My heart feels heavy!

The pain on my back was a bother, prompted me to visit an orthopaedic in my neighbourhood.  As I came out, I saw these two children studying in the streetlamp sitting on the pavement. The nearby garbage dump failed to dissuade the children in their fight to get educated.

Sonali Sau,9, and Rupali Sau, 6, are sisters of lesser gods. Her grandmother is seated nearby as I accompanied my wife, reached her, and sought permission to interact with the kids. The old lady readily agrees. Sonali is a student in Murlidhar school, a walkable distance near Gariahat and is in Class 3. The younger one is in class 1. Covid has rendered her school shut down like all the other educational institutions in the State.

There is one difference, though, most students from affluent families have taken to online classes. The family of these kids don’t even own an electric bulb, let alone a computer or a laptop or an internet connection to top it. An elitist Tea boutique, right opposite their ‘Study Centre’ stands in sharp contrast to the two distinctively different India despite the seven decades plus independence. The indifference of the higher gods and goddesses, a Dakait Kali Bari by their side and a multi-god temple on the opposite pavement seems ironic.

As I engage with the children, they are more cheerful than many I have encountered during the last few days. They are more cheerful than me. The elder sister has taken it upon herself to teach her younger sibling as she wipes the slate and writes the Bengali alphabets, Ka, Kha, Ga, for the small one to repeat. Sonali, the elder one, confidently writes with a pencil in her notebook, frequently keeping an eye on the progress of her little sister, mildly rebuking her for her mistakes.

Cars zoom by, some of them costing nearly a crore. Such a sum could see a hundred children such as Sonali or Rupali become well educated, useful to themselves, their families and our nation.

The grandmother used to sell corns and then switched over to making rotis. Covid has stolen all opportunities, and she is hoping for the lockdown to be over soon. The impact of Covid and the resultant lockdown must be seen to be believed. Rains often cause more hardship to their dwelling, on the pavement with a plastic canopy.

Thankfully, Kolkata seems safe, unlike several parts of India, where the kids’ safety could be a bother. Neither their caste could come in the way of their living.

The government announces grandiose plans, often dreams, largely for those who can afford and are affluent. I asked the child if she would like to have anything. She replied, “Please bring a notebook and a colouring book when you visit next time.” Surely, she has dreams and colourful ones at that.

My eyes were moist, as I promise them to return soon.

Sampath Kumar

Intrépide Voix

A colonial perception!

The growth of the Indian pharmaceutical industry has been a cause of heartburn for the west, which considers itself as the primary source of technologies and products. The development of vaccines against Covid 19 within four months of their commencement is a laudable effort, which must make every Indian proud. We have now four vaccines, and thirteen more are soon to be introduced after they complete the test protocols.

The Serum Institute of India collaborated with AstraZeneca to produce Covishield, the quality strictly vetted by the overseas partner. Covaxin, the second vax, was indigenous. If the second vax was prematurely introduced, I guess the scientists must’ve weighed the consequences before their administration to the public.

I must digress a bit on the education sector abroad. Despite the quality of education getting better in India, it still lacks the number of seats. The research and later job opportunities are still better abroad.

Most Universities commence their courses in August, and the students must begin to depart now. At this juncture, there is a serious impediment. Covaxin is yet to get a clearance abroad. Covishield also has been excluded from the EU vax list, which is now limited to Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca-Oxford, Vaxzervria and Johnson & Johnson. The refusal to recognize Indian vax is an act of highhandedness of the European Union and the other countries.

Indian government must move speedily, lest the students miss their year, many after paying their hefty fees. A few countries may permit entry, subject to quarantine at their own cost, at hotels decided by the authorities, costing lakhs of rupees. In urgent need to travel, businesspeople also face the same problem, which is bound to tell on the economy.

India is needed for quad, for IT, to resonate with their political views, but when it comes to brass tacks, due respect must be accorded, rather than treating it as a slave colony.

Sampath Kumar

Intrépide Voix

Give it back with force!

Only yesterday, the Union Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh, talked of improved conditions on the Indo-Pak border and the lessening instances of militant attacks. West Asia nudges India and Pakistan to smoke the peace pipe, as unpublished talks are on with the recalcitrant neighbour. For a section of the Pakistan army and politicians,’ peace with India is anathema. A peace will rob them of huge personal benefits and electoral gains. The Kashmiri Gupkar alliance giving an overall positive rating of their meeting with the PM, has unruffled the feathers of Pakistani hawks. The current peace could have been a reason for the Pak drone attacks on Jammu Air Force Station.

The attack cannot be dismissed as a lone wolf act and must be taken in all seriousness. The style of warfare has changed, bioweapons and drones leading any conventional ones. An aircraft carrier is a sitting duck unless accompanied by a flotilla of warships. The same is the fate of air force stations and hangars which are vulnerable to destruction, as seen in the Arab Israeli war. The drones are increasingly becoming lethal with phenomenal firepower and accuracy. The drones missed the chopper hangar by a few meters.

India must take down the culprits and their camps without wasting time on long bureaucratic meetings. Fear is the key to deterrence, a reason that we could get Pakistan to release the Indian Pilot Abhinandan Vardhaman, who flew into Pak held territories to respond to the Pakistani attacks on Pulwama.

There is churning in Pakistan, smarting under the retention in the FATF (the global money laundering and terror funding watchdog) grey list for its terror funding and letting a few key terror suspects still free.

Our overtures seem to have no meaning for the terror mongering Pakistan, which will not rest until their dreams of a full annexation of Kashmir is not fulfilled.  For once, India must end the 74-year-old malignant tumour with finality. Winco Abhi must be itching to go into Pakistan. He deserves a chance!

Jai Hind

Sampath Kumar

Intrépide Voix

Sunday Musings – the shoe story!

My wife’s friend presented her with a smartwatch. She proudly displayed logging 11500 steps yesterday. It was an insult not only to me but to the entire male gender. So I decided to break her record and quietly sneaked out of bed early in the morning, hurrying with my usual chores of filling the birdfeed jars. I stepped out, shutting the door silently behind me. Today, I shall prove it, ‘Hum Kisise Kam Nahi,’ I’m lesser than no one.

I must explain the walking shoe part a bit before moving on to the post; an attractive, top-of-the-line walking shoe pair, in fluorescent green colour that never fails to miss anyone’s attention. The shoe was a gift from my son, bought from abroad, I guess a decade ago or longer.

Lake is emptier than in a characteristic pre-Covid Sunday when the good morning and the Ram-Ram wishes would stretch the walking time. The roads inside were now empty, the splendour of the monsoon, brightening and polishing every leaf and every grass greener than ever. Every few seconds, I open the mobile phone (with difficulty, of course, as the face recognition App doesn’t work with my mask). The steps-meter seems to be moving slow despite my walking faster, but I doggedly hold on.

I’m not a great music guy, lesser so into rap music, but the drumbeat is unmissable, following me with my every step. I hurriedly open my phone, with the usual rigmarole. But, no, there is no change in the caller tune, nor any music on from the useless WhatsApp videos. Instead, the sound gets louder as I walk on with people looking at my pair of shoes, I guess, enviously.

I almost trip over as I stop abruptly and watch at my feet. To the horror of horrors, the entire sole has nearly come off. The shoes have shown their ageing, its colourful parts below the soles periodically wanting to part with the uppers. Much to the chagrin of my wife and children, I stuck the parts back with a new quick fix tube.  I guess I have conducted a dozen such cosmetic surgeries until now. But the ripping of the entire sole was unthinkable.

I cannot suggest that my wife send the shoes to a repair shop unless I decide to shift to an ashram. I must discard it, but there is a more severe problem: I must reach home. I’m never short of ideas as I take out a spare facemask which I carry, for reasons I never know, but obediently following my better half’s dictum. I tie the mask to hold the sole and start limping towards the exit. The rap music follows me. The mask vehemently protested, ‘this was not assigned job,’ and struck work.

I sit on a bench, assessing a situation. I have given leeway and victory to my wife. Yet, the shoe lay in front of me, its tongue out, same as the passing of my pet a few years ago. These were my companion worldwide, at many forests, taking my load loyally with all the forbearance of a nobility. Here, it lay, dead and had to be consigned to the elements, which I must do with a heavy heart.

I WhatsApp the image to my family, and soon the diatribe starts, as expected, both from my wife and my daughter living abroad. “You have many shoes, but you will walk only with this despite our saying so.” The timing was not the best to engage in an argument. Later I will try to reason and explain my emotional attachment to the gentle pair.

I leave them in the dustbin and walk barefoot to the gate. People were looking at my feet with interest. My wife, and her morning walk friends, the T.K. couple, wait to pick me up and drop me home.

Seated, I open the App to see that I have logged 5500 steps, the last 200 or so without my shoes but shorter than my wife’s 11500!

R.I.P., my companion for a decade or more!

Sampath Kumar

Intrépide Voix

Delhi 2024!

The recently concluded West Bengal State Assembly elections have boosted Mamata Banerjee’s political fortunes. She has not only burst the dreams of the BJP of winning ‘at least’ 200 seats but has further consolidated her position. A reverse flow has begun, defectors from her AITC returning from the BJP, some head shaved, and some sanitized as an atonement of their sins of joining the BJP party.

Something else is churning in Bengal, a concerted attempt by her party and sympathizers to project Didi as the sure-shot PM for 2024. As usual, a Bengali pride meshes with the promotion, anyone doubting it consigned to the coals. Why not Mamata as a PM? She can, and she must. In anticipation, I-Pac has been retained until 2026, not only to elevate Mamata Banerjee as the PM but ensuring TMC’s continued stranglehold on the governance of West Bengal in the 2026 elections.

Close political observers can see a rebranding exercise on a mellower, Didi, Abhishek Banerjee, closer to Didi as her deputy than ever.  The trademark kurta-pyjama replaced with shirt pants as resonating common people. Didi also started giving bytes on burning national issues, like the restoration of Art.370, even as the PM-Kashmir meeting was on in Delhi yesterday.

The All-India Trinamool Congress is an ‘All India’ party only in namesake, its national status almost revoked in 2019, benevolently retained by the then election commission. Mamata has begun her national conquest by re-inducting Mukul Roy and making him in charge of Tripura, the closest counterpart of Bengal in culture, habits, and language. However, these are cosmetic and more daring political manoeuvres needed to project Mamata as a truly PM material.

Five states would be having their Assembly elections in early 2022, Goa, Manipur, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and Uttarakhand. These work out to a total of 690 seats up for grabs. The Himachal and Gujarat elections are due between October 22 and December 22, respectively, with an additional 68 and 182 seats. AITC must contest at least 10 per cent of these seats to check the mood of the people from other parts of India. Even if she does not win, the extent of votes polled will give an idea of the possibility of AITC’s role as a national party and Mamata as a national leader.

Any reasonable win will catapult Mamata’s elevation as the primary face of an opposition coalition. If her party loses badly, she will have to focus on Bengal and finish the unfinished agenda of investments, industrialization, and development. Prominent and well-connected leaders like Yashwant Sinha could become TMC’s State poll coordinators, willing to ride high on winning the polls and ready to take the onus on defeat and do the needful.

A Bengali as the PM of India could indeed be the dream of not only the Nobel laureates and the Oxford-Cambridge-Stanford clan but crores of ordinary Bengalis as well.

Sampath Kumar

Intrépide Voix

North Bengal is an integral part of West Bengal.

The State of West Bengal is bounded to the north by the state of Sikkim and the country of Bhutan, to the northeast by the state of Assam, to the east by the country of Bangladesh, to the south by the Bay of Bengal, to the southwest by the state of Odisha, to the west by the states of Jharkhand and Bihar, and the northwest by the country of Nepal.

West Bengal, therefore, assumes great importance from the point of national security. Unlike in the highly secured Indian borders with Pakistan, its borders with Bangladesh are still fluid, helping migrants to crisscross with ease.

Be these as they may, I thought of sharing my views about North Bengal, including the Darjeeling district. Darjeeling borders Sikkim, which again has a border with China. The highway from India to its state of Sikkim passes through the Darjeeling District. The original inhabitants of the Darjeeling Hills Lepchas, Limbu, Rai. Sherpa, Bhutia, Tamang, Gurung, Magar, Newar, Sunuwar, Yakkha, Thami, Chettri, Bahun, Kami, Damaitec and Tibetans, the last who arrived as refugees in the 50s. The hill culture is distinct and varies from the plains, populated by Bengalis, Biharis, Gorkhas, Marwaris and tribes from the Chotanagpur region and Santhal Parganas.

Successive governments have disregarded the development of Darjeeling and were wary of the Gurkhas, who, fed up with the step-motherly attitude, demanded a separate state for themselves. Gorkhaland, thus became a permanent feature, planting dreams in the minds of the youth. The plan worked perfectly for our recalcitrant neighbour China, which always disputed the annexation of Sikkim into the Indian Union. A major disturbance in Darjeeling against the Indian government could have led to Chinese attempts to usurp Sikkim, thus challenging the Indian integrity and security.

To benefit from the five Assembly seats and a Parliament seat, every party, particularly a former MP from BJP, promised to consider an independent statehood for Darjeeling. Mamata stepped in as the CM and tried to buy peace with the hill people. There was one hurdle, an over-ambitious Bimal Gurung, who tried to challenge the might of Mamata, the latter responding with a combination of diplomacy and the rule of law. Bimal Gurung went absconding. Darjeeling people also saw the hollowness of BJP’s promises of a Darjeeling State and decided to shun the national party to side with Mamata’s AITC. Mamata recently withdrew 72 criminal cases, including serious murder charges, against Bimal Gurung, though I despise such ideas of blanket clemencies. All seemed to be well in the hills once again.

The Bengal BJP, bereft of new ideas after the recent poll debacle, is scared to lose North Bengal their fortress and has started giving bytes through two of their MPs of a separate North Bengal, which was not in their poll manifesto at all. In any case, without ceding Darjeeling District from W. Bengal, a separate North Bengal cannot be created. Unless any state government’s complicity in promoting any anti-national activity causing severe unrest is noticed in the hills, the idea of a separate N. Bengal is fraught with dangers that might cause the end of any BJP presence in West Bengal.

It may be an amateurish plan to teach Mamata a lesson, which cannot be done and should not be attempted by such silly ploys, other than through a ballot box.

Sampath Kumar

Intrépide Voix

Rashtra Mancha!

As the All-India Trinamool Congress extended the retainership of I-CAP until 2026, as the poll strategist organization, Prashant Kishor quietly commenced his plan for a larger role for Mamata Banerjee, a PM face of the opposition in 2024. The appointment of the former BJP minister Yashwant Sinha as the Vice-President of the AITC may not have taken place without a nudge from Prashant Kishor.

I guess the resignation of Dinesh Trivedi from AITC has cost the party dearly from the perspective of national coordination. Neither Derek O’Brien nor Mahua Maitra matches the suave Trivedi, who had developed good relations with all leaders across parties. Yashwant Sinha comes in timely and handy to whet the appetite of a long outstanding Bengali Prime Minister dream.

Therefore, it was not surprising that Sinha and Kishor started lobbying with the Maratha strongman and the leader of the NCP Sharad Pawar, coaxing him to convene a meeting of the opposition leaders at his residence. It was designed as a non-BJP and non-Congress assembly of parties.  The new outfit, Rashtra Mancha, met at Pawar’s place today to discuss the vaccine-related problems, ever-increasing fuel prices and unemployment in the country. If these were the official agenda, the undeclared, unofficial, and the only plan was to oust Modi and BJP in 2024.

If the meeting was attended by a few party representatives from the AITC, NCP, RJD, AAP, SP and the National Conference, it was conspicuous by the Congress party’s absence. Pawar had selectively invited Kapil Sibal, Vivek Tankha and Manish Tiwari of the Congress, who did not attend.

A mere coalition of parties ideologically separated cannot ally on a simple issue to oust Modi alone. Yashwant Sinha, a former bureaucrat and a union minister and Kishor a perfect goalie, could have done a lot better preparing an MCP, minimum common program, besides removing the Modi programme.

I guess the Rashtra Mancha could be a non-starter, despite buoyed by the Mamata’s win in Bengal. The Gandhi Congress will never permit anyone near the PM chair, which they think is destined by Gods to their one and only Rahul. Though weak, the Congress garnered 19.5% of the votes against BJP’s 37.4%, but the Congress had also increased their tally of 10,69,35,942 (2014) by 1,25,58,010 votes in 2019. They are still a bigger factor with their alliances in many states and thus cannot be dismissed so easily.

The story could be different if Sonia and Rahul decide to step aside to save their party from the present comatose state. Despite all the good intentions of Sinha and Kishor, Mamata could face the real challenge from within the Mancha itself, Pawar being the first threat to her PM ambitions. The wily Mulayam backstabbing Mamata during the presidential elections forsaking Pranab Mukherjee under the pressure of the UPA chief, Sonia Gandhi and somersaulting to vote in favour of the NDA proposed UAPA bill are legendary and history.

If invited to a dinner, one can overeat, provided a bottle of digestive is ready in hand.

Sampath Kumar

Intrépide Voix

In Pic: PM Modi and Mulayam Singh Yadav

Homecoming!

The gossip mills are agog with Mukul Roy returning to the Trinamool Congress today. I had way back in 2017 stated that he could be a Trojan Horse, planted by an astute politician, Mamata Banerjee, to disturb and destroy the BJP plans of setting foot in West Bengal. The TMC would be meeting today to discuss the admittance of the defectors, who deserted the party to join the BJP before the elections.

Mukul may not come alone at the cost of losing his seat in the legislative assembly but could cause a defection of a third of the newly-elected BJP MLAs to steer clear of the draconian anti-defection laws.

One thing that has become apparent is that many of the defectors who won the elections in the BJP Party symbol do not subscribe to the new party’s ideologies. Mamata would be destroying her political foes, I guess, Mukul included if he was not sent into the BJP by Mamata herself.

The invincibility shield of Modi seems to be wearing out.

Sampath Kumar

Need, an urgent overhaul!

I posted two days ago saying that the ‘Trojan horses are snaring.’ Trojan, I had meant by the defectors from the TMC, now in the BJP, hoping to continue their powerplay.

The West Bengal State BJP President had convened a meeting yesterday to introspect the dissatisfactory poll results, much lesser than the 200 seats they had earlier hoped. The meeting was announced quite a while ago.

Suvendu Adhikari chose the same day to fly to Delhi and meet the Prime Minister and the Home Minister, the visit of which was unknown to the State leadership. This single act is enough to prove that all is not well within the State BJP party and its equations with the Centre. Suvendu seems to have apprised the Central leaders of corruption in the State BJP and sidelining leaders like Mukul Roy. Roy had strategized the LS 2019 win and engineered the switch over many TMC leaders into the BJP fold. The Prime Minister meeting the State leader assumes great significance and will soon cast its influence on the State BJP party.

The murmurs of money-for-seat from the contestants have been getting louder, not only against the State BJP President but also the State Minder from the Centre, though these are mere allegations until proven. I had also written much before the elections that in the event of a TMC victory, the troubles would only begin for Didi’s party, where their members will constantly be under a watch.

I am certain that unless the types of Dilip Ghosh, Arjun Singh are not reined in, the Central minder replaced, the BJP party may not grow further in West Bengal. The BJP must acquire a responsible and decent face to go on from here to prepare for 2024 against a buoyed Mamata di.

Sampath Kumar

Intrépide Voix

Could Covid been managed better?

A section of my Facebook acquaintances is always out with their swords to sever my head whenever I remotely mention PM Modi’s name in any critical terms. Most are parochial, who believe that India got its independence on 26th May 2014, the day Modi Ji became the PM. They also believe that India will once again be enslaved by colonial masters if Modi steppes aside. I have responded by speedily removing such people from my list, but a few remain in the sleeper cells.

While discussing Covid management, the most striking feature is the death numbers in India, a few less than 350000.  I am sure, the moment I write this bar, pie charts and graphs will be thrown at my wall, comparing the figures from the US to the remotest Tristan da Cunha islands. Indian death figures, alleged to be grossly underreported, are a reality that cannot be brushed under the carpet.

The first question is, why did the government not take Covid seriously and let loads of fliers arrive in the country, until the day of the lockdown, in a misplaced Maitri-Bhavana, mother’s concern? Most countries barred flights and in time to limit the spread of the pandemic.

The second question is, could Covid been better managed in India? The opposition parties carried their bitter differences with Modi’s BJP, afraid he would win the Covid battle and opposed most moves by the government. Sadly, they do so to this day.

We may gush at being one of the few countries to make the vaccines but prematurely exported more than 66 million doses to various countries. In what became known as vaccine diplomacy, to prove that we are as dependable as China, distributing their Sinovac to their favoured nations. Could the 66 million exported vaccines prevented a few thousand deaths in India or slowed the spread?

We prematurely announced a victory over ‘Covid-asura,’ the nation immediately discarding the masks and social distancing. Avoidable religious gatherings and political rallies became super spreaders. A few went berserk planting stories that all those who raise fingers at Kumbh or Modi are anti-Nationals.

Everything related to the treatment went short of demand, which is not strange, as there was a vicious second phase, more virulent and speedily spreading. But beds, oxygen, Remdesivir, Tocilizumab all were available only at exorbitant prices in the black market. Political support was for a cost. The government failed to foresee the shortage of oxygen or control the lifesaving drugs and stepped in very late.

The vaccine rollout started free at the government hospitals and Rs.250 by Private hospitals. Later the prices were 3-tiered; free for the poor, Rs400 for the States and Rs.800 for the private hospitals. Private hospitals charged as much as Rs.1500/- per shot. A mafia created a scare of shortage. The scenario was no different from the exchange of old currency, post demonetization when one had to struggle, brave long queues and denials at the vaccination centres as vaccines did not exist.

The States started protesting and were given a free hand to procure vaccines from wherever. The States met a stonewall when the manufacturers insisted that they would not supply to the States and deal only with the Centre. The States were at the mercy of the Centre, which faced an acute shortage of vaccines, started issuing advisories over the extension of the second shot, sometimes 4 weeks, then 6 to 8 weeks and later 12 weeks of the first shot. At the same time, the original manufacturer maintained that the second dose is given best after 4 weeks after the first dose.

After three weeks of disgusting delay the scenario today is that many are waiting, after registering in the Co-win app, without getting a slot. The prescribed vaccination centres have been throwing their hands up, stating they have no vaccines. Those who have had the first dose of a particular vaccine not getting the same and running from post to pillar.

Therefore, the PM went on the air today, a wee bit mellowed, and I feel scared of the fallout of Covid, which could singe his government. The address was Modi’s 9th  on vaccines.

The key takeaways are:

1.Central to procure 75% of the vaccines produced in India

2.An empowered group formed with ministers with MHA as the nodal ministry for the distribution and supply chain of the vaccines

3.Private hospitals free to buy 25% of the vaccines

4.Free vaccines from Centre to the States from 21st June

5.Free jabs for 18-44 age group at Government hospitals

6.Free ration extended

7.Free Ration for the poor till Diwali (November)

8.Vax profits capped at Rs. 150/- (Does anyone know what the vaccines cost the manufacturers?)

Please don’t waste time throwing statistics at me or calling me names. I love India and Modi as much as you do. Prove to me that the death figures of 350000 are false. Much of the pain could be an inept team, religion and politics sneaking a peek in everything government.

Please move aside Mr. Prime Minister and show the face of your Health Minister for once!

Jai Hind!

Sampath Kumar

Intrépide Voix