Why should you support Anna Hazare and a strong Lok Pal bill?

This is a burning issue many Indians are aware of (provided they follow Indian news). Most of us support Anna Hazare either because we know the facts behind the need for a strong Lok Pal (will be a very less percentage in my opinion) and others simply support because they don’t have faith in the current government’s version of Lok Pal (will be the majority). There is a third category of people who do not support Anna Hazare’s movement because they think only formally elected MPs and Ministers have the right to constitute a new law in the country.

This article is for the second category of people I have mentioned above – who want to support Anna Hazare but don’t know why! These are the top 5 reasons due to which I strongly believe that we all should support Anna Hazare’s movement for a strong Lok Pal (not necessarily all the points in their version though).

1)      Corruption is the root cause of most problems in India today

If you have lived in India for few years and visited government offices, you must be familiar with the way things work in most government offices. It can be as small as getting your address changed in your ration card to as big as getting a frequency range in the spectrum as a mobile operator, money does many things in India. This practice is so deep rooted in our society that even the citizens have become corrupt – a classic example is registering your property for a lower value to avoid paying stamp duty by paying bribe to the registrar to allow it. We do have a Prevention of Corruption act (1988) but nothing has changed drastically. As per the statistics from www.ipaidabribe.com, the total value of bribe reported so far in the site is Rs. 296,995,425. Remember, this is only from those who reported it and reported it in this website. The actual value of bribe paid in my view should be multiple folds of this amount. Even worse, the poor condition of infrastructure development and public services in India can be and should be attributed only to corruption and embezzlement by bureaucrats and politicians.             This clearly indicates the ineffectiveness of Prevention of Corruption Act and a need for a stronger law with severe punishment and penalties for those who are convicted of corruption.

2)      Other countries have set a working example through a strong ombudsman

This point in time, I should draw the example of how corruption was so well handled through the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in Hong Kong. Hong Kong was even more corrupt than India. But today if you talk to those who are from Hong Kong you would hear totally different stories. This was possible through a strong independent body with sufficient powers to investigate corruption and punish those who are corrupt working with a clearly defined SLA. You can get to know about the great story of Hong Kong from here.

3)      The Government’s version of Lok Pal is too weak to say the least

Intentionally or unintentionally, most likely intentionally, the Lok Pal bill tabled by government on 4^th Aug 2011 is simply too weak. You can see the complete draft of the UPA government from here. I did go through the entire draft (yawn :O) and tried to understand (difficult without legal knowledge). I’ve also gone through the draft proposed by Anna Hazare and team (you can read it from here). These are the key differences I have noticed which makes the Jan Lok Pal much better than the Joke Pal the government has tabled.

Feature	Jan Lok Pal	Lok Pal	Impact to Indians
Ability to enquire Prime Minister	Lok Pal will have the powers to initiate investigation and indict PM and PMO	Lok Pal cannot investigate any complaint relating to PM while PM is in power	If the highest person in the government of India is not made accountable by law, it is a shame on us! See what’s going on now – Raja is accusing PM but MMS is simply not answering!
Ability to prosecute MPs and Ministers	Lok Pal will be able to investigate and prosecute any government servant defined as per prevention of corruption act (1988)	Lok Pal will have to submit a report to PM and wait for the report to be discussed in parliament before MPs or Ministers can be prosecuted.	This is another place where UPA’s Lok Pal becomes Joke Pal. In other words, don’t even dare to touch politicians.
Investigation wing	CBI’s anti-corruption unit must be under Lok Pal	A separate wing will be constituted with powers equivalent to Delhi Police	What’s the point in CBI (which works for government) investigating corruption charges against government? If Supreme Court doesn’t intervene every single time (like it does now) nothing will progress.
Ability to enquire senior judges	Lok Pal will be able to investigate and prosecute any government servant defined as per prevention of corruption act (1988) including the Chief Justice of India	Senior Judges cannot be inquired by Lok Pal	Read my previous point where CBI working well only if SC intervenes. What if the CJI himself/herself is part of corruption? Remember CJI K.G.Balakrishnan?
Prosecution Wing	CBI’s prosecution wing to be under Lok Pal. A special court to be formed with retired judges of Supreme Court.	A separate court to be formed. Prosecution of general public within the purview of Lok Pal but cannot prosecute MPs or Ministers.	Prosecution Wing is included just for the sake of inclusion without any real powers to punish politicians.
Ambit	Jan Lok Pal will be able to receive complaints from general public and initiate suo motu against those accused.Any complaint received by Lok Pal to be investigated within 30 days. Any loss to government or public to be recovered from the corrupt.	General public should send their complaints to Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha speaker and it’s left to the Parliament to decide which ones should be investigated by Lok Pal.No authority to enquire low level corruptions.	Another point that makes the government version seriously weak and allow low level corruptions (that people face day to day) to continue.

To sum it up, the government version of the Lok Pal cannot prosecute corrupt MPs and Ministers without the permission of the parliament which is totally absurd. Furthermore, they cannot enquire senior judges and PM who can well be part of the corruption. General public are not given any assurance of elimination of corruption in day to day life and punishment to those who are corrupt is not within the purview of Lok Pal. In a nutshell, Lok Pal will seek help from government to investigate, seek help from government to prosecute, and seek help from government to even appoint its own members, including the chairperson. In other words, Lok Pal will be indirectly controlled by the government, like MMS being controlled by Sonia

4)      The government has betrayed team Anna and the nation

Remember what UPA said when they asked Anna Hazare to withdraw his hunger strike in April’11? They assured to formulate a joint committee which will draft Lok Pal bill. What happened then? The ministers kept closing meetings in disagreement and finally decided to get away with the joint committee totally. Even then Kapil Sibal assured to present both the versions in parliament. But look at what they have done now. The government has silently ignored the version prepared by Anna Hazare’s Panel and just proceeding with the one they made with some minor alterations such as investigation and prosecution powers. This is a total betrayal of the nation which supported Anna Hazare’s movement in April’11. What else can you expect from a government which filed a suit in Supreme Court to stop Supreme Court from formulating a committee to investigate and recover black money? It can happen only in India and only when Congress is ruling.

5)      If it’s not now, it is never

As you might know the very first draft for an independent Lok Pal more than 40 years back. It has taken 40+ years and a strong protest from Anna Hazare and team and the whole nation to even table a Lok Pal bill in the parliament. Now if we allow this weak bill to get passed it might take another 40+ years to strengthen the bill. We not only need a Lok Pal but a strong Lok Pal which can take severe actions against those who are corrupt. If this Lok Pal is setup, it won’t even be able to punish those who are already corrupt, forget about those who commit corruption in future.

This is the right time to bring the right Lok Pal bill by supporting Anna Hazare’s movement in every little way you can, by participating in the protest or participating in a signature drive or just spreading the word, or anything you can do. Remember, it’s now or never! Jai Hind!!

PS: After a long time (since my MS days), I have read, referenced, and written so much in a single day…At least happy that I did not have to include a reference list ..Phew! Time to take some rest before the next post

Naan Kadavul – a ramble through raw realities

With tons of pending work stressing my shoulders, I managed to pull some time off to watch this stunner. I was expecting a different movie from Bala and I should say I was not disappointed. Even after reading many reviews which suggested the movie to be showing disgusting realities, I never had any dilemma on whether I should watch the movie or not. Being a person who will immediately puke after seeing blood, I managed to watch many gory and disgusting movies like Hostel, Hostel2 and The Texas Chainsaw massacre without any difficulties. So, I decided to watch the movie irrespective of whatever it has!

To my surprise, it was too emotional for me than disgusting as many had suggested..especially, the scenes in which the physically challenged (thats an understatement) beggars are tortured by the villain….only Bala can tie a knot between an Aghori sanyasi and beggars with all sorts of deformities…there is no Hero, there is no Heroine, there is no Comedian, yet this film leaves a long lasting impact on you…It is a radical shift in acting for both Arya and Pooja…they completely excelled in their roles…I don’t know whether they deserve national award for their roles or not, but it is certainly the best for them so far…the task master he is, Bala extracted the best possible performance from all new comers, including those who would even struggle to open their mouth…I read somewhere that he spent nearly 9-12 hours in filming some shots…his efforts are definitely visible in the film…If I don’t mention the Maestro’s music here there’s no point in writing about the movie…the movie, which sans dialogues in many scenes, lives with Ilayaraja’s music…it is quite unfortunate that only two songs are picturized…

You all might wonder why I call this film a ‘ramble’…its because of few odd scenes that have been added just for the sake of commerical aspects…the police station scene ridiculing current actors was laughable but was an obvious digression from intended story line…similarly, I could witness lack of connection between few scenes which possibly could have occured due to the long tenure of this project, which exceeded 3 years!…the much hyped villain dies in the hands of Arya without even giving a tough fight and the movie ends abruptly…I still couldn’t figure out what was Bala’s intention…is it showcasing the Aghori life or is it bringing forward the reality of underworld mafia controlling beggars for their benefit? Though Bala managed to tie a knot between these two, it is not taut…

Punch:  Naan Kadavul – only for those who dare to experience difference and digest raw realities

A black Monday and a green(?) Tuesday

This is something which I wanted to write when I attended my first career fair 4 months ago, but then stalled the idea as I was not exactly sure of how the system works here. Now, after attending my 4th career fair today (after a day in which US lost 71,400 jobs), I feel educated enough to write a post on career fairs and the current situation.

Coming to the point, beginning student life again after 4 years of a high paying job is not that easy. Initially you might be enjoying the feeling of being back to the student life but then when you realize that you are ‘actually’ jobless and need to get one, the pressure builds up. Career Fairs will most probably be the first opportunity for many students here to meet potential employers. In every career fair (be it engineering, retail, business, geoscience, etc, etc) you can see Indian students dressed up in suits with a folder in hand carrying bunch of resumes visiting almost every stall. By the end of the day, it hurts when many end up with lot of goodies in hand but not even one promising offer (especially International students).

In fact, I was wondering about how changed I am, for good! I never bothered about a job during my undergrad in India. I was told by one of my friends that TCS is visiting our campus in a week. I just casually prepared and some how made it (Believe me, my confidence with English was extremely low that time compared to now). But then, the competition here with a gloomy market makes you really worry about securing a job and makes you more mature and better prepared. Good thing is that, the job market is dry but still not dire, which was evident from today’s career fair (and the word green has been added to the title to denote that). So, there are opportunities out here and there and it entails lot of efforts to land in one of them. At times, it might make you regret on the decision to leave a job and do higher studies. But, if you are lucky (seriously, that is what is needed with this market), you might get good opportunities too.

I had a very tiring day today having three 1:15 hour classes (I bunked one of them) and a whole day with potential (?) employers at the career fair repeating almost the same dialogs with each of them and handing over my resume. As a resolution, I decided not to collect any goodie this time and I never did I wrote this post not to educate any one on career fairs but to advise those aspirants of Fall 2009 and Spring 2010 from India to reconsider their decisions. A couple of days back, I got a chance to talk with the CIO of AMD. The first question he asked me was ‘So, are you planning to take another course here once you are done?’. Thats the kind of confidence he has on this market. Even if there are some improvements, I don’t expect any miracles within a year. So, its better safe to play a wait and watch game rather than getting into the quagmire like us. Be happy with your current job

Oscar, is not far!

I was telling almost everyone that I am not going to write on A.R.Rahman’s new feat of getting Golden Globe as almost every tom, dick and harry has discussed about it. But then, I felt, if I don’t write few words praising Rahman here, its meaningless being an ardent Rahman fan and having a blog.

The ‘Mozart of Madras’ as they fondly call, Rahman has made all of us even more proud yesterday. Something that Indian cinema industry has been struggling to do since its inception 60+ years ago. Three Oscar nominations for an Indian and most probable chances of grabbing one…man, I must say I felt elated when I heard about this (I was sure of a nomination, but never expected three)…though many of his compositions in Hindi and Tamil movies are still better than Slumdog Millionaire, it takes an English movie to bring fame to a technician even if he is not English (wish, this changes over time)…

Indian cinema, to be specific, Tamil cinema has seen many talented music directors. There was never a dearth for good music. But, there are only few who have redefined the way music is composed. You can count them easily. In my humble opinion, A.R.Rahman should top the list. Though I am an ardent fan of Ilayaraja also, (in fact I listen to way old songs of 60s and still enjoy them) A.R.Rahman has set a new trend when everyone else was doing the same. Roja – the songs are still fresh and got a place within Top 10 compositions of 100 best soundtracks of the world by Time magazine. Almost every single album of Rahman had something unique in it, which is still true after 18 years since he started his career. That is why, Rahman is often being compared with Sachin Tendulkar. He is a ‘trend setter’ and ‘trend changer’.

Boys, Taxi Taxi, Behka Behka, Masakkali – he is still setting new trends which even younger music directors are afraid to try. He is a living legend and man of humility. Of course, big shots never boast. I can keep writing about A.R.Rahman for several pages…but, all I wanted to say is ‘I pray God to get A.R.Rahman the must deserving Oscar and bring glory to India and wish you do the same’…as a tribute to Rahman, watch and enjoy some of his jingles here (the ones he composed before he got popularity in film music)…

JAI HO!

Living amidst danger – lessons to learn from Israel

Those who know the history of Israel would not be exclaiming too much about the problems India is facing from its neighbours. Instead, they will showcase the strong actions Israel has taken to suppress its enemies as example of  how India should react when it comes to terrorism. With a population less than an average Indian city, Israel has been so effective in protecting itself as well as giving a strong response to attacks.

If you closely observe, similarities between Israel and India are amazing. Israel was formed as part of a partition during its independence separating Jews from rest of Arabs. Right from the very next day of its independence in 1948, till date Israel has been facing threats from its neighbours, just like India.  Even after combined efforts from all Israel’s surrounding Arab countries, no one has been successful in defeating Israel. Jews have suffered many holocausts across the world by many rulers just like how Hindus have. Surprisingly, Judaism is still alive after several thousand years just like Hinduism. 

This has led to many important allies between India and Israel, officially as well emotionally. India was one of the few countries which accommodated several Jewish refugees over the years. Israel has always been in good terms with India. Even after all these, its our blatant failure to learn self-protection from Israel. Even when Israel offered assistance in resolving issues with Pakistan, India has refused to accept to maintain its image as a ‘peace-seeker’ in world arena. Result? We are still facing unwarranted terror attacks in major cities and losing lives every now and then. Even after it has been proved evidently that Pakistan has major role behind these attacks, we are still negotiating with them to accept the facts!

India has strong defence allies with Israel resulting in mutual assistance. This has already put tremendous pressure on Pakistan as it has no way of tackling India-US-Israel ally against terror. It is India, which is procrastinating strong actions resulting in underutilization of these allies. I felt it was totally unnecessary for India to comment on Israel’s attack on Gaza strip as it is Israel’s fundamental rights to protect itself from Hizbullahs of Gaza strip. Communist party has asked Indian government to sever its ties with Israel due to these attacks, proving again that communists will never do any good for India.

Enough is enough. Its time to follow Israel’s footprints in responding to terror. Otherwise, this is how India will be…

Its hightime to reply back…

Indians have been agnoized enough in past few months. Right from political capital to financial capital, terrorism has strongly showcased the vulnerability of Indian security. Almost every month we hear about a bomb blast somewhere in India. This time, the enormity of events taken place at Mumbai has exceeded everyone’s imaginations and left people stranded about their security of life when they get out of their houses. 

I am definitely not going to criticize the government and officials again. Because I know its waste of effort and know what actions they are going to take. Undoubtedly, this is what the government is going to do. . But, what is the real solution for this issue? BJP Spokesperson Ravishankar reflected my thoughts in his interview today. He said this incident is analogous to 9/11 (of course it is) and we should do what Americans did. 

I second his words unconditionally. Enough of having peace talks. Even after it has been confirmed that one of the detained terrorists is from Pak, the Pak prime minister with an innocent looking face denies involvement of Pak in Mumbai incidents. I sincerely feel that the time has now come to give a reply, in a much stronger manner to demolish these evil creatures with iron hand. But, as usual, with impending elections, I couldn’t see any chances of that happening. Who knows, the detained ones may get pardoned to attract minority Muslim votes. It is obvious that without any help from inside, it is impossible to carry out such a ferocious operation. These internal weeds must be cleared before we take action on Pak.

What’s more funnier is Vilasrao Deshmukh asking Mumbaikars to relive the spirit of Mumbai and get back to normal life. I agree that the financial capital has to move on. But, country’s security should be the top priority. I must laud the news channels who commercialize anything and everything irrespective of the sensitivity of the issue. One says that it is tough to get England team back, another says there is a possibility of ally between BJP and Shivsena and the other says that its a clear attack on foreign nationals when 119 out of 125 dead are Indians. For God’s sake, can some terrorist group attack these channels first? 

Coming back to point, it is hightime we reply back firmly…no need for negotiations…no need for peace talks…a bold act now will save a lot of invaluable human lives in years to come….

Jumbo – The Unsung Hero!

“Recognizing talent is a talent which I think we are good at” – One of my American classmates said here. Needless to say we are not good at that. In an otherwise batsmen chauvinistic crowd in India, only very few bowlers like Kumble have created some impact in our minds. But, somehow I still feel he hasn’t got the recognition he truly deserved. May be he was way too humble not to expect anything but victory for his team, but, as a fan of cricket, I would say he deserved much more.

If someone searches for the word commitment in cricket dictionary, Kumble would be the synonym. Can anyone forget the risk he has taken in Antigua with a broken jaw and an impending operation the very next day (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/specials/west_indies_v_india/1983970.stm). Will anyone feel like bowling with 11 stitches on  a finger?

And you can never forget the 10-wicket magic spell by him in Delhi.

His commitment never stopped with indefatigable bowling spells. I could remember, the tailender Kumble saving several important matches. Though he somewhat lost his magic along with his moustache, undoubtedly he is the best technical bowler India has ever produced. Obviously, the only spinner for whom the wicket-keeper had to wear helmet

Blame it on the media, fans’ mindset or Kumble himself, he is certainly underrated. Of late, he was constantly irked by media questioning his ability and retirement. That might have been one of the reasons for his retirement. Nevertheless, after seeing retirements like Warne and McGrath, I felt Kumble deserved a better farewell…

Jumbo – a real gentleman, your absence will be felt (at least in test cricket)….

Being tolerant is not cowardliness

It’s been ages since I wrote something about Hinduism. I was contemplating on whether I really gone out of thoughts on my beautiful religion (let me call it ‘way of life’)…when I got an interesting topic to write on, unfortunately, I had noticed incidents happened in Mangalore last week…my busy schedule has kept me outdated of latest happenings in my mother land…it was really unfortunate to see my ‘tolerant’ brothers coming out of their cuticles and behave violently…though that’s how it appeared when I overlooked the issue with what was available in web, its not the real story…

Again, this issue is not initiated by Hindus, but, as usual, being ‘the majority’, they have become the victims of media…this incident is wholly due to the ‘denigration’ of Hindu Gods by the Missionaries of New Life…after trying out several cheap and dirty methods, finally they got enough guts to besmirch a religion in its own land…here are some quotes from the book ‘Satya (?) Darshini’ that they had distributed in Mangalore…

Urvashi – the daughter of Lord Vishnu – is a prostitute.  Vashitha is the son of this prostitute.  He in turn married his own Mother.  Such a degraded person is the Guru of the Hindu God Rama. (page 48)

When Krishna himself is wallowing in darkness of hell, how can he enlighten others?  Since Krishna himself is a shady character, there is a need for us to liberate his misled followers. (page 50)

It was Brahma himself who kidnapped Sita.  Since Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva were themselves the victims of lust, it is a sin to consider them as Gods. (page 39)

When the Trinity of Hinduism (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva) is consumed by lust and anger, how can they liberate others?  Their projection as Gods is nothing but a joke. (page 39).

When Vishnu asked Brahma to commit a sin, he immediately did so.  How can such a “evil brahma” be a Creator of this Universe?  How is it possible for both the sinner and the entity which provoked the sin to be gods?  (page 39)

God, please liberate the sinful people of India who are worshipping False Gods that believe in the pleasures of illicit ‘Vyabichari’ relationships. (Page 39)

I am definitely not trying to justify the action taken by our friends, but, the way they have written their propaganda by denigrating our Gods can kindle anybody. Rest we know. What happened was unfortunate. But, how long can one be ‘tolerant’? How can one endure continuing slanders? I am not supporting violence or denigrations in any form. But, when the government is not ‘secular’ and in favor of minorities, this is bound to happen someday or the other.Especially when a community is hurt and continues to get hurt, they are bound to explode. And, this is not the first time I am hearing a dirty action by missionaries. There were, are and will be many. This came to limelight because of the totally unexpected aftermath.

This is a never ending story…being a neutral person myself, I want real ‘secularism’ in place…I am not against anyone here…but, when you want others to respect you, you must learn to respect others…after seeing the kind of incidents that take place, it can only be a dream to have real ‘secularism’ in India…Where are we going????

Student life and sleepless nights

One of the reasons for me choosing the Management Information Systems course at the Texas A&M University is that, as my seniors told, the course allows you to have perfect balance with your life giving ample free time for doing activities that you are interested in. But, after coming here, I realized that, I have to keep running headlong, at least for this semester as of now. Upon discussions with many current and old students, I found out that this IS the case in most of the graduate programs and PhDs in US universities. At least, I was not prepared to have continuous sleepless nights like this. So, how did I find time to post this? Well, if I am not sleeping, I bound to have extra hours

When I selected my courses (4 courses for this semester), I found that each course has only 2.5 hours of class room sessions every week. Apart from that I have to work as Graduate Assistant for 2 courses which roughly will be 20 hours per week. I was presuming that I am going to have sufficient time to visit to REC (Student Recreation Center) and improve my tennis…Alas! though classes are only for 10 hours, the assignments given by profs (professors) here make you work for the whole day…thats how the system works here…don’t think of these assignments as what we used to do in India…these are different, challenging and provide excellent information….

For instance, in two of the subjects that I am having in this semester, the assignments mostly comprise of writing 2 page summaries for case studies, industry examples or new concepts…that sounds cool…but each article is at least 30-40 pages long…reading and understanding these swallows most of your time…if you don’t get the pith of it, you will never be able to summarize it…in between, every now and then companies are conducting information sessions on the positions they have…so, being a job hunter, we cannot miss them…i found it really difficult to manage these during initial couple of weeks..now, I am alright, as I am devoting my entire weekend and nights on completing deliverables…on average I slept for 4 hours for the past 4 days…next week seems to be a little lighter than this, and we never know when a ‘prospective’ employer will announce an information session

So, that tells a story…almost every course (at least Masters and PhD) here at US exacts hell lot work from you…if you are a prospective student, be prepared…its not the same as what we did in UG and you are expected to work hard…though it depends a lot on the courses you take, almost every prof here expects the students to work hard on their part…

I must discuss about the attitude of some local students here…when International students like us mostly respect profs and behave like ‘students’…many students here have a different viewpoint…they think, since they pay, its their right to listen to or not to listen to classes…you can see them solving sudokus, reading magazines or surfing net in their laptops during the class..and very importantly, profs don’t mind these things (thats a BIG difference between Indian profs and profs here)…discipline means different things here…the discipline that we were taughgt back in India is blatantly missing to some extent and profs don’t seem to be bothered about that…

That’s it for now…I will try to discuss on the Harvard Business Review articles that I am reading as part of my assignments…they provide WEALTHY knowledge…keep watching this space

Democracy, Freedom, Rights and India

If I remember correctly, I was introduced to the word ‘democracy’ in my civics class when I was doing my 5th standard, i.e 14 years back. After that, I have learned practically what democracy is and how to make the best use of it. As citizens of one of world’s biggest democracies, India, most of us use our rights to the fullest. Do we stop it there? Some times, we tend to go overboard and abuse our rights…I guess we are living in one of the few countries where even a common man criticize prime minister publicly without any fears…even I did that in many of my blogs…

My post, isn’t actually about democracy…its about freedom and the freedom that we enjoy in our motherland…its something special that we miss badly when we get out of India….of course many other countries in this world enjoy better facilities, sophistication and luxurious life…but even after all that, I feel the kind of freedom that we have in India cannot be matched by any country…For instance, let me take a democratic (?) country which is close to us, Singapore…my recent visit to Singapore has given me an opportunity to talk to a commoner of Singapore, a taxi driver…the 20 minutes conversation between us made me realize what we actually think about India is not exactly what it is…

The Chinese taxi driver was quite loquacious (and knowledgable too) and started talking to us about India as soon as we entered into the taxi…he made several valid points which really made me think…He started like this, ‘what do you think about Singapore?’…with my 3 days of experience in Singapore I said I liked it very much and its really a good city…he asked me to compare it with India…I immediately told we badly lack good infrastructure and good roads as I wanted to tell something that he can relate…He immediately pulled out his road tax receipt and shown me…a whopping S$3500 for 3 months…he told, if Indians are ready to pay 1000 Rs for every year he can make the Indian roads better than Singapore roads…I nodded to show my consent…

Being an Indian, I could not resist myself from talking about corruption in India…he laughed at me and asked ‘Which form of corruption do you think is more dangerous? The one that happens under the table or the one that happens over the table?’…My answer was obvious…I said ‘the one that happens over the table’…he said ‘Thats what happens here in Singapore’…its called a democratic country but no one has freedom to criticize the government officials…they are demi-Gods…what they say is law and even reporters cannot write bad about them…the ruling party ‘PAP’ has been ruling Singapore since it has become democratic and only Lee’s dyansty is ruling Singapore…people cast their votes with fear…government can even find who have voted against their party…after doing all these, the members of the parliament are paid an unimaginable salary which is tax free…now tell me, what do you think about Singapore?’…Being from a communist country like China which gives absolutely no freedom to its citizens, i f the driver was so pissed off, think about Indians who go to Singapore…but, we are so tolerant and can tolerate anything…otherwise, how can Indians live in countries like UAE…

We enjoy great freedom in India… but are we really making use of it in the right way?…never…we are all looking for opportunities to exploit the rights that we have…not only in India, but wherever we go…and no one can deny that…

The discussion went on for nearly 20 minutes…when I was getting out, he reminded me ‘your freedom to speak ends here…stop talking about this after you get out’…my lips uttered ‘Mera Bharat Mahan’ in a reflex…