Category: Random Draws

Even a cursory look at the main stream media gives me the impression that Narendra Modi is the cause of immense heartburn among journalists and commentators. These worthies kowtow, scrape and bow, spinelessly genuflect and grovel in the presence of politicians. The rule I use to figure out how corrupt a politician is this: note how low the journalists bend.

But when it comes to Modi, their hackles rise. He’s incorruptible and they don’t bend. They become combative and confrontational. They raise poisoning the well to a fine art with their accusations against Modi. The great thing is how Modi responds to them so effortlessly. The man’s responses are devastating but I am not sure that his interlocutors quite get it. If they had been that smart, they would have known not to poke the lion. Here’s a “for example” for you.
Continue reading “Narendra Modi’s Fitting Reply on Imported Leaders and Imported Laws”

In a hard-hitting piece on NitiCentral.com, Kanchan Gupta responds to a hatchet job that someone called Lyla Bavadam did for Frontline, a sister publication of the misnamed “The Hindu” newspaper.
Continue reading “Kanchan Gupta on “Narendra Modi’s Gujarat Model””

Must be Spring cleaning time. Because people are being taken to the cleaners. Yesterday I reported that Media Crooks gave an ex-judge of the supreme court of India (how do they select these fellows, I wonder) a dhulai and today I am reporting that Sandeep has stripped Rohit Pradhan at the dhobi ghat.

{For the benefit of those unfamiliar with Hindi, ‘dhulai’ means a wash, and ‘dhobi ghat’ is where the laundry is done. Not only do you get informed about important happenings, but you also get language lessons. What a deal.}

You have to read the entire piece by Sandeep which is titled “Rohit Setalvad Owaisi Pradhan’s Perverse Communalism.” Below I just give you a sense of what it is about.
Continue reading “Sandeep Takes Rohit Pradhan to the Dhobi Ghat”

Here are a few items that caught my eye. One is an article in the Financial Express by the economist and labor peer Meghnad Desai. The other is a blog post by the incomparable @MediaCrooks.
Continue reading “It’s Easy to Be Right”

A recent tweet of mine & the associated picture. HT @shivsBHARAT

Computer prodigy, cyber activist and social justice activist Aaron Swartz died three weeks ago on Friday 11th Jan. He was just 26 years old. He killed himself in his Brooklyn NY apartment. Some have claimed that he was driven to his death by government prosecution — and indeed persecution. There are many reasons to mourn his death but the most important from my point of view is what could be the government’s role in this tragedy and therein lies the importance of this entirely pointless tragedy. Lawrence Lessig calls it bullying and Aaron’s family called it the “prosecutorial overreach” by the Massachusetts US attorney’s office. That’s serious for a number of reasons. But first, here’s the background.
Continue reading ““Let us weep” for Aaron Swartz”

Someone, I forget who, recently tweeted “Happy Banana Republic Day.” It is funny and tragic since it cuts so close to the truth. If it isn’t already a banana republic, India is well on its way to become one under the stern guiding hand of an Italian lady ably assisted by loathsome sycophants like Digvijaya Singh and Sushilkumar Shinde, people who can easily be mistaken to be spokespersons for the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. What’s leading India down that path? My answer is simple: democracy. Give any democracy enough time and it is likely to degenerate into a banana republic. Well, you may ask, what was the alternative? The alternative was to make sure that India was a republic and not a democracy.
Continue reading “Happy Banana Republic Day”

Today is Jan 23rd, the birthday of Subhas Chandra Bose, also known as Netaji, who was born in 1897 on this day. Thinking about him and what he stood for, I realized that I don’t know the answer to a simple question that is of great significance for India.
Continue reading “A Simple Question on Subhas Jayanti”

In a previous post, “Where to be Born,” I had written “There’s something toxic about the Indian subcontinent. (Hint: it has something to do with a desert religion.)” Addressing that point, Vickram commented —
Continue reading “Where to be Born — Follow up”

I had named the first blog I ever had way back in 2001 when I was at UC Berkeley, “Life is a Random Draw.” It was in recognition of the fact that the endowment we are born with (and where) is something that we have no control over; it is truly a random draw from the great big pack of cards in the sky. You are stuck with this naturally inherited set and it powerfully determines your destiny. But wait, there’s more. What you can do with your natural endowment is limited by the environment you find yourself in — that too is random.
Continue reading “Where to be born”