They invited France three times? Three times? And still the French won’t learn Hindi.

I know tons of French people studying Hindi in India right now!

Interesting comments from both of you.

There is probably some correlation to these ‘quickening trends’ and what the country has gone through between late 80s to mid 90s:

Corruption in high political office – Bofors scandal..many facts came to light, but the alleged perpetrators went scot free.A message to politicians that ‘graft is good.’ And the greater the scam, the easier it is to escape.

Mandalisation of politics – We started accepting ‘violence’ by special interest groups (both pro-mandal and anti-mandal violence);Union ministers, and State chief ministers started taking sides and encouraging disruption of law and order by their supporters..openly flaunting the success of caste equations in electoral politics became a virtue of real politic.

Mandirisation of politics – Advani’s Rath Yatra sought to play up emotions and convert it into political capital;Mob violence, violence by State police forces (Provincial Armed Constabulary in UP), inaction/collusion by Union and State govts etc etc; also, for the first time, large numbers of middle and lower middle class people across the country realised the power of disruption (of civic life)..

Arrival of cross-border terrorism in Kashmir valley, and the IPKF fiasco in Sri Lanka – ISI did in Kashmir what RAW did in Sri Lanka..terror strikes on civilians, ethnic cleansing of Pandits from the Valley, open support by TN govt and TN businessmen to LTTE terrorists..

The balance of payments crisis forcing PVNR’s hand..economic liberalisation unlocking many avenues for the businessman/criminal/politician nexus, to loot the country..

Ok..we did better than many neighbours, but we also failed miserably on many accounts..while it is simplistic to blame only the Congress and/or the BJP, what is appalling is the way successive Congress/Third Front/BJP govts, did zilch to address any of these trends..instead, whoever is in power acted as ‘guardians’ for the opposition Netas, and did not prosecute even a single corruption case to its logical conclusion.For example, the BJP did nothing during its tenure to bring the Bofors culrpits to book ( and Vajpayee allegedly intervened with US State Dept when Rahul got caught with USD 200,000 in hard cash at JFK)..similarly Sonia kicked off her 2004 election campaign highlighting the NDA govt’s corruption, but after coming to power, the UPA govt conveniently forgot all those accusations.

Even at the states level, we can see the same pattern.First, Chandra Babu Naidu or Mulayam Yadav are alleged to be corrupt, and even courts will pass verdicts against them. And then, they lose power, and in comes YSR or Mayawati..and these leaders indulge in even more corruption.The conning of the aam taxpayers continues without any end in sight.

The late H.K.Surjeet (no, I am not a fan of Mr.Surjeet..I used to hate his brand of coalition politics, but credit where it is due)used to say that corruption has increased as a direct result of thoughtless economic liberalisation.But even the Left did not push MMS & Co to probe into the NDA’s alleged scams.

The loot is still on…and the violence by special interest groups are growing by the day.And the trend of selective amnesia in the media is also growing.And the public is just not bothered about corruption or violation of law and order any more.

Is there hope? Yes, there is..but we are not yet in a situation where we can keep our ideological blinkers aside and try to agree on ‘what is best for the country.’

But I would think that the 90s were just when a lot of trends quickened.

yes, i’d agree with that. no doubt about sanjay gandhi — but at least his goondaism was couched in a rhetoric of how much good he was doing for the country (not that it lets him off the hook at all). i don’t think politicians even bother with justifications anymore, and neither does the public.

That makes sense. But I would think that the 90s were just when a lot of trends quickened.

So bascially I agree with the moral decay in the 90s, but would refrain from looking into the past for a model The causes of what happened in the 90s and since — The rot has always been there. For example, TN was a certainly a kleptocracy in the 80s — MGR made bribery a normal part of doing business (and used to instruct the briber to pay Karnanudhi too!).

L.K. Advani’s first post in his blog (scroll to bottom) talks about how caste was the deciding factor even in free India’s very first elections.

And when you mentioned a culture of unaccountable thugs — I grew up hearing tales of what a horrible thug Sanjay Gandhi had been. And looking at his bio shows how muchof power he was a model for every type of abuse of power we read about today.

are you sure his name wasn’t shawn valentino?

i’d tell you; but ladies don’t kiss and tell.

umber desi, i’m in delhi actually these days.

Dr.A,

Good.You are improving.See, you have actually started writing in simple setences

Here, take this pass from the left.

You give a laundry list of things done by Congress, and then blame Hindutva

Reading comprehension: apparently you can read, but not comprehend. I suppose that’s what makes you all so charming.

(that was for specially Ponniyin Selvan…my favorite slow thinker)

sounds like a loser did he try and impress you by telling you this the first time you met? “Hello, my mom thinks I’m gay because all I do is study. Want to pose for a photo with me? I’ll help you with your homework”. are you sure his name wasn’t shawn valentino?

there is a little flower shop by Palika bazaar that was given to a boy who received the bravery award many years back.

it requires a rare and very admirable alchemy of presence of mind, courage and altruism to do what many of these children who are recipients of the bravery award do. i am always awed by the self sacrifice of these kids, many of whom even lose their lives and limbs (as umber above mentions) while saving others. anna, thanks for showcasing this aspect of the celebrations.