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Light Talk
Kargil? Where's That ?
The big news in America this week (and big news in America normally means big news all over the world!) was the downing of the U.S. spy plane, the ensuing drama, and just yesterday, the return of the flight crew.
And then followed the admirable U.S. tradition of feting returning warriors as heroes, complete with crying wives, flag waving children and a brass band. This is a very American trait, making heroes of ordinary men and women doing their jobs, giving the country something to remember its founding principles of freedom and liberty from time to time. (Though, one wonders what a U.S. spy plane was doing thousands of miles from its own coast - defending liberty? Hmmmm…).
Still, we in India could learn a few lessons. Remember Captain Vikram Batra and the other heroes of Kargil fame? It's a great pity that India pays but cursory homage to its men who died in battle, defending our country in frozen wastes (which somebody somewhere has decided should be fought over) and barely a year later, we've all but forgotten them. I don't think their families will, somehow. The situation is probably worse in Pakistan where those who died were not even acknowledged as belonging to the army. What ignominy!
This is where we could take a few lessons from the U.S. - nations become great by frequently remembering how and why they came into existence, by making the people feel part of a continuing evolution, by honoring their dead, and by being seen to be doing so.
We're so sick of our politicians that most of us don't scream at the sheer infamy of this. Hey people….shout, yell, scream, kick, roar, get together…..next time it could be one of us - or one of ours - they forget.
Fifteen years back, the Government of India allowed STD shops or 'booths' all over the country. This was the harbinger of a telecom revolution, completely doing away with the archaic telephony present at the time. Ten years ago, unnoticed by anyone, cable TV crept into our homes, popularized by the sensational Gulf War, Mankind's first 'live', in-your-drawing-room conflict.
And today it's the turn of the Internet to tiptoe into every home in India. Sure, computers are too expensive for the 'common man' (is there such a thing?). But there is another revolution in progress - easy access to the web via mushrooming cyber cafés.
Now every medium-sized town in Orissa or Bihar (widely regarded as the poorest of Indian States) has its own café(s). I wonder if anyone has considered the possibility that the number of net savvy people in the subcontinent is growing fast, exponentially, rapidly, amazingly! What's more, most of these are going to be from small towns and villages, perhaps unable to speak too much English. I'd like to know how they react to our 'mainstream' sites. There's a fortune waiting to be made here, just like Sabeer Bhatia, only he saw the idea first. An idea that was so obvious no one else saw it. Is there another idea for our burgeoning netizens? An idea unique to India? There are Hindi websites like Boloji Hindi Edition and there are other Indian language websites, but hmmm… isn't the profusion of English on the web just going to force us all to learn some form of the language or the other? Time will tell.
A sadder face to India is the number of babies and infants up for adoption. The majority of them girls, of course. It seems our leap into the 21st century jumped over some important stops along the way. Among them were equal rights for the girl child.
The good news is that adoption of children has gotten easier, with sites facilitating the process by tying up with orphanages in India. There is still a mass of red tape to cut through, but at least the process of selecting the child is easier. Hurrah for the web! Who says it's just a toy?
A friend was very excited just some weeks back. Unemployed like any self-respecting M.A. in India; he had just joined an e-commerce course, at a very well known institute. One of those who promise to change your life in every morning's papers. On television. On the radio. By chess grandmasters, no less. Probably the next time you buy vegetables they'll have stickers on them saying the same thing.
So he duly joined and left in two weeks. A rip-off. A scandal. Not much computer time. Teacher just reading from a book. No excitement at learning. This wasn't it at all. He's still gainfully unemployed. Probably sitting for his civil services exams.
The point is: how many people are getting conned by computer 'institutes' all over the country? India flaunts its technological manpower levels, but if this goes on there will soon be a glut in the market, or at the very least companies will be wary of hiring new faces without some assurance of their quality. Reminds me of the MBA boom some years back, when you just had to do Masters in Business, and soon everybody was an MBA, and the bottom dropped out of the market.
So people, if you're going to one of these fancy places, well, you're paying them well, so make sure you get exactly what you're paying for. Demand to get exactly what you're paying for!
And so Big Bill dropped by again. Not Bill the Prez, but Bill the ex-Prez. And it was an express visit indeed to the earthquake-hit areas of Gujarat, and of course, his adopted village of Nayla (whose women were probably delighted to see Bill bhaiya again…did you know how many rakhis were tied?). Bill, needless to say, was beside himself with excitement, and rumor has it he had to be physically restrained from breaking out into his famous Nayla Dance.
Last time around, bhaiya left the villagers of Nayla a number of computers. These machines are now carefully stored in Nayla, each with its name tag and number (maybe bhaiya signed them as well, do you think?). Very nice of him. Kind man. Bless his soul.
However, these are the facts: Nayla has electricity for approximately one day of the week. Nayla, which was spruced up for the President, has now settled back into the 'comfortable' obscurity of a very, very undeveloped corner of the country. Nayla will remember Bill Clinton forever, if only as the few days when the village shone.
What a scandal. This is exactly the same thing that happens when politicians visit their constituency. Roads are redone, streets are cleaned, and garbage is lifted. And a few days later, the same old story - it slumps right back. Plague. Polio. And other stuff, in this day and age. The Infotainment revolution, eh? Who are we fooling? The fault is not Bill's (I genuinely think he's the most charismatic American Prez for some time), but ours, that we need to hide our truth from visitors.
Are we that bad? The fact that Bill praised Nayla is not a matter of pride, but of national shame, the shame of a lie - quickly told, easily forgotten. Surely, we're better than this.
– Ashish Nangia
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