Why Quality of Life matters - A cricket analogy

In a recent interview, the belligerent opener Abhishek Sharma spoke about his equivalent belligerent partner Travis Head and the Australian attitude. Whereas he would always face scrutiny by his father after every performance as was the case with his other Indian colleagues in the IPL team who would always introspect and worry about match performances, he found the Aussie pretty relaxed and minding his own.

Mayhap it has to do with the country they come from. Australians playing in IPL have nothing to lose. Whereas the Indians playing in the same tourney have everything to lose. An Aussie may have a one or to bad seasons after which he may be dropped. So, what he does even if he is not playing an IPL or similar other tournaments? He goes back to Australia, plays local cricket, spends time in his farm or goes fishing in the seas, ends weekends with a visit to the pub guzzles down few pints if not gallons of beer, goes home and spends good time with his family, even if he is not wearing much. He doesn't have to but "Quality of Life" it is assured for him.

For a Tier-B or Tier-C Indian cricketer, one season of IPL is gold even if he goes for few lakhs only. A good season with 10 lakhs means it earns him 20 if not fifty lakhs in the next season. And that is serious money for a Tier B Tier C cricketer who has tries to play every tournament from a corporate, local, club and domestic to earn a respectable living which can help him earn a decent quality of life. In India earning money is very important, as "Quality of Life" has a very heavy price tag.

Self Loathing

Time and again the General caste find themselves in the firing line and are always cast upon with aspersions primarily in politico-socio discourse. None so more than the Tamil Brahmins of the South. They are time again blamed for their historical antecedents of alienating or being disrespectful to lower caste. But what has happened over the years. They have turned to Self-Loathing - I mean Hindus can go to such extent to Self-Loath themselves, alter their identify and their own culture to accommodate another culture or gaining equivalence in front of the other eyes. Can the same be expected from other religions?

There may be some bad apples in the community as it is true for all communities, but to paint one community as the perpetrator was truly a result of a targeted strategy. No wonder we have likes of Kamal Hassan turning into an atheist, Ramchandra Guha taking a left slant, likes of Mani Shankar Aiyar turning out into absolute abomination for the community. Not even a moment is spent in understanding that how one minority community which has population share in single digits can be sole responsible. 

Tamil Brahmins always found a favor with the ruling class be it pre-British during British rule or even after the colonial times, which many attribute to the mastery of scriptures and being close to the political-economic matters of the rulers. The founders of progressive movement in Madras state which openly derided Tamil Brahmins, where themselves found out of favor from the British in matters of state and had to assert themselves on a political plank more so with India's independence looking imminent. And hence started the vilification on whom them could pin all the blame supported by the caste-based domination and exploitation angle theory which had already become strong in the social ecosystem.

What is Hindutva

As per Supreme court judgement of 1995 , Hinduism or Hindutva is same and defined as a way of life and associated with India's cultural ethos and not a narrow religious phenomena. Hence the use of Hindutva or Hinduism in election speeches does not construe any mal intent. On the country no one can call one as a Hindu state e.g. in Manohar Joshincase of 1995

The China Taiwan Conundrum

Again, one has to go back to the great LKY to understand the Chinese promised dream of unifying Taiwan.  LKY states that it was clear in the Tehran conference of 1943 when Kuomintang supreme Chiang Kai Shek had shown his intent to eventually take back Formosa into China in the post war era firmly enshrining China and Taiwan's shared destiny under the Republic of China. However, it was the difference in the political thought and the Cold War dynamics which led to the present resentment in Taiwan and with the US against Chinese overtures.

China is destined and will eventually unify Taiwan with it. The time period can't be stated as China does not seem to be in mood for an aggressive operation. China Taiwan have a thriving trade relation and people movement which still connects them culturally. As long as Taiwan has the principle of no-independence (alongside no-reunification, no-surrender) it can be rest assured that China will stay put. If tomorrow a regime comes and declared independence, then it be said definitely that the status quo will change and China will be compelled to take forceful action. This leads to the second point, that will China be ready to take a forceful action against 95 % Han populated state, its own. In the past it quelled rebellion in Han mainland and used action on Han people as well, but a heavy military action in Taiwan with a modern - developed - world class modern outlook society which is interlinked with the world in material and culture may not bode well with Han majority in Mainland China. In this scenario even if US will come into action, it has to adopt kinetic force without any land-based operation. And here again it will be thrust against Chinese warfare prowess. And this is where LKY states that even if China has setbacks in initial wave of attacks from US, it will respond harder in the subsequent waves and will be more resolute in taking Taiwan by full force even with a hard land-based action.

So, it's a long wait for China which it will be willing to sit out!

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Dhurandhar

I went to watch the movie after much hype induced due to its huge positive feedback but also supplemented more by the negative ones. I had a hunch that this movie will be different as I found the Director's last movie being a Genre redefining stylized Military movie riding on some techno thumping soundtrack. If was a mix and mash of pop Military action. Dhurandhar got dissolved over a weeks' time in the membranes. It evoked a recall value even though there was a thought pulling me aside and telling me it was just an ok movie. But what are the barometers which define it as ok. 

The comparison was with earlier movies produced by the industry (YRF movies) which were weak contextualized copies or filtered down versions of the Western stylized spy movies like James Bond. They also had their own audience who were ok with its universal good vs bad conflict without thinking much even when it has storylines where two arch nemesis agencies RAW and ISI collaborated to defeat a bigger enemy who was essentially a rogue agent who had gone astray. It would have still been an ok movie if it had followed the same trope, along with the real-life incidents it interspersed with. But it went bit different. 

Dhurandhar infused certain rawness and ruggedness associated with a life of a spy trying to make his way through the animal kingdom of the Underworld - Terror nexus. It showed that you can't reach to the top without actually starting right at the bottom of the pecking order, clawing your way up by intensely faking loyalty and still might get defeated or found out on the way. Espionage is a process, sowing oneself deep in the enemy network is a painstaking effort where confidence to endure is tested at each stage. As the older spook tells Hamza " I had to wait tables and wash dishes for 6 odd years and then slowly built a network". A covert operation is probable only if the land is ploughed and ready for seeds to be sown. Hamza got sown in the network only because Alam had ploughed the land for years to make it ready and yet it was not easy for the former at first go. It also showed the nexus and gulf between the hardened but lowly crime gangs of Lyari and politicians in the larger Karachi landscape. Even an underworld gang lord like Rehman or Uzair had to tow in line with low life political intermediary like Jameel.  Even if the former had to reach right at the top (read Bhutto-Zardari), likes of Jameel fiercely guarded those pathways. And when Rehman tried to trespass, it invited unscrupulousness of Jameel who bought in Rehman Choudhary, the bad ass cop to defang Rehman. The hardcore and scornful Cop is the only one who seems to be aligned with the audience in it common purpose to see the enemy defeated, in this case it being the Rehman/Uzair gangs of Lyari.  But the cop is also painted as a person of mixed intention when it becomes apparent that his allegiances are also tied to one in the top who is yet to be names. Within the nexus you have the ideologically bent hard core religious extremist led by the wily ISI Major Iqbal. It shows that how the state or non-state of Pakistan decentralizes powers in the hand of deranged actors like Iqbal who will go to any means close the loop between the jihadi terrorist and the underworld to carry out violent terror attacks. The torture scene of a spy may have been hard for the eyes, but it symbolized the visceral hate against India that is enmeshed in the minds of certain agencies and groups across the border. The assembly of the entire Terror-Underworld gang including the financers Khannani brothers, the religious extremists during the 26/11 scene where Hamza finds himself unwittingly in middles of the "feast of the Jackals", triggered a fire of vengeance which had been slowly building as per plan till now. The Politician's daughter who Hamza courts becomes an innocent pawn in the act of retribution indicating how even people who have nothing to do with crime get drawn into the schemes unknowingly.

It almost fell like the character of Ajay Sanyal was Ajit Doval by exterior but actually Aditya Dhar by intention. It was the Director's way of telling how things should have played out even if there might be iota of truth in the Black Ops Spy training as mentioned in few scenes of the movie and backstory of Hamza which is waiting to be unraveled. The pain and agony of Sanyal is the Director's reaction as much as it is the audience emotions as well. One could see the pattern in the recent YRY spy verse (hate the aping, Marvel Universe!!), where movies barring Pathan - which was successful more due to the charisma of the comeback start SRK - none of the movies have worked out well. It also signifies the changing mindset of the audience who are much more exposed to the current affairs thanks to X, Facebook and Instagram, feel disconnected from the make-believe world which the earlier spy movies propagated. In the past there were movies like the well-made "D Day", relatively successful "Baby" & Phantom which ventured into more real and hard-hitting spy genre, but those were still the early days, and the likes of "Tiger" franchise made hay.  These are the times where Pakistan and its delusional narrative is laid bare. Its policy of state sponsored terrorism to counter India seems very visible under the thin linen of Terror-denial which Pakistani establishment again and again voices out. Hence audience is more receptive of a narrative where calling a spade a spade makes more sense rather than being wishful and aspirational about harmony. 

Dhurandhar has aptly packaged this narrative well by incorporating the composite elements which create the mindset of the terror sympathizers along with dollops of fiction , a bevy of smart hard-hitting minor characters who have a screen presence of their own , aspects of Shakespearean betrayal with an uplifting and reverberating music which make alive each and every scene and character keeping the tempo of the movie obstacle free . And finally, the unrequired hate for India in the key negative characters which makes the purpose of likes of Hamza, Sanyal and Alam not only theirs but also of each Indian, who are ready to wreck spite with extreme spite which will be played in the upcoming part.

how to think like a proxy investor

 

The dilemma in a post-modernist world

It has always been identity of nations which have been driving them. The US always looks to itself as upholder of moral ethics associated with libertarian values and democracy. Even nations like India have a policy of being restrained and non-aligned as much as possible in the world conflicts. 

But today we are living in a hyper interconnected world not only in terms of economic interdependence but also on the social platform between individuals across the world. And this is something the nations who rules the roost till now constantly undermine.

For example, US was always tied in its identity of being the guiding light upholder of democratic values which is as per the Constructivism playbook. It was able to plant a discourse, using the Post structuralism school of thought, to the effect of us vs them in fight against terrorism or during the Iraq war. It had relatively successful in this moral framing up until the last decade where it waged wars in Libya, Syria albeit with a more covert method or Smart Wars as coined by Obama. But the same framing is not working in today's time.

In Ukraine war it finds it itself against odds with Russia which it has labeled as them and fits its moral framing. But in the same frame it also has likes of India which is dependent on Russian oil and somehow don't fit the us/them moral framing of the United States. The ensuing tarrif wars has put US in loggerheads with the Global south collectively which has nations who call themselves ally of the US and gain the framing goes wrong here. 

So, the post modernistic world is causing lot of problems to constructivist led framing of the identify and associated binary of nations especially the US. The world is much more entangled with deep network of economic and social webs which can't be unwrapped into different boxes.