Of gems, promises and Bharat Ratna

A couple of days back I was at my jewelers’.  Neeta and Rajiv are first generation jewelers; the husband is a gemologist and the wife a jewelry designer. I like my visits to that place for one I get a smart salute from the tie clad retired subedar who is ‘head’ administration of the facility! Mythili and self have struck a friendship with N & R that on every visit we learn something new about gems. My wife is an ardent student of these precious stones, especially when they are set in gold! I am also blessed with two daughters who take after their mom in these matters!

For instance after the first few visits we know all about diamonds – the Belgian cut, VVS1, VVS2, VS, d,e, f ….., rough cut, uncut et al.

Since a few years, I have taken to wearing a couple of three rings on my fingers. One of the rings, the oldest to be precise, sports a coral. During my last visit Rajiv pointed out that my coral was not original and he proceeded to show us the ugly side of gems. Firstly my coral was just coral dust held together by glue and shaped! He then proceeded to painstakingly explain and demonstrate the range of precious stones, semi precious stones and non-precious stones.
Then I realised that just by calling a green stone emerald does not make it an emerald and you do not have to name an emerald for it be recognized as emerald! So much for Bharat Ratna.

On a day when Anna Hazare and millions of other Indian citizens are propelling a promising movement against corruption, no Indian in his right senses (after the hang over of world cup win) is happy that politicians are ‘promising’ ‘rewards’ (to earn brownie points? ). In Karnataka, a twice Olympic athlete and an Asian games medalist is running from pillar to post to get a legitimately paid for Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) plot..and the state CM has the temerity to illegally announce BDA plots to all members of the winning Indian cricket team. Rest assured most of theses announcements are just that…..announcements for political mileage. Almost all these promises are never kept…Ask Kapil Dev! The cricketers care two hoots for such announcements. They earn their wine and cheese elsewhere.

So, rest easy, all of you.

A tribute to the crusade against corruption

Charles Dickens in his novel A tale of two cities wrote, in 1859, about the uncertain times leading to the French revolution (1789-1799). More than a century and half years later his words seem like prophetic of our times……. 

It is the best of times for Indian economy, it is the worst of times in governance, it is the age of intelligence, it is the epoch of deficient education, it is the age of incredible India, it is the period of incredulous infrastructure, it is the season of light (opportunities), it is the epoch of darkness (vested interests), it is the spring of hope (enthusiastic Gen Y), it is the winter of despair (corruption), we have everything before us, we have nothing before us….

 In the larger context, Anna’s movement today is a message to the Government of India and hopefully to the bureaucracy, that democracy is not just about adult franchise. It is also about morals and people’s participation in the affairs of the state as ordained for a democracy.  Another message is that a popular leader need not necessarily be a politician and conversely a politician is not always a leader. The fact is that a corrupt official or a bureaucrat in India almost always goes unpunished and the swindled cash is never recovered! Here is hoping that this movement that exposes the fallibility of a system that has hijacked democracy for over 60 years is perpetuated and gains strength with each passing day.

Anna is not talking about punishing corrupt individuals. He is talking about instituting a system where individuals are immaterial. He wants a mix of civil society and power centre(s) to work together in drafting a bill that aims to curb corruption in the corridors of power - an excellent thought. I hope this paves the way also for directly inducting experts into governance at the level of bureaucrats.

I unequivocally salute Anna and Kejriwal for the initiative…they have infused in me a new belief in my country and my country(wo)men.