CAN CRICKET CAUSE A COMPUTER CRISIS? - INSIGHT INDIA

Many of today's well-known Indian cricket players came up the hard way. By breaking neighborhood windows. Parents defended their right to do so against all comers, including the ill and elderly. Those parents' only concern was the physical well-being of their children.

With the new Indian Premier League's auction buying up cricket players for up to 1.5 million dollars, the situation has changed dramatically. Parents - who hope to float in the moolah - are encouraging every little twerp (who needs his mother to pull up his white cricket trousers) to go out and crack the ball. And windows.

What does this trend mean for India's future? Will it be Cricket! Cricket! all the way? Will we in the years ahead have to outsource software jobs to America? Very sad. A sure way to economic suicide - as Americans are slowly learning today.
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CRAZY GLOBALIZATION - INSIGHT INDIA

Imagine a country where any time mobs start running on the streets. And the stoning and burning begins. For any reason. Like sharing water resources with a neighbor state in the same country. Or antipathy to migrants from other parts of the country. Imagine a country where no political party feels any guilt about going on a rampage in towns and destroying public and private property and hurting people. Imagine that country building more and more glass malls and offices. Perfect targets for violence.

That's globalizing India today. And if that's not crazy, what is? (For more India Realities stories see www.myspace.com/india_realities & www.ibibo.com/wahpmji)

FACTS ABOUT INDIAN FIGURES

Statistics can often give a glimpse of the true story, provided figures are not dreamt up. Indian literacy figures tend to include those who can scratch their name on a black board. The poverty line should be held at the waist; but Indian statistics tends to hold it at ankle level. The result is that utterly poor families earning two dollars a day are above the poverty line.

But figures told facts on the day newspapers bugled that 4 Indians were among the top ten Forbes billionaires. Inside pages of the same papers said India had more polio cases now than any other country...and infant mortality had risen above the levels of even poorer countries like Bangladesh.

Wealthy Indians (who don't have to worry about polio or infant mortality) are celebrating non-stop, pretending they are not here but in the West.
(For more INDIA REALITIES stories see www.myspace.com/india_realities and www.ibibo.com/wahPmji)

ADVANCED TRAFFIC SYSTEMS IN INDIA INC. - INSIGHT INDIA

As globalization progresses traffic on Indian roads operates on the principle of optimal use of minimal space. In general the idea, you can say, is that in space a rat can get through a cat must try to.
So...if there's space a pedestrian can barely squeeze through, that's where a two-wheeler must try to shoot through. If there's space enough for a two-wheeler to go through, that's where an autorickshaw must try to swerve through. If there's space enough for an autorickshaw to go through, that's where a car must try to race through. If there's space enough for a car to go through, that's where bigger public transport and heavy vehicles must try to bulldoze through. On Indian roads you see daredeviltry at its peak.
Of course, accidents are inevitable due to such optimal utilization of space. In a country rising on the wings of globalization, that doesn't really matter.

(More INDIA INSIGHT stories at www.myspace.com/india_realities)

KICKING IT UP ABROAD - INSIGHT INDIA

A recent news report spotlighted the affluence of Indians in Santa Clara county, Silicon Valley. I remembered 1998. IT boom time! The Bay Area atmosphere bubbled like champagne. If you saw a group of excited Indians huddled over latte and muffins in a Starbucks they could be talking of a start-up. Or buy-out rumours. A 'bought-out' young man in his early thirties laughed and told me: 'Here, Indian millionaires are as common as dandruff!' This is great! I thought.

But soon I noticed that propensities hadn't changed. Like the craving to show-off among each other. An upwardly mobile Bay Indian had to buy a BMW. And then a mansion on an upscale hillside. And proclaim both acquisitions to friend and foe.

Another thing I noted was the tendency to gravitate into 'back home' affinity groups. An Andhra group. A Maharashtrian group. And so on.

But the next propensity was even more telling. At the Naz, a Hindi movie house, the last show crowd of Indians, Pakistanis etc. left the place a junkyard of paper glasses, wrappers and pop-corn bags. What was unfair was that the same people wouldn't leave a bit of litter at the 26-theatre Century 26 showing Western movies. Why not? Simply, because they would not be allowed to get away with it.

The news report mentions an Indian entrepreneur's comment that Indians flourish in the U.S. not just because of education, but because the diversity of India's people prepared them better for dealing with America's diversity. I wonder if that is blatant obfuscation or the man has forgotten home - the endless battles that go on over water, caste, religion, language and you-name-it. (For more INDIA REALITIES stories see www.myspace.com/india_realities)

THE FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS AND UNCARING - INSIGHT INDIA

Divali, the Festival of Lights, is India's most spectacular celebrations. Though it's not openly admitted, the day after it's over should be called the Festival of Divali Debris. That's when concerned citizens complain in Letters columns of newspapers about the failure of local authorities in clearing the fireworks litter spread in public places. This year a major news channel went one better. They reported directly from Delhi streets, showed us piles of Divali litter, and slammed the civic authorities.

Now note the difference. Last year on July 4th, America's Independence Day, I was in a town in the U.S. The dawn sky sparkled with the lights and color of fireworks. But there were no explosions of crackers. I went for a jog and saw a family preparing for fireworks on the road. They were placing orange traffic cones to mark an area (that would not obstruct traffic) near their side of the pavement. An hour later I returned. The cones were gone. No one was around. I looked around eagerly for the debris of fireworks. Strangely, I couldn't find the tiniest scrap. The family had cleaned up the road when they finished. Woo! Unbelievable!

Obviously, there is a world of difference between citizens who only complain and citizens who care. (For more INDIA REALITIES stories see www.myspace.com/india_realities)

BANGALORE BANISHES BIRDS - INSIGHT INDIA

In Juhu, Bombay, in '85, we woke up to the merry racket of a thousand sparrows in a bushy tree. Bulbuls fluted bubbly tunes in the peepul opposite our window. And the green of little coppersmiths flitted among the tree's leaves. Gangs of plump mynas hopped around on the grass, pecking breakfast, shrieking like kids at play.

We came to Bangalore that year. The town was much greener than Bombay. But there were fewer birds. Many trees here were ornamental, not the kind bearing the fruits birds like.

So what's the scene like today in globalized Bangalore? There's not a single sparrow to be seen. On a lucky day you may hear a lone bulbul fluting. If you walk around a while you may see a myna. Not in a noisy, playful group. Just one or a pair. They are not plump any more. They look thin. Starved. And they rarely make a sound. At best, a feeble cheep.

The number of glass buildings and big cars are growing by the day in Bangalore. But the city has banished birds. No, that's not the whole truth. You will see a lot more crows than before. And that's because there's a lot more garbage lying on the roadsides.

Sorry, these lines are not funny. Maybe they are sad. And if this is the way globalization is going, maybe there's a lot more sadness awaiting those who are celebrating today. (For more INDIA INSIGHT stories see www.myspace.com/india_realities)