Land of contradiction!

Today, two articles from the mainstream newspapers fascinated my simple mind. In the earlier pages of the Star, flashed in his saffron coloured robe and trade mark Afro hair was Sai Baba, the God-reincarnate and the story of his demise at the age of 86 (there is confusion,some say 84). And on his weekly column, a guest writer was writing about the octopus-like tentacles of corruption permeating into every strata of society of India and its prevalence of mammoth proportions there. I think that this two stories coming from the same land is a contradiction of sorts. 

On one hand, we have the land with the most number of holy sages in the world and on the other end we have corruption, the main reason of collapse of most Empires and civilizations!

At one time (1950 to 1980), all UFO sightings were exclusively in USA. Just like all, most holy men come from India; it is also seem to be a fertile ground for proliferation of religions - Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Jainism, Bahai, Judaism (yeah, that to), Buddhism, Zoroastrian, Sikhsm among others.

No, I am not going to ridicule this charismatic Holy man revered by sportmen (Tendulkar) and movie stars (Goldie Hawn) and have touched the hearts of millions, young and old, rich and destitute irrespective of their respective religious faiths. 

A Synagogue in Cochin, India.

One should not belittle things that one does not know. Just like a doctor who treats 'mysterious' diseases in an aboriginal community. Of all you know, it could be a communicable disease like malaria which is easily treated with oral medications. To the under-developed society, he is a demi-God or God-sent and will be put on a pedestal and be worshiped. Like our ancestors, the cavemen, who thought that natural phenomena  like thunder, lighting and typhoon were the wrath of the Gods, we are awed by individuals who have mastered certain knowledge beyond our comprehension. In the same way, we are flabbergasted by the antics of David Copperfield and Houdini. We easily associate them with association with the Dark Forces. (selling their soul to the Satan).

People in the limelight are never free from brickbats. Hence, in spite of the many good teachings advocating love and prayers in dealing with daily calamities as well as the many free health facilities and colleges , the cyberspace is rife with accusation of anything from tax evasion to paedophilia against this Guru. We will have to wait till 2023 for another God incarnate to manifest as Sai Baba had a premature expiry before his shelf life of 96 years! (As his followers say). In order to continue his legacy (and generate more income?), his physical remains are not to be cremated but buried instead. At least there will be a physical representation of him on earth. We do not want a case of 'out of sight, out of mind', do we?

In this religious land too, every now and then, especially of late, corruption has been in the limelight everywhere. I remember there was an undercover TV reporter who exposed a big time scandal involving politicians and brothels with hidden cameras recently. An excellent article written by Commi Kapoor can be read here. 

And life goes on! Religion is an important foreign exchange earner for India. Many industries directly or indirectly depend on it - airlines, tourism, temples, cabmen and related to these!
The land of contradiction is not exclusively the domain of India alone. Even Malaysia, a country which claims to be an progressive Islamic nation where droves of devotees throng the mosque on Friday noons after their lunch with so much piety and dedication have no qualms publishing and describing their foes' pervertious sexual activities in a full Monty on national TV and papers. This, happening in a self proclaimed conservative country where their sneak police snooping around to sniff out diners in the fasting month and couples involved adulterous extramarital bedroom antics is difficult  to fathom!

I come from a land of plenty!

The Star
Monday April 25, 2011

Corruption has become a way of life

INDIA DIARY
By COOMI KAPOOR

Between birth and death and at every stage of life corruption stares you in the eye. And experience shows that while corrupt politicians who make millions invariably go scot-free, a petty bus conductor or a lowly constable caught taking bribes is dragged to court.
FROM womb to tomb, corruption has become a part of everyday life.
It’s so widespread that only few Indians – rich or poor, illiterate or highly-educated – have not experienced it first-hand.
All politicians promise to stem it but when in power, they invariably end up being stained by it.
An expectant mother has to grease the palm of officials in a government hospital for admission while it is routine for her to pay “speed money” to lowly municipal officials to secure a birth certificate for her new-born.
As for the tomb, well ... unless you bribe the guy in charge of the crematorium, you are not certain of getting dry wood or the right quantity that you have paid for to cremate the dead.
Between birth and death, at every stage of life, corruption stares you in the eye.
If you can afford expensive private hospitals, which have mushroomed in urban India in recent years, your child will get the best medical attention. (Even in these five-star hospitals, doctors will prescribe unnecessary tests and make you stay longer in expensive rooms because they get cuts on the side.)
But the majority of Indians go to government-run dispensaries where, unless you know someone influential, you have to pay small bribes to jump the long queue of patients to get proper treatment.
And when your child is old enough to be admitted to a kindergarten, either you have the right “connections” or you pay a hefty sum to have him admitted.
In fact, getting your child in the right school is an ordeal for parents who are expected to undergo a “personality test” of their own before their young one can be considered for admission.
As for college admission, unless your ward is brilliant, you ought to be prepared to pay a large sum in illegal “capitation fee”.
Finally, when your child is ready to join the workforce, either he competes in the all-India public service examination, always tough to crack given the huge numbers seeking to fill very few openings, or he seeks employment in the private sector.
Relatively, both merit and “connections” work in the initial entry into private sector firms.
However, being self-employed is fraught with so many obstacles that to cross each one, you have to pay bribes.
To hawk vegetables on a cart, you have to give a hafta (weekly bribe) to the neighbourhood police constable.
Shopkeepers have to keep various inspectors from the local and central authorities in good humour.
Those who ply yellow-top taxis and auto-rickshaws have to keep on the right side of the traffic police, lest they penalise them for violation of any of the numerous provisions under the motor vehicle act.
Try getting a driving licence or a passport without hiring a tout, you will be given such a “run around” till you regret for not having parted with a couple of hundred rupees in the first place.
Now, a senior functionary of the government has proposed that bribe-giving, as distinct from bribe-taking, be made legal in certain cases.
Kaushik Basu, a former professor of economics at the prestigious Cornell University and now chief economic adviser to the Finance Ministry, in a recent paper has sought to make a distinction between what he calls “harassment bribes” and “non-harassment bribes”.
In his paper titled “Why for a class of bribes, the act of giving a bribe should be treated as legal”, Basu argues that the “harassment bribes” should be made legal.
It is notable as the law stands today that both the bribe-giver and the bribe-taker are liable to be punished.
Basu contends that the payment of “harassment bribe” should enjoy “full immunity from any punitive action by the State, even if the act of bribery is still considered illegal ... entire punishment should be heaped on the bribe taker”.
Indeed, he suggests that the bribe-giver in harassment cases should be encouraged to report against the bribe-taker so action can be taken against the latter under the anti-bribery law.
At one level, Basu’s suggestion for immunity for the bribe-giver might appear amoral, nay, defeatist and insofar as it seeks to accept petty corruption in the system.
However, on purely pragmatic grounds, it is better to concentrate on cases of huge sums being given and taken in bribes rather than frittering away the energies of government on pursuing petty corruption.
Even without changing the anti-corruption law, the State can ignore petty corruption of its army of inspectors, while it can make an example of those selling official favours, be it precious radio waves (spectrum) or the right to exploit mines and minerals for a song in return for huge sums in bribes.
Unfortunately, experience shows that while corrupt politicians invariably go scot-free, a petty bus conductor or a lowly constable caught taking bribes is dragged to the court for a long drawn-out trial.
In sharp contrast, senior politicians rarely, if at all, pay for lining their pockets with illicit moolah. Indeed, politics is the only vocation where one can make millions without having any educational or professional qualifications.

Down memory lane, again!

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. We are all gathered here today to commemorate the union of 2 love-birds of the 70s , of my uncle and auntie, Dato and Datin M S Murthi. What better way to re-live the past then to go through some old photos. Memories and experiences stay longer in our memory bank than our material gains in life. Let us all go back in time now and later come back to the future!

The ballad of Dato and Datin starts with the story of a young girl who grew up in Bukit Mertajam. This is probably one of the earliest images of Datin. Unless of course, the organizers decide to conveniently sneak out the photo which was mandatory those days, a photo of a half naked 6month- old lying on the belly! This is a family shot of in Penang Hills.

The next picture carries a story. Out of the blue, when they were staying in Kulim, apparently when Amachee was away with some work, Tata (Datin’s father) decided to get her dressed, comb her hair, placing a ribbon on her hair and decided to immortalize his handiwork on this black and white photo in a studio.

And the young girl has transformed into a beautiful swan, not that she was an ugly duckling before. For the youngsters amongst our audience, the big contraption on top of the cupboard is called a Short-Wave radio which could put pick up any signal from any part of the world, probably beyond our solar system. And the device beside it is a gramophone record player where the vinyl discs were played. These devices have come a long way since those days to our current mobile MP3 players. Not everybody walks around with a camera those days to capture the Kodak moment like now when even a small child owns a phone-camera like a Japanese tourist, clicking away and deleting as they please. In those days, a camera was rare commodity and was hard to come by. So, when a camera is available, like in a wedding, everyone will get the maximum out of it- looking their best, posing at their best angle! This photo was taken in 1963; Attei poses in a saree in private, wearing it for the first time. 

And another photo with the extended family… Seated at the extreme right is Pati who lived to a ripe age 2 years short of a century.

Datin did her initial studies in Convent Bukit Mertajam and she went on to Malacca High School. She became a KLite when she graduated from Lembah Pantai. After teaching in many schools and earning a reputation as a fierce teacher, she joined Dato’s law practice and the rest is history. Today, I think Mama will be handicapped without Atteh by his side.

Dato M.S. Murthi started his schooling in so many schools that he can easily make it to Guiness Book of World Records for the number of schools attended by a person. This snap shot was taken in 1955 in Ramakrishna Tamil School in Penang where Mama was a Standard 6 student. The master in the centre is Mr Manickam Mudaliar, a disciplinarian who used to walk around with a cane! Most of his later schools have all closed down like Lutheran School and Guru Nanak School.

Here, the groundwork for his legal battle is laid here. Mama was the Secretary of his school Debating Society. 2 people in this photo became lawyers – 1 is Mama and the other person in this picture was the last Chief Justice of Malaysia, Tun Abdul Hamid.

Here Marathon Man MS Murthi is seen running comfortably during college days while looking sharp and posing for the camera. Apparently, his friends were mocking him and telling him that he could not finish the race.The race took him from college to Damansara Estate, Bangsar Estate and Lake Gardens and back. Just to prove a point to his friends, being the determined man that he is, he not only completed the race but also clinched the 11th position in a group of 80, just missing the medal by a single position!

1970- A year after May 13, 1969. Under close police supervision, University Malaya convocation was carried out. Those days, the convocation ceremony was televised live on TV Malaysia. Mama‘s mission impossible was finally achieved i.e. graduating for University, not being on TV!

Then came the engagement…

And the preparations for the big day came….

And the big day itself,  As you can all see that there is colour in their lives now, of Mr & Mrs M.S. Murthi. In the next few slides, we can see the happy couple posing with the equally excited friends and relatives.

Being a strict disciplinarian himself, the Army suited him just fine. Here, he manages to catch a glimpse of action in the jungle.

With his dedication, Captain M.S. Murthi becomes Major M.S. Murthi.

After marriage, life becomes complete with an addition to the family. Here, the proud parents are celebrating Nalina’s 1^st birthday in Seremban. As Mama adores little children, what more if it is his own flesh and blood? I remember once, Nalina missed her school bus. When the school bus stopped in front of his Klang home, nobody got down. Mama panicked! He jumped into his Volvo (so did I) zoomed past traffic lights and T-junctions looking for Nalina.  He spotted her about a mile from her school walking back home. He dumped the car at the side of the road and ran across to the other side and hugged her loving daughter!

Another important event in the life of Mama and Attei is the Admission to the Bar (of the non-alcoholic type). I remember hearing a funny incident when he attended his ceremonial College dinner. The College was expecting Samantha to be a girl, and then there he was Samantha Murthi, a mustachioed He-Man!

Another event to remember, Nalina’s ear piercing ceremony.

On 9.9.1999, the Murthi family witnessed the Royal Wedding of the family. 9th September is also Datin’s birthday.

And the love birds of the 70s assume the role of Tata and Pati and they seem to enjoy it very much!

We, the nephews, nieces and relatives wish the couple good health and many more happy years ahead!
N.B. Million thanks to Gunalan Adithya and N. Suganthi for those excellent slides!

Tête-à-tête with a Chinaman!

"Damn, these car batteries do not last!" I cursed as my car refused to start as the battery went kaput. Just one and half years and it had reached the end of its life span! Being a Sunday afternoon, as all the mechanics in the vicinity were closed, I had to send an SOS message to my good old mechanic, Ah Kwan. He obliged and asked me to pick up one of his workers for rescue.
So, I picked this late 40s worker of Ah Kwan. While driving him to my car, I engaged in a tête-à-tête with him, tea followed after his job was done.
Incidentally, I had just finished reading a small book on the Malaysian Chinese educationist, Mr Lim Lian Geok, who lost his teaching license and citizenship in1961. It was changing times for Malayan education. After the Barnes' report (to abolish vernacular schools) and later the Rahman and Razak reports (which demanded Malay language as the premier language), there was increased pressure to change the curriculum of Malaysian Chinese education. His overzealous efforts to fight to put Mandarin as one of the official languages of the country and to maintain the status quo in Chinese schools, landed him in hot soup with the ruling party. In fact, he started his job as a dedicated teacher and carried a lot of cloud in the Tunku's days. He was one of the dignitaries at the 1955 Malacca Talk to draft the country's constitution. Political outplay and supporting the wrong faction landed him in his predicament. Along the way, we read about the infamous (by Dr M's standards, whom he called communist) Dong Jiao Zong  which is an alliance between Chinese school teachers and directors of Chinese School committee. After reading the book, I realised that, we as a country are still arguing about the same basic things like language and education like we did more than half a century ago.
So, what did I gather from my little Tête-à-tête with my Chinaman friend?
He seem very savvy about the current happenings in the country, probably you have to give credit to the Chinese media and the evening newspapers. Now you know why suddenly cars stop in the middle of nowhere in the evening traffic jam - it is either to buy papers, to buy 4D results chit or to watch any accident on the other side of the road, as if there is more to lighten up their mundane life!
My mechanic, Ah Keng, knew the latest happening in his country, Malaysia. He grew up with his rubber tapper family in Kuala Pilah., Negeri Sembilan. He was narrating in many words about his carefree childhood days and his experience in indulging in various exotic meats like snakes, wild boar, fox, frogs, dog and even monkeys! He simply cannot imagine how he managed to swallow the monkey meat then!
The conversation then went on to Botak Chin as we were passing Jalan Ipoh where Chin used to reside. As told by many, he too thinks that Botak Chin was 'Robin Hood' - robbing the rich to help the poor. Ah Keng had very strong views about his political stand and his distrust of Malays was quite apparent from his conversation. His son decided neither to follow his father's nor his grandfather's footsteps and have ventured into air conditioning maintenance business.
My conversation also reminded me how things have not changed amongst us, the Malaysian born citizens of non-Malay ethnicity. We are still talking in broken conversational Malay (bahasa pasar) in many syllables of 'L's instead of 'R's as did our grandfathers 50 years previously. Our suspicion among each other is still as strong. Nothing has changed....At the hint of racial sentiment we all flock together, along ethnic lines not as Malaysians in the true sense of the word.

The things that people do!

Chuck Engle—a.k.a. "Marathon Junkie"—ran 2:46:42 only one day after running 2:47:23 at the London Marathon and hopping on a trans-Atlantic flight. Engle wore his London Marathon race number on his back during his Boston run.

Participants run down organiser of night marathon (The Star)

Monday April 18, 2011

PETALING JAYA: Participants of a night marathon held at the Sepang International Circuit are dissatisfied over what they claim was poor organisation.
Andreas West, a participant of the Energizer Night Race 2011, claimed that thousands were cramped in an underground tunnel that connected the SIC pit area to the mall area because race organiser Expose Media had set up counters for participants to collect their headlamps there.
The German expatriate, who started a Facebook page on the incident, said there were “serious health and security risks” unattended to throughout the event.
“While I am thankful that nothing tragic had happened, I share the sentiments of many participants of the marathon who have said that this was a very badly organised event,” said West, who is also Celcom Bhd's customer management senior vice-president, yesterday.
The event had taken place on Saturday night.
Many race finishers said they did not receive their finisher medals and certificates.
Participants also claimed that there was a lack of signages, water stops, medical personnel and race marshals.
They are now demanding that they be compensated.
Participants had to fork out RM55 for early birds or RM75 to join the marathon.
Marketing communications manager Ashley Khoo, 32, who ran the 21km leg of the marathon said due recognition should be given to runners who had completed their run.
“Many of us went home without a finisher medal.
“We had been practising for months to prepare ourselves to be fit for the race,” she said.
It is understood that the event's main sponsor Energizer will meet Expose Media to discuss further action to be taken.
“We appreciate the comments on the race. All finishing goodie bags will be given out and an official statement from Expose and Energizer will be out soon,” an announcement on the event website said.
Expose Media also offered their apologies to all the runners on its Facebook page, saying that the outcome of the meeting would be announced today.

Groping in the dark in Energizer Run 2011

Looks like the runs are taking me places. Never in my wildest dream had I had the inkling that I would step into a F1 circuit!
Only a mad person would pay a fortune to see cars speeding past him at 200km/h in a jiffy with an eardrum shattering screech in the heat of the agonizing scorching tropical sun in a bare open surrounding. Sure, for the dwellers of temperate-climate countries this is paradise. For us, our alternative is the comfort of our arm chair, cable TV and the cool ambience of our homes.
It brings lots of foreign exchange, right? Wrong! The last time I heard the F1 venture was a money losing one even after 10 years of inception.
Sepang International Circuit (aptly abbreviated SIC), is the pinnacle of verbosity of capitalism. Here you have an expensive sport only dared to be ventured by the super duper rich, burning rubber, petrol to spoil the environment while the poor make do with their 10 years odd bone shaker running on RON95 and rethreaded tyres and third party insurance to cut cost.
It is a reminiscent of the 'Rumble in the Jungle' in Zaire where the Zaireans can only drool looking at the foreigners flocking their country to watch the coveted 'Ali vs' Frazier' boxing bout when the locals could hardly make ends meet.
SIC also invokes memories of the dark year of 1998 when many bad things happened in Malaysia. The biggest averted attempted coup-de-tat of sorts happened when the PM finally shamelessly accused his deputy of sexual misconduct and described in detail graphically his former nemesis' sexual  escapade on national TV! It was the year where the haze showed its ugly head for the first time after which it has become a perennial annual pastime (guessing the API). The Commonwealth Games, of which the accounts have not been rectified and closed, even after 2 other Games came and went (accounts closed too!) was held here in 1998.
Another griping point about SIC is the misery of the Prang Besar and adjacent estates workers who were displaced, terminated and relocated far away with no other living skills beside tapping rubber to make way for erection of this megalithic mega-structure for forced national pride and to fatten certain quarters. The displaced estate workers, whose ancestors toiled the land for the prosperity of Malay(si)a, had to fend for themselves after being strewn to squatter areas all over the country side and found ingenious ways to make money through crime and manage to show their mark in the police's wanted list.
With that pessimistic view of SIC, I did not expect much of it. What actually metamorphized was pure mayhem. C-H-A-O-S with capital letters was the order of the night. The long never ending journey (1 hour) to the venue was already draining us (Suresh and I) out just to find a non-ending queue for non existent car park spaces. We had to bribe a RELA volunteer RM10 to sneak our car to park in the already full car park as time was catching up.
If that was not enough travelling, from the car park started a 2 km journey on foot to the starting point through stairs, claustrophobia inducing tunnel with tiny exits and almost non existent directions. It was a scene of the blind leading the blind. Everyone was just following the crowd like it tide flow in 'Finding Nemo'!
One of the highlights of the Energizer Run was the head lamps given to the runners. This time around, they had  a secret unannounced hideaway place to distribute the lights where nobody seem to know. By the time, we came to find out, they ran out of lights! in fact, most runners had no lights. And the ones wearing were wearing every where else except their heads, flashing all over the place to the annoyance of all.
The run started right on time, though. The runners around 1,000 maybe, however, had to squeeze through a tiny strip of floor mat for timing check. We just ran.
The run took us out of the circuit into the highway and the tarred country road behind the circuit. The water stations were there at about every 3km. The outer loop was about 11km. It was kind of okay, except for a few inclinations.
We made back into the circuit. Now, here started the pinnacle of chaos. All supposed 18,000 runners (5.5km, 11km, 21km and 42km) were to run in the circuit. Each lap was 5.5km. The 11, 21and 42 km'ers were to run 2 laps. There were many not so serious runners who sauntering around aimlessly hogging the inner track. Some lovebirds were jaywalking holding hands walking under the starlit skies of SIC! There were even some who took short cuts through the grass patch. There was only 1 water station on the track serving cans of drink. The scene was ugly with rubbish strewn all over the tarmac of the F1 circuit.
During the second round, there was a bottle neck again at the timing carpet. After finishing the run, more brouhaha were to follow. The organizers had to call in the Police as there was a free for all during the distribution of medals and goodie bags. Then came the dangerous back home. 10,000 over participants squeezing through a tiny opening through the stairs and tunnel. And the long drive through the car park exit back home.
'Boo!' to the organisers. With the lure of money as many people are running have drawn in inexperienced organizers running events. And 'Boo!' to participants who went on a  rampage to gobble up all the goodie bags and medals. If you civilized people behave like this at a time of peace, I dread to think how you would do at a time of disaster. We all can learn from the Japanese about civil obedience.
P.S. Suresh 21km 1h59m; Asokan 21km 2h14m; Jagjit 11km 58m; Raj 11km (awaiting official results)

Overall RkMix RkCat Cat Bib Name Official Net 680 571 64 H H0160 SURESH KUMAR 01:45:28 01:45:06
Overall RkMix RkCat Cat Bib Name Official Net 1107 894 158 H H0240 ASOKAN SHAMUGANATHAN 01:56:11 01:55:58