Democracy or Sham?

While its good to see that the authors of worldaudit.org paint India with the same color as they have painted the ‘free’ world with, the truth is that there are many more colors than just the 3 shown here.

I also got a shock when I read that the economist rates India as a ‘flawed democracy’ hoping that it will give the giant democracy some credit for keeping itself a democracy for much of its time after freedom from the British.

And then I got hit with one news after another on the state of affairs in India’s democracy – a few of those are chronicled here..

So here is the latest news from the world of Indian Democracy.

For lack of motivation to connect the dots and make a paragraph using these stories, I am simply putting the headlines as they are. You can make what you want out of the stories. You can, laugh, cry, detest, dismiss, decry….. call your congressman, resign from citizenship …..debate, create, salivate, procrastinate or just ….deflate..

1) CPM finally cedes Arunachal to India http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/564017.cms or here.

Where else could this happen – but India. A national mainstream political party hesitating to call a part of India to be just that, a part of India. There is no cry of unpatriotic, irresponsible behavior, just dismissive nonchalance.

2) Birthday bash on the wrong tracks http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Lucknow/Birthday_bash_on_the_wrong_tracks/articleshow/533975.cms or here.

Till shameless leaders and there followers do such things, till there are enough and more people who stand and watch the other direction when such things are taking place, there could never be hope for the common man in the world of India and its politics.

So you see – World Audit and The Economist are not entirely off the mark – in fact they are pretty lenient – don’t you think so?

One from the ages!

Stumbled upon this photo in an old zip disk of mine. This photo of The Sydney Harbour Bridge was taken in August of 1999. Yes - that long ago. Taken from a ferry hauling me from Circular Quay. Where it was taking me - I dont remember. It was one of the last sight-seing trip of Sydney before embarking on a long flight to Washington DC. This photo was taken by an SLR camera - an analog one, I should mention. Canon Rebel XT to be precise.
This article in the NYT prompted me to go back and look at some of my own photos. But for the photos, and an occaissional email/phone from my friends and co-workers - that era is all a distant dream for me.
Sometimes I just wish I can go back again and see all the things that I saw in those 4 years of my life. Walk all those miles I walked to go do groceries at Franklins, catch the trains from Kingswood to the City, take the bus to North Ryde and back. Who knows - that chicken man might still be serving the most delicious chips and gravy. Who knows - I might bump into someone who recognize me there. Who knows ..
Sometimes when someone asks me my zip code - I, unconciously, blurt away - 2747. 

Drink more wine

“Researchers at the Harvard Medical School and the National Institute on Aging report that a natural substance found in red wine, known as resveratrol, offsets the bad effects of a high-calorie diet in mice and significantly extends their lifespan.”

Read here http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/01/science/02winecnd.html or

Here http://allthingsuseless.blogspot.com/2006/11/substance-in-red-wine-extends-life-of.html

So – eat more curry and drink more wine. Great!!