One shot. One kill.
There are Bibles and then there are handbooks for everyone interested from making bombs to creating political conflicts. These can be long-drawn and full of jargon that the lay reader may or may not fully understand. It is the same with the art of being a great sniper. The best way is always to get...
Reasons why we must not hate corruption
Look around and try and spot areas where corruption has been in the headlines and is most talked about. From our judiciary to the police, from civil society to legislation, from natural resources to public services, from land administration to tax administration, from individuals who yield power to those who are powerless, corruption weaves them...
Charlatans and the core of corruption
The 2011 census shows that we have 73% literates in the 7+ age-group, 69.3% literates in the 15+ age-group. The 2013-14 figures released by the government boast of 1,42,5564 schools, 712 institutes of higher learning which includes all sorts of universities, 36,671 colleges, and 11,445 stand-alone institutes. The 2011-12 expenditure estimates for university and higher...
Reimagining our world
Politicians are forever doing this. I mean, reimagining the world. They have glorious day-dreams of cleaning up the safes of the rich and the poor, the mighty and the insignificant, the tax-payer and the cheat… they love clean safes. Even their safes in their homes are generally clean, unless the transfer to their Swiss bank...
Between credibility and chaos
All around today I see moments floating between credibility and chaos… and somewhere between credibility and chaos are the dangerous mutant strands of corruption. So whichever way one moves, the possibility of getting afflicted with corruption is rather high. From politicians to the bureaucrats, from the common man to connected man, and from one end...
The revolution has not devoured itself
So they lasted for 49 days. But what are 49 days of unconventional governance compared to 66 years of entrenched corruption? And yet the social media, I find, is full of intelligent urban population proving themselves not just uninformed but also naïve and rather arrogantly stupid. Why else would they call Arvind Kejriwal the ‘item...
What are elections about?
Are elections all about change? Do they reach out to the common man asking him to choose between a ‘thank you’ and a ‘good riddance’ on the lips or on placards? Or are they about sniggers and vacuous kerbside analysis by minds that have rarely gone beyond the self? Or going further, are they about...
Of Indians, idiots, and this idiocy called corruption!
“I say ninety percent of Indians are idiots. You people don’t have brains in your heads… it is so easy to take you for a ride,” said Justice Markandey Katju in December 2012. No, Justice Katju, only 10 percent of Indians are idiots, the rest are smart and corrupt. Obviously, Katju doesn’t get up at...
A Pa called Po
My father is not a politician. He never watches porn on the Tab that I gifted him. He never considers asking a client to send him a Tab and then never even mention that it has to be paid for. He never tweets inanities. He never rolls back his ideas for home improvement. I’ve never seen him...
A grilling conversation with a fiery intent
‘Hi there… can we talk?’ I looked around and was taken aback to find a fiery grilled chicken piece waving frantically at me. ‘You?’ I asked with incredulity clearly infiltrating my voice, posture, and even expression. This was surely one of those hard-to-believe moments that I had, as yet, only read in novels. A conversation,...
Revolutionary Greetings. Review of ‘The Muddy River’
SCAM. Yes, this is what I wanted to call this book. No, not because there is some writing scam that I’m trying to expose, but because there are four key words that weave this novel by P A Krishnan. The acronym SCAM, in this context, means: SENSUAL | CORRUPTION | ASSAM | MILITANCY. Though this...
Combating corruption
Awareness, self-actualization, and a detached spirit that acts… three traits needed today if corruption is to be combated. Age, qualification, caste, sex, religion, and profession do not matter as much as does the will to be a better person first and then look to guiding others. © Arvind Passey 20 April 2010 Featured image credit:...
