Ba, Beti aur Bahu

I am not new to chowk. I have been reading the articles and interacts since 2001. I have
interacted only once during these five years for fear of being abused by co-chowkies in the
event of disagreement. However I have started writing ilogs since last seven months.
Now I am taking a chance of interacting as this is a very important thread.

I would like to make some comments on the first 69 interacts and some general comments
about some problems I find with chowk.

1. I wonder if the chowk staff find enough time to read the articles and interacts and check
typos and spelling errors before they publish them. Some interactors feel free to abuse
other interactors if they disagree with them. This should not be permitted to continue in a
civilized society. Firm action must be taken against those who abuse. One solution to this
problem may be to ask the members to use their real names. What are they afraid of?

2. Some interactors claim that India is an old country, whereas Pakistan is new. This is
simply not true. Both countries obtained their independence at the same time.

3. Some interactors seem to be unhappy that a particular family is ruling India most of
the time and so India is not true democracy. I disagree. It is people`s choice. There
should be no discrimination against anyone in this regard about their religion and place of
birth etc. Anyone who is competent should be given the chance to govern.

re: this article
Farzana,
Can u not find a better topic? Perhaps that is asking for too much.
If u can`t find a topic, better be like me. Don`t write at all.
All i have to say is: Politicians are what people make them to be. In nation of sycophants (which is what India is), politicians become God-like figures. Then u blame them for not doing their job!
My own impresson of Sonia Gandhi is (and i may be biased here), she is better than most politicians barring some like MMS. She has now learnt the ropes and is playing by her rules. This is what every politician including Indira Gandhi had done in the past. So why complain?
Sridhar

#75 (continued for Harimau)

So which one are you?

The stuff Sonia went to Rae Bareili to check on?

Or simply what Sonia wants to regurgitate?

Or a lonely Sonia`s godfather?

Or the only believer in Uma Bharti.

Or just another Samson?

Or someone maltreated by white women of the working class at Abu Ghraib?

Mr. Virgin Ironpants?

Or someone who just flutters those eyelashes and wets those lips?

A bayer for blood, or one who lovingly collects and displays congealed globules?

(Thank you Farzana Versey - I could never have thought of such superlatives by myself. I lack the words.)

An interesing artilcle for harimau

http://www.chennaionline.com/columns/DownMemoryLane/diary169.asp

#66 indeed.. in 1993 when i was involved in a gurgaon shop, we could poach all of c-dot talent very easily .. we were miles ahead. PBX tech was kinda super low-tech anyways.

#74 Hari Mau
(Notice the similarity of the name with the Red Leader from China)

[By the same token, China comes out on top of you!]
Yes. Then my poor south Indian friends get double loaded. Unfortunately, they come out on top of - NOBODY.

[As far as Hindi is concerned, ....Even Sonia Gandhi speaks it!]
But perhaps you can not - therefore one of you appears to be smarter.

[And your toll is: Sonia Gandhi and her brood in UP, Lalloo Prasad Yadav and his wife Robbery Devi in Bihar, a series of thugs Haryana, etc. Enjoy!]
I think the whole country is entitled to and indeed gets to enjoy those fruits of hard labor.

It is always a pleasure to meet the REAL chowk brahmin! I think you should petition chowk to raise your interact index to 4.0, based on that fact alone.

(I have a question which has bothered me for ages - perhaps you can clarify. Why do my south Indian friends always pronounce the letter ``h`` as ``hetch?``)

So, tying it all back to the article - which one could you be - Uma Bharti`s elder brother or Sonia Gandhi`s dream?

Ref bjkumar #64

[If you care to hold the map the right way, the north always comes out on TOP of the south.]

By the same token, China comes out on top of you!

[As far as the national language is concerned – I am astonished at how little confidence you show in the ability of South Indians to adapt to a wide variety of different conditions from their native habitat.]

You don`t need to tell me that. Take the Plus Two exams in Bombay and Calcutta. South Indians come out on top in Marathi and Bengali language exams respectively.

As far as Hindi is concerned, here is a language whose two major pieces of literature are the Tulsidas Ramayana and the All-India Railway Guide. No sweat. Even Sonia Gandhi speaks it!

[Why, some of my best Tamil friends are more proficient in Hindi than I.]

I can well believe it.

[Such is life. It is full of seeming contradictions. Yet, when all is said and done, it is full of turmoil and toils. In the end, we all pay our tolls.]

And your toll is: Sonia Gandhi and her brood in UP, Lalloo Prasad Yadav and his wife Robbery Devi in Bihar, a series of thugs Haryana, etc. Enjoy!

Ref Zeena on dynastic democracy in India:

When the Mogul Empire started disintegrating after Aurangzeb, it was the courtiers who maneuvered behind the throne to prop up one favorite after another. If you read the history of those times, you would find that young princes would be set up as the emperor only to be killed, force-fed opium and wine or blinded. Eunuchs in the Mogul court could and did all this. The emperor changed avery couple of years.

The eunuchs we have today in New Delhi are incapable of even this much strategem. Instead, we have Category Z protection for this illiterate usurper from Italy.

Gouging out the eyes of Raoul and Priyanka would seem like condign punishment for the misdeeds of the Nehru-Gandhi clan.

delhiwalla#28:

``No Hindu belt Indian would have voted for him, had they known that a Sikh is a contender for Congress`s nomination.``

It is true that Manmohan Singh was not elected and enjoyed very little grass-roots support. I am, in fact, somewhat disappointed that he did not seek election to the Lok Sabha within six months of his being chosen as the PM, which I had thought, perhaps mistakenly, was a constitutional requirement.

But your statement about ``No Hindu belt Indian`` seems to be a bit of an exaggeration. Please remember that he does enjoy a very high level of support in the media and among the educated class. Indeed, Sonia Gandhi chose her largely because he was deemed to be most acceptable compared to other contenders, such as Pranab Mukherjee or Arjun Singh.

The following is an excerpt from an editorial by a Vajpayee emissary in today`s Indian Express that you may find interesting:
``Men of Manmohan Singh’s calibre, passion and humility come by only once in decades. They are men of destiny. Some time in 1997, Vajpayee sent me on a mission to Manmohan Singh. Vajpayee was deeply worried over the frequent change of governments at the Centre, and the inevitable slow-down all this was causing in the country’s progress. He wanted stability, a strong Centre. He asked me to convey to Dr Singh the readiness of the BJP to support a Congress government at the Centre for full five years if Dr Singh could be elected the leader of that party. As I have stated earlier, Vajpayee himself was a prime minister-in-waiting for a long time, but to him a strong Centre was more important. After discussing this matter with Advani, who agreed to the initiative, I met Dr Singh. His answer: the Congress would not hear of it! But the times have changed.``

#70 Stuka

Stuka, my darling,

Just like Harry Moe, you miss the point completely! (At least he can plead old age and possible senility, what’s your excuse, bud?)

The comparison was symbolic – the point being – now get ready for it…

We are ALL coolies – of one sort or another.

Every human offspring here (and don’t be misled through the behavior of some that there may be a canine connection around here) carries his or her own baggage. The baggage was not placed by choice – it came in birasat – sometimes they drag it behind – sometimes they pretend to wear it proudly like a crown. They think it is their amaanat – and it comes in various colors - so many of them! Red, green, white, ...you name it!

In reality, all it is ….is deadweight! It only encumbers us. It blocks our vision and it blocks our paths.

Mithya maya is all it is – and how firmly we are all trapped!

The only time we don’t carry it is when we are sleeping – and how can you be so sure that the railway porter has a less sound sleep compared to the computer programmer! Chances are quite high that it is the other way around.

So trapped we remain except when we are asleep – until we are free of all traps when we get to that ultimate sleep!

(Note: no allusion should be drawn to real-life computer programmers or railway porters.)

``As does the south Indian CODE coolie, who can only communicate through small syllables of English spiced up with large chunks of C-plus-plus floating in a puddle of his native language, who sits on (a possibly oversized) posterior on a cushy chair and does the bidding of foreign masters!
``

Only a technical ignoramus with no concept or clue of information technology would make such a sweepingly idiotic statement.

``As does the REAL north Indian coolie who earns an honest living on Patna platforms through the sweat of the bro, who works like a dog all day, and needs no sleep medication when the day is done – for he is dog-tired from his real work!

It is meaningless to ask who the better of the lot is``

If you really have to ASK such a question, then yes, I suppose it is useless.


Inquirer: Just because PD Tandon was a reactionary does not justofy his being yanked. Nehru did more harm than good to India and shoulda been killed along with Gandhi. Would have been a huge favor to India.

Re: # 66
Anil
There was one good thing about C-DOT though. It allowed a whole generation of Indian engineers to understand the complexities of developing a telecom infrastructure and its associated products. That helped later on . Quite a few people associated with C-DOT did do good work later.

S

bjkumar # 64,

You are trying to have an intelligent discussion with a simpleton. He`s Dubya`s chela. Sees the world in B&W. TamBrams good- all else suck. All problems in india are due to Naarthies. The only smart ones in india are the southies etc.
If you were to live in the southern part of India, you`ll realise that Tamilians are tolerated and sometimes despiesd in Karnatka, Kerala and AP. I should not generalise, but then the only time there were riots in bangalore were between tamils and kannadigas. No one else in South has issues with Hindi or north indians in general. People in these states know Hindi and yet nurture their local languages with enthusiasm. People from these states are self confident in their respective cultures and don`t feel threatened by outside influences.
So my unsolicted advice to you is to ignore his ramblings on chowk.
Adios

Farzana,
Your attempt to study the motives behind the acts of sacrifices is laudable. But seriously, Uma is a small fish in the same pond where in sonia is a shark. Uma can rave and rant but she`ll be nowhere near in dramebaaji as sonia has all of the congress to picth in and cheerlead her act.
Adios

Re: # 59

Farzana & Dost-Mitter:

Regarding Sam Pitroda, I have personal knowledge of his contribution in C-DOT and Telecommunication industry in India. I know several people with whom he has worked in the U.S.. He launched the program of to develop Indian PBX, and Indian telephone exchanges. These were not only disastrous, and rarely worked. He protected Indian telecommunication market for these C-DOT products at a critical time in the global telecommunication development. India lost time to China in telecom, only several years later Narsimha Rao decided to allow major players to supply telecom gears. He completely misread India did not need local PBX technology. India needed telecom infrastructure, Narsimha Rao fixed this policy several years later.

Anil

#64 (continued)

And dear Harimau, as far as the Kargil war is concerned, need I remind you that the Indians WON that war?!!

#62, #63 Harimau

Sir, you have an uncanny ability to turn every topic into a North-South encounter of the adversarial kind. Kindly allow me to refresh your (perhaps aging) memory cells with a simple fact of geography.

If you care to hold the map the right way, the north always comes out on TOP of the south.

A simple concept – and there is precious little you can do about it! Unless you prefer to do all your viewing of the world from the sheershasana mode!

As far as the national language is concerned – I am astonished at how little confidence you show in the ability of South Indians to adapt to a wide variety of different conditions from their native habitat. The south Indians within India – just like the South Asians within the USA – have been able to prosper on account of that ability.

They have broken many barriers – overcome all kinds of obstacles – and left all competition far behind in dust!!

What is an extra language or two for individuals blessed with such prolific sharpness! Mere pieces of cake to be lapped up in nanoseconds!

Why, some of my best Tamil friends are more proficient in Hindi than I.

Such is life. It is full of seeming contradictions. Yet, when all is said and done, it is full of turmoil and toils. In the end, we all pay our tolls.

As does the south Indian CODE coolie, who can only communicate through small syllables of English spiced up with large chunks of C-plus-plus floating in a puddle of his native language, who sits on (a possibly oversized) posterior on a cushy chair and does the bidding of foreign masters!

As does the REAL north Indian coolie who earns an honest living on Patna platforms through the sweat of the bro, who works like a dog all day, and needs no sleep medication when the day is done – for he is dog-tired from his real work!

It is meaningless to ask who the better of the lot is!