E D I T O R I A L   P A G E

EDITORIALS

India’s golden girl
Seema Antil’s name is not likely to ring a bell. And that should be reason enough to set the alarm bells ringing. She is the first Indian athlete to win a gold medal in an international individual event. Yet there was no red carpet or a senior official of the Indian Olympic Association to welcome her at the airport in New Delhi when she returned from Santiago, Chile, after winning the discus gold at the World Junior Athletics Championship.

Of films and money
Things move at their own pace in the government. While cinema was given the industry status way back in May, 1998, the benefits that were supposed to accrue to the industry did not come its way. The filmmakers had to petition the Information and Broadcasting Ministry repeatedly to highlight their problems. More than two years of cajoling has finally borne some fruit. A notification was issued on October 16 under the Industrial Development Bank of India Act, 1964, recognising the entertainment industry, including filmmaking, as an approved activity under "industrial concerns". 

OPINION

Old economy, new economy
by Anurag
The more things change, the more they remain the same. Depends on how one looks at it. Rejecting things merely because they are old fashioned would rule out the sun and the moon as well. Someone said that a man behind the times is apt to speak ill of them, on the premise that nothing looks well from behind. But fundamentals stay put.

ON THE SPOT

MIDDLE

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

Who is afraid of poll?

Election to various party units — from the village to the national levels — should impart energy and enthusiasm to the whole organisational structure. Also throw up new faces and new leaders. But that is theory; in practice, a few seniors wrangle and “adjust” the office-bearers and thus continue at the top, even if only shakily. The vital task of renewing live links with the people and recruiting a committed cadre is missing. Almost all political parties are guilty of this, the Congress more than the others. These days it is going through the motions of elections and has given itself an impressive machinery starting with district returning officers (DRO) to a central election authority, no less, in the person of Mr Ram Niwas Mirdha. But the democratic spirit is sadly missing. Several PCCs are yet to send their list of “elected” delegates despite the stern warning of Mr Mirdha. Obviously bitter bargaining is going on among mini leaders on the strength of their patrons in New Delhi. In some districts a list of the electoral college has been prepared and sent to the state capital for compilation and despatch to the CEA. This is evident from two facts. No newspaper or television channel has reported real polling and, further, several lists are being chopped and changed. No party will revise the will of the voters, even if they are members. The Congress has forgotten all about conducting elections at various levels and has no machinery worth the name. AICC members have not come through the balloting process for decades now. PCC chiefs are nominated and shunted out at will as it happened in UP only recently. An unknown Congressman, Mr Shriprakash Jayaswal, was enthroned in place of the high-profile Mr Salman Khursheed in a bid to please Mr Jitendra Prasada. The move backfired as the new chief has nothing to do with the MP from Shahjahanpur. In Madhya Pradesh factional squabbles exploded when three Delhi-based leaders packed the DRO panel in an effort to reduce the clout of the Chief Minister. He threatened street protests before securing his justified share.

On paper the chosen district representatives will elect the PCC and also the 800-odd AICC which will, in a grand finale, elect the new Congress president. Mr Narasimha Rao did not face opposition but his successor, Mr Sitaram Kesri, did. Mr Sharad Pawar and Mr Rajesh Pilot opposed him and somewhat creditably. Mr Kesri convened an AICC meeting at Calcutta to elect 10 of the 21 Working Committee members (the others are nominated). For 20 years since 1972, there were no elections to the CWC but Mr Rao changed that. Now out of power, the party is trying to re-establish its democratic credentials. It should try harder. The unholy opposition to the presumed candidature of Mr Prasada (he has not revealed his intentions) is not a happy sign. Anyone who understands the psychology of Congressmen will know that in the final analysis dissidence is more an expression of frustration than a burning desire to be a rebel. And Mrs Sonia Gandhi may not be a big vote-getter but she scores easily against Mr Prasada. He is essentially an apparatchik, a political manager that he was to both Rajiv Gandhi and Mr Rao. As the UPCC chief he cornered nearly 1100 votes in 1966 which ensured the victory of Mr Kesri and his circle. This time he is out of the PCC and hence in a weak spot in building a firm constituency. Election is good but developing a democratic temper is better. The twice-postponed poll cannot do any harm. 

India’s golden girl

Seema Antil’s name is not likely to ring a bell. And that should be reason enough to set the alarm bells ringing. She is the first Indian athlete to win a gold medal in an international individual event. Yet there was no red carpet or a senior official of the Indian Olympic Association to welcome her at the airport in New Delhi when she returned from Santiago, Chile, after winning the discus gold at the World Junior Athletics Championship. The media did take note of her singular achievement, but made the mistake of highlighting only her links with Haryana. [ Karnam Malleswari is the bahu and she the sport daughter of Haryana.] Yes, the first world champion in athletics from India was born in Sonepat in July, 1983. But the gold medal has put her in class apart. The superstars of yesteryear won gold medals in the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games, but never in international track and field contests. Therefore, to say that young Seema is the first golden girl, nay athlete, from Haryana belongs to India would not be an exaggeration. When Karnam Malleswari became the first Indian woman athlete to win an Olympic medal the President and the Prime Minister were among those who greeted her for doing the country proud. And those very officials who had written her off were the first to appropriate her success by concocting their role in discovering her potential and honing her skills. But the bitter truth is that Malleswari won an Olympic bronze not because of the professional help she received from the organisations concerned, but in spite of being made an object of ridicule by vested interests. Mr Suresh Kalmadi, who treats the AAFI as his personal fiefdom, needs to explain a lot. Why were men, women and school children only from Sonepat present at the airport to welcome Seema Antil?

Neither Mr Kalmadi nor Union Sports Minister S. S. Dhindsa deemed it necessary to be present at the airport for receiving India's first and only international golden athlete. The indifference of the sport organisations and the selective response of the people to the achievements of upcoming athletes like Seema is a primary reason why the country is not able to produce world champions in abundance. Seema began her career at 11 as a hurdler and a long-jumper. But her brother, a wrestler, encouraged her to try her hand at throwing the discus. She showed glimpses of her potential last year by dethroning reigning champion and Olympian Neelam J. Singh at Calcutta. Seema has dreams of becoming the first Indian to win an Olympic gold in an individual event. And why not? With proper training and guidance India can produce a Milkha Singh who does not end up fourth at the Rome Olympics, a P. T. Usha, who is not beaten to the fourth place by a whisker at Los Angeles, a Malleswari, who does not settle for a bronze when the gold medal is within her reach, and a Seema, who has the makings of a world champion even at the senior level. All this is and much more can easily be achieved provided the politicians and the bureaucrats stop treating the sport organisations they control as passports for globe-trotting under the garb of attending international events and sport-related meetings. The political manipulations they do for staying in office they do not deserve are largely responsible for the continued poor health of Indian sport. However, the achievements of Karnam Malleswari and Seema Antil still have important lessons to offer to the "generation-next". The first lesson is to have self-belief. The second is hard work. The third is the determination to carry on regardless of the indifferent coaching and poor facilities provided by most sport organisations. The two athletes deserve a round of applause for showing that Indian sport need not be a road which invariably leads to a dead end.

Of films and money

Things move at their own pace in the government. While cinema was given the industry status way back in May, 1998, the benefits that were supposed to accrue to the industry did not come its way. The filmmakers had to petition the Information and Broadcasting Ministry repeatedly to highlight their problems. More than two years of cajoling has finally borne some fruit. A notification was issued on October 16 under the Industrial Development Bank of India Act, 1964, recognising the entertainment industry, including filmmaking, as an approved activity under "industrial concerns". That means that filmmakers will now be eligible for getting banking finance and other facilities available to industrial concerns. So far so good. But will the step really help the makers of rainbow-coloured dreams? One cannot be too sure on that count. For one thing, the kind of money that today's films require may not be easy to come by. Yes, those working on shoestring budgets may benefit, but others may not be so lucky. Second, the banks in India take their own sweet time in approving a loan application. It is doubtful if those making films would be able to wait for these periods, which at times is eternity. Above all, the risk factor is extremely high in this industry. Either you make millions or you sink without a trace. It remains to be seen how banks will make it bold to choose which of such risky ventures to embrace and which ones to leave out. Bankers are trained to assess the marketablility of a product; judging the intrinsic worth of a film may not be their cup of tea. Leave alone the bankers, even ABCL of Amitabh Bachchan burnt its fingers while trying its hands at film marketing. The two tasks may be entirely different but boil down to judging the worth of a producer and his product. In normal bank dealings, one has to pledge property for taking a loan. Again, the filmmakers will find it difficult to prove their buoyancy to the hardboiled bankers.

This pessimism is pragmatic, but it is also unfortunate because the industry does require a clean source of financing. Good money translates into good cinema and the reverse is also true. Of late, all sorts of shady characters have entered the film finance business. In fact, the field is almost entirely in the hands of mafia gangs. They not only blackmail producers into paying fantastic interest but also armtwist them into making films of their choice. This has led to a marked deterioration in the overall quality of Indian cinema. There are several experts who darkly hint that the sympathetic portrayal that smugglers and mobsters get in films made in Mumbai is also at the bidding of people who lead a similar life in reality. If the various bottlenecks in getting clean money from banking sources can be removed, the industry can be freed from the tentacles of the loan sharks. Mrs Sushma Swaraj will be doing a great service to cinema lovers if she takes steps in that direction. 

ESCALATING WATER CRISIS
A Malthusian warning
by K. B. Sahay

ONLY last year about 10 crore people spread over several states in the country were affected by severe drought. Cattle in large numbers perished for want of water and fodder. Water had to be transported to the affected areas by tankers, trains and even naval ships: such was the severity of water scarcity.

This year too reports are coming that large areas in Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat are already under drought-like conditions and people from the affected areas have started migrating to other places.

Surprisingly, on the other hand, the country has, on an average, been getting normal monsoons for the past several years: sectoral disparities in rainfall notwithstanding. Hence there is a need for a comprehensive analysis of the country’s water scenario. But somehow the discussions have centered around mostly the domestic needs of water.

It is no doubt true that out of all the requirements of water the domestic requirement is the most critical one for human survival. But it is also true that this domestic need of water forms only a very small part of our total water requirements and availability. Even today when our population is over a billion, the total domestic need for water per year for the whole nation is hardly about 33 cubic kilometre (cu km) per year, that is, only 3 per cent of the annual utilisable fresh water availability of 1150 cu km, which constitutes of 700 cu km of surface water and 450 cu km of ground water. And yet crores of people and cattle are now suffering badly for drinking water. If petrol and diesel could be reached continuously from one corner of the country to the other, there is no reason why there should be scarcity of water for domestic needs anywhere in the country at any time under any monsoon condition. Surely the governments have failed miserably in their duty to ensure regular supply of potable water for all despite all the promises of the political parties. Hence the authorities have rightly been criticised for their mismanagement, apathy, flawed models of development, neglect of traditional methods of water harvesting and corruption etc that have led to the present state of water scarcity even for drinking.

Nevertheless, while worrying about the non-availability of drinking water, which is indeed very critical for life we must not, however, lose sight of the other requirements of water e.g. for agriculture, power etc, as these too are very important for the nation’s survival and also because the availability, requirement and management of water for non-domestic needs have significant bearings on the availability of water for the domestic purposes as explained in the sequel.

The main cause of the present crisis for drinking water affecting about 10 crores of our people is that the successive governments have not cared to create adequate infrastructure and proper regulations to ensure availability of potable water to all for domestic purposes; and the present crisis is not because of any non-availability of potable water per se to meet even our domestic needs, which is less than a mere 10 per cent of our ground water availability alone.

It is estimated that now in 2000 AD the water requirements for agriculture and industries (including energy) are as high as 630 and 87 cu km per year, respectively. And these requirements are estimated to rise to a staggering 770 and 228 cu km per year, respectively, by the year 2025. Thus while meeting the domestic requirement of water ought not to be a problem any time; it is bound to become exceedingly difficult to meet the growing nondomestic needs of water with every passing year even under normal monsoon conditions. There is yet another major constraint in meeting our water requirements.

It is true that the total availability of utilisable fresh water in India is 1150 cu km per year; but 29 per cent of this is available in the Brahmaputra basin where only 3 per cent of our population lives. Thus only 817 cu km of utilisable fresh water is available for the rest of India (ROI) having 97 per cent of population and 94 per cent of geographical land area. The only way to mitigate this disbalance in water availability is by interbasin transfer of water from the Brahmaputra basin to ROI which is not an easy task anyway.

Now if we compare ROI’s rising water requirements as given above with its fixed water availability of only 817 cu km per year with highly polluted surface component, the imminence of water crisis should be obvious. As a matter of fact the present water crisis is just a foreshadow of the impending water calamity. We must take note of the fact that even though the present total water requirement of 727 cu km per year for ROI has not exceeded the fresh water availability of 817 cu km per year, yet about 10 crore people are starving for even drinking water. There are mainly two reasons for this. First, the government’s failure to make proper arrangements to ensure drinking water for all. Second, pollution, non-conservation and runoff of surface water and over exploitation of ground water for non-domestic use leading to massive depletion of ground water so much so that at many places potable water has become scarce both on the surface and under the ground even for domestic use.

The analyses made so far underscore the following points: (i) the most critical requirement of water is for domestic needs which constitutes only a very small portion of the total availability of fresh water in India and hence ought to be available to all under any monsoon conditions provided of course the authorities took proper measures; (ii) since the total requirement of fresh water for ROI is now already too close to the availability and the demand is soon going to exceed the availability there is bound to be an ever worsening shortage of water in the country except in the Brahmaputra basin; (iii) if suitable measures are not taken soon to stop pollution of surface water and over-exploitation of ground water, people will get deprived of even the domestic water supply despite all the talks of rain water harvesting; and (iv) the present crisis of domestic water in the country is not because the country does not have say 50 cu km of fresh water per year for drinking etc even under the worst monsoon conditions. Rather the shortage is because the ground water has been sucked excessively for meeting mostly the agricultural requirement which too is no less important for the nation’s survival.

Let us realise that the need for agricultural water is going to increase every year as we need more and more foodgrains etc to sustain our rapidly growing population increasing by about 1.7 crore per year. It is being said that we need to double our foodgrain production in the coming 10 years. So the real problem is how to meet our ever-increasing needs of water for agriculture which alone is now about 75 per cent of ROI’s total fresh water availability and is likely to become about 90 per cent of the total availability by the year 2025. To solve this problem, I am sure, many of the experts and officials would advise our farmers to use drip irrigation or even computer controlled irrigation techniques as in Israel but would never like to emphasise the need to put a hard brake on our burgeoning population, which is the root cause of the escalating water scarcity in India as 80 to 85 per cent of our total water requirement is a direct function of the population itself.

It is a pity while the Malthusian symptoms are knocking at the door, the nation believes that it still has enough time to check its population growth.

Old economy, new economy
by Anurag

The more things change, the more they remain the same. Depends on how one looks at it. Rejecting things merely because they are old fashioned would rule out the sun and the moon as well. Someone said that a man behind the times is apt to speak ill of them, on the premise that nothing looks well from behind. But fundamentals stay put.

Enter ICE age. Can we say goodbye to the life-giving “water”? A point to ponder. True, the Internet is making the managers change their ideas and compelling them to shift their paradigm to catch up with competition. But the core concepts of customer focused vision, leadership, innovation, quality and ethics remain as critical to the sustained success of an enterprise as ever. This marvel of technology has rather reinforced these concepts in as much as those who do not live by them would fall by the wayside, sooner than later.

Those who vacillated between the hope and the hype unleashed in the wake of the visits of Bill Gates and Jack Welch would do well to appreciate that an Internet business like any other business is about selling the goods for more than the cost incurred by the businessperson. To survive and thrive in the long run, it calls for a clear strategy, sound management and solid financial strength. The process of consolidation has already begun and not more than 5 per cent of the dotcom portals are expected to emerge as the major players. The proverbial bubble of euphoria has burst on the way.

There is no denying that the Internet is a great leveller and enabler so much so that the developing countries can take a quantum jump not only to be in league with the developed ones but also to get ahead of them. It is a wonderful tool which can enhance efficiency and productivity manifold.

Having said that, let’s do a reality check for the Indian economy. First things first. Do we have sufficient and sustainable infrastructure, both economic and social, to usher in the New Economy? Of what use is the information technology to the half-a-billion strong army of illiterates? What about telecom infrastructure? The recent strike by the telecom staff must have dealt a body blow to the business morale of the present and prospective investors.

Although a digression, it would be instructive to touch upon how the British handled a civil disobedience movement launched by the anti-fuel-tax protesters, recently. When Tony Blair, refusing to negotiate, boldly declared that policies in Britain were not made at the barricades and picket lines, and painted a frightening scenario of the impact of agitation on the national health services, the protesters had no option but to call off their protest. This, despite the dominant view in their TV talk shows that their demands were justified but not their way of protest. Margaret Thatcher too had astutely handled the miners’ strike in that winter of discontent. It is high time that we too evolved a workable mechanism to tackle the organised labour.

Aside from the information-highway holdup by the organised labour, it is the miserable state of our transport and power sector which is hampering growth of the economy. About the resistance to reforms in certain bastions, the less said the better, the official assertion to the contrary notwithstanding. Nothing ever worked as advertised, cribbed the corporates who met Mr Vajpayee in the USA, whereas the Indian-Americans cited the low calibre of Indian politicians as a major factor in dissuading them from returning to India.

Ten years through the reforms process, marked by fits and starts, power sector has gained little by way of investment or otherwise. Several prospective investors have been driven away by serious lacunae in our policies, procedures and payment mechanism. The current gap between power supply and demand will worsen as the economy gets “digitalised” progressively. Even the USA is facing power shortage in its computerised environment, revealed Jack Welch of the General Electric. He feared failure of IT revolution in India if she did not pull up socks to tackle the power crisis. There is no escape from the privatisation of power and telecom sectors.

Thus there is as much urgency to promote the super-structure of information technology as to strengthen the institutions of the Old Economy so as to synergise the twosome in the typical Indian environment. Our old, the brick and mortar economy businesses, have yet to attain the level of maturity already reached in the USA. Both Old and New economies should be looked upon as complementary rather than contradictory. And their gains should benefit a large section of society by way of education, health, better governance, greater opportunities to grow, culminating in enhanced self-worth and pride.

It is about time the government gave a serious thought to creating conditions conducive to the return of the willing NRIs to serve their motherland. Dual citizenship may be offered to the Indian-Americans. Mass exodus of IT professionals is an area of concern. How long can the tax payer helplessly watch his hardearned money being spent on higher education with little reward or return to the sons of the soil? No puppy patriotism this but the point to ponder.

On the spot
by Tavleen Singh
Games politicians play

AT a dinner party in Delhi last week I met Aman Nath. For those of you who have never heard of Neemrana let me explain that he was one of the two men responsible for restoring an old ruin in this village, halfway between Jaipur and Delhi, and transforming it into a magnificent, modern fortress hotel. It is today an important tourist attraction in north India praised often in the travel columns of international glossy magazines. Famous travellers have been known to describe it as their favourite holiday destinations. But, it may not be far long because some powerful politicians have made up their minds to try and force the government to acquire it and convert it into a museum to Prithviraj Chauhan. It is an outrage that this should be happening, let me tell you why.

When Aman and his partner, Francis Warcziag (a Frenchman who chose to become an Indian citizen) first spotted the fortress — while travelling between Jaipur and Delhi — over 10 years ago it was an abandoned ruin. The Neemrana family, who owned it, had been trying to sell it for 40 years because they could no longer afford to maintain it so they had moved to more modest accommodation in the village. Since they were unable to find a buyer for their former ancestral home the fort was left to battle on its own the ravages of time. Aman and Francis decided to buy it because they saw commercial potential in its dead beauty. Having been involved with restoration work in Rajasthan they also felt it would be a tragedy for such a beautiful fort to be allowed to crumble into ruin.

They then sought out craftsmen who had the skills to rebuild the fort in its original style and after many years of effort, and much expenditure, restored the splendour of its ruined rooms and courtyards. They installed modern plumbing and electricity and decorated its suites with beautiful, old furniture that they collected from various parts of India.

When I last met Aman, just over five years ago, the restoration had just been completed and the Neemrana Fort was beginning to receive its first guests. He took me on a guided tour through suites that had named after the sun, the moon and sometimes a state. So, there was the moon suite in shades of silver and grey, the sun suite in gold and orange and the Kerala suite which had most of its furniture and objects d’art from that state. Purists argued that you should not have a Kerala suite in a Rajasthani fortress but Aman and Francis were determined to create their own modern touches. Neemrana has since become a popular weekend retreat for Delhi’s more affluent citizens, movies get shot in its lovely courtyards, conferences of serious-minded people take place here (a round of Indo-Pakistan talks called itself the Neemrana process) as do music festivals. And, this unknown village is now definitely on the international tourist map.

Aman and Francis went on to establish a Neemrana group of hotels which has become a chain of heritage properties. This has been achieved by applying the Neemrana method to other ruined fortresses and havelis and restoring them to their former beauty. When I met Aman, that night at dinner, I asked him why they were now in danger of losing their flagship hotel.

He said that the problem began when former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar swept into Neemrana in a cavalcade of cars and high security a few months ago. Sniffer dogs and commandos with metal detectors preceded the former Prime Minister causing a huge stir in this sleepy village. When he arrived, a couple of days later, he did not visit the Neemrana Fort, the village’s most prominent landmark, but drove instead to the house of the former Ranis of Neemrana. The purpose of his sudden visit only became clear when he made statements, afterwards, deploring the fact that the former owners of the fort were no longer living in it and were confined instead to a life of relative poverty.

The Ranis were unimpressed with his efforts to give them their fort back and publicly announced that they had nothing to do with what was going on.

According to Aman what happened next was that a meeting of Rajputs was called in the village. Vast shamianas went up, loudspeakers crackled and blared and another prominent politician, Amar Singh, arrived in a helicopter to address the gathering of Rajputs. At this meeting speeches were made inciting Rajputs to unite to ‘save the honour’ of Prithviraj Chauhan. Rumours began to spread in the village about how this brave Rajput king’s remains were being desecrated in Afghanistan. “It’s an absurd story” Aman said “because gullible villagers are being led to believe that passengers in the hijacked Indian Airlines plane had seen a grave being desecrated while they waited to be rescued in Kandahar. They are supposed to have asked whose it was and been told that it was the grave of Prithviraj Chauhan”.

That it makes no sense is evident from the fact that Mohammed of Ghori, who defeated Prithviraj Chauhan in battle, is hardly likely to have taken his body to Afghanistan for burial. History does not record that he did. But, the story is being spread with much embroidery and embellishment without anyone pointing out that even if it were true it has little to do with the Neemrana Fort since it was built more than 300 years after Prithviraj Chauhan died.

But, when politicians want to stir things up they do. So, Chandra Shekhar and Amar Singh, along with lesser Rajput politicians, are busy pronouncing that they will go to any lengths to get the government to take the fort back and convert it into a museum. The tragedy is that if they really want to they can because Indians no longer have a fundamental right to property. The Constitution was amended in 1978 to take it away. The bill was passed because in those socialist times property was seen as an evil that only rich Indians enjoyed.

At about the time I met Aman Nath the former Maharaja of Dhrangadhra sent me a collection of papers on the debate in Parliament that preceded the abolition of the right to property. He had tried, and failed, through his own bill to ensure that a referendum preceded any changes in fundamental rights.

Later, came the Emergency and Mrs Gandhi suspended our fundamental rights altogether. But, to return to the right to property it is, perhaps, time that it was restored. Or unscrupulous politicians, most of whom live in government houses at taxpayers’ expense, can at any time in any part of India do what Chandra Shekhar and Amar Singh are trying to do in Neemrana. There are any number of private citizens who have lost valuable properties because the government suddenly decides that they need to acquire them. That this affects not just the rich but the poorest of the poor can be seen from the noise being made by that spokeswoman of the poor, Medha Patkar, on behalf of the tribals she claims will lose their property now that the Narmada dam is going ahead. What is happening to Aman and Francis today could happen to you or I tomorrow.

The right to write
by Pravin Kumar

THE right to author — or at least to have one’s name on the title-page of a book is fast becoming one of the inalienable rights of the most unlikely types — if not the wrong sorts of men.

Forest brigand (this seems to have become his accepted designation) Veerappan is said to be desirous of authoring his autobiography.

Hansie Cronje, disgraced South African cricket skipper, is receiving book offers from publishers and is expecting to rake in more moolah ($ 151,000 to $ 377,000) for the book — than the $ 100,000 he received from a bookie. His publicity agent has also talked about a possible Cronje book.

Nick Leeson, who brought down the venerable Barings Bank some years ago, made more money from book, film and television rights than the £ 178,000 he was earning as a banker in Singapore in 1993. Who said “Crime doesn’t pay”?

Caryl Chessman, charged with capital offences, authored bestsellers while in jail. James Earl Ray, who shot Martin Luther King, sold his memoirs to a publisher. Charles Sobhraj, international criminal, told his story, while in jail, to a couple of Australian journalists, who made a book of it.

And why should not those on the hit list of the law be allowed to tell their own tale? There is always the other side of the coin. Veerappan’s daughter says that her dad is a nice man. Cronje’s agent has been quoted as saying: “He (Cronje) is not a child molester or a murderer”. After all, Phoolan Devi, the former “bandit queen”, has shown the way to become respectable — by having a movie made of her life and by entering the Lok Sabha.

These worthies only go to prove Somerset Maugham’s dictum that every person has, in his life, the materials for at least one book. A glance at who’s who will show that it is no longer the professional writer who authors books. Almost everybody who is anybody has entries against “Pub:”, just as he has against “Edu:” and “Clubs:”.

However, it is the holder of high office who is particularly prone to the cacoethes scribendi. The oath of secrecy binds his lips while he is in office, but he is free to get things off his chest after retiring. Sir Winston Churchill wrote his memoirs under the title The Second World War. The Duke of Windsor told his side of the abdication story under the title A King’s Story.

There is a risk in keeping mum. Two of Churchill’s private secretaries came out with their own memoirs. Despite a written agreement that she would not write about her employer, Mrs Jacqueline Kennedy’s cook told a gossip columnist how her recipes helped Jackie slim down from a size 12 dress to a size 8: understandably, publishers started bidding for the cook’s cook-book.

Thus, for the high dignitary, authorship or memoirs — writing is almost obligatory for setting the record straight. In fact, the former President, Mr R.Venkataraman recommended that future Rashtrapatis write their own memoirs. Only then will people know that the President has his own tribulations despite being a virtual rubber-stamp under the Constitution. Only then will they know what it means for the Rashtrapati to be followed on his morning walks by a contingent of peons and private secretaries!

Spiritual Nuggets

Look at the folly of man, for which he suffers much pain;

He kills a living being, he deprives it of its right to live;

He cuts a goat and offers it to propitiate the goddess;

The ignorant fool knows not the wages of his sin.

Others' offspring he kills and feels no compassion.

How shall he be well, suffering anguish life after life?

He eats the flesh of beasts;

he puts them to an untimely death.

Such a man will take on the form of a ghost life after life.

Tulsi declares from the house tops:

Kill not the living;

Within all resides the beloved Lord — Listen O men and women.

—Tulsi Sahib, the saint of Hathras, Shabdavali, part I, mangal 5

O Paltu, those who slaughter animals as sacrifice at the altar of deities

Are, indeed, like an adulteress who strangles her own husband for the sake of her paramours.

—Sant Paltu Das, Kundli No 216; Gardan mare khasam ki

***

Nature is water, body foam, self, the deep,

The rumbling within as "I"

"I" is cluster of waves,

All the knowledge the "inner flower" gains is the pearl;

What each and each imbibes here becomes nectar indeed!

***

As in a pond into which measureless sand falls

Waves emanate and spread ring after ring, so too,

By raising a chain of deceptive sights

The inner self into multiple forms is within turned.

— Sree Narayana Guru, Atmopadesasathakam, 75-76

***

Within the body

Lies the essence

which the Vedas and the Puranas seek.

Within the body lies

The entire universe.

— Tulsi Sahib, Saint of Hathras (Mystics of the East series)