Indians first

If Chess was played with bat, ball, stumps and bails, Viswanathan Anand would probably have been a big star. So big, that Government officials would have fallen over each other to felicitate him even if he had voluntarily given up his Indian nationality. But Chess is not Cricket, and the exact opposite happened to a man who while representing India, has won more championships on the world stage than any other sportsperson in the country – some ‘babu’ decided to “verify” Anand’s nationality. Eventually, the HRD minister apologized and the error was rectified immediately, but only because people actually know Viswanathan Anand.

But imagine the plight of sportspersons representing India in other sports. Whether it is Hockey, Athletics, Football or any other sport at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, talented sportsmen and women never make it past the first few steps either due to lack of facilities, corruption and bureaucracy in sports federations run by people who nothing about the sport, lack of sponsorships or recognition at the right time. And this is apart from the humiliation some have to face, just so they can pursue a sport they love.

While nothing is perfect, our treatment of hardworking, talented men and women leaves much to be desired, and our unhealthy obsession with cricket and cricketers has marginalized other sports. And incidents like the one with Anand do not help. I hope we can improve our attitudes and show them the respect they deserve, before it is too late.

The Age of Surveillance

Was stuck on this one for a couple of days, thought about another concept, a single panel cartoon but it had been a while since I made a (web)comic.

And then, I saw this tweet by @over_rated (Thanks)

The Government of India has its hands full tackling security risks arising from within and outside the country, and in the effort to “keep us safe”, it has now turned its attention towards the Blackberry. The intentions behind the demand to monitor communications seem quite understandable, and phone surveillance has been underway for decades – from the days when there were only a few thousand telephones in India.

However, given the complete lack of oversight about our surveillance rationales and mechanism, it is impossible to understand the extent of use, or misuse. The only time the topic of “phone surveillance” becomes public is when a political party makes allegations against the Government, allegations that are not followed up, not just by the media, but by politicians themselves. Whether this temporary interest is due to the knowledge that constituting oversight procedures would render a potentially potent weapon ineffective, out of complete ignorance, or out of sheer laziness of our legislators, is difficult to determine.

On the other hand, it is clear that there is lack of oversight and absence of public debate around an issue that can affect our privacy, our very lives, and we don’t seem to be worried about it. The ‘aam aadmi’ understands that sacrifices have to be made, but until there is reasonable transparency and open debate about the Government’s policies and intentions, it is in our best interests that the email that goes out of our blackberry stays out of the Government’s reach.

Happy Independence Day

Who to follow?

Granted that Twitter’s “Who to follow” suggestions are annoying, often turning up people we don’t want to see in our timelines, or do we? :-)

P.S: Apologies in advance to the person in the thought bulbble :-) The joke is NOT on you.

0 Invites Left

An expression of Solidarity

With Mr.Suresh Kalmadi , Ms.Sheila Dixit, Government of India, and the Commonwealth Games 2010 organizers, at this difficult time.

And this is the tweet that triggered the cartoon …

Thanks :-)