The uninformed informer

A sense of loss pervaded me too when i read this morning the sad news of the demise of Anant Pai.He was certainly an uncle of mine, like to millions of other indians, whom he fed with marvellous storytelling through Amar Chitra Katha and Indrajal comics whose images are embedded in our minds. Be it the lucid images of the great indian epics or the humourous suppandi,shikari shambu and numerous other images every kid who ever laid his eyes on an ACK literally grew up with it as a habit.So much so that none of us would hesitate to read these even at grown up ages. Im sure if i were to gift an ACK to a child, it is with some hope that i could also get to read it. Dear Uncle Pai i will miss you and this Sunday i am returning to the Indian Institute of World Culture, where i feasted on your comics as a schoolboy, sit on those same wooden benches and read your immortal images. Thank you for the happiness.

A one para blurb in the newspaper today announced the decommissioning of the CIRUS nuclear reactor.It simply said that it was part of the Indo-US Civilian Nuclear Deal agreed between Manmohan Singh and George Bush. This barely a few days after it completed its landmark of 50 years and barely a few years after it was refurbished at a cost of millions of dollars.And all this at a time when there is still a muted debate on the nuclear liability bill and even before the USA actually gets around to helping us move forward on its commitments as part of the deal. Actually the use of the word commitment in the previous sentence is a misnomer.Its actually the Indian government claiming to represent the people of India that is making all commitments and the USA and other developed nations are just saying thank you. It is perhaps the result of our inherently subservient attitude. Notice the way we hold foriegners in awe during personal interactions and are almost apologetic about our own exis...

This morning at 6 AM, I tuned into the All India Radio to listen to Vande Mataram, the Morning song of India that has been greeting Indians for several years now.As the first streaks of sunlight emerged from behind the clouds just as the National song ended and the announcer started listing out the programmes for the day, I proudly planted a Khadi Tricolour atop my Balcony, for the first time ever in my life.I should be swelling with pride and in a jubilant mood, but im actually more sombre. So what prompted me to put up a national flag on my house? A couple of days back I was at the traffic signal at the intersection of MG Road and Brigade Road - at one time one of the symbols of Bangalore for the travelling Indian Public. About some 100 ft in the air the concrete beds for the metro rail flow from left to right in what will soon add Bangalore to a select list of Metrorail running cities in India.Below, on the road, are more B-Class and C-Class cars than two-wheelers, which is a good...

I recently came across a discussion board on a website where the subject of discussion was the ceremonial lowering of guard at the International Border in Wagah.The panelists were thrashing the ceremony as a mindless and jingoistic dramatisation of the animosity between the two nations and not in line with the peace overtures that are sought between the two nations.In trying to sound as strategic analysts i was getting convinced that these guys had never been to Wagah at sunset. A couple of kilometres from the IB one can see the hundreds of Punjab registered trucks lined up on both sides of the highways carrying potatoes,onions,foodgrain and fruit waiting to clear their customs formalities and crossover to deliver essential commodities into Pakistan.As you near the gate partly cleared paddy fields  make make-shift car parking and snack stalls for the swarming crowd of tourists who come to witness this 30 minute celebration of nationalism. Entry is free and the best spots are fo...

Recently during the Prime Ministers ground-breaking press conference,he had inadvertently remarked that we are a nation of 1 billion dollars, before he realised his "tongue of the slip" and corrected dollars to people. Every once In a way some magazines and newspapers proudly proclaim the top ten billionaires of India or how many Indians in the Billionaire list because these are definitely bits of information that will bring cheer to the millions of Indians who live off the salaries paid by this billionaire club. A lot of news is on TV these days over the new compensation being announced for the victims of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy.More than two decades after the horrifying incident, the emotional thread and anger may be missing amongst the rest of Indians to actually prick the government's conscience to set the records straight.It is a   shame for us Indians that we are allowing the value of life to be devalued so easily.Death of other Indians in terrorist acts, railway a...

All 30 students of Super 30, Bihar’s free coaching centre for poor students here, cracked the IIT-JEE this year. “All the 30 students have cleared the IIT-JEE,” Anand Kumar, the institute’s founder-director said at a press conference on Wednesday. “It is a matter of great pleasure as we have achieved it again," he said, adding that since the inception of the coaching centre in 2002, a total of 212 students have cleared the IIT-JEE examination, which is considered as one of the toughest examinations in the world. Mr. Kumar said the students hail from very poor families and commit themselves to a year of 16-hour study each day after passing a competitive test to get into the coaching centre. “Now we will try to arrange loans for the education of the poor students who qualified for IITs,” he said. Mr. Kumar, who himself missed a chance to study at the Cambridge due to lack of money, gives full scholarships including room and travel to the students. When contact...

Reproduced here below a brilliant article written by P.Sainath in The Hindu on 17 April 2010 Freebies for the IPL — at a time of savage food subsidy cuts for the poor — benefit four men who make the Forbes Billionaire List of 2010 and a few other, mere multi-millionaires. And so the IPL fracas is now heading for its own Champions League. Union Cabinet Ministers, Union Ministers of State, Chief Ministers (and who knows a Governor or two might pop up yet) are being named as people trying to influence the bidding process. Both houses of Parliament are in uproar. The taxmen have launched a “survey.” Many in the media and politics are happy to reduce it all to issues of propriety or personality. For, the BCCI-IPL is one platform where the Congress and the BJP cohabit, normally with ease. Big money is, after all, a secular, bi-partisan space. (Or tri-partisan: let's not deny the central contribution of the NCP to this phenomenon.) It's also interesting that the media, though n...