Aravind Adiga’s tiger brought mixed reaction from the Indian populace. Some say this is the true India while some are shocked and feel insulted.
How dare an Indian demean the 'ready to shine in a few years' India thus? Won’t the rest of the world (whom Indians look up to!) have more reasons to continue looking down?
I have not read the book as yet and I don’t look forward to reading it either. With the media beaming out similar stories daily and the rest left to our wildest (yet true?) imaginations, who needs a book to shed light?
Maybe mine is a pessimistic outlook and I should be joining the rest and give Aravind a good bashing on my blog at least! But I shall not.. the tone maybe crude as they say but we Indians need waking up.
Looking at the way most crimes get away and the nexus between criminals (including the police) and the politicians, should we expect anything better just because we haven’t experienced it ourselves?
Look at God’s Own Country when it discovered that the terrorists killed in Kashmir were Malayalees. We are now told (by the media) that they existed since 15 years! Every other day, we hear of mass swindling and the political connections. We wait hopelessly to see at least one behind the bars but the media soon replaces one swindler with another and the show continues. We heard of Human God’s and the amount of wealth they accumulated (source maybe foreign or domestic) but they still continue to reign as Gods. There is one Sister Abhaya still haunting the court premises.
Well… being Diwali I shouldn’t be a spoil sport but my pessimistic mind fell into the trap and here are some articles which can further shed light.
Indian judges must clean up their courts
Justice R. Basant of the Kerala High Court, in his speech to the concluding session of the annual conference of the Kerala Criminal Judicial Staff Association, said, “The judiciary is the last ray of hope for Indians. The failure of the judiciary will have devastating results.”
This observation by Justice Basant carries considerable weight, as he knows, inside and out, the legal and illegal procedures commonly adopted by the courts.
For example, in order to file an application for bail in a criminal case, a person needs to pay a stamp duty of 2 rupees (US 4 cents). But by the time the application reaches the magistrate for a hearing, a client will usually have paid 700 to 1,000 rupees (US$14-$21) in bribes. Most of it is demanded and paid within the registry of the court where the application is filed.
40 lakh cases before HCs and 40 K cases before SC are pending
Over 40 K Cases Pending in Supreme Court of India (March 02 , 2007 - PIB Release)
OVER 40 THOUSAND CASES PENDING IN SUPREME COURT AND ABOUT 40 LAKH CASES IN HIGH COURTS - A total of 40,243 cases (including civil and criminal matters) are reported to be pending in the Supreme Court of India as on 31st January, 2007. In 21 High Courts in the country 39,91,251 cases were pending as on December 31, 2006. These include 32,87,037 civil cases and 7,04,214 criminal cases.
The corrective measures being taken for speedy disposal of court cases are:
Random Thoughts, Ramblings.....
I have similar feelings about India, its corrupt practices which are woven into the fabric of every governmental and non-governmental organisations. India is systemically corrupt. What Adiga wrote is what each of us know. The rot started way back in 1950s just a few years after independence. What is worse than corruption and nepotism in India is the demeaning way one human (boss/rich person/officer with authority such as police) treats another vulnerable person often poor. It is a shame Indians do not want to recognise the filth in our midst today and try to cast comments on people of history (Churchill, Dickens, Marx) as another blog posting here does. Perhaps majority of Indians wanted Adiga to say what a wonderful country India is with its IT outsourced industry, space programs etc.. etc.. That to me is not real India and what Adiga portrays is. It is the nadir.
ReplyDeleteso mr anonymous writingfrom I guess the UK, you do have a name now (a name meant to spread brightness, not darkness)!! i wish you well and hope you will also focus on the good rather than brood on all kinds of bad things. The papers report on all the bad things on a daily basis anyway! If all writers did only that you can imagine what will happen, or maybe you do not.
ReplyDeletepersonally i wish amitav ghosh had won the booker. he is a writer to watch!!
Ravi: Thanks for your comments although I dont enjoy conversing with an annonymous person.
ReplyDeleteWhile as an Indian I took the liberty of pointing out certain negative aspects of our great nation, I have never felt that we as a nation are in want of great personalities and thinkers. We have our own and it is through the pages of history that we read about them. If it was Maddy’s blog that you were referring to, then please be assured that I do not share the same feelings that Maddy seemed to have evoked in you. I have also never felt that we are inferior in any way to the rest of the nations. If we have our shortfalls it only needs to be corrected. Yes corruption is one of them.In Gulf we get to see people from different nations and we also get to see their short comings. And I don’t have any illusions about any of the so called great nations.
Maddy or simly Mad?
ReplyDeleteI do not know what you are talking about. I find your comments strange. I do not know about who you refer to as anonymous, but when I comment I use my name. An apology from you should be in order. There is a danger in acting too clever.
Happy Kitten,
ReplyDeleteForget about Maddy. I can talk about America where I lived longer than he does and know more about the country than he does.
I do not dismiss corruption which is institutionalised in India as something which can be corrected.
It is like metastatic carcinoma which kills the human system. I do not think there are comparable countries in the world which suffer from the degree of corruption that India does. Not even in USA where money talks and talks very louder.
The core of my comments is that Indians wants to talk about others, other leaders if opportunity arises and seldom criticise the views and opinions that Indian leaders held or continue to hold . Gandhi and Nehru are no exceptions here. The arguments I think should be balanced. The key for all the postings is good research and good balanced arguments.
I think Adiga is brave enough to bring out the darker side of India.
Ravi: I know Maddy needs no certificate from my side, and I enjoy all his postings but I fail to understand why you chose to comment on my blog, just to pick on Maddy.
ReplyDeleteAs for balanced postings, since you have not given me an opportunity to read your postings (blog), I think it is not fair to pass comments on others. (hence you shall remain annonymous inspite of your name)