Lankan conflict

“There is no easy way out of the spiralling morass of terror and brutality that confronts the world today” – Arundhati Roy

Every attempt to kill a terrorist, unfortunately involves accidentally killing hundreds of innocent bystanders as well. And for every hundred innocent people killed, there is a good chance that several future terrorists will be created. But one has to make sure that the right kind of innocent people are killed. Not the innocent innocent people from across the border. I mean, people would know about it then. Indians are good at math. They can count their fishermen. And who knows, India may develop a spine overnight and decide to intervene. Demand a ceasefire, impose sanctions or something. That can’t be allowed to happen, can it?

The Sri Lankan Navy has put in place an “underwater defence system” on their side of the border and they want the Indian Navy to warn Tamil Nadu fishermen not to stray in and get blown apart. How nice of them!

There is another not unimportant reason for the sea mines. For the Tamils on the Indian side of the Gulf of Mannar, there is definitely a sense of solidarity with the fighting Tamil separatists. But solidarity can only get you so far. This is a world ruled by its economics, not emotion. I think it is more as a business opportunity that the LTTE is appealing to the Indian mule. The supply lines through the mainland are strangled and the Tigers have to depend on the sea for rations. Rice, fuel, money, other essentials. Maybe even ammunition. So by installing sea mines, the Srilankan Navy was choking all life lines to the LTTE.

The only other alternate to the Tamils’ demand for complete statehood is the complete annihilation of the Tamils. A separate nation for Tamils is unpalatable for the Sinhalese and political suicide for anyone suggesting it. Not going to happen. Genocide of that scale is uneconomic. A PR exercise that SriLanka is ill-equipped to handle. Their national budget is perhaps less than the money Hillary spends on her presidential bid. Given the international watchdogs, human rights activists and scores of other people who have nothing better to do, not economic at all. But the LTTE is a different issue. The SriLankans can piggyback on the already well established propaganda of “Fight on terror”. LTTE is a terrorist organization and terrorism is bad. Nobody can object now. Nananaana. I mean, there are a lot of skeletons in that cupboard and the international community will not want to open it. With the LTTE, which has been the muscle behind the separatist movement, gone, there will be peace. Peace at any cost. What about the remaining Tamils you ask. Oh! Well… they can be non-entities. An inconvenience that they can live with.

The other side

The Test series in Australia has been very newsworthy and so much has been said about it in both the news media and the web that I didn’t want to add on to the colossal amount of junk. But a chance conversation with a friend has prompted me to break my silence now, especially since the controversies have sort of cooled down and we have won at Perth. Of course that the friend had promised me that at worst it'll get me a couple of hate comments, but no one will "blacklist" me or googlebomb my site has helped.

I personally, enjoy the brand of cricket played in Australia and was disappointed with the way the media blew the Sydney test out of proportions and the hamhanded way that the BCCI (and need I add, the Indian media) handled the case.

I feel that there were several separate issues and since they happened at the same time, people put them all together. Bad umpiring (awful if it will make you feel better), racist remarks (it is a different debate if said remark was racist or not), chatty Aussies and jubilant-after-the-victory Australian players are all unconnected issues.

Before you all scream traitor, let me add that I do believe that the test should have been drawn and it was unfortunate that the Australians went home winners. Unfortunate not unfair.

We hear about behaviour unbecoming of a sportsman. That is definitely bad for the sport and I will not make the mistake of defending it. But the question here is if the behaviour of the Aussies broke the codes of the sportsmanship.

Clarke’s catch (which replays showed as grassed) could be a genuine mistake and Benson checking with Ponting before declaring the batsman out was only in accordance with the captain’s pact (and not because Ponting is the new fourth umpire who trumps all decisions taken by the other umpires as mail forwards seem to suggest). Again, I cannot stress enough about the debate on walking. In International cricket it is now standard practice for batsmen to not walk unless he feels personally obliged to do so. It is not disallowed. The same is true of excessive appealing or chatting on the field, even making remarks to disturb your cool.

The way I see it is that there is a region of allowed sportsmanship and a border separates it from 'unsportsmanship'. Australia gets its aggressive edge by playing closer to the border but always on the sporty side. Take soccer for instance(football in the rest of the world), Australia lacks the class of Brazil or France and there is a lot of pushing and shoving on the field but the players know just how much pushing is allowed without getting the referee’s whistle. Like any Optimisation text book would tell you, the optimal solution lies right on the border. It is quite strategic, if you look at it. (It is a different issue that India tries to ape the aggressive play of the Aussies and end up straying into the bad territory – Sreesanth being case in point).

Harbhajan is an excellent cricketer and I like him but the stance that the board and the team have to take is not blackmail but justice. The BCCI, as I understand had not given one statement saying that it believed Bhajji to be innocent and that he had not made a racist remark. There was nothing about having a fair trial. Nothing like we will accept the verdict if he is proven guilty. They simply went into overdrive and announced that the tour was in jeopardy if Bhajji was not cleared and the ban lifted. Cleared, not given a fair trial. (Kudos to ICC for showing some backbone)

Harbhajan may or may not have said the things that he is alleged to have said and even if he did he may not have meant it as a racist remark. There may be inadequate evidence. Or he may have said it under provocation. But that is not what we are bothered about. He is beyond reproach and pure and is the victim here. The Board will protect him at all costs. What nonsense!

Parallels drawn with Muralitharan are downright stupid. He was the victim of a hostile umpire and maybe even racial abuse but Harbhajan was not the quarry but the hunter. We, of the subcontinent do not hold the monopoly on racism. And the abuse case on Hogg, is clearly a sign of “But he did it too” that I will not buy from kids in my block let alone professional cricketers.

In trying hard to not look at this controversy as an Indian cricket fan, I may have strayed to the other side. My post is perhaps not objective and readers need not remind me that the Australian media itself criticized its cricketers. All I am trying to remind my faithful readership is that neither the Indian media nor the cricket-lover has been even remotely objective and they could do so much better. For the love of the game.

If there was a God?

An important question has resurfaced since the passing of my neighbour (refer previous post). Put simply, the question is, ‘If there was a God, how do you explain such a death?’ The question begs some elaboration.

Death in itself is inevitable. It is just as natural as birth and essential for the balance of things. So, a similar question with regard to, say my 85-year-old grandfather who died of old age may not be pertinent. To a certain extent, even heart attacks and cancers are explained off as an outcome of our lifestyle: the food we eat, the kind of work we do, pollution, stress, etc. But how does one explain a death at a New Years party?

Shockingly, one of my friends held the view that it was a punishment (by God?) for abandoning our cultural values. But we’ll not digress.

Let us examine the facts: Anand was in hospital for a week and discounting all conspiracy theories, was under the best medical care possible. His family spared no prayers for his recovery. A few well-wishers in the apartments organized special prayers each day: chanting Vishnu sahasranamam and arranging for special offerings in the temple.

My point here, I rush to clarify, is not to belittle the goodwill shown by everyone. It is in fact, my very point that all these prayers were sincere and the goodwill genuine.

Our assumption (or if you are uneasy with that word, faith) is that there is a benevolent Almighty God who listens to our prayers and if our prayers are sincere (reasonable and not selfish) he grants them.

So why did he not recover? Their prayers, I am sure were (unambiguously) for a speedy recovery. The normal explanations of ‘Your prayers weren’t fervent enough’ or ‘Your faith wasn’t strong enough’ are hollow and inadequate.

There is a trump card up His sleeve and I have received them a few times in my time. For instance, the girl I was fervently hoping to marry got married to someone else. Or the college transfer I was counting on was denied. I was told that it was all for the good. God had a special plan for us that we do not know and cannot know (but it is all good baby). Our disappointment is based on an ignorance of what is in store for us.

Tell that to Anand’s parents. Try that ‘It was for the good’ argument on his sister. Whose good are we talking about here? What could possibly be a good outcome for his bereaved family? Oh no! there is a different card for young deaths. That is called, ‘Those He holds dear, He calls them back soon’. Who signed up for that, not Anand?

There is another card that infuriates me more. That is the Karma card. Maybe he was a nice bloke in this life but what about his previous lives. (More on Karma soon)

Brings the oft repeated doubt… if God is benevolent, then he is not omnipotent or he would have intervened (I wish I could and if I could I would but…) or he is omnipotent but not truly benevolent, choosing his intervention based on a rigid set of conditions (oops! Sorry but you were 5 short of the critical number of prayers required to qualify) or simply His whims (Nothing too weighty before coffee please. Not a morning person).

So, my question is very simple. Is there an explanation? A reason or higher purpose for this wasteful death. I cannot find one justification that passes muster. If the right answer exists, I do not know it. However, if my question was to be framed as ‘Is there a God?’ (a God who willfully participates in the daily running of the universe and fiddles with the fates of humans), my answer seems evident.

New Year

2008 hasn’t begun well. Not well at all. The Chennai Savera accident and the Marriot Mumbai incident are not my idea of ushering in the new year. For the uninitiated, here is what happened:

Chapter One: Hotel Savera, Chennai

It is not midnight yet and the real celebrations have barely begun. College-goers and software professionals have only just got to the dance floor to shake a leg. The dance floor is a wooden stage atop the swimming pool. Don’t ask me who’s idea it was but it sounded like fun. Fun until the stage collapsed and the hundred odd partyers fell into the pool. The hotel staff are unprepared for the emergency and despite their best efforts rescue operation takes far too long. One person is dead, several are injured and two are in critical condition. The two in critical condition are dead now, after I began writing this post. One of them, Anand, is my neighbour. A lad of 20. (I share my grief with his family and other mourners but this is the time for choler. Sorrow can wait)

Chapter Two: Marriot, Mumbai

Same time, similar celebrations and the countdown is over. Two girls are molested by a mob of 70-80 men. Their escorts are manhandled.

Chapter Three: Afterwards

The day after, the National Newspaper (as it claims to be) does not print the name of the hotel in their miniscule news article. Why, I wonder. Tamil dailies and some radio channels are insensitive enough to suggest that the partygoers deserved it. Partying to welcome the New Year with alcohol and music is against our cultural ethos. It is an evil wrought on society by westernization and high-paying software jobs. Therefore, these people; these delinquents brought it upon themselves. Paid a fortune for it in the bargain. The way to avoid getting injured in party accidents is to not attend parties. The same way that the way to avoid road accidents is to not use the roads. Staying home (preferably in front of the tele) is the assured way to a long life. (And what a life that would be)

Is there an increase in safety awareness and emergency preparedness? Who wants that! The ones who died, died because they went to a party. Were drunk. And dancing. This is a lesson to all youngsters. Stop partying. Stay home.

When will we stop blaming the victims? The other chapter hasn’t a better ending. Columns are written on how if women dressed provocatively and went clubbing, drank alcohol, one can’t help being molested by a horde of pea-brained men. They invited it upon themselves. How can 80 men be wrong? It was the woman's fault. Or, maybe it is not her fault but the way to stop such incidents is for women to not put themselves in such situations.

The same song, a slightly modified version is played here. This is not right according to our most noble and ancient Indian culture and is precisely the reason why bad things happen. Ladies, stop partying. Stay home. And be properly dressed. Head to toe is a good start. A couple of extra layers wouldn’t hurt.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!