What's in a name!

Haircuts on a Sunday morning are always pleasant affairs. And if the morning is wintery with a bit of chill and a lot of sunshine, the walk to the barber’s can indeed be an exhilarating experience. Besides it also sets the mind racing as experienced by me today.

The first street of importance on the way was the “Nyaya Marg” that made me wonder whether the existence of this street has any relevance to the state of affairs in so far as dispensation of justice in this country is concerned.  The second was the “Satya Marg” or the street of truth. For a nation and its constituents steeped in lies, it appeared to be a travesty of truth in the land of Mahatma, to be naming streets after his biggest quality without really meaning it. The third was the “Niti Marg” or the street of propriety that was also out of sync with the daily happenings in the nation. The fourth was the “Shanti Path” that houses embassies of various nations deeply involved in acts of violence.

And the fifth and the most interesting of them all was the “Vinay Marg” on which lie the houses of many senior bureaucrats who contrary to sentiment conveyed by the name of the street they reside in  lack even basic courtesies in their dealings with the commoners. Even “Satya Sadan” ostensibly the houses of the truthful have many whose integrity apparently is not above board.

Can mere naming of streets inculcate value systems in a society seemingly devoid of it and the mandarins of the nation should indeed be doing much more than that in their half hearted attempts at nation building. The attempts at renaming are however even more blasphemous with Connaught place becoming Rajiv Chowk, Victoria Terminus becoming Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Madras becoming Chennai, Bombay becoming Mumbai and Calcutta Kolkatta. What are we aiming to achieve by these exercises I wonder?

Perhaps these are symptoms of a nation aspiring for a feeling of achievement in fancy ceremonies associated with these silly pranks of naming and renaming, pranks that we used to indulge into as children.

Amen!

A nation outraged!

Another rape in the metropolis and a ghastly one at that and the police is once again on the mat. The outrage over the incident poured onto the streets and the media and rightly so. The masses at large feel outraged and cheated, outraged over the sheer beastly nature of the incident and cheated over their right to a free and safe movement within the confines of the capital of the nation, right that needs to be guaranteed by the state meant to provide proper governance.

The Delhi police, one of the finest police forces in the nation is once again in the firing line. Perhaps they have been in the firing line so often, that by now they would have realized that the heat would melt away in a few days, anyway with the election results round the corner. The moot question however remains is whether the police could have prevented what happened and whether they are to be blamed to the extent they are actually being.

While watching the debate on Times Now yesterday, I could not help but commiserate over the plight of the young joint commissioner of police who obviously like all bureaucrats with little real authority over his domain had to respond to uncomfortable charges. I could visualize his request for additional force and police control vans doing the rounds of the great Indian bureaucratic system that does not fully authorize those accountable. I was also aghast at the attitude of some of the participants who were not in favour of capital punishment that indeed may prove to be the biggest deterrent for such crimes against humanity. Perhaps physical castration may be the best bet.

I often wonder how one sector of the massive governance machinery excel in isolation when the efficiency of the entire tantra is below par. When shall all of us who are a part of the tantra start appreciating that authority and accountability have to be in matched sets for delivery to be possible. Unfortunately empowerment and systemic improvements remain a utopian dream as much in the police as in the rest of the system.

Is it not unfortunate that merely beating around the bush is what keeps most of us in the sarkari tantra occupied? In the absence of adequate empowerment, quick decision making processes and complex contractual mechanisms topped up by a fair sprinkling of mistrust inherent in the governance machinery, we are indeed getting a taste of our own medicine!

Nation building requires the toil of generations and unfortunately we never toiled. The society is indeed at the receiving end of what it deserves.

Thanedar certifies!

Thanedar ne achha character certificate de diya.

Yes. The division is on a new high after receiving hearty appreciation from a most unlikely source, the office of the Comptroller & Auditor General of India. The CAG in its much awaited report on the "CWG loot" released on the 5th of August, while severely castigating every department involved with the games, has found sufficient reasons for showering lavish praise on the railways for the work done in improving the New Delhi Railway Station.

After the National award conferred by the Ministry of Tourism, Govt of India for the excellent work done at the station, this praise has further reinforced the belief that despite the rampant sloth, all is not lost yet and sarkari agencies that appreciate good work have not yet ceased to exist.

My skeptism on sarkari matters may also reduce in due course, courtesy the objectivity of the CAG observations.

And this new high has the possibility to spur us to achieve further excellence in the various spheres of activities indulged into by the Delhi division of the Indian Railways. Insha Allah!

Hot seat-cold media

My seat proved to be too hot on the 15th of May 2010, when 2 people died and 8 got injured in the commotion at the New Delhi Railway station. The incident emerged as the national story for the day and the day after. The headlines were sensational as the entire blame for the incident was passed on by the media on the railways, even though the truth was otherwise. The incident, as was evident from the litter at the site and also the version of the bystanders at the platform, was triggered by a commotion on the staircase, possibly due to someone or his luggage falling over. But it caused a commotion in the large crowd and a bit of a stampede resulting in the deaths and injuries. The change of platform issue was immaterial as the "island" was the same and any sane person would appreciate the difference between switching trains on the same island and on different islands. But sanity on such occasions is a rare commodity. A lesson for me.

I somehow, against the counsel of my friends and well wishers always had a very good image of the media in general, possibly due to the outstanding support I got from a large section of them during my tense moments in crucial postings. But this experience was different. Somehow it appeared that the mandate of the media was to sensationalize triviality, and not focus on the truth. The mandate was also to bash the sarkari tantra, that is clumsy of course, but not capable enough to be faulted for everything under the sun. And perhaps the triviality and the bare truth would not be appealing to the common man who bored by his ordinary life, looks for sensationalism in the papers and the TV and also films.The common man was being served what he wanted to see, not the truth or a fair analysis and that is what hurts.

A real learning experience for me, yet I would not like to live it again.