Desi In Toronto

VAT (Value Added Tax) is a simple but a powerful tool in the hands of the government. Canada has it, US has it, UK has it and now, finally, India has it. I remember when the issue first came up and how vicious the backlash was. Now, when I speak to my relatives back in India, it is accepted without so much as a raised eyebrow.

So this expose of Indian politicians resulted in their being thrown out of the parliament and from their respective parties seems on the surface to be a very good move by the politicians’ body. But is it really the “turning point” in Indian politics? I don’t think so.

It all began 5 years ago with the Tehelka scandal. Then came the oil-for-food scandal, then the above mentioned scandal and the, latest, a sex scandal. (To clarify, the last mentioned scandal is a scandal not because Sanjay Joshi, a bachelor, was caught having sex but rather a scandal because Sanjay Joshi, a bachelor, had been harping about sex being immoral!!)

And what are the lessons learned? Nothing. Politicians will go on to find other ways to fuel their corrupt appetites. They will continue to lie to people and get re-elected primarily because the public is quite forgiving in these matters. The culture of corruption is too deeply embedded into the Indian psyche (that’s another post). If such a scandal had hit one of the western politicians, it would be the end of their career. Not Indian politicians. Give it a year or two, all these politicians will come back to power.

What is the solution? Unfortunately, there are no easy solutions. If someone says that politicians should be educated people, I will scream!! Sanjay Joshi was a mechanical engineer. Natwar Singh (from the Oil-for-food scandal) was a post graduate from Cambridge University. Anna Saheb M.K. Patil (one of the 11 politicians caught in the sting operation by Cobrapost) is a graduate from IIT Kanpur. The only solution I see is a stringent punishment of the caught politicians. Make them know that if they are caught, they will be hanged and left out to dry. This means that the politicians need to police themselves more stringently and be very strict on their code of conduct. After all these scandals, one would have thought that’s what the politicians will do. But no, take a look at this report. Instead of taking care of it’s house, the politicians are whipping the messenger!!

The free media in India is under attack by the corrupt politicians and oligarchs running the country from behind the scene. The same politicians that were caught red handed taking bribes have ganged up with the other politicians to shut the mouth of free media in India.

According to media reports, it’s a rare occasion when politicos across party speak in one voice against a common enemy. On Wednesday, MPs identified that enemy - media and its sting operations

UPDATE : Here is the text of the sting operation. It is an interesting display of our leaders!!

She finally said it.

My wife said “Rhea, I love you.”

Rhea said “I blub you”!!!

Another observation on my trip to the US :-

My uncle lives in quite a well to do area in Chicago. The place is teaming
with doctors, lawyers etc. and it shows. And when it comes to cleaning the
streets after a snow storm, the service sucks big time. I mean, here you
have some of the richest people living in the area and if this is the best
you can offer, what goes on in poorer areas? I can only imagine because I
never got to see it.

A suicide bomber is the ultimate smack on the face of life. This would be bomber thinks so too.

After immigration and security was cleared, I went to the lounge and waited to board (there were only 30 minutes left to board). Then, of course, the dreaded announcement came on that the flight has been delayed by over 1.5hours!!

Frustrated, I walked into the bar. The place was pretty crowded so when the waitress saw me all alone asked if I would mind sharing my table with someone. I was ok with it and she directed an old timer on a wheelchair tomy table. And soon enough we started to chat.

One thing that I have noticed time and time again is that if a person is over 70 years of age, they don’t hold back any information!! He told me everything about his life from the age 35 to 70!! He told me about his accident that left him incapacitated, he told me about his four marriages, he told me about his kids and grandkids, he told me about his upcoming holiday, he told me about his job and his co-workers. We were there for almost an hour and the most I talked was for 5 minutes. The rest was coveredby the old gentleman.

It was an interesting conversation (and the beer helped). It is quite interesting to see the lives of old timers. This guy had no regret about the way he had been leading his life so far. He just wanted to have a good time.

And the other really good thing I liked about him was that he did not give me any advice. I don’t really like it when old timers start to give advice.

This is a big win for John Aravosis. I think it goes to show that the little guy CAN win.

Had a relatively interesting weekend. I went to the States to get a car which my uncle passed on to me. The idea was for me to fly to Chicago and then drive back to Canada in the car. These are some of the observations that I made during my trip. They range from the utterly mundane to interesting. I will be listing all of them in the coming days.

The first one was at the US immigration. One look at the immigration officer and I knew I would have trouble with this guy. He looked at me in condescending way which seemed to say “I don’t like you but I will have to deal with you”. He kept me at the till for about 5 minutes before informing me that I need to fill out the I94 form and told me to get back to the line. It was a fairly straight forward request made as if I were some sort of vermin from whom he needed to get away. I swallowed my temper and went back to the line and quickly filled out my form. By the time it was my turn, I was again sent to the same till!! I approached the guy and again gave him my papers while he gave me the what-the-hell-is-he-doing-back-here look. This time he went through my passport with a fine comb, looking at each page and started to ask me questions. He noticed the UAE and Bahrain entry and exit stamps and looked at them carefully. And then he said

“you’ve been to a lot of Mid-East countries, haven’t you?”

By the time my patience was at the edge and I blurted out

“And they are the BEST place to be in.”

He just gave a nod and processed my entry into the States. And I wondered what exactly was the reason for this attitude. Was he taught this method at the immigration school? Was he just making sure that this single brown skinned man with a one way ticket a suspicious character? Either way he managed to piss me off. And the funny thing, he spent 10 - 12 minutes going
through my passport and he never noticed that the passport was expired on the front page (with an extension on one of the inner pages)!! So much for going through the passport carefully.

After the immigration was the security check. Man, if my Pakistani friend has to go through such a thorough search each and every time he visits the States, he must have a lot of patience. They did everything but strip search me. That, of course, did not help me with my anger. But again I had to biteit back because this desi guy doing the search was only doing his job.

I am not really familiar with the US immigration policy but I had been hearing that it’s not one of the best in world from numerous people. And my experience (a very minor one compared to some of the people I know) has ledme to believe that it truly is a pathetic one.

This is how porn will become in a conservative america!!