One of the fundamental failures of Indian Capitalism is the absence of focus on Charity. Though there has been a recent shift to favour sustainable businesses over promoting the dynasty, the overriding goal appears to be dynasty and nothing else. Dynasties produce smart heirs and dumb & incompetent heirs as well. And  the wealthy (competent and incompetent) sadly lack a focus on charity. And in the absence of leadership, the middle class shows no charitable inclinations either.

When I had just arrived in Mumbai and had talked about how Mumbai citizens had learned to ignore the pavement dwellers, one of the businessmen I met remarked that I was behaving like a foreigner. Worrying about Indian poverty was only for foreigners! It is four years since I came but every time I drive through the streets of Mumbai, I am stuck by the starkness of the poverty of the pavement dwellers who you cannot miss at all. Driving your car is not as enjoyable when you are constantly watching our for the safety of children playing on the pavement. Most of the Mumbai citizens have learnt to ignore the pavement and not see the pavement dwellers. But for a newcomer to Mumbai like me, the pavement dwellers are stark reminder of underlying social tension - how long before one of the children throw a stone at my car. Actually they do but mostly very small pebbles which do no damage but when I send my kids to school in the car, I worry. I am surprised that nobody else does. Maybe I am worrying too much and the pavement dwellers are happy to be in the great city of Mumbai and pavement dwelling is better than whichever village they had left behind. However, on a seflish basis, wouldn"t we all be happier  if a solution can be found for pavement dwellers and we dont have to wonder if ever the pavement dwellers will riot.

The point I am trying to make is that Charity is good from a selifsh point of view. Charity has to be a priority for those of us who are fortunate to be blessed with an education, opportunity to make a good living and the wealthy. Every year I try and make charitable donations as a defined percentage of my annual income and I know of nobody else who does that. Most contributors who donate to charity do on a one off basis. Some organisations try to get a monthly charity contribution especially by promoting the concept of "psuedo-adopting a child" for a monthly payout of INR 100-500 but that is it. We dont have a Rockefeller Foundation or a Gates Foundation that systematically gives out a great percentage of family"s wealth. Nor do we have the concept of contributing a percentage of our income to charity.

Charity is important and has to be distinguished from alms. Organised Charity focuses on providing an opportunity for life to people left behind by society and people affected by natural disasters. Organised Charity reduces social tensions and promotes belief in society among the poor and the dispossessed. Otherwise, the poor and the dispossessed will resort to violence, riots or Naxalite revolution. Next time, a charity organisation contacts you for a donation, please find a few minutes to contribute. Dont postpone it saying that you will do it another day. Even better, make a resolution that you will contribute a percentage of your income (whatever be the number that makes you comfortable) to charity every year. You can sleep better knowing that you are doing your part in reducing social tensions.

Wassup? 

Had big trouble with my blogging..  the Add post function didnt work.  I have changed browser and it is now working.

Hope to be blogging again.

A thousand speeches, articles and andolans could not  have achieved what Mushraff achieved in one single stroke.  By charging Imran Khan with terrorism he has reduced the anti terrorism laws to their truthful state - a new tool for the powerful to oppress people who dissent or disagree.

Thank you General.  You have made people realise that anybody can be arrested and charged for anything.  It doesnt matter who you are, what your record is and what your credentials - you can be charged with theft or terrorism, if it so pleases the government. 

Next time you read about somebody or other's crime - think - may be this is a bogus charge.

I have been reading with dismay the muck raking that is going on about the Sethu Samudram Project.  The parallels between this and the nonsense that goes on in the US about "belief" vs "science" is uncanny. 

The issue in the US is whether Darwin's theory of evolution can be taught in schools or should there also be place for "creationism".  For those of you who dont know, "creationism" argues that life systems are so complex that it is not possible that they were result of millions of years of evolution but they had to have been "created" by a "Creator".  Please note the capital C - the idea is to indicate an almighty God. Funny thing is that the Creationist theory has also evolved - from a blatant definition of creation in 7 days as defined in the Bible (which US courts kept throwing out as an attempt to introduce Christian Relgion into schools') to a more disguised, palatable and secular theory that a Creator (who is not named so that it could be a God of any religion) is at work (so that it may be acceptable to US courts). 

Creationists claim that their theory is not based on religion and Creationism is a secular science.  But suspiciously, Creationists are always fundamentalist christians who are against abortion, are members of the Republican Party and form the Religious Right.  They have taken over school Boards, won elections and they keep trying to get schools to teach "creationism".  They have failed in all their attempts to throw Darwin out of school  but have been partially successful in getting some of the schools to teach Creationism as an alternative theory to Darwin's theory of evolution.  However, most of the time, science teachers rebel, go to court and win a case which orders the school to junk the "psuedo science" of Creationism.

It is easy to understand how a religious Christian takes offense to Darwin's theory of evolution.  For a fanatic believer, eveything in the Bible is the literal truth - the word of God. So if the Bible says that God created the universe in 7 days there ends the matter.  The fact that over the last four hundred years, the Church steadily lost the Science vs Beliefs debate doesnt matter to the fundamentalist. The Church's theory of the Universe - "geo centric - the world is at the center" was proved wrong.  The world is flat was proved wrong. The Universe is at least 14 billion years old, if not more (a theory which is consistent with Hindu belief in vastness of time), which is completely inconsistent with biblical notion that the world was created a few thousand years ago.  None of Science's victories contradict the basic Christian premise of "turning the other cheek" but somehow fundamentalist Christians place more empahsis on denying the factual inaccuracies -whether the Universe was created in 7 days or over millions / billions of years has been part of a really big fight.

It is difficult to understand why factual inaccuracies in the Bible or the absence of archeological evidence that Ram built the coral reef in the Palk Strait should disturb the religious. Why should a person's belief in the noble message of Jesus Christ be affected by factual inaccuracies in the Bible?  After all the Bible was compiled by human disciples - knowing how history is full of examples where people have added their own agendas to religion, why cant the fundamentalist Christian accept that the Bible may contain factual inaccuracies because of what the followers of Christ did to the book?  Similiarly why should fundamentalist Hindus get furious when the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) says that they have no archeological evidence of Ram or his travel from North India to Sri Lanka in search of Sita?  The message that we need to learn from the life of Jesus and Ram form the very core of what it takes to be a good human being.  Let not religion blind us - focus on what is important and not the irrelevant. 

A coral reef is a natural formation.  Coral is formed by living sea plants - they become a beautiful eco-system.  It is terrible that a few people in ASI have been suspended for doing their job - sift through archealogical evidence and interpret it according to the scientific method.  The constitution of India requires us to develop a "scientific temper".  Its time that we show that we have one.

The 123 agreement is a fantastic tribute to the glory of the New Indian State.  I wouldnt want to give all the credit to the current Indian government though I have to agree that it must have taken nerves of steel to negotiate this.  But credit must go to the Indian Parliament and to the various democratic pressure groups that kept the Indian government on a leash so that they didnt concede too much to get this agreement done.  

Most of all credit must go to the Indian entreprenuerial class that made Indian economic progress possible. There can be no doubt that Indian GDP growth is despite our government and not because of it.  It is economic progress that that has compelled the US government to try and make friends with India. For more than fifty years, while India trudged the path of non-alignment, central planning and low growth ("the Hindu rate of growth") and the US government ignored India despite its democratic credentials.  India continues to make noises about non-alignment and central planning but it has freed its entreprenuerial energy and the resultant economic growth is not something the US can any longer ignore.  They want to participate in the Indian economic growth - develop trade and prosperity.  An India with 2-3% GDP growth they could ignore but not an India with a 7-9% economic growth.  

It is the economy, stupid. 

It is not often I find myself on the same side as the BJP but I find myself siding with the BJP on the upcoming election of the new President.  I find it very difficult to get enthusiastic about the idea of a woman President - it seems a non-event given that we have had a woman Prime Minister, which is the more important job.  Having elected Indira Gandhi and almost elected Sonia Gandhi, India does not have to prove anything by electing a woman President.  The more meaningful event in women's lib would be getting more women MPs (through 33% reservation or even better without it, if all parties resolve to give their party tickets to women candidates).  I wish we could have a better candidate.  I am not for a minute getting excited by Shekawat - if you recall his terrible record on Sati no normal person can - but I really feel let down by Congress's choice for President.  After Abdul Kalam, the best of candidates would look inadequate but to nominate this non-entity outsider with a terrible record demeans the office of the President.

Tickets to the Walt Disney Theme Parks are priced to keep you hooked for many days.  A three day pass costs per day the same as a single day pass.  But the fourth day price is only USD 10, fifth day price is USD 6, six day price is USD 4 and seventh day onwards is only USD 2 per day.   By day four, you are thinking of going to Universal but the price difference from a first day pass at Universal and the fourth day pass at Disney is so huge, it convinces people to stick to Disney.  Anyway, we had decided to stick to Disney because our kids related better to Walt Disney than to Universal though they were tempted to see Spiderman in Universal.

Day one and two were Magic Kingdom theme park.  A ride on the most beautiful steam engine driven train takes us to Mickey's toon fair, our first point in Magic Kingdom.  We go on goofy's rollercoaster - the mildest roller coaster you could possibly get into and the only one where my 2 year old was tall enough to qualify.  We walk through Mickey's house into his garden and garage - we are turned away from the Splash Mountain and the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad because both our kids are not tall enough to ride - we laugh at the Monsters Inc Laugh floor,  we go on a spin with Buzz Light Year,  join Winnie the Pooh on her adventures, fly the carpet with Aladdin, fly with Dumbo the elephant etc etc and we have spent two days.  Fortunately for us most rides involve a wait of less than 30 minutes and we learn to use the "FASTPASS", which helps.

Day 3 and four were Disney's Animal Kingdom.  Built with enormous care to resemble parts of the world, the park is divided into Asia, Africa, Dinoland etc, the park is delightfully green with lots of vegetation.  We saw two wonderful shows - one was Finding Nemo and the second was the Lion King. We went an African Safari, went to the meeting place where you could shake hands with Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore and Tigger, rubbed shoulders with Dinosaurs etc.  My wife went on the biggest Disney roller coaster attraction - Mount Everest, in the Asia section and came back frightened to the gills (I was baby sitting).  She encouraged me to go but I chickened out.  We saw Mickey's Jungle Parade but it was not as magical as the "Dreams come true parade" in the Magic Kingdom.

Day 5 was Disney MGM Studios.  We saw "Voyage of the Little Mermaid" but otherwise the day was disappointing. My children stood in the queue for an hour but when it was their turn to shake hands and take photographs with the Power Rangers - the Red Ranger- suddenly they called it off and the Red Ranger just ran away.  My 2 year old daughter was inconsolable. So we went back to the hotel and spent the day in the pool.

Day 6 - Rain forced the closure of Blizzard Beach theme park which we wanted to go see.  We were too glad to rest our feet and stay put.

Day 7 - catch a flight and head back to New York.

On day 5 evening we went to the Disney Downtown Area to get a bit of the taste of nighlife.  On the whole a very satisfying trip to Orlando.

A galaxy of Disney Stars go on a parade - Mickey Mouse is still the center of attention but there are floats for Peter Pan, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, Aladdin, .... the list goes on.  The music is magical ....

"Believe in your dreams and the dreams will come true"

The pavements are filled with glazed eye crowds.. children, teenagers, parents, grandparents and everybody else... it looks like everybody is holding their breath and time stands still... and then the parade is over and life starts all over again.. the crowds breakup and people start rushing to the roller coaster ride they wanted to take or watch the Snow White show or whatever...

Walt Disney World - The Magic Kingdom theme park - Orlando.  My children are ecstatic and even I am enthralled.  Walt Disney is still magic. 

Orlando is the county seat of Orange County, Florida with a population of 220,000 (US Census 2006). Tourists to this small town are a staggering 54 million - that is 5.4 crores, more than 2x the city of Mumbai - every year. 

In 1965, Walt Disney chose the swampland near Orlando near Lake Beuna Vista, to set up its second theme park, to be called Walt Disney World (first theme park is in Hollywood, California and is called Disneyland). Nobody expected Orlando to become such a huge success that it draws more tourists than the first theme park in California. Orlando has more theme parks than any other location in the world - there are four Disney theme parks, two Disney water parks, 3 Universal parks and several independent water parks etc.  Orlando also has several large convention centers - makes a lot of sense - everybody likes to mix business with pleasure. 

Well if you are wondering why I am talking about  Orlando because we were there for seven glorious days of fun.  Orlando is a fast growing economy solely driven by tourism - growth was very visible betwen my first trip ten years ago to my trip this year.  There were more theme parks than there were in 1997, more hotels and more everything.  Orlando has more hotel rooms than any other place in the world. 

I had more fun this time because we went as a family and our kids enjoyed it so much.  The tourists are unanimous that Universal Studios theme park is more adult fun and if you have children who are 8 plus then they will like Universal.  Our kids are less than 8 so we stuck to Disney.  This is an amazing vacation destination - you can spend a month there and you would not have seen everything.  More later. 

There is absolutely no doubt that Abdul Kalam has raised the profile of the Indian Presidency.  He has been an absolutely inspirational President.  It is true that except for Dr Rajendra Prasad, nobody has had a second term and may be it is somebody else's chance to be President.  I have nothing against Pratibha Patil but she pales into insignificance as a successor to President Kalam. This business of politicians hobnobbing to create a consensus candidate is such a farce.  How can they elect somebody who is not even in the mainstream consciousness of the country?  Economic Times introduced the candidate as Pratibha (who) Patil ... never heard of this lady before the announcement.  May be we would have put up with this before Kalam but it is so difficult to digest this now.

It looks like everybody feels the same way.  Most Indians would like a second term for President Kalam or a more inspirational person to be a successor to President Kalam.  Maybe Narayanamurthy.   This is a democracy - we should be able to make our views heard.  Let us write to our respective MPs.