The Fiefdom of India

Is it not high time for another consitutional amendment - substituting the word "republic" with 'Fiefdom' ?

At least thats how the polity has been behaving since Independence and would continue to do so. My belief is reinforced by the recent 'abdication' of his ministership by Murli Deora in favour of Mukul Deora, and heir apparent Rahul Gandhi  reported to be "leading the country" in absence Sonia Gandhi.

On a related / unrelated note, the media often keeps on harping about the educated youth entering politics - and oft-quoted examples are Rahul Gandhi, Mukul Deora, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jitin Prasad, Agatha Sangma to name a few - all scions of Congress families / dynasties. The fact is, the political structure makes it very difficult for anyone other than those belonging to the right families to essily enter the upper echeleons of power.

Its tragic that after 64 years of independence, India is yet to come out of the feudal mindset that has historically prevalied, despite the increasing levels of education, awareness and exposure.  

Utterly Butterly - elderly ??

Economic Times published an article on 29th June 2011 titled "Is Utterly Butterly too elderly". My first reaction , giving the benefit of doubt ( against this being a motivated piece), this article is amateurish at best.
The article states, among other things, that "consumer trust is eroding from Amul brand" and that "experts say brand lacks youth connect" . While the facts presented in the article clearly state the growth and strength Amul ( GCMMF) has been experiencing, the negative tone of article on one of most iconic Indian brands appears to be , as they say "on a tangent". The article quotes MD of a private firm, going by the name of Trust Research Advisory, saying in efffect that youth have Amul nowehere on their minds. The basis of this assertion is not stated anywhere in the article - whether Trust Research Advisory actually commissioned a survey on youth habits, what was the sample size, demographics etc etc.

As the leading business newspaper of India, I would wish ET to have better standards of research. Opinions presented as facts, private bodies / individuals quoted as industry experts, conflict between data presented and statements made, make for a jarring copy.

And if any one were to look for any signs of popularity of Amul, one only has to go to various food stalls / joints in Mumbai, selling "Amul Dabeli" and "Amul Pav-bhaji" as a premium product, hit among the young and the old alike.

The changing world - through the lens of a story

Munshi Premchand, was undoubtly one of the greatest writers of modern Hindi and Urdu literature. I recently read one of his stories in the July issue of 'Navneet' titled Rooh-e-Hayat". The story was orginially published in the year 1921. The plot of the story reveloves around an orphan girl, raised in a village, and how she deals with her life. What amazed me ( more than the literary genius of Munshi Premchand) was the social mileu the story presents. To think of an orphan girl child, born in a village where people care for , raise her, get her married - without coming to any harm, let alone surviving is an amazing revelation of the social environment and sensibilities that existed not such a long time ago, and the deterioration that our social sensibilities have suffered.