I used the Cel Cab Taxi service in India recently and I must admit I was impressed. Here is how it works. You call up a number and tell them when you want a cab and where you need to go. They get your address and phone number. It is as simple as that.

A few minutes (say about 20 minutes) before the arrival of the taxi you receive an SMS giving you the Taxi’s ETA (estimated time of arrival). The Taxi turns up and drives you to your destination. An hour or two later your receive an SMS seeking your feedback on the service!

There is an interesting article in the Washington Post about the outrage expressed in India over the recent attacks. Unlike attacks in the past when the rich where unaffected for the most part, this attack specifically targeted the rich and famous.

“For the train bombings, the outrage was there, but it was never really heard,” Ronel said, his hands black from shoe polish. “More people died in the train bombings, but they were ordinary Indians, not high-society industrialists or foreigners or film industry people. Where were the protest marches after the train attacks?”

While its hard to disagree with this sentiment, the protests and concern expressed are a good place to start. It was heartening to hear that for the first time Muslim communities have come forward to in sizable numbers to condemn the attacks.

“The hard reality of this country is that we are living in two Indias. One is for the rich, who matter, and one is for the poor, who are invisible,” said Ashok Agarwal, a lawyer who runs Social Jurist, a group that litigates education cases on behalf of the marginalized sections of society. “In India, you can use the poor for your benefit. He should cook your meals, wash your utensils, scrub your clothes, but when it comes to doing justice for the victims of other bombings, there wasn’t this level of outrage. When poor people were attacked, the country wasn’t suddenly insecure. This is a fundamental injustice, and it has led to authorities ignoring attacks.”

One can only hope that in future (god forbid if there are other attacks) the level of concern and cries for accountability will be heard again.

The opposition BJP took a “soft on terror” line of attack against the Congress in the recent assembly poolls and it didn’t quite pay the desired results. So its a sign that the outrage felt in Mumbai hasn’t really carried to the rest of the country.  If this is to be believed, the two Indias are here to stay for the forseeable futre.

Abhinav Bindra picked up India’s first individual gold medal at the Beijing Olympics. A commendable achievement by the 25-year old.

There is plenty of press about it already. So I don’t wish to add to the clutter. What I liked most about this young man from the video footage was his calm and composed nature despite having created history. It is such a refreshing change from the Sreesanths, Harbhajans and Kohlis of the cricketing world.

His comments following the victory came across as “simple and down to earth”. He deserves all the kudos.

Ravi Krishna Reddy, formerly bay area based techie has returned to India to take the plunge into politics in India. He is contesting from Jayanagar in Bangalore as an independent candidate. Considering the sorry state of Karnataka politics the entry of some fresh blood can’t do any harm. He has managed to garner some decent press and raise some money, most of it over the internet to support his campaign. As per his bio, he was the former President (2005) of the Kannada Koota of Northern California. If you wish to contribute to his run for office, go here. You can check out some youtube videos of his in Kannada.

The nexus between cricket and Bollywood has been formalized and is ready for launch. Not surprisingly the theatrics that go with Bollywood have found their way to the launch of the Indian Professional League (IPL). It has all the makings of a movie launch. Prior to this players were bought and sold like cattle. Bollywood stars are geared up for “song and dance” at various points during the matches. Cheer leaders have been imported from across the world. Advertising is at its peak. The teams have uniforms, logos, anthems and what not. The influence of American sports is everywhere except that the game is cricket and not baseball or American football.

Cricket-Bollywood Links

Cricket’s love affair with Bollywood is not new. Tiger Pataudi-Sharmila Tagore, Mohammed Azharuddin-Sangeeta Bijlani, Mohsin Khan-Reena Roy, Sandeep Patil, Salil Ankola and Syed Kirmani’s foray into acting are just a few examples. Even the great Sunil Gavaskar known for great restraint and concentration on the cricket field succumbed to the glamor of Bollywood and had to try his hand at films. More recently Shoaib Akthar was in the news for considering Bollywood offers. With the onsetof the IPL, movie stars and cricketers frequently share the stage whether it is Yuvraj and his Bollywood girl friends or Sreesanth and his dance moves. So the Cricket-Bollywood links are here to stay and be strengthened.

Big Bucks, Match-fixing and Performance-enhancing Drugs

The IPL does raise a number of questions. The monies at stake are huge and with it comes other challenges. There is a dark side to Bollywood as is well-known. Over the years, the involvement of the mafia in Bollywood has resulted in fatalities among other things. The match-fixing scandal of yesteryears has shades of Bollywood-mafia connections. Perhaps the only thing missing from this back-drop is the use of performance-enhancing drugs. India’s recent success in the T20 has been timely and BCCI has managed to cash in on the wave. The BCCI will do well to introduce some checks and balances across the board instead of simply gloating over the booty they have collected for themselves.

The three-four hour format is very much like Bollywood films from a duration point of view except that it is live entertainment. The IPL has players from all cricketing countries. So it remains to be seen if Brett Lee bowling to Tendulkar with both players playing for two commercial teams is going to produce the same excitement and passion among the public as when India plays Australia. It is going to take a while for the viewing public to even understand and remember which player belongs to which team let alone develop team loyalties. A lot is riding on the hype and the hoopla. The success of this “cricketing circus” is ultimately dependent on viewer interest. The initial curiosity is bound to draw the crowds, but it remains to be seen if it can be sustained through the tournament.

On the one hand there is clearly a significant increase in the frequency with which matches are played. Cricket has almost become a round the year effort for some of the leading players like MS Dhoni. Is there too much cricket to sustain the viewer interest? Will the public will take to the newly packaged entertainment and consume it in droves to justify the high price of the teams. As Kevin Pieterson put it, “Hopefully it will be a massive success, and I think it’s going to be, because you have so much money being pumped into it, and you have the best players in the world, so there’s no reason why it won’t be. This could be the way cricket goes – everyone wants to see a result in three hours.”

Whatever happens, these matches are bound to unearth some new talent or witness unseen talents of existing players. So there might be some good news for Indian cricket after all.

A face-off between IPL and ICL champs as mooted by ICL’s Inzamam-ul-Haq does not sound like a bad idea. If the circus has takers, why not let it continue beyond the IPL. Already Cricket Australia is thinking on the lines of a similar league of their own, and the deep pocketed Allan Sanford of the West Indies could do it single-handedly too if he so desired.

The Cauvery water issue which has been a constant source of trouble between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu rears its ugly head ever so often. As usual the Tamil film industry (now often referred to as Kollywood) feels obliged to throw in their support and show their solidarity given that Tamil films become an immediate target when trouble erupts. As always, this results in controversies of its own adding little value to the overall issue.

Very often, these events cause more harm than good. While it is not a bad idea for celebrities to be involved in raising awareness for a cause, it would do a world of good if these individuals stick to their “core competencies”. Without a doubt all of them are capable of attracting the crowds. All of them are at their best when they deliver planned scripted lines. Unfortunately, these events become like election rallies. Instead of serving as peaceful, hunger strike-like events, the stars are obliged to indulge in public speaking (perhaps driven by the vested interests of those stars who are already engaged in politics), most often extempore. The reality is that most of these stars are incapable of delivering a coherent message when asked to speak without a script. The result is unsophisticated language, poor use of words, and ultimately a botched message to the largely adoring public. Actor Sathyaraj’s speech is a perfect example of the kind of dangerous and divisive rhetoric that celebrities must avoid. The only voice of reason in the midst of the hoopla over the stars was that of Kamalahasan, when he said, “I need Rajni, I need Sathyaraj but I also need Kumble”.

Here is a background on the Cauvery issue for those who are interested in the details.

The CPI(M) has mooted the idea of third alternative outside of the Congress and the BJP. At first it sounded like yet another pre-election gimmick. However, Sitaram Yechuri of the CPI(M) Politburo has clarified with some interesting points.

“Our stand is non-Congress and anti-BJP. Elaborating on third alternative, he said this would be formed based on three policies — opposing communalism, opposing “anti-people content of economic reforms” and opposing all efforts to make India a subordinate ally of US imperialism.

“This is not merely an electoral front. Differences between a front and alternative is that the former is a cut and paste job for elections. We are working on an alternative, which is for the long term and is built on a policy framework,” he said.

On the one hand it is admirable that a much needed third-force is being considered based on ideology rather a politics of opportunism. But the reality that such a credible force can be put together with the CPI(M) (of all parties) at the helm seems unlikely for many reasons.

• Barring Kerala and West Bengal, the CPI(M) hardly has a strong presence in the rest of the country to lead such a force. The electorate in Kerala has consistently favored the opposition in every election. Going by this the CPI(M) in Kerala will probably be on its way out in the time for the next polls.
• The ideology behind the third front is primarily a communist agenda. Its hard to see how the other non-BJP, non-Congress forces would primarily subscribe to a communist agenda (apart from the anti-communalism stand).
• Sooner or later the CPI(M) will have to resort to a”cut and paste” operation of political opportunists merely to make the numbers in time for the polls. A delicate balance between cut and paste and an ideology based third force is hard to accomplish without a stronger country-wide presence (aprt from the two states).
• With the BJP to the far right (despite Mr. Advani’s best efforts to draw it to the center), and the Congress on the left of center (or wherever Rahul Gandhi plans to take it!), a far Left alternative appears unlikely to gain momentum no matter how well intentioned unless the CPI(M) intends to move more to the center of the political spectrum.

Lastly, it begs the question as to why the CPI(M) has chosen to embark on this third front after being part of the UPA for the last four years.

The BJP recently announced Mr. LK Advani would be its next PM candidate. For the first time, the party seems to have stepped up and announced a formal succession plan. After the defeat at the last Lok Sabha polls, the party has been struggling with all kinds of infighting, first on the party President’s post, the controversy over Advani’s visit to Pakistan, the silence over Vajpayee’s health, infighting and defection in its Gujarat ranks, to state a few.

A new book, titled India Arriving, has just been released. It is authored by Dr. Rafiq Dossani, Sr. Research Scholar,Stanford University.

You can read a sample chapter (which looks interesting) and order the book. I haven’t read it as yet but hope to read it some time in the near future.