End Of A Legend, But His Legacy Lives On

Today was supposed to be a busy day at work. But last evening just as I was preparing for an important telecon, I got this email that everyone has to vacate the office and get home as soon as possible. And we are looking ahead at a long weekend. For now, sitting at home, as we cannot venture out.

The biggest icon ever of the state of Karnataka, Rajkumar, passed away on Wednesday.

How the grief turned into unruly violence is a strange phenomenon. Its only just some bad elements creating this tense situation. Its very sad that such behavior has followed the death of a legend remembered as much for his humility and simplicity as for his contribution to cinema, theatre and the arts.

At the same time, respecting the local sentiment is important. People should accept the discomfort due to the shutdown of the city today. The local sentiment requires solemn mourning and all the people, whether Kannadigas or not, must follow that.

I hope the people heed the pleas of the star's family members and allow the cremation to be completed peacefully. May his soul rest in peace.

Father and Daughter - A Poem

In my last post I mentioned, albeit in a different context, that poetry is way beyond me. It is indeed, to write that is; but I think I'll know a well-written poem when I read one. Like this one here. Its written by a friend who has had her poetry published in journals like Voices and Poetcrit. For a guy, I really liked the realistic sentiment in this one. So if you are woman, I have a feeling you'll appreciate it even more. Its called Father and Daughter and its written by Remya Mohan. Remya, Thank you, for gladly allowing me to post this poem here!

My daughter dear, divine gift,
You are now all of twenty-five,
I see that you are all adrift,
Do moor and dock while I am alive.

Precious princess, don't be dull,
Papa loves you all the same,
Yet, the time has come to mull over
The rules of the mating game.

Pot of gold, I leave for you,
I wish you to live happily,
For that this one thing we must do,
Find you another family.

Look here, one day I will place your hand,
In the sweaty palm of a suitable man,
He will then be your promised land,
To cherish and love all your life time.

When you were little, my heart, my core
I bought you stories, long and short,
They spoke of knaves and Kings of yore,
Filled with human values of import.

Princes and paupers the same graves ply,
Sceptres and sickles come to the same,
Go for the best, I am there by your side,
Whatever you wish for, simply take aim.

I gave you love, I gave you might,
I told you to go live your life right,
Sometimes you failed me, sometimes not,
Yet, in you, I lost faith not.

I know that you are a misplaced idealist,
My poor little girl, my lassie naive,
This cruel world has its own grind and grist,
And much little room for your dusty Palgrave.

I remember having told you once,
At any stage in life to remember
And be at ease with the fact
That ultimately we are all alone.

Learn to confront yourself with that truth
And my baby, you will have peace of mind,
I know that you will sit by my dutiful feet
And tend to my careworn frazzled frame.

You tell me you are no pastoral maid,
Who coyly waits for love to beat her breast
You say you are a brazen De Beauvoir,
Who seeks not security in your nuptial bed.

You say you will stand alone,
Wed, Single or divorcee,
You want to make your own mistakes,
Which you may live to repent and regret.

You may run to me at times of self-strife,
But never blame me for the state of your life?
You may ask me for money if you are hard up,
But never demand it of daughterly right?

Do as you wish, my lovely pearl,
I will live by you and die by you,
You are a woman of matter and mettle,
Papa is always proud of his girl.

Me, Myself And The Blog !

Its been a few weeks and a few posts since I empowered my Smorgasbord with push-button publishing. When I started I was not really sure what I was going to blog about. But looking at my posts thus far, its been just about any thought that's on my mind on the day.

And how do thoughts come to be on my mind? Or for that matter, on anybody's mind? Thoughts can be triggered by various kinds of stimulations. To me, its been books that I read, news that I follow, things that bother me or stuff that I genuinely like. Normally, millions of thoughts cross our minds on any given day. Only a few are worth thinking about further. For some of them, we say "hey, that's interesting", but then we just let them slip by, because its hard to retain them until we can put them in black-and-white, they are transient. For example, thoughts can occur while waiting to fall asleep, or while at the john, or while driving. But sometimes, thoughts stay with us. I see that happening with me. Then there is the task of actually building some flesh around the thought and turning it into prose. (Some people do poetry, but that's way beyond me!) It can be pretty time-consuming and tedious but at the same time it can be gratifying as well.

Anybody would want to find out just how many people out there are reading what they post. I too wanted to find out and so I added a sitemeter. But more than the numbers, what fascinates me is from which parts of the world you folks come from. For all I know, you could arrive at my blog by mistake or by pure chance, and don't stick around for more than a minute even. Yet, its pretty interesting to know where you're at.

I get almost no comments on my posts in proportion to the page visits I get. So I asked myself why. And I think I found out why. Now I classify blogs into two types - tangible blogs and intangible blogs. Tangible blogs are those which are directly useful to a reader. I read it and then I can make use of it in my life. This kind of reminds me of a newspaper column called News you can use, almost implying that the other news in the paper is not that useful! Anyway, some examples of tangible blogs I came across are about technology, travelogues, dating advice, spreading a certain faith or belief, and cookery. These are just some examples, but what's common to all these is that the readers can put them to work for themselves, if they want to.

Now for intangible blogs, like mine. See what I write about, atleast thus far. Its about bigger issues, which, on a daily basis, are of no concern to me or anyone else. All of these are about larger, abstract issues and almost newspaper-like. I guess its just what we want to write about, but why would anybody want to read it? My views on a certain issue are fine and dandy, but why would any other person care what they are? What do you think?

Then there is the most common type wherein the blogs are basically random ruminations about the bloggers' daily lives, family, friends, vacations, pets, happiness, frustrations, whatever. Its like an online diary. I wouldn't do that, because I'd be wary of putting out my thoughts in public like that, not to infer that my thoughts are in any way oblique! These blogs are neither tangible nor intangible, these are more for the self than for others.

But somewhere along my short way so far, I started to think less about how many people read what I write. Whether anybody reads or posts a comment or not, I feel I should continue to blog. Because I myself would like to read my posts a few years down the line. Its like a time capsule for my mind, which I can now bury on the servers of Blogger!

The blogging community has some very good ground rules well laid out, which make it work as a vibrant community. Infact, the community culture is the key. The more you read others' blogs and demonstrate that you read them, the more your blog will be read. In the real world, return a favor with a favor. In Blogosphere, return a link with a link! But its not for propriety alone that I give you this link, its also because I feel anyone who has read the most intangible post this far, should get something useful out of it! Also, I plan to follow this blog link regularly, but its a moot point how much use I'll personally make of it! Its up to you what you do. Out here you get a lot of food for thought, if you want some for your tummy, click here!

Back to my blog, looks like the next few weeks, I'll be a bit busy with life, so I'm not sure how regular my posts will be, but I hope I don't take a break from this, ever! Well, maybe not ever, atleast for quite some time to come!

Conspiracy Theories, Inquiries And The Truth

August 14, 1945 - The Japanese surrender to the Allied forces and accept their terms at the end of World War II (WW2).

August 25, 1945 - Indian newspapers report, quoting the Japanese News Agency, that Mr. Subhas Chandra Bose, the head of the Provisional Government of Azad Hind, had died in a Japanese hospital succumbing to injuries he sustained in an air crash. The air crash, reportedly occurred on Aug.18 near Taihoku (now Taipei) when Mr. Bose was traveling from Singapore to Tokyo. Mr. Bose was scheduled to hold talks with the Japanese government about his situation in light of the Japanese surrender to the Allied forces.

April 1956 - Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru constituted a committee headed by Congress MP (Member of Parliament) and formerly of the INA (Indian National Army or the Azad Hind Fauj), Shah Nawaz Khan which eventually reports that Netaji had indeed died in the air crash in Taipei.

June 1974 - The Indira Gandhi Government appointed a one-man commission headed by Justice GD Khosla and it upholds the Taipei crash theory.

April 30, 1998 - The Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, responding to a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) orders the Indian Government to "launch a vigorous inquiry as a special case for the purpose of giving an end to the controversy surrounding Netaji's disappearance". The Vajpayee Government then appoints the Justice Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry (JMCI).

April 2006 - The Government is slated to make public the findings of the JMCI along with their Action Taken report (ATR). Media reports speculate that the JMCI has infact rejected the air crash theory.

In light of the soon to be public JMCI findings, its interesting to take note of how this controversy has evolved and still stays fresh in people's minds even after 60 years of the disappearance or alleged death of Netaji.

As soon as the Japanese made the announcement in Aug.'45, doubts were raised. The British thought it was an attempt to save war criminal Bose from death, which is what his fate would have been if he was handed over to the Allied forces by the Japanese. This was a perfect way to get him away. The timing was too good to be fortuitous. Even Gandhi did not believe it, infact he would not believe even if "someone showed him the ashes". The Calcutta Municipal Council was not unanimous on the condolence resolution for someone "who is not dead".

But there are indeed several flaws in the air crash theory. There is no direct evidence of his death, there were no pictures taken at all and the news was reported by the Japanese almost a week later. In '45, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) discovered that Bose's destination on the day of the reported crash was not Japan, but Soviet Russia. And the backing to this theory is that Bose had contacted the Soviet Ambassador in Tokyo in Nov.'44 and formally sought Soviet help.

There are many other pieces of evidence that disprove the air crash theory. Bose's confidential secretary Major Bhaskaran Menon heard Bose saying on the day before the flight "and who knows an air crash might not overtake me". Four days after the reported crash, an American WW2 correspondent is said to have seen Bose in Saigon, Japan. Seven days after the reported crash, the Japanese intelligence reportedly informed an important minister in the Provisional Government of Free India that the crash was not a real one. Ten days later, the US intelligence intercepted a secret despatch from the Japanese mission that said Bose had left for Manchuria (now Mongolia) bordering the then USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) and not for Tokyo. Infact, a member of the erstwhile Soviet Union's Politburo, the highest policy making body in that country, Babajan Gouffrav has said that Bose crossed into the Soviet Union near the Manchurian border, where he was taken into custody by the Soviet Frontier Guards. According to Gouffrav, India's Ambassador to the then USSR, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was actually allowed to see Bose sometime in the 1950s on the condition that they would not converse in any manner. Radhakrishnan is supposed to have informed Prime Minister Nehru of this meeting and Bose's presence in the Soviet Union. But nothing at all was done to secure Netaji's release, and thus, it seems, ended a dark chapter in the history of independent India.

In '46, the American State Department informed the British Military Intelligence that there was no direct evidence of Bose's death. Americans had to know best as they were in Japan since Sep.'45. In Jul.'46, Gandhi's secretary wrote a letter to the United States (US) President's advisor saying "If Bose comes with the help of Russia neither Gandhiji nor the Congress will be able to reason with the country"!

And recently a secret note written by the Prime Minister's Secretariat dated Dec.'54 and signed by M.O. Mathai, Nehru's long-time personal secretary, has surfaced, which says that the Ministry of External Affairs received the ashes of Bose among other things from the Indian embassy in Tokyo. So if the Indian Government received the ashes way back in '54, what's in the Renkoji Temple in Tokyo where the real ashes is supposed to be kept?

So until now, the Government of India has never officially acknowledged the death of Bose. However, successive Indian governments seem to have systematically scuttled efforts to disprove the air crash theory. The Nehru government refused permission for the committee to visit Taiwan and allegedly forced the Khan committee to concur with the crash theory. Suresh Bose, elder brother of Netaji, who was part of the committee, quit and published his own dissenting report claiming that Bose had escaped to the USSR. GD Khosla reportedly sabotaged his own commission at the behest of the government and towed its line. In '78, the Morarji Desai Government said that the conclusions arrived at by the commissions were not decisive, and that's the last official word that any Indian Government has uttered over the matter until today. So we take it that Bose, after all, may not have died in the air crash.

After the collapse of the USSR at the start of the '90s, the new Russian federation was freely declassifying the Soviet records, but the Indian Government refused to seek records about Bose that the Russians said they had.

In '92, the Narasimha Rao Government conferred the Bharat Ratna on Bose posthumously. A PIL was then filed that questioned the basis for believing that Bose was infact dead; and then in '98 the court ordered the Government to launch an inquiry, and that's when the JMCI was formed. The JMCI would ascertain whether Netaji was dead, if so how; and if he is alive, what are his whereabouts; also whether the ashes in Tokyo are truly of Netaji.

But as Justice Mukherjee himself has said many times, he has got little cooperation from the Government. He was not given access to important documents. He was not allowed to approach Japan for a DNA test of the ashes kept in Tokyo. He was not even given a phone connection for six months! On the contrary, the government made attempts to humiliate him. And strangely it was the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) led government that was in power then, not the Congress. In Feb. '05, Justice Mukherjee said that the Government and specifically the PMO (Prime Minister's Office) had destroyed the master file and some important documents about Bose's death. The government was also reluctant to allow Justice Mukherjee to visit Taiwan to talk to the Taiwanese government, but eventually it had to relent. But the government has always claimed that excessive investigation will only spoil India's relations with some friendly countries, but it doesn't say how and why. It also claims it will hurt the sentiments of people at large and evoke wide spread reactions. How this can happen by digging some facts about an Indian freedom fighter who supposedly died 60 years ago, it doesn't say.

So why the suspicion that the Government is hiding something? It turns out Gandhi and Nehru may have something to do with it. Apparently, they were aware that Bose was not dead in '45 and they didn't want him to come back to India. That may also have been a factor leading to the partition, if he ever came back there would be no united Bengal to support him. Ofcourse its well known that both Gandhi and Nehru never really liked Bose much.

Bose's family always stood by the air crash theory, as Bose would probably have wanted, and never testified in front of any of the commissions. Communist leader and formerly with the INA, Lakshmi Sehgal, also publicly believed she thought Bose had died in the air crash, until she told the first commission that Nehru may have hatched a sinister plan to spread the lie, thereby committing perjury.

The British Government has told the Justice Mukherjee commission that they would not declassify some relevant documents until 2021. The Japanese and the Russians were not too forthcoming either. And the Government seems to want just that.

A former MP has told the commission that he had been told of a classified '46 document by a retired Russian general, that talked about Bose's stay in the USSR at the time. A retired Indian engineer who was in the USSR at the time has told the commission that he had heard of Bose being in a Siberian camp at the time. All this justifies the speculation of a breakthrough in achieving the commission's goal of finding the truth. But we will know only when the government makes the report public.

So while we anticipate the findings of the JMCI, we must realize how important it is in the context of how far the government could go to hide hard facts from the nation, to suit itself. Eminent lawmaker Dr. Satyanarayan Sinha says in his book Netaji Mystery that not finding out the truth about Bose's fate will be a blunder of national magnitude with far reaching consequences and that posterity will never forgive us for such a criminal negligence in the affairs of a national hero of the highest order. We can only hope that, when the Government makes the JMCI report public soon, the truth will prevail.

Live & Exclusive

Every time the Indian cricket team plays a series, I have to find out which TV channel is showing it live. Because only one channel shows it live, and almost every time its a different one. Live & Exclusive, the channel pays big money to procure the broadcast rights from the producers. But more often than not I hate the coverage. Here's why.

Doordarshan pulls its strings with the government and flaunts its high reach through its terrestrial network, and gets to show each and every match live irrespective of which satellite TV channel has the rights. But its coverage has many flaws. Annoying anchors who cannot stop their inane talk. Hindi commentators who seem to talk Hindi only because they are paid to do it, they struggle to make the commentary lively and interesting. Ad breaks after just 5 balls in the over, the person who presses the button cannot seem to wait to bring on the ads, and they have to interject just when an interesting piece of commentary or an absorbing passage of play is going on.

ESPN-Star and Ten Sports have probably the best in-house commentary team with Harsha Bhogle, Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and Sanjay Manjrekar. Yet they don't seem have the gumption to take on the risky game involving big money. Nobody is sure whether they will make money on the deal and the winner is always left thinking whether he will suffer the winner's curse. So some of the best commentators sit twiddling their thumbs on late night analysis shows while we have to listen to boring and lackluster commentary during the live match.

The biggest prize was won by Sony TV, with the rights to the last and the next World Cup. Nobody knows how much Sony made or lost from the last World Cup, but its viewership surely shot up. And its spaghetti strap coverage with Mandira Bedi was liked by many, but for all the wrong reasons. For all they care she could have been on a show about anything else. But why spoil the cricket coverage? They put her alongside cricket experts while all she did was look pretty. You may say I'm being a puritan, but I'd like to watch Mandira Bedi where she fits in; but I'd also like to watch an informed and sensible cricket coverage. I want to hear comments about the game rather than about who is the most handsome cricketer. I hope they come up with something better for next year's World Cup, but I'm almost sure they will go for the glamour quotient again.

And now Sahara has got itself the rights to the England series. What business has Sahara got showing cricket matches? Its a soap-bollywood typical entertainment channel. Sahara's sponsorship of the Indian team was a pure business decision and that does not make them qualified to show live cricket. But now anybody who can shell out the money gets the rights. But the channel which gets the rights should not only have the money, but also the expertise and experience to show world-class sporting events that translates into great coverage.

And for every series, I have to go to a new channel. And hope my local cable operator is merciful enough to show that channel. Going from channel to channel, turns out really expensive for the consumer and the cricket fan.

Its fine that the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) wants to make the most money from its golden goose. But it should ensure that the people who love their cricket get great coverage. But what stops them from doing this is probably that the people will watch their cricket whatever happens, however bad the coverage is.

What's the solution to this? Its not just about cricket. Worldwide all major sport events that are covered live are mostly exclusive to one TV channel. Why so? Talking about cricket, the standard of live coverage in terms of the camera angles and the technology used, is more or less the same, anywhere in the world; and the technology is easy to replicate. So why not offer the broadcast rights to more than one channel, while the live video feed remains the same? Why does it have to be exclusive? And when more channels pay money it will likely work out to be atleast equal to the amount that will be paid for exclusive rights, if not more. Then the same cricket match will be packaged in different ways by different channels - be it classical coverage with knowledgeable expert commentators or glamourized coverage with the so-called wholesome entertainment factor. When I have the choice of watching the same match on more than one channel, I'll pick what I like and so will others.

Ofcourse, I'm not qualified to come up with a scenario for the media business. But I thought its an idea worth considering. So I suggested this to a person who is qualified, who is in the international television programming business and someone I happen to know well. And the answer was that its unconventional, but it could work. There's nothing wrong with it to stop anybody from trying it.

Its all about offering choice to the viewers. But right now the viewer has no choice. The live feed has become a generic vanilla product. And its not just for live cricket, it could apply to any independent sport or event. The juice is in the packaging. And that can decide which channel will recover the money it invested and how much more it can make on top of it. Why not give the viewers the choice?