Thursday 26 November 2015

SECULARISM AND TOLERANCE………ARE THEY SYNONYMOUS?



These two terms – ‘Secularism’ and ‘Tolerance’ have been thrown up in the air on more occasions than one like speed breakers on our road to progress. Using these two words an attempt is being made by the sponsored media to create a rift in our society. That is the reason why I am of the opinion that these two terms have to be understood unambiguously by us.  Irrespective of the fact that who is in power Indians are secular as this is in our DNA. We embrace pluralism and celebrate excellence in all spheres of life from all Indians without ever bothering about their religious preferences. So a century by Mohd. Azharuddin receives the same applause as one from Sachin Tendulkar and a movie hit from Sharukh Khan gets the same recognition as one from Ranbeer Kapoor. Smt. Najma Heptulla is as respected as Smt. Sumitra Mahajan and Ustad Bismilla Khan is as revered as Smt. Lata Mangeshwar.

The left and left of centre thinkdom (LLCT) in our country is of the belief that just like Islam and Christianity, Hinduism too is a religion. This is simply not true because had it been so one would not have had the liberty to mock it and abuse it at will in books and in celluloid. Hinduism is a way of life and so is open to such criticism. Can Mr. Amir Khan think of making fun of Islam in his next movie without getting the fatwa that was served on Salman Rushdie? Till today our secularists, the LLCT, have succeeded in sustaining their relevance as the protectors of the interests of the Minority. But these secularists have never tried to teach secularism to Muslims. As a result of this, today some of the Hindus are trying to convert Hinduism into Islam by becoming more and more intolerant. The LLCT have an agenda of keeping only the Hindus tolerant. So, chopping off the hand of a teacher in Kerala or murder, rape and persecution of Kashmiri Pandits is not intolerance. In fact, the perpetrators of these acts have a right to be intolerant by the virtue of their religion! The fact that their religion never teaches all this never crosses their mind.

Even the LLCT has on rare moments of sanity challenged the ‘secular’ theory. Demand for common civil code becomes cultural politics or an attack on pluralism, especially when the demand is put forward by the Sangh Parivar. But when Romila Thapar says that common civil code is a necessity in a secular country, the LLCT maintain an embarrassing silence. Amartya Sen says that if Muslim women suffer because of Muslim personal law, it should not bother Hindus. Why not? Why when the Sachar Committee blames the society, or in other words the majority community Hindus– for not giving access to Muslims. If almost 50 per cent of the population -that is to say women- of one community are not encouraged to work outside in the name of religion, how can the economic condition of such a community improve? And why does a Nobel Laureate in Economics fail to gather this bit?

Now let me discuss the term ‘tolerance’ in some detail. Right at the outset let me tell you, this is not a good word and one need not be proud of it. Thinkers like Swami Vivekananda and Ananda Coomaraswamy have deliberated on the problem in the concept of tolerance.  Ananda Coomaraswamy says: “..the word (tolerance) is not a pretty one; to tolerate is to put up with, endure or suffer the existence of what are or appear to be other ways of thinking than our own; and it is neither very pleasant merely ‘to put up with’ our neighbors and fellow guests, nor very pleasant to feel that one’s own deepest institutions and belief are being patiently endured”. So how can tolerance be a virtue? How does accepting others with pain (tolerating) become a great virtue if you believe that other faiths also have equal right to exist?

If we simply tolerate the minority community and not celebrate their existence in our midst we are being hypocrites. Thankfully despite provocations by the terrorists, the jihadists and the religious goons on one hand and a bunch of rumor mongering journalists and unscrupulous politicians on the other, we in India don’t just tolerate the minorities but celebrate their existence. The question today is do they do the same? They failed the litmus test in Kashmir where they were in majority and have time and time again sided with the LLCT despite being cheated by them repeatedly. And Hindus blundered in Babri for asserting needless dominance,

I find particularly interesting when the LLCT uses the terms secularism and tolerance as synonyms. Nothing can be far from truth. There are many examples of tolerant religious countries and intolerant secular ones. The recent rise in Islamophobia in the West highlights the fact that a secular society does not equate to a more tolerant one. The ban on the burqa in France, the ban on making minarets within Switzerland, and the movement in the US to ban Sharia law (whatever that means) are all indicative of intolerant secular societies. On the flip side, you have examples of tolerant Muslim countries, such as Malaysia where people are seen eating in public during Ramadan, women roaming in miniskirts and alcohol being served openly in bars in Penang. While all of these are superficial indicators, they strongly go against Muslim sensibilities. Our neighbors, Pakistan and Bangladesh are perfect examples of non-secular and intolerant countries. They have all misconstrue the term secularism and interpret it as atheism and hence unacceptable to their Islamic foundations.

After years of French controversies over headscarves, pork has become another battleground in the nation’s uneasy debate over national identity and the place of Islam. Bacon and sausage school dinners are being used by rightwing politicians to hammer home what it means to be French. They are sending a message to Muslim or Jewish children that to be truly French, they must eat roast pork. Sociologist François Dubet recently warned that “talking about secularism has now become a way to claim a white Christian France, where everyone shares the same values and traditions, a way to say we don’t want Muslims”. No wonder Paris has seen communal unrest of the worst type, but they are in no mood to give in to religious terror. But then again, is terror versus terror OK?

Canadian state of Ontario has made the prayer of Lord Jesus compulsory for all school children, much to the displeasure of the Muslims and the legendary Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard had in fact given marching orders to all Muslims who felt uncomfortable with the Australian way of life!

I’m not an enemy of religion, but to me, religious belief is private and the public service should be secular and neutral……..not pseudo-secular but truly secular. Intolerance of a very small group can cause conflict in a large society and we need to find a mature and strict way of handling this issue. Imagine somebody saying that he or she does not want to live in the country if Mr. ‘X’ becomes the Prime Minister even if he is democratically elected! Isn’t this intolerance? Do they not have faith in democracy? An increasingly literate electorate after the largest electoral exercise in the world has thrown up a majority government and thrown out a corrupt and inefficient one. Now instead of assuming Nation building responsibilities of an opposition they choose to be intolerant and recalcitrant obstructionists. But that is how the LLCT has always been – it is their way or the highway!

Friday 13 November 2015

WHERE IS OUR HOME? WHERE ARE OUR FRIENDS?




Friends, we inherited a very large 10 room house from my parents, a place we have called home for more than half a century. I distinctly remember that when we were children the house never appeared to be that big. Even two decades back my parents, me, my wife, my brother, my sister and our two children would occupy every nook and corner and our playthings still overflowed out into the garden, and on the roof and all around to the utter displeasure of my mother. The window panes were broken almost every month by the cricket ball and the mirror on the dressing table was changed every year because of our indoor football prowess. The expensive porcelain flower vases were always in locked show cases but were still not safe and the attempt at owning an aquarium once was an absolute disaster because of our WMDs!  

Evenings were meant for outdoor sports with neighbors and friends and staying indoors was unthinkable. Relatives and friends would be visiting all the year round. My parents were local guardians to who so ever from the hinterland was studying in Lucknow, and they too would come and spend their weekends at our place.  Saturday evenings had no mess services in our hostel and my friends from Colvin and from medical college – seniors, juniors and batch mates would visit our home without a hint of concern. Even if it was well past midnight a friend, a relative or a guest was always welcomed and I still don’t know how, but there was always food for them in the kitchen or the refrigerator!

Today however ours is a very neat and clean house with things displayed in proper place and there is order and tidiness all around. The porcelain and the bone china are so safe that they have become antiques! But, had they been alive, I doubt whether my parents would have loved the cleanliness, the order and the deathly calm that prevails today. My siblings and my elder son have left the nest for good and are occasional visitors. But my biggest grouse is with my friends. I was talking to one of my batch mates and after Diwali he lamented that though there were innumerable messages and posts on What’s App and Facebook, except a couple of neighbors no one bothered to visit his home and convey to him the Diwali greetings in person. It struck me that I was in the same boat, just two friends in two days, and that’s all! Some friends couriered sweets and some sent their drivers or clinic assistants with gifts, but only two friends visited us in person. My thumb muscles have gone into a spasm answering to all the messages, that kept on pouring in and deluging my phone but their senders were nowhere to be seen.

Our home is no more what it used to be. To tell you the fact, if hospital is our work station the home has become a sleep station. We work all day and when we are tired we come home to rest and relax. It has become an R&R base from where you launch yourself to work every day. The home now belongs to the owners only and exclusively and it is sadly losing all contact with the society. Staying in flats we often do not know our neighbors and even if we do it is to the extent of Hi and Hello.

I quite agree with my Diwali friend when he says that soon a time will come when homes will not have lounge rooms but simply a space for two work-stations one each for the gentleman and the lady of the house, equipped with a large screen computer, mike, earphones and software galore for communication and infotainment! Even today we live in 3 rooms and clean the remaining seven, so why should houses of tomorrow have all these rooms and for whom? Relatives visiting Lucknow choose the comfort and privacy of a five star hotel and only come to visit us formally for a dinner perhaps. Now marriages are held in marriage halls, birthday parties are held in Mac Donald and Pizza Hut, the sick and the elderly are nursed in nursing homes and even when someone dies, people choose to go to the cremation or burial site rather than their home! With the prevalence of ATM and Debit cards, forget about guests, even thieves and robbers do not bother to pay you a visit!

The virtual friendship in the virtual world has undoubtedly brought many of us, staying worlds apart, quite unexpectedly together after a very long time, but this has come with a heavy price. Those of us who are staying close by and who would meet almost daily when we were children and at least weekly when we were in college, and at least once a month when we started our professional career, now do not meet for months and even years! And no, we are not busy; we are just managing our time poorly and drifting apart. Friends are best stress busters and a home that has not seen friends howling, screaming and celebrating together is almost a haunted house.

So friends, pick up your car, and despite the fact that you are tired, the roads are choked, it is pouring outdoors, give your friend a call and tell him you are coming over to his place to wish him Happy Diwali! For that is what friends are supposed to do….they care two hoots about invading some friend’s privacy. In friendship the only privacy that is allowed is in the depth of the grave.

Thursday 12 November 2015

WHY HAVE WE GROWN UP SO DIFFERENTLY?


We were cut out of the same cloth, then why did we turn out to be so different after 68 years of independence? True, we both have large populations who remain below the cursed poverty line, we both have far too many illiterates for comfort, we both have shameful maternal and infant mortality rates, and we both have impoverishing malnutrition and rampant corruption, but still……..why are we shaping up so differently?

In the recent UNGA the Pakistani PM was clueless and harped an age old issue which has been used by their successive establishment as opium for the masses lest they start asking uncomfortable questions about lack of development, unemployment and unrest. He may have gladdened the hearts of his generals who keep him propped up, but was the Pakistani Diaspora even 1% enthusiastic about his visit as compared to the deafening crowds in Madison Square Garden? Is it not time to look beyond Kashmir and plan a future for Pakistan?

Yes I will be the first to admit that though we have reached the Mars, a very large section of our population remains hungry, but we are doing something about it. We are not blaming others for our miseries; we are facing it head on. So why should I be concerned about our neighbor? Well simply because we are the same people, we have the same DNA sequence. Our culture, our traditions and our cuisine are all the same. We watch the same movies and sing the same songs. Some of my best friends reside across the border and I love them.

We are 4.12 times larger than Pakistan and have 6 times their population. Our problems too are bigger but still our GDP is 8 times healthier than that of our neighbor. A quick look at facts listed below, sourced from UNESCO and World Bank, highlight how Indians have better educated themselves than Pakistan.
1. India, despite a population 6 times that of Pakistan had fewer or just 3 million out-of-school children at Primary level in 2010, compared to some 7.0 million in Pakistan.
2. Net Primary School Enrollment in India is 92.1 per cent, whereas it is just about 70 per cent in Pakistan
3. Primary completion rate in India, both for males and females is 95 per cent, whereas the same for Pakistan is only 67 per cent for males and under 60 per cent for females.
4. India spends over 3 per cent of its GDP on education, while Pakistan barely spends under 2 per cent.
5. Adult literacy rate in India is approx 63 per cent; in Pakistan it is just about 55 per cent.
6. Youth literacy in India is 81 per cent. Pakistan: just 71 per cent.
7. Female literacy rate in India is 50 per cent; it is less than 40 per cent in Pakistan.
8. Indian scientists excel in areas of defense technology, space research, electronics and avionics, genetics, banking and telecommunications. India produces 10,000 PhD s every year, about 4,000 of these in the faculties of science and technology alone. Pakistan produces just about 800 PhD s altogether.
9. India produces more PhDs every year than Pakistan has produced in the last 20 years.

Education perhaps is one single factor that has pulled us ahead in the last 68 years. Imagine, 12 percent of all American scientists are of Indian origin; 38 percent of doctors in America are Indian; 36 percent of NASA scientists are Indians; 34 percent of Microsoft employees are Indians; and 28 percent of IBM employees are Indians and 3 ministers in the Canadian government including the Defense Minister are of Indian origin. This is what education can do to a nation’s clout and respect in the world.

Democracy, the ability and the right to choose a leader, is the second advantage which India has and Pakistan only wishes it had. India has had an unbroken chain of democracy since its inception and adoption of her constitution in 1950. On the other hand, Pakistan has had an unbroken chain of ineffective democratic governments, followed by dictator-led ineffective governments since its inception and adoption of their constitution in 1956. Dictators build and develop only enough to keep their constituencies happy; they keep the rest for themselves or for their pet projects. The ineffective democratic counter-cycle is not really a democracy of the people for the people. It is an oligarchy of the dictator’s opposition. In the end, the people get nothing. Moreover, the longer the duration of dictatorship, the longer it takes the new government to govern on behalf of the people and the longer the new government remains in payback mode. Only 3 countries – Portugal, Spain and Chile have transformed successfully from Dictatorship to Democracy, because instead of payback the concentrated on reconciliation. Conversely the other glaring example of failure of this transformation is Iraq, and it is there for all to see!

In a democracy the politicians occasionally take time off from fighting each other to actually govern. They are compelled to build roads, schools, hospitals, and other infrastructure so they can get votes to try and stay in power. When the opposition comes into power, they direct resources for their constituencies, but they do not tear down the opposition’s work: they just preferentially support their interest groups. This is democracy at work: slow sputtering progress, but progress nonetheless. This is the central reason why India has managed to progress over the past sixty seven years and why Pakistan remains so far behind.

Religion undoubtedly is the third reason of Pakistan’s inability to keep up to expectations of its people. Muslims believe in the edicts from the Koran and would prefer to be ruled by Sharia law. The Koran does not make any accommodation for democracy and therefore democracy cannot prosper among people whose gospel does not support democracy. Further, Muslims have a strong sense of rule of law and justice, but because Sharia law supports the second class status of women, this is something just not acceptable in a modern, pluralistic economy. Democracy cannot germinate in such barren lands. Turkey and Indonesia have understood this and have learned to keep religion out of politics, and may I say with a word of caution that this is also a lesson for India. We are progressing because we are secular and we give equal opportunity to women.


India is by no means an economic giant today, but we are in the right course because of our stellar record of stable parliamentary democracy, world-class scientific and technological talent, and contributions to mankind’s progress by sheer entrepreneurship of her middle class. Pakistan has not taken off because of its inability to elect national leaders, focus on destruction of another nation as opposed to construction of their country; and obsession with religion and religious wars and not with education.

Thursday 5 November 2015

A CLEVER PLOY


The intellectual one up-man ship in Independent India has always remained with a particular section of the society, educated in English medium Christian schools and inbreeding mediocrity relentlessly and yet considering the rest of the countrymen to be too naïve to understand ‘the essence of India’!

Led historically by the left of centre Jawahar Lal Nehru, this intellectually elite has traditionally labeled a contrarian view as ‘un-Indian’, and needless to say, they were totally cut off from the heart of the heartland. So though Nehru was a diplomatic failure in Kashmir in 1947 and a humiliating military failure in 1964, with considerable loss of territory and prestige on both occasions, his pet elite group who wrote our history and literature still praised and projected him as an apostle of peace with the white dove and the red rose and everything else! Peace at what cost, no one bothered to ask.

The cornerstone of Nehruvian politics was non-alignment, which in the eyes of those who chose to keep them open was heavily aligned towards communist friend U.S.S.R and away from capitalist villain America. This suited the local communists perfectly well and so they always remained his trusted intellectual bed-fellows. The fact that Nehru was allergic to a dissenting voice and an alternate opinion is amply evident in the history of Indian National Congress when he orchestrated the ouster of a duly elected Netaji Subhash Bose from Congress Presidentship. His arrogance and his ambitious obsession of becoming first Prime Minister of India was the single most important factor that resulted in the partition of our country. His political pussy-footing and appeasement of the elite Muslim class resulted in the still festering wound called Kashmir, and had it not been for the astute and efficient Sardar Patel, we were almost sure to have another one in Hyderabad. The Left and Left of Centre Thinkdom (LLCT) still considers the Nehruvian era to be the golden era of Indian politics.

This was the era when cream-de-la-cream picked and chose members to be included in their elite club, and excellence and performance were most certainly not the only criteria of selection. One had to think like them, eat like them, drink like them, write like them, recite like them, create like them and perform like them to qualify for membership to that club of pseudo-intellectuals. So we had a bunch of politicians, babus, authors, playwrights, historians and socialites who were intellectual carbon copies of the accepted ‘elite model’. They were the ones who got all the cushy jobs, important positions, prestigious awards and the responsibility to document history as they deemed fit! Thus the contrarian view never saw the light of day in geopolitics, in society and in history. So actually the champion of ‘Unity in diversity’ was never fond of a diverse point of view.

Mrs. Indira Gandhi was a step ahead. She could not see the contrarian world beyond the tip of her historic nose. Any disturbance to her tranquility was treated as a fly on that nose tip. The contrarian view was now hunted down, penalized and incarcerated and that is what the infamous Emergency was all about. As he dared to think differently from the establishment, a Gandhian like J.P. was thrown behind bars. The pet courtiers of the ruler – the politicians, the babus, the journalists, the intellectuals, the authors…all toed the line and those who dared to think differently heard the proverbial ‘mid-night knock’ on their door and were behind bar in no time without any recourse to justice. Incidentally even after this blatant outrage of democracy only one author, Fanishwar Nath ‘Renu’ had returned his National Award.

Mrs. Gandhi’s rule was followed by a non-descript phase of coalition governments which were more concerned with their mere existence and exist they did in a unique way. Steeped in deceit and stooped in corruption they looted the exchequer but even while doing so they kept the pseudo-intellectual elites satisfied by throwing at them mostly bones and at times leftover meat in the form of awards, promotions, positions and distinctions! Their job in turn was to lick the master’s feet and bark at all those who dared to offend.

Then there was a tectonic shift in May 2014. A very old political dispensation, which was licking its past wounds in the wings, got an opportunity to govern with absolute majority and the Left & Left of Centre Thinkdom (LLCT…remember) was thrown into oblivion. The present government had a past experience of governance and knew by now what all was wrong and what all needed corrections. Whether in history or literature, religious or social interactions, science or arts, business or politics they were poles apart from the LLCT. Friction was bound to happen, but they did not have the numbers in the parliament. People had rejected their ideology of inaction, preferential action, coercive action and perverse action and voted for a proven performer. It should have ideally been a ‘no contest’ and we should have surged ahead like the PSLV rocket into the next orbit……..but alas that did not happen!

There were two factors responsible for our failure to change gears – one in each thinkdom. The government was burdened with a few loose nuts which threatened to dismantle the rocket – who speak before they think and who have grossly misinterpreted the mandate for growth and progress. The LLCT were now bereft of political patronage and left orphaned. Many of them were being undeservingly pampered as they were fruits of the same political dispensation and now were owners of newspapers and TV channels, procured by the corruption money they had looted all those good old days. So how do they pay back their LLCT masters – by sabotaging the Indian growth story by planting the story of intolerance on His Master's Voice! As if on cue the entire pseudo-intellectual literati and glitterati started chanting the ‘intolerance’ mantra and returning their National Awards, which they might have never received had they not been fruits of the elite tree!


So yes, this is a clever ploy……if you lose politically try to harm your opponent extra-politically. But who is being harmed most? It is always the poor farmer, the yet to develop villages, the unemployed youth, the closed mills and the clueless middle class. But again, has the LLCT ever cared for them? When in power they looted and cheated from fodder to coal to games to the entire spectrum (pun intended). And now that they are out of power they disrupt parliament, manufacture disinformation campaign and make a mockery of the mandate of the people! When was India not intolerant? Nehru, Indira, and their LLCT tribe are the epitome of intolerance. Could you call any of them a fascist and a ‘maut ka saudagar’ openly in the last 68 years? Think again…….who needs to be tolerant?

Monday 2 November 2015

BOOK REVIEW - Anything to Look Hot

Anything to Look Hot



Author: Jas Kohli






Srishti Publishers and Distributors
Total No. of pages 196


The author in his debut venture has produced a captivating storyline of which he, being a qualified and accomplished Plastic Surgeon, is himself the protagonist, wittingly or unwittingly! He relives his memory of training in Plastic Surgery in a large multi-specialty hospital in Delhi and consequently comes up with a plot which many doctors will find not only familiar but very interesting. To the general public this book is a window into the life of struggle, sacrifice and dedication of a highly qualified professional and could not have been more timely considering the plight of doctors in the society today.

The protagonist is a first generation doctor in his well planned middle class family of four – father, mother a married sister, staying in Chicago and the way he has most lucidly narrated his experiences with his parents, relatives, friends, seniors, teachers and patients, it so seems that I, the reader, has been in this journey with him most of the way……and this I believe is the hallmark of excellence of any author! When the reader starts resonating with the author and his creation and is easily transported to the author’s world as his obvious protagonist, then you can be rest assured that the book will be a hit!

Every medico will identify with the joy of being selected for a super-specialty training programme, the trials and tribulations of residency days, the tireless and treacherous duty hours, the thankful and the thankless patients and their relatives and once in a lucky while eye candy interns! Every medical specialist worth his salt will remember the final examination viva-voce and the examiners, who on that day appeared like devil’s incarnation. The campus stories, the juicy rumors, the flirtations and the failed affairs on one hand and the innumerable skipped meals and the absolutely revolting dressing duties in the Burn ward on the other, all form a part of the thick plot, woven exquisitely by the author. Even the newly blossomed romance with his lady love being brutally interrupted by her selection for post-graduation in a medical institution 2000 Km away is also so very familiar. The sub-conscious comparison with school pals, who have by now settled in cushy jobs or doing business and earning humongous amounts, is also a feeling which no honest health professional can deny.

Leaving the safe harbor of home and sailing out to the uncertainty of a big city is again a fact in the life of every ambitious professional. So when the protagonist chooses to move to Mumbai to start his Cosmetic Surgery practice one is bound to feel the old butterflies in his/her own stomach! The contradictions of establishing a practice – to advertise or not to advertise, to remain only in one’s yet to be productive unit or to spend time in some other hospital additionally to make both ends meet are all so very familiar and difficult choices which many of us had to make once. To be helped unconditionally by a senior and to be duped and conned by smart Gen Y junior are also experiences which many professionals have faced themselves.

The spice of Bollywood that has been added to the plot has also allowed the author to introduce virtually all the cosmetic surgery procedures that is being offered today to not only the upwardly mobile but also the middle class ladies, and hence the title ‘Anything to look hot!’So whether it is the whims of the ambitious film starlet or the insecurity of an established star, the tantrums of a one film wonder  or the desire of a superstar of yesteryear to look like a modern day Diva all find an answer in cosmetic surgery. So whether it is rhinoplasty or face lift or lip augmentation or liposuction or abdominoplasty or hair transplant, lasers, botox, fillers or thread lift the protagonist very judiciously offers them to his patients from the film world and very intelligently tells the readers the scope of each procedure.

The infatuation with a patient, which could almost ruin his happy marriage and the firm and swift admonition by the wife, is beautifully portrayed. The manner in which every step up the ladder of success eats into his precious family time is all too real and is experienced almost every day by all professionals.

All in all this book is a wonderful work of fiction though certain places and characters can be easily identified around us and this again is a unique quality of the author. The author shows how dominance and submission shape every relationship—friendship, romance, even parenthood. This is an impressive debut novel, easily read in a few sittings. The showcase narrative is sensitive, meaty, and varied, and the author  has not only invested in laying out multiple intriguing plots but has also tried to tie all the loose ends together and you are not left with questions like ‘what happened to that character?’ The writing is exquisite and in my opinion and the story line kept me glued to its pages till the very end.


The 196 page book is a paperback, single volume and has been published by Srishti Publishers & Distributors, New Delhi. Waseem Halal has created an eye catching cover in glossy colours. This is a stunning book and I enthusiastically recommend it and I will most surely look forward to his next book.