Dissent, Notoriety, hate mail, the works

India today seems to have become a society deeply irritated and angry with corruption and the current system. And suddenly, comes Anna, a man with all the solutions, the new Gandhi, and I only feel blown away by the enormity of it all. Is this really the second great freedom struggle and am I just a fat cat lazy to do anything for anyone else, and therefore looking for excuses to do so? Or is there an argument against the movement. Honestly, I don't know , and I would be the first person to say that it is a very difficult thing to know, and every person has to look only to themselves for answers.

I think the fundamental question really is corruption and it should stay that way. There has been a lot of hullabaloo about a lot of allied issues like arrests and so on. I am really surprised that the theme coming out of a lot of the pro-Anna speeches is outrage, because outrage implies these guys didn't expect Anna to get arrested. That is exactly what they should have expected, because this is striking at the very heart of why a politician does what he does. Because if the bill is passed they will have to become Lokpals to continue their business, and studying for and passing exams is a bit tedious when you are an uneducated 50 year old.

Yes, the fundamental question, corruption. Will the Jan Lokpal bill really solve the problem. At first glance it seems exceedingly effective. But on a boring bus journey I was struck by a thought, a Lokpal at the local RTO reminded me of the external examiner we used to get at the 12th standard lab exams. They were teachers, usually from a nearby school. They knew their counterparts in my school, they were mindful of the fact that the shoe might be in the other foot the next time they met. They even tutored some of us after school. They are going to be bureaucrats. They will probably hail from somewhere nearby and will have their lunch with their corrupt colleagues. You can't expect them to rat their colleagues out. Plus now they will be paid for this camaraderie. Probably more than the government gives them. So this might just lead to a bribe inflation of sorts. They could also be of the second kind, the big daddy gestapo-officer kind of guy. The guy whom every one fears who has the bully on the block and everything has to pass through him. Same result i suppose. Forgive me, I am not very aware of how exactly they propose these guys will be selected, but i am at pains to understand how the same government servant can suddenly be persuaded to not only stop bribe-taking, but also report his fellow bribe-takers.

When I think of all this I can point my fingers one way, incentives. It is simply easier to pay a bribe in most cases of bribery. That is how a lot of these procedures are, there is a lot of red tape and consequently the wheels of the organization need a little oiling. If I could make more money at the same risk levels, then I take the choice that makes me more money, every time. Imagine the traffic police getting penalized for every hold up. Consequently, they should also be paid for efficient functioning. I somehow believe correcting the incentive structure in government bodies will go a long way to solving the problem of corruption. And I am willing to go on a limb and say it will work better than the lokpal.

In the end I am wrong and Anna is right anyway. What a waste of time.

P.S :

Sometime back, the demographic that would have cringed on hearing "Anna is right" (especially in Tamil Nadu) is the one that seems to be chanting it now.

Considering the number of actual posts Anna Hazare holds, he seems to have more power and less accountability than a lot of "shadier" people. (should i hashtag sacrilege??)

An edifice for THE EDIFICE

The beauty of sport is the oxy-moronic abundance of Black Swan events. Events of otherwise low probability which must be factored into human thinking later, like the invention of the wheel.

There is a first-time occurring almost year-in year-out. Take Sachin Tendulkar's 200 in a one-day international, or Lance Armstrong's recovery from cancer.

Black swan events can change a whole paradigm of thought and cause whole populations to shift, it can even drive a country to mass suicide as Hitler did to Germany. The World War, incidentally, also stopped Arsenal from stamping their authority on English football similar to the legendary Liverpool side. This brings me to the black swan I am going to write about, Arsenal vs. Barcelona 16th February 2011. A night that i will never forget, it kindled my fond hope that 5 years down the line, i will watch Jack Wilshere lead Arsenal to one more unforgettable season. Just as every season is unforgettable. For me even a thankless season like the 2009-10 one will be memorable because it signifies the emergence of Alexandre song as one of the premier holding midfield players in the English League. This season will remain in my mind, irrespective of the ending, as the rise of Jack Wilshere.

And what better night to remember this than a day on which he stood toe to toe against arguably the best central midfielder in the world, and more than held his own. It was like watching one of those 10 yr old chess players fight a memorable battle against a grandmaster. And boy was I thrilled, the 10 year old won more than his fair share of fifty-fifties, distributed the ball like a communist's farmland, hardly miss-passed, was bloody brilliant. I can only hope that he is also an on-field inspiration, for in him we could have our next great leader of men.

And Robin Van Persie, I can never forget the commentator saying that the arsenal tune this season is Rocking robin. A fully fit RVP season will definitely bring trophies. Even his half-fit season now seems to be looking bright.

I have nothing to add to the words of my much-more well-informed football fans other than one more primal shout of "Yessssss" at the site of an irrepressible Russian calmly stroking the ball into far corner.

Thank You,

Arsene Wenger, Manager, Arsenal F.C

Liam Brady, Director of Youth Development, Arsenal F.C

Jack Wilshere, the "cure" to my Atheism