Archive for India 2006

Indian of the Year

// December 31st, 2006 // No Comments » // India 2006

And the Indian of the Year is

Indian No.1                Lalu Prasad Yadav – Man of the Moment

 
Love him or hate him. Like him or loathe him. He is here to stay and deliver. Two years back he was rated as one of the worst politicians of India. When he was the chief minister of Bihar, he was constantly rated as the worst chief minister in whatever rating you can think of. But now he is rated as the third best cabinet minister next to Manmohan singh and PC. Just because of this statement he made in the Parliament on his railway budget speech, “Sir, I take pride in informing this House that in the first nine months of the year 2005-06, the Railways’ output has been record breaking. The growth in freight loading is 10% and in freight revenues it is over 18%. Based on the trends up to now, the freight-loading target is being increased from 635 mt to 668 mt and the goods revenues target from Rs. 33,480 cr to Rs. 36,490 cr. Thus, Railways would achieve incremental freight loading of 111 mt in two years itself, which will be 133% higher as compared to the incremental loading of 83 mt of entire Ninth Five Year Plan period. Tenth Plan targets of 624 mt loading and 396 billion tonne kilometers have been surpassed one year in advance. Sir, I not only hope but also firmly believe that we would surpass the Tenth Five Year Plan’s incremental target of 63 billion tkm for freight business by over 200%.”

 

Indian Railways was termed as “White elephant” by the Rakesh Mohan committee and it was destined to bankrupt by 2015. Defying all predictions, it booked an unprecedented Rs.110 Billion profit in the current fiscal year solely because of Lalu and his team. Now Lalu is the most wanted professor and he delivered lectures to IIM A, Harvard and Wharton school students. Lot of Indian embassies is being enquired for his bio-data and one of his official reported that more than 100 missions have asked for his bio-data. Harvard is planning to make Indian Railways as part of their curriculum.

 

If I start writing about the achievements he had made this year, I need a website. I hope you read it in the newspapers everyday. Now he is planning to send his officials to study MBA from various foreign universities in order to equip them with modern practices and also training them through world famous railway departments like the Italian railways.

 

Once speaking to Asia Times Online, he said, “People all over the world want to know how the son of a cowherd has risen to such heights. Their interest in me is a victory of Indian democracy.”

 

He has been accused of lot of corruption and vote bank politics. But you can’t deny whatever he has done to the Indian Railways. He is my Indian of the Year, Lalu the Magician

Leave your feedback for me….

Wish you all a very happy and prosperous New Year  

Indian of the Year (Contd)

// December 31st, 2006 // 2 Comments » // India 2006

Indian No: 4                 P.Chidambaram – The  Dream Team

   Only in India you can see an innovative finance minister looking to tax you even in the tiniest of the incomes you can get. From transaction tax to fringe benefit tax, this guy taxes you on all four sides and 100 ways but everything is for the betterment of the people. A Harvard graduate PC is regarded as one of the most competent ministers in the cabinet. He along with Manmohan Singh and Montek Singh Ahluwalia as the planning commission chief is considered to India’s dream economic team. Always campaigning to people to pay their taxes. We always feel that the govt. is not providing us necessary amenities like the other developing countries. In developed countries like the Scandinavian countries, the income tax goes up to 60 % and they pay their taxes regularly. Think about India and how the govt. has left us scot-free.  The tax reforms PC coming up with is the best for India currently. And I salute him for his tax reforms. He is my No: 4

 
Indian No.3      N.R. Narayana Murthy – Modest Businessman

     You are the Chairman of the India’s most profitable company and you attain the retirement age. Will you relinquish your job? 99% of you will not. One man did. His name is NR Narayanamurthy. His story was not a fairy tale like Bill Gates. His was a rose garden built on a bed of thorns. His company was started with 7 people and Rs.50000 cash and now it has 70,000 employees with annual revenues of US $ 2.15 Billion. In May 2006, Narayana Murthy has, for the fifth year running, emerged the most admired business leader of India in a study conducted by Brand-comm, a leading Brand Consulting, Advertising and PR firm. In November 2006, Time magazine featured him in its list of “Asian Heroes”. The list featured people who have had a significant impact on Asian history over the past 60 years and it included others such as Mahatma Gandhi, Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa etc. He is my Indian No.3 for his modesty and values.

 
Indian No.2         Munnabhai – Gandhigiri is the buzzword of 2007

 

I always had a doubt whether movies make a difference in a person’s life? The doubts were cleared when I read reports of how munnabhai made a difference to lot of people in India. For the people who are unaware (which will be 1%), Munnabhai is a fictional character from the bollywood films Munnabhai MBBS and Lage Raho Munnabhai. Munna Bhai, and his sidekick Circuit, forms the integral part of the series. Munna Bhai’s formal name is “Murli Prasad Sharma.” And Sanjay Dutt portrays it. In the second movie, Lage Raho Munna Bhai, Munna Bhai becomes a faux-professor, helping people solve their problems through Gandhism — the practice and principles of Mahatma Gandhi. This film led to the popular use of a new term — Gandhigiri.

Although I have my reservations on Gandhi and his practices, Gandhigiri would be a solution for the atrocities happening in this country. And that was portrayed in the movie vividly with a tint of comedy. People started adapting Gandhigiri in their daily lives and there were reports on how a guy transformed two people by cleaning the wastes thrown by them in a train. Be it a faux or truth, it shows that people have started thinking about it and it is a positive sign for India.

 Munnabhai was screened in the UN and an 13 October, 2006 article in The Boston Globe, states that this reawakening of an interest in Gandhi through the concept of Gandhigiri has had a positive impact in India and suggests, “What America needs is a film that encourages people to take up Gandhigiri, Kinggiri, or Kennedygiri. If it worked for Bollywood, it could work for Hollywood.”

 
Trivia: I had planned this list long before and I was having a doubt whether people would give bad reviews on having a fictional character in the list. But Munnabhai has been chosen as the Indian of the Year in a poll by NDTV.

 


Indian of the Year (Contd)

// December 30th, 2006 // No Comments » // India 2006

Indian No: 7 Shahrukh Khan – Badshah of Bollywood


I happened to see the premiere of “I see you” on Thursday. There was a huge roar in the theatre when the audiences saw a face in the screen. If you think if it was for the hero, you are totally mistaken. It was for Shahrukh Khan, who made a guest appearance in the movie. Once Filmfare splashed on the covers, “Only two S’s sell in Bollywood, One is Shahrukh and the other is Sex”. That’s true, even if he acts in a crap, it sells. There is one another guy in whole of India to have such a reception; it is none other than Superstar Rajinikanth. Two movies released in 2006 for him. One was Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, which grossed the highest collections in UK beating his own K3G. The second one was sleek and stylish remake of Don, which was ridiculed by the critics but loved by the audience for its stylish presentation. Now he is replacing Big B in KBC for a record sum. Man, whether you love him or hate him, praise him or ridicule him, he is the Badshah of Bollywood. He is my No: 7 and the only actor in my list.

Indian No: 6 Sachin Tendulkar- The Comeback

The Sunday Indian ran a poll for identifying the sports icon of 2007 and the obvious choice was Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. He is the man who single handedly changed the face of Indian cricket. I used to say that “I will stop watching cricket once Sachin retires” and people used to ask me why? My reply always remained the same,“ I started watching cricket when started playing for India and I will stop watching cricket when he finishes”.

2006 was a mixed bag for him with a bad one-day series in South Africa. Remember he came back from a worst elbow injury and its one of the longest resting period for Sachin. But he marked the arrival with a wonderful century against West Indies. His one-day form in 2006 was better than lot of cricketers in India. His test form is the worrying factor. It’s not easy to average 44.85 after a bad injury. And for everyone’s information, he has the highest average for an Indian in 2006.

Name                Mat    I  NO     Runs   HS     Ave    SR  100 50   Ct  
 
SR Tendulkar         16   16   2   628    141*  44.85  77.05   2  3    6

Whatever may be, the God is always a God and a mortal is always a mortal. And if Cricket is the religion in India, Sachin is the God.

He is the Indian No.6 for his gritty comeback

 

He was the only cricketer to be named as an Asian Hero by The Time in the year 2006. The Time wrote, “Many factors divide India, but two things unite it: cricket and a star named SACHIN TENDULKAR”

 

Indian No: 5 Arvind Kejriwal – You have the right to Know

How many of you reading this know,what is Right to Information act? I was surprised to see more than 70% of the educated lot with whom I took a survey didn’t know what is RTI all about? If the educated are so very informed, how about the uneducated?

There are some wonderful people to educate about RTI and trying to save it from the amendments, which will actually make the act lose his sting. Arvind Kejriwal is one of them. A graduate from IIT Kharagpur and civil servant in the Indian revenue services quit his job on witnessing corruption in the government. He felt that it is the lack of transparency as the main reason for corruption. Now crusading against the corrupt practices, through Parivartan – a delhi based citizen’s movement which he started with Aruna Roy. He campaigned for RTI and still educating people. He was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership, this year.

I salute this true Indian. He is my No.5

Indian of the Year (Contd.)

// December 27th, 2006 // No Comments » // India 2006

 

Indian No: 8                           Medha Patkar- A True Rebel

 

“Yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati Bharata; Abhyutthanam adharmasya tadatmanam srijamyaham. Paritranaya sadhunam vinasaya cha dushkritam; Dharma-samthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge.” –

“Whenever the balance of the universe is disturbed by external interference from any of its parts, then I reveal myself as the Power of eternal balancing. For the protection of those who are in harmony, and the rectification of everything disharmonious, I incarnate myself at every juncture of time.”

 

Medha Patkar is one of them. She was born on December 1, 1954. She did her M.A in Social Work from Tata Institute of Social Sciences. She relinquished her faculty position in TISS and her unfinished Ph.D to participate in the Tribal agitations in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. She founded the Naramada Bachao Andolan (Save Narmada Movement) along with Baba Amte, which fights against the government’s decision to build Sardar Sarovar Dam across Narmada River. She held a 20 day hunger strike protest after Supreme Court rejected their plea. Medha formed the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) along with other like minded intellectuals which fights against globalization. Medha Patkar is one of the recipients of Right Livelihood Award for the year 1991. She received the 1999 M.A.Thomas National Human Rights Award from Vigil India Movement. She has also received numerous other awards, including the Deena Nath Mangeshkar Award, Mahatma Phule Award, Goldman Environment Prize, and Green Ribbon Award for Best International Political Campaigner by BBC, and the Human Rights Defender’s Award from Amnesty International. She was also a Commissioner to the World Commission on Dams.

 

I salute this true rebel and she is my No: 8 for this year

 

 

Indian No: 9 Sunita Williams – Second Indian Lady in Space

 
   

Three years back there was one Indian lady who flew in to space with glittering eyes and heart full of dreams. Her dream ended halfway through to earth. Three years later one more Indian lady dreamt of flying in space. The lady’s name is Sunita Williams and her dream came true on 10th December, 2006. Sunita, born on Sepetember 19th, 1965 was selected by NASA in June1998 for her training as an astronaut. She worked in Moscow with the Russian Space Agency on the Russian contribution to the International Space Station (ISS), and with the first expedition crew sent to the ISS.

Currently she is a flight engineer with the Expedition 14 crew on the International Space Station. She was launched on the Space Shuttle mission STS-116, aboard the shuttle Discovery, on 10 December 2006. Among the personal items Williams took with her to the ISS are a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, a small statue of Lord Ganesh and some Samosas. Wherever you are, whatever you do dil hai hindustani. When are we going to see an Indian discovery?

 

Indian of the Year

// December 24th, 2006 // No Comments » // India 2006

Every Tom, Dick and Harry is coming out with his or her list of most successful Indians of the year. I thought why not I make a sensible list of successful Indians of the year. For the next few days, I intend to list the 15 Best Indians, whom I think has made a mark in their respective fields.

Indian No: 15 Lok Paritran

What will six IIT graduates do when they meet up for a coffee? They start a Political party!!@$?. Lok Paritran was started as Paritrana (“To the end the cause of distress”) in February 2006. These six people gave up their lucrative jobs for a unique cause of serving the country. Although the intention was immaculate, the implementation proved to be an intricate task for them.

In the midst of big media hypes and popularity, they participated in the Tamilnadu State Elections in which they were placed as the Fourth best party based on votes garnered. The public response which they got during the elections was marred by complaints of local party official against the National Party Presidents. Currently they are trying to consolidate in the national political scene in order to participate in Lok Sabha elections.

I can’t come to a conclusion whether Lok Paritran is a fashion or fad, but one thing is certain that even educated people wanted to make a difference in Indian Political scene. Lok Paritran is a start; we need more people like you and me to make a difference in India

A small trivia:

A new youth party called Bharat Uday Mission has been started in Jaipur recently with the same ideologies and service motives.

Indian No: 14 Leander Paes

Leander Paes, this name has been the synonym for Indian Tennis for the last 16 years. From the day he won the Wimbledon Juniors Title, he has been the poster boy of Indian Tennis. It was a memorable year for Leander, in which he reached the Australian Open, doubles finals pairing up with Martin Damm. For the first time in his career, he won the US Open Doubles title pairing up once again with Martin Damm. The best moment for him came in the fag end of 2006, when he regained the Asian Gold Medal for Doubles with Mahesh Bhupathi and won the Asian Gold Medal for Mixed Doubles with Sania Mirza. Whenever he plays for the country, he plays like a man with a mission. 5 Hours on the tennis court with only a small break in between on hostile conditions, hats off to you Leander.

Leander and Mahesh “Please play together and keep the Indian flag flying high”.

Indian No: 13 Kiran Desai

When we talk about contemporary Indian authors, there is only handful of them. If we talk female Indian authors, the number would be meager. Anita Desai was one of the earliest woman writers in India. She was nominated for Booker Prize thrice but never won it. Her daughter Kiran Desai fulfilled her mother’s dream by winning the Booker in 2006 for her book “The Inheritance of Loss”. Kiran Desai was born on September 3rd 1971 in New Delhi. Later her family relocated to UK and finally they settled in US. Her first novel was Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard, which was published in 1998 won her Betty Task award and Inheritance of Loss was her second book. Kiran Desai is my Indian No: 13 for her stupendous achievement.

Indian No: 12 Himesh Reshamiyya

Although I hate the way this guy sings, I can’t deny the hits he had made this year. He was born on 11th May, 1969 to Vipin Reshamiyya, a Gujarati music director. Himesh started his career as a producer of TV soaps and his first movie as a music director was Bandhan in 1998. He was first noticed with his excellent musical performance in Pyar Kiya to Darna Kiya (1998). Aashiq Banaya Apne and Tere Naam were the focal point in his musical career. As of 2006, he is the top music director with hits like Aksar, Ahista Ahista and Dil Diya Hai. He also released his solo album “Aap Ka Suroor” which was a huge hit. He was criticized for plagiarism and stereotyped music. But the way he spoke about RD Burman and other greats created a big controversy. So it will be good for him to mind his words when he speaks. He is my Indian No.12 for his musical achievement.

Indian No: 11 M.F.Husain

When my friend and colleague, Padhu wrote a blog on how controversies help a brand to become famous, I thought of M.F. Husain. He is neither a Hollywood celebrity nor an Indian politician, but he is still full of controversies. It’s not the controversies that made me to put him in No: 11, but his artistic brilliance. The Peabody Essex Museum in US, one of the prestigious museums in the world is holding a solo exhibition of MF’s paintings from November 2006 to June 2007. What an honour! But he lives as an exile out of India because we people cannot accept nude paintings of Goddesses. We still go to temples where we see nude sculptures of Goddesses and praise the brilliance of yesteryear sculptors. This is the height of hypocrisy. Vulgarity lies in the eyes of the beholder. Are your eyes vulgar?


Indian No.10 Vikram Akula

He is a BA from Tufts, an MA from Yale and Ph.d from the University of Chicago. He goes to Mckinsey to work in the research dept. for 10 years. He does a research on micro financing as a Fulbright scholar and with Worldwatch institute. He then starts a micro finance company called SKS Microfinance, an organization that provides micro loans and insurance to poor women in rural India. Today, SKS has provided over $72 Million as loans to almost 300,000 rural women in the country. It has achieved 161% in portfolio growth. It has also pioneered in providing smart-card facilities in rural India and it is finalizing a pilot project with Visa for the same. A person who strongly believes in fortune at the bottom of the pyramid, has made microfinancing a buzz word for lot many MNCs. He is the Mohammed Yousuf of India. Vikram was recently named to Time Magazine’s 100 people of the year in 2006. There was only one other Indian in the same list.

So he is my No: 10
To be continued

Guess the Indian of the Year….if you can read my mind