The uninformed informer

A one para report on the last page of  today's paper reported the death of Mammu 'Jallad' Singh. A third generation hangman from Meerut, whose grandfather had executed Bhagat Singh, had wished to come out of retirement to hang Ajmal Kasab.Of course this is a task that any self-respecting Indian will not hesitate to undertake.Except... Except of course the guiding principles of our constitution that ensure a fair trail even for murderers caught on CCTV camera, identified by witnesses,doctors and policemen.So ever since the horrid mumbai attacks of 26/11, the tax payers money is paying for Kasab's bed, biriyani, the 11000 page chargesheet,it's subsequent translation into Urdu because Kasab can neither read English or Marathi, cost of transporting the judges and public prosecutors to court,running of the court house, security expenses and what not.Perhaps the total cost expended so far could have opened a Public Health Centre in some part of remote India. And yet K...

The 2014 FIFA world cup is almost four years away. To be held in the land of 'Joga Bonito' , in what will certainly be a samba carnival, presents India with it's best chance to get close to qualifying for the most watched event in television history. But for India and it's new breed of footballers, the beginning ( or end ) of that dream will come between June 29 and July 5th when they square off in a home and away format against the UAE. Having tasted the flavour of  competetive international football in the recently concluded Asian Cup, the feeling must still be lingering in the young and upcoming legs of Indian football. So here's how it's going to work.In all there are going to be 5 rounds of qualification. Australia,South Korea,Japan,North Korea and Bahrain have been seeded top 5 and will compete directly from the third round of qualification. The first round will be playoffs between teams seeded 28th upwards to 43 (43 being the total number of asian n...

In his defence of the recent deluge of scams,rising inflation etc and other sliding trends of the UPA govt, the prime minister cited the compulsion of coalition politics as being one of the reasons. The cabinet meeting over the proposed tax exemption to the revenues from the final of the cricket world cup was divided in it's opinion to exempt Rs.45 crore as tax payable by the cash rich BCCI. While even the honorable sports minister was against this move, it took the silence of the Agriculture minister Mr.Sharad Pawar and the arguments of  minister Praful Patel (who heads the apex football body of the country) to convince the government to grant this exemption. Now surely this is a joke. I am pretty certain that an economist of a Prime Minister would be happy to generate revenue for the nation from ventures where the government doesn't have to expend much money. Yes, 45 crores is probably far lesser than what several cricketers make and there can be various lines of thought...

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...