Reasons to believe

There are a million reasons to believe in a better world. The latest series of Coke Ads have done just that. And I guess the ad is good enough to allow them their punchline.

"Coca-Cola, Believe in a happier tomorrow".

The English version of the ad is good. Very good. You can watch it here.

But the Indian version is even better. I guess the local language and local flavour makes it more palatable. You can watch it here.

And if you didn't follow the lyrics, here they are:

"The glimmering rays of hope.
And sunshine filled with wishes.
Fewer reasons to shed a tear.
More excuses to share a laugh...

No matter what, we'll always smile,
And promise to be happy...

The glimmering rays of hope.
And sunshine filled with wishes.

Ask your heart. It years to be happy...
And if you wish from a pure heart, roads will open up...
So spread the joy, why hold back...

The glimmering rays of hope.
And sunshine filled with wishes.
The glimmering rays of hope.
And sunshine filled with wishes."

Here's hoping for a happier tomorrow. With or without a Coke.

Government v/s Gen. V. K. Singh

The Army chief General VK Singh’s has recently filed a case in the Supreme Court against the government. The case seems to be straightforward. The Government contends that Gen. Singh is born in 1950, whilst Gen. Singh claims that he's born in 1951 and the Government must correct its records.

The discrepancy in the Army Chief’s year of birth has occurred because 2 sets of records, show 2 different birth dates. The army adjutant general’s branch records the date as 1951 and the Military secretary’s branch records the birth date as 1950.

The reason the dispute assumes significance and has now reached the Supreme Court is because it decides the retirement date of the General. Should the date remain as 1950, as the Government wants, then Gen. Singh retires in May of this year. If his plea is accepted, then the General gets to spend an additional year in office.

The Government has cut a sorry figure so far in its handling of the case. The reasons cited by it for needing to maintain 1950 as the birth date, is so that the line of succession as decided by the 2 Army Chief's prior to
Gen. Singh may be maintained. This raises several important questions. Does that mean that the Committee that is appointed to select the Army Chief has no role to play and endorses the so called "Line of Succession". Does it also mean that like the Monarchy the next General is predetermined and preordained. If the Government is speaking the truth, then its scary. If its lying, then it's even more scary that it finds the necessity to lie to the highest Court on a relatively frivolous issues.

Whilst the media is highlighting the Governments stance and making Gen. Singh to be a hero who is being wronged, I have a completely different point of view. I feel that the General is completely at fault and is now trying to get another year in office at any cost.

Lets look at the issue objectively. Firstly why did the error exists. My understanding is that its because the date that was provided in the forms filled and signed by the General when joining the Army. Subsequently he submitted a different birth date by virtue of his SSC certificate. He conveniently did not bother to have it corrected.

Several years later, when he came up for promotion as a General, the discrepancy was once again noticed, ironically not by the Army but by the Government. They referred to the Army, who said that the correct date to be considered was 1950. The Government insisted on a letter from the General. The same was given. Once again when he was being considered for promotion as Army Chief he was once again asked the same question. And acknowledged in writing that 1950 may be considered as his date of birth.

He now claims to have been arm twisted into giving those letters. This sounds weird. You are arm twisted into being given a promotion to lead the world's 3rd largest army. The facts seem to indicate that the General accepted the promotions and was willing to have 1950 as his birth date. Now that he's already got it, hes doing everything he can to spend an additional year in office.

Sadly, not the actions of either an Officer or a Gentleman.

Religion or Politics - Salman Rushdie Debate

The Jaipur Literature Festival is scheduled to be held between the 20th and 24th of January. One of the star speakers that was being advertised was the extremely popular and controversial British author of Indian origin, Salman Rushdie.

As soon as the Uttar Pradesh polls were announced, several voices were heard opposing Rushdie's presence. They were from little known groups claiming that his presence would hurt Muslim sentiments because of his writings. Ironically none of these voices were around when Rushdie had visited India on 2 previous occasions.

What exactly was the objection about ? Rushdie is the author of the novel "Satanic Verses", which was first published in 1988. Several Muslim groups accused Rushdie of blasphemy and in 1989 Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran issued a fatwa ordering Muslims to kill Rushdie.

Numerous killings, attempted killings, and bombings resulted from Muslim anger over the novel.Most people, especially those who oppose Rushdie have not read Satanic Verses and those who have, have no idea as to which part is objectionable. In fact its my opinion that this book would not have sold even 5% of the copies it did, had it not been for the controversies raised.

You can read about the conroversy at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Satanic_Verses_controversy

Yet a small group of fanatics use religious sentiment to whip up frenzy. At the end of the day, I guess the basic idea is to generate enough hype for the organizers of these protests and gain sympathy from the minority community. They then assume that this sympathy will translate into votes during the elections.

In this time of cashing in on sentiment, I found the words of Maulana Wahiddudin Khan extremely sensible. He said that Rushdie had the freedom to write his thoughts and that it would be wrong to prevent him from visiting India which is a democratic country guided by a secular constitution.

His article "No Thought Crime" which appeared in Today's Speaking Tree is definitely worth reading.
http://cpsglobal.org/content/no-thought-crime

Wise words indeed. Thank God, and you can take your pick, that when political leaders in the guise of religious leaders use religion for politics, there are still a few religious leaders left that preach Sense and Peace.

Aadhaar - India's Unique ID

A few years ago, the Government launched a huge initiative, whose aim was to give every Indian a unique identification. Like most initiatives there were several skeptics who labelled it as yet another initiative doomed to fail and one that would only benefit the contractors who would have made obscene amounts of money.

The first surprise move was the choice of Chairman. The chosen was was Mr. Nandan Nilekani, who had just given up his position as CEO as part of the Infosys tradition of allowing new leadership to take over every few years. The next question was whether the Government bureaucracy would allow him to work with the efficiency he was used to whilst managing Infosys.

It all started when Nandan wrote his book "Imagining India". I'm assuming that people in the Government, who I maintain are amongst the smartest in the country, saw that the author could probably deliver what they had in mind. They also probably figureed out that one way to get something done, could be by having people who didn't carry the negative baggage run it.

Nandan accepted the challenge and in his usual quiet and efficient style, went about creating what they sought to do. Last year a friend of mine who had got his Aadhaar done, had talked about what an awesome experience it was. Last week, I along with the rest of my family had my Aadhaar registration done. And all I can do is repeat what my friend had said, "Amazing experience".

The registration campaign started a temporary office in a school in our residential colony. My daughter Reia had gone in the morning and submitted the Aadhaar form, a simple 1 pager. The registration officer told her that we could go there around 12.00. Around that time she and I went there, waited for around 30 minutes, and the process from start to finish took around 5 minutes for each of us.

The operator keyed in the data, with a screen facing us where we could see what was being keyed in. After checking that the data was correctly entered, the attached camera took a photograph, a eye scanner captured the eye biometrics, and a finger printing device, took all fingerprints. The software guided the operator at every stage, even letting him know when the quality of the eye biometrics or the fingerprints were not good enough digitally. Once that was done, a printout of the data and the registration number was given to us. Ivy and Freia went in the evening and they were luckier. They had to wait just 5 minutes.

As of now 114,623,329 Aadhaars have already been issued. Yes you read that correctly. 114 million Aaadhaars have already been issued. And the UIDAI, which is an acronym for the "Unique Identification Authority of India" is on track to complete its targeted registration, on time in the next couple of years.

Interestingly, very few people know what the Aadhaar is. Most people are under the impression that its a Unique ID card. Its not. Its just a 12 digit number.

Let me just give below what the UIDAI says the Aadhaar is and isn't.

Adieu 2011 - A wedding and a funeral

The end of 2011 was a period of great joy. My youngest brother Franklin got married on the 28th. The previous day was a Roce, a traditional ceremony followed by Manglorean Catholics, where the groom is bathed with coconut juice and oil. Followed by Sangeet, a traditional Indian song and dance event normally held on the day prior to the wedding.

On the morning of the 27th, we received some extremely sad news. My grandmother who was in Mangalore had expired. We were in a quandary. Do we postpone the wedding ? Or do we go ahead with the formal wedding and cancel the celebrations. Or do we continue as earlier planned ? It was a tough decision. More than 100 guests had flown in from around the world, Delhi, Mangalore, Sweden, Germany,  France, US, … and over 200 invitees from Mumbai.

My opinion was that we should go ahead with the plan. It was to be Frank’s special day and nothing was going to be achieved by cancelling the events. I was convinced that my grandma, who ranked in my Top 5 persons ever, and who considered me (I think) here favorite grandson, would have wanted us to celebrate her life, not mourn her death. Most of my family were thinking along the same lines. And so the events took place as planned. At the events, we had a small prayer for my grandma.

The next day, on the 29th, Mabel, Don and I flew to Mangalore along with my Mom for my grandma’s funeral. On the 30th her body was brought to her home in Shankerpura, where she was placed, so that we could all pay our respects to her. She was 88 years old, but looked 60. As she lay there, she looked beautiful and calm, exactly as if she were asleep. I wanted to touch her and say goodbye, and when I did, I felt exactly as if I was saying goodbye from a trip to meet her. My grandma lived a full life, and she went the way she’d have loved to. Whilst working.

I had only 1 regret. I had not met my grandma for 7 years. And whenever any of my family met her, she would always insist that they should ask me to come to Shankerpura.  When I spoke with her, that time too she would say the same thing. And I always planned to do it in a month or two. And finally when I did, it was too late.

In life, we sometimes get so caught up with ourselves and trivial things that we forget the things that matter. My New Year resolution this year is simple. Do the things I’ve always wanted to do, but did not find the time for. Who knows, if the people we love or we will be there tomorrow. Or if we will be there. I’m going to try and not postpone anything that I want to do. I sincerely think you should too.