Naveen vs Joe Biden

 What's the similarities between Naveen Patnaik, the Chief Minister of Odisha, my state back home in India and Joe Biden, the President of the United States ? Apart from both being politicians, there are plenty other similarities.

Both came to power as their previous incumbents screwed up governance, especially during calamity and pandemic in respective lands. The Congress government mishandled the killer Super Cyclone of Odisha in 1999 to pave the path for Naveen Patnaik to ascend into power. Trump's administration made a complete mess of Covid-19 which cost him his reelection for Biden to step in. Both Naveen and Biden are suave and soft spoke but men of silent actions who eventually get their job accomplished.

Both are firm implementators of schemes and projects in contrast to their respective right wing opponents (BJP for Naveen and Republicans for Biden) who are good in rhetorics but short at action. Unlike his predecessors, Naveen has ensured that his populist measures like KALIA JOJANA (Scheme) and several other measures directed to the women and the poor are properly implemented for the recipients get the benefits. 

Unlike the Congress regimes prior to him when the intended beneficiaries rarely got the largesse, Naveen Patnaik's socialist doles have largely reached the doorsteps of the poor and downtrodden. It has helped immensely in enhancing his image with the larger section of the society as a go getter - a man who gets the job done, resulting in reaping durable political benefits.

On the other hand 10,000 miles away on the other side side of the globe, Joe Biden has started on a silent note unlike his loud mouth nincompoop predecessor Donald J Trump. No sooner he came to office, he hastened the roll out of Covid-19 vaccines which has resulted in 70% reduction in daily death and infection ever since he was inagurated as US President on January 20. Millions have already got vaccinated and Trillions of dollars as direct payments as part of the stimulus package are on way to jumpstart the moribund economy. 

The steps taken by Naveen Patnaik in Odisha is simple and direct for the poor people to feel, understand and translate into votes. Politics is after all a game of perception. During my last India trip when I went my village, I talked to several people on ground. Most of them heaved paeans of praise on him for the free rice and other doles they actually received unlike during the Congress regimes when they received a fraction of it. 

In America, Biden seems to have learned his lessons when he was the VP during Obama's Presidency. Obama did a fantastic job in salvaging the fledgling economy which was virtually on a free fall, handed over to him by an incompetent George W Bush. The recovery came slow for the commoners to recognize it on a mass scale, as the Republicans muddled the environment with Tea Party activism movement. But it is a different situation now during a bad economy when 70% of Americans including a large number of Republicans approve the $1.9 trillion stimulus package. Because it is the layman who is getting some real, tangible cash in hand to spend and sparkle a consumer driven economy. Most public, irrespective of political affiliation give a thumbs up to the rolling out of vaccines.

Politics is a matter of perception. In the game of perception both Naveen and Biden are winning. Their Right wing opponents, BJP in Odisha and Republicans in US respectively are a  clueless lot. They can't do anything more than just opposing for the sake of opposition. BJP in Odisha is confused and probably given up until Naveen's death. In America the Right wing media and Talk Radio are struggling to find a narrative against Biden when a big chunk of Republicans (a sizable number in a divided nation) are approving Biden's handling of Pandemic and the economy. Both Naveen and Biden are on firmly on the driver's seat - at least for now. 

Panikia - The Odia Multiplication Table

 Does anyone, especially from Odisha remember PANIKIA, the Odia equivalent for "Multiplication Table" taught to be memorized during our primary school days ? For most of us KODIEKA PANIKIA MUKHASTA or memorizing the multiplications from 1 to 20, e.g., (1 × 1 till 1× 10, 2 × 2 till 2 × 10, 3 × 3 till 3 × 10... 20 ×1 till 20 × 10) was challenging.

I managed to rote it by heart. Whenever someone would ask me "18 PANCHAA KETE" (what is 5 times 18) ? I would reply NABE (90) without having any clue how that figure is arrived at but would get accolades for doing MUKHASTA (memorizing) of PANIKIA. GHOSA (rote) or BALADIA (like a bullock) method of rote was the norm of those day. 

The person who remembers the most was considered the smartest, nurturing creativity always taking a backseat. Switching to D M school was a smart step. In the late 70s, the famed English medium school decided to take students from the Odia medium schools through an entrance examination, a written test followed by a personal interview for those who get through it.

Not very keen on travelling all the way to Unit IX from BJB Flats, I appeared in the Exam half heartedly. Thought that only a few will turn up for the Entrance Exam. I was wrong. To my surprise there were hundreds sitting inside multiple classrooms competing for only a handful of seats. Anyway, I managed to qualify in the written test.

Then came the invitation for the personal interview. I was sure it's going to be my Waterloo. During my interview a bunch of General Knowledge questions were thrown at me. I answered all of them correctly. I remember one question - what's A.I.R. stands for. I replied, "All India Radio". The last question was asked by Headmaster, Late Mr. K.C.Das himself. He asked me to name the author of the book "Good Earth". Pearl S Buck was my answer. 

The gentleman sitting next to him exclaimed - "ARRE BAH", complimenting me for being the first one so far in the interview to answer all questions correctly. Sri Das, Headmaster nodded in agreement. I came back, dismayed at the prospect of getting selected. My memorizing skills probably clinched me a seat to the arguably the most coveted school of the time in Odisha's capital. 

D M School had some excellent teachers who taught me go above and beyond roting and focus more on understanding. But my father who taught Physics and later his counterpart Mr. Raghu Nath Panda, my Chemistry teacher in College and Mr. Banamali Mishra, Math teacher and a moving encyclopedia taught me to how to think and analyze. 

I found Chemistry, especially the organic part of it extremely boring as I could not make any head or tail out of those complex equations. R N Panda Sir told me to come out of the mugging mode and try to understand the subject. In a few months Chemistry which was as tough as a teak stump to crack, felt as smooth as a hot knife through butter. I realized that the fun of learning lies in understanding, not in roting the subject which was unhelpful and strenuous.

Reminds me of this scene from iconic movie "3 IDIOTs". When the Hindi speech writer told Chatur Ramalingam to understand the text of the speech before speaking in public, he said "Don't worry, I will rote it". Then Aamir Khan who did the playful and witty role of Rancho went on to change the word "CHAMATKAAR" to "VALATKKAR" and so on in the script. We all know what happened to Chatur who read it out loud on the stage without an idea of what he was talking about. That famous scene from the movie reminds us the perils of studying without understanding.

Chatur memorizes a Sloka (hymn) in Sanskrit meant to eulogize his Principal and spits it out on the stage, without understanding a single word of it, not realizing that the original one was altered by Aamir Khan. As Chatur on the stage was about to vomit out the Sloka, the later warms his friends to get ready to hear some sermons about Chatur's farting prowess. Chatur recites:

UTTAMAM GAD GADATA PADAM,
MADHYAM PADAM TUCHAK TUCHAK;
THUR THURIYA KANISTAM PADAM,
SUR SURIYA PRANA GHATAKAM.

Roughly transliterated...

"Loud farts are majestically thundering;
Medium farts come along stuttering,
Small Farts arrive whisteling & sirening;
The silent ones can be life threatening."

As the crowd went berserk, poor Chatur got kicked out of the stage. Rancho's dark humor teaches us another lesson in academics - Knowledge acquired through roting sans understanding may earn you a Degree. Rancho tells this to his friend, "You can pass by roting and get a job, "LEKIN AGLE 40 SAAL TERA VALATKAAR HI HOGA" (you will be screwed all the next 40 years of your life). He stood so vindicated.

Sri Ghanashyam Mohapatra - the forgotten Odia movie maker

 We Odias are famous for being poor appreciators of those from our state who excell in the fields of art, literature, entrepreneurship and innovation. At the same time we are the champions of eulogizing Civil Servants. It is a classic trait of a feudal state and "GAAN KANIA SINGHANI NAKI" - Country girl, running nose syndrome. Making sure the message is not lost in transliteration from Odia to English, it simply means we ignore those of our own by making a pooh-pooh of their achievements.

So given an opportunity I contribute my 2 cents by highlighting those men and women from the current and previous generations from Odisha by making sure it gets to the larger audience through the social media platform of Facebook. I have already shared several blogs about such eminent personalities from my home state, from the Astronomer Pathani Samant and Utkalamani (Jewel of Odisha) Gopabandhu Das to Author Manoj Das and Filmmaker Nirad Mohapatra, and many more.

Until Chetana Samal my friend from college days and wife of Rasmi Ranjan Routray, friend from my Engineering days mentioned it to me the other day, I was barely aware of this gentleman named Ghanashyam Das from Odisha. In 2011, Odisha Society of America's Dallas Convention, she got a chance to watch the Odia movie 'Kanaklata' for the first time! She couldn't believe herself how beautifully the movie maker Sri Das had picturized the novelist Palli Kabi (Country Poet) Nanda Kishore Bal's 1925 book by the same name and that too, after 50 years.

This was one of the movies that was screened as part of inauguration of Calcutta Doordarshan. Sri Mohapatra was late in submitting this movie in 1975 for the International Film Festival as information was hard to get on time those days. Satyajit Ray immensely liked this movie made by an young man and actually Mrinal Sen had persuaded Sri Mohapatra to send the movie to the festival, like outside the competition category. This movie got rave reviews. It is the only odia movie which had a special screening for all Members of Parliament and later it was specially screened for then President of India, Nilam Sanjeev Reddy. Sri Mohapatra fondly remembers the word by word, introduction to this movie in Hindi, for the President.

Chetana and Rasmi spent a wonderful afternoon with the filmmaker and his family. He had laid out all his works showing her and talking about his career. In his twilight years too, he is full of energy and was happy to show us his works. It is very sad that such a man of talent could never be awarded even the smallest of Padma Awards. It's another matter that these Padma Awards had been so much politicized beyond redemption that there shouldn't be any remorse for not getting them.

That was the only movie Mr Das made with a loan from RBI. Later on he focused mostly on documentaries and he won a multitude of awards. He is known as Father of Documentaries in Orissa. The Old timers who are reading this posts should remember him. Thanks Chetana for giving me the opportunity to pen a few words about him. May God give him a long rewarding life.

Cornwallis and his tryst with history

 It was October 17, 1781. A bunch of so called rag tagged farmers as ridiculed by British under the leadership of George Washington forced General Cornwallis (later to become Lord Cornwallis, the Governor General of India) to surrender. America 🇺🇸 had already declared itself independent 5 years ago in 1976. The surrender of Great Britain was a matter of formality. 

In the iconic movie "The Patriot" when Cornwallis was cornered by American revolutionaries and staring at defeat, his compatriot generals were reluctant to surrender, still disillusioned with the notion of British supremacy and infallibility. But Cornwallis was prudent enough to beat the retreat rather than face any further humiliation and gotterdammerung, as he knew he was on a losing ticket.

The myth of the invincibility of English power was shattered. The Great Britain wasn't looking so great anymore. Its colony America convincingly defeated it, with quite a bit of help from the French which vindicated the adage - DUSHMAN KI DUSHMAN DOST HOTA HAI (Enemy's enemy is a friend). No doubt the French contributed its formidable military and diplomatic support to defeat the British in America and became first state to recognize the United States.

The British morale was at its lowest ebb. The future of its empire which it prided as "Sun never sets over British empire" was at stake. It's ego was tarnished and trampled in Yorktown, Virginia after its forced surrender of the English Army. But the icing of the cake, its new colony of India 🇮🇳 inside where it was on an expansion spree wasn't looking so good as Tipu Sultan, the King of Mysore was giving it a run for money. 

A dejected Cornwallis returned back to England and five years later he had to go on a voyage to India as the Commander-in-Chief of the British India Army to secure its empire there. The iron was hot. The English were most vulnerable at the time. It was the time for India to deal the final blow to the British occupation. Tipu Sultan had already defeated the British in the second Anglo-Mysore and forced them to a sign a treaty in Mangalore.

The French sensed an opportunity and tried to teach the English a lesson in India. They had to relinquish India not so long ago which the French General Joseph Dupleix almost managed to drive away the British. Now after successfully helping the Americans to defeat British they were anxious to replicate the same in India by extending their help to Tipu Sultan.

But unfortunately for India, history had something else written in its fate. The French connection wasn't much fruitful due the inopportune time of internal turmoil in France with the advent of the French revolution. But still Tipu could have put the final nail in the British coffin if the Marathas and Nizam of Hyderabad supported him (the other powers of the yesteryear, the Mughals and Rajputs were already a spent force).

It didn't happen. British, the master of divide and conquer policy managed to keep the Nizam and Marathas away from Tipu and finally defeated him. It was the last, real opportunity for us to force a Brexit ahead of time, but we missed the boat.

The British tried its classic divide and rule policy in America too, but spectacularly failed as its founding fathers, especially Benjamin Franklin could foresee it and spread the message to the Americans to stay united in his journal "Philadelphia Gazette". But divided along the lines of caste, creed, religion, ethnicity and plagued by serious regionalism and factionalism blended with parochial outlook we provided the British the perfect recipe to divide and rule. Cornwallis succeeded in India when he failed in America. History has taught us so many lessons. One among them -United we win,  divided we fall.

Rihanna and the aftermath of her tweet

 I just heard her name. Never have listened to a single song of her. Now Rihanna is a house holder name in India by virtue of her Twit sympathizing with the ungoing farmer's agitations in and around Delhi.

The singer wanted to get some free publicity. She got it and we did a fabulous job at fulfilling her desire by straight walking into her trap. Forget Rihanna, many back home who themselves and non in their 14 previous generations from both sides of parents knew about pop music have suddenly become her critics. Not to be left behind our External Affairs Ministry has jumped too fast, too soon protesting her tweets, double dipping the attention she is got. We drool over any attention we can get from Westerners.

If an Akshay Kumar or Kangana tweets about some demonstration in US, will the President of US, the Democrats or the Secretary of State will give a damn ? I don't think so. Rihanna is accused of being a foreigner interfering in India's internal matter. Akhshay Kumar, the actor who is incidentally a citizen of Canada is considered as a hero for supporting the BJP led government. The diehard Bhakts sing eulogies of Akshay Kumar - no matter he being a Canadian citizen, at the same time accusing Rhianna as a foreigner. Double standards is our forte and no wonder we are World's Champion hypocrites.

Didn't a good section of folks in India whole heartedly supported Trump during the last US Elections, a clear case of interference in the internal affairs of a country ? What you call them ? Did we

forget that a certain immature Prime Minister was dancing in a stadium in Texas proclaiming - AB KI BAAR, TRUMP SARKAR (Next time it will be Trump's government) in a different country ? Can't it be construed as interference in the internal matter of another nation ? 

In the quest of getting publicity the girl and this man aren't a whole lot different. What a stupid thing to do by the leader of billion plus people when Netanyahu, his Israeli counterpart and a close associate of Trump didn't publicly endorse the later. Both are Prime Ministers, but similarities end there. One is a seasoned, mature leader, one is a myopic person prone to preposterous histrionics.

In meantime some Right wingers are branding the Sikh protestors as secessionist Khalistanis. The Bhakt brigade and RSS folks who rarely serve in military are questioning the patriotism of Punjabis who form the backbone of our defense forces. 

They should not forget that during partition riots in 1947 when Hindus were killed and their women raped in today's Pakistan, the RSS leaders ran away with their tails well tucked between their hind legs. At that time Sikhs provided a formidable resistance and came to the rescue of the Hindus. Now from their armchairs the Bhakts are accusing Sikhs of being unpatriotic.

Finally the BJP led government has procrastinated the law for one and half years as it chickened out. Why ? The UP Election is just one year from now and further fiasco can cost BJP the state of UP. And losing UP couple of years before the 2024 General Elections doesn't augur well for BJP. 

A party which prides itself as - JO KAHTA HAI SO KARTA HAI (What it says is what it does) has spectacularly failed to deliver yet again. After coming to power in 2014, sans scrapping the controversial Article 370 in Kashmir, BJP has failed to implement its agenda - from Demonetiziton, GST to the latest Farm Bill. So much for the party with a difference !!!

Our obsession with America

 Are we an US obsessed nation ? If social media is to be seen and believed, it feels so. The amount of coverage given to America by our folks back home, especially since last year's Presidential elections is staggering. From what I can see, the obsession has doubled in past 5 years, ever since Trump's arrival in the political scene.

Every American Presidential election gets its fair share of coverage in India. But last year's election Trumped all - partly due to flamboyant nature of Trump's candidacy and character. The social media was flooded with posts followed by discussions. The Right wing conservatives in India found their ally in Trump and Republican party. It's another matter the American Conservatives care a shit about India.

The night after the day of US Elections I was fast asleep. In the wee hours my phone kept ringing. Drowsy after a long day I hesitantly received the call. At the other end I could hear the sad voice of a lad from our village - "BHAINA, KANA TRAWMPAW KU HAREI DELA - Brother, you defeated Trump" ? "But why do you care ?" - I asked in an intriguing tone. He retorted back - "BICHARAA HAARI GALA. NA HELE PAKISTAN UPARE BOMA PAKEI THANTA - The poor guy lost. Otherwise, he could have dropped a bomb on Pakistan". I replied dismissively - "Oh, Trump told you so ? That's good to know".

In meantime, there was a Presidential election that was held in Tanzania on October 28, less than a week before the US Elections. Outside their country, nobody cared, nobody bothered about their elections. Poor Tanzania !!!

A lot has since happened. Trump is gone from the White House and Biden is in. But the obsession hasn't gone, nor subsided. Recently I saw posts where followers of Modi predicting Modi and Trump both winning elections in 2024 and taking the world to next level. Oh Really ? Their terms coincided for four years from 2017 to 2021. To what level they took the world to in those four years and what magic they have to do wonders together in 2024 ! Here in America forget about juxtaposing him with Trump and hallucinating about a glorious global scene in 2020, hardly anybody is even aware of Modi.

When I point about this obsession, some get defensive - justifying it to having their nears and dears in USA to make them obsessed about America. That's a weird and flawed logic. We have far bigger Indian diaspora in Uganda, South Africa, Fiji and Guyana too who got their friends and families in India. In fact, they are much larger in numbers and constitute a sizable portion of the population of their respective countries. Yet we rarely discuss about them.

Another yardstick of obsession is the amount of attention an American President gets while visiting India which can make any global leader turn green with envy. Putin, Xi, leaders of Germany or Japan don't get anything close to what an Ametican president gets in India. Even the British Prime Minister, a country with whom India has lon, historical ties and a sizable Indian diaspora doesn't get 1/10th of the attention an Obama or Trump gets. On the other hand, Putin has stood with India multiple times whereas the US Presidents have hardly done anything beyond lip service.

Why this obsession ? Is it due to Pax Americana ? People tend to look up to others who they perceive up in the higher echelon. For example - I know Modi and Rahul Gandhi. I am sure neither of them knows me, nor care to know about me. 

Obsession, like love or hate is a human emotion. It has its own reasons. As Somerset Maugham wrote, love is  strongest when it's unreasonable (so also its opposite hate). On a different but good note, there is a decrease in our obsession towards Pakistan in the last few years. And that's not a bad thing at all. Part of the reason - we are surging ahead of Pakistan, not just in economy but in cricket and hockey in which they dominated us for decades. We feel we are better off them, so no need for obsession.

The Storming of Capitol Hill

 Recent storming of the Capitol Hill, the citadel of US Senate and House of Representatives located in Washington DC led by hundreds of Trump supporters was America's ultimate shame and disgress. The images on live TV of the marauding, fanatical followers of the about to be one term President on rampage were disturbing and can't be condoned. Obviously Trump added fuel to the fire by his incendiary remarks and his stubborn disrespect towards the rule of law following his loss in the 2020 Presidential elections.

The scene reminded me of a picture from Chapra, Bihar in India not long ago where friends and relatives of students sitting in a College Examination center were seen climbing the windows of the building, some hanging from the rooftop and windows, supplying copies (a term used in Odisha for the act of cheating by providing answers to exam questions). What I saw happening in badlands of Bihar was enacted in the heartland of America 🇺🇸 . United States was looking like a first world Bihar.

An incident like this was waiting to happen. The atmosphere was already surcharged, akin to a room filled with inflammable gas. All needed was for someone to light a matchstick. Trump exactly did that through his incendiary speeches and tweets. An under equipped and overwhelmed Capitol police force spectacularly failed to prevent the vandalism from happening inside the centre of American legislature. Luckily only a few lives were lost, though it could have been far worse.

I was not surprised and saw this coming from a long time. Of course Trump is to be blamed. Yet Donald J Trump is not the cause, rather the symptom of a larger disease plaguing America for a long time. It's analogous to our body getting a fever. The disease is not the fever itself but rather the cause of the fever - which could be due to a viral, bacterial or some other infection infecting our immune system which responds with a fever, raising the temperature and giving us an unsettling feeling. 

Similarly America has been plagued long time by various illnesses - economic, social, psychological and racism in the society. Rising inequality and Healthcare costs over the year has created a distinct class of have and have nots as middle class jobs are gradually vanishing due to automation and Corporate greed of preferring profit over people. 

Ironically most of this has been created due to policies of successive Republican administrations whose base are the ones who are the most impacted. Republicans are very much the part of the current problem, though Democrats who once upon a time used to be the champions of the American middle class have also let them down (That's why the traditionally Democratic Rust belt states voted for Trump in 2016). Idle mind is Devil's workshop. Loss of jobs have led to multiple social issues like broken families, alcohol and drug abuse. All these are taking a toll on those folks, their rising frustration transforming into violence and thuggery. They feel alienated from the society and country, easily vulnerable to crazy rumors and conspiracy theories.

I love Capitalism, but not the kind of unbridled Capitalism without checks and balances which benefits only the top, creamy later at the cost of the middle class. On top of that in last two decade there was a two term President in Barack Obama, rise in the minority population asserting their rights, followed by a woman candidate running for President in 2016.

It made a sizable section of population unhappy who felt the America they grew up is fast changing and getting snatched away from them. They want their America to be great again, looking for a leadership to fill the void. Trump sitting on the wings to enter into politics read it very well and tapped into it (no wonder he came up with his MAGA - Make America Great Again slogan). He not only won the 2016 elections against all odds, but also almost won 2020 - thanks to COVID-19 pandemic followed by a recession put a spanner in his reelection. A person who branded Republicans John McCain, a war hero and Mitt Romney as losers, found himself on the losing side. He obviously couldn't take his loss on his stride and kept living in his make believe alternate universe. So also his followers.

This violence has led to Trump been banned by Twitter and Facebook, inviting censorship for enticing violence. Facebook or Twitter is not someone's father's property which one can misuse in the name of freedom of speech. I can disagree with someone on social media. But it doesn't give me rights to abuse or troll or threaten someone with personal attacks. Trump is not an ordinary person whose threatening act doesn't have much effect. Trump is still the President of United States - the richest country in the World and a Superpower. His irresponsible, pugnacious acts needed to be curbed. Both Facebook and Twitter have taken the right decision by banning him. Hope he stays same in till January 20 when Biden takes over the reigns.