India @79

 

Happy Birthday India!

'Tis time for the annual India post on the occasion of Independence Day, now in its 19th edition (Link for 2025 edition) Its been another weird trip around the Sun!

The nation's political landscape was shaken up by the emergence of a Gen Z movement sparked by a remark from the CJI. A movement based on a cause but fueled by reels! We have witnessed similar uprisings across the neighborhood but couldn't watching it unfold in India was surreal. All election calculations now need to take into account the mindset of an entirely new & different vote-bank! 

On the other hand, we have elected politicians merrily switching parties, making a complete mockery of the entire electoral process itself! While the common citizen is scrambling to prove their citizenship (given that none of the documents actually prove it!) and trying to search the electoral rolls from 2002 for the names of their relatives. Sifting through them is a mental roller-coaster given the sheer volume of typos and the fact that most of the constituencies themselves have undergone a drastic change due to delimitation. There couldn't be a better showcase of bureaucratic theatre than the SIR exercise!!

Moving from politics to the subject of geopolitics. A full scale war in West Asia, leads to choking of key energy transport routes sending most of the World including India to scour for alternate options. The situation may have eased out a bit but things continue to remain volatile, once again emphasizing the critical need for assured domestic energy supply.

And the energy must to be clean & green. Otherwise the already scorching heat wave is going to get hotter. The energy transition also needs to be fast especially with the emergence of AI as an energy guzzler. In the age of AI, it is becoming more and more difficult to differentiate the real from the fake. The more cynical folks now believe everything to be AI generated unless proven otherwise. Better to be safe than sorry in a more AI propelled scammy world.

On the other hand, lots of infrastructure being built but somehow not built to last. Falling bridges, potholed roads, leaking airports - this is one area which needs a permanent fix and not a bandaid solution.

Real money gaming was banned. Good riddance. Something which should have happened much earlier.  Still better late than never! This ban has also lead to a pause in the mushrooming sporting leagues. 

Given that it is still midway in the Olympics cycle, most Indian sports coverage is in a slumber. While sports administration is in shambles. Perfect example being football where an ISL champion club was sold for Rs. 100! India now holds the unwanted tag of being the global leader in doping violations. In this doom and gloom of the back pages of the newspaper the only silver linings have come from cricket - with the Women winning their first ever world title , the men retaining the T20 World Cup, and a 15-year old wunderkind blazing away all and sundry with his bat without a care in the world

So this was it as we enter into the 80th year of existence as an independent country.

Happy Independence Day! 

Jai Hind!

P.S. a map showing the princely states of pre-independence India coloured according to the number of gun salutes!

India @ 78

Image generated via AI

Happy Birthday India!

Continuing the personal tradition of a small blog post on the occasion of Independence Day, now in its 18th edition. (2024 edition Link)

What a crazy journey it has been since the last edition. The past year has seen India living through the very definition of a VUCA world.

We witnessed a major terror attack, were briefly at war, a deadly plane crash with a single miraculous survivor, are currently subject to Tariffs with ever-changing rates, are seeing renewed calls for Swadeshi, have been caught in a geopolitical cross-fire with friends/foes alike in a state of flux, have overtaken Japan to become the 4th largest economy (by GDP), while stock markets have soared despite overhanging clouds, watched internal political chaos with Vice-President resigning and Election commission being questioned, and organized the Mahakumbh featuring the largest gathering of humankind at a single place… Quite an action-packed journey around the Sun.

During Operation Sindoor, the TV news jingoism reached new depths. While it is understandable that media is used for controlling the global narrative and what is happening at the ground doesn’t come out in the open. But the TV news channels instead of providing an assuring note, were pulling out narratives out of their own fantasies! Only satisfactory note - the other side was no better. We discovered during the course of those 4 days that amongst other things, not only was there a port in Patna, but it had been destroyed by Pakistani drones!

Meanwhile life in India continues to be cheap – stampedes at cricket victory parade, railway stations & festivals, manmade & natural disasters, a messed up infrastructure– all reduced to a mere statistic.

Worst of all has been the rise of the Ugly Indian Image outside – Indian tourists & diaspora doing if not illegal, simply cringe-worthy activities across the world. Although, is this case also, the spin doctors are doing their best/worst to paint this outburst of such news items as is simply a coordinated attempt by jealous foreigners to malign India’s shining image globally.

And finally in the battle of species, the Hon. SC is hearing the matter of removing dogs from the national capital streets while the financial capital is becoming a battleground for feeding pigeons!

But amidst all the doom and gloom were a few rays of shining light

• Subhanshu Shukla became the second Indian to go to space.
• Chess is home – Team Olympiad Golds, Open World Champion, Women’s World Cup Winner, More Grandmasters than squares on the Chess board - we are witnessing the start of an era of sporting domination.
• Bids have been submitted for the 2036 Olympics and the 2030 Commonwealth Games. While a great initiative, whether this will result in grassroots initiatives as well remains to be seen.

In other news, the registered post will cease to exist as will the post boxes. A practical decision to move on with times. Which is what many folks need to do in various other matters as well!

So that was a little post featuring a tiny sliver of events from the perspective of the world's largest populace! Hoping for quieter times in the coming year!

Happy Independence Day!

Jai Hind!

India @ 77

Its the eve of Independence Day, and as has been a fairly long-standing tradition, time for an all things India blogpost (2023 edition)

The 77th year in modern India’s life was an interesting one. Political events in the immediate neighborhood have reaffirmed that for all the flaws, things could have been far worse, if not for the vision of our founding fathers!

The Chandrayaan landed on the Moon. Truly a monumental achievement!

There was the biggest Indian festival – the general elections. The results of the long-drawn campaign were a bit chaotic - those who won seem unhappy, while those who continue to be in the Opposition seem the happier lot. After 10 years, there is a Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. The slightly unexpected outcome has also resulted in even the media becoming less of a cheerleader and a bit more unbiased!

Meanwhile, the nuance from any public debate still continues to be completely missing. There are two sides on any issue. Either it is a slugfest or it will be one outraging, other completely silent. And almost always split on the same political line. The echo chambers are becoming deafening. Only characteristic common is the hypocrisy. 

Also, we are becoming more and more immune. An illegal hoarding collapse, train accidents, manmade "natural" disasters, horrific crimes - we pause and we move on.

There was also a random narrative of  the official name of the country being changed to a name which is also the official name! A true case of much ado about nothing.

The economy continues to give mixed signals – the stock markets continue to rise and rise, while the on-ground picture doesn’t look that rosy.

The biggest nuisance – the phone call scammers. Electricity bill scam, fake couriers, customs, number disconnection threats, video callers, kyc… the list seems to be just going on and on. It just seems to be turning into a case of when you will fall in the trap of the cyber thugs! Keep navigating this minefield and pray that you do not randomly click a malicious link.

Climate change is becoming more and more real. The actions to combat it are simply not enough. The same monsoom season has seen both excess in many parts and a dry spell in the other. Flash floods, landslides, shifting seasons are becoming the new normal.

On the sporting front – the Men’s cricket team finally broke their trophy drought with a T20 World Cup victory, while a home ODI World Cup just slipped away. 

The Olympics are done, lots of folks bemoaning the low rankings (it’s a quadrennial rant) while never even bothering to find out what happens in the interim. The fact that the second highest medals tally seems an underperformance shows that the so called sleeping global sports giant has slowly started to stir (it will still take some more time to be fully awake). 

One sport which has grown leaps and bounds has been Chess – Gukesh becoming a Challenger and Praggnandha finishing runners-up show that finally Indian chess is moving out of the mighty Vishwanathan Anand era.

On that optimistic note, closing out this post. 

Jai Hind!

2023: The Year Gone By

Another calendar year closes out. The world moved on from the Covid19 virus, till at the very end a new wave crept in again. As Professor Moody would say, “Constant Vigilance” – which should ideally be a default setting for everyone. 

Anyways here is the list of some events & non-events to remember (or maybe not) the year 2023 AD by.

1. Word of the Year

In a world where AI generated material is becoming more and more visible, “Authentic” being named the word of they year, is hardly surprising. Kudos to Merriam-Webster for making this choice.

Meanwhile, Oxford decided to name “rizz” as their word of the year. I have absolutely no clue what that is supposed to be!

2. Terminology of the Year

Amongst the many risks a flight traveler faced, there was added the risk of being peed upon by a co-passenger! And our enterprising newspapers headlined the culprit as “Urinator”. Talk about the lack of creativity here!

3. Mystery of the Year

On a beach in Japan, there mysteriously appeared a round metallic object. Speculations on its identity ranged from UFOs to spy satellites to Godzilla eggs. But no clear answer emerged.

Meanwhile, aliens are back in the limelight with “alien corpses” displayed in Mexican Parliament  and claims of CIA retrieving UFOs from crash sites.

4. Much Ado About Nothing

One fine day, the social media lights up with “news” of name being changed from India to Bharat. After much shouting in online echo chambers, pointless debates, lots of server space taken up, it all turned into a case of “Much Ado About Nothing”. After all, how does one change a name to a name which already is there?

5. Work-life balance debate

“Youngsters ought to work 70 hours a week to boost productivity and enhance India's competitiveness” – thus spoke Mr. N R Narayana Murthy and sparked what seems to be a never-ending debate on the (lack of) work-life balance, productivity and compensation. In the process providing ideal material for all the LinkedIn gyaanis. Many of whom seemed to be spending more than 70 hours of their week on this debate.

6. Management Lessons of the Year 

The Men’s ODI World Cup provided a full blown opportunity to generate management lessons/takeaways. Glen Maxwell’s 201* vs Afghanistan, Angelo Mathews being timed out, India faltering at the last step, Australia winning (again), Attendance at venues, Pitches, – everything had a life lesson derived from it!

7. The Armchair Experts Edition

They know everything. Any event which hits the headlines also generates a bunch of social media experts. Geopolitics, economics, commodity prices – these are passe. They also operate in niche zones – e.g., Deep-sea diving (the Titan tragedy), Generative AI (Chat GPT), Lunar geology (Chandrayaan landing), Mercenary armies (Wagner group), Short selling (Adani-Hindenburg), Tunnel rescue(Uttarakhand) .

8. When a Prophecy Actually Came True

#AbkiBaarSauPaar – that was the Broadcasters’ tagline for the Asian Games. Quite an aspirational statement, given that India’s best tally till date had been 70 medals. But at the Hangzhou Games, India reached 107 medals! Now, wondering what projections these oracles at Sony make for Paris Olympics!

9. The Dirtiest Match 

World & Olympic medalists on the streets against the Wrestling Federation. The impasse continued. There had to be a solution to it. Nobody in the powers to be even tried. It was definitely not what anyone wanted to see. And the worst bit, it is still not over. Getting suspended by United World Wrestling, Elections held and the sports ministry suspending the newly elected federation within days. Something is totally rotten here.

10. The Chess Siblings

Praggnanandhaa & Vaishali – the first brother-sister duo to become Chess Grandmasters. Both will be appearing in the respective Candidates tournament next year. What a feel-good story.

So this was a bit of 2023. Wishing all readers a Very Happy 2024!

India @ 76

A couple of days back an SMS arrived.

“Har Ghar Tiranga is back. 13-15 Aug bring home & fly Tiranga with pride! Upload selfies on harghartiranga.com”

Yes, its that time of the year, when amongst other things this blog gets a post on all things India. (Here is the 2022 edition) 

Interestingly, I am also halfway through the book, “Freedom at Midnight”. 76 years have gone by, but many of those issues remain continue and can be traced back to those fateful last days of the British Raj. Bipartisan politics, communal violence, hope and worries for the coming days, history finds new own ways to repeat itself!

[An aside - Wouldn't it be the mother of all ironies, if Scotland is separated from the United Kingdom under the watch of  Rishi Sunak and Humza Yusuf?]

Returning to the present.

India has overtaken China as the most populous country in the world. Or maybe not. After all, the Census exercise has not been done since 2011, another collateral victim of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The effects of Climate Change are becoming more and more visible. On one hand, the monsoons are creating havoc on the urban infrastructure, while other parts of the country are reeling in drought. The seasons are becoming increasingly erratic. The hilly regions are even more at risk, as highlighted by the "sinking" of the town of Joshimath. Given the vast population, and its ever-growing energy requirements, drastic action is required on the climate front. While the government has stated ambitions of Net Zero by 2070, it might be a case of too little too late! Tthe discovery of lithium prospects in Jammu could become play an important role in this climate battle.

India has the G20 presidency. That means almost every city has got some G20 event happening across the year. Which also means there are weird (yet also cute looking) G20 banners and posters on every road and street!

The General elections are coming. That unfortunately implies more political mudslinging, further rejigging of alliances, lots of Aya Rams & Gaya Rams and more hatemongering. The race to the bottom in the political discourse will be heightened (or lowered). The political game of thrones will be on full swing till mid next year, till we finally get a government in place!

In the interim, the actual governance may go for a toss, with everyone looking to extract their pound of flesh from every event. Just look at the online battleground that the Manipur issues have become, while actual on-ground issues continue to be unresolved. Similar is the case of the Wrestling saga. In a country, where sporting heroes are still in short supply, seeing the visuals of some of the most decorated sportspersons sitting on dharna and being dragged around by the authorities was disturbing. And for the public opinion, whose side you stand on is defined by your political inclination. Just continuing the trend of everything being politicized and sharply polarized.

Lets hope the individual common sense stays in the heavily politically charged coming months!

There is a big Men’s ODI World Cup coming up and somehow BCCI has bungled up the event scheduling and ticketing. What a fall from the days of Dalmia & Bindra. Although, they also deserve plaudits for starting (finally) the WPL and providing pay parity for international games. Amidst all the chaos, they still are the best-run sporting organization in the country. Speaks more of the incompetence of the other sports bodies, which for some reason or the other keep getting themselves banned by the global federations.

Meanwhile, despite the Hindenburg report, the stock markets continue their bull runs, reaching new highs, and providing a pretty good silver lining amongst the political & environmental crowds. Although it all could be just a bubble waiting to be burst.

Overall, not a rosy picture but to end on a good note. “Naatu Naatu” won an Oscar providing the first truly Indian Oscar winners (earlier ones were all for external projects). It was a pleasant surprise to see this foot-tapping chart-topping song reach such popularity!

On that musical note. Happy Birthday India! Jai Hind!

2022: The Year Gone By

After the horrors of 2020 & 2021, Covid-19 was finally off the main headlines in 2022. It’s still not over though with the year bookended by the Omicron wave at the beginning and apprehensions of a new wave emerging from China (where else) at the end. The war maybe be under control but battles are still raging on. While we wait and watch, hopefully much better prepared, here is a recap of some major (and not major) events to look back upon (or maybe not)

1. News Event of the Year: Russian invasion of Ukraine

On 24th Feb ’22, Russia invaded Ukraine. It’s been 10 months, but the battle rages on with territories gained, wrested back and lost again. Apart from the actual battle on the field, there was another one being fought online between two propaganda machines. After a while, no one was quite sure of what was happening on the ground. Only one thing was clear - the human cost was huge and so has been the military spend. There have been economic sanctions and sports bans imposed. Yet the war keeps going on and on. And as a collateral damage, it has spawned arm-chair geopolitical experts, with most having a minor expertise in petroleum economics as well.

2. Designation of the Year: Chief Twit

Elon Musk acquired Twitter (rather was forced to buy after having announced his intent to buy), announced himself as Chief Twit and turned Twitter into a dark comedy channel. Proclaiming free speech, then banning accounts which he did not like, changing policy, firing people and then trying to rehire them, restoring banned accounts, finding himself being voted out as CEO on a poll he conducted! More than the company – he has become a non-stop source of amusement!

3. Work Jargon of the Year

Be “Extremely Hardcore” – the ultimatum given by the “Chief Twit” to the remaining Twitter staff. The deadline passed and far less people remained (What A Surprise!).

On the other end of the spectrum was trend of “Quiet Quitting” – where workers did only what was supposed to be done and not more (Again, What a surprise!).

4. Management Course of the Year: The Football World Cup

From being the “beautiful game” football evolved into a full course in management, with every match, every play, every goal scored, every shot saved, the actions of players, coaches, the watching dignitaries being dissected and ending up as a “what life lessons you can draw from them”? post on LinkedIn.

5. The fall & fall of Big Tech

There were the antics of Musk, the single day drop of $ 230 Billion in valuation of Meta, large layoffs at Amazon & Meta, Elizabeth Theranos (once touted at the next Steve Jobs) sentenced to 11 years jail and finally Sam Bankman-Fried – from appearing on Fortune magazine as the next Warren Buffett to be arrested a few weeks later for what could potentially be the biggest financial fraud! Tech industry was in turmoil to say the least!

And then there was the bizarre case of Chitra Ramkrishna who was running NSE based on advise of a “Himalayan Yogi” who communicated with her via email! 

6. The Eyjafjallajökull of the Year

Remember the volcano with the most exotically unpronounceable name which disrupted European airline traffic in 2010. It found its successor in 2022. The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai Volcanic eruption which cut off Tonga from the rest off the world and caused damages worth ~$ 90 Million in a country whose total GDP is less than $ 500 Million

7. The New Fad of the Year - Wordle

There was Wordle, a fun game. You play it and then spam the whole world with your grid of grey, yellow & green! It also spawned variants, more numerous than even the covid variants! It may be off the headlines as the year progressed but remains fun!

8. Lost & Found of the Year: Endurance

1915 - Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance sinks off Antarctica.

2022 - 107 Years later, it is found again, resting in the depths of the ocean

9. Book of the Year: Ret Samadhi

Geetanjali Shree’s novel became the first Hindi novel to win the International Booker Prize. Now for a twist in the tale. On Amazon, the original Ret Samadhi is available cheaper than its translation Tomb of Sand!

10. Vegetable of the Year: The Lettuce

Why not, after all it outlasted a Prime Minister. So short was Liz Truss's term, that her biography had to be updated before it could be published! But she did oversee a regime change during her brief stint.

11. Quote of the Year: “I am Mr. McAdams”

So this was a bit of 2022. Wishing all readers a Very Happy 2023!

India @ 75

15th August – our Independence Day. Also, time for the annual blog post on all things India, a tradition which now enters its 15th edition. So, before we head into this one, here is the link for the 2021 edition.

75 years since independence – it has been a remarkable journey. The Government decided to mark the occasion as #AzaadiKaAmritMahotsav and launched the #GharGharTiranga campaign. A campaign which also resonated with the citizens. And the result - tricolours displayed everywhere, on buildings, individual houses and vehicles presented a beautiful sight (or a vihangam drishya, to borrow a phrase from Doordarshan’s Republic Day commentary).

After the travails of 2020-21, we finally seem to have got a grip on the pandemic (though still not completely over it). The covid waves are still coming, although its impact has reduced. The roll-out of vaccines, an arduous task specially in a country of our size, certainly seems to have had an effect in controlling the damage. Although we still don’t know the long-term impacts yet, but life is slowly coming back to normal.

I always believe in reading the newspaper from back to front. Because the sports pages (which come last) are filled with the stories of human achievements, unlike most of the other pages! In a non-Olympic and non-World Cup year, it would have been difficult to match the highs of Neeraj Chopra’s Olympics Gold. But our men’s Badminton team provided it by winning the Thomas Cup. Chopra himself followed it up becoming the first Indian athlete to win a World Championships Silver medal. And finally, we had the sports fans cheering the Lawn Bowls team at the Commonwealth Games, while simultaneously trying to learn the rules of this novel sport they had come across. Meanwhile the Football federation gets banned by FIFA, putting in jeopardy the upcoming Women's U-17 World Cup. Somehow, finding a cloud for a silver lining!

Where sports exist, so does betting. Although illegal, there are now a multitude of apps and sites providing a chance to win cash based on fantasy leagues! Most of them exploiting the grey area between a game of chance and a game of skill. However, some enterprising folks took this to a whole new level. They organized an entire fake IPL, streamed it, and made money off Russian punters! The sheer chutzpah of the scam is simply unbelievable! This is one story filled with lots of audacious elements – but finding people in Russia willing to bet on cricket matches takes the cake.

Whilst on the subject of online scams, there has been a surfeit of them. The mobile phone has become a minefield to be treaded through carefully. Fake job offers, fake tenants, changing numbers of legitimate businesses, sending links for payment, threatening to cut electricity supply, fake calls, hacking people’s social media accounts. Just how many traps can you avoid daily?

The initial lockdown days of Covid brought to light, how clean our environment could be with reduced human activity. While a lockdown is not the solution, it did show that the climate emergency could still be managed. In this regard, we have made a major commitment towards Net Zero by 2070. The economic costs of this transition will be quite high but something which needs to be done.

Which brings us to the economy. While we are not the worst performing, there are dark clouds looming all over the horizon. The collateral effects of Ukraine crisis, soaring energy prices and a looming food shortage are all potentially leading to a global economic recession. It will take significant political will to navigate through these VUCA times. Credit to the government for taking a stand and getting cheaper Russian crude.

On the political front, we had a change of leadership at the top. Meanwhile, in various states, the state governments keep changing not through elections but via backroom political manipulations and resort management. Certainly not a sign of a healthy democracy.

Meanwhile the social media discussions and debates continue to become more and more toxic. The balance is completely gone and replaced by a “with us or against us” mentality. Wonder what vaccine will help in resolving this.

Overall, it has been a year of coming out of chaos but there are threats looming everywhere. Let’s see what the next one holds.

On that note, Happy Birthday India! Jai Hind!

India @74

Well, last year I was wrong!

Things took a turn for the worse in India’s 74th year, a lot worse. We nearly sailed over the Covid wave, celebrated early, even declared victory and then got hit hard by the variant. Those terrible weeks of April & May, where the nation was living through a collective trauma have been one of the most painful ones of recent times. People running around for oxygen cylinders and essential medicines. Queues for hospitals and even for cremations. Existing systems and the people manning them completely overwhelmed, yet carrying on. Even the crematoriums were malfunctioning due to excess use! Almost everyone was either affected themselves or had near and dear ones impacted. We were living in a dystopian reality. 

Amidst all this the key stakeholders in the Central government had gone incognito. There was an eerie silence, no words of reassurance or even acknowledgment of the grim situation came forth, and as it came out later no data as well. In fact, they were more in a denial mode. Meanwhile, ordinary citizens tried to help each other out. However, amidst the good Samaritans were the rotten apples as well, selling making a killing with exorbitant rates or worse providing fake medicines. Some finding their “aapda me avsar” while most citizens got a brutal lesson in becoming aatm-nirbhar. 

The government can’t even take full blame though, as the citizens kept flocking to potential hotspots – election rallies, sporting events, religious festivals and tourist spots, while not following even the basic mask and social distancing protocols. It has been a long year, but some more restraint would help. 

Then the Farmer Protests which have been going on for a while with no resolution in sight. Simply, because, it is in nobody’s interest to resolve it. The longer an issue runs, the longer it can be milked for various political purposes. 

The polarization of opinion on social media is near absolute. Every single issue is seen as either for or against with people picking sides based on their confirmation bias. Balance and logic in debates has simply gone for a toss. 

But enough of the negativity. It is said, read the newspaper back to front. The sports pages at the last register the human achievements while the rest of the pages are simply chronicling our failures.

Success in the sporting arena provided some succor. India had their best Olympics haul ever including a second Gold medalist in Neeraj Chopra and a potential resurgence in Hockey. What a moment it was to hear Jana Gana Mana played out in Tokyo! Hopefully the other Indian sports (i.e. non-cricket ones) build on from these Games. After all, our one billion plus populace should be able to easily accommodate all sports in the World. 

Cricket provided epic rearguard moment as the Aussie bastion of Gabba was finally breached. Yet, it was also in news for hosting the IPL amidst a pandemic. The argument of IPL providing a welcome distraction in the covid times began to ring hollow. And finally had to be suspended. The virus breaches even the most secure bio-bubbles. 

So, after a harrowing year, where do we stand? Dare we hope again for normalcy, as the vaccine roll-out gathers a bit of momentum while simultaneously bracing ourselves for further waves? Will there ever be a normal again? Or we keep adapting to the “new normal”? If the covid ravaged days have given one positive, it is the fact that one is not totally alone. Just ask for help. It might not necessarily come on time. But there will be people who will try (as per their might) to help out. And that to me is the silver lining amidst all the dark clouds. 

On that tiny note of positivity, a Very Happy Birthday to India! 

BookMarks #82: The Paradoxical Prime Minister

Title: The Paradoxical Prime Minister – Narendra Modi and His India 

Author: Shashi Tharoor 

Genre: Non-fiction, Politics, India 

Published: 2018 

BookMarks 

The Paradoxical PM is a critique of the first four year of Mr. Narendra Modi’s term as India’s Prime Minister by Shashi Tharoor, a member of the Opposition and a former Union minister. So while, he has a given a disclaimer upfront, the book has to be read with the background of an upcoming election (2019). 

The author states that “everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not to their own facts”. But whom does one believe for the facts! After all given the echo chambers that the web has transformed into and the varying degrees of inherent “Confirmation Bias” that everyone has, getting the real facts is an onerous ask! 

Dr. Tharoor covers the various issues raised during the tenure (2104-18) attempting to highlight the paradox between what is said and what has been done. No issue is left untouched – cow, muslims, Bharat Mata Ki Jai, the Constitution, Hindu rashtra, women’s rights, demonetization, health, education, newspapers and media, governance, minimum governance. foreign relations et al. Here Dr. Tharoor has provided a critique of the government policies and in some areas a good summary of what should be India’s vision. 

A couple of lines which I really liked in the book. 

• it is the idea that a nation may endure differences of caste, creed, colour, culture, cuisine, conviction, costume and custom, and still rally around a consensus 
• in a democracy you don’t really need to agree—except on the ground rules of how you will disagree. 

The author has summarized the tenure as “in the end, therefore, he must be judged for himself; since he claims all successes as his own, his transcendent failures must inevitably also be laid at his own door". making the book an apt reading in these Covid times. The combination of arrogance and ineptitude is certainly deadly. 

Of course, there are things unsaid. Like the areas in which the current government couldn’t really do much because of various legacy issues created by the previous regimes. While Dr. Tharoor has highlighted all the failings, the fact that the government still got re-elected in 2019 (with an increased majority) says a lot about the Opposition’s terrible messaging to the voters. The Opposition parties certainly need an image sprucing and better communication. 

Overall, an interesting critique of the Government!

Previously on BookMarks: Think Straight 

BookMarks #54: Mandate

Title: Mandate: Will of the People

Author: Vir Sanghvi

Genre: Non-Fiction, History, Politics

Setting: Modern India from 1960s to 2015

Published: 2015

BookMarks

Its general elections time, so picked up this volume describing elections from 1971 till 2014. The book provides a short summary of each Lok Sabha tenure from the time Indira Gandhi became Prime Minister to Narendra Modi taking over. Each chapter covering one tenure. However, given the nature of Indian politics, it seems too small a volume. It presents many facts, and probably omits many more. 

Vir Sanghvi is an established journalist. So, would like to accept his version at its face value. The book makes clear his opinion of the people who have been at the helm of the affairs of this country. Certainly, facts are presented in a way the author thinks of the person. Sometimes the book seems rushed. After all, how do you fill in almost 5 decades in 100 odd pages. It is a difficult task.

Overall, an interesting read showing a glimpse of our modern political history. Biggest learning from the book, the Indian electorate always has a surprise in store for you! Let's see what the current elections hold for us!

Previously on BookMarks: A Gathering of Friends

2018: The Year Gone By

The year 2018 AD is coming to a close leaving behind random memories – some fleeting and some of a little more permanent nature. Here is a personal compilation of events/non-events to remember the year gone by. 

1. Social Movement - #MeToo 

The #MeToo movement finally reached India. The entertainment industry as expected was where the biggest scandals lay but Corporate India was no less culpable. And to think it all began with a comedian’s tweet on the Pan Masala company’s antics on a cruise liner abroad! 

2. The Identified Flying Object 

Elon Musk launched a car in space with a mannequin in the driver’s seat listening to music. We finally have our own hitchhiker moving through the galaxy. 

3. Sporting Caption of the Year 

It was the year of the Football World Cup. We Indians chose our favorite teams rooting behind the likes of Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Spain, Croatia and France. Meanwhile our neighbours on the West sent out this tweet “Dear World, thank you for playing with our balls” to announce the fact that Telstar 18, the balls were manufactured in Pakistan. 

4. The Rescue 

A bunch of Thai boys, from a local football team, stuck inside a flooded cave for many days without food and water and in the dark and finally getting rescued. Gripping drama in the age of 24x7 media and social media coverage. And pretty sure there is a movie in the works as well. Yet much closer home, in Meghalaya, 13 miners were missing and barely a mention anywhere. 

5. The Political Reality TV 

Rahul Gandhi hugging PM Modi in Lok Sabha, to a shell-shocked House and then following up with a wink. The moment when Lok Sabha TV provided more drama than all soap operas combined! And with elections approaching expect more such drama. 

6. The Battle of the Jokers 

Trump vs Kim Jong-Un - after bouts of some childish name-calling (Dotage, Little Rocket man were some of the affectionate terms used), they indulged in a discussion on the size of their respective nuclear buttons and then ended up meeting as if nothing happened. Unfortunately these jokers are also controlling nuclear arsenal. 

7. Data Privacy discussions 

Widespread debates & discussions on how user data is being mined from social media to influence political outcomes and possibly cause targeted individual harm as well. This also led to hilarious outcomes where tech honchos like Zuckerberg & Sundar Pichai patiently explained to Congressional committees how internet and social media worked or that iPhones were made by Apple and not Google. In India, we had our own issues with Aadhaar database and its access, leading to the TRAI Chairman publicly giving out his Aadhaar number and asking all to hack him. (Well, a bit like Mad-Eye Moody teaching the Unforgivable spells to a bunch of teenage wizards) Never got to know the results of this challenge though. 

8. Newton’s Law of Gravity – things which go up have to fall down 

Bitcoins and the multiple crypto-currencies which had spawned all over the place, was the bubble which pricked just enough for many to lose out (and the smart ones to make money) while the underlying blockchain technology kept going places.

9. Headline of the Year 

Seal slaps man with an octopus - Wonder what the poor octopus would have felt and what outraged the seal so much!

10. The 15 seconds of Fame 

Priya Prakash Varrier - the winking girl, or Sanjeev Srivastava - the dancing uncle. All but forgotten by the end of the year. 

So that was 2018 events wise. Lets see what 2019 has in store. After all 2019 brings in the Lok Sabha elections, and the epic culminations of events in Westeros and the Avengers finale! 

Wishing all readers a very Happy, Healthy and Prosperous 2019.

India @71

It’s time for the patriotic fervor to reach its annual peak. Also time for me to pen down my annual India blogpost. (2017 edition is here). 

As one grows older and hopefully a tad wiser (albeit not in all cases), one learns that economics is more important than politics. So on that note,

The sensex is nearing record peaks, the rupee is touching new depths, meanwhile the banking sector has too many skeletons tumbling out of its collective cupboard and oil prices are back up. And we have an election year coming up, which generally means throwing away financial prudence and bringing in lots of sops to appease the vote banks. In all a perfect storm brewing up. Do we have the right captain to sail through these choppy waters and get our ship to safe harbor? That is a multi-billion dollar question!

Assam finally managed to bring up the first draft of the National Register for Citizens (NRC). It has brought interesting results. About 40 million people have been identified as non-Indians, although many have been living here for years. An exercise worth carrying out across the country as well. Although we don't know what to do with these aliens. Throw them out, but no one else seems willing to take them. And thus we have our own version of the refugee crisis. Time for some tough decisions for the policy makers.

Coming to the general state of the country. News media is a now a commodity of trade. Some would argue when it has not been. Every "news" is presented in a way to please their respective "owners". Thus we have the funny scenarios, where some try to find deep conspiracies in every government uttering, while others ask questions on why the opposition leaders are not doing anything?

Meanwhile less said about the social media the better. Some of the social media warriors have realized that the fastest way to attain fame is to sound more and more bigoted. The more radical the views, the more venom you spew, the more divisive your rantings, the more your number of followers and higher the chance of fulfilling your political ambitions. And why not, when the average citizens are willing to take up the cudgels, sometimes literally. And that's how lynchings are on the rise. After all, rumors travel fast in the times of free 4G. Also, the reason why mobile data shutdown has become the modern day curfew. (Lived through one such day recently, found it quite relaxing, the data not available issue, but that's the subject of another post).

The individual views are swinging away from the balanced moderate centre to the radical extreme. Witnessed it on social media, on college WhatsApp groups, where people seem to be gunning for fights. How did we become so intolerant of each other? Today, either you are pro-government or branded an anti-national, there is no middle path.

Meanwhile, there are groups agitating for "rights" suddenly holding up cities to ransom for myriad reasons. Reservations, loan waivers or even supposed wrong depiction of a mythical princess in a movie - the cause could be any but the sufferers are the same. Buses set on fire, roads blocked, vehicles pelted with stones. Destroying the already crumbling  infrastructure. And then nature gets into the act and starts giving  back. All our megapolises are just crumbling inwards.

Only sporting achievement manages to bring us together. And why not? As has been said, always read the newspaper back to front. The last pages narrate the success stories of man, while the others tell us of it's failures!

That's too much of rambling. Election year coming up. Let's see what it has in store for us!

Anyways, wishing all a very happy Independence Day!

P.S. A long but interesting read – Ambedkar’s speech on Mahadev Govind Ranade’s 101st birthday in 1943 . Quite a few parts still relevant today, even after 75 years!

BookMarks #37: The Audacity of Hope

Title: The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream

Author: Barack Obama

Genre: Non-Fiction, Autobiography, Politics

Published: 2006

BookMarks

“The Audacity of Hope” was written by Barack Obama when he was a Senator in USA. 

The book is partly autobiographical and partly a political manifesto. We learn about Obama’s family, his childhood, his education, his political beliefs, his election battles, the society around him as he grew up. But they are not presented in a chronological manner. What we get instead is a discourse about Obama’s beliefs and ideas. And interspersed in these sections are glimpses of the future president’s past. 

The book does read like an election manifesto. And why not, just three months after the publication, he announced his candidacy for US President which he went on to win. The book gives us a glimpse of Obama’s philosophy and outlook towards America and the rest of the world. 

A Quote I liked - “You are entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts”. Something the perpetrators of fake news and convoluted history forwards should keep in mind.

Let’s say it was a welcome change to read about somebody talking about bringing a change to the world in a positive way. Especially after having recently read Fire & Fury – about another American President.

Previously on BookMarks: Innovate or Evaporate 

BookMarks #34: Fire And Fury

Title: Fire And Fury: Inside the Trump White House

Author: Michael Wolff

Genre: Non-Fiction, Politics, Contemporary History

Setting: White House, Washington D.C, USA in the year 2017

Published:2018

Summary

Presenting the “inside” story of the events at the White House post the election of Donald Trump as the President of United States.

BookMarks

The byline of the book is misleading as the book is less about Trump and more about his ex-Chief Strategist Steve Bannon. The narration is from Bannon’s perspective, from his taking control of the Trump campaign, his rivals in the President’s inner circle and ultimately his departure/firing. The book ends with what seems like an announcement for Steve Bannon’s own presidential campaign for 2020.

Lots of gossip is presented about the inner circle of the White House and the many comings and goings in the President's staff. It also portrays quite an unflattering picture of Trump and his family. Well, that's to be expected, given that it is based on interviews conducted with a fired employee.

If the book is to be believed, Trump and his team did not expect to win the election and thus had no preparation for its aftermath! And now they are bumbling along while as Trump tries to become “presidential” while those around him try to figure what is going on in his head and how to make him focus on the important work!

“It is going to be as wild as shit” – an apt closing line of the book which is presented as a mix of gossip and facts. Or what president Trump would call “Fake News”.

Previously on BookMarks – Nikola Tesla 

2017: The Year Gone By

How do you remember the year gone by? Especially a year like 2017 which was an amalgamation of events with “fake news” and “alternate facts”! So as we step into 2018, why not take a look back at some of the happenings & non-happenings to remember the year gone by

1. News Grabber-in-Chief of the Year 

The one and only Donald Trump who declared war on basically everyone (except his trusted friend Vladimir Putin). He was always in headlines, as befits his position as POTUS, but almost always for the wrong reasons – began by quoting Bane in his inaugural speech, calling Meryl Streep (an 18 time Oscar nominee) an over-rated actor, fighting with the news broadcasters, having skirmishes with nearly all government agencies, engaging in Twitter battles, and a war of words with Kim Jong Un (where barbs included “madman”, “dotage”, responding with “fire & fury” etc.). There was no way, you could keep him out of the news.

2. New Arrival of the Year

Zealandia - the 8th Continent: We always thought New Zealand was a bit different, with more sheep than humans. Also probably why Peter Jackson, chose that country as the setting for Middle Earth. Now we got confirmation that it is indeed a separate continent altogether. Well, schoolkids will now have to remember one more name in their geography classes.

3. The Comeback Kids

Both maybe on the wrong side of 30 and recovering from multiple aches and pains but Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal shared all the 4 Grand Slams in the year, while their rivals lost their way. No one seemed a bit unhappy about it though (maybe except the male singles Tennis players). And if the average fan was happy seeing them together on the court facing each other, Imagine the happiness when they played doubles together! (video). May they take the rivalry to new heights in 2018 as well. And just for fun, a video of them reciting Kipling’s If.

4. Word of the Year 

We have two contenders: Covfefe - an accident by Trump and Farrago – a rant from an irate Shashi Tharoor. Both trended and generated lots of memes. Personally I prefer farrago as it is a very good example of a rodomontade. 

5. Self-goal of the Year

There was an epic secrecy exercise carried by HBO to prevent spoilers and leakages of its “piece de resistance” – Game of Thrones. But hackers still managed to get some access and threatened to leak scripts and scenes of unreleased episodes. Till.... HBO accidentally leaked one of the episodes prior to telecast! 

6. The Indestructible

To the list of indestructible items we have a new addition - Salvador Dali’s moustache. The artist’s body was exhumed for a DNA test and after 28 years of being buried, the famous Dali moustache was still intact!

7. A New Citizenship Category

Saudi Arabia now has a robot citizen – by the name Sophia. It was a year in which Saudis were in the news for unusual reasons – the Vision 2030 document, women being allowed to drive, permitted to enter stadiums, reopening of theaters etc. But giving citizenship to a robot certainly takes the cake.

8. Whats in a Name?

Ask the World Taekwondo Federation who changed their name to World Taekwondo. Reason to ensure that there are no negative connotations with its initials which matched with one of the most popular slang expressions of modern times!

9. Battle of the Year

Soldiers of two most populous countries of the world locked in a standoff in a cold terrain, both countries loaded with nuclear weapons. And the soldiers engage in a fistfight and throwing stones at each other! We might be in the 21st century A.D., but thankfully the armies brawled like they were in 21st century B.C.!

10.Viral Song of the Year

Despacito – which took over as the most played video on YouTube. Have no clue of the lyrics (remember Gangnam Style), but the music is fun

So that was 2017. Wishing all readers a very Happy 2018!

India @ 70

Happy Birthday, India! And it's time for my annual round-up of many things that is India.

Usually, the perennial optimist in me would always find the silver lining in the clouds hovering all around. But, with every passing year, it is getting a tad harder to do so. Maybe the times are troubled or simply because I am growing more and more cynic.

There is a sub-clause, in the Constitution, under the section of Fundamental Duties: "To develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform”. But that was before the era of Whatsapp and Facebook. Judging by the amount of blind faith in Whatsapp forwards, there is a large deficiency of "scientific temper" and the "spirit of inquiry" in us Indians. Why do people have a tendency to share and be willing bearers of sensationalism without a basic fact check? Something which has now been exploited to the hilt by the creators of "manufactured" news and and those rewriting history to propagate their own devious agenda. Even more worrying is the speed at which the "anti-national" tag is being thrown at people who do not conform with the "official thinking".

Coming to the most recent and shocking "news" - over 70 children die in a hospital in Gorakhpur because the oxygen supply was shut-off. A simple mechanical act leading to a tragedy. Somebody did not ensure payments even after multiple reminders leading to a "massacre". As if the tragedy wasn't bad enough, we now have to witness the vultures (politicians and media) swooping in to feed on the frenzy. Some downplaying, some outraging, some just intent on blaming others and finding a convenient scapegoat. The entire system needs a brutal shake-up.

The current state of India is such that there are more people ready to take cudgels on behalf of the members of "Bos taurus" species than for fellow Homo Sapiens. Somehow the bigger crime is "consuming and transporting beef" than the public lynching of the alleged "criminal".

Last year, we witnessed the grand exercise of "Demonetization". Almost one year down the line, we have still no clue why it was carried out (there are theories) and whether any of the promised "benefits" (and there were lots of them) actually were brought forth. And there were poeple who believed about the tracking chip in the currency notes!

Every few months, we hear of Chinese sneaking into Indian territory. A clarion call to boycott Chinese made goods is raised, ironically often via phones made in China. And then it dies down, to be raised again following the next Chinese "incursion".

The Indian soldier was also in the news throughout the year. Sometimes for dealing with skirmishes at the border, sometimes for having stones pelted at them at home, sometimes for raising the occasional complaint about their conditions. But they were kept in the news mostly by the jingoistic jokers who would bring about images of soldiers at the border even for mundane day to day activities like withdrawing money from a bank account.

A cartoon to sum it all up

Enough ranting for now. We are still better off than many parts of the world, but much worse than others. After all, I still have the freedom to post this.

भारत माता की जय !

P.S. 2016 Edition

Ten from 2016: the Surreal Year

Surreal – That’s the word of the year 2016 as per Merriam-Webster. And the year 2016 gone by was certainly a surreal experience. As the year draws to a close, here’s a short list of the surreal events which made the year memorable (or forgettable, depending on your point of view).

1. The Demonetization Exercise

On November 8th, the Prime Minister announced that 500 and 1000 rupees notes will cease to be legal tender. And as expected all hell broke loose. Suddenly people had money but were unable to use it. Withdrawing your own money became a big chore (with successful completion becoming a tremendous achievement). Depending on your political affiliations, the exercise was either just a minor inconvenience on the path to greater good or a monumental disaster taking the country on a path to hell. Only time will tell whether the objectives (whatever they may be, given the shifting goal-posts) are achieved. But it has had the unintended consequence of creating too many economists in the country, while queuing up in banks and ATMs became a national hobby.

2. Immunity to Terror Acts

The surreal nature of 2016 can be best explained by the way the world grew to terror attacks and wars all over the planet. Nice, Munich, Kabul, Baghdad, London, Paris, Florida, Aleppo, Brussels, Istanbul, Ankara, the list is endless. The network of terror spread its tentacles across the world with lone wolf attacks becoming a norm. Malls, Festivals, Public transport, Night clubs, airports, markets - every place is now a potential attack site. And instead of taking action, those in charge are milking every attack for their own political agenda. One can only either take action to destroy the terror machine or wait till one's luck runs out.

3. Donald Trump 

Donald Trump is going to be the next President of United States of America! Its been a couple of months since the election results and yet this one has still not sunk in. Wonder what would happen when this maverick force of nature actually assumes office. Probably just added to the overall surrealism.

4. Psephology – the flawed science

One profession which lost credibility the most during 2016. Brexit, Trump’s bandwagon, Colombia’s rejection of a peace deal – just proved that predicting the mood of the masses is a complex task. Beware the silent masses!

5. Sonam Gupta Bewafa Hai

Some are born famous, some achieve fame and some have fame thrust upon them. As the Sonam Guptas of this world learnt this year. 

Collateral damage from the notes ban. Social media picked up on a line written on notes (a habit which should be stopped), generating countless memes. 

6. A tale of two pictures 

Like every year, there would be many contenders but this time I will pick up one from the sporting arena. 

Pic 1: Australian Open 2016 Final Presentation Ceremony – just look at Murray’s expression after finishing second best to Djokovic once again. 

Pic 2: But a year is a long time and Murray picked up pace as Djokovic faltered at the end to become the world number one. Another presentation ceremony, but Murray is now the Champion as an appreciative Djokovic looks on. 

7. New exercise of the year

People moving around focused on their smartphones is now a common sight. But it was surreal (yes that word again) to see people staring at their phones in a desperate attempt to catch those pesky little pokemons which they could see only through their phone cameras. Adults falling into the trap of being guided by an app on their phone to capture virtual animals?

8. The Zika Virus 

The Olympics were the biggest event of the year. The build-up to the Olympics was marked by the fears over the Zika virus. Many advisories were issued. Some star atheletes decided to withdraw as well. The Olympics still happened (as they should have). Surprisingly (or maybe not), there was no Zika epidemic during the Games and certainly none afterwards. Was it just a first world media conspiracy?

9. The Mannequin Challenge

Real people staying still and frozen in mid-action a la mannequins while a camera moved around them capturing the moment without movement. Even the White House was not spared. GOK what new challenge will come up next year.

10. And the viral video of the Year 

The Pen Pineapple Apple Pen Song. No Comments !!!

Certainly a surreal year in more ways than one. Lets see what 2017 has in store for us.

Wishing all readers a very Happy New Year!!!

India @ 69

15th August, 2016 – Time for my 10th annual Independence Day blog post - a little round-up of all things India. (Here is the 2015 edition).

How is the nation doing as a whole? Current mood of the nation seems quite grim, especially if one is in the habit of watching TV news and following social media. Apparently, intolerance has been rising to new Himalayan levels while the nationalistic pitch is reaching the moon and hyperbole on every single topic has piggy-backed to Mars riding the Mars Rover. Meanwhile there are intense debates (mostly hot-air) on freedoms of expression, choice of food etc. And there are new folks demanding different forms of "Azaadi". Oh, and there are intellectuals who are disturbed enough by the goings-on to return their well-earned awards. Where we begin wondering how many awards are given.

The country seems to be in a perennial state of elections. And that means that our elected leaders are in a non-stop campaign mode rather than in actually running the country. Hunger for quick take-over of power has resulted in a couple of states having governments changed and then reinstated via court interventions. In fact, we are seeing too many court interventions, certainly not a healthy sign for any democracy.

Governance of the country is being done through Twitter. While it feels good to see ministers addressing individual grievances, it also shows a lack of proper complaint redressal mechanism in our massive bureaucratic set-up. From missing passports to trains running late, if every complaint requires ministerial intervention, there is something terribly wrong in the system.

Its becoming increasingly difficult to separate the real from the presented news. There is a media version and there are multiple social media versions (depending on the ideology). Not sure which is more dangerous, the message shaped by conventional media (whatever their agenda) or the more extreme one shaped by social media based on one's belief. Add a multitude of whatsapp forwards which are mostly in the nature of garbled version of truth. Why people join online (and in some cases real) lynch mobs  and outrage without doing any basic fact-check is something beyond me. And there seems to be a constant need to fix the narrative has led to history books being re-written.

Meanwhile nature has started fighting back. We have had played enough with nature. It was a year of drought in many parts of the country. And followed by floods all over. Floods in multiple cities (Chennai, Bangalore, Assam, Gurgaon) have shown up the reality of our mismanaged development. World class IT parks surrounded by medieval drainage system, certainly a recipe for disaster. That the monsoon is still the single largest factor in the economic indices in a telling comment on the state of infrastructure development of the country. The sensex maybe growing at a steady rate but it hasn't been able to keep up with the food prices.

Start-ups are the new cool thing in the business domain. Everyone seems to be starting up something or working in a start-up. And there is a whole industry of start-ups. Start-ups seem to mushroom out of nowhwere and many either get absorbed into another company or simply disappear. Anything and everything is coming under the aegis of start-ups. A fellow running multiple blogs is now termed a "serial entrepreneur". Lets see how much longer this cash-burn continues.

On the sporting front, we have sent our biggest contingent to the Olympics, which is a tremendous achievement. But mid-way through the Rio Games, things haven't exactly panned out in our favour. Michael Phelps has now moved ahead of India in the Olympic medal tally. Well, there is always cricket to fall back onto for the Indian fan.

The most tragi-comic news of the year -  ISIS considers its Indian recruits inferior to those form other countries. (Indian Express). Hmmm!

All said and done. things not looking so good. But we are relatively better off given the goings-on in other parts of the world. And one always carries a sense of hope. After all, tomorrow is another day!

Happy Birthday India

LearnNBlog #8: Gerrymandering

Following the seemingly never-ending American Presidential elections provides a fascinating learning experience, even for a citizen of the world’s largest democracy (India, just in case you are wondering). This long-drawn process of selecting the person for the most powerful post in the world keeps throwing out interesting terms – electoral colleges, primaries, delegates et al. Seemingly a fair and transparent process but open to manipulations through procedures like “gerrymandering”.

What is Gerrymandering?

Gerrymandering is a practice intended to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating district boundaries during the process of defining electoral districts (constituencies).

History

The term was first used by the Boston Gazette on 26 March 1812. Governor Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts passed a bill to redraw the senate election district boundaries to benefit his party. When mapped, one of the contorted districts in the Boston area was said to resemble the shape of a salamander. 

The Original Gerry-mander (Source Wikipedia)

Usage 

Gerrymandering has been used (rather, heavily used) by incumbent officials (in US) to ensure their re-election. The incumbent official would re-adjust the district boundaries to ensure that his voters have a larger share in higher number of districts. 

Gerrymandering has been a fairly common practice conducted by both the major parties at times in collusion. And its not just at the ground level. North and South Dakota were created along this line instead of a single Dakota state. It has ensured that the likelihood of change in guard at the Congress is quite low. 

Process

This could be done by ensuring their voters are spread in more areas, or that all the opposing camp voters are packed up in a single area. “Cracking”, “Packing”, “Hijacking” & “Kidnapping” are some of the different methodologies of gerrymandering. 

This has resulted in creation of very odd-shaped electoral districts. 

Stealing an election via gerrymandering (Image Source - Wikipedia)

US townships have historically been divided along racial and ethnic lines with different areas belonging to different communities, which generally tend to vote as a block. Thus easing the work for the incumbent officials who also have the power to re-draw the boundaries. (Unlike say in India, where all election activities are conducted by a fairly independent and neutral election commission).

Learning
Manipulation is the name of the Political Game everywhere in the world.

Other Readings

• Gerrymandering (Wikipedia)
• Electoral District (Wikipedia)
• What America would look like without Gerrymandering (Washington Post)
• Understanding Congressional Gerrymandering (NPR)
• Why are there two Carolinas and two Dakota (MentalFloss)

Previously on LearnNBlog – Tax & Cess