Hi All,

For this Sunday’s column, I did an open letter to Sonia Gandhi. As always, welcome your comments and suggestions, and encourage you to read others’ too. Columns have word limits, and thus, comments help in expanding and aiding the discussion. Besides, you never know who is reading!

If you prefer reading on the TOI website, the column link is here.

Chetan

——

Dear Soniaji,

I’ve never been much of a fan of open letters. After all, why make public something meant for one person. However, I don’t have your email ID; you don’t seem to be on Facebook (and certainly not on Twitter). Regular mail will never get past your sycophants and reach you. Hence, this seems to be the best option. Also, i don’t speak only for myself. It’s something a lot of young Indians currently feel. However, we don’t know the right channel to express this and get it addressed. The issue is simple: India must get rid of corruption. Whatever the solution, you will have a pivotal role in implementing it.

I don’t think you would have a personal interest in being corrupt. Money would hold little significance for you at this stage of life. Neither do you come across as someone who aspires to a lavish lifestyle. Yes, the compulsions of running a political party require vast amounts of funds. This brings in cronies and moral compromises, which have become part of any Indian politician’s life. In recent times, however, there have been too many of these compromises. Amounts have reached levels that cannot be computed on a digital calculator. Scam after scam (and these are only the unearthed ones) show how we have created a monster of a system that rewards the evil and threatens the dream of India becoming a “first world” country. Recently, your son spoke about how corruption prevents the benefits of globalization from reaching the common man. This is absolutely true. In fact, it not only cuts existing benefits, it cuts out future opportunities for the young. Corruption is worse than terrorism. Terrorists blow up existing infrastructure such as roads, airports and power plants. Corruption prevents such infrastructure from being made in the first place. Terrorists take innocent lives. Corrupt politicians prevent hospitals from being built, which means innocent lives that could be saved are not.

You say corruption is a disease. But that sounds a little defeatist. A disease is something inflicted upon us by nature. Corruption isn’t caused by little bugs falling from the sky. Corruption comes from unchecked power. Take the example of electric power, a wonderful invention that brings light and comfort to our homes. But, before this power reaches us, it is kept under control at various sub-stations to limit voltage and current. If electric power is unchecked, it can burn our homes. Political power is unrestrained in India. Like little kings, our MPs roam around with their sycophants, blocking traffic, openly defying quotas and doing anything and everything possible to exploit their power. If you want to fix this ‘disease’ —and you can do it – you need to pass a ‘political accountability Bill’ in Parliament. Also, an independent council against corruption needs to be set up. It should not be under the control of politicians and should have the power to prosecute politicians (almost all “first world” countries have this). Without these changes, no matter how many wonderful speeches are made, the disease will remain uncured.

Mechanisms to punish errant politicians are one aspect. It’s equally important to understand why so many politicians err in the first place, and the reforms required to prevent that. Some of your party’s ideas seem well intentioned – particularly the massive push to bring young people into politics. Your son has travelled across the country to spread this message. But, i want to ask -—what happens when a young man joins Youth Congress (or another party’s youth wing). To do well, he will need to spend most of his energies serving the party. Parties do not have a formal stipend or salary system, so how is the young man expected to survive except through petty corruption? This is how a fine young man is forced to take small steps towards becoming corrupt. In such a scenario, would you advise educated, intelligent young people to join politics? Instead, if a proper stipend system were put in place, strong performers would have a mechanism to rise and contest elections and you would have a whole new class of talent in the profession of politics. Unless these reforms happen, including youth in our politics will be nothing but one of the specialties of our politicians – empty talk.

Other nonsensical rules in Indian politics include the Rs 25 lakh limit on electoral campaigns. The actual average spend, my MP friends tell me, is around Rs 6 crore per constituency. Where does this unaccounted money come from? Obviously, one stands little chance if one is not corrupt. Can we not remove these impractical and outdated limits? Why not define legitimate fundraising methods? If we do that, many good people would enter politics and change the face of this nation. As a nation we have enormous expertise in covering our backs and not rocking the boat. Right from school, Indians are taught to shut up and not question anything. Thus, even though some of the above things are obvious, nobody important will sit up and say ‘We need to change things’. It isn’t easy to change things but it needs to be done. And you, of all people, have the best chance of taking this archaic bull by the horns and showing it the right direction. The question hundreds of millions of young people are asking is: Are you up for it?

Respectfully,

Young India

——-

A strong opposition, makes the ruling party perform better, which in turn is good for the country. With that intention, I wrote today’s TOI column on the BJP. The link is here.

Do read the comments people leave here as well, as some of them are very insightful, and turn this from a mere column to an active discussion. And of course, feel welcome to add your own.

Regards,

Chetan

Hi All,

Hope you are well. In today’s column, I tried to see Indian issues through a different perspective. My column in TOI today, reproduced below. Otherwise, the link is here.

As always, comments are welcome, and I encourage you to read them as well, as they really aid the discussion.

Regards,

Me.
——————— 

The great Indian psychotherapy

CHETAN BHAGAT 

(TOI, 26 Sep 2010, All That Matters, Page 22)

Countless articles, books, thesis, papers and research reports have tried to answer the question, ‘what is wrong with India?’ Global experts are startled that a country of massive potential has one of the largest populations of poor people in the world. Isn’t it baffling that despite almost everyone agreeing that things should change, they don’t? Intellectuals give intelligent suggestions – from investing in infrastructure to improving the judicial system. Yet, nothing moves. Issues dating back thirty years ago, continue to plague India today. The young are often perplexed. They ask will things ever change? How? Whose fault is it that they haven’t? 

Today, i will attempt to answer these tricky questions, although from a different perspective. I will not put the blame on everyone’s favorite punching bag– inept politicians. That is too easy an argument and not entirely correct. After all, we elect the politicians. So, for every MP out there, there are a few lakh people who wanted him or her there. I won’t give ‘policy’ solutions either – make power plants, improve the roads, open up the economy. It isn’t the lack of such ideas that is stalling progress. No, blocking progress is part of the unique psyche of Indians. There are three traits of our psyche, in particular, that are not good for us and our country. Each comes from three distinct sources – our school, our environment and our home. 

    The first trait is servility. At school, our education system hammers out our individual voices and kills our natural creativity, turning us into servile, coursematerial slaves. Indian kids are not encouraged to raise their voices in class, particularly when they disagree with the teacher. And of course, no subject teaches us imagination, creativity or innovation. Course materials are designed for no-debate kind of teaching. For example, we ask: how many states are there in India? 28. Correct. Next question –how is a country divided into states? What criteria should be used? Since these are never discussed, children never develop their own viewpoint or the faculty to think. 

    The second trait is our numbness to injustice. It comes from our environment. We see corruption from our childhood. Almost all of us have been asked to lie about our age to the train TC, claiming to be less than 5 years old to get a free ride. It creates a value system in the child’s brain that ‘anything goes’, so long as you can get away with it. A bit of lying here, a bit of cheating there is seen as acceptable. Hence, we all grow up slightly numb to corruption. Not even one high profile person in India is behind bars for corruption right now. This could be because, to a certain extent, we don’t really care. 

    The third trait is divisiveness. This often comes from our home, particularly our family and relatives, where we learn about the differences amongst people. Our religion, culture and language are revered and celebrated in our families. Other people are different – and often implied to be not as good as us. We’ve all known an aunt or uncle who, though is a good person, holds rigid bias against Muslims, Dalits or people from different communities. Even today, most of India votes on one criterion – caste. Dalits vote for Dalits, Thakurs for Thakurs and Yadavs for Yadavs. In such a scenario, why would a politician do any real work? When we choose a mobile network, do we check if Airtel and Vodafone belong to a particular caste? No, we simply choose the provider based on the best value or service. Then, why do we vote for somebody simply because he has the same caste as ours? 

    We need mass self-psychotherapy for the three traits listed above. When we talk of change, you and i alone can’t replace a politician, or order a road to be built. However, we can change one thing – our mindset. And collectively, this alone has the power to make the biggest difference. We have to unlearn whatever is holding us back, and definitely break the cycle so we don’t pass on these traits to the next generation. Our children should think creatively, have opinions and speak up in class. They should learn what is wrong is wrong – no matter how big or small. And they shouldn’t hate other people on the basis of their background. Let us also resolve to start working on our own minds, right now. A change in mindset changes the way people vote, which in turn changes politicians. 

    And change does happen. In the 80s, we had movies like “Gunda” and “Khoon Pi Jaaonga”. Today, our movies have better content. They have changed. How? It is because our expectations from films have changed. Hence, the filmmakers had to change. 

    If we resolve today that we will vote on the basis of performance alone, we will encourage the voices against injustice and we will place an honest but less wealthy person on a higher pedestal than a corrupt but rich person. By doing so, we would contribute to India’s progress. If everyone who read this newspaper did this, it would be enough to change voting patterns in the next election. And then, maybe, we will start moving towards a better India. Are you on board?

Dear All,

Recently some Indian athletes tested positive for using banned drugs. My column in TOI today, taking off from there. The link is here.

As always, your constructive comments are welcome, and I encourage others to read them as well.

Happy Ganesh Chaturthi and Id Mubarak!

Love,

me.

Dear All,

I’ve not posted a personal blog entry for ages (apart from my column links). I’ve been quite active on twitter, a bit too active perhaps. It started around July last year, and then continued through the release of 2 States and 3 Idiots. I continued after that, essentially to stay connected to my readers. And twitter was fun – the silly one-liners, the inspirational quotes, the links to my columns and many times, just random musings was fun to share with the world.

However, that isn’t how writers operate. Well, at least when they are writing. I am an outgoing person, but during the writing process, I withdraw as much as I can. I can’t be a recluse or sit by the stream and write (though that remains a fantasy for me), but I do cut down on whatever I can.

The release of 2 States and 3 Idiots was an overwhelming time for me. I knew that I had to let the excitement and emotions related to it pass, before I jumped into a new project. Even otherwise, four books and two films in five years was too crazy a pace. I took some time off writing, did talks around the country, started a couple of columns, and of course, had loads of fun on twitter.

Alongside, I’ve worked on a straight movie script, a romantic comedy. It was something I did for fun, not for anyone in particular and to learn screenplays better. It’s looking good now, and let’s see if someone wants to make it.

But after all that, I think it is finally time to work on the next book. As always, I won’t reveal what the book is about until it is ready (nobody knows, not even close family).

Hence, the time to withdraw has come. This is how I have done all my books. I am out there, and then I am away for a while. I’ll reduce the talks, media interviews and general social interactions so that I can focus on the book. I am however, keeping my columns running (once every fortnight, TOI and Dainik Bhaskar), as they do get read by important people and offer a great opportunity to highlight issues faced by the country.

Most significant of all, this means, twitter has to stop. It’s hard giving up fun things, and I am going to miss interacting with my readers. However, I am not giving it up forever, just going to be away from it for a while – maybe six months or so, or,  until Feb 2011. My account is still there, but I won’t be tweeting much. I will however, tweet my column links for convenience, as and when they appear.

I will miss you all, but I need to do this. The characters of the next book are waiting.

I love you all for your support and try as I might, I will never be able to repay it. All I can say is – thanks.

Regards,
Chetan