For Pete's Sake

Elin Maria Pernilla Nordegren, a Swedish model and the ex-wife
of Tiger Woods encashed on her insecurity. (Cartoon By Mike
Lester,The Rome News-Tribune - 6/30/2010 12.00:00 AM;
©Copyright 2010 Mike Lester.). Click for larger image.

Iran in Stone Age

On the Islamic side of the world, in Iran, courts reopened a 2005 adultery case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani. After the trial, it was decided that Sakineh would be stoned to death for her 'crime'.

This would have been just another case of Desert Bloc justice, till the French First Lady, Carla Bruni sprang to the 'defence' of this 'victim'. The case become more high profile, after Brazil's President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, offered asylum to Sakineh - which Iran rejected.

Iran has reportedly sentenced Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani – the 43-year-old Iranian woman who faces execution after being convicted of adultery – to 99 lashes in prison for "spreading corruption and indecency" after allowing an unveiled picture of herself to be published in a British newspaper.

The claim, which could not be confirmed, comes from her family and a lawyer representing Mohammadi Ashtiani, based on reports from those who have recently left the prison in Tabriz where she has been held for the last four years. (via Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani to be lashed over newspaper photograph | World news | guardian.co.uk).

The "Free' Press had a gala time with a 'free' victim.
Cartoon by Joe Heller, Green Bay Press-Gazette -
4/16/2010 12.00.00 AM. Click for larger image."

On the other side

In the USA, over the last 12 months, we have a modern-day spectacle - The Hounding of Tiger Woods.

His crime?

Tiger Woods had sex with willing women. With a lot of willing women. No pedophilia, no rape or forced sex, no violence.

Just simple sex.

OK. May not be simple sex. Maybe in complicated 'kamasutra' positions, in unusual locations, with varied partners. But does all this, change the issue. Make it any different.

Guys, he just had sex.

Nothing more than sex. How can consensual sex be a sin, immoral, crime, shameful, and all that baggage of guilt? If there is an injured party, I can only see Tiger. All those willing and able women quite 'enjoyed' both the kissing, and the telling. Not to forget the money they made for both the kissing and the telling!

Mebbe ...

Coming from the land of kamasutra, where काम kaam (desire, including sexual) is my right, probably I am under-developed. Maybe these advanced, monotheistic Desert Bloc religions and societies are more advanced than the primitive culture I am from! Maybe, the social system of भारत-तंत्र Bharat-tantra has 'corrupted' me.

What exactly is it that Tiger Woods did? Cartoon by Mike Smith
from the Las Vegas Sun.

Who can object

Not Elin Nordegren.

She made US$400 million (or is it US$500 /600 /750 /1000). For her insecurity. That Tiger may abandon her and the children, while he is chasing all these women. A fear that is fair and legitimate. For a mother to two of Tiger's children.

Not a bad deal. Or is there something more? Am I missing something?

What's the difference

Now.
I really don't see a difference between Iran's stoning of Sakineh and the American stoning of Tiger Woods.

Except that the stones are different. The US and world media has tried to kill Tiger with stones made of words, ill-will and smear, imputations, cans of tar and brushes. All of them, ganged up, against one man. One lonely man.

Just because a married man had sex with a few women!

Did the world have to hound him for having sex? Cartoon
by Christo Komarnitski, Bulgaria - 4/9/2010 12.00.00 AM

Now Iran is doing much the same thing. The stones in Iran are different.

The Western world has made Desert Bloc ideals of shariat into Liberal-Christian dogma. Although the West has become 'educated', 'advanced', 'developed', 'civilized', rich - they have not given up. Stoning people.

God knows, Jesus tried.

Related Articles

• Iran Stoning Woman 'Faces 99 Lashes' (news.sky.com)
• Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani to be lashed over newspaper photograph (guardian.co.uk)
• Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani subjected to mock execution (guardian.co.uk)
• Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani's family turned away from prison visit (guardian.co.uk)
• Vatican says stoning in Iran adultery case 'brutal' (msnbc.msn.com)

Indo Pak Relations - What Will It Take

The Detritus

As Britain (and the West) was forced out of various colonies, left behind was the garbage of colonialism. This post-colonial debris has become the ballast, that is dragging down many newly de-colonized countries. The Cyprus problem between Turkey, Greece and the Cypriots has been simmering for nearly 100 years. The role of the Anglo Saxon Bloc, in Indonesia, the overthrow of Sukarno, installation of Suharto and finally the secession of East Timor is another excellent example. The many issues in the West Asia and Africa are living testimony to the British gift to the modern world. The entire Arab-Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a creation of the Anglo-French-American axis.

Closer home is the Kashmir problem. After 60 years of negotiations, India-Pakistan relations have remained hostage to the Kashmir issue.

A Precedent

Till the 1983, world cricket was run by the UK and Australia. These countries, of course, had veto power, had the funding, to control the game. In 1983, however, Britain and Australia hit a financial roadblock - the 1987 World Cup sponsorship. They did not have a sponsor in place for the 1987 World Cup. And then India stepped in. India roped in Dhirubhai Ambani for the sponsorship. India roped in Pakistan to put in a joint bid for the 1987 World Cup.

What was Special

This was, simply, without a precedent. For three reasons.

First, this was a unique case, where rich and developed countries could not find a sponsor for a sporting event, which they dominated. And a poor country could.

India, in 1987, still had a waiting period for Bajaj Scooters. Maruti cars had just been introduced. Colour TV sets were rare and colour TV transmission had started a few years old - and a luxury. Competitive bidding for TV rights was not possible - and could be sold only to a public sector TV transmission monopoly. Computers in India were rare and far in between. Private sector as we knew it was non-existent. Licenses were required for everything. Foreign exchange situation was precarious. Hence, for a poor country to bid for a World Cup was unprecedented.

The second major challenge was the organization. Indian bureaucracy was then (much more than now) a minefield. Myriad laws made any kind of complicated organization a nightmare. Private sector was seen with suspicion. Indian films still portrayed businessmen as villains. Indian software industry was nowhere in sight. India did not have even one (private sector) company in the Fortune 500 list. To say the least, it was audacious, at a time when India dominated by stereotypes (more then than now).

But the third element that has remained unrecognized was the working of the India Pakistan partnership. The World Cup bid was a joint bid (1985) by India and Pakistan. No one would have bet that India Pakistan could have worked together. But together they did. And successfully. This Indo-Pak relationship has now survived for more than 20 years.

What Changed

India and Pakistan, went ahead and moved cricketing headquarters from UK to Dubai. Unlike Bro.Manmohan Singh at the high table, BCCI and Pakistan just took away the veto powers of UK and Australia over cricketing matters. In spite of best efforts of 'divide-and-rule' by the ECB (UK's cricketing authority) and Cricket Australia. UK, in a case of sour grapes, went ahead and stopped its players from participating in the Indian Premier League. Australia broke ranks, and participated. South Africa started with its first official post-apartheid series in India - the post-apartheid 'coming out' party.

In the UK and Australia, this loss of power rankles.

Use The Experts

This India Pakistan Cricketing relationship is very healthy - and has been managed by four people. Of course, there has been no case study, or a book or even a news report on this partnership.

The four people in this complex relationship have been Jagmohan Dalmiya and Shahriyar Khan at the administration level. Between these two, they have managed a consensus between the Asian cricketing countries. Jagmohan Dalmiya has a business background - and a career in cricket administration. Shahriyar Khan is a career diplomat and also a cricket administrator.

The other two are Sunil Gavaskar and Imran Khan - two well known and respected players in each of the countries. Between, these four, they have managed this complex cricketing relationship. Some of it is visible - but mostly, below the line. Especially, significant is the management of agreements. Recently, Asif Ali Zardari dismissed written agreements with his coalition partners, PML (N) headed by Nawaz Sharf, claiming agreements were not”holy like the holy Koran.”

The Learning

Now, if these four can overcome the complex political situation and the minefield of history, is there a learning for others? Especially, for those who manage the India-Pakistan political relationship.

Hidden in this cricketing relationship, is the solution to the sub-continental peace.

Post Script

This lesson seems to be dawning. Seven months after this post, a leading Indian newspaper carried an article on how Asian cricket needs to continue on the India Pakistan axis, which has been so successful in the last two decades. It points out how when cricket Indian administrators like

"I S Bindra ... suggested that India is capable of hosting the 2011 World Cup on its own ... (they) have sacrificed the much-used paradigm of subcontinental unity, which has seen India and its neighbours dominate international cricket politics for almost a decade." It furthers links how " it is inevitable that the West, rocked by the Stanford disaster recently, will try and regain composure and mount a counter-attack. Statements like English players may not be released for the IPL by the English Cricket Board and Tim May's urging that a thorough security assessment is necessary to convince international cricketers to consider playing in IPL are evidence that such an offensive has already begun."(ellipsis and bold text mine).

It is time that the Indian Foreign Service establishment took this learning - and start running.

Come June 2009, Shahriyar Khan (mentioned and pictured above) alongwith Shashi Tharoor came out with a book on Sub-continental cricket. Indian media, since it was not led by the nose, have this book cursory coverage.

Shashi Tharoor and Shahryar Khan in Shadows Across the Playing Field tries to provide answers by analysing 60 years of this intense cricketing rivalry, one, which has, on occasions superseded the intensity of the Ashes. (via something to hope for, and look forward to).

The Urbanisation Experience - The World & India

Post colonial India, in the last 60 years has seen the shift of 30 crore (300 million) people from villages to cities - which is nearly the population of the entire USA. In 1947, India's urban population was 6 cores (60 million) - and in 2008, it is estimated to have crossed 36 crores (360 million). Another 500 million are expected to move in the next 20 years.

It is the largest demographic shift in the history of mankind - without wars, revolts or persecution. Most revolts, wars and upheavals have been accompanied by urbanization. Urbanization as the cause or an enabler of the revolutions is a matter of debate, research and conjecture.

India is different.

Indian culture started with urban centres like Harrapa and Mohenjodaro (dated between 2000-4000 BC). India has gone through many cycles of urbanization and rural migration.

The last de-urbanization happened at the the start of British Colonialism during the 1800 period. Cities like Dhaka lost between 50% to80% of its population. British Colonialism immediately started flooding India with its Lancaster wares - and restricted Indian handloom weavers from competing with Lancaster.

The Renewal Of Mumbai

In 1982, Dr.Datta Samant called for strike by the textile workers in Mumbai. The strike went on for a year. Textile industry in Mumbai, tethering on the brink of collapses, went bankrupt.

Half of Mumbai's population (my estimate) was, directly or indirectly, dependent on these mills. In one of the most heroic renewals in modern urban history, Mumbai re-invented itself. From the manufacturing capital of the country, Mumbai has become the services capital of the country. It is this spirit which has made the Indian urban growth a remarkable story in the urbanization of the world's population.

Many Religions

The largest Islamic population to co-exist peacefully with another religion in the world now lives in India. While the West has been demonizing Islam, Indians Muslims have been getting ahead. In the last 10 years, Indian Muslims have become the richest (Azim Premji), occupied the highest office in the land (APJ Kalam) in this country.

Europe - Revolution & Civil War

In 1800, 23 European cities boasted of a 100,000 population. By 1900, there were 135 cities with over 100, 000 citizens. Amongst other causes, increased urbanization was a feature of the French Revolution - which started a chain of revolutions for the next 125 years.

The Russian Revolution by the Communists succeeded due to the rapid urbanization of Russia. Urban Russian population doubled from 7.3 to 14.6 million between 1867 and 1897. Expansion of railways between 1892-1903 made migration and travel to cities easier. Tsarist Russia, built on the support an land owning nobility, with serfs used for production, found that the urbanized industrial workers supported the Communists.

With increasing urbanization and the decline of colonies, Spain slipped into a civil war.

The Balkans Civil War, now running in its 100th year, with intermittent breaks and under different names, started with the urbanization.

South America

Among other things, urbanization played a major feature in South American 150 years after de-colonization. From 1820 - 1970, South America went through de-colonization, urbanization, revolts, revolutions - and crime.

The tipping point in South America was initially de-colonization, peasant and slave revolts and thereafter urbanization.

Why Are Cities The Focal Point

Cities provided spaces where large numbers of people could gather - and a 'change process' can start. Red Square in Moscow, Champs de Mars (where the first public meeting after the French Revolution) took place, the Tian An Men in Beijing, or the Shivaji Park in Mumbai are places where such meetings can happen.

Marx famously dismissed peasants as "a sack of potatoes" - and saw the urban worker as the base for the workers revolution. Peasant revolts are more difficult to organize as the population is spread over vast areas.

Where Do We Go From Here

This urban growth in unprecedented - and unparalleled. It shows the tremendous adaptability and resilience of the Indian. The Indian urban concept aspires towards foreign idiom - and that is the problem.

Mumbai wants to become another Shanghai, says Chief Minister, says Vilas Rao Deshmukh. This is aspiration is something that is mostly referred in a derisive manner - thankfully.

What Indian cities needs are instead to learn from the home grown Mumbai urban train transport system. For a monthly cost of Rs.70-200 (US$2-US$5), people in Mumbai can travel any number of times, in relative discomfort. It is a safe mode of transport (unlike the legacy rail system of the Colonial Britain). Accidents on this system happen due to its popularity - overcrowded trains. It is also profitable - and devoid of subsidies. Similar metros (not in scale or traffic though) have come up in Kolkatta and New Delhi.

What Indian cities needs are an Indian idiom - to solve the problems of these Indian cities. Will Indian planners deliver!