Archive for September, 2007
X. Day With Layla: Part Three, Politics of The Sewage
”Hey, how are you? To my great surprise, I have not given up yet. I am continuing my research and my plan of the construction of the sewage. Here is what I learned this week. Waterborne diseases are the leading cause of childhood mortality both in the city and the country. The costs to the economy must be enormous. According to a professor at City University School of Economics who specializes in the environment, lost productivity from death and disease resulting from river pollution and other environmental damage is equivalent to about 4 percent of gross domestic product. I am guessing that this is an exceedingly optimistic figure. My friends and I supposedly belong to the upper class and we have access to relatively clean water, but even we get sick more often than we should. Diseases like waterborne diseases are inconceivable in 1st world countries. 4 percept of the lost productivity simply does not make sense. The percentage has to be higher than that. I wonder, ‘Media outlets love hailing the 9 percept growth rate, but what growth? Growth or its reverse? Just stepping toward the end of the civilization?’ … And, listen to this. The city’s chief minister states that the municipal government simply followed the recommendations of outside consultants who encouraged the building of expensive sewage-treatment plants but didn’t anticipate the surge in migration of rural poor to the city. She also apparently commented to a reporter that they were tired and frustrated from spending money. Two problems: First. Unforgivable incompetence and severe lack of foresight. Second. The chief minister is unable to get out of the paradigm of ‘the rich’ and ‘the poor’; ‘the poor’ are totally invisible in her eyes. This is not a matter of the moral or the ethic; she is unable to observe the condition of the city scientifically and objectively. Those classified as ‘the poor’ determine the quality of water simply because they are the majority group; she cannot understand this very basic fact. … But not everything can be blamed on consultants. A perplexed web of political appointees, civil servants and crony officials has made accountability almost impossible. At least eight city, state and federal agencies oversee various aspects of the river’s cleanup, alternately competing for funds and sometimes shifting blame from one to another when public anger reaches a boiling point. Indicative of the bureaucracy. … Professor at City University School of Economics states that the problem is not insurmountable. He argues that a clean river is a public good for which people should have to pay. But the city’s citizens are not charged sufficiently for the millions of gallons of waste they flush daily. According to him, the municipal finances are in a mess because they essentially do not raise money from property taxes and user charges, the two sustainable sources of revenue. I do not necessarily agree with this expert, but I am still reading his report, since it is one of the most comprehensive reports available. … Most local politicians do not want to risk levying new taxes and upsetting voters who already face regular brownouts and water shortages. Some politicians also look favorably on lucrative infrastructure appropriations, which can result in backing from businessmen who receive the contracts. I was stunned when I learned this. I sensed that this was how politicians were approaching the problem, but I still felt dumbfounded as I read and heard what they had to say. Water is a shared resource. As simple as that. The disastrous problem of water supply and sewage cannot be solved just be setting up sewer pipes in certain areas or for bribers. The sewage can only be built for the entire city. … The fate of the river is now in the hands of the country’s Supreme Court, which took up the issue on its own in 1994 after press reports highlighting the river’s dismal condition. I chuckled when I read this report. I mean, even the blind literally know that the river is contaminated because of its fetor. Last year, the Court approved a proposal from the municipal Board of Water and Gas to build interceptor sewers that would channel the waste flowing from unconnected parts of the city to the sewage-treatment plants. Court, in particular, the Supreme Court should not get involved in politics. It should only examine the constitutionality of legislation in principle. However, since the Supreme Court justices do not have to answer to voters like elected public officials, they are the only ones who can make such a decision. I am not pleased to observe the futile constitutional democracy but I let it go. The very basic and the most imperative infrastructure need to be built first and foremost. The rest of problems can only be solved afterwards. … The price tag for the new construction: another $500 million. The board’s CEO, predicts that by 2010, just in time for the city to host a major multinational, multi-sport event set to take place along the banks of the river - the river will experience a 90 percent improvement in water quality. I know that this cannot possibly be accomplished. Simply impossible. As I study how long cities in the 1st world countries took to solve similar problems, I cannot conceive of completing the project so swiftly, by 2011. I am not a pessimist, but there are impossibles such as reversing the rotation of the earth; completing this project by 2011 is as impossible as that. Build the state of the art sewage for the city of 15 million with virtually non-existent sewage system would be arguably the most monumental civil engineering project in human history. I am determined to complete it, yet the basic construction would take up to ten years. Further enhancements and modifications can possibly take decades. In fact, London and Paris did exactly that. … The director of the Campaign to Protect the Environment states that throwing more money into a sewage-diversion infrastructure project would be a waste. She has called for rethinking the city’s pollution-control paradigm and building small-scale waste-treatment plants on a neighborhood basis, reusing the water locally, and charging higher rates for excessive wastewater. I think that this is a pessimistic view. Also the solution suggested does not solve the problem. The comprehensive solution needs to be the hybrid of this distributed sewage system and the centralized sewage system. Often, a great engineering problem cannot be solved by applying a singular solution but by combining two or more different solutions and applying the hybrid. … The country’s Prime Minister has also come down on the side of innovation. In a speech delivered on World Water Day this year, he called on the county’s scientists, technologists and engineers to redesign the flush toilet. I practically ignored this. The issue is to construct a similarly designed sewage system as those in 1st world countries. It is not about creating a miraculous avant-garde toilet or trashcan. You know, it is incredible that humans, those who supposedly possess the greatest intelligence among all species on this planet have managed to create the catastrophe of this magnitude.”
Short Stories (Fiction) | 28.09.2007 11:15 | No Comments
XI. Dream
”I wonder if life gets any better than this,” pronounced Tracy as if she were making a statement of enlightenment. Two plates of pasta were served on a simple wooden dinner table. Plain dish. Angel pasta with boiled salmon and broccoli. Sour scream was used to mix them all and ground pepper added kick; Parmesan cheese added flavor. Salad was served and a bottle of red wine sat on the table. Very fine dinner yet certainly not the most expensive one. But, for no apparent reason, Engineer felt that this was a perfect moment. The flat two stayed was near the university; it was not the most luxurious flat, but it was a comfortable place. He said, “I don’t know …” and he meant it. He continued, “What else do we need?”
”I don’t know …, ” smiled she.
Life seemed to make sense, and it was an inexplicable moment. It was a momentous moment in his life. If happiness did indeed exist, this was one such moment.
”Huh,” Engineer woke up uttering the sound of silence in his head. It was a dream, but it was an actual moment of the past. He wondered what she was doing now. Back when he was in the graduate school, life seemed so peaceful and excellent. Neither he nor she could continue living like that though; they had to move on. Reality of life often separated those who did not wish to part, and Posteriorly speaking, that was what happened to them. They kept in touch still, but the contact was sporadic at best. He wondered what she would think about how he was living now. ‘Does she approve of him?’ ‘Does she care at all?’ He asked questions that the weak, that he defined, asked.
Maybe he felt lonely all of a sudden. ‘Was I looking for the intersection of romance and structural engineering that would transform the city?’ He wondered, but then, he thought that it was an absurd question. ‘What is so romantic about structural engineering?’ ‘And why should it matter at all?’ And besides, it was just a dream. He was staying up late everyday this past week; though today was Sunday, he started working as he got up just like any other Sunday. But he felt exhausted after he spent a couple of hours working. So, he went to bed and took a nap. And that was when he had this dream.
Short Stories (Fiction) | 28.09.2007 11:14 | No Comments
XII. Transformation
Water will transform the city. Engineer was convinced; he was also convinced that, without it, the city will never leave its cannibalism society as a part of its history. As he completes the project, it will gradually diminish slums; they will remain as slums, but they will not be the same waste-disposal slums that he sees today. In time, families will be destroyed, and in time, people will understand meanings of words such ‘privacy’, ‘individualism’ and ‘independence’. Human dynamics and creativity will be given birth, and when it happens, the city will embrace its salvation. The construction of the sewage system is not a charity. It is not a gift, either. He will complete the project to prove that human is a deserving specie, and more importantly, to prove that he is one of selected number of members of the specie who are here to make progress. He did not despise charities presumably established for the good of the underprivileged. If there were those who found fulfillment in engaging in charitable activities, he just let them do. But what he was going to take on was not a charity. It was for him to destroy the repression, the social disease or the ill condition, in order to make the city a bearable place to live. For the invigorative destruction, he was going to built it. The world could only be salvaged by those who were driven by their self-interests and understood that their pursuit of those interests coincidentally served the underprivileged, the poor, the commoners and the proletariats. Engineer was one of them.
Short Stories (Fiction) | 28.09.2007 11:13 | 1 Comment
Another ridiculous article is published.
New Delhi: Urban Indians have one of the most exciting sex lives in the world and are also the most open lovers in the world when it comes to talking to partners about sex, says a new global survey.
Almost three-quarters (74 per cent) of Indians surveyed are comfortable with telling their partners what they like in bed way above the global average of 58 per cent and the UK with just 49 per cent, says the Durex ‘Sexual Wellbeing Global Survey’.
The survey further points out that two-third of Indians (68 per cent) think their love lives are exciting, a sharp contrast with 38 per cent for English lovers and 36 per cent for famed lovers in France. Moreover, 63 per cent of Indians say they have enough variety, compared with 47 per cent in the UK and just 9 per cent in Japan.
The Greeks (76 per cent) and Mexicans (80 per cent) are the only two countries to have a more exciting sex life than Indians. The survey covered more than 26,000 people online across 26 countries talking about every aspect of their sex lives.
…
Source
I can point out so many problems in the article and the survey, but I just highlight one.
The survey covered more than 26,000 people online across 26 countries talking about every aspect of their sex lives.
Given the cost of the internet service in India, only the upper class has access to the internet, and that upper class is very very small. Population in the class does not represent the whole country; there is a huge chasm between between this population and the rest. Furthermore, erotic materials and sexy underwear are virtually non-existent. Of course, the definition varies greatly from country to country, but ‘erotic’ and ’sexy’ in India are extremely conservative. Books on sex are scarce; there aren’t that many books sold to begin with. Literacy rate is quite low, so how can they possibly read anything …??? Sex products like vibrator and such are virtually impossible to get.
This article is a fine example of pathetic journalism in India …
India, Culture (India) | 25.09.2007 22:21 | No Comments
My Contribution (Short Story No. 5)
Second Draft Forward
First, I made a minor change in the format of this short story. You find two parts underlined, one at the beginning part of the story and the other at the ending part. First underlined part is supposed to tell readers what the story is about and the second part is supposed to wrap it up. One of reviewers pointed out to me that the core message of the story might not be conveyed very clearly. I thought about it and came to the following conclusion; since I am still asking for reviews and rewriting this story, I thought it a good idea to clarify what I am trying to write. I am hoping that this will, at least, make review easier, and also this will help me to improve this story. Like any other rewrite, I replaced a few words here and there; I also added some sentences and modified others. Though I plan to rewrite this again, I think that this second draft is a recognizable improvement over the first draft.
First Draft Forward
I want to make it clear that I did not write this story to encourage US to start a war against India; there is a certain reason why I wrote this, but it is not the reason. First, I’d like to give the background of this short story. Back in 2002, when the Bush administration openly started discussing the possibility of attacking Iraq, I was rather surprised that so many American journalists supported the idea. I understand that war stories sell and that news and magazine articles that exaggerate potential risks imposed by foreign countries and advocate wars against them drew readers’ attention; unfortunately, too many of so-called ‘journalists’ today write too many of this type of articles and commentaries. However, even experienced journalists who had been to all over the world including the Middle East championed this war, and that, to me, was a bit surprising as well as disappointing. Given their knowledge and experience in the region, I expected that most of them would be critical of the administration and would simply write that this was nonsense. Yet they didn’t and it puzzled me for some time. But after I spent six months or so in India, the country located right outside of the Middle East, I started learning about the region in a different perspective; India has the second biggest Muslim population, so it also helped me to understand more about Islam, the dominant religion in the Middle East. As a result, I came up with a possible explanation as to why so many experienced, educated and intelligent journalists, who spent some time in the Middle East, advocated Iraq War. It is a simple explanation actually and it inspired me to write this. But, once again, I want to emphasize that I do not endorse, advocate or recommend US to attack India, nor do I support any wars enthusiastically.
Now that I gave the background of this short story, I’d like to discuss the content of it briefly. Some readers, in particular, those in India might feel that this story is overly critical of their country when characters discuss politics and culture. More specifically, one of characters has nothing positive to say about India. There are two reasons for this. One is that I wanted the story to be politically relevant, that is, very critical of politics, economy and culture in India, even though it might not make some readers feel comfortable. The other is that the reason why he (the main character) is so critical directly relates to the whole idea behind this short story.
Lastly, I’d like to mention that I referenced two websites http://en.wikipedia.org/ and http://www.rahulmehta.com/ to write this.
At Asia Plaza
India 2012
Reproduction
Tiger Ford
Monarchy Corruption And The Weak
Phyllis Leed
Male Dominancy
Worst Traffic In The Word
Bars
Great Relief
Short Stories (Fiction) | 16.09.2007 12:31 | No Comments
At Asia Plaza
Bar inside the hotel Asia Plaza, one of five star hotels in New Delhi, India, was serene and peaceful. Man held a glass of beer and declared calmly in American accent, “I’m glad that I contributed to this.” He implied War on India that started three months ago. He had been writing commentaries to recommend and justify it for the last fifteen months. They were all published in a major newspaper in U.S. and reprinted in all other newspapers affiliated with it; as he presupposed, they certainly influenced to create the public’s consensus to support the war. “Are you?” asked the woman who sat next to him; this voice was also calm and monotonic. ”Yes. I’ve spent some time in Baghdad during Iraq War, and this feels like the beginning of it. Things were relatively quiet at the beginning, but pronto, we started hearing about journalists getting kidnapped. A couple of months later, suicide bombings started. And soon after that, the country was totally out of control. More bombings, shootings and killings. I stayed there until shortly before journalists started getting kidnapped. My guess is that we can spend another month or two here, but we should really get out of here after that; it’ll be just like Iraq. I take my job seriously, but I’m not suicidal; I don’t want to take unnecessarily high risk. Many of us in the media business working here will be getting kidnapped and beheaded. Expeditiously, this country will be just like Iraq several years ago.” Two spoke as if they were discussing the design of a new combustion engine; just hearing the tone of two voices, others would not figure that they were discussing possible loss of tens of millions of lives, if not, more. She was just having a glass of water. She asked, ”Then what? What’ll happen?” She paused for a second and rephrased the question, ”Well, what do you think will happen or should I ask ‘what do you think should happen since you’ve been advocating this war?’”
”This county has about 1.2 billion people today. Half of them need to go. This planet has too many people. This will lead us to not have enough fresh water. Depletion of natural resources is inevitable. Air pollution, water pollution, soil contamination and noise pollution will worsen exponentially. Deforestation and loss of ecosystem will become unavoidable. And more. Global climate change, unhygienic living condition, elevated crime rates around the world and increased level of warfare due to scarce resources and crowding. That’s just the beginning. It’ll get worse and worse. This planet won’t be a livable place. China has been controlling its population by setting appropriate laws and enforcing them to a great extent. It’s been moderately successful, and I congratulate their effort. The population has not started declining yet, but they are on the right track. Another noteworthy accomplishment is its improved public health and safety that has resulted in the increase of the average life expectancy there, which has resulted in the minor increase of the population. BUT, as observed in many developed countries, this will eventually lead to the population decline. In foreseeable future, we will only confirm this. In fact, the birth rate itself has been declining; it’s a good sign. But this country?! The population is increasing and the government is doing nothing about it. Of course, faithful or, should I say, fanatic Hindus, Muslims, Sheikhs and all the rest can’t conceive of making fewer babies. They’ve been saying that having a child is blessing for thousands of years and they will not change their minds for another couple of thousands of years.”
”What’s your take on sex education? Use of condoms? Use of pills? Things like that? Maybe that’ll help to curve the population growth?”
”I presume that you’re allowing me to expand on the subject by answering your question. Literacy rate in this country was about 65% several years ago. Now it’s close to 70%. That’s a significant improvement over a very short period of time, but 70%!? And that’s probably a very generous estimate. Even if we assume that the number is reasonably accurate, the functional literacy rate is much lower. Never mind sex education, never mind teaching people consequences of overpopulation. It’s too late. If you think logically, what’s the only solution here? Solution to the problem of overpopulation?”
”The answer is …” She sensed what he was going to say, but she let him answer the question by himself. He paused for a second and stated peacefully, “Genocide.” Both kept silent for a second and he continued, “Am I being immoral? Am I being godless? Perhaps, but look, you have PhD. You worked at the world’s leading investment bank as a project manager. You belong to the top 0.001% of the world’s population as measured by intelligence. Tell me, is there any other solution? Is there any way to save this world other than wiping out half of the population in this country? And I ask you this. Please do not think in terms of moral values, ethics, teachings of Jesus Christ or Buddha. I ask you to think purely mathematically.”
”There might be, but this solution seems most practical and implementable.”
”That’s right. They ought to perish.”
The whole time, two spoke serenely. They were predicting that so many lives in this country could be lost in the coming years, but neither seemed agitated or hysterical.
Hoped that minds of prominent journalists are great minds. Presumed that such minds voice their opinions based on reason and act upon it, certainly not by momentary emotion. If such, assumed that the world is driven by human reason, intelligence and logic, though great minds do not necessarily agree with each other or come to theorize same ideas. If God exists, he guides them perhaps. However, though he appears that way regardless of how immoral, unethical or inhuman his conclusion sounds, the man in the bar does not follow such convention. He obviously does not suggest ‘Genocide’ openly; he skillfully advocates as he lets his readers punctiliously read between lines. He is a prominent journalist, and thus, he can be considered a great mind; he is indeed perhaps. But it is not his reason that has driven him; it is his emotion that has instigated him. And perhaps, at least in part, the world is shaped in due course.
Short Stories (Fiction) | 16.09.2007 12:21 | No Comments
India 2012
Conventional wisdom was that countries that US multi-national corporations set up restaurants, factories and call centers would rarely fight a war with US; however, there were a few exceptions and the latest one took place late 2011. There had been a number of tense moments between US and India for the last several decades and yet another tense moment arrived shortly after the CommonWealth Games in 2010. Historically, India had close ties with Russia and Iran and that eventually developed into a minor diplomatic conflict between US and India. US finally withdrew the vast majority of its troops from Iraq late 2010, but, not very surprisingly, it started looking for yet another target shortly after. India became one. Though India was a growing economy, the close analysis of the country gave confidence to Washington. To this day, India lacked industries to support its own defense; the country was able to recruit far more soldiers than US but what mattered was the modern defense technology. Many Indian companies grew to become some of the world’s biggest companies in their sectors such as steal and IT outsourcing; however, so many sectors were still behind or non-existent. There was no aircraft maker like Boeing. There was no equivalent of General Dynamics that created tanks, radars and submarines. Most advanced weapons were imported. The strength of two militaries could not be compared; one had all the modern defense technologies and the other simply did not have such technologies expect for imported weapon. US Defense industry lobbied for the war strongly as usual. Media outlets followed and started unofficial campaign of the war. There were great similarities between that and the beginning of Iraq War. The consensus that India was the immediate thread to the security of US was being built up over the next twelve months. In August 2011, US base in Kabul, Afghanistan was attacked; US military intelligence determined that it was led by India. To this day, the accuracy of the analysis was questionable; however, the vast majority of US citizens believed their tax-funded intelligence. Colossal intelligence failure or manipulation of intelligence and … the systematic propagation of a doctrine or cause or of information reflecting the views and interests of those advocating such a doctrine or cause … that led US to its disastrous campaign in Iraq apparently taught its citizens very little. US declared the war against India shortly after with a very strong support of its citizens and struck back. Just like shortly before Iraq War, US military built up its troops in Afghanistan near India border prior to the attack. When they attacked, they were ready. It took them three months to march into the capital, New Delhi, and overtook the government. Just like before Iraq War, it was claimed that the Prime Minister of the country was essentially the dictator and needed to be removed. The claim was partially true in the sense that, with the exception of the last Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, all Prime Ministers of India were from one family; though India claimed that is was the biggest democracy in the world, it was very much like a monarchy. Equating the family to other dictators like Saddam Hussein and Pol Pot was simply absurd, howbeit; there was really no public record indicating that Indian government tortured or massacred people. Nonetheless, US media once again succeeded in creating the consensus among US citizens that it was absolutely necessary for US to attack India.
The man at the hotel Asia Plaza wrote for New York Chronicle, the leading newspaper in US; his name was Tiger Ford. He was one of top journalists Chronicle hired and one of the most influential commentators in US. He was also one of those who incited the war and, when it started, approved it very enthusiastically.
Short Stories (Fiction) | 16.09.2007 12:21 | No Comments
Reproduction
The woman asked, “You just said that faithful religious people keep bearing so many children and that results in the population growth. Do you actually believe that? What I mean to ask is this; is this about religion, culture or economy?” Tiger took a short pause and answered, “Some argue that this is all about economy. There is no doubt that this is an economical problem in part. There is really no welfare system in this country. Basic necessities are simply not provided. No clean water, no encompassing sanitation, no constant supply of electricity and no public safety. Think surviving in jangle while air, water and soil are contaminated. How do you remain alive? Forget the welfare system or the reliable healthcare system. When you talk about the basic infrastructure in India, you can’t conceive of such high level infrastructure. You might as well compare that to the structure of a town in the ancient Egypt that had no sewage. Now given the living condition, you can imagine how difficult it can be to subsist once you reach a certain age because you don’t have the physical strength to maneuver around obstacles. And thus, most people, that is, over 99.9% of people here want to have children who can support them when they get old. It’s very logical. But culture plays a role here as well. If you’re over, say, twenty six or twenty seven years old, you are often asked if you’re married or not. But they’re really not asking you if you’re a single or married; they’re ‘expecting’ you to be married. If you’re married, they expect you to have a couple of children. This societal expectation is cultural.”
”Then why not advocate social and economical changes in this country instead of advocating a war? I feel like I already have your answer, but I’d like to hear what you have to say still.”
“The short answer is this. There are six countries that have more areas than India, yet India has a far bigger population than five of these countries. Only China has a bigger population, but the country is taking control of it now. In other words, India is the biggest contributor to the problem of overpopulation and it will be in the foreseeable future; the country has not found or implemented a solution to the problem of reproduction. The problem is really a result of hundreds of years of the country’s history and it didn’t occur over night. But, you know what? We need a solution now. Not next year or ten years from now. Today. We need a solution today.”
Tiger Ford referenced statistics and supported the argument. Though he essentially supported the mass killing, he did not speak like a mentally deranged person or lost mind. He apparently spent a fair amount of time studying about India; he was very knowledgeable. He was also prepared to answer a wide range of questions she had. Two still spoke in the monotonic tone. If a third person observed these two, the atmosphere would look surreal because they were fundamentally assuming unimaginable pain and suffering of so many people; the death toll would easily surpass that of World War II, lives would be lost, and soon, one would literally smell blood everywhere in Indian subcontinent. Yet they appeared completely emotionally detached from what was going to happen.
Short Stories (Fiction) | 16.09.2007 12:20 | No Comments
Tiger Ford
Many journalists backed or favored War on India just for the sake of selling their stories. If Iraq War taught anything to journalists in US, they could sell far more widely and effectively by advocating wars than constructing sound arguments against them. In essence, they wrote to satisfy degenerate emotional appetite of readers as opposed to enlighten and inform them well. Gossip columns about celebrities were written accordingly; celebrities were described as the debauched, the immoral and the depraved, and readers felt better as they read stories about them. The formula was now applied to the politics section. Today’s journalists did not see much difference between these two types of stories from the viewpoint of the story structure. Tiger Ford, however, was a true journalist. He got journalism degree from Columbia University; Columbia School of Journalism was the top journalism school in the nation. He then moved to the Far East and got Master’s in philosophy from Kyoto University in Japan. Because he started studying Japanese from almost scratch, it took him five years to get the degree, but he did it. After he finished his study, he joined Associate Press of India and spent several years in India. He met an American expat there, got married and moved back to US in 2002. He joined New York Chronicle and became one of the most respected in the institution within a short period of time. He was not just someone who got journalism degree; he was someone who actually walked on this planet, tasted different water, breathed dissimilar air and ate myriad foods. This gave him a certain authority. But because of that, it came as a surprise, when he started advocating the potential War on India like many sensationalist war mongering media people. Typically, those who were well educated, such as scholars in academia, did not favor wars. Also those who spent a fair amount of time outside of US rarely did so. He was the combination of both and readers were rather surprised to find out that he was all for the possible war.
Short Stories (Fiction) | 16.09.2007 12:19 | No Comments
Monarchy, Corruption and The Weak
”You want the immediate result and this is why you support the military action,” the woman stated. “That’s right,” asserted Tiger. She asked, “How does the political system in this country fit into the large picture?”
”Politicians are largely responsible for the problem of overpopulation but the damage has been done; the size of the population is too large and they will do great harm to our planet if they survive. It is very unfortunate that half of innocent people in this country need to perish to save the rest of the world. We need to ensure that those at the top be removed from the power in order to keep the reduced population as it is. This country also needs real progress. We can’t keep those corrupt to stay. I certainly don’t suggest that there is no corruption in so-called developed countries. But you can’t really compare this country to these countries. Except for the last Prime Minister, all Prime Ministers of this country are from one family. Only one! That’s just ridiculous.”
”From what I read, corruption exists at all levels of this society.”
”It does. Judges are corrupt. Lawyers are corrupt. Police are corrupt. Bankers, accountants, and all the rest are corrupt. So many businessmen should also be labeled ‘looters’ because they are. As a result, courts are dysfunctional. Police keep harassing innocent citizens; they are even violent. Sexual abuse, child abuse, and all the rest; they do whatever they feel like doing. There is no real equality, either, because the rich just buy out judges and lawyers. Now, this applies in all countries, but what’s happening here is extreme. Even today, residential areas of the poor are getting bulldozed to just build a factory or a parking space. Central Bank is corrupt; they’re essentially owned by the rich and they literally print out money and spend as they like. Education, atrocities on women, etc. etc. etc. I can keep going forever.”
As a matter of fact, he could keep going forever. He not only had very good knowledge about politics in India but also it appeared that he read quite a few academic papers on the subject. He was able to articulate each and every point he raised and discuss causes and effects as if he did these routinely. He probably did; from what she understood, he wrote a number of articles and commentaries on politics in India while he lived there. He was very prolific. His name was mentioned in the academic circle quite regularly, so he probably had great analytical skills as well. While the solution he was offering itself seemed scandalous and shocking, hearing his speaking would make it worth considering if it did not convince his readers and listeners to adapt it.
Short Stories (Fiction) | 16.09.2007 12:18 | No Comments