India and the Morality of Corruption

A scathing look at the state of corruption and its root causes in the world's largest de-Mock-racy

For the past few weeks, corruption has become a fashionable topic in India. Starting from Anna Hazare's fast over Lokpal Bill to Baba Ramdev's anti-black money drama, anyone who's got an opinion is voicing it stridently. There's a flood of opinions in electronic media, in the papers and on the chatter of Facebook and Twitter.

But all this brouhaha is the product of an increasingly and shamelessly corrupt nation. And it would hardly result in a major change in the way politicians and bureaucrats have been looting the country.

Before giving my reasons for saying so or suggesting any semi-cooked corruption-curing recipes of my own, let me state where my loyalties lie.

I'm neither with BJP-RSS-Sangh types nor with the Congress or its multiple splinter groups, nor with any just-for-name's-sake-group on any social networking site. I am with the proverbial and much-abused common man who, while all this media circus is going on, is busy carting a back-breaking load of supplies through our ramshackle markets.

I'm with the man who is trying to survive with meager earnings from his nondescript kiosk-shop. I'm with the girl who must hurry home if she doesn't want to be raped or teased and who hasn't got a chauffeur-driven car to take her home. I'm with the homeless beggar who is being harassed by the policeman and the gangster alike. I'm with the farmer whose irrigation water is diverted to serve five-star hotels and resorts...

In fact, I'm with about 700 million poor people of India who never understood the meaning of Shining India and probably never will.

Let me take you a little back in time. I'm not sure how many of you would appreciate it, but I grew up on an ample dose of all-round prosperity shown on Krishi Darshan (a government TV program). It was also taught in school books and preached through a state-controlled media.

I was under the impression that the founding fathers of this nation had done a great job by putting together a wonderful Constitution. And by following in the footsteps of our erstwhile rulers (the British), they kept a gargantuan bureaucracy as well-oiled as you would find in a spanking factory.

How was I to know that all that oil was actually grease, exchanging millions of palms for the enrichment of their owners alone? How was I to know that while our leaders threw out the tyrant rule of the British, they wittingly or unwittingly installed a draconian regime that thrived on abusing power?

I wouldn't bore you with all the details of a newly Independent, proud India with great leaders having a great vision for our great nation. But the bottomline is this: our population control measures have failed. Our aging infrastructure (much of it bequeathed to us by the British) is deteriorating. The sub-standard products made by our 'license raj' industrialists have mostly failed to stand against global competition (do a count of how many products we buy come from China and elsewhere). Our socialistic mutlipoint programs and hare-brained schemes have failed to give social security to the poor...

The list of failures just goes on and on.

But yes, we have succeeded in creating a vicious, greedy, bloated and extremely corrupt 'governance' system. And at the tentacled head of this system sits that obsequiously dynastic, shamelessly appeasing and pathetically spineless 'grand old party' – with a foreigner madame and a stooge of a man currently at the helm.

This otherwise useless party seemed to have done a good thing when it opened up the Indian economy in the early nineties. But, alas, it all came a cropper!

While the license raj was being disbanded, a new band of robbers and looters emerged – and they were of all forms and persuasions, comprising politicians, bureaucrats, land grabbers, deal brokers, thugs and curmudgeons.

This band set out in earnest to divvy up the natural and other resources of the country. They did it largely among themselves, but threw away some bits and pieces off and on for the rising middle, lower middle, lowest middle and god-knows-how-even-lower middle classes.

Some crazy statistics were rustled up about the benefits of all this 'wealth creation' trickling down to the lowest rungs of society. Never mind that the trickle has been nothing but a stinky obnoxious drain.

If you are stats oriented, chew these: more than 75% of Indian population has a purchasing power of less than Rs20 a day. Nearly half of Indian children are malnourished. About 110 million agricultural workers found employment for only 209 days in 2004-05 compared to 220 days in 1999-2000. Around 150 of India's 607 districts are engulfed in Naxalite movement. And while the much-touted GDP growth races ahead in the 7-9% range, employment growth has been a meager 1%...

In these twenty or so years of liberalization, one of the most 'liberalized' things in India has become honesty and integrity. While the slogan of India's freedom fighter Subhash Chandra Bose was “Tum mujhe khoon do, main tumhein azadi doonga” (You give me blood, and I'll give you freedom), the prevalent leitmotif in an increasingly corrupt India has become “Tum mujhe ghoos do, kyonki main kisi aur ko doonga!” (You better give me bribe, coz I gotta give it to somebody else.)

Mera Bharat mahaan, indeed! (My India is great.)

It is this ghooskhor or bribe-infested culture that seems to have captured the absconding imagination of a few lakh people (a handful in the colossus of India) all of a sudden.

Ask any businessman – from the local chaiwalla to the global Ambani – about the number of times they have to bribe the multiple power brokers in order to survive (in Ambani's case, thrive).

Ask the owners of the buildings in any Indian city (most of which are truly ugly and urgently in need of fresh air) whether they could have erected those eyesores without making “the authorities” turn a blind eye to their multi-storied plans?

Hell, ask yourself, would you be able to survive the daily horrors of getting a gas connection, registering a property, obtaining a government stamp of approval, securing school admission for your child and innumerable such “tasks” without paying any bribes to someone?

So, in a broader view of things, almost all of us are corrupt.

But the way in which the high and mighty are corrupt – and the way they engender this culture of corruption all around them – calls for special discussion.

Imagine a unit of society in which the head of that unit is corrupt. The unit could be a family, a resident welfare association, a local governing body, a state government or the central ruling formation. This head goes about lining their pockets at the expense of others, asks and permits others to do as they please so long as all those “involved” get their “cuts”, and generally remains unaffected by the misery of those way down below in the hierarchy. How do you think one can cure this unit of the curse of corruption?

By asking those at the bottom of the ladder to not pay bribes? By just complaining about the situation and the whole machinery? By pressing the Like button on someone's anti-corruption page?

No, dear reader, of course, not. And that's precisely what we the people of India seem to be doing. From the above example, I'm sure you would agree that the most effective way of making the unit corruption-free is to remove the head of the unit and replace him or her with an honest, caring one.

And that's where the biggest challenge for India lies. My question is, who do you install in place of the current corruption-laden ruling parties in India? Which national-level party today is without the stains of corruption?

A bigger and related question: Do we have any leader of the stature who can clear up the mess in our heritage-rich but idea-poor country? Can anyone take India to the social, economic and scientific heights achieved by the likes of US and Japan (or by its own people centuries ago)?

Is there anyone who can ensure that calling India a superpower in the making is not a laughing matter but a matter of progressive achievement? (For one, I laugh out loud at such peasant-like thinking, given the way things are going.)

Who is going to be that person? That leader?

Anna Hazare? Hmmm, perhaps, but let me think...

Sonia Gandhi? I was so happy that she refused to be Prime Minister (PM) – only to be much angry later when she installed that puppet-puppy PM...and we all know how many corruption scandals have erupted. Why, you are reading this article because of that!

LK Advani? Gadkari? Narendra Modi? No way!

Baba Ramdev? He doesn't see himself in politics – and neither do I!

Rahul Baba? He has neither the credentials nor the credibility (what he has is the Gandhi dynasty and a boatload of sycophants)...

You? Me? What are we talking about!

Alas, my dear reader, no one. To my eyes, there is NOT A SINGLE human being (as far as that weary eye can see) with the moral courage, impeccable integrity, caring humanity and a wide support base who can lift India out of the abyss of corruption and then take it to the greatness we are so fond of remembering.

And so? So we keep on trying (or pretend to), while the millions keep on dying. Sorry, CK Prahalad, despite your philanthropic economic advice, when it comes to India, there's only misfortune at the bottom of the pyramid.

Six Effective Ways to Relax Your Mind

Are you finding it difficult to ease life's chaotic pressures on your mind? Take a deep breath and just follow these six steps to a soothing mental symphony

We live in a noisy, chaotic world. Many might argue that it's always been like this. Maybe. Perhaps we had the same basic notions of cacophony eons ago. But the prism of modern development has magnified the human noises to an unbearable extent.

The result: even when we shut ourselves indoors, far away from the madding crowd, we can still hear the echoes of that clamor in our mind. Echoes that refuse to go away. Echoes that cling to a mind desperately wanting to relax. Echoes that impede or interfere with the body’s natural tendency to remain in an easy, happy existence.

Tell me frankly, haven’t you been in situations when – even after you lie down – your mind continues to overflow with thoughts of care, worries of yesterdays, and noises from the daily rumble around you?

The dictum “A healthy mind in a healthy body” holds true in its inverse form as well. If you keep your mind in a poised, relaxed state, you are more likely to have a physically fit body. As modern research in psychosomatic medicine suggests, the condition of the mind directly or indirectly affects the body’s wellbeing.

So, how can you detox your mind? How can you drive out stress, commotion, conflicts and other detritus from the daily life and invite in a gentle sense of calmness and poise? Can you do it without retreating to a remote, secluded (and often, expensive) resort or spa? Hell, can you do it in your existing routine?

Don't try and raise hell. Try, instead, these simple tips for giving your mind the peace it's been asking for.

Finish what you start: The mind is like a non-stop factory in which our words and thoughts are either woven into new fabric to clothe our personas or taken apart to be deposited on a growing pile of rags and tatters. Often, there are many unfinished strands that just lie about frayed in our mind, without finding their perfect-knit. A growing list of incomplete things can make you feel miserable and wanting. So go back to your to-do lists and keep them to a manageable minimum. If you know you can only do ten things rather than twenty-three, leave the unwanted thirteen out.

Make only the commitments you can keep: A businessman once gave this advice when starting up his son: “My son, never break a promise; but then, never make a promise!” Well, you’ll have to make commitments in your daily life: just be sure to make only those that you can keep. If you are firm in accepting only what you can do now, it will save you from the gnawing feelings of failed commitments later.

Exercise focused concentration: According to mind-training experts, one must pursue what one wants to achieve with “focused concentration.” Through constant practice, one can indeed train one’s mind to think about one thing at a time. This is what most meditative techniques also suggest: focusing the mind on one shape, sound, color, or any other object. The idea is to constantly train the mind on the job at hand. After sufficient practice, this ‘training’ should cease to be an effort and become second nature to you.

Forsake your regrets: We often don’t realize it, but we routinely carry a scary load of regrets at the back of our minds. If only we could do this! If only we had seen that coming! Our laundry list of regrets keeps getting longer and longer – without ever getting ample washing. Unbuckle your past lamentations and let them rinse down your memory drain one by one – and you’ll feel the same lightness and crispness that you do when you put on a freshly washed and sunned piece of garment.

Practice doing nothing: It is usually said that “an empty mind is the Devil’s workshop.” However, there’s an art to emptying the mind that yogis, rishis and monks have been practicing and preaching over the ages. An art that, instead of making your mind a playground for Satan, can make it a blessed abode of the gods.

Think about it: we are infused with a lifestyle that requires us to be always doing something or the other. If we were really programmed that way, there would be no need for sleep, isn't it? By doing nothing, however, I don’t mean sitting idle or staring at the idiot box. What I mean is being free of your troubling, trivial and compulsive thoughts.

Choose a moment and place when you are just by yourself. Take a posture in which you are comfortable and let the whole world pass by you as if you were a spectator serenely yet effortlessly watching life’s little episodes. In such a state of nothingness, you can often feel the goddess of peace whispering gently in your mind.

Curb your craves: This one is not easy, especially because most people live to have more, get more or possess more. But if you can reduce the number of things you depend on or cut down your list of must-haves, you’ll also reduce the burden of relentlessly going after them. Pursue your ambitions or follow your dreams by all means, but don’t let them become your daily pester points. Set out to achieve big things that matter to you, but try and shun mere objects of desire that you constantly crave. Like I said, it’s a bit difficult to achieve this balance between worthy objectives and petty longings – but it’s far from impossible. And indeed very tranquilizing. Just ask your mind.

5 Mistakes PR Pros Must Avoid but Often Don't

Ever wonder why your communication wasn't well-received in the media? It might have misfired because you failed to avoid one of these traps

Public relations is a tricky, often thankless business. While the tricky part is acknowledged by the PR pros, it is the journalists who often bring in thanklessness (add ungrateful clients, too).

But it's a business – and a lucrative one at that, all right. So it wouldn't hurt to go through some tips that might help.

In communication schools or on-the-job, most PR executives learn the common tricks of their trade: treat clients (and journalists) with respect, always spell-check your releases (do you?), and yes, don't forget to bill clients for the out-of-pocket expenses.

Yet, there are also some no-nos that a seasoned PR exec should avoid under most circumstances. Unfortunately, in the hurly-burly world of 'mass' communication, things are prone to turn out into 'mess' communication. That's why it's important for a PR pro to keep in mind these five don'ts when communicating with journalists:

Long-winding story pitches: In the course of writing their stories, journalists often go through a lot of background and research material. But they would rather look at a lot of text about a story they have chosen to do than read paras upon paras intended to give them a story idea. So keep your pitch mailers or calls short and sweet. If the journo likes it, they'll jump at it anyway. But if it doesn't cut ice in the first couple of sentences, don't bore him with dense details, please.

Mixing up similar media: The media scene today is crowded. But that's no excuse for calling up a journalist and mixing up the name of their media house or publication with another one – which, annoyingly, usually happens to be a key rival. Get the journo's name, their paper's name and, if necessary, the name of their dog right. Names are important, very important (as you sometimes might have realized when your client's name appeared misspelled in the headline!)

Corralling journalists for a conference: “You must come.” “Please, it's the most important event for our client!” “The client is holding this PC (press conference) after a gap of two years.”

Understood. Your client and their conference is all-important to you. But unless you can find something of relevance to the journalist in question, it's not good practice to request-force them into attending the event. Even if you send the cab. In any case, most communication today happens on the phone or over email, and journalists (especially experienced ones) usually attend only the really significant conferences or those where they expect to network with lots of friends or industry execs.

Following up too much: If not following up at all is a disaster, pestering the journalist with too many calls for a press release or a story is anathema. Too much aggression can perhaps get you in the first time, but the media will be alerted to your tactics sooner rather than later. And then? Then they'll avoid you like a diabetic shuns sugar. So learn to strike a balance in how much you follow up.

Hiding the negative: Thanks to the Internet, it's not that difficult to discover skeletons in a company's cupboard (and these days there are many). Then there are journalists' contacts and other 'sources.' So if you happen to know that a journalist has gotten wind of something fishy or negative about your client, try to illuminate it in the light that your client wants to. Trying to hide it or cover it up with fluff usually makes the journalist more dogged in their pursuit – and, of course, leaves a worse impression than they started off with.

Needless to say, these aren't the only don'ts. For instance, you shouldn't miss a journalist's story deadline if you want to ensure that your client's inputs are taken or their name mentioned where it matters. But the above are points that keep recurring in PR-media communication and that often harm your efforts behind-the-scenes rather than upfront. For want of caution, don't let your key messages go wasted.

Excuse Me, an iPad for You? No, Thanks!

In spite of being labeled as the fastest selling gadget, the iPad is doomed to fail in India. The reason? The dynamics of the Indian market are completely different.

Apple Computer has always regarded the Indian market as the boondocks, keeping its presence in the country very limited and launching many of its products late into the country's ultra price-sensitive market. The most recent example: the iPad, which was launched here almost 10 months after its US debut.

Not that the company is entirely wrong in its thinking. Only 10 million PCs are estimated to be sold a year in a country of 1.1 billion – whereas this figure is over 70 million for US, whose population is about 300 million.

But that's only the macro picture. When you look at the details of how and why most consumers buy computing devices in India, the case for a product like the iPad becomes clear. Whether it's a desktop, a laptop, netbook, or, ahem, a tablet, Indians go shopping for computers mainly for two reasons: office work or children's education. And the majority of them look for the cheapest options on the market.

So when you drill down to the lowly category of tablet computers, all the thrill and whistles are confined to a few thousand people – including geeks, aficionados, analysts and media. They may chorus excitement and wonder in an echo of the US market, but the realities in India are totally different. But even they would prefer a sleek notebook (even netbook) or go for a smartphone rather than loosen their purse strings for something that is neither a full-fledged computer nor a handy smartphone.

Consider this. When a product like the iPad is launched in the mature and advanced markets like the US or Japan, people queue up outside hundreds of retail stores even before the doors open. Here in India, if you go to a handful of Apple stores that exist (only in the big metros), they mostly maintain a bare, clean look. And the few curious visitors who do enter the stores come out rather quickly, usually empty-handed.

So the iPad might have sold in millions in USA and Japan, in India the sales number over the next one year is bound to be in single-digit thousands or even just a few hundreds. Some market estimates put the total number of iPads in the hands of Indians thus far - including gray market sales, online purchases and those brought from abroad – at 40,000. But even this number seems suspect on the higher side.

One might argue that the starting price tag of about Rs28,000 isn't that high. (To give you an idea of the priciness of Apple products, an entry-level Mac starts around Rs60,000 whereas one can get a high-end custom-built or branded PC for less than Rs40,000. The iPad range is priced up to Rs45,000 in three versions.)

However, for a product like the iPad – and there's a debate about what animal exactly the iPad is – it is not just the price that will act as a stumbling block. There just isn't enough traction for it in India.

In developed countries where iPads are selling like crazy, consumers are used to a rich online web experience. This includes putting up lots of pictures and videos online, listening to music and podcasts, even reading books and periodicals (remember Kindle?). There's a large consumer base and widespread and easy availability of high-speed connectivity, applications and quality content.

India, in contrast, is a country where all this enabling infrastructure is missing. We are still arguing about 2G licensing irregularities while the world is moving on to 4G. Here, the average time spent online is among the lowest. And the 30-million-odd Internet users who do go online mostly surf job sites, buy travel tickets or send/receive emails. A few thousand do hang around on Facebook, Orkut or LinkedIn, but so what? They just hang around most of the time.

None of these constituents of the Indian cyberworld would need an iPad. Not in the short term at least.

Some reviewers and analysts are urging consumers in India to hold their iPad purchases until iPad 2 is unveiled. My response to them: don't bother, guys. They wouldn't buy iPad 1. They wouldn't buy iPad 2.

Why Reading Your Horoscope Doesn't Help

Okay, first the facts: millions of people around the world spend a fortune on knowing about their future. And what they spend is not just money but invaluable time when they read predictions of all kinds in a variety of media.

But do they get their money and time's worth when they rely on a motley bunch of people who know zilch about them? Palmists, numerologists, tarot readers, and others who use all sorts of animals from parrots to Pomeranians. Can there be some truth in what they churn out?

If you really ask me, horoscopes suck. Especially the daily horoscopes appearing in newspapers, magazines and websites. And they suck big time. Here's why.

If you look carefully, most predictions are vague and based on common sense. They could have come from anyone with half a brain. Sample this prophecy I picked from a popular website: “Your curiosity is running on high, and you just won’t stand for anything less than the entire truth, no matter what question you ask. Your antennae will tell you whether it’s an honest answer.”

Well, my antennae tell me that not many people would admit that they'll “stand for less than the entire truth.” Needless to say, such a cloudy bit of mumbo jumbo would put me off rather than bolster my confidence – and boosting their self-assurance is what many horoscope readers look for.

Here’s another specimen from the Sunday edition of a paper: “You suffer a great deal because of others’ wrongdoing. Maybe it’s time you stopped others from taking you for granted. Just be more assertive and you’ll find all the happiness you deserve.”

Wow! Reading these lines, our bleary-eyed reader is sure to scream with self-pitying joy: “I told you so. See, it’s all their fault!” The advice may not turn our feeble fella into a bold brat, but it can perhaps make them feel a bit over the top.

Again, I'm not sure of the usefulness of the proffered suggestion. Tell me honestly, who benefits from being over-emotional in this day and age?

Wait, there’s more stuff coming up. This one was buried inside an old stack of newspapers. And it caught my eye when I was looking for something else. (Isn’t that how you find anything these days?)

It goes like this: “Your stars are shining bright and mighty. Just the perfect time to make that critical move you have been waiting for all your life. Lucky numbers 1, 3 and 7; favorable colors Blue and Orange.”

Oh, really? You mean, if I wear a blue shirt to office today, I can tell my boss to take a walk? Or if I pick a lottery ticket with these three digits in it, I’ll become an instant millionaire? Aw, c'mon dude, stop kidding me. If it were that simple, we would all be enjoying pina coladas on a sunny beach doing nothing but reading horoscopes.

Now, tell me, do you still want to know what the stars say about you?