Horn NOT OK Please!

There is so much nonsense on social media these days that I almost felt like an idiot keying in these thoughts.

But then I recalled this line I once saw on a T-shirt — and it made me smile and go ahead with this post. It read: “I may be an idiot but I’m not stupid.”

As you can possibly appreciate, it takes a little knowledge of English, some intelligence and a sense of humor to “get” the true import of those funny, satirical words.

While social media is full of English, especially of bombastic, jingoistic and highfalutin type, the other two departments seem to be lacking in the upper storeys of most.

Take the current fulminations about politics and politicians.

I can see a lot of angry young-and-old men-and-women write black-and-white, this-that, either-or posts.

“Oh, so you are a Congress libtard, that’s why you say so!”

“But Modi bhakts would not understand.”

“Kejriwal is the only honest politician left, but nobody allows him to work.” 

I squirm uncomfortably, sometimes clenching my teeth and often scratching or shaking my head, even as the lies, damn lies and statistics lie all around me that no Swachh Bharat or broom can sweep clean.

The worst part of this cacophony going on in social is that the gazillions of Indians who WILL VOTE (and decide the fate of candidates equal to or worse than them) can neither read what has been written nor care. (Sad, for they wouldn’t read this either, but hey, this one is for YOU.) They will go by the advice or diktats of their local leaders, bahubalis (disgusting use of a word to mean goondas), mullas, monks, pandits, padris —or whoever holds influence in their respective biradaris!

Meanwhile, in the television studios of the country, pictures of three, four, five, six, seven and sometimes even eight or more “talking heads” will keep popping up on your screen. It will be a continuous, abominable scream. Cheekha-chilli, with every political party rep brazening it out like a Sheikh Chilli.

And the crux of their argument? “We are not as bad as the folks from other parties are. Remember what they did when…” (Even if many of them have changed parties several times.)

I want to tell these guys: All of you are the worst. Unfortunately, you are all we got.

The best minds of the country have either been brain-drained to better economies or prefer to do good without jumping into politics or just watch this circus quietly from the sidelines.

Whoever comes to power is likely to grab it with both hands and restart the loot engine chugging and thugging along in this godforsaken country for decades and decades on end. (Also read: "India and the Morality of Corruption")

Looking at the politicians’ past record, I can guarantee you that long after the current elections are over:

- Cows will continue to roam the streets, eat plastic and roko rasta (rather than go to Rome and eat pasta — just for rhyme’s sake, for reason has long been butchered).

- There will be more hoardings about cleanliness everywhere but the shit and piss and dust and stink will continue to smother India right under our pinched noses (look at most public urinals in Delhi and Mumbai, for instance).

- The bewildered, brash, helpless, uneducated, TikTok-watching youth of this country will have no idea where to look for jobs — or how to do them properly if they happen to get them. (Skill India? Shut the F*ck up, go look at how many masters and doctors still apply for and agitate for peon-type jobs, not to mention the “unemployability” of our engineers.)

- States and the “strange caste of people” inhabiting them will continue to fight for backwardness and reservations.

- Farmers will continue to hang themselves under debt and distress — and politicos will continue to shed crocodile tears, insulting the reptiles in the process.

- Education will continue to be mistaken for school buildings and health, for insurance policies.

- Black money will continue non-demolished (and non-demonetized) like illegal structures and the so-called legal high-rises.

- Women will continue to be worshipped — and mocked and raped.

- Cases will continue to pile up in courts and criminals will continue to get the benefit of doubts (and power touts).


So, don’t be stupid. Remember this popular line of Hindi TV anchors: “Iss hamaam mein sabhi nangey hain.” (Everyone is naked in this bath-house.)

It’s another matter that viewers have also noticed that it is these same anchors who put more soap into the slippery hands of those shameless bathers, causing more froth and bubble to emerge.

Will this bubble ever burst?

I think I’m being rationally non-exuberant.

NOTA-chance.

“Khatam” (The End)

So, What Kind of Ashamed or Proud Indian Are You?

I do not remember exactly when but sometime in the past 10-15 years or so, a phrase caught the fancy of people in India. “Mera Bharat mahan,” it said in Hindi, meaning, “My India is great.”

This happened much before the current ruckus around Prime Minister Modi’s remark to the effect that Indians have turned from being ashamed to proud in the past one year (presumably under his rule). The social media largely took it as an insult that the insinuation was that Indians were an ashamed lot before they elected him and his party BJP to power. The hashtag #ModiInsultsIndia started trending furiously.

The two “items” above are somewhat related and symptomatic of a virulent divide that can be seen playing out on social media, in various clubs and other platforms, among different “stripes” of Indians.

The arguments are seen flying thick and fast, without much justification or civilized discussion, often taking an ugly, unintended or tangential turn. The prevailing attitude is: my way or the highway.

Let’s first see the different sides of people in India.

One side, let’s call it Side A, comprises a small majority that wears its pride on its weapons of noise and nuisance. Some in media call them the “saffron brigade” but I find it silly to use the otherwise nice and healthy moniker “saffron” (which represents the color as well as the substance) for a motley bunch of trouble-makers. Members of Side A keep coming up with inane remarks or pronouncements once in a while, usually with distorted notions of what being a Hindu means and often with little or no impact on the society at large. (But the media adds turbo aviation fuel to their puny fires and makes the whole affair seem like a conflagration. More on media in the Side D part below.)

On another side are the majority of “common” people, Side B. In India you can see them everywhere: on railway platforms, in bustling markets (not malls), in buses, toiling in the fields or at construction sites, in factories and offices, and several other places where “the milling crowds” can be spotted. They belong to multiple religions. One way to define their commonality might be that the wealth manager of a bank wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole. Constituting 70 to 80% of Indian population, they are primarily busy worrying about the next meal or sticking to their work or job. Mostly, they have no business about this “proud Indian” thingy.

Let’s call the political class, Side C. What? Why are you laughing?? It’s we, people of the page, who have elected them (in whatever fallacious ways democracy works in India). With two of them, Arvind Kejriwal and Narendra Modi, hopes of positive change surged among the electorate in recent times—but more recent events concerning both these “special characters” are quickly dashing those hopes into the dust. (Now a third character, a curious sort, is going around on padyatras (walking journeys) after taking a two-month-long holiday and flip-flopping about what he should be doing or should not be doing—and the eyes of the nation are watching his handsome face with bewilderment mixed with suspicion or sycophancy, take your pick).

[Also read: Why Kejriwal is right about being scared?]

It is an open secret in India how its political class has failed every test: be it making India an egalitarian society, controlling population (or pollution, for that matter), achieving self-sufficiency in defense or technology, or any other parameter of the human development index. Yes, there’s one thing they have excelled in: filling their own coffers and making sure their next seven generations are taken care of, especially at the cost of common citizens they are supposed to “serve.”

[Also read: An Open Letter to Indian PM Narendra Modi]

Side D can be considered to comprise media folk (for the sake of simplicity, I’m including both mainstream and social, though it’s not so simple, I know). Barring some very, very few kindred souls, whose hearts ache for real, investigative reportage (though they may not be able to produce much “journalism” for want of financial or editorial patronage), the majority are happy-go-lucky, shouting, rash, brash, prejudiced, hurried and harried types. The kind you see on TV shoving mikes in people’s faces for “bites,” or trying to out-shout a battery of “personalities” speaking simultaneously in ominous voices from small squares on the screen, or the ones belting out quickie articles without much thought or corroboration of facts...You get my point, right.

The growing, prosperous class of entrepreneurs, businessmen and industrialists can make up Side E. They are not bothered about who is in power: they want electrical power for their machinery. They are not bothered about corruption: they want their things done. They are increasingly losing patience for long-term planning: they want quick results (read money). To be fair, there are a few conscientious, honest guys (and gals) in this category, but they are too few in number and just too difficult to find, especially in a “developing” India.

The majority on Side E are like the storied baniya (person of a caste in India thought to be shrewd at business since old times) who told Yamraj (an Indian deity said to appear at the time of one’s death, a la Grim Reaper) when the latter asked him whether he would like to go to heaven or hell: “Jahan do paise ka fayada ho wahan le chalo bhai!” (“Take me wherever there’s some profit to be made!”)

I have often seen such businessmen chant “Mera Bharat mahan” with an impish twinkle in their eye rather than pride in their heart.

There’s another, much smaller class, though. Side F defies stereotypical categorization but you can be sure they do exist. I’m not supporting or endorsing anyone, but I’m talking of the Anna Hazares, the E Sreedharans, the MS Dhonis, the Khemkas of India who are doing what they must to salvage, nurture or enhance whatever pride India is left with after centuries of foreign rule, exploitation, ignorance and misdirection. Here I would also include people with some sense of discretion and a modicum of education and decency in their head who can perceive all the histrionics going on at the moment. They may lack monetary means or political capital or influence but they have wisdom in ample supply.

Sure, there are overlaps and inter-connections among the above sides. But the point is, before you go batty over the question of hurt pride, you may want to look at which side you are on. And, along with that, consider how you would like to answer these questions:

* Who are the people in India who have the right to take pride in being Indian?
* What are the specific things to take pride about India—from its glorious past as well as its jumbled present?
* Is there a proud future for India as a whole in the next 10, 20, 30 years? (Don’t quote GDP only, please!)
* What are the various ways in which that pride can be hurt? Which of those ways are most harmful to India in terms of real impact? How much time should be spent on discussing minor hurts versus that spent on taking effective measures?

Maybe it’s high time we stopped getting on our high horses every now and then and, instead, started putting things in their right perspective. No short-cuts but long, even arduous pathways; no slanging matches but exchanging well-reasoned arguments; no shouts, nor murmurs but just the right tone to convey the right sense of pride in the right context.

An Open Letter to Indian PM Narendra Modi

Dear Narendra,

I’m addressing you with your first name even though you are the Prime Minister of India. This I’m doing after taking a cue from you during Barack’s recent visit to India (Barack, as you very well know, is the President of the United States of America, also known by the quaint acronym POTUS, especially, I’m told, by the legions of security personnel who protect him from known unknowns, unknown knowns or whatever…you get it, right?).

I hope you now have some breathing space from your jet-setting schedule and from entertaining world-renowned guests to tea at expansive lawns, amid the sharing of stories of courage and hardship from your childhood and youth. You, like your bespoke tailoring suit, rock, man! I know this because you yourself have told everyone loud and clear at multiple forums.

And even though you have tried to share your Mann ki Baat (matter from the heart) on state-sponsored radio, something tells me you are hiding a lot deep down your 56-inch chest.

In all possibility, this hiding may be causing you undue pain, pain that is hidden from this cruel world that only knows to laugh at, ridicule and criticize politicians rather than show any empathy.

The other day, I overheard a bunch of wealthy businessmen chuckling at your discomfort. One of them remarked, “Bechara Modi! (Poor Modi) He must be sick and tired of one or the other of the Sangh Parivar making some religiously loaded or divisive comment every now and then. If this goes on, his economic agenda will be derailed sooner than Kejriwal can change his mind!”

As of writing this post, Kejriwal hasn’t but Rahul Gandhi, the scion of India’s long-ruling Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty, is probably thinking of changing his mind about something critical in his life—perhaps because he couldn’t change the sinking fortunes of the Congress party in the last general election.

But then I digress, so let’s come back to you…

You apparently set in motion a Modi wave that swept through the poor country that India is. The millions of jobless youth, tens of thousands of entrepreneurs whose businesses were suffering because of UPA-II’s scams and indecisions (and the handful of mega-industrialists who had billions riding on that wave), among countless other voters, brought you and your party to power.

It’s possible that the pain in your chest is a manifestation of all the unfulfilled election promises. And it doesn’t help that your poll prospects from the rest of India (after Delhi) wherever elections are due are seen to be declining.

I know you have tried hard to package old Congress wine of policy schemes and structures into swankier new bottles but, unfortunately, many people want results, not hangovers.

Every now and then, there are comments from one business tycoon or the other, including some international credit rating agency, that the prospects of growth have begun to look good for India. But there are contrary opinions as well.

At least one industry shouldn’t be complaining: media. I have seen your ads on innumerable pages of newspapers, on hoardings all over the city, on so many websites where you would least suspect them to appear, and wherever there has been space to accommodate your well-bearded, avuncular face. And I have not yet reached the state of naiveté where I can believe that the media moguls have given you space for free because they are all Modi bhakts (devotees) or consider splattering those ads an act of patriotism.

Let us get this straight: I’m all for ads because they affect me too, for I’m also part of the media industry. But I think spending on building toilets and recycling waste will be more effective than saying, “Clean India, Clean India!” or “Swachh Bharat, Swachh Bharat!” a hundred thousand times.

Allow me to take just one example: I sometimes use the public loos in Delhi where a lot of swanky urinals were installed in ex-CM Sheila Dixit’s tenure (around Commonwealth Games I think). But hell, there is no water or flushing system and people just keep pissing into the ceramic receptacles ad nauseam.

Would it be possible to divert some of the tidal water from the Modi wave to flush out the filth in the capital’s urinals? (Other cities and towns would be worse off, I presume, and also in need of urgent watery intervention).

Another instance where I can speak from personal experience is the poor state of data connectivity. While your government has quickly launched some websites and your social media machinery is quite active, those gestures do not a Digital India make. I know, I know, other initiatives are in the works—but my fear is that as far as broadband connectivity in India is concerned, it has been always in the works for the past 10-15 years (many other “comparable” nations, meanwhile, have zoomed past India in “digital index”).

Narendra bhai, everyone knows your full name and that you are the PM of India by now. Ab naam ki nahi, kuchh kaam ki baat chalu karo! (Now start talking of the work rather than the name.)

I know you sleep fewer hours than many of your other, able-bodied political brethren. But please remember that hundreds of millions of Indians still sleep on an empty stomach. And those who do get their fill, still have no choice but to empty it in the open.

As of now, shit is one of the biggest things we make in India. The pun, though unfortunate, is intended.

You must fix a lot of things before India can proudly unleash its “lion” out in the world for its roar to be heard.

Maybe you can start by doing more and saying less.

Why Kejriwal is Right about Being Scared

Amid the ton-loads of news and analysis and comments and congratulations and long faces is one from Arvind Kejriwal that says, “I’m scared” of the thumping victory he and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have got in Delhi’s assembly elections today.

Kejriwal has urged his party-workers not to be arrogant. If anyone, it’s he who knows very well that all the tall promises made by AAP to the people of Delhi to come to power are only too difficult to fulfill.

Not that other parties don’t make tall promises or fail in making good on them. But being the poster boy of anti-corruption and cleanliness, Kejriwal and, by extension, AAP will be under intense scrutiny more than any leader or party has ever been.

Today morning, before the results (and congrats and insults) started pouring in, when I asked a fruit seller as to whom did he vote for, his answer was as cryptic as it was practical: “Whoever wins in the election, I have voted for them!”

There is no doubt that Kejriwal and AAP have wised up in a similar fashion since last year’s short-lived fling with power when he was CM for 49 days (though it is rather strange that a so-called rationalist party wants to wait for 4 days to anoint him CM again so it could coincide with Valentine’s Day, the very day last year when Kejriwal relinquished the CM’s post so famously or infamously).

This year they left no stone unturned, to use a stoned-to-death cliché, to make sure more people wear AAP caps and hit the voting machine on the broom button (broom being their election symbol).

That’s why even as the victory bugles are being sounded, the really observant people will be wary of Kejriwal’s and his wide swath of supporters and think: “Kahin phir se topi to nahi pehnai?” (He hasn’t defrauded us of our trust again, has he?)

But there is a strange disconnect I’m feeling this time. While last time, the play was completely on rooting out corruption (with the help of Lokpal Bill, among other vigilant measures)—and there was a visible effect in terms of the average government Joe refraining from asking for bribes or even refusing when voluntarily offered—this time it’s largely been the largesse: “Bijli haaf, paani maaf” (electricity for half the rate, water for free). And then throw in 15 lakh CCTVs for security and widely available Wi-Fi.

As I write these lines, there are blazing horns and hoots of victory by unemployed youth (most likely uneducated, too) parading in cars outside. In all probability, they could do with education and jobs more than being the proud recipients of a freeloader economy (which doesn’t and cannot work anywhere in the world).

What’s more, whether the new victory will result in the same impact of people being fearful of indulging in corruption will soon become clear.

For their part, Narendra Modi and his chief aide Amit Shah were not only arrogant but messed up anything they possibly could. That an I-me-myself Modi strutted around on Rajpath in an offensively expensive suit embroidered with his name this 26 January and whose noises and travels far outweighed his previously expressed intentions or work of nation-building—that, and more, certainly did not help.

Personally, if you ask me, I would have liked both Narendra Modi and Kejriwal to team up against the scam-ridden era of Congress and work together for a truly clean, pro-development India. 

Don’t laugh, if Kiran Bedi, who stood with Kejriwal alongside Anna Hazare’s India Against Corruption/Jan Lokpal movement could turn around and join BJP as its CM-candidate, and if Kejriwal, who launched himself into the political sphere by directing his “cough” stance against Sheila Dikshit, could look the other way and set Modi in his sights instead—then, well, then, anything can happen.

Like Kejriwal, I’m scared too—and I have my own reasons. I just hope Kejriwal rises up to the occasion and make a positive difference to all Delhiites.

Here’s my suggested to-do list:

- Quickly launch an investigation into the funding of ALL political parties (including the mysterious donations received by AAP and the cash but undisclosed funds of BJP and Congress).

- Start work on recovering the scam money from the hugely bloated budget of Commonwealth Games.

- Install correct-reading meters (this he will do for sure, I think).

- Put a final stop to the flip-flop on which colonies to authorize and which to raze (so that other political parties cannot offer them authorization next time).

- Put a stop to the practice of paving, re-paving and re-re-paving the already well-paved roads in and around VIP areas; instead try and correctly fill the large potholes on roads in non-VIP areas that are mysteriously stubborn to be repaired.

- Put a stop to the RO water supply mafia that’s not only a nuisance but a bane to the environment—and provide clean water (c’mon, he can charge a bit, okay).

- Focus on solar energy, as Delhi gets abundant sun and the cost of solar is coming down.

- And last but not least, if he really believes most industrialists are corrupt and in cahoots with existing political parties (which most people know is true), put them in jail; and now that AAP is the political party in power in Delhi, stop being in cahoots with *other industrialists* who manage to stay out of jail under his investigative watch.

Sri Sri, Kejriwal, Modi - aur aap, the voter

The political climate in India has been highly charged in the past few months, to say the least.

There are different types of camps: of people who staunchly support one of the three top bigwigs/parties (Modi of BJP, Rahul of Congress and Kerjriwal of AAP); of those who are taking a party-specific approach irrespective of candidates--and vice versa; and those who are pulling their hair out on whom to choose for the coming elections.

The debates are fierce, the arguments and counter-arguments vehement and the tripartite mud-slinging distasteful--on social, anti-social, local, global and all types of wobbly media.

I was watching all this uproar, trying to make up my own mind as a voter (as a journalist I'm avowed not to side with any party), when I came across an eloquently written piece by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar of The Art of Living in Hindustan Times.

Before I go on, a disclaimer is in order: I have undergone the basic course of AOL and do Sudarshan Kriya regularly and have personally benefited from it in physical and mental well-being. But I have heard contradictory accounts of Sri Sri and AOL (not unlike what you hear of politicians) and I neither support nor denounce them blindly.

Like my new-found interest in politics and spirituality, I'm exploring the options. But then, I digress...

In his opinion article, which is provocatively titled "AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal has left the country choiceless," Ravi Shankar relates how AAP and Kejriwal started with the noble mission of rooting out corruption and giving voice to millions of Indians who are sick and tired of corrupt and criminally tainted politicians. And how they subsequently got consumed with political ambitions of their own and are no longer proving to be different from the political class they seek to dethrone.

He also writes that "While Gujarat may not be 100% corruption-free, I have no hesitation in saying that it is much better than what it used to be. Instead of being honest with facts, Kejriwal has chosen to put down BJP’s prime ministerial candidate and Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi on flimsy grounds," referring to Kerjriwal's high-octane four-day visit to Gujarat in which he hurled criticism at Modi at the slightest opportunity.

Talking about his own visits to the state in the 1990s and comparing them to the situation now, Ravi Shankar says the situation in the Modi-ruled state has improved visibly in infrastructure and economic terms.

Coming from someone of the stature of Sri Sri, the assessment is sure to lend credibility and godspeed to Modi's campaign and promise of taking the governance experiment in Gujarat to the national level (if he becomes PM, of course).

Personally, I have also heard contradictory views on to what extent Modi has been able to make a difference to the infrastructure as well as the people of the state in his three terms as chief minister.

All the same, I'm astonished at the apocalyptic statements issuing forth from the mouths of a whole battery of politicians, religious groups and others on what will happen if Modi does become the prime mover of a country of 1.3 billion people. They depict an inferno-like situation, riots, wholesale destruction, and what not.

It is arguable that Modi's conscience should prick more (than to the extent it has) at the loss of innocent lives in riots that happened in the aftermath of the train-burning incident in Gujarat. Court cases have gone on for long and disputes about Modi/administration's role in handling the situation are still arising. But on Modi becoming PM, to say things like "Aag lag jayegi"?!

Crazy.

When the Aam Aadmi Party initially entered the scene (following its split from the Anna Hazare anti-corruption/Lokpal movement which itself was an amazing sight to watch, though it peaked in a whimper), I could feel a sense of rejuvenation in the electorate, especially the youth and white-collar workers. To its credit, AAP and Kejriwal brought corruption to the forefront as a political issue and impressed a whole swathe of Indians with their candor, nimble thinking and swift mobilisation.

But when the ticket-giving for seats began, many of the candidates have been found to be of dubious record or get-elected-quick types who just want to ride the AAP wave.

So again, what we have is a mish-mash of (mostly) bad apples to choose from--be it AAP, BJP or Congress.

So, in a way, Ravi Shankar is right in saying that the initial promise of better choice exhibited by AAP is dissolving into a haze of disillusionment and hunger for power.

I think a lot of people will make their choice thus: since there are no best or even good choices, they might try opting for the "least bad" as per their perception, media projection and past experience or record.

If the prevalent view is that Congress has ruled the country for the maximum number of years (first without and then with alliances) AND India is a messier country than it was 60 years back, most people would certainly vote against the party.

Many would not vote at all or caste their vote for nobody (not sure if the ballot allows that option).

Unfortunately, a huge mass of Indian humanity would just choose whoever was in their good books on election eve (gifts, liquor, freebies, etc.)

"Choiceless," did Sri Sri say?

Anna, Corruption and the Development Equation

We must look at the whole development structure, and not just corruption, if the mess called “India” needs to be set right


It is a dumbfounding moment for a lot of Indians. This Anna Hazare thing and the whole idea of a nation suddenly up in knots against corruption.

Most people are beginning to feel that the Jan Lokpal Bill as envisaged by Team Anna will rid India of the cancer of corruption – to a significant extent. Some feel the Sangh Parivar is ready to ride on the back of the moment – and the movement. Yet others are trying frantically to save a government from whose cupboard the skeletons of corruption just can't stop coming out.

While corruption has become a buzz word, a love-hate word, a cure-all and curse-all word, I think it might not be a bad idea to look at the whole development equation and see where corruption – and we, a nation of billion-odd people, including oddest ones – fit in.

Let me warn you: this could be a longer article than the mostly asinine tweets and cut-and-paste status updates fast gaining currency as our preferred mode of conversation rather than well-considered and longish pieces of writing. So if you are just looking for some sound bytes, scoot away now! Please.

So, what does the whole development equation look like?

This questions is directly and significantly related to corruption, so just think it over.

To my mind, to embrace development in today's fast, technologically advanced and increasingly rights-aware world is to ensure these things: people are able to feed and clothe themselves, children get to play and learn the things they find interesting, adults get to work and get paid in fair proportion to their abilities and labor, and there's a speedy and reasonably fair system of settling disputes and administering justice.

What we have in the world today is this: a huge proportion of humanity goes to sleep on a hungry stomach; each year thousands of poor people die in heat or cold waves for want of proper clothing and shelter; millions of children are malnourished, millions more are child-laborers who hardly get to play anything, let alone learn about interesting things; most people have to settle for whatever they get for the back-breaking work they do (with only a few complaining about salaries and weekends – and still fewer making noises on taxes directed at the really wealthy); and justice is either out of reach for most, too delayed or simply putty in the hands of the powerful.

When you consider these parameters of development in third-world countries like those of sub-Saharan Africa or India (not very different if you look at the bottom two-third of the pyramid), you find that the development situation is truly appalling.
And yet...

Yet there is development happening. Can't you see, there are malls sprouting all around suburbia? Didn't you read about the 20 or so Bentley cars sold in India? Haven't you seen advertisements of bathroom fittings that promise to drench your body with hundreds of liters of water in a single shower? (Okay, the ads don't say anything about how much water is needed to “enjoy water” with those fancy fittings, but you could make out, couldn't you?) And hey, didn't you hear about the new shampoos for your dogs launched by that cult multinational brand?

Truly, there must be a lot of people out there willing to bathe their doggies in exotic shampoo? Or installing a thousand-dollar shower and taking a bath themselves instead? And don't you forget all those vacations in picture-perfect locales that the papers are so aggressively promoting through ads and articles (I forget which is which these days.)

So the top one, two or five percent of an economy is full of all these people – the mega consumer-owners who keep the bulldozing engines of “modern” development going on. And they get the economists to throw a beautifully coined term at anyone who raises an objection to this resource-hungry and environment-ravaging model of development: the “trickle-down effect” that reaches the common man.

The bottom 95 percent? Most of them just manage to keep alive, a majority never having any real chance of shopping in the same mall they helped build with their own hands. And a not-so-big-as-made-out chunk, the neither-here-nor-theres of the world, the enamored middle classes, looks up dreamily at the owners-superconsumers and aspires to reach there some day. But most never do.

The result is a gaping structural deformity in development. Which means a tiny portion of people enjoy all the luxuries of the world, a significant number work blindly for money in the hope of making it big, but the astonishing majority barely scraping through life in unhygienic, depressing and impoverished conditions.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not against capitalism, if that's the idea you are getting from the above views. We've seen socialism fail miserably and the days of autocracy are long numbered. So capitalism or market economy is what we are left with essentially.

What I'm just trying to get at is the root cause of corruption and the enabling environment that helps it grow and enrich a few at the cost of so many.

At the heart of such an enabling environment are three things: natural resources, power and greed. Corruption results from the unholy mix of these three ingredients. In particular, when the legal and systemic structure of a country is not designed to take care of huge structural inequalities in development, corruption seeps in, becomes a flood and starts to boil the blood of the suffering millions.

The unholy mix of corruption, in which powerful people loot the natural resources of a country to largely distribute the wealth thus generated among themselves and throw some peanuts to the milling crowds, is not a new phenomenon. Right from the old colonial masters, be they the Spaniards or the British, down to the current power-brokers and “industrialists,” this loot has been going on for ages. Nothing seems to stop it. What can be realistically expected, perhaps, is that this loot somehow lessens to a tolerable level so that people at the bottom can breathe a little fresher air.

The current upsurge in India is an acknowledgment of the huge and multiple instances of rampant loot going on in the country for the past so many years. The worst part is that almost all political parties that make the so-called democratic polity of India have been caught with their hand in the till at one time or another. Which is why “the common man” has lost faith in the democratic process itself.

If you look at the candidates who fight elections, who are they? Most of them are goons, goondas, boors, hardened criminals, apathetic profiteers and so forth. Many of them are the already rich scions of political bigwigs or their proteges. A tiny minority might be sincere and honest, but there numbers are too few to make a big difference.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the natural resources of a country are limited. That is why, after the process of economic liberalization in India has gathered pace, there is an urgency among our political and owner-superconsumer class to quickly dispense the remaining resources (mines, land, etc.) and ensure their own further enrichment. If palms need to be greased to hasten that process, so be it! If inferior material can be bought at exorbitant costs to the exchequer (read to “you, me and other tax-payers”) but at enormous profits to those giving and receiving contracts for infrastructure and other “nation-building” exercises, why not? Such is the rationale of the corrupt.

And what happens in successive elections? The party or parties that come to power blame the previous regime for all the ills of governance, including corruption, lack of financing, poor decisions, etc. – and continue to line their own pockets while mouthing blames and expressing their own helplessness. Given that almost all parties in India shelter a growing flock of bad sheep in their midst, this cycle of blame and loot just keeps on repeating every five years.

And what development do we have at the end of the day? Oh, my God, don't ask me that! We have a monstrous situation in the country. But let me first talk about a few good things: there are some spanking new, world-class malls and office buildings, a huge number of automobile beauties are available for purchase, some expensive medical facilities have come up, a few lakh educated folk have found employment and there's a cornucopia of consumer goods out there in our urban markets.

Now, get ready for the not-so-good, bad and really ugly parts. There's muck and filth all around those swish malls. Muck and filth in large parts of our cities – on the roads, along the railway lines, around our very houses. Some posh localities and gated communities aside, the sheer amount of muck and filth is mind-boggling. If one were to weigh all that garbage in, say, Mumbai, it would perhaps equal half the waters of the Arabian Sea! Maybe more.

Come to the roads now. The Merc, the Alto and the cycle-rickshaw all stand side-by-side, trying to wiggle their way out of massive traffic jams. Flyovers have turned into nice places where cars crawl bumper-to-bumper, giving their occupants an opportunity to enjoy wide-angle views of their sprawling city – except nobody seems to be enjoying. The honking and heat and smoke are just all too annoying!

There have been many reports of the five-star-type hospitals charging exorbitant money and still not being able to provide the necessary healthcare to their customers. The poor are just turned away (despite the fact that many got land from the government at concessional rates in order that a certain number of poor can also avail of their facilities).

The increasing amount of burgers, pizzas and processed foods are making more and more Indians grow – their bellies, that is. And also grow the instances of diabetes and heart disease amongst them. Why do you think they are building all those expensive hospitals? All marketers have got their projections in place and are readying for the battle to fight diseases that the very pseudo development caused in the first place!

This whole development equation is coalescing around the few: the owners-superconsumers. Along with the politicians and bureaucrats, they are creating these development paradigms and profiting from it at the expense of millions and millions (for whose real uplift and betterment the public money should have been spent).

I can see the objections and the barrage of questions coming: At least more people today are well-off than at any other time in history. Wouldn't some inequalities creep in given the size and scale of our country? And then, what is the way out? Should we just live in shacks in villages? Shouldn't our children aspire to work and live in modern corporations in modern buildings in modern cities? What's wrong with having so many flavors of ice-cream? And how can we root out corruption?

Let me try and answer them in the best way I can.

I'm not against modernization or capitalism. And I love to experiment with flavors in ice-cream along with my kids.

I'm against the mess we have created in the name of development. Why I write strongly about all this is because much of it could have been avoided. Corruption is part of the problem but lack of a holistic vision and poor quality of leaders are bigger causes for this mess.

Why did our leaders throw open the flood-gates of economy without proper planning and preparation? How could we not learn from the mistakes of Western countries? If we had, a monster like Gurgaon should never have come to life. Why do we seem hell bent on aping the West, mostly guzzling their beer but not imbibing their spirit of freedom and justice?

Lokpal Bill may or may not cut down on corruption. But if we do not overhaul our existing laws and labyrinthine governance systems into simpler, speedier and more equitable ones, our development equation – and corruption situation – won't change much.

Over the past few days I have seen the resolve and sacrifice of a simple-minded – though sometimes confused – man, Anna Hazare. But he's already 74 and doesn't seem to have either the experience or the intent to play a larger and more active role in running the affairs of this country. His collaborators and team members seem well-meaning people but will the current political establishment allow them center stage once Anna's ongoing fast recedes into some complicated reconciliation?

To run a country as big and diverse as India, you need at least a dozen or so best minds who can review, change and execute our existing model of development. This will require an immense effort, honesty and perseverance of an order that would make Hercules' task seem tiny in comparison.

It will also require some radical thinking and steps on development: those that do not look at development as encouraging billions to crowd the roads with raucous cars but instead put more Metro tracks and create more walking space; those that include prevention of diseases and espousing a healthy lifestyle as essential elements of a nation's healthcare planning; that take systemic measures to ensure there's bathing water for every citizen and not bother too much about pricey faucets and showers; that rationally allocate natural resources to the production process for a more justifiable and environmentally friendly dispensation...

I hope that Jan Lokpal would be a right step in that direction, but I know that so much more is needed in India to set the course right. And I will be wary of what happens next. Won't you be?