Book Review: Power Systems: Conversations with David Barsamian on Global Democratic Uprisings and the New Challenges to U.S. Empire

The book is a collection of excerpted Chomsky interviews over 2010-12. The narrative fleets over contradictory stands of the West over major developments in the Middle East; its ramifications on global US imperialism, downfall of the labor movement, falling standards of US public education system, the Occupy movement and other trends. While the Q&A exchange between Barsamian and Chomsky seems to make a cobbled case over the ominous nature of globally prevalent power systems, it fails to delve into the specifics. Be it the fall of the public education system, the Occupy movement or the impact of social media on conversation, this is a collection of rambling thoughts. Very unlike some of his talks which I have heard online.

Rating:2/5

A-free-doh: Of Cricket, Media and Politics !!

Apparently, the biggest day in every Indian's life has passed. Kudos to Dhoni and team who brought the Cup home after 28 years, a matter of pride for every Indian. Now, starts the flurry of endorsements, prizes/goodies given by State governments and various cricket boards to their players. Well, nothing wrong with that eh, but you don't do that when 30 % of the population is still below the poverty-line and much worse 40% illiterate. There's apparently no money for education in budget allotments, but for cricket goodies there is. In the name of "promoting sports", which, is basically scoring political points in this cricket-crazy nation, a lot of money is being spent. It would have been better if all this money was invested at the grass-root level for promoting sports. Lack of money for promoting sports shows, when the second largest populous country in the world comes back with barely a handful of Olympic medals.

Now, with the euphoria of the World Cup victory settling down, the media seems to be looking for new "issues", and Afridi gave them just that with the "Pakistanis have a bigger heart " comment. Personally, I would care more for a house-fly sitting on my back rubbing its head than haggling over the issue.This new issue seems to be getting a lot of unwarranted attention among our "esteemed" media. Afridi is just scoring points back home which Indian authorities also do, with crassy initiatives like 'Aman ki Aasha'. Now, we can expect to see a lot of so called "experts" coming up asking if 'Aman ki Asha' was a good idea (not a very good one, when you haven't hung Kasab yet). I have only one answer for such "experts"-Jerks!! you were the ones who started it in the first place. While the UPA got away with corruption issues, when Aman-ki-Asha was re-ignited (well, thats a different issue, more on that later), the media gets another issue to milk.

I don't blame Afridi entirely for the comments, he is probably making post-retiral arrangements for a career as a politician. Afridi seems to be a smart chap and such comments of him are well, frankly speaking unexpected. If he were not smart , he would be another gullible victim of jingoism .Its the gullible and credulous people who want to hear such things . Half of them are illiterate, and even the literate ones are cursed by the presence of some prejudiced ones. We have such species here as well (unfortunately, I have encountered such creatures). The story is the same on both sides of the border. How else would you explain the popularity of channels like Aaj Tak, India TV and the likes which have nothing but an issue-hype propaganda. What is happening is a systematic milking of prejudiced minds, which unfortunately seem to comprise a large percentage of population across both sides of the border. Afridi, infact, pointed this out (media bias), though only for the Indian side; but that would be half the truth.

I would rather have a better initiative for the media on both sides of the border 'Saaksharta ki Aasha'. Do that and most of these problems would be gone. The smarter thing would be not to mind such comments and get on with our work.

Some...

Americans: Ohh, they want democracy lets support them; poor things, they don't have rights, lets give them some..

Islamic Extremists: Too many humans...Jihaadddd..lets kill some!!

Hindu Fundamentalists: They don't have culture, let's teach them some.

Chinese:Screw the world, we are awesome.

Indians: They don't know corruption, let's teach them some

Arabs: I want to get some.. errr..dunno wat!?

Africans: They really need some !!

The Vegetable of the Year

Onion (Kaanda) for making producers and consumers equally miserable!

From K to C...

Most newspapers these days scream with headlines of corruption, laundering and fraud. Frankly, its a very disturbing sight when the first thing you see after waking up is some criminal's face grinning at you as he's led by the "protectors" of law. I had almost given up on reading newspapers because of this, but that would be tantamount to me acting like an ostrich sticking its head in the sand. Corruption has become the most frequently used word in newspapers and discussions anywhere.We seem to have a newfound infatuation for the C word after Ektaa Kapoor's last decade K-approved reign.

Ask a kindergarten kid and he might spell C for Corruption instead of the usual Cat word.

Corruption seems to have become the pet peeve for the ever frustrated and disgruntled middle-class.Even B-school group discussions eventually stray to this topic. The recent spate of controversies have served more than one purpose. While it has successfully in some cases exposed corrupt politicians, it has also made us realize that we are very good at pointing fingers at others. Political bashing is probably the favorite time-pass in this country.No wonder, media houses keep unearthing, manufacturing and printing such news. When there is demand, there is supply!

I don't have any qualms about exposing corruption but making a melodrama out of it is a new low for a country which aspires to be a super-power and takes pride in the "India Shining" banner. It would do us a lot of good if we allow room for optimism. Lauding our heroes at home for commendable work should also be a priority. A policeman dies while chasing a thief and the news is probably buried in some corner of the inner pages. A hero is only a hero as long as he is recognized and commended for what he is.26th January and 15th August are probably the only excuses for remembering our heroes.

We crib about policy failures at grass-root levels. How many of us are actually willing to spend some of our leisure time towards activities which require attention?! We crib about not getting our rights but don't care two hoots towards fulfilling our duties. This nation needs and deserves more than our sympathies and complaints. Its time we start recognizing people who matter.Otherwise, we are just a saas-bahu saga for the rest of the world. Noisy, but not to be taken seriously.

Kahe ko duniya banaayi

As the world outside celebrated Valentine's day, I sat in my room reading about the latest developments in Egypt and the Arab world, there was a knock on the door.

A thin, gaunt face stood there, narrow eyes and high cheek bones protruding out. He had a thin frame and could have passed as any average IT guy in full-sleeve shirt, a half sweater and a pair of jeans. A dejected look gave him away, I was sure that he was a migrant from some screwed up middle-east country trying to make a living here. He gave me a folder which he held in his hand, silently, and asked me to read it. I didn't realize; reading what was written in there would send a chill through my spines .

I asked him ,'' tum kahaan se ho?".

He replied,''saab, Kashmir se";

"Kashmir mein kahaan se?";

"Baramullah mein ghar tha saab, militants ne udaa diya.";

" Abhi kahaan rehte ho?" ;

"Pune-Bhonsari mein camp hai saab, waheen rehte hain"

He was one of the hundreds of migrants who were forced to flee their homes and stay in camps. I was dumbstruck . I didn't know how to react; no matter what I said, this guy was probably never going back home! Here I was discussing the Jasmine Revolution with my friends on social networking sites; even finding humor in some of the incidents, but seriously do we have to go that far to witness a crisis.It is right here at home, that too for the past 50 years.The guy was reluctant to vouch for himself, as if even justifying collecting alms and money for sustaining himself and his family was a shameful act. There was this air of awkwardness, as if he were saying, "I don't want to do this, but I am helpless."

I gave him 20 bucks at first, since that was the only amount left in my wallet. He was not very keen on taking cash, but asked if I could give away some old, used clothes, warm clothes and foot-wear.

He said,'' saab, agar pehen ne ko bhi kuch mil jaye toh chalega, raat mein bahut thand lagti hai camp mein".

I gave him a helpless look, being bachelors we didn't keep much of old or unusable clothes; most of it was either thrown away or given to the domestic help. I rushed in to my room and asked my room-mate to give me a 50 rupee note. I told him "If you have some old clothes, which you are planning to discard, then give it". He fished out a pair of pyjamas from the pile of clothes dumped in the laundry net for washing.

The guy was glad that he got a pair of pyjamas. I told him that this was the only thing which we didn't use and wished I could have given him something more. He then proceeded to the next door.

"Duniya bananewale, kahe ko duniya banaayi" -(monologue).

Can we ever watch anything worth watching????

Sitting at home the entire day,doing nothing is very boring.Since I had nothing to do and almost the entire day at my disposal,I decided to kill time by doing what I do most often;switch on the idiot-box.So many channels to watch..umpteen news channels...how does a viewer choose a channel to watch...I have always wondered how channels manage to keep high TRPs.I was alien to the concept (of TRPs) ..decided to google it and find out..Apparently they have a people meter which measures the amount of time a channel is being watched on a television set.So..this is how TRPs are measured..!!Then something cold struck me!!

Boy-oh-boy!!...Do people really watch saas-bahu sagas so much??..I remember 5-6 years back when Ekta kapoor stormed almost every entertainment channel and how every entertainment buzz crowned her the Empress of small screen entertainment.Even my mom was hooked to those pathetic serials but luckily for me, she got bored of them eventually.All of these serials seemed to have almost the same story...the story of a joint family fighting against all adversities together.....spiced-up by gal and ego fights!!!

I have to say the era of saas-bahu serials was one of the worst milestones for the Indian entertainment industry..At the same time however we had a 'Kaun Banega Crorepati' which was a genuine hit with a host like Amitabh Bachchan who mesmerised the audience of almost all age-groups with his oratory skills.Sadly there has not been even a single programme which has come close to being called 'entertaining' since then.'Roadies' does seem to fit the bill though(but not for all age-groups!).Reality shows seem to rule the rooster these days except for the part that the probability of events being real is as good as the probability of finding water in the Sahara!!

Lets move onto news..Theres been a flurry of news channels..Sahara,CCN-IBN,Star,NDTV ,AajTak,..india TV!!!(if you can call that a news channel).Now these guys are really funny..you flash any news which you feel is good enough to capture the attention of the 'junta' ..create a furore over it..grab TRPs...endless discussions with so called "experts" in news studios....then wondering why the news has actually become an issue!!..Now thats plain common-sense..its you guys who made an issue out of a non-issue..It doesnt take an "Einstein" to figure that out!!! Are they testing the intelligence and patience of an average literate person??

The swine flu epidemic was crassly overplayed by news channels..Yes, it was a new disease without a vaccine or cure..It definitely helps in spreading awareness but theres a limit to which you can show these things on TV...Being in the Swine flu capital of India(Pune) I could easily notice the panic among people for a week or so..but after a week , all those N-95 masks simply vanished..people started caring lesser..Now,people in India have a habit of getting used to things very quickly..blame it on our "chalta hai" attitude...News channels called in experts on swine-flu....the whole day was devoted to such discussions..neglecting any other news which might have been otherwise important..Similarly when theres a statement on Indo-Pak relations from diplomats from either countries it plays in the news channels almost the entire day!!..As Rahul Gandhi rightly pointed out in todays press conference..Pakistan doesnt deserve half the importance which we give it,,there are many more things to take care of..illiteracy,child-labour,corruption..the list is endless...All these issues deserve equal importance.Whatever happened to responsible journalism!?

The most recent piece of crass journalism....portraying Mr.Venkatraman Krishnan as the sixth Indian to win the Nobel prize.We are so quick at taking credit for such things..without even checking the facts..Mr.Krishnan did his research in the USA and all the credit must go to the him and the institute where he did his research..but the media doesnt think twice before delving into false jingoism which it did even when VS Naipaul won the Nobel..media ran helter-skelter to find his Indian connection.But theres still a ray of hope..I saw a story (albeit a 2 min. one) by Vinod Dua emphasising on exactly the same point on how we dont shy away from taking credit for other peoples success and making their lives hell(in this case Mr. Krishnan)...perhaps all is not lost!