Jai Ho! The Oscar Acceptance Speech!!

I was pointed out to the acceptance speeches made by A.R. Rahman and Resul Pookutty. I think this is significant, I am reproducing this from what I could hear in the noisy videos on-line on Oscars, maybe more on this when I have some time:


1. A.R.Rahman, a converted Muslim, as part of his acceptance speech says, 'All praise and glory to God (in Tamil)...I have had a choice all my life to select between love and hate, I chose love and here I am'!!


2. Resul Pookutty, a Muslim from Trivandrum, says as in his Oscar acceptance speech, 'I come from a Nation and a Civilization that gave the first sound...which was preceded and followed by silence, the word is Aum'!!

The two acceptance speeches made by these artists have broken many stereotypes in which they may be cast based on their background. At the highest level in any vocation, the practitioner expresses whatever he thinks is the essence in himself or his land. That these men chose to express humility, glory of the civilization and sense of sanctity is an indication of the what they think is the spirit of the land as Swami Vivekananda had said, 'Every thought from this land has gone with meditation before and blessings behind'.  


I didn't see the Oscar night live nor have I watched the movie, but, if this is what the Indian artists say when they are overwhelmed and want to express themselves in an international forum, it is great! they deserve all the greetings they get and more! Jai Ho!

media hurry to insert Taliban into Hinduism

The goons in Mangalore deserve to be locked up and tried under law. But, the media's obsession with goons ensures that they grant the goonda leader a podium!  And this person, goes on to make the kind of noise that would ensure attention on himself for some more time. He needs this publicity as much as the media needs his sensationalism. His following is meagre, his organization has representation in two districts of Karnataka, has contested 8 seats and lost deposit in all. 

Bingo! next day, HINDU writes an editorial that we have Hindu Taliban now!!  Remarkable this transformation of local goondas to Taliban! HINDU has decided to play (Hindu)God!! 


Anbumani Ramdoss wants all liquor shops shut down early and consumption of liquor banned for everyone, that doesn't make him a Taliban. Recently, Madarassas in UP had declared that Muslim girls cannot study in co-ed schools, that doesn't make these groups Taliban. The Law Minister, some time back,  when queried as to why wives need to travel with judges going abroad on duty, describes them as part of the 'comfort' for the Judge and asks the interviewer to 'understand' because, 'you are a woman'! That doesn't make him anti-feminist of course, and, certainly not Taliban. There have been numerous instances of women (particularly members of SHGs) marching to local liquor shops and forcibly getting them shut down as it is destroying their community, such acts have not been called Taliban. 


But, the eagerness of our media to associate small town violence to global terror and thereby score political point seems outright cheap. The Taliban, its influence and power, is least because of its authority on Islam. It suited certain powers to promote a bunch of fanatics at some point for a short sighted purpose. Our media seems to play the same game now. This is not just ignorance of the Taliban, but, also dangerously irresponsible  and sensationalism of foolish proportions. 


On the Mangalore Pub incident: I think women have as much right to get drunk as men do, in public, in private, wherever. I also believe that local communities should have their say in whether or not license should be granted to pubs and liquor shops in an area. If it is seen as a problem to a community it is best shut down, for women, men and all. Communities can object to liquor shop because it destroys their productivity, increases addiction, drains the economy, is against the culture and tradition, is just seen as a bad influence, whatever. All of these are equally valid and ought to be respected. 

Why didn't any Satyam staff resign in anger or shame?

I have not bothered to blog on Satyam fiasco. Corporate India is the favourite child of our media, when the favourite child misbehaves our media can celebrate that too. Corporate Ethics and Governance issues have been forever written about ever since this news broke in the last week of December. 


For a moment forgetting the one person being fraud, why haven't any of the 40,000 odd employees quit in anger or disgust. How can they continue to work for a company whose faith has been destroyed beyond repair? Does the ethics of a company mean anything to the employees at all? 


I know it must be difficult to quit if you have post dated cheques with different agencies and if there is no immediate chances of employment, but, can people working for this company absolve themselves of the fraud? I don't know whether there were reports on this that I have missed out on. Everyone from the state government to the new directors are asking the employees to not lose heart, but, has anyone done so and actually made a statement by quitting the firm?


Would these people, 40 years from now be proud to tell their grand children that they actually worked for Satyam when this fiasco happened and continued to work despite knowing they have been cheated.


Some Andhra based employees actually see in Raju's admission a silver lining, we read that some of them held placards to greet him on Sankaranthi outside the jail where he is lodged. Their feudal  loyalty is very sincere and needs to be appreciated. 


But, what about the rest of their employees? Tried google with 'i am ashamed to work for Satyam' or 'I quit satyam' and all you get is the quitting of Independent directors at the early stages of this fiasco. Many employees have been applying elsewhere due to the insecurity they feel in this company now, that too has become difficult after rival companies denied to take them, we read. Our society consists of youth who commit suicide for failure of love affair every other day, a youth immolated himself recently in Chennai to show solidarity with the Sri Lankan tamils, we have people inflicting different forms of physical and mental pains on themselves for various causes all over the country, how come none of the 40,000+ was willing to cause the pain of joblessness than continue working for such a corporate? or are they willing inflicting the pain of working there as living out their shame? 


Doesn't our sense of being wronged against any longer evince any action from us? Do we as a society accept fraud so much that even when it is committed in our name, we do not want to stand up and say we will not accept it? 


I am sure Satyam employees are wonderful human beings with high ethical and moral lives, but, the fact that 40,000 of them can subsume it for the sake of continued monetary security / gains does show our society in a very poor light.