The first decade of the new millennium draws to a close. A rather angry, volatile and capricious decade. Sprinkle some unpredictability as a topping. Overall, not too many pleasant memories to cheer us up. On the contrary, too many gruesome, gory pictures remain imprinted in the mind-the senseless killings in Afghanistan, Iraq and the cold blooded slaughter of the Palestinians keeps us awake at night. The pictures of the ravaging Tsunami across the east, the devastation in Pakistan, Haiti are still vivid. Then we had the mighty Katrina swallowing all that came its way. The flotillas being attacked by the Israelis was another blot on humanity. In brief, a rather bloody and chilling decade.
However, what is more alarming to me is the attitude of nations. This , to me , is more hurting than anything else. Julian Assange may not have thrown anything sensational as yet. But he has exposed the mindset of nations. Especially the big and powerful and how they reek of arrogance with little remorse as they trample the weak. The supercilious, haughty, and dismissive view of the so called elite League of Nations has shown that nothing has change over the centuries. Still the strong chews the weak albeit under the garb of providing a helping hand! 2010 witnessed the same air of the strong roaring with disdain. Their condescending attitude , though camouflaged with sweet exterior, is disgusting. So much for civilization and a civilized civil society!
India , save for the sportsmen, could have said, a decade to forget! If it were not for our “ men/women in shining armour”, we would have been drowned in the deluge let loose by the Narender Modis, Rajas, Radias, Chavans, Yedurappas and the Bangaru Laxmans. In India Kautilya was the first person to mention the forty ways of embezzlement in his famous Kautilya’sArthashastra during the ancient Mauryan Times (321-296 BC). Today, our politicians have perfected these forty and keep adding new ones by the dozen! The scams horizon is big and wide and cuts across political parties, professions, regions and so on! The CWG, the Satyam, the cash for question, the housing loan scams, the AICTE, the MCI….The list is steep, endless. To quote a survey by S Daniel Rathinaraj , “commodities of greater value are bartered for those of small value; what is of smaller value is bartered for one of greater value; price of commodities enhanced; price of commodities lowered; number of nights increased; number of nights decreased; the year not in harmony with its months; the month not in harmony with its days; inconsistency in the transactions carried on with personal supervision, misrepresentation of the source of income; inconsistency in giving charities; incongruity in representing the work turned out; inconsistency in dealing with fixed items; misrepresentation of test marks or the standard of fineness (of gold and silver); misrepresentation of prices of commodities; making use of false weight and measures; deception in counting articles; and making use of false cubic measures such as bhájan - these are the several ways of embezzlement.”
Ketan Parekh was probably the one who started the scams roll for the decade with his scam which hit the stock market where it really hurt! We still have a couple of days to go for the New Year, a new scam of unforeseen proportion can hit us any time!
The so called saviours of society-the Journos-too had their hands full. Well, they probably always were-but this time the lid just blew away! But they are tough nuts and they faced the world with dour grit and determination. Almost making one believe that the poor souls have been hugely wronged , targeted and victimized and that they are as clean as a new born soul!
Tendulkar and Saina bring solace to our scams riddled nation. They and a bunch of really talented and professional sportsmen/women bring honour and prestige. They provide hope and succour. They give us belief that India is still a proud nation. They give India the strength to go up the ladder. Long live the sportsmen of Bharat!
But strange it may sound, we are still the darling of the West! Obama, Cameroon and Sarkozy are dancing to our tune and even prepared to do a bhangra..if we so choose to demand! Even after all those pan spit photos of the common wealth village screaming across the globe, even the Chinese are prepared to waltz! Man Mohan Singh has been a let down. If only he had played his cards as well as he can, India would have been the judge in “Jhalak Dikhla Jaa’ being competed between Merkel, Sarkozy, Obama ,Cameroon and who( Hu Jintao) and when ( Wen Jiabao)!
Singh Saheb, you still can. But for that, you have to step out and take the bull by the horns.
Saree ka palloo chodna padega……khud qadam uthana hoga!
