Frankly, Rahul .....

I am reminded of a segment relating to a two-minute game-play telecast in a Tamil channel, where the participant will have to give totally irrelevant reply to the questions shot at him in order to be declared a winner.  Hardly any one wins.  Alas, how Rahul Gandhi, one wonders, could endure 90 minutes, in full flow!  Or is it one of those left-brain right-brain balancing exercises?

True, any Congress grassroots worker could have given a better perspective and defended the Party.  The interview was a test of humor and patience for Rahul Gandhi & Arnab Goswami, respectively and a hilarious evening for many.  It was depressingly and seriously sad for Congress supporters.  A historic number of tweets followed.  This is merely a trailer.  When and if at all he becomes the Prime Minister, you will see the main movie, which by all accounts ought to be more hilarious than a Charlie Chaplin movie. 

Well, the theme of pointing fingers at somebody else can endlessly go on and on, and enough has already been said, written and caricatured.  What are the simple lessons one can learn from this comical event?  Yes, you, me, and of course, Rahul?

Key takeaways:

1.  The interview can be used as a case-study for management students on the importance of communications and how it can make or mar a situation. 

 2.  Importance of homework:  Even our children will tell us the consequences of not doing their homework.  It is said that a boy was once told that there would be a question about a “cow” during the exam.  In the exam, unfortunately, the essay was about a coconut tree. The boy didn't give up. He wrote everything he studied about the cow, and at the end he wrote 'such a cow can be tied to the coconut tree'.  Pappu’s interview was pretty much on similar lines.

 3. Body language:  The body language of the candidate must exude confidence and should not show weakness and submissiveness. Rahul, you appeared edgy; at one stage, you were waiting for the interview to end.

 4. Value of knowing history:  Today's politics is tomorrow's history.  If you had studied the politics of your forefathers, you would have been abreast with the knowledge of our history and you would have fared much better in the interview.

  5. To become a successful politician, you should be either knowledgeable or manipulative; you displayed neither quality.

 6.  Leadership:  If you are averse to reading books, you could have at least watched the Indian cricket captain, M.S. Dhoni, which would have imparted to you glimpses of leadership traits/tenets and tips about how to handle the most telling and turbulent of situations.  Watch the after-match captain comments.   You should first learn how to play the game before you aspire to lead the team.

 7. Apology: Humility is the prime requisite of every human being.  Every parent and every teacher advises children to tender apologies when there are mistakes on their part, and society has accepted this norm as an unwritten law.  While you have admitted that some of the Congressmen were involved in the massacre of 1984 anti-Sikh riots, you have refused to even tender a word of apology in order to appease the severely hurt feelings of the Sikhs and people in general. While this is not only a disappointing response, it also sounds unsympathetic and arrogant. 

 8. Owning responsibility: Every individual, all the more a leader, must own responsibility for all his or her actions/inactions. When you try to shy away from Congressmen’s "involvement" in 1984 riots, it reminds me of a bank clerk trying to bank on excuses like "It is not my job," or "I was on leave that day," or "the previous person has been transferred", for a moment forgetting that he/she, by sitting behind the counter, is a representative of the bank, an ambassador of the institution. Mind you, you want to lead our nation.

 9. Anticipation: Even when you drive a car, your natural instincts would guide you to look for an unforeseen crossing of the lane by a pedestrian, a two-wheeler, or an auto-driver; this would help you stay alert. When the interviewer asked you "Why you are avoiding a one-on-one interview with the media?" you were caught unawares. A simple and normal question like this was only to be expected!

 10. Preparation: If you had prepared well, not only would you have fared well, but you would also have dominated the proceedings. 

 11. Excuse of inexperience:  If someone attempts to defend you saying that you are politically inexperienced, there are not many takers to this theory.  Hereditarily, you hail from the Nehru family, which is perfectly public knowledge.  You can ask your own Rajya Sabha member, the maestro Sachin Tendulkar, at what age he stepped into international cricket, the segment that he indisputably dominated during his tenure and was venerated as the God of Cricket. 

 12. This so-called interview is also a lesson to many parents.  If you push your children into an activity in which they are not passionate about, the outcome can be enormously embarrassing.

13. Clarity:  It is plain common sense that when a question is asked, say, “what is 1+1,” your answer should be 2 (right answer) or 3 or any other number (wrong answer), or even "I don’t know" (confession of ignorance).  Instead if you reply with an answer like “4+5 is 9", it is ridiculous.

14. Two wrongs cannot make a right.  Your bid to equate 1984 riots with 2002 riots will only muddy the waters more and infuriate a discerning public.

15. Public relations:  At the age of 44, after 10 years as Vice-President of the Congress party, it is unfortunate that this is your first media interview.   When you address speeches, it is one-way traffic; you speak and people who are paid to applaud do so.  More media interaction and press conferences are imperative for you to stay in constant contact with the public.

16.  Interview etiquette demands that you have to respond to the questions raised and not question the interviewers themselves.  Also, when you asked about the interviewer's qualifications, it sounded downright silly and childish; the people were more interested in your own qualifications since you being projected as the aspiring candidate. When millions of people are watching you, the element of personality that is in play is paramount in deciding fortunes.

17. Selfishness: When it comes to "apologizing" for the 1984 riots, your inexperience expeditiously took a back seat and you became personally and politically alert. People wonder.  When you are not ready to even apologize for a riot organized by your own party which was in government, how are you going to provide justice?

18. Self-introspection:  When you come to a media interview like this, you should have delved deep into research on the possible questions about corruption and misuse of power indulged by friends in your own camp and how to undo the wrongs and set right the malaise.   

19. Sense of humor:  If you had displayed a tiny dose of humor during the interview, it would have added color to the event.  In any case, humor should only supplement, not supplant the content; instead, you have yourself become the national laughing stock.

20. Honesty in reply:  If you don't know the answer, you can always say, "I don't know or I am not sure.  I shall consult the experts and get back to you".  Instead, if you give incorrect, irrelevant, and incongruent answers, these will only breed confusion and vitiate the atmosphere.

If you can appreciate the feedback and follow the above suggestions, you may even earn better grades in the next interview and the nation would resound with cries of  “Pappu is baar pass ho gaya!”

==

http://kmurthy608.blogspot.in/2014/01/congress-then-and-now.html
http://kmurthy608.blogspot.in/2014/07/miles-to-go-before-i-sleep-wake-up-call.html

Mani Shankar Aiyar hosts the 'Tea Party'

When I used to prepare for my examinations , my mother would make tea for me to stay long awake at night and study hard.  But I didn’t know that the hot cup of tea can also stimulate “sleepless nights” to many politicians and political parties. Probably the ‘tea’ is strong, the ‘tea-vendor’powerful and the 'flavour' political.

For the first time after the post-1975-Emergency elections, it doesn’t require any astrologer to foretell the fate of the Congress in the coming Lok Sabha polls, which is deafeningly loud and distinctly clear. Quite a few seasoned leaders of the party are in the process of maturely reconciling with the offshoot.  Of course, there are bound to be a few aberrations.  Mr.Mani Shankar Aiyar, the diplomant-turned-politician belonging to the Congress party, is one such deviation.  He mocked at  Mr. Narendra Modi's Prime Ministerial ambitions and said a place will be identified for the Gujarat Chief Minister to distribute tea.  He also said that "I promise you in 21st Century Narendra Modi will never become the Prime Minister of the country. ...But if he wants to distribute tea here, we will find a place for him," Mr. Aiyar said at the venue of the AICC meeting in New Delhi.  Sometime back,  the Samajwadi party leader Naresh Agarwal  also echoed a similar comment. 

From a media perspective, anything nonsense one speaks also becomes “news” due to the so-called element of personality.

While the ‘beverage’ is brewing up, the BJP and other anti-Congress outfits are milking the opportunity, mixing the requisite quantity of masala and maintain the political aroma.

A cursory view at Mr.Aiyyar’s comment not only insults the communiTEA, but all the Indians. It also prompts you to perceive his feudal and sub-standard mindset. The bulk of the Indian psyche has digested the familiarity of goondas and criminals in Indian politics and the same logic is now arguing for “why not a tea-vendor?”  If a tea-boy becomes a PM, it would be a better success story, says another theory.  True, have we not witnessed Bandit Queen Phoolan Devi elected to parliament from the Samajwadi party?  And scores of tainted MPs and Ministers?

It is not new to Mr. Aiyar to indulge in such shoddy controversies.In an article in The Telegraph on Sep. 12,2002, Mr. Aiyar wrote, "When J.Jayalaithaa became Chief Minister, she donated a baby elephant to the Guruvayoor temple. When I become CM, I intend donating Jayalalithaa to the Guruvayoor temple. And to become CM, I am planning to move a bill in parliament to ban fading actresses of cinematic origin from becoming Chief Minister." (Ref. The Hindu, October 16, 2003- See link below).

I don’t know if BJP would get a clear majority, but the self-seeking political “Aiyyars” and “Agarwals” have clearly ensured playing into the prospects of BJP. All the more, when the Congress party is already tormented by their performance balance-sheet presented before the people , spewing such outbursts only hammered the final  nails.  Further, despite being a highly qualified academic and also having  authored many titles to his credit, Mr. Aiyar has catered to wicked public mudslinging. The chances of the Congress party is comprehensively and convincingly doomed.  Now tell me, Mr. Aiyar, who is more realistic: The “educated-you” or the enterprising tea-vendor?   All the non-congress parties are grateful to you and your likes, thanks to your verbal diarrhoea (due to fear).

In spite of knowing fully well that such discretionary abuse of choicest epithets will be counterproductive, you have pandered in “poll-fixing”, like spot-fixing events frequented in cricket. After all, there is total unanimity that ethics  and fairness are bad words in politics. 

If you want to attack your political rivals, you could have done it any number of ways, but it is puzzling why you opted to affront the tea vending community?  "Can’t a tea-vendor have a national perspective" is a natural query of any aam aadmi (no pun attempted). Selling tea is more honourable than an Honourable Minister looting the public funds, true or false?

Mr. Aiyar, please wake up! A newspaper seller made us proud by becoming the President of India; in fact, Mr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the most respected visionary,  the free India  ever had.

Abraham Lincoln, the son of a shoemaker, became the President of America.. 

Every time we drive a car, it is good to remember Henry Ford, who started from scrap, yet managed to steer his way through to riches and harness the benefit to mankind.

Dhirubhai  Ambani was born to a humble school teacher.  While there was nothing to indicate that he would rise above the lower middle-class level, the corporate giant Brand Reliance is an icon to reckon with.

The chapter on Rajnikanth’s life story has been incorporated by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) board to motivate children to be successful and take pride in whatever work they do, just like their favourite superstar has , no matter what the job was – being a bus conductor or the most loved super star of India.

Washing your own clothes, cleaning your own utensils, doing all your things by yourself is considered below one's dignity. This attitude was attacked by Gandhiji, who is not only the Father-of-the-Nation, but also a founder-member of the Congress party, to which you proudly belong to.

History is replete with plenty of inspiring success stories.  May be, any day ahead, a tea vendor too would nail his national identity.

By your utterances, Mr. Aiyar, you have failed to honour the dignity of work, caused unlimited disrepute to your party and hurt all your fellow-citizens.

Well, its time for a cup of hot tea, not to be haughty!

http://www.hindu.com/2003/10/16/stories/2003101605230400.htm

Aversion to cartoons? Publish and Be Damned!

A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people - John F. Kennedy

“Govt  to ban cartoons from school text books” (Deccan Herald, May 14)

The above is one of the cartoons.

It is sad a controversy kicked up on Ambedkar-Nehru cartoon in the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) text book of Grade XII.  The cartoon depicts Nehru, with a whip in his hand, behind Ambedkar seated on a snail.  The caricature attributes to the "delay in drafting the Constitution".  It is plain insipid to utter  something as  "educationally inappropriate" because it is "politically sensitive".

I don’t, for a moment, think that Dr. Ambedkar is to be reckoned as a leader of Dalits only.  He has played yeoman’s role in shaping and drafting the great document The Constitution. If Mahatma Gandhi was called The Father of the Nation, Dr. Ambedkar was called The Father of the Indian Constitution.  It is not fair to divide such great leaders into small fragments.

“What is extremely disturbing is the manner in which the Education Minister Mr. Kabil Sibal apologised in Parliament and conceded to the demands of the MPs by stating that he has directed the NCERT to remove the so-called objectionable caricatures and stop the distribution of books. He also stated that he had taken action by setting up a committee to look at the entire gamut of cartoons in textbooks and their content to ensure material of this nature is taken out of textbooks”. (The Hindu, May 18, 2012)

None of these cartoons would be banned in any other democracy.  Clearly, an assault on freedom of expression!

Creating a wrangle out of a cartoon has become a political phenomenon.  The point the cartoon is trying to make has been misunderstood (or, as often, wantonly misinterpreted for political mileage). 

Courtesy: Wikepedia

A satirical 1871 image of Charles Darwin as an ape (right) reflects part of the social controversy over whether humans and apes share a common lineage.  Are we to interpret that the author of  Theory of Evolution was sought to be decried? In which case, the whole of humanity should go up and agitate?

Cartoons in general, political cartoons to  be more specific, are indispensable.  R.K. Laxman, a genius political/social cartoonist has brought in the common  man’s woes through Common  Man. In his own words, Mr Laxman says, “What you have today is not democracy… Our politics is so sad that if I had not been a cartoonist, I would have committed suicide”.  Such is the passion of the great man, who found himself the ideal partner, his simple ‘common man’.

The beauty of a cartoon is that it makes a point, breaks the monotony of reading the mass of words and also gets entertained in the bargain.  When it is informative and entertaining, the relaxed reader gets clarity that helps him interpret.  Cartoons should not be taken literally and should not be understood as an exaggerated comment.  Even in some TV channels, puppet shows inspire political satire, and we have witnessed amplified animations and imitated voices that are employed to bring out humour.  The visual impact is too great to miss.  Politicians have no sense of fun, nor they accept reality.  Cartoons, you keep it or remove it; the truth of the matter will remain no matter what.  This reminds me of a tamil movie “Citizen”, where the politicians and bureaucrats manipulate to wipe out a village itself  from the map.

“To develop scientific temper” is one of the fundamental duties of Indian citizens, according to the Indian Constitution.   Discussion, argument and analysis are vital parts of scientific temper.  Elements of fairness, equality and democracy are built into it. The purpose of education is to create a quest for enquiry. Providing diverse points of view becomes essential to the educational process, which should have comprehensive outlook.  

The fables of Panchatantra have long established that education need not ever be bitter medicine. Cartoons and sketches do like-wise. They supplement and at times supplant the printed word.  It is not a magnified opinion that what a pompous editorial finds it hard to target is more instantly and adequately achieved by a few strokes of the brush, much to the likes of Shakespearean adage “brevity is the soul of wit”. “A picture (cartoon) speaks more than 1000 words” is equally, if not more, valid for caricature. A creative medium to express one’s impressions!

During Emergency, in the Indian context, cartoonists played a significant role in dishing out their opinions, while editorials were gagged.   A cartoon is best comprehended when the issue is in vogue and the impact is sensed instantly. It is believed that editorials are biased to the extent of the management policy of the respective publication, whereas a  cartoon is unbiased.  Editorials are more said to be the opinions of the intellectuals, whereas cartoons articulate the feelings and expressions of the millions of common man.   It is left to the imagination of the reader to interpret the cartoon.

Make no mistake! Political cartoons have become integral part of the society.  The more you resist, even more it will explode, all the more thanks to the  access and availability of greater social media networks like internet, FB, blogging………

May be you can even attempt to control inflation, but not, never corruption. It may be redundant yet relevant to remind that today’s politics is tomorrow’s history.    Indian history can be proud to present that Political Science as a subject will undoubtedly cover Corruption as a major option!!  In India, politician and corruption are made for each other.

After all , politics without cartoons would be like face without eyes.  In fact all the shame and scandals and scams must be vividly recorded in our academic texts with all the supporting documents using all the tools like cartoons, photos, diagrams, graphs .... for the future generations to know how the nation was administered and how tax payers’ money were looted!

This is also an excellent occasion to take up the creative hobby of “cartooning”.