch porn. While only few have the daredevil spirit anstupidity to watch it in a legislature, the



all consume this product that is supedeadly to Indian culture. In fact, significant number of women watch por

oo, though they may not get as exciteabout it as say, a 50 per cent sale oheir favourite handbag.

So why are we like this? Why are wso two-faced about something snatural? It is a difficult question tanswer, but we weren’t always this way

Our ancient texts, such as thUpanishads, discuss sex in an explicmanner. The Mahabharata refers tDraupadi’s polyandry. The temples i

Khajuraho leave little to the imaginationPerhaps our attitudes changed durin

centuries of Mughal and Victorian ruleboth not exactly known for their libera



attitudes. Add a bit of Brahminicapuritanism to it and somewhere dowhe line, Indians began to frown upon al

pleasures, particularly sex.Hence, we have heavy taxes o

alcohol. And of course, states likGujarat have banned alcohol. Moviickets carry an entertainment tax, quit

unjustified as people buy them with theialready taxed income anyway. I am quit

sure that if the government could, would tax sex.

However, none of these prohibitionand taxes works. People drink anyway

even if they have to consume cheaperquality, more harmful stuff. Alcohol ieasy to source in Gujarat, and has led ta massive illegal bootlegging industry



People who cannot afford movie ticketwatch pirated movies, thus hurting thfilm industry.

The simple fact that governments anculture-keepers don’t realize is this—ou cannot stop people from doing whahey enjoy. In a country like India wher

enforcement of law is weak, this is evemore applicable. By shunning pleasurewe are not preventing people fro

experiencing it. We are simply turninourselves into a society of liars anhypocrites.

And that is the important question

What is worse? Watching porn or beindishonest?

Our pornography laws (enacted i1969, surely no pun intended) ar



archaic. Can we make them morpractical, so we do not force millions ondians into lying every day? An

similarly, we need to stop looking apleasure and enjoyment as sin. Humaife is limited, and if we don’t enjoy ouime here, what is the point of it? Yes

excess of anything, from sugar to alcohoo porn, can be harmful. Exploitation i

also bad. However, it doesn’t mean yo

classify moderate consumption ammoral, or against the national culture.

It is time to reform our morastandards. Let people have fun i

moderation. Let us accept humabehaviour, rather than make the natioive a lie. We work hard when we havo, but sometimes we can enjoy a drink



t doesn’t make us good or bad people. Iust makes us who we are. And it is timndians became comfortable wit

hemselves.



A

Saying Cheers inGujarat

When hundreds of millions of

people around the world canhandle a few drinks…why

does the state have to impose

laws curtailing consumptionin a particular region?

s I’ve said earlier, we Indianare masters at avoidinuncomfortable topics. We would rathebe hypocrites and liars than discus

something uncomfortable. Besides sex



another topic we have learnt to avoid iconsumption of alcohol. In public, wcondemn anything to do with alcohol. I

private, millions of Indians enjoy theidrinks. This includes not onlbusinessmen and corporate types, bualso politicians, doctors, teachers anournalists.

One of the casualties of this hypocriss that prohibition laws in certain part

of India are never discussed. Placewhere liquor is still banned arMizoram, Manipur, NagalandLakshadweep and the modern, vibran

Gujarat. Kerala, too, is phasing oualcohol, and aims to become a dry statby 2024. That Gujarat has such a polics particularly baffling, especially sinc



he state projects itself as one of India’most advanced.

The reasons cited to keep the 196

prohibition law in place remain thsame. The abuse of alcohol, particularlamongst the less affluent, can destrohouseholds. Prevention of crimes againswomen is a reason to justify the banAlcohol-related health problems and thpotential for addiction are well known

With so many noble reasons for a banone almost wonders why we don’t havt in other states too.

However, virtuous intentions aside

here is another side to it. That is, thban doesn’t work. In fact, the extent twhich this ban is defied is ridiculousAlcohol, though bootlegged, is easil



available in Gujarat. I have attendevarious events in the state whersurreptitious bar counters were arrange

for the party afterwards, complete witbartenders and cocktail mixes. Highprofile citizens of the city enjoy theievening tipple and discuss life anwork. However, instantly, thesrespectable people also turn into lawbreaking criminals. This happen

because of an outdated law whicdoesn’t even apply to over 90 per cenof India’s population. When we arencouraging our citizens to break on

aw, how will they ever respect the otheaws? Will it not eventually lead to aanything goes’ society, which seems t

be a big reason for India’s problem



oday?When hundreds of millions of peopl

around the world can handle a few

drinks and run organizations, companieor even countries the next day, why doehe state have to impose laws curtailin

consumption in a particular regionExcessive fat and sugar consumption ieading to many diseases, some eveife-threatening, around the country

Gujarat included. Why not control thossubstances too? Why are cigarattes anobacco-laced paans available at ever

street corner in Gujarat? What’s th

point of a ban that doesn’t woranyway? Will we ever ask thesquestions or just keep harping on modern Gujarat but never change wha



needs to be changed there?Controlling consumption, of

substance that is legal and is consume

by millions around the world, is nowhat a modern state would do.

There are many direct losses due this law. The state loses thousands o

crores of excise duty which, in turn, hao be recovered by making other good

and services more expensive. Gujarat i

rying hard to promote itself as a globanvestment destination and a tourist hub

For both these industries, the ban oalcohol has an adverse effect. Indian

are okay with the hypocrisy of routinelbreaking the law; many foreigners arnot. Foreign tourists do not find exciting or normal to have bootlegge



alcohol. Gujarat’s beach destinationsfor instance, will never thrive unless thalcohol policy is lifted. Tourism create

obs. With this law in place, we arcurtailing employment for thousands oGujarat’s youth.

Similarly, even as an investmendestination, this policy is harminGujarat. There is no global finance cit—whether London, New York, Hon

Kong, Tokyo, Singapore, ShanghaSeoul or Mumbai—where alcohol ibanned. Global bankers do not want tive in a place where they are doin

something illegal every time they attena party. If Gujarat is serious aboubecoming a world-class businesdestination, it needs to benchmark it



aws to world-class locations. Notably, even the United State

experimented with prohibition fro

1920 to 1933. The reasons cited werhe same as in present-day Gujarat

However, the ill effects were the samoo. As a result, the laws were repealed

This is what John Rockefeller, initially supporter of prohibition, had to say ihe end:

When prohibition was introduced, Ihoped that it would be widelysupported by public opinion and the

day would soon come when the evileffects of alcohol would berecognized. I have slowly andreluctantly come to believe that this



has not been the result. Instead,

drinking has generally increased; avast army of lawbreakers has

appeared; many of our best citizenshave openly ignored prohibition;respect for the law has been greatlylessened; and crime has increasedto a level never seen before.

Many would agree the above applies t

Gujarat too. We must openly debate thissue and reach a conclusion that ipractical and helps in the country’progress. I do not endorse drinking

either do I consume much alcohol. do, however, endorse freedom, changand modernity. And that is exactly whaGujarat needs.



M

Our Fatal Attractionto Food

We need to be more self-

aware of what we eat.

iddle-class Indians have

passionate relationship witheir food. It is one of the few forms opleasure our society readily accepts. Whate alcohol and we pretend sex doesn

exist. We even tax our entertainmentHowever, when it comes to food, wike to stuff ourselves and everybod

else around us. Our weddings hav



avish spreads that would make thVictorian royalty blush. Hospitality imeasured in terms of one main criterio

—how well fed are the guests when theeave.

So one can imagine the outrage whehat one, single form of allowabl

sensual joy is attacked. In May 2015news reports emerged that the UttaPradesh Food Safety and Dru

Administration (FDA) had found higevels of monosodium glutamate (MSG

and lead in packets of Maggi noodleshe staple snack and even meal for man

ndian households.* Both thessubstances are harmful to health wheconsumed in large quantities. Post th

report, many people started hoardin



packets of Maggi, fearing it would go ofhe shelves!

This reminds me of a study release

by the Centre for Science anEnvironment (CSE) in 2012, referring tharmful substances in some of thummiest snacks brought into India b

our caring MNCs. A huge reactioensued. Over tea and bhujias, coldrinks and samosas, butter chicken an

naan, Indians held discussions on howwhat they considered the love of theiife—delicious yummy food—could b

harming them. The CSE study hit wher

t hurt most—instant noodles, potatchips and cold drinks are all middleclass indulgences. In scientific mumboumbo, like trans-fat content an



percentage daily intake, terms fewunderstand, it said something like, ‘Thistuff is bad for you.’

The MNCs jumped, engaging publicrelations firms to clarify that they habeen misunderstood. After all, anybodadvertising their products with cute babvoices or other emotional tugs, likgrandparent-hugging, could hardly bmaking anything harmful. If you believ

he ads, chips and colas make you more loving, endearing person anburgers and fried chicken help you makbetter friends.

So what is going on? Are they reallhat bad? Don’t people eat chips anead long, healthy lives? And what o

earth is this trans-fat and non-trans-fa



business? Well, while there is no need thyperventilate, there is reason foconcern.

The modern Indian middle-class dies turning from bad to horrible. As the

get a whiff of affluence, Indians semore money as an excuse to ingest morcalories. We are already culturallrained to love food. Easy availability oasty but unhealthy food has made

worse. Add lack of awareness amonhe masses and manipulative advertising

and the situation could turn horrible.The CSE and FDA reports aside, on

doesn’t need a laboratory study to figurout that some of the things we eat arbad for us. Here are some simple factsA juice brand sells mango nectar that ca



have eight spoons of sugar per glass. Apack of instant noodles is nothing buunrefined processed starch (plus MSG

and lead, it seems). The malt-based socalled nutritional milk additives fochildren are mostly sugar. Expensivbreakfast cereals can’t beat the healtvalue inherent in a few simple rotisFried potato chips and burgers witpatties that were frozen months ago ar

quite obviously not healthy.It isn’t just the MNCs. The mithai

and namkeens that are part of ouraditional heritage, the thick gravie

served in Indian restaurants and somhomes, and the samosas and pakodas wregularly see being sold at railwastations are equally bad for us. Simple



healthy meals with low oil and sugar arhe best. And yet, no one—th

government, the MNCs or people like u

—seems to care. We shall pay the pricn the next ten years. Obesity levels wilncrease, fitness will decline an

healthcare costs will rise. The affluencwe feel so proud of will actually comback to bite us.

We need to rein in the MNCs, for the

seem to have little ethics. When they arselling something that is harmful in thong term, they should disclose that the buyer. Children and teenagers shoul

be protected from the onslaught ounscrupulous MNCs that sell junk aaspirational. We need stringent labellinand advertising regulations.



We should laud the studies, which arwake-up calls for all of us. We also neeo adopt healthy eating habits in th

family. Social engagements should norevolve around food. People need tstop forcing others to eat in order tprove their love. If you love them, lehem be healthy.

Taste is an important sense, do not let lead you to doom. We need to be mor

self-aware of what we eat. What goenside us is what finally makes us.

Anyway, all this food talk has madme hungry. How about you?

*

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/in

others/post-recall-up-fda-tests-more-

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/post-recall-up-fda-tests-more-batches-of-maggi/



batches-of-maggi/



O

Cleanliness Begins atHome

It should not just be ‘my home

should be clean’, but ‘myhome and the surrounding 10

metres should be clean’.

ne of the first signs of a wellmanaged place, whether it is

restaurant, hotel, airport, office or trai

station, is its level of cleanliness. If thplace isn’t clean, it is unlikely tmpress anyone. The same applies to a

entire country. Indians who trave



abroad are often awestruck bcleanliness levels in the developeworld.

Therefore, if we want our country trealize its full potential in the world, whave to make it clean. A land of filth, nmatter how talented its people and howwonderful its natural resources, wilnever earn the respect it deserves.

Perhaps this is a reason why th

prime minister has taken on the SwachBharat mission with such gusto. Not onlhe but several other influencers anprominent people have lent a hand to th

cause, often holding a broom along witt.

However, while the broom in handoes make for a compelling photo-op



and is well intentioned, it will take a lomore to clean India. If we are reallserious about this, let us first figure ou

why we are dirty in the first place, anwhat it would take to have a cleanendia.

We are not dirty people. Indians keepheir homes scrupulously clean. In man

parts of India, people do not wear shoenside the house to keep the interior

clean. Some of our religious places arkept clean (though there are exceptionsdon’t even get me started on Varanasand Mathura). Diwali, our bigges

festival, is the time for spring cleaningndians are meticulous about taking

shower daily, which may not be acommon in the West.



So why is our country dirty? Why is hat when we step out of our homes, w

find the roadside littered? Is it th

municipal corporation that isn’t doing itob? Is it the local politician who shoul

ensure things are kept clean? Do we nohave enough dustbins?

None of this fully explains why Indis unclean. The reason is that we make

dirty in the first place. And if we trul

want to be a clean country, we need take steps to ensure we minimize filth ihe first place, rather than hope someon

will pick up a broom and clean it

Developed countries in Western Europand North America do not have locaauthorities sweeping the streets all thime. They have systems in place, an



he local population cooperates to nocreate filth in the first place.

We, on the other hand, look at ou

country differently from our homesnside our houses, we want things to b

spick and span. Outside the entrancdoor, it doesn’t matter. It isn’t mine. It’dirty anyway and how does it matter if dump some more litter on the streets?

With this mentality—you can have a

army of municipal corporation workerworking 24×7, a hundred celebritiesweeping the streets, the PM making dozen speeches—I assure you, Indi

will not become clean.The only way it can, and wil

become clean is if we minimize anprevent the creation of filth in the firs



place, and the only way that will happes when all of us together think, ‘What i

outside my home is also mine.’

This sense of community, recognitioof a greater good and collectivownership is the only way for thsituation to change. Else, we risk thicleanliness drive becoming anothesocial fad that will be forgotten when thnovelty wears off.

Of course, infrastructuramprovements, such as new treatmen

plants for solid, sewage, industrial anagricultural waste, are required. New

sets of indices, whether they bmeasures of cleanliness or density odustbin distribution, too are neededLaws and fines have their place as well





clean’.Whenever there is a collective sens

of ownership, we have highe

cleanliness levels. It is for this reasohat most college campuses are cleanehan the city outside, despite housinhousands of youngsters inside.

So get out there, scan your 10 metresCan you improve anything? A swachBharat is indeed possible. The first ste

s ‘swachh manasikta’ or clean mindsetsAre you game?

( In the interests of full disclosure

rakash Javadekar, Union Minister fo

nformation and Broadcasting as welas for Environment and Forests

nominated me to help with the Swach

harat campaign. This piece is one o



my contributions towards th

campaign. Opinions expressed

however, are independent an

ersonal .)



Y

India-stupid andIndia-smart

With some common sense, we

can get rid of outdatedpractices at airports.

ou will find many articles ohow corrupt and inefficient w

are as a nation, particularly ougovernment. However, little is sai

about something that we all face, but findifficult to admit—the great Indiastupidity. Sure, we have some of thsmartest people on earth. World ches



champions, software geeks anFabindia-wearing intellectuals…whave them all. We probably have to

many smart people in our country. Buallow me, with my moderate intellect, tmake one more assertion—we also hava lot of stupid people.

Many of these stupid people are ihigh places and positions of poweraking stupid decisions for us that mak

our lives difficult on a daily basis. cannot cover them all, but let me focuon one particular Indian stupidity hotspo—our airports. Here, one gets to se

ndia’s idiocy in full view. Even India’who’s who pass through our airportevery day and suffer the impact oextraordinary foolish decisions





rayed, unstamped bag, can’t theyhide it in another bigger emptystamped bag? While the x-ray is

required, the tag-stamp routine isunnecessary. In fact, the stampcreates a false sense of security —it seems like an approval.The second stupid routine isduring the flight. Most airlines nolonger serve free food. They run

a snack shop in the aisles mid-flight. The cabin crew takesindividual orders, fulfils them,fumbles for change and moves up

and down half a dozen times for people who want to use therestroom. It takes the airhostesseforever to inch the cart ahead



along the rows. Can’t the airlinestake food orders during check-inIf they did, the cash would be

handled on the ground. Foodcould be placed on passengers’seats as they entered the aircraftor right after take-off. Wouldn’tthat be more efficient? Althoughsome airlines now allow you to pre-book meals, why not do the

same for snack items andmerchandise?The third drama occurs when weare about to land. Oftentimes, air

traffic control does not give permission to touch down, incase of congestion. Thus,hundreds of aircraft literally burn



fuel every day, and delaythousands of passengers. Thecongestion at some airports has

been chronic for many years.Often, the solution is just anotherrunway. Sure, airport runwaysare sophisticated to make, butaren’t they just a nice flat, longstrip of road? Why is it so hard tomake another runway? Isn’t it

stupid to waste so much preciousfuel (and people’s time) everyday?Stupid situation number four is

thrust on passengers arriving inIndia from abroad. After a longimmigration queue to obtain a passport stamp, you queue up



again as another official inspectsthe stamp. How stupid is that?You also write little slips of

paper with a customs declarationwhich is collected by a sleepyconstable as you exit. Nobodyever looks at those slips. Theconstable often forgets to takethem. What is the point of this?Has no one ever questioned this

absolute stupidity?

could go on. The prepaid taxi lines, fonstance, where both the tired passenger

and the taxi drivers wait for hourbecause some harried employees filregisters with carbon paper (yes, thestill use it!) and cause huge bottlenecks.



While airports are particularly gooplaces to hunt for Indian stupidity, manother Indian processes are retarded too

For example, prepaid SIM forms and thproofs required for them are a jokeThey are also easily faked. Places likDubai, Bangkok or Hong Kong selworking SIMs off the shelf anywayWhat are we counting on? For ouerrorists to have an aversion to fakin

Xerox copies, or to have no internationafriends? Can we let go of this nonsense?

Sure, the issues I mention are not thbiggest problems of our country. But the

rouble, niggle, irritate and can be easilfixed. Also, if our nation doesn’t comacross as having a basic level ocommon sense, it leaves a terribl



mpression on outsiders. It is also plaidangerous to live with outdateprocesses. Safety procedures are ofte

nconvenient. However, everythinnconvenient doesn’t make us safe. It caust be stupid.

Yes, we may be able to live witstupidity, but that is no reason tcontinue with it. Whoever is in charge ohe above or any other stupi

procedures, please take steps to changhem. Use your brains. Stop behavinike sheep, moving along in silence fo

decades. We have had enough of India

stupid. It is time we had some Indiasmart. For now, rubber-stamp this articlo show that you have read it.



O

Bhasha Bachao,Roman Hindi Apnao

In the globalizing times we

live in now, it will do Hindi alot of good if it also welcomes

a global script.

ne of the perpetual debates in ousociety is the importance o

Hindi versus English. At a broade

evel, it can be extended to anvernacular language-versus-Englisdebate, and how we risk losing our loca

anguages to English. It is a politicall



charged issue, with each governmenrying to show greater allegiance t

Hindi than the other.

Consequently, you have the ‘promotHindi’ drives, with government officemandatorily issuing all circulars iHindi and state-run schools largelbeing Hindi-medium.

Meanwhile, English continues tgrow like never before, without an

promotional drive. This is because ioffers better career prospects, greaterespectability in society, a completelnew world of information entertainmen

and access to technology. After all, yocan’t even use a mobile phone or basimessaging apps today without a cursorunderstanding of English.



Understandably, Hindi lovers anpurists lament the new society where thouth shun their mother tongue and wan

o enter the English world as fast apossible. The more they impose Hindihe more the youth rebel against it.

What is a Hindi lover (myselncluded) to do?

And what can we all do to save Hindwithout making it seem like a burden o

obligation?There is a solution. It is embracin

Roman Hindi. Roman Hindi is noHinglish. It is Hindi language written i

he Roman script instead of DevanagarFor example, ‘ Aap kaise hain?’ is Hindfor ‘How are you?’, but written in thEnglish script.



Why is this important? Well, becaushe Roman script is ubiquitous. It is o

computer keyboards and telephon

ouchscreens. It is already popularespecially among the youth. Millions ondians, for instance, use Whatsapp

where most conversations are in Hindalthough using the Roman script. SureDevanagari downloads are availablebut few use them. In fact, man

Devanagari keyboards on phones ussomething known as transliterationwhere you type in Roman Hindi first anhe software will convert the text t

Hindi. In other words, the user is stilusing Roman Hindi.

Roman Hindi is already prevalent iBollywood posters and in ou



advertising. Most Hindi moviscreenplays are today written in RomaHindi. Drive around any major city an

ou are bound to see a hoarding with Hindi caption written in the Romascript.

However, Hindi experts, purists andefenders are either largely unaware oor indifferent to these developmentsThey do not see the difference betwee

he Hindi language and its script. Peoplstill love Hindi, they just find it difficuo incorporate the script in their modernechnology-driven lives.

We can save Hindi by legitimizing thRoman Hindi script. This will also hava unifying effect on the nation, as it wilbring English and Hindi speakers closer



t will also allow other regionaanguages to become more linked to eac

other and to English, by virtue of

common script.Europe, for instance, has more than

dozen different languages. They sharhe same script. In Indonesia an

Malaysia, the local scripts are long gonand they have adopted the Roman scripfor their language.

Sure, Hindi purists may not want his way. They want Hindi to b

preserved exactly as it was, with thDevanagari script. However, they forge

hat languages evolve with the timesAnd in the globalizing times we live inow, it will do Hindi a lot of good if ialso welcomes a global script. In fact, i



we make our script globally accessiblet may encourage more people arounhe world to learn Hindi.

In the past, many Urdu poetpublished their poems in Devanagarnstead of Urdu, only to gain wide

acceptance. That was then, but today thneed of the hour is to update Hindi to new version.

We could start with some governmen

notices and public signages in RomaHindi, and evaluate the response. Thers also an opportunity here, as Roma

Hindi can create a new print media an

books industry. Millions are alreadusing it. It is just that nobody has tappento the prospects.

Legitimizing a new globall



accessible script for Hindi that will be class leveller can only be good for thanguage, which otherwise risks bein

sidelined by the onslaught of EnglishLet’s not see a language from a purist’perspective, but rather as somethindynamic and evolving to fit in with thimes. Waqt ke saath badalna zaroor

hai. You understood that sentence, right?



F

Mangalyaan+UnluckTuesdays

Let there be God in our

hearts. But let there also bescience in our minds.

ew Indian achievements have leto instant national pride as muc

as the success of the Indian SpacResearch Organization’s (ISRO

Mangalyaan or Mars Orbiter MissioMOM) to Mars in September 2014. Th

media gushed, Twitter and Faceboocelebrated while every politician an



celebrity congratulated ISRO for daysThe last comparable Indian gush was thcricket World Cup victory in 2011.

Make no mistake, to place a satellitn Mars’s orbit in the first attempt is n

small feat. That it was done on a 450crore budget, the cheapest Mars missioso far, makes it even more remarkableThe zeal of the ISRO staff, along witcutting-edge science, made the missio

successful. India’s pride at MOM’success is justified. However, even ahe media machine moves us to otheopics, it is worth asking—has MOM

made us Indians appreciate and respecscience a bit more?

Indians have a schizophrenirelationship with science. On the on



hand, we want our kids to take uscience subjects in school. Exams to gento top engineering and medica

colleges in India are among the toughesn the world. Our students get top scoren science and mathematics, pushing cut

offs higher and higher. If some aliefrom, say, Mars were to see this, hwould think that India is a land obsessewith science. And yet, in many ways, w

are completely unscientific.More superstitions exist in ou

country than in any other. I am sure manof you have been fed curd and suga

right before a science exam, as a sign ouck. As if some audit department o

God above is noting the kids who ate and hence marking them as deserving o



a simpler exam! Babas, astrologershoroscopes abound. Temple visits arassociated with guilt, and often includ

some sort of a transaction. Place sommoney in front of the idol and in retursome luck will come your way, implyinhat that is how God thinks about us.

Religious ceremonies spill out on throad, leaving behind a trail of filth annoise pollution. As if that is what Go

above wants—make the city filthybother others, cause traffic jams, makparents reach home to their kids lateand then I will be touched by your love.

We also have gods for rain. If a cropsuffers due to lack of rain, it iobviously an act of the rain gods. It inot the fault of the irrigation departmen



which may have had decades of fundinbut couldn’t stabilize irrigation in tharea. If there are floods in any state it i

God’s wrath, and doesn’t have anythino do with poor environmental plannin

and unchecked construction.If I believe in one God and somebod

else in another, the other person iseparate from me. If people who believn my God die, it is more terrible than i

people who believe in the other God doI don’t want to go on and on. All I a

rying to say is, do we take the greatemessage from the ISRO mission? Do w

change anything about ourselves?When sick, we pop pills develope

over decades by scientists. We usphones made by scientists t



communicate. I type this on a computemade by scientists, and you read this oa screen or paper made with technology

And yet, would you say we Indians hava scientific temperament?

The answer is no, we don’t. We wanour kids to study science because enables them to gain professionadegrees that will help them get a job. Wwant to use science for our selfis

nterests, but want the option to reject when it doesn’t suit our purposes. Foexample, gay rights have a scientifibasis. However, we don’t like thos

findings and so we bring all sorts oother arguments against them.

If you broaden the definition oscience to logical thinking, we fail eve



more. Almost any argument of traditionmorality, culture and even misplacepatriotism is considered superior t

science, if the latter rocks the boat.Still, we want to celebrate ISRO an

MOM. Well, if we really do want tcongratulate ISRO, the best contributiowe can make is to give science a littlmore respect in our lives. At its corescience involves logical thinking and

questioning attitude, until a logical anrational solution is arrived at.

We do not have to shun religionReligion and science are in conflic

sometimes. However, given how deeplreligious we are, it is unlikely that wcan switch over to becoming a purelscientific nation. We have to make bot



coexist. And in most cases, makinscience and religion coexist simplnvolves having a sense of faith to guid

ou on the path of positivity angoodness, while at the same time usincommon sense and reasoning to do whas best for you and society.

If India wants to belong to the moderworld—which I think we do, given thdelirious joy we feel when th

developed world acknowledges us—whave to become more scientific. Let thsuccessful mission to Mars be a turninpoint in the way we look at our world

Let there be God in our hearts. But lehere also be science in our minds.



I

A Ray of Hope

Let us rejoice that India, onceknown as the land of scholarsand knowledge, still has thebest literary festival in the

world.

t is a joy to write the rare positivcolumn about something beautifu

hat takes place in India. The Jaipu

Literature Festival (JLF) attractenormous crowds each time it is held. Iput India on the global map.

The JLF’s rapid growth is astounding

n 2008, the festival had 2,500 attendees



n 2012, more than 75,000 peoplparticipated, a thirty-fold growth in fouears. Festival venue Diggi Palace,

family-owned haveli-heritage hoteburst at the seams on festival days. Theighth edition in 2015, when the festivawent beyond Diggi Palace for the firsime, with sessions in Amer Fort an

Hawa Mahal, saw a record 245,00footfalls over five days. However, th

festival still remains free and open tall. School students, Nobel Prizwinners, socialites, scholars, tourists—all enter the gates together to be a part o

hundred-plus sessions over five daysThe infectious energy of the organizer—Namita Gokhale, William DalrympleSanjoy Roy and Sheuli Sethi—is wha



makes the festival a success. They worrelentlessly every year to run a show thaSanjoy agrees is akin to ‘marrying

hundred daughters off at the same time’.Interestingly, the JLF has given Indi

far better PR worldwide than, sayanother initiative of the erstwhilCongress government to do the same—he Commonwealth Games

Unfortunately, most of the Games’s new

coverage was related to the scam thaook place or the shoddiness of th

work.It would be foolish if we did no

draw lessons from what makes the JLFsuch a huge phenomenon:

One, the inclusion of the world’s mosprominent authors. While not ever



attending author is a Booker or Pulitzewinner, the JLF has always had a few ohem. This gives it enormous credibilit

and attracts the media. If your event inot truly world class, you will get fraction of the attention you woulotherwise. The Commonwealth Games no Olympics, and hence the worl

cares little about it. Be the best, onobody cares.

Two, the JLF’s range of sessionmakes it relevant for a wide variety oaudiences. International guests can finat least one author they have read o

heard about, making them connect to thfestival. Readers of popular fictiowould find popular authors, not makinhem feel out of place.





audiences, but the JLF team has kepaway from that attitude.

Five, the festival provides oodles o

media-friendly content. Writers havnteresting things to talk about and ca

generate lots of stories for newspaperand TV channels. Naturally, the contenthungry media likes to be there.

Six, the execution is near flawlessAs a speaker this year and in previou

editions, I have found the logisticperfect; almost all sessions started oime. Execution isn’t easy in India, buhe JLF gets it right.

At the same time, like all thingsuccessful, the JLF has to guard againsforces that will try to either exploit itfame or bring it down out of sheer envy



t also has to manage its growth, whicseems unstoppable at this point. Herare two suggestions:

One, do not indulge extreme voicebeyond a point. Writers like to give theipoints of view and feel passionatelabout them. However, the JLF is nactivist forum. Too much has alreadbeen said about the Salman Rushdicontroversy that took place in 2012, bu

he simple lesson is a zero-tolerancpolicy at the venue for people whhijack the festival’s agenda. The festivahas to remain neutral towards all views

t is not a Ramlila Ground.Also, the festival has to respect loca

government guidelines, and that includeheir security risk perceptions. Even i



some esteemed guests oppose or mistrusgovernment policies, the venue is not thplace to protest. They can expres

hemselves, but need not take on thgovernment from the venue. They arfree to hire a separate protest venue tdo it.

Two, the festival will need tconsolidate. Modestly priced ticketinwon’t make the festival undemocratic

There can be flexibility—free days oicketed days, separate student pricing

donor events, etc.As a writer, and as an Indian citizen,

feel immensely proud of this celebratioof books. Those who say India is alabout Bollywood and cricket should paa visit to the JLF. Silly controversie



come and go. Let us rejoice that Indiaonce known as the land of scholars anknowledge, still has the best literar

festival in the world.



E

Junk Food’s Siren Appeal

Following the Maggi ban, it’s

time to move to a simple labelfor classifying foods.

nough has been written about thMaggi controversy, wher

government labs found more thapermissible lead and MSG in packets o

Maggi noodles. The resultant PRdisaster, confusion and a nationwidrecall of one of the most populaproducts in the country is likely t



become a case study in business schoolsHowever, there is something else a

mportant as the controversy abou

harmful substances. It is that Maggnoodles, or for that matter any instannoodles, are intrinsically unhealthy, witor without lead and MSG. It is time whave a new, simplified classificatiosystem and scale for junk versus healthfood.

Eating refined starch that iprocessed, dried and kept for monthwith the help of chemical preservatives unlikely to be good for you. The ad

may be extremely moving emotionallyhe brand ambassador could be highl

credible and the soupy noodles mighaste really good. It is still not good fo





obesity, heart disease and diabetes.How does one limit unhealthy foo

hen? The problem comes when junk i

marketed as healthy. Our advertisinstandards for food are extraordinarilax. Junk-food manufacturers not onl

hide the nature of their food, but alsposition them as health-fillealternatives. Armed with ads of beaminmothers feeding sparkly kids, we hav

unk marketed as emotional nectar everday.

In other sectors such nonsensicaadvertising would never be allowed. I

financial services, there have to be a toof disclaimers reminding investors of thmarket risk they take. In cigarettes, whave pictures of blackened lungs on th



packs. But packets of potato chips donbear the picture of an obese hearpatient, right?

Food—be it for nourishment opleasure—has positive associations fous. Any food is good and the kind ofood doesn’t seem to matter. Perhaps thicomes from a time when India wapoorer and food was scarce. When wworked twelve hours a day in the field

and could eat and burn as many calorieas we wanted. This was also wheprocessed food from big corporationdidn’t exist.

However, times have changedPhysical labour is decreasing and wdon’t burn off calories as easily. Hencewe need to monitor our food intak



carefully. If a big part of our diet has tcome from packaged food, we need tunderstand and label it accordingly.

Of course, nutritional information iprovided on most packaged fooproducts today. However, to the averagperson it is a jumble of tiny font text annumbers. Even if you were to read thdata, what would you make of it? Is healthy food or junk food? Or is

healthy but only in moderation?Hence, we need a simple label fo

our food, comprehensible at a quicglance. This should be akin to the gree

and red dot for vegetarian and nonvegetarian food, which has worked wel

We need a new junk–healthy scalclassification for all foods. On



example, purely for illustration, is to usfour tiny dots, in red or green, based ohe junk–healthy scale. A red colour fo

all four dots would mean it icompletely junk food. Chips, aeratedrinks and fried snacks would belonhere. Three red dots and one greewould mean it is mostly junk, buperhaps not as high in fat, such as instannoodles or juices made from concentrat

with added sugar. Foods that are healthn small amounts, such as high-calori

nuts, would have two red and two greedots each. Mostly healthy but stil

processed foods, such as skim-milpacks and low-sugar juices would earone red and three green dots. Four greedots would be reserved only for fresh



healthy and unprocessed foods such afresh vegetables, low-calorie fruits anow-fat meats.

Only foods with three green dots omore would be allowed to advertishemselves as healthy. While thiabelling will obviously not answe

every nutritional question, it will at leasell consumers what kind of food the

are eating.

The above four-dot template is just aexample. However, junk versus healthabelling is essential and implementable

This will increase awareness about wha

we are eating, and over time incentivizus as well as manufacturers to movowards healthier foods.

A healthy society leads to lowe



healthcare costs, improved productivitat work and a better quality of life focitizens. Food is a big part of publi

health. About time we knew what we arputting in our mouths.



AWESOME

EQUALITY:

WOMEN’S RIGHTS,

GAY RIGHTS AND

MINORITY RIGHTS





My dream, and the goal of this books not just Making India Rich. It i

Making India Awesome. Being adeveloped nation, and thereforbeing a rich country, is part of being

awesome. However, it isn’t enough. Tobe awesome, one has to earn respecand coolness, something that doesn

come from money alone. Neithedoes it come from just military mightor any other kind of power. Tru

coolness and respect comes fromanother aspect of a country—andhat is providing fair treatment andequality. A society can be called



equal when it doesn’t matter who yoare and where you come from. For no

matter what, the land will treat yohe same in terms of opportunity andustice.

No country is perfect in terms o

equality. In human society, fuequality is almost impossibleCommunist-style experiments hav

ailed, mainly because ancommunist regime often leads to aautocratic leadership, which control

everyone and ironically creates thbiggest sense of inequality. Noequality doesn’t mean everyon

should have the same things. It does



however, mean everyone should geheir due, based on hard work, mer

and creativity. It also means thaustice should be provided to all, andyour identity does not determine yourights. Note that the aim here i

equality, not appeasement.So, how do you check if a natio

cares about equality? Quite simply,

can be tested in terms of how it treatts minorities. In a democracyheoretically, the majority can decid

everything. It can even makminorities suffer, using a so-calledcompletely democratic process

However, this is where the check



and balances of equality come in.India has three main kinds o

minorities—religious (non-Hindus)sexual (gays and lesbians) andgender (women). While non-Hinduand homosexuals are in a minorit

due to sheer numbers, women arconsidered a minority, given ouhistorically male-dominated society.

How we treat these three minoritien the future will determine howawesome our nation becomes. Quit

rankly, we have some way to go iachieving awesome levels. We stihave Section 377, a legacy of th

Victorian age, which criminalizes ga



sex, a law so regressive, only a feworthodox religious states around th

world have it today. We still donreat our women right, and oftedeny them rights without everealizing it. And every now and then

he fear of communalism and actuaviolence against religious minoritiemakes them feel unsafe.

The sub-section on women’s rightcontains seven pieces which talabout how Indian women ca

actually empower themselves, andwhat we men need to do to supporhem. Many of the writings in thi

section had gone viral when the



were previously published, ofteorwarded by women to each othe

as motivators. Thank you, ladies, fohe same!The sub-section on minority right

mainly talks about Muslims, becaus

hey comprise the biggest religiouminority in India. Again, themphasis is on self-empowermen

within the community and a desire toshow the majority their point of view.

The essay on Section 377 wa

written to lend support to the garights groups. It talks about howhese rights are important to a

ndians, even if they are not gay.



They say that the test of a person’character is how he or she treat

hose less powerful than him or herThe test of a nation’s character ihow its majority citizens treaminorities. Equality is awesome. Let’

keep working towards it.



I

WOMEN’S RIGHTS

Ladies, Stop Being so

Hard on Yourselves

When you have reasonable

expectations from yourself,you can be happy. And

being happy is, above all

else, having it all.

n this essay, I seek to address on

women’s issue—the belief tha



women can’t really have it all.

This is an endless debate, which wafuelled into a storm in 2014 by Indr

ooyi, the chief executive officer (CEOof Pepsi. It revolves around the issue owork–life balance, and the assertion thano woman can have a successful careeand also manage family responsibilitiewell. Thus, for all the talk of women’empowerment, we as a society have no

evolved to a point where women cahave it all.

Do note that this issue, and thereforhis piece, applies to a relatively smal

section of Indian women—those whactually have choices in terms of careeoptions, or whether to work or not. Moswomen do not even have a choice o



having it all. For them, it is more aboukeeping and preserving whatever thehave.

Anyway, here is my take.The phrase ‘can’t have it all’ is

derivative of ‘I am going to faisomewhere’ or even ‘something wilprevent me from being fully happy’. Thfirst phrase is right. The second incorrect. Yes, you will fail a

something. No, failing at somethindoesn’t mean you can’t be happy. Thfear of failing is endemic in humans. Iwomen, from what I have seen, th

feeling is compounded multiple timewith the constant belief that ‘I am jusnot good enough’. Open any women’magazine—every page of every issu



has tips on how to look, cook and makove better. I don’t know if it is cultura

or if women come biologically wire

ike this, but they feel inadequate. Idoesn’t take much to reinforce thabelief. A thinner neighbour, a schoolkiwho gets a better tiffin box than youkids, a boss who praises a colleagunstead of you—all set off loud inne

alarms in women that scream, ‘Look

ou suck. Hence proved.’ This feeling, iurn, leads women to have what I ter he ‘A+ complex’. This means in ordeo prove to themselves that they are no

errible, they must get an A+ in everdepartment of life. As a motheremployee, boss, wife and dinner host, oeven in terms of having a good figure



here is only one way to escape thafeeling of being inadequate—get an A+.

How do you do that? Well, kil

ourself, almost. Don’t sleep, don’t havime for yourself, let every jibe from an

random person in the world affect youdon’t think, react to the world thaalways seems to be demanding thingfrom you, collect nuggets of praise alonhe way to keep fighting to avoid tha

feeling of inadequacy or dropping thball. Cry alone at night, but don’t eveet the world down. Keep repeatingMust go for A+ everyday, in everything

and all the time.’ Now tell me, can any person wh

hinks like that ever have it all? No. They can’t. Which is why wome



cannot have it all. The only thing thehave lots of, as a result of this, is guilWomen are guilty of not being a hundre

per cent at office, not being there wheheir kids need homework help, no

attending the mother-in-law’s pujbecause there’s a work trip, not going the gym because they only get four hour

of sleep every day. Women, especiallworking women, feel so guilty that if, fo

some reason, they don’t feel guilty for day, they feel guilty about not feelinguilty. Get it? No? Neither do they.

So ladies, change just this one thin

about you. Don’t be so hard on yourselfDon’t have the A+ complex. Overalaim for a B+, or if you are superwoman, an A- at best. Some day



ou will be an amazing A+ mom, but a Bemployee as you left work early. Othedays you will be late from work an

score an A+ there and the kids will havess of you, making you a B mom. Bu

overall, if you score a B+, it is prettgood. That’s better than many others anmost of all, that is normal. Men do thsame, and they don’t go to bed thinkingOh, I was an awful father today’ or ‘

didn’t pay my dues to my employerThey go to bed thinking, ‘Well, let’s nogo there.’

So please don’t kill yourself in tryin

o have it all. Just be normal, admit yowon’t be excellent at everything everday and smile through life.

When you have reasonabl



expectations from yourself, you can bhappy. And being happy is, above alelse, having it all.

I hope you like this essay. I am sure could have written it better. But theagain, I’m not aiming for an A+ anyway.



Five Things WomenNeed to Changeabout Themselves

For all the talk of womenbeing denied their proper

place in society, ladies need

to do some self-reflection too.

Dear Ladies,

A lot is said on how men should changefor us to respect our women better. Herare some suggestions: men need to se



women as people, not objects. Me

should realize and truly believe thawomen are as talented and capable a

men and sometimes even more so. Meshould not discriminate against women the workplace or at home. Men havo respect boundaries and make surheir words do not make women fee

uncomfortable. Men have to respecwomen’s choices—in what they wear

where they want to go and at what timeMen should never use force ontimidation towards women.

Yes, we men have to learn. However

he stubborn, fragile and pamperendian male ego is a tough nut to crack

Collectively we, as Indian men, have ong way to go before our women can b



proud of us. We will. At least thprocess has started.

But in all this well-deserved mal

bashing, I hope the ladies do not misout on another set of changes required, ihemselves. Yes, for all the talk o

women being denied their proper placn society, ladies need to do some self

reflection too.Hence, I shall attempt the unthinkable

As a man, I will venture to give womeadvice. That alone is reason enough fome to be bashed to bits. However, evernow and then, we men are prone to risk

aking behaviour. So forgive me, for have dared.

Anyway, here goes. Five things I feewomen need to change about themselves



o make things better for their own kind:The first behaviour that needs to en

s the constant desire to judge othe

women. Women are hard on themselvesThey are harder on each other. Aoverweight woman enters the roomMost other women are thinking, ‘Howfat is she?’ A working mother misses parent-teacher (PTA) meeting due to aoffice deadline, others think what

errible mother she is. A girl in a shorskirt makes other women go ‘Slut!’ iheir heads. A pretty woman’s promotio

makes other women wonder what sh

had been up to, to get the job. From all-fitting dress to a badly cooked dishou are ready to judge others. Thi

despite knowing you yourselves are no



perfect. As a woman, it is tough enougo survive in a male-dominated world

Why be so hard on each other? Can yo

et each other breathe?Second, the faking needs to end. A

common female trait is the relativelquick adaptation to feed male egosLaughing at men’s jokes when they arenfunny, accepting a raw deal in an officassignment or playing dumb to allow

man to feel superior are just a fewoccasions when you do your own kinno favour. Who are you? And why canou be that person? Why are you fakin

t so much? If something bothers you, sat. What’s the point of collectivel

harping on equality when as individualsou are happy to lapse into bein



clueless eye flutterers, just to keep mehappy?

Three—and this is serious—standin

up for your property rights. Plenty ondian women give up their lawfu

property rights for their brothers, sons ohusbands. Sorry if it sounds harsh, buoo many Indian women are emotiona

fools and need to be told so. You are nodemonstrating your eternal selflessnes

when you give away your property. Yoare hurting your own kind.

Four, women need to become morambitious and dream bigger. All youn

ndians, men and women, should havfire in their bellies. Perhaps because ohe way Indian society is structured, ou

women are not encouraged to be a



ambitious as men. However, for theiown sake and the nation’s sake, alndian youth must have ambitions an

aspirations to do well and reach theimaximum potential in life. Many Indiawomen have done much better than menUse them as inspiration and worowards your dreams. Your success i

what will finally make Indian merespect women. Play your part.

Five, don’t get too trapped in thdrama of relationships. Relationshipare vital. Being a good mother, wifesister, daughter, friend and lover ar

extremely important. However, don’t geoo tangled. You have anothe

relationship, with yourself. Donsacrifice so much that you lose yourself



ot regularly, but just every now anhen, be a little selfish. It is when

woman will assert herself that she wil

be taken seriously. You are not here onlo assist others in living their lives. Yo

have your own life too.I will end here. Hope you will see th

point and intention behind what I aalking about. If not, then I am in birouble!



I

Home Truths onCareer Wives

Choosing a capable,

independent and career-oriented woman can alsobring enormous benefits.

remember watching the moviCocktail in 2012, not so long ago

The plot revolves around a philandere

hero who has to make the tough choicbetween two hot women. The ubermodern movie was set in London. Tw

of the characters, the hero and one of th



heroines, drink, dance in nightclubs anhave one-night stands with aplomb. Thework in new-age aspirational jobs lik

glamour photography, graphic art ansoftware design. And yet, the gueventually chooses the girl who cookhome food, dresses conservatively, winhis mother’s approval and is happy to bhe ideal Indian wife. In fact, even th

rejected girl, a free-spirited

ndependent woman, agrees to changherself. To get the guy, she is happy tcook and change her lifestyle to matchat of the ideal Indian wife.

While the movie was fun, sucdepictions disturb me a little. Whesuccessful, strong women are portrayeas finding salvation in making dal an



roti for their husbands, one wonderwhat kind of India we are presenting tour little girls.

Really, is that what a woman’s life iall about—to make hot phulkas? Ocourse, I shouldn’t be so bothered, manwould say. It is a Bollywood movie. Thcommercial pressure to present palatable story is real. Above all, thmakers have a right to tell the narrativ

hey want.Yet, when our most modern an

forward cinema sinks into regressiverritory, it is unfair to our women. It i

also depressing because deep down, wknow such attitudes exist. Many Indiamen, even the educated ones, have twdistinct profiles of women—th



girlfriend material and the wife materiaOne you party with, the other you takhome. The prejudice against non

raditional women who asserhemselves is strong.

Let us look at another part of thworld. Yahoo, a leading tech firm and Fortune 500 company, hired a femalCEO in 2012, Marissa Mayer. What’more, she was six months pregnant whe

she was hired, a fact she did not hide iher interviews. Marissa took some timoff after childbirth and got back to worater. She manages both her child an

work, and was the highest paid femalCEO in 2014, according to a New Yor

Times list.* There is something t

celebrate about that. Marissa is a rol



model for women and even men.I’d like Indian men to have an ope

mind about choosing their life partner

and revise their ‘ideal woman’ criteriaHaving a traditional wife who cookscleans and is submissive might be niceHowever, choosing a capablendependent and career-oriented woma

can also bring enormous benefits. Fonstance, a man who marries a caree

woman gets a partner to discuss his owcareer with. A working woman may bable to relate better to organizationassues than a housewife. A spouse wh

understands office politics and can givou good advice can be an asset.

Two, a working woman diversifiehe family income streams. In the era o



expensive apartments and frequent layoffs, a working spouse can help yoafford a decent house and feel mor

secure about finances.Three, a working woman is bette

exposed to the world. She brings backnowledge and information that can buseful to the family. Whether it’s thatest deals or the best mutual fund tnvest in, or even new holida

destinations, a working woman can ado the quality of life.

Four, the children of a workinwoman learn to be more independen

and will do better than mollycoddlechildren.

Five, working women often find somfulfilment in their jobs, apart from home



Hence, they may have better lifsatisfaction, and feel less dependent ohe man. This in turn can lead to mor

harmony. Of course, all these benefitaccrue if men are able to keep theimassive, fragile egos aside and sewomen as equals.

Sure, there are drawbacks also ibeing with working women. But in thmodern age that we live in, the phulka

making bride may come at the cost omissing out on other qualities. Pleasbear that in mind before you judgwomen based on their clothes, interest i

he kitchen or the confidence in theivoice.

My mother worked for forty yearsMy wife is the chief operating office



COO) at an international bank. It makeme proud. She doesn’t make phulkas fome. We outsource that work to our help

and it doesn’t really bother me. If mwife had spent her life in the kitchen, would have bothered me more.

Please choose your partner carefullyDon’t just tolerate, but accept and evecelebrate our successful women. Theake our homes ahead and our countr

forward. We may not have hot phulkasbut we will have a better nation.

*

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/201paid-women-ceo.html?_r=0

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/05/15/business/highest-paid-women-ceo.html?_r=0



E

Wake up and Respect Your Inner Queen

Every girl in India deserves a

journey of self-discovery likeRani.

arlier, I had written about thmovie Cocktail (2012). In tha

film—a modern, London-based lovriangle—the free-spirited hero finall

chooses a girl because she is morraditional. Of course, filmmakers have

right to make what they want. But thfact that our films needed to pander t



such conclusions saddened me. It madme write about Indian men’nexplicable love for phulka-makers.

appealed to them to forsake hot phulkaand celebrate our working women, in thnterest of the nation.

That aside, I had become resigned the idea that Bollywood would neveake a bold, liberal stance when it camo women. Even if a film dared to, th

box office, comprising a conservativndian audience, would punish

severely. I was happy—in fact, delighte—to be proved wrong. Last year, a fin

film called Queen not only said whaneeded to be said, it also demolisheold box-office expectations. It won th

ational Award for Best Hindi Film an



he Best Actress award for KanganRanaut, both well deserved, as well.

The film, marketed as a fu

entertainer, has done more for thfeminist movement and women’empowerment than people will give credit for. Queen is the story of Rani, Punjabi girl from a conservative familiving in West Delhi. Amazingly, lik

most Indian girls, she isn’t even awar

of the cloistered and confined life she iiving. Her world view is limited t

getting married, wanting the ceremonieo go well and ensuring that peopl

dance enough. She seeks her husband’or parents’ approval for most of life’decisions—from taking up a job toining a college.



Dumped at the altar, Rani goes on solo honeymoon to Paris and Amsterdao get over her pain. On her first trip

abroad, she befriends a free-spirited girand shares a room with three malbackpackers, all of differennationalities.

Her first exposure to the free world—a society where nobody questions yoabout your sexual, parenting and caree

choices—baffles her, but also becomes coming-of-age lesson like none otherAll her friends are somewhadysfunctional, not-so-well-off an

unsettled. They are everything Indiaparents do not want their children to beYet, they seem happier with their lot thahe well-settled life so many middle



class Indians aspire for. Suffice to sayRani learns to stand up for herself anbecomes a queen. She rejects the ma

who dumped her but is now strickewith remorse, even going so far as thank him.

By Bollywood standards, the film haa highly unconventional ending. Yet, worked with the audience. That alone icause for celebration.

There are hidden messages in thmovie, perhaps more than the makereven intended. One, we have trapped ouwomen. We think we care for them, bu

we suffocate them in the name osecurity, safety, morality, tradition oculture. We are not comfortable with andian woman expressing herself. A





When did you hear of Indian studentaking gap years after college to explorhe world? How would we react if a gir

says she wants to try out a fewrelationships before she settles down? Ihe name of preserving morals, we wano tie our women up. What has that leo? Where are there more rapes? Here i

don’t-date, don’t-drink, don’t-wearmodern-clothes India; not in Europe

where dating is a personal choicealcohol is available at every cornestore and people are free to weaswimsuits on beaches.

We need to ask some questionsWhere have we gone wrong in ouraditions and what do we need t

change? We need to unshackle ou



women. We need to learn, connect anbehave in tune with the free world. Noust Rani, not just women; but also all o

us need to awaken and respect our inneQueen.



W

Indian Men ShouldChannelize Their

Inner Mr Mary Kom

Why is it that a husband whohelps out in the kitchen and

takes care of the kids is

termed ‘amazing’, while whena woman does it, she ismerely ‘doing her job’?

hile on the subject of moviesanother wonderful film I saw

was Mary Kom, a biopic based on ou



real-life champion boxer Ms M.C. MarKom. The film, helmed by PriyankChopra, had many things going right fo

t, and not just in the technical aspectswhere everyone has done a fabulous jobMs Kom’s journey is fantastic materiao begin with, and the film team did

great job in bringing the inspiring storo life.

Interestingly, the biggest challenge

for the protagonist are outside the boxinring. The hard parts aren’t the punches ihe face, but things like having you

parents agree to your career choice

marriage, pregnancy and motherhoodThe challenges of normal life that makt hard to chase a dream. The fact tha

Ms Kom trumped all this and won i



what makes her an icon.However, there is another star in th

story. It is Mary Kom’s husband, Onle

Kom (played impeccably by DarshaKumaar in the film), who becomes herock-solid support at all times. Frocheering her on in the boxing ring tchanging diapers at home, Onler doesnet Mary’s dream die. He puts his caree

on the backburner, sends his wife t

practise and rocks their twin infants tsleep. Not surprisingly, the endearing MMary Kom won as many hearts in thaudience as his spouse. Several girls i

he audience swooned, ‘What aamazing husband!’ Everyone falling iove with Onler had me thinking. M

Mary Kom was great, but isn’t that wha



millions of Indian women do for theihusbands every day, anyway? Say thmovie was about a male boxer, with

supportive wife who took care of thkids—would we ever gush over herDon’t we all know couples where thwives’ careers have taken a backseat sheir husbands can do well instead? Whs it that a husband who helps out in th

kitchen and takes care of the kids i

ermed ‘amazing’, while when a womadoes it, she is merely ‘doing her job’?

There was a time when jobs involvehigh manual labour and perhaps me

were more suited to the workplaceToday, it is a different world. How manmale readers of this article do a job thaa woman can’t do instead? And yet



when a woman sacrifices her dreamand career for a man, it is expected oher. When a man does it, the reaction i

somewhere between ‘Has he goncrazy?’ to ‘He is awesome’.

It is time all this changes. If India hao move ahead, we have to optimize ou

resources, and women are half of ouhuman resources. We have to help thereach their full potential too. And it i

about time we men awaken a little bit oMr Mary Kom within ourselves.

How can we do that? Well, here arhree ways you can be Mr Mary Kom, o

a supportive husband.One, listen to and see your wife as

human being first, not as a woman, wifor your parents’ daughter-in-law. You



wife is an individual. And individualhave individual dreams, opinionsmotivations and points of view. You ma

or may not agree with all of them, buare you at least aware of them? Youwife may want to reach the heights in hecareer, or she may want to completely bhere for the kids, or perhaps she wants

good mix. Do you know what she wantsAnd how are you helping her achiev

hat?Two, be fair in parentin

responsibilities. And no, ‘kids are youresponsibility while I make the money

s not fair. Kids have two parents. Yoare one of them. You have to do your bit

Three, strive to make your partner thbest person she can possibly be. Thi



need not be just career related. Maybour wife has fitness goals, or wants tearn something, or improve her socia

relationships. Are you helping her? Ihere a role you play in her life fo

achieving her dreams, even if it is tpatiently listen to her insecurities?

The above suggestions are by nmeans exhaustive. A lot of beinsupportive is intuitive. However, it doe

ake courage for an Indian man to trulbe there for his wife. This is because ousexist society mocks men who back theiwives, almost implying a sense o

weakness in them. However, I hope thnew Indian husband will not be snsecure. Being a supportive husban

doesn’t make you less of a man, o



henpecked, or weak. It just makes you better, cooler human being. And donforget, any Mr Mary Kom is just as muc

of a champion as Ms Mary Kom.



O

Fifty Shades of Fair: Why Colour Gets

under Our Skin

We are not a fair-skinnedrace, and that is okay.

ne thing that baffles me abouIndia is our love for fair skin

ot unlike many African and Asia

countries, Indians too obsess abouhaving a lighter skin colour, considepeople with lighter skin more beautifuand, in the worst case, even ascribe

higher status to them. From the multi



million-dollar fairness-products industro the fact that all children in our baby

products ads are fair, one no longe

needs to debate that Indians love lighteskin. We do, and that might have beeust one of those many Indian quirks hat not had harmful societal impacndians are not fair-skinned on a

average, and thus millions have complex about their skin colour.

Women, in particular, bear the brunof it. When growing up, I remember mdarker-toned cousins being told to nodrink tea (in the mistaken traditiona

belief that tea makes one dark, nevemind the English never turned dardespite fighting wars for tea), or to studharder because they were dark an





also to people of a particular colour.First, is it just the intrinsic colours

White. Black. What do these colour

signify to you? White is often used in thcontext of clarity, purity and cleanlinessBlack is used to describe the oppositeWhite is clean, black is dirty. Is some ohis carried through when we refer to th

same colours in the context of our skin?Of course, not everything black i

seen as unaesthetic. Thick and shinblack hair is associated with youthhealth and beauty. Images of dark browchocolate, associated wit

deliciousness, can make one’s moutwater. The little black dress, which caaccentuate one’s figure, is considerebeautiful. Hence, it isn’t just th



fundamental black and white colours thamake us find one pretty and the other noso. It is what those colours ar

associated with. And here is the reareason why our minds are almosconditioned to prefer white skin.

A lighter skin is associated witEuropean or Caucasian ethnicity. Peoplfrom these countries are much richer anconsidered more successful on a

average. They are also seen as happierTheir media and celebrities have global impact and are considereaspirational. Darker-skinned people ar

associated with those who are poorerwork in the sun and are hence a couplof shades darker, perhaps even leseducated and less aspirational. Hence



he skin colour of the aspirationabecomes aspirational itself.

How to fix this? Well, awarenes

campaigns help, but only so much. Whawe need to change is to separate ouaspirations from skin colour, as the lattehas nothing to do with them. We alsneed to broaden our understanding owhat is attractive in a person—is it jusskin colour, or is it also things such a

physical fitness, a charming personalitand overall grooming? Stars likRihanna or Will Smith are considereextremely attractive physically, even i

he West. We need to fight our inherenow self-esteem, this sense of bein

ashamed of all things Indian, whether s the vernacular language or the nativ



skin colour. We are not a fair-skinnerace, and that is okay. What matters ihat we are capable, hard-working

progressive and compassionate. We alsneed to grow our economy and make oucountry rich so that this sense of shamgoes away soon.

Be proud of who you are, country ancolour included.

In reality, our skin is just our sof

outer covering, no more than a couple omillimetres thick. Its main purpose is tprotect our internal organs and aisensation. In all this, the skin’s colou

has little relevance. What makes person beautiful is much more than thouter wrapping we come in. Open youmind and discover it for yourself.



O

GAY RIGHTS

Section 377 Is Our

Collective Sin

This immoral law must go and

we must drop our hypocrisyon homosexuality.

ne thing we Indians arextremely good at is detachin

ourselves from misery, injustice anconflict. We go about our lives as i



ndia’s big problems don’t exist. I a

not judging us. It is the only way to copn a country with so much misery an

nequality.Another thing we are good at, as

discussed in my piece ‘Let’s Talk abouSex’, is not discussing any problems thahave a sexual angle. This is the reasowhy we still don’t have reasonednuanced and rational debates on crime

against women and why many of us thinsex education is a terrible thing.

In all this denial and hypocrisy whave buried and accepted a gros

njustice that affects millions of Indianand clubs our nation with some of thmost backward, regressive regimes ihe world. It is the issue of gay rights, o



he infamous Section 377, that still existn our law books and criminalize

homosexuality. This, despite oodles o

scientific evidence in the past decadabout the existence of homosexuality anatural and almost all medical anscientific experts believing that there inothing ‘abnormal’ or ‘incorrect’ aboubeing gay.

How many people does it affect

Well, homosexual populations araround 20 per cent across the worldanother data point to show that this indeed a natural, consistent occurrence

not caused by cultural or societafactors). We label around 100 milliondians as criminals and go about ou

daily lives as if their concerns ar



rrelevant to us. To me, this is nothinshort of a collective sin.

Why is this happening? What can b

done about it? And why should we, thselfish, acche-din and GDP-growthseeking Indians care?

Homosexuality is a complex issuewith science unfortunately not being thonly basis on which people have aopinion on it. There are religious, mora

political and legal standpoints involvedHowever, one thing is screamingly clea—there is enough reason to nocriminalize homosexuality from any o

hese standpoints.Scientific evidence shows tha

homosexuality exists in nature. From religious point of view, the orthodo



stance is anti-homosexuality, but mandenominations of several religionaccept or are neutral towards it. I

Hindu religion, the stance ranges fropositive to neutral to antagonistic. ThRig Veda says ‘Vikruti Evam Prakritiperversity/diversity is what nature is al

about, or what seems unnatural is alsnatural).

Morally, while you may argue tha

men and women are supposed to battracted to each other and everythinelse is immoral, isn’t it also immoral take away someone’s free will? Isn’t

mmoral to call their preference perversion without listening to the gapoint of view? Isn’t it immoral to force gay person to marry someone of th



opposite sex and make him or her live fake life? Isn’t it immoral to crush thgay movement simply because gays are

minority?Accepting gay rights is only bein

sensitive to the genuine needs of discriminated community. On that note, would have one suggestion for the gacommunity. We live in a conservativcountry that needs to change, but chang

happens slowly. Any breakthrough in garights should not spill out on the streetsn the form of Western-inspired ga

parades or anything that presents bein

gay as being somewhat fashionable ocool. While you have the right to do soplease note that we have to nudge conservative, almost hostile societ



owards change. If we freak them ouhey will only withdraw further.

Politically, there are a lot o

conservative voters who vote for thBJP. While many BJP seniors are prodecriminalization, they cannot go publiabout it, lest opponents take politicaadvantage of it. However, conservativBJP voters are also the most loyal BJPvoters. While a section of them may b

upset with the move, they really have nchoice to vote for anyone else at thmoment.

Which brings us to the last standpoin

of legality. Section 377 is not an Indiaaw but an inheritance of British law

The same law, with the same sectionumber, existed in over forty colonies o



he British empire. Most of them havunked it or modified it to decriminaliz

homosexuality. We have held on to it a

f it is part of India’s cultural heritagewhereas it is nothing but a relic of aunscientific Victorian past.

Of course, the final question is thiswhy should the selfish, non-homosexuagrowth-seeking Indian care? Well, wshould. Countries where minority right

are protected, moral viewpoints armore modern and liberal and lawchange with the times to reflect globabest practices and scientific discoveries

end to do better in terms of incomgrowth. Most developed and free nationof the world accept homosexuality, ahey should.



If we want to be one of them one dayt is time to start behaving like w

belong in the modern world. Stron

minority rights are evidence of justice isociety. They show even the powerlesare heard and protected. With justiccomes a higher sense of investoconfidence, which in turn leads to higheeconomic growth. So, gay or not, wneed to do this. We need to remov

Section 377. We need to move ahead ihe world.

*

http://www.nber.org/papers/w19508

http://www.nber.org/papers/w19508



MINORITY RIGHTS

Letter from an Indian

Muslim Youth

The Indian Muslim has

evolved. It is time you do too.

Dear Caretakers of Indian Muslims (thi

ncludes secular parties, once-communaparties, confused allies, maulvisMuslim welfare organizations angenerally anybody these days),



You are probably wondering who I amAfter all, I don’t have a name likAhmed or Saeed or Mirza, anything tha

will clearly establish me as a MuslimYou forget, this writer also writefiction. So perhaps I, and what I sahere, is nothing but a fabricationHowever, maybe there’s somethinuseful in there for all you well-wishers.

Everyone seems to care for Muslims

but no one actually wants to listen to usparticularly the youth. I keep hearinpolitical leaders promising to uplift us. don’t know how they plan to uplift u

and only us without uplifting the nationBut then I am a nobody; what do I know?

I see them wear Muslim capsperhaps to show us that they really d



mean to improve our lives. However, cap on your head doesn’t changanybody’s life. Using what’s inside you

head might. You haven’t. For why elsdo we continue to be one of the mosbackward communities in India?

It is not like India has a shortage oMuslim achievers. There are Muslistars in almost every field. These peoplachieved what they did without any cap

wearing politician helping them. Thehad a modern outlook and a desire tcome up in life. We need a leader whunderstands this, and inspires us to d

better. We need jobs. We need gooschools and colleges. We need goodclean homes with power and water. Wneed a decent standard of living. W



don’t need it as a handout. We arwilling to work hard for it. Just, if yocan, create the opportunities for us to d

so.What makes you think that all a leade

has to do is wear a cap, dole out somfreebies, speak empty words and expecus all to vote in a pack? What are we, herd of sheep? Does the God we pray tmake us all part of one flock when

comes to politics? Is that India? Last heard, we were not a religious republicWe are a democratic republic. So treaus like democratic citizens.

You know what hurts? We do not hava strong modern Indian Muslim voice. I am an Indian Muslim, who believes i

ambition, a scientific way of thinking



entrepreneurship, empowermenprogress and personal freedom, wherdo I go? Which party is backing that

Can someone give me a leader whrepresents my aspirations?

I cannot tell you the frustration wfeel. It is bad enough that we find difficult to rent an apartment, the policfrisks us with greater attentiveness anwe have to bear the occasional jibes

But what is truly sick is this: you guyclaim to care for us but are onlreinforcing that we are backward andoomed to remain so. Because of you

people feel that we vote in a herd anare keeping India backward. You, oucaretakers, have led people to think wcare only about religion and not abou





nterpretation of Islam in daily life. Indis more liberal, and many Muslim

would prefer to keep it this way. Ca

ou support us in that? Don’t let oureligious heads, extreme voices anfundamentalists control our lives, fohat isn’t the essence of India. If you ca

do that, we will back you. You will trulbe our representatives if you promotreal progress—through empowermen

and modernization of our communityThe Indian Muslim has evolved. It iime you do too.



O

Being Hindu Indianor Muslim Indian

India’s influencers,

intelligentsia and those whocare for society across

religions need to talk and

work [religious] issues out.

ne is always apprehensive abouwriting on religion. Most Indian

don’t discuss it in public, fearinmisinterpretation. The only people whalk about religion are passionat

extremists. Consequently, in our society



extremists control our religion anpolitics panders to this.

Important religious issues are ignore

n the process. One such issue is thconfusion that exists in the minds oouth about interpreting their ow

religion and its place in modern society.Let us begin with Hinduism. There i

a section of Hindus who believe imutilating themselves to please the gods

They poke their cheeks with javelinsThey pull chariots with metal hooks dunto their backs. Hindu sadhus live thives of ascetics. Meanwhile, millions o

Hindus go to the temple onloccasionally. They believe in GodHowever, they neither follow nor araware of every guideline given in th



Hindu scriptures. Many Hindus eat meaand consume alcohol, but also pray tGod and celebrate the major festivals.

So let’s pose a question—what is Hindu supposed to be? Is the cheekpoking devotee a benchmark? Is a sadhhe ideal Hindu? Or is a regular middle

class person, working in a bank, eatinchicken, drinking beer and occasionallvisiting a temple, also a good Hindu?

Obviously, there is no clear answerEveryone in the examples above is Hindu. So what does it mean to be Hindu in India? We can only guess, bu

here’s an attempt at a list of moderndian Hindu values.

The modern Hindu prays to Hindgods and celebrates a few Hind



festivals. He follows at least a few ohe Hindu practices, which vary fro

person to person. He does not impos

his beliefs, rituals and faith on anyonelse and is tolerant of others’ beliefs. Hgnores regressive tenets in our holexts suggestive of gender inequality

caste discrimination or violence.This list is neither exhaustive no

accurate, for we have neve

ntellectually discussed what it means tbe a Hindu in twenty-first-century IndiaThe final list can emerge only aftentensive debate. However, such a list i

needed, as it attempts to build practical consensus on religion’s placn our society.

We also need to ensure that this lis



not only follows what the religioprescribes, but is also aligned with thaspirations and progress of the countr

as a whole. If we went back to the stricorthodox Hinduism practised in thsixteenth century, for instance, it woulhamper us from being part of today’globalized world.

Similar discussions and listing ovalues are needed for other religions

particularly the other main Indiareligion—Islam. There are nearly fiftcountries in the world where Muslimare in a majority. However, there is n

one interpretation of Islam.For instance, take Saudi Arabia

where Muslims comprise almost 100 pecent of the population. The Saudi lega



system does not work on a separatConstitution, but involves a stricconservative interpretation of Shari

aw. Examples of Saudi laws include thneed for women to cover up in public, woman’s testimony being invalid (ocarrying much less weightage than that oa man) and punishments such abeheading, lashing and stoning for variety of crimes.

The laws are imposed strictly. Durina fire at a Saudi school, the firemeallegedly did not let girls leave thburning building because they were no

adequately covered. The girls diedMany criticize the Saudi system, whilothers praise it for low crime rates.

Let us take one more example, o



Turkey. Striving for European Uniomembership, Turkey grants significanpersonal freedom to its citizens

Religion and politics are separate. Asecular Constitution governs the legasystem. Astonishingly, despite an almos99 per cent Muslim population, wearinhe hijab is banned in universities an

public or government buildingalthough this has recently been relaxed

as some view it as a symbol of religionwhich needs to be separated from statnstitutions.

Other Muslim-majority countries ar

somewhere in the middle. Malaysia isomewhat liberal, Iran isn’t, Pakistan in the middle, etc. Which brings us baco the same question—who is more o



ess Muslim in the above examples?Obviously there is no one righ

answer. What we do know is that

Turkish Muslim is expected to behavdifferently from a Saudi Muslim. So leus ask this question. Which examplshould Indian Muslims follow? Shoulhey be like Turkish Muslims, Saud

ones or somewhere in the middle?I will not attempt an answer, as it i

not my place to do so. The answer wilcome from the community itself, keepinn mind the following—where do w

want Indian society to go? Do we wan

o progress and create a nation wherour youth can meet their aspirationsAre we fine with regressive and violennterpretations of our religious texts? O



s it okay if we selectively choose whaworks best for our society?

Such debates are required, but ar

sadly missing, as they are discourageby our divisive politicians. India’nfluencers, intelligentsia and those wh

care for society across religions need talk and work these issues out. If we d

not, extremists will continue to hijacour religious debates, and divisiv

politicians will keep exploiting thconfusion, much to the peril of thnation.



I

It’s Not ModerateMuslims’ Fault

It is simple to blame

educated, modern Muslims,as if they could somehow endthe mindlessness that is going

on in the name of theirreligion.

nhuman terror attacks frofundamentalist Islamic organizationover the years have sent tremors rounhe world. As a scared world dissect

he causes and tries to find solutions



many stress the role of the ‘moderatMuslim’, or educated and moderMuslims, who have kept quiet or no

spoken up enough in all this.However, it isn’t that simple. To fin

solutions, it is important not to assigblame to a whole group of people. Thfirst step is to try and understand thmoderate Muslim point of view.

Imagine this. You have grown u

respecting a religion and its holy textsAlong with customs and rituals you havalso affirmed a lot of positive values—compassion, honesty, humility, love

ntegrity, generosity. You are a rationascientific human being but still givreligion an important place in your lifeAfter all, it teaches you humanity, make



ou a better person and keeps yopositive.

Now imagine a small section o

people, who claim to share youreligion, spreading hate and violenceThey claim to be defending the samreligion you love and respect, but theiactions do not agree with youconscience at all. This fringe group is paradox. It upholds something you love

but acts in a manner you despise.The actions of these people involv

killing innocents including kidsbrutalizing women or bombing an

gunning down people. Soon, this fringgroup grabs headlines. Your religiogets associated with terror, hatentolerance and violence. Even thoug



people from other religions don’t say iou can feel their prejudice towards you

With every incident, your religion get

more tainted.You try to avoid the mess, going abou

our normal life as a moderate. Busoon, you are blamed too. You arblamed for keeping quiet. You arblamed for having a soft spot foerrorists. You are blamed for no

screaming loud enough to shut the fringdown.

That, unfortunately, is the predicamenof the vast majority of Muslims today

The ‘moderate Muslim’ or the ‘peaceoving Muslim’ watches haplessly as ohe one hand fundamentalists on th

fringe damage the religion’s image, an



on the other, non-Muslims accuse theof not doing enough.

What is a moderate Muslim to do?

The answer is not easy. It is simple tblame educated, modern Muslims, as ihey could somehow end th

mindlessness that is going on in the namof their religion. But if others were tput themselves in Muslim shoes, thewould realize their choices are limited.

If, for instance—and God forbid—Hindu radical groups had millions odollars in funding, there were a dozenplus countries which were officiall

Hindu nations, the rulers of these nationbacked the radicals somewhat and thradicals were not afraid to use extremviolence, what could a modern, libera



educated or, in other words, ‘moderateHindu do?

Well, chances are the moderate Hind

would stay away from all this, and gabout his own life, trying to raise his oher family in peace. It doesn’t mean thahe moderate Hindu supports radica

groups, is intrinsically backward odoesn’t care. However, the naturahuman instinct for self-preservatio

kicks in and not reacting seems the onlway out.

The same happens with millions omoderate Muslims, who get disturbed b

acts of terror as much as others do. Theove their religion and so they cocoohemselves from such heinous acts b

forming their own relationship wit



God.The bigger question is, what can b

done? What do we do to end acts tha

can only be described as medieval anbarbaric, except that they are happeninn this day and age?

Well, first, we have to stop findinsections of people to dump blame on. Is not about a particular religion. It i

also not about a particular religious tex

prescribing more violence, as somanalysts have suggested. All religiouexts can be selectively interpreted i

different ways. The Bible teache

compassion, but also has a lot oviolence. The Gita’s famous saying ‘virtuous war must be fought’ can be seeas justifying violence, as what a radica



group finds ‘virtuous’ is slippery terrainThe reason why this interpretation isnmade more often is that Hindu radica

groups don’t have as much power aMuslim radical groups do around thworld at present.

The issue is not a particular religioor a particular text; the issue is fringradical groups of a particular religioamassing great financial, military

political and media power. This poweneeds to be curbed, in whatever wapossible, with a different strategy foeach kind of power.

For this, sane voices from all nationand all religions must come togetherThis is the kind of issue the Unite

ations (UN) and North Atlantic Treat



Organization (NATO) should deal witogether. It requires an organizatio

equivalent to the UN for all the world’

religions, backed by world leaders. Ifact, it is amazing that we have no highprofile body that unites religionworldwide and takes up common issuefacing all faiths.

These are all big demands. Howevert will take time to fix one of the bigges

problems in the world: radical religiouerror. We, as humans, have not don

enough to unite the world’s religions. Is time we did.



T

Mapping the Route toMinority Success

Our minorities are not minor;

they are an important part ofIndia. In their success lies

India’s success.

here are writings that get you inttrouble, and this might just be on

of them. However, some things must b

said simply because too many hypocritehave run the minorities agenda for toong. The results are there for all to see.

While many individual succes



stories exist, Muslims, the largesminority in India, are still well belowhe national average in terms of income

education and levels of influence isociety. It isn’t easy for Muslims to livn a society that discriminates againshem. However, even many so-callekeepers’ of Muslim causes (the sam

ones who will attack me on this piecehave done little for the community othe

han suggestions such as: ‘Never vote fohe BJP, always vote for Congress.’

Such oversimplification anpoliticization has done more harm tha

good. It pains me to see a talentecommunity being represented bregressive, parochial and divisiveaders who, frankly, do not care abou



ndia or its youth, and therefore, doncare about the Muslim youth either. Withe intent of getting through to som

positive-thinking, open-minded people, give some suggestions.

Take a leaf out of the book of othesuccessful communities. The Jews iAmerica and the Parsis and Sikhs india are examples of minorities tha

have done extremely well in thei

respective countries. Jews form leshan 2 per cent of the America

population, but dominate lists of Forbebillionaires, Nobel laureates, medi

moguls and Hollywood bigwigs. Howdid this happen? Several theorieabound. However, some factors seefirmly in place.



Learning pays: The greater theemphasis on education, thegreater the likelihood that

members of a community will besuccessful.Assimilating with the majoritycommunity: Assimilation doesnot mean abandoning one’sculture, or bending to themajority. It simply means finding

as much common ground as possible. It also means notheeding leaders who areencouraging people to vote along

communal lines. Even if oneignores the rights and wrongs of communal voting, it is not a productive strategy. Instead,



Muslims need to put forth achecklist—a set of conditions— on what it would take for them to

trust the BJP again. They mustn’t just oppose the BJP. They mustalso hold out the possibility of supporting it if their conditionsare met. Keeping all political parties on their toes and lobbyingfor your own cause is perfectly

acceptable and even necessary.However, taking permanent sidesis not. Please note, this doesn’tmean that Muslims should vote

for the BJP. It just means theyshould try to engage with the party rather than shun itcompletely. There is another



important point aboutassimilation. It can’t happenwithout trust, and assuming the

best of people. It isunderstandably difficult to trustwhen that trust has been broken ithe past. However, successfulminority communities have beenable to do that and have allowedthe wounds to heal. Politicians

often scare minorities, makingthem believe the worst of peopleIt isn’t a great way to live. Hopefor, and spread, as much

goodness as possible in your lifetime.Accepting liberal values and

personal liberties: Most minority



communities that have done wellhave also represented the liberalcause. This helps increase

influence in society for a simplereason: most intellectuals areliberal. The youth, too, areattracted to liberal values. If youhave intellectuals and the youthon your side, you already havedisproportionate influence as

compared to your actual population. Thus, theultraconservative and orthodoxinterpretation of religion will not

find as much traction as amodern, open-minded approach.Indian Muslims are more liberalthan Muslims in many Islamic



countries. Such voices should beencouraged.Encouraging merit: As a shortcu

to appease Muslims, too many politicians have been suggestingquotas and waivers for thecommunity. What makescommunities rise is their talentand merit, not handouts.Reservations on offer are

minuscule. However, they tag thecommunity as in need of gracemarks and antagonize themajority. They aren’t worth it.

Rise with education, hard work,creativity and business acumen.There really is no other way.



Our minorities are not minor; they are amportant part of India. In their succesies India’s success. About time w

focused on what would enable them tbe successful.



AWESOME

RESOURCES: THE

YOUTH





The main reason I became populaas an author was because the yout

endorsed my work. They read mbooks, gave them word-of-moutpublicity and soon they even started

istening to and reading my viewoutside of my stories. The youth, thushave made me and it is for them tha

write. In most cases, I represent thepoint of view in my writings, nomatter what the topic. The title of thi

book also came from them. It is thyouth that mostly use the termawesome’. Even though it is used aslang, I found it perfect to



communicate the kind of India wneed to aspire to.

The youth, however, are not just ademographic. They aren’t just aarget audience. They are a hugresource available to the nation. Fo

almost every young citizen hadreams, energy and a willingness toput in the efforts to make it big in life

f we can channel this energy of ovehalf a billion people towards makingndia shine, how awesome the result

could be!Tapping into the youth is a vita

step towards making India grow i

economic terms. Shaping the youth’



views with the right values andattitudes now can build a modern

hinking society in the future. Hencesometimes I write columns specificalladdressed to the youth.

However, this youth energy is no

o be taken for granted. We muschannel it well, and do it in time. Fohe youth are impatient and will no

remain young and dreamy-eyedorever. If their ambition isn’t givehe right opportunities, it will turn into

rustration, leading to disastrouresults. Hence, our best resource inot only perishable, but if no

utilized, could turn toxic.



Therefore, paying attention to thiresource has to be any politician’

op priority. We, as citizens, musudge politicians on the sameEducation and jobs, important to thyouth, have to be improved and

created at a rapid pace.‘An Open Letter to Indian Chang

Seekers’ talks about the need to b

nclusive in order to really changsociety, something the youth musunderstand. In ‘We, the Hal

educated People’, I have discussedhe sad state of the quality oprimary education. ‘DU-ing It A

Wrong, Getting It All Mixed Up’ i



about the problems in DelhUniversity’s cut-off system. ‘How th

Youth Can Get Their Due’ tells thyouth to organize themselves into avote bank. ‘Scored Low in ExamsSome Life Lessons from a 76

Percenter’ tries to advise students whohave scored low marks in the boardon what to do next.

India is its youth. If the youth arawesome, nothing can stop thnation from being awesome.



An Open Letter toIndian Change

Seekers

If you want change, beinclusive.

Dear Change Seekers,

You have worked hard to make India

safer place. In 2012–13, the Delhi ganrape dominated headlines and receiveworldwide attention, mainly due to youefforts. However, be mindful of certai

worrisome negative aspects of thi



outrage. You may create a lot of noise

but not the desired change. It important to understand India first.

India, no matter what your civiceacher told you, is not an equal countryndia is divided into four classes wit

different levels of power. For simplicityet us call these classes the Ones, th

Twos, the Threes and the Fourdeliberately avoiding upper–lowe

classification).The Ones are our political masters

They control India, primarily througcontrol over land, resources and th

aws that govern us. They don’t directlown assets, but control the asset ownershe Twos.

The Twos are our industrialists an



capitalists. They help secure anncrease the power of the Ones

Business magazines honour them wit

erms like ‘the dynamic entrepreneurs oa new, liberalized India’. While sommay deserve such accolades, most don’tThe Ones allow the Twos to becomrich through limited competition anightly regulated approvals. Real estate

mining, infrastructure and most othe

sectors—no company in India can thrivwithout the support of the political class

The next class, the Threes, is opeople like you and me. We are peopl

with a certain amount of affluence aneducation, comprising around 10 pecent of India’s population. While life ia struggle for many Threes, they do hav



a basic standard of living. However, thThrees still do not get speedy justiceaccountable leaders or a protectiv

police force. Notably, the Threes have recentl

acquired a new media power. They araffluent and buy things advertisers wano sell. Hence, the media caters to th

Threes. The Threes dominate sociamedia too. This power is real an

substantial.The Delhi bus gang rape victim was

Three, and the gruesome case made threst of the Threes feel vulnerable lik

never before. They wanted the rape to bdebated. Hence, for almost a monthittle else could be discussed in

country of over 1.2 billion people



However, in the process, the Threemight have done some damage. Fordespite the well-intentioned outcry, the

nadvertently showed that they carabout themselves much more thaanother huge class, the Fours.

The Fours make up 90 per cent of thcountry, people with limited educationabysmal standards of living and littlhope for a better future. They are ou

farmers, slum dwellers, domestihelpers and the hundreds of millions ondians without proper healthcare

education and infrastructure. They get n

debates on TV. People won’t protest fohem at India Gate. The Threes eithe

shun them, or impose their new-founmodern values on them. For example, th



Fours may see women–merelationships in a regressive way. ThThrees, exposed to the latest Wester

beliefs, will mock them.If you noticed the various debates an

opinions on the gang rape case, thThrees only accepted ideas in line witheir own liberal, modern value systemobody could dare say anything eve

slightly alternative or stress the India

reality without being ridiculed.The Threes found a new power, bu

used it like the Ones and Twos—foself-serving purposes.

For will we ever passionateldiscuss the issues and lend our medipower to issues that affect the FoursWill we go to India Gate to help slu



dwellers get proper drinking water, fonstance?

As we alienate the Fours, we leav

hem open to be exploited by the OnesThe Ones echo the sentiments of thFours and throw some scraps at them. Ireturn, the Fours ignore the Onesmisdeeds and bring them back to powerMeanwhile, we Threes keep screaminand watch our own self-created realit

show.This is no way to create a revolution

or even change. We have to take thFours along. If we want people t

change, we should not mock or deridenstead, listen and understand first, an

slowly nudge people towards changeDon’t just laugh at anyone who say



women should cover up and not venturout at night. Suggest that while this olbelief may come from a place o

practical reality, this cannot be thprimary solution. I am not saying thespeople are not regressive. However, iou want change, be inclusive.

India’s poor are not a separatspecies from us. If the politicians didnprotect the Twos so much, we coul

open the economy further, truliberalize and create a lot of opportunity



I

We, the Half-educated People

Children are the future of the

republic, but our schools arefailing them.

would like to draw your attention tsomething important that happene

at the beginning of the year 2015. Asignificant survey was released i

January with major implications for thfuture of our republic, even as it got losamongst the politics served hot by Tchannels.



Called the Annual Status of EducatioReport or ASER 2014, it is the tentsuch survey. Facilitated by the NGO

Pratham and conducted by local districtevel organizations, ASER is the largest

most comprehensive annual householsurvey of children in rural India. ASER2014 reached 16,497 villages and abou570,000 children were covered.

First, the good news. Enrolmen

evels in schools are 96 per cent. Mosof our kids go to school now. The othegood news includes a functioninmidday meal programme (in over 85 pe

cent of schools) and improvenfrastructure. Around 75 per cent o

rural schools have drinking water whil65 per cent have toilets, significantl



higher than five years ago.However, the biggest concerns aris

from what is actually happening insid

he schools. Which is to say, how thschools do in terms of what they armeant to do—teach students.

Detailed results are available onlinebut here are three quick data points: halhe kids in class five cannot read simpl

sentences that are taught in class two i

urban schools. Half the kids in class fivcannot do the basic two-digsubtraction, which is taught in class twoHalf the kids in class eight cannot do th

simple division that is taught in clasfour in private schools.

There you go. Half of our schoostudents, after spending six years i



school, cannot read basic sentences operform simple arithmetic. The samcould have been learnt within two t

hree years in a good urban privatschool.

So what are we doing in our ruraschools, and what kind of talent are wcreating? Are we simply going tcelebrate enrolment and midday meafigures, and forget about a school’s cor

ob—to educate? What is literacanyway? Is it just being able to writone’s name, or is it, at a minimum, beinable to read and solve basic arithmeti

problems?Why are basic reading and arithmeti

vital? Because almost all education isubsequent years assumes these skills



Adding more years of education to sucstudents will be a waste. Data showhat if basic skills are not learnt wel

early, they won’t be learnt later, nowould anything advanced. Thesstudents will be the laggards, counted iour enrolment but eventually not gettineducated.

If this were a small percentage ostudents, we could live with it. That it i

more than half our students shows major failure in our educational systemThis can be changed. It is fixableprovided we first realize the gravity o

he problem and then prioritize it igovernment.

Sadly, our so-called intellectual anpolitical debates have been reduced t



personality contests. With no known facattached to this problem we don’t carmuch, hence the media ignores it a

well.However, these millions of kids an

heir families are being cheated anshort-changed by us. We, the welleducated, frankly don’t give a damabout rural kids, as they are too differenfrom people like us. However, if w

don’t fix the problem, we will havhundreds and millions of hungry, jobseeking youth with little qualificatioand no educated world view in the nex

decade or two. If we don’t want thiime bomb of human mediocrity t

explode on us, let us work on reforminrural education now.



Here are some workable ideas.First, use technology. There is

shortage of good teachers, but if w

bunch up a few schools in the same areand use a combination of virtual classeconducted by more senior teachers) an

physical classes (with less skilleeachers), we can have significan

efficiency gains. A national classroowon’t work, given that early educatio

requires individual attention. But locaclustering using technology will worwell.

Second, have reporting systems

Opening a school and admitting students not enough. Like any service providert needs to run well on a daily basis

Tracking actual changes in skill levels o



kids, rather than counting heads in thbuilding, will go a long way. For thiscentralized technology can be used.

Third, change the class- and gradebased system. The class one to claswelve system may not work so well fohe early years. Unless a student ha

basic skills, he or she should not be seno higher classes. While nobody wants t

stress little kids with exams and tests

we have to create hurdle markers baseon actual learning in the early years.

Fourth, modify the course contenOur course materials are dated. The rot

earning we subject our kids to not onlprevents grasp of a concept, it allowstudents to keep moving up the systedespite not gaining any real skills o



comprehension or logic.These are just a few suggestions

Many brilliant minds in the country ca

suggest more. Solutions will come, buwhat is needed is a desire amoncitizens to address what is importantrather than what is sensational. Morhan half our students are not even bein

half-educated. Now, does this deservour full attention or not?



Y

DU-ing It All Wrong,Getting It All Mixed

Up

When admission comes downto minor differences in marks,it becomes almost irrelevant.

et another college admissioseason in Delhi University (DU

has wound up. We saw the usual newstories about insanely high cut-offs. Dofficials came on TV and talked abouhow there are still some seats availabl



n random courses. Weekensupplements carried articles on how treduce stress on the child and the famil

as a whole, and how failure doesnreally matter (even though newspapercelebrate success all year long). Soonwe saw the customary second, third anfourth lists, and the gates closed.

A tiny fraction of students who scorenear-perfect marks in their boar

examinations made it inside the Dfortress. The rest twiddled their thumbor settled for one of the many privatcolleges that spend more money o

elevision ads than on real research anacademics. As soon as the season endswe will go back to our stories of scamand communal politics. Even though th



cycle is sure to be repeated next yearFor now, we have chosen our besstudents and future leaders.

Or have we? It doesn’t take a PhDscholar to tell you a student who score96 per cent is unlikely to be much worshan a 98-percenter who gets the seat. I

fact, the 96-percenter may well bbetter, as the scores are for one set oexams conducted for a limited range o

opics. The more insane the cut-offbecome, the less the difference betweehe students who are selected and thos

rejected. And yet we continue with thi

practice, ignoring a child’s talenpersonality, communication skills, his oher ability to work in teams, motivationdreams, vision, imagination, creativity



values, convictions and opinions.Anyone with substantial lif

experience would point out that boar

marks are hardly a major determinant ofuture success. When admission comedown to minor differences in marks, becomes almost irrelevant.

Let us take two examples. SayStudent A is the head of a debatinsociety, volunteers at an NGO severa

hours a week, can play a musicanstrument and has fought a difficu

family situation to educate herself. Shscores 87 per cent. Student B has neve

done any extra-curriculars, finds difficult to speak in groups and has spenmost of his life poring over textbooksStudent B scores 94 per cent. Hence





essays, extra-curricularsrecommendations and achievementoutside the classroom. It is no les

draconian, mind you. And this write-us not to make a case for lowerin

standards. It is merely to redefine whahose standards are, especially at the to

colleges. This impacts not only thstudents who finally get in, but alsnfluences the rest who aspire to ente

hem. How our best colleges choose wilnfluence how the next tier performs, an

so on and so forth.Until we go ahead with these reforms

all this talk of ‘there is more to life thamarks’ will ring hollow. If there indeed more to life, change th

admission process. Make it more all



round, more subjective and choospeople who deserve to be leaders isociety.

A word of caution here, with respeco the word ‘subjective’. The momen

anything is made subjective in Indianepotism creeps in. The brutal cut-offmay have many flaws, but the ‘highesmarks gets in’ criterion reduces thscope for manipulation. Given how ou

country works, it is quite likely thanephews, nieces and neighbours oadmission committee officials will bseen as extraordinary all-roun

candidates. Any reform must ensure thnew admission process is just aaccountable, even though subjective. Tharmy does it, the Union Public Servic



Commission (UPSC) does it and Bschools also have multiple criteriaThere is no reason DU cannot do i

perhaps with the help of independenadvisers.

An expansion of DU should also bon the cards. DU-II and DU-IIcampuses, in Gurgaon and Greate

oida, would be perfect. The number ostudents applying has multiplied, whil

reputed colleges have not. The Indianstitutes of Technology (IIT) havripled their seats in the last decade, s

why not DU?

A strong talent identification anpromotion system is essential for progressive society. We’ve not focuseon it enough, leading to a warpe



education system. Let not anotheadmission season go to waste.



I

How the Youth CanGet Their Due

A rich, prosperous India

should be every Indian’sdream.

went to a restaurant once where waiter, a young boy of twenty-two

gave me the best service. It wasn’t particularly upscale establishment, bu

he waiter spoke perfect English. Hkept up a smile through his gruelling jobPeople gave him customizations oevery order, he listened with patienc



and kept track. He had a good IQ anhad completed his graduation. This wahe best job he could find.

His salary: 8,000 a month, inMumbai. That is $120 a month, morhan half of which would go in renting

shared room, an hour’s commute away.It broke my heart, and not for the firs

ime. I have met, over the past few yearshundreds of talented, well-qualifie

oungsters across India, who do nohave the kinds of jobs they deserve anare capable of. I could not enjoy mmeal, wondering, what did this kid d

wrong? Why was his monthly salarower than one day’s minimum wage ihe US?

You see them everywhere. They help



ou try on T-shirts in a posh store. Theman the cash counters in food courts oswish malls. They pick up the phon

when you dial call centres. The typicaprofile is a youth from small-town Indiawhose parents spent their life savingeducating him or her, and this is the besob the youth could find.

With the same qualifications ansame amount of work, they could mak

much more abroad. Why is it that wcan’t give them the same opportunity?

These millions of youth across thnation drive my politics. Unfortunately

he kind of politics we have practiseand the governments that have resultehave ensured that we suffocate thalents of an entire generation.



We have spent our time arguing whs secular and who is not, who cares fo

Dalits better, who is the beacon o

goodness and who is absolute evil. Ocourse, much of this is nonsense. No oncommunity in India can uplift itself mucuntil the country as a whole risesTeaching each other a lesson fohistorical wrongs is not going to help thouth get their due.

Also, there is no party that icompletely clean and pure, as it impossible to run politics like that. Evef not monetarily corrupt, all partie

make fake promises to poor people thahey know they cannot fulfil.

Still, we waste so much timdiscussing what is inconclusive an



rrelevant. Switch on political news oelevision and you will see nothing bu

attacks, counter-attacks and charges. I

all this, how do the youth get their due?Well, they can, if they realize thei

power and begin to vote on the righssues. The number one issue right nows the economy. If we don’t grow at 1

per cent per year, we will not be able tprovide enough jobs for the youth.

Without sufficient growth, we wilalso not have enough tax revenues to pafor all the infrastructure projectshealthcare and education the countr

needs to spend on. Money, even thougconsidered morally inferior on thpriority list for people to aspirowards, is extremely important fo



ndia. We are a poor country. Poocountries can’t do much for theicitizens; it’s as simple as that. So w

either keep ourselves poor and scramblfor whatever little we have, or we growhe pie.

Becoming a rich country has otheadvantages. People have a highestandard of living. Corruption generalldeclines in rich countries. Education an

healthcare quality improves. Moriberal thought processes set in. At leasn rich democracies, issues lik

communalism and racism decline.

Therefore, should we not set asidour other differences and make alefforts to make India rich for the nexhirty years? Note that 10 per cen



growth for thirty years will make thaverage income rise seventeen times. Iwe grow at 5 per cent or so, it will ris

ust four times. There is a hugdifference in what India can become, iour lifetime, if we manage our economproperly.

So how does one grow at 10 pecent? Well, these are the ingredientsFirst, a stable and action-oriente

government. Second, a pro-busineseconomic mindset with reducegovernment controls in most sectorsThird, an intangible but highly critica

element called investor confidencewhich means investors are willing to puheir money in India and hope to make

return from it.



Restoring India to its growth path ihe single biggest issue. This is not t

say that other issues are not important

However, without a strong economynone of the other good stuff happens. Arich, prosperous India should be everndian’s dream. Only then will we b

able to give the youth their due.



A

Scored Low inExams? Some LifeLessons from a 76-

Percenter

Over time in life, the marks

will stop. What will matter iswhat people think of you.

s a 90 per cent aggregate in clasX and XII becomes as commoas kissing in our movies (no big dealand cut-offs for good colleges becom

nsane, we wonder if there is anyon



who hasn’t scored amazing marks. In thnoise of high scorers, we often forget thakhs of students who score in the fifties

sixties and seventies. We brand themediocre. We offer them succour with few articles that cite low scorers whbecame billionaires or movie stars anhave headlines that scream ‘Marks DonMatter’. Well, if they didn’t matter, whon earth would everyone be chasin

hem, is a question they don’t answer.This article is addressed to those low

scorers. It’s for that average guy X whscored, say, a 76 per cent in his boards

X, the overweight kid who isn’t thaconfident and has become even less safter the results came out. X, whosrelatives and neighbours come t



console him with ‘it doesn’t matter’, budeep down wonder if this boy will danything in life. If you relate to this guy

or know someone who does, this chaptes for you. It isn’t a soothing balm foour low marks. These are some no

nonsense tips on what to do when yohave scores that suck and people havgiven up on you. Here goes:

1. You are not your marks

Yes, marks are important. They make lifmuch, much easier. High marks mak

people think you are smart. Collegewith a brand name let you come inCompanies with a brand name come these colleges. They give you a job



which pays rather well. You can use thamoney to pay bills, get married, havsex, start a family and produce kid

whom you will push to get higher markand repeat the cycle of torment. This, fomost people, is life—making it apredictable, safe and stable as possible.

Indian parents particularly love thizero-risk-appetite life, where a monthlcash flow is assured and kids are bor

and raised as per plan. They have word for it—settled. Indians love thaword. We want to settle, we don’t wano roam, have adventures and fly. Settle

or in other words, produce kids, work ioffice, watch TV at home, repeat for few decades, die. Toppers find it easieo settle. Non-toppers take a bit longer



A delay in ‘settling’, the ultimate Indiadream, is just about the only sucky thinabout low marks.

2. The game of life is not over

These marks are in certain subjects

which are not exactly what lead tsuccess in life. Sure, you study mathand science, but these are standarconcepts, recycled and drilled intstudents and tested in the exams. Thonly thing high marks indicate is that thstudent has the tenacity and perseveranc

o excel at something. Hence, I am nogoing to say toppers don’t deservpraise. But life is more than just tenacitand mathematics. Exams don’t tes



creativity, imagination, people skills ancommunication. In life, these are whamatter. You build these skills throug

study or actual practice, and it is highlikely you will get somewhere in life

However, you must add hard work to itAsk yourself whether you got low markbecause of lack of aptitude or because oaziness. If you slacked off, don’t do tha

again if you want to get anywhere in life

Take that lesson, and then build youcommunication, English and peoplskills. Learn how business works. Noeveryone in India can get a plum job

here are just way too many of usEntrepreneurship is something a lot ooungsters will have to learn and try.



3. Strive for excellence

n whatever you do, try to exce

Excellence in board exams can bmeasured through marks, but over timn life, the marks will stop. What wil

matter is what people think of you. You

reputation, your reliability and youword will build your own mini-brandOnce that happens, people will stop

asking about your marks, or where yostudied. You will be the brand. Nobody has asked me for my marks i

a long time. However, you know the bo

wrote about earlier? Well, that’s me. scored that 76 per cent in class X. I felhorrible then, but eventually I didn’t let define me. It doesn’t matter today



After all, you still read this article

right?



I

Concluding Thoughts

’m delighted you’ve read my book. hope the various issues raised in

resonated with you at some level. Throad to awesomeness is long andifficult for India. The journey may bough, but it is not impossible. If we fi

our governance, societal values, equalit

and resources, we will get there.There will be noise, dirty politics

naysayers, indifference and alignebiases all around us. The challenge wil

be for us to keep our dream alive despitall these hurdles. To be singularlfocused on what will make India a bette

place, and base our opinion on any issu



only on that criterion. There will be nvillains and messiahs, and there wonbe any place for mindless fandom o

hatred. To fix India, we need to bpractical, rational and scientific. Idoesn’t mean we lose our humanity ancompassion, but that we don’t leemotions sway decisions taken in thnational interest.

One of the questions I get asked a lo

s: what can I do as an ordinarndividual, with no authority, power onfluential voice? Well, here are som

pointers on what you can do to mak

ndia awesome:

1. Excel in your field: Whatever you do, try to be the best at it.



There is too much mediocrity allaround and we have learnt to livewith it. However, awesomeness

has no place for mediocrity. Anddo not confuse excellence withelitism. Being excellent at your work is different fromconsidering yourself superior toothers.

2. Realize it is not just the

government’s job (or that of politicians) to make India

better: If you look back inhistory, the people who have

made India awesome aren’t all politicians. Most of the peoplethat did this are not from the

government. Whether it is



entrepreneurs like J.R.D. Tataand N.R. Narayana Murthy,sportspersons like Sachin

Tendulkar or musicians like A.R.Rahman, people from all walksof life have helped improve our nation. Not just celebrities, but ESreedharan, responsible for theDelhi Metro, and Dr VergheseKurien, who created the Amul

revolution, were all ordinary people doing their work extraordinarily well. MahatmaGandhi and Swami Vivekananda

two of the most influential figurein India’s history, never held political office. Aim to be one ofthose people who made India



awesome.

3. Back the issue, not the person

It is too easy to latch on to a

messiah and worship him as yourhero. But it’s irresponsible to dothat with a politician. Politiciansmake decisions and, like with allhumans, not every decision theymake is right. You should be ableto be critical when your favourite

politician does wrong, even if itmeans getting out of your cosyclub of supporters. Similarly, youshould be able to praise when the

politician you don’t like doessomething good. You are here to back India, not an individual.

4. Be modern, scientific and



open-minded: The world ischanging. Unless you are at thecutting edge of technology and

modern thought, you will be left behind. Preserve tradition,history, culture and religion; atthe same time be willing tochange for the better. Chest-thumping about one’s past isusually a sign of inadequacy

about the present. Dropregressive values in the name of Indian culture. The new Indianculture is to continuously evolve

change and adapt until we reachawesome levels.

5. Use your social network with

the best possible intention:



Everyone doesn’t reach millionsof people. However, most of youdo have a reach of hundreds

through your social mediaaccounts. Why not post your views about the nation there? If everyone devoted 10 per cent of their status updates to issuesrelating to the country, we wouldhave a far more vibrant societal

debate and dialogue in thiscountry. Post those party selfies, but also type in a few lines aboutwhat you feel about a particular

issue. Did any article in this booktouch you or make you think?Why not share it and get other people’s views on your social



accounts?

6. Cut the negativity: Anydiscussion on national issues

quickly descends into slangingmatches, outrage, anger, hatredand abuse. This is negativity wecan do without. Whether amongfriends, family or in a nation,conflicts and differences of

Documents

Making India Awesome by Chetan Bhagat