Two Argumentative Indians

I and my friend, while riding back after shopping windows picked up an argument. First it was about pollution on diwali. He opined that crackers shouldn’t be burst. My take was that there are very few things of entertainment for Indians and so I see no big deal with bursting crackers if it can bring cheer to our people though it's unacceptable to use child labour for making crackers. Well, I may be wrong but one thing is for sure. The celebrities who come on tv and advise against crackers to avoid pollution should first be ready to drive a Reva instead of a BMW or a Hummer or any other fast car that emits so much smoke. Their social service is often limited to closing their taps while brushing teeth. :P

We then shifted to a more interesting topic. On giving money to beggars at traffic signals. He felt only deserving people should be given money and not anyone. For instance, if the person genuinely handicapped, he was fine. He echoed stuff like—“most of them cheat, they earn a comfortable sum by begging, they are lazy, they do this for generations, they are not handicapped, they can work hard to earn money etc etc”. I totally respect his thoughts and it’s good that people have opinion on things. However, my perspective is different as I generally don’t really see if a beggar is genuine or otherwise. I just feel that I have money and the person seeking doesn’t. In my defense, I quoted Mother Theresa—“If you start judging people, you have no time to love them”. It really turned out to be a very healthy debate with none winning the argument which was never the purpose. The incident left in me an open question i.e., how would the greats have reacted when their ideologies are put to severe test. For eg,. In this case would Mother Theresa also have helped people irrespective of whether they are cheating her or not? Or how would Gandhiji have reacted to the view espoused by Kamal Hassan (Nasseruddin Shah) in Unnaipol Oruvan (A Wednesday)? Would he still say “an eye for an eye would turn the world blind” when it comes to punishing modern day terrorists? My humble view is that, they would have stuck to their stand even when their values are litmus tested. After all, people are not immortalised without a reason.

Is nobel really noble?

I remember keeping this question for an Independence day quiz a couple of years back at office—“Nobel prize has a black mark that Gandhiji was never conferred with it though he deserved it better than anyone else. Do you know which year was he first nominated officially (he was nominated several times but denied for trivial reasons)?” One person gave the right answer as 1937. This historical fact surprised many. I too was surprised when I thought of this first time. Almost equally surprised at Obama getting it this year. Can’t even imagine him in the league of Martin Luther King, Aung San Sui Kyi, etc. Obama surely is charismatic and has good intentions (I hope). One of the best speech given by anyone in recent times was by him at Cairo Univ a couple of months back...It spelt a great beginning with regard to American view of the Muslim world. During the course of his hour long speech, he quoted from Quoran, didn't use the word "terrorism" at all, spoke about women emancipation in arab world etc and spelt so much positive views. My personal favorite was when he said "wars are easier to start...difficult to end"...One was hoping for action in the coming years to prove it wasn’t just a rhetoric in Cairo. However, Nobel committee faltered this time in trying to do a Filmfare like award for the peace category. Hopefully it puts pressure on Obama to press for action

Additionally it’s so boring to see media frenzy over the award conferred on Venkatraman Ramakrishnan for Chemistry. It has become a cliché (like tamil film industry felicitating Karunanidhi every 3 months showering so much artificial praise on him) that every time a guy of Indian origin makes it big in the world stage, media traces the hospital where the person was born ages ago, school he/she studied decades back blah blah….ufff…he for one, left the country at 19 and did all his research with US or UK funding. Let us try concentrating on improving research standards in our own country than claiming ownership of someone who doesn’t belong here.

Among the funny news in recent times, our CM has amassed 700 crores in 3 days by doing padhyatra (on a van of course) across the city for flood relief. Heart feels for those who are reduced to nothing in this flood fury. When we see the plea state government made the centre (16K crore), one is convinced about the amount of precaution that can be planned by the government before the heavens open so badly. If a country can experience disaster through drought and floods in the same scale within months’ time, there surely is a solution somewhere.