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Comments posted by Raamesh Gowri Raghavan
On
The neglected alliance
Thank you Mr. Seshadri. Shri Prakash Karat and Smt. Brinda Karat are husband and wife, and it would be cruel to separate them in any way. Besides China is the most powerful communist country, and we could do with two talented ambassadors to that country.
If you saw my piece as a satire, that is your perception. I sincerely do wish that we revive that alliance that stood us in good stead in the past.
Russia has abandoned the communist way, so we cannot send anyone there.
On
Value-less progress in India?
I cannot agree with you at all.
Where were we fifty years ago? We had the plague of caste and community. Patriarchs of joint families controlled all its decisions. You paid the shopkeeper what he asked, becuase you had no choice.
Today there are so many different things.
Families have nuclearised and dispersed. Yet they still keep in touch through phones and emails. Today a person is free to make whatever career choice e wants, and there is no patriarch to dictate whom to marry. There is both the freedom of choice and the security of the family. Today you get an opportunity to use your vacation to visit your family, and thereby broaden your horizon by travel. So much of the old narrow-mindedness and stereotyping has disappeared. Given that travel by road and rail is cheap, and air is not very unreasonable, it means so many crores of Indians can travel.
If someone falls today, people still help. I am telling you this from my experiences in Mumbai, India's most crowded and busiest city. You may not get a soda, but they'll get you to a bus and someone will give you a band-aid. And they won't pick your wallet. They also help you get directions if you are lost.
The supermarket is the greatest thing to have happened. Things have become cheaper for the middle-class person. There is so much choice, unlike the small-shop fellow. There is also an improvement of quality of goods, and there is no cheating, adulteration etc because of the great reputation of these mega-companies which is at stake.
Instead of being a cruel land where the only support was the family and the state (Hindu rulers, Mughals, Peshwas or British) was only there to exploit, India is now becoming a nation. The state is evolving from an exploiter and controller to a provider of services. If it is not doing it on its own, the people are forcing it. we are beginning a nation, where evry citizen can bond with every other.
On
HAPPY AVANI AVITTAM 2 ALL.
As far as I see it, Avani Avittam is a festival restricted to South Indian Brahmins. In my long residence in North India I never heard of it.
it is a time when all of them come together and change their sacred threads, thereby reiterating that they are dvija - twice born. A state that makes them feel holier-than-thou to all the lower castes. This makes Avani Avittam a tribal festival, just like other tribes have festivals unique to their members. It is unlike Deepavali which everybody celebrates.
The sacred thread is nothing but a totemic symbol, a shibboleth that confers membership of an exclusive club with all its rituals and ceremonies. Especially cherished is the self-appointed guardianship of the vedas, and the century-old practice of denying vedic education to the others.
As a Brahmin I do undergo all the ceremonies, without the capability or will to understand them. I really believe that all of this was contrived to awe everybody, so that the priests can make some cheap money.
On
Expert witness
Oh! Do not worry at all...the sniffer dogs will never leave you alone if you soak stuff like that!
On
Why not BJP- Congress coalition?
It is quite an impossible coalition, as both parites will lose their voters to regional parties. However a tacit agreement can be reached. Say the NDA walks out everytime, so that the UPA has a majority and can win the vote without the Left. That way NDA will have stated its stubborn opposition, and yet have facilitated a reform/bill that it supports. The promise is that UPA should do the same thing when NDA comes to power.
On
Law to allow killing
I think it is a progressive law. Euthanasia should be legal for patients with terminal illnesses or those who are in a condition of vegetativeness or coma with no hope of a full recovery to full physical and mental health.
But it cannot be decided by one doctor alone. A panel of qualified doctors from an authorised hospital, with the consent of the patient's closest relatives (spouse, children, parents) should take the decision. I suggest that AIIMS be the only authorised hospital. And it must be authorised by a judge of the High/Supreme Court, so that the potential for misuse is eliminated. And only a patient, who has given a written consent (when he knows he has a terminal disease) for euthanasia can be permitted it.
I'm sure the law will keep these safeguards in mind, if it is ever passed by our somewhat conservative-minded parliament.
On
Our government must not be stupid to have signed the 123 deal with the USA for supply of uranium and nuclear technology which the left opposes. It was also not stupid to sign a deal with Iran for supply of natural gas which the left wholeheartedly supports. Neither deal is off, and India has definitely not cancelled the Iran deal just to make friends with the USA. To me, this is proof that India's foreign policy is still independent.
Our Communists have always been loyal to Moscow than Delhi. During the Cold War times they wanted us to ally with USSR, and were suspicious of non-alignment. Now that the USSR has disappeared, and our left has transferred its allegiance to Beijing.
Nu(not)clear Deal
When there are two lions in the field, it is best to stay up in the tree till the fight is over. That was Nehru's policy of non-alignment during the Cold War, which the left then opposed. When there is only one lion in the field, it is best to make our peace with him. We cannot forever stay in the tree. The USSR is gone now, so we must make our peace with USA.
Our government must not be stupid to have signed the 123 deal with the USA for supply of uranium and nuclear technology which the left opposes. It was also not stupid to sign a deal with Iran for supply of natural gas which the left wholeheartedly supports. Neither deal is off, and India has definitely not cancelled the Iran deal just to make friends with the USA. To me, this is proof that India's foreign policy is still independent.
The 123 act requires us to separate our research reactors from civilian power-generating ones. Only the latter will be open to IAEA inspection, and allowed to receive international uranium supplies. For our research reactors, we have to use our own abundant thorium reserves, over which there is no inspection.
I say it is a good thing, given the way Indians treat quality control. Our civilian reactors will remain free of corruption and accidents if the IAEA oversees them. We will have efficient power generation, and our own Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) can no longer hoodwink us in the name of self-sufficiency as it has been doing for so long. It has become a black hole, into which crores of rupees go and nothing significant comes out.
Our Communists have always been loyal to Moscow than Delhi. During the Cold War times they wanted us to ally with USSR, and were suspicious of non-alignment. Now that the USSR has disappeared, and our left has transferred its allegiance to Beijing.
The left's opposition to this sane deal is because of 1) Beijing and 2) the unions. Beijing thinks the USA is trying to contain it by giving us this deal. It does not want India to be a competitor to it, which is why it wants to tie us down by clandestinely supporting Pakistan. And the unions realise that they will now have to do real work.
As for the Hyde Act, it does not constrain us in anyway. It may require the USA government to act in a certain way in case India does something, but there is always realpolitik to keep in mind. The USA did not sign 123 with us just like that, but is driven by strong business considerations. USA companies manufacture reactors and mine uranium, which they would like to sell to an increasingly affluent India. Endangering its trade with anyone has never been the USA's way of doing things. So even if India does something awkward like test another bomb, they will not react like they did in 1998.
The Left is angry that India voted to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions. it thinks India did it to please USA. But Iran's nuclear programme was built with clandestine help for Pakistan. It is a known supporter of militant organisations some of which are anti-India. Why should an oil-rich country need nuclear power at all, given that it is not going to run out of petroleum tomorrow, and that nuclear fuels are even more short-lived than oil. How can it be in India's interest therefore, to allow Iran to develop nuclear capability it has no need of?
If the UPA government falls, it will be a sad thing. But that is our one chance to expose the Left's treason and hypocrisy.
On
Brahmin Myths
These myths are not myths, but a grudge carried over from the historic past. Brahmins were at one time at the top of the social order, and very highly organised.
Myth 1: Brahmins are intelligent.
They were intelligent because they were only ones with access to education. They were the teachers and they decided whom to teach (recall the legend of Dronacharya incapacitating Eklavya). Because they were the guardians of the holy books they were powerful priests. They were smart enough to become the real administrators , while Kshatriya kings were only a mask (e.g. Kautilya and Chandragupta Maurya, Nana Phadnavis and Madhavrao Peshwa or Seshadri Iyengar and Krishnaraja Wodeyar).
Today because everyone has access to education, or atleast the promise of that, that myth is broken. Our country is able to progress much further than the Brahmins would have allowed it.
Myth 2: Brahmins are adaptable.
They were. When empires came and went, they always made sure that Brahmins retained all the royal favours and received even more. Even under Muslim rule, Brahmins rose to very high positions. They willingly toadied to the British, as long as they stayed in some degree of power.
But many Brahmins have only the memory of all that and are stuck in the 'glorious' past.
Myth 3: Brahmins are skilful.
Again, they were. They knew all the arts and sciences, being the only ones to have produced treatises like the Arthshastra (politics) or the Aryabhattiya (mathematics) or even the Kamasutra.
Brahmins still do well in Engineering, Medicine etc. But they look down upon entrepreneurship because of their past. The corporate sector which has played an increasingly important role in our country's progress seems to have no place for them.
Myth 4: Brahmins are tolerant.
Atleast they allowed others to live their lives. They tried to make non-Brahmins feel that they were worms, capable of moksha only if they licked the Brahmins' arses, but they had to depend on these people for growing the crops, making the gold jewelry etc, which they could them claim as dakshina in return for not inviting the wrath of the gods by means of frightening Sanskrit phrases that no one understood.
Today the situation is reversed, and Brahmins should thank their stars to be alive.
Even today, these myths are held by Brahmins and non-Brahmins alike. But the myths that non-Brahmins are disgusting worms who should be ashamed of their births, these myths are held by Brahmins alone. The others now know that all humans are equal. They have now begun to rise to their genuine potential that was denied to them for millennia.
If Brahmins are harassed and persecuted today, they have brought it upon themselves by their blind hubris. The day the Brahmin caste ceases to exist, that day will be a golden sunrise over India.
On
Brahmins Deserve Reservation
I simply refuse to agree. Brahmins carry with them the hubris of centuries. A Brahmin, however poor and destitute, will still look down upon a person of a 'lower caste', however accomplished that person maybe. He refuses to acknowledge that the earth was not made for him to rule by his wiles. I, having been born a Brahmin, have seen this with my eyes throughout my existence. My elder relatives refuse to accept even a glass of water from a non-Brahmin, however thirsty they be. They clean the house after a non-Brahmin has visited. And all this, in the twenty-first century. How can One not be ashamed of such ugly practices?
Giving Brahmins reservation will only reinforce that rotten hubris. They cannot today class themselves with the Dalits and Tribals, who are being given reservation. For long these folk were denied the minimum dignity that a human deserves. They were considered lowlier than cows, and their wanton murder was winked at.
Nevertheless, many modern Indians are able to break the shackles of caste, especially young Brahmins. But until even a tiny percentage of them carries that hubris, Brahmins deserve nothing. If they are so concerned about poor Brahmins, let the rich ones help them.
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