PK & CTCCC

After witnessing the current outburst against PK, not the best of the films or best of the storyline in its genre, I have found a new respect for politicians, everyone's favorite whipping boys.

Many of the angry-young-man films have been consistently depicting our politicians as villains of the highest order.  And yet there has been little protest from this class.  Probably they feel that the release provided by such films to the pent up frustration among voters is all for good.  Given this track record of exemplary tolerance, it did come as somewhat of a surprise when the tirade by Anna, Kejariwal and others called visible discomfiture amongst this class.  Probably the thought of being criticized by people who aspired to join their class was more discomfiting than being criticized by hapless voters.  The political class has also shown considerable tolerance towards literature that shows them in poor light.

The pique and sharp intolerance shown by our Mullahdom, Babadom and Priestdom is in sharp contrast with this exemplary tolerance shown by politicians.  A word against the priests or against their principals (gods of various denominations) and there will be a fatwa against you.  If you are in the wrong place, you and your children will be beheaded and females kept for sex slavery.  In timid places your book will be burnt and banned and your films will face violent protests or you may be asked to stop worshiping the wrong idols.

The interesting development is that some fundamentalists are now defending the rights of rival fundamentalists from competing religions to be as intolerant as they themselves are.  How democratic indeed!

Thus, I dare say, politics definitely seems to be a lesser evil.  Though, in several countries it mixes with religions in all sorts of concoction in the name of secularism or nationalism.  Whatever can form human beings into a group will definitely be of interest to politicians in a democratic setup.  However it should be possible to weaken this basis for grouping through state action in the form of conversions to a Common Civil Code.

The situation can, in my opinion, be remedied by introducing a CTCCC (Convert to Common Civil Code) bill and banning all inter-religion conversions.  The state should introduce a law that specifically allows one to give up his religion and owe allegiance to the law of the land alone.  The state must also grant special rights to such converts.  Any conversion to any other religion must strictly be banned because it is the ultimate idiocy.

As far as it concerns those who refuse to convert to CCC, their children must be taught, under penalty of legal action, from an early age that all scriptures and religious books are products, exalted or otherwise, of human mind alone and hence open to questions as any other doctrine, philosophy or theory.  They must be told that anyone who disputes this is either weak in the head or black in the heart.

A Great Money Laundering Trick

Investigations in Yadav Singh's misdeeds and humongous wealth have revealed a couple of simple and ingenious money laundering tricks.  If you have illegally earned enough moolah, you may want to use these tricks.

The trick is to establish a business in the name of your spouse.  Then quietly hand over all your ill gotten money to this firm.  Next engage creative accountants who will then do all the bookkeeping showing that the business has been a roaring success and generated an ROI (Return on Investment) that should find a mention in all national and international fora.  Thus your ill-gotten wealth becomes the profit from your spouse's business.  Pay all taxes on this 'business income' and your black-as-crow money has become white-as-swan.

There still is a minor irritant.  Government is now asking you to declare all liabilities and assets not only in your name but also in the name of your spouse.  The humongous profits made by your spouse may cause eyebrows to be raised.

So just one more cute trick and you are through.  This is to seek a legal divorce from your spouse through mutual consent to expedite the process.  Needless to say that you can continue to live together in marital bliss.  The divorce is just to avoid any reporting of the 'hard earned' wealth of your spouse.

Simple!  Didn't I say so?

PS:  SITs should use this as a clue.  They may find abnormally high divorce rates in creamy deparments.

Jagjit Singh - an extraordinary person

I recently watched a repeat telecast of an old Aap ki Adaalat episode featuring Jagjit Singh as the under-trial.

I am an ardent admirer of Jagjit Singh, a singer par excellence.  But I knew very little about Jagjit Singh the person.  And so I watched the episode with keen interest.

We often think of great artists as people who live on a different plane and hence not worldly wise or street smart.

Jagjit Singh came through as a lively person with a keen intellect who could engage you in a lively conversation, convey his point of view very lucidly and also quickly figure out any fallacies in your argument.  He made clear the difference between a remix and a cover edition.  The two terms are often used loosely and incorrectly.

He displayed keen business acumen when he explained his career moves.  He told about what earned him money and what he did for his own satisfaction.

He rendered 'Chitthi na koi sandesh' on public demand.  He asked public to join in.  When people tried using claps in sync with the beat, he asked them to stop it and sing along instead.  This was a wonderful thing to do.  I have often wondered why singers insist on the audience clapping to join in the performance.

One of the charges against him was that he had tinkered with the format of ghazal singing.  As one who finds Jagjit's rendering of Ghalib's ghazals unparalleled, I found this charge ridiculous.  Jagjit's explanations showed his mastery of the art as well as the clarity of his thinking.

I liked the show.