Madhu Soman

Three hours of running from pillars holding up tin sheets to police posts, which provided security cover to shacks that had cropped up as polling booths, made me realise how frustrating the whole process is when the world's largest democracy goes to vote.

It's been more than two years since I moved to Mumbai and, frankly, voting was never top of my family's agenda.

But, it all changed post the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. Although we skipped the candles and the drama outside the Gateway of India near the Taj, which saw a protracted gun battle between armed militants and Indian security forces, one cannot deny the impact the attacks had on our collective conscience.

My wife said we cannot just sit back and accept whatever that happened as part of the new reality - terror can strike anywhere, anytime.

For her, it was the "jaagore" moment. For me, after doing my bit of reporting and producing news on India and South Asia for around 10 years, including an overnight vigil outside the Taj Mahal hotel till the miltants were finally eliminated, it was more like "we'll see."

My wife said we need to register our names and, if nothing else, at least vote in the elections. As a citizen in a what many call a dysfunctional democracy, she felt that's the least one can do. For me, that meant "work". I realised my cynicism will be put to the ultimate test.

This time around, my wife was willing to do all the work. Hail Activism!

She logged on to jaagore.com, registered our names, kept herself constantly updated on the progress of our application and had become quite an expert on voters' rights, at times embarrassing me with her level of awareness.

But, there's only as much jaagore could do. We were first time voters in Mumbai and things unravelled.

The Electoral Registrar's Office said the onus was on us to prove that our names were not on any other voters' lists. This came as a bit of a shock and surprise as the voter registration form also allowed us to submit that all other existing registrations, anywhere in India, may be cancelled.

We should have known that such a facility would have to be backed by technological support from a central database of eligible voters where the authroities could monitor and track migration of voters within the country. Maybe, Govt of India and the Election Commission will embrace technology before the next general elections, hopefully not before 2014. By then, we should have the option of voting via SMS or even over the Internet.

Back on dharti Mumbai, reality had bared its fangs.

The officer said we'll need to file an affidavit, duly notarised, stating that "as far as we are aware, our names does not exist in any other voter list anywhere in India". After spending a thousand rupees and half a day in a Mumbai court, amid lawyers in black coats that reminded me of my failed attempt to become a legal eagle, I did wonder - How will this "notary public" know if I'm telling the truth at all?

Till the last day, our names never showed up on the voters list. Neither did any of the parties or their candidates come to us seeking votes, as is the case in smaller towns like Thiruvananthapuram and Jhansi where we grew up.

On election day, April 30, 2009, we decided to give it a shot by going directly to the polling booth. We saw that a large open space in front of our house had been converted over the past one week into a polling station with multiple booths made of tin and plastic sheets and bamboo poles.

After spending about an hour there, we figured out our names were not in the voters list at that polling station. The kind policemen on duty directed us to another polling station which was about half a kilometre away. There too, the result was the same.

I realised even the party polling agents didn't have a comprehensive list. Trust me, if even one of them had helped me, I would've voted for their party candidate. I knew there was a voter helpline that was advertised. But, you can call it only from an MTNL line.

For us, it was a race against time. We'd left our two-year-old son sleeping at home, with our Man Friday keeping vigil, and the 5 PM deadline for polling to end was fast approaching. We scooted around in taxis to two more polling stations in Wadala area before finally zeroing in on one polling station, this time in a govt school near the Wadala Fire Station. I was all fired up.

As we stood in line waiting for our chance, we scanned the list of candidates put up outside the booth. The customary party symbols were all there - hand, elephant, lantern, bow and arrow etc etc. I felt awkward. The symbols were familiar, but we didn't know any of the candidates.

For her part, my wife had already decided. But, I was not so sure. Some of the parties I'd voted for in the past did not even bother to field their candidates in my constituency. But the bigger trepidation was whether I'll get to vote this time.

Once inside, we found the first trace of efficiency in three hours and the polling officer there promptly helped us with our registration numbers. After my wife voted, it was my turn and the same symbols started smiling invitingly from the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM). I realised it's a marvellous piece of engineering and decided to cast my vote in favour of Rohan Gawru Tambe, an independent candidate. His symbol "pressure cooker" swung it for me.

I felt it was apt given that I was steaming in the sweltering heat and grime. It was indeed a pressure cooker situation as I managed to get the blot on my middle finger at 4.55 PM. I'd joined the august company of Bollywood A-listers and Mumbai industrialists who voted in the third stage of this mammoth electoral process, although early reports suggest the turnout in this bustling city of dreams was barely 40 percent. It has surprised some that all the activism post-26/11 did not translate into votes.

Columnist Vir Sanghvi summed up the disconnect quoting MJ Akbar who'd famously said in 1984 "Bombay has a chance to establish diplomatic relations with the rest of India". Sanghvi said Mumbai failed then, and have failed yet again.

But, we were excited that we got the chance and had to scurry back since our child was waiting. On to our fourth taxi and I asked the driver if he voted. He said "vote se zyaada zaroori mera pet hai" which translates to something like "my stomach is more important than the vote".

I did suggest there were worthy candidates like my man, Tambe. But, the taxi driver's priorities were clear. He couldn't care less about who stood and who won. I realised he shared an apathy which was similar to mine, but his was fashioned by a need to survive. 

On our way back, we went past voters, some proud of their participation, others convinced of their candidates' chances. It was indeed the dance of democracy.

Once we reached home, my wife showed me a notice on the bulletin board. There was a blood donation camp in our housing society. Wonder if I should have gone there instead?

Work is worship. But does that mean a journalist leave his footwear outside before attending something as regular as a press briefing?

Well, that's one of the suggestions being floated as 25 years after more than 3000 Sikhs were killed in the aftermath of the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Sikh anger bubbled to the top yet again.

This time, it came in the form of a shoe tossed at Home Minister P Chidambaram by Jarnail Singh, a Sikh journalist with the Hindi daily Dainik Jagran. For video, click here

The reporter wanted to register his protest against the clean chit given to Delhi Congress leader Jagdish Tytler, accused of inciting mobs during the 1984 anti- Sikh riots.

The flying footwear missed the home minister but seems to have left a mark on the Congress conscience.

There are now reports that a nervous Congress party is rethinking the decision to give party tickets to Tytler and fellow accused Sajjan Kumar for the upcoming general elections. They're both sitting MPs.

But Tytler says his election campaign is not under any cloud and will contest the polls from the north east Delhi constituency.

But Tuesday's incident has opened a can of worms. While opposition political parties pounced on the opportunity to corner the Congress govt, the journalistic community faced an uneasy role-reversal - answering questions rather than seeking answers.

Many reporters, including those present at the press conference at the Congress headquarters, are feeling let down. They say their job is to report the news, and not make the news.

Some have gone to the extent of saying such incidents break the trust between those holding the press conferences and the press itself.

In a world of heightened security, this can only make matters worse.

But larger and more pertinent questions have emerged.

Some say Singh's act was symptomatic of a deeper anguish, a deep anger within the Sikh community.

Are the fissures too deep for time to provide the eternal healing touch?

The Congress party insists '84 was an instance of national outrage. Within 48 hours of taking oath as PM, Indira Gandhi's son did try to douse the fire of communal strife. But the same Rajiv Gandhi also said "when a big tree falls, the Earth trembles...."

A similar sentiment was echoed by Gujarat CM Narendra Modi in March 2002 after more than 2000 people were killed, a majority of them Muslims, in communal violence.

Asked about the riots, Modi quoted Newton's third law - "every action has an equal and opposite reaction," a quip seen by many as Modi's justification for Hindu anger post the Godhra train carnage that left nearly 60 Hindu pilgrims charred to death.

But spare a thought for Jarnail the journalist? Sikh political party Akali Dal has already hailed Singh as a hero. Some other Sikh groups want to give him a reward of 200,000 rupees.

A repentant Singh is a reluctant hero. He asks why will he accept a reward for an act he's apologised for, clarifying his method may have been wrong, but the issue he raised was not.

What transpired on Tuesday also brings to the fore another question: should journalists be activists too?

The jury is still out on whether Singh had planned the attack. But this is definitely not a first.

US President had to duck shoes hurled at him in Baghdad during a farewell visit to Iraq in December 2008 and Chinese premier Wen Jiabao evaded a protester's shoe as he delivered a speech at Cambridge University in February 2009. Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was similarly targeted during a visit to the north-western city of Urumia.

Wen was branded a dictator while Bush was called a dog by the Iraqi journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi who was left to cool his heels in prison for three years. That sentence has now been slashed to one year.

Chidambaram was spared such ignominy and Jarnail Singh has been let off.

Police did not press charges and the home minister who wanted Singh to be removed "gently" from the press conference says he has forgiven him too.

But Dainik Jagran is set to initiate disciplinary action against its defence correspondent.

Will Jarnail get the boot or will the journalist survive to wield the pen again?

It's just not cricket.

Ducking for cover as bullets replaced bouncers... players evacuated in a military helicopter that lands right next to a 22-yard pitch... the same strip at Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium that saw Thilan Samaraweera score a double century the previous evening.

Samaraweera was hit on his leg during an audacious attack by armed militants on a convoy taking his team to the venue, an attack that left six cricketers injured and more than half-a-dozen Pakistani security personnel killed.

The world of cricket will never be the same again.

More worrying is the fate of Pakistani cricket. Tours to Pakistan were already a trickle with teams like Australia refusing to travel.

The matches against Sri Lanka came after more than a year of near pariah status. And even this tour was hastily arranged after India pulled out post-26/11.

After months of shadow boxing and pulled punches, the ICC had to suspend international cricket in Pakistan.

Tuesday's attack also raised serious doubts about Pakistan's chances of co-hosting the 2011 cricket world cup.

Authorities were already considering five alternate venues for the Champions Trophy.

The cricketing fraternity has expressed solidarity with both the Pakistani and Sri Lankan players. They were both shocked and saddened.

They also say the game must go on, but where?

When will Pakistan get to host an international cricket match again?

Some like former fast bowler Sarfraz Nawaz are worried that other cricketing nations might even refuse to invite Pakistan over fears of the threat of terror trailing the team all the way to their doorsteps.

It will indeed be sad if international cricket is denied to Pakistan, not just to the players but to the public too.

It's a game that has many a time been a metaphor for peace between India and Pakistan. The sport has been held hostage for that very reason too.

But diplomacy is a game played in the corridors of power, an arena far removed from the subcontinental dustbowls and narrow bylanes that has unearthed many a gem that has embellished the game of cricket.

What are the words that spring to mind when you talk about Pakistani cricketers?

Talented, temperamental, explosive and, more than anything else, unpredictable.

Hanif Mohammed, Mushtaq Mohammed, Imran Khan, Zaheer Abbas, Javed Miandad, Abdul Qadir, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Inzamam-ul Haq, Mohammed Yousuf, Younis Khan -- the list is impressive and rather long.

What makes these players churn out performances which swing from the sublime to the ridiculous to supreme craft remains one of the mysteries of the world of cricket.

Unlike England or Australia or even India, many who represented Pakistan on the world stage emerged despite the system in a country which today is bereft of a proper domestic cricket calender.

Today, the question is whether that mystique will be lost to the world, if not forever, at least for the foreseeable future.

And will the country itself be pushed into further isolation?

This is not the first time cricket or cricketers were targeted in the subcontinent, especially Pakistan.

India's 1982-83 tour of Pakistan was disrupted after rioting marred the last Test in Karachi. Who can forget the sight of scared cricketers scampering to the pavilion as an angry mob invaded the pitch at the National Stadium.

In May 2002, a car bomb exploded in Karachi in front of the hotel where the New Zealand team was staying, killing 13 people, including 11 French navy experts. New Zealand called off the tour within hours of the attack.

As ironic as it may sound, New Zealand cricket has had quite a few close calls in the subcontinent.

Despite the threat to players' security, something which has led to postponement or cancellations of many tours, the subcontinent has always presented a united front which many will say was instrumental in the centre of gravity of world cricket shifting from England to South Asia.

There was always the fear of violence, the threat was clear and present, but what unfolded outside the Gaddafi Stadium at Lahore took the fear and threat to a new realm. Is cricket in the continent critically injured?

Spare a thought for the Lankan cricketers. They are trained to face the best of bowling, not bullets and grenades.

They say cricket is played between your ears. Thilan Samaraweera scored his second double hundred in a row in the second test against Pakistan on Monday.

Will things still be the same for a Samaraweera or a Kumar Sangakkara as they take guard?

Sri Lanka stepped in as a replacement after India cancelled its own tour of Pakistan in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks last November. Will they be as bold and supportive in future?

Can cricket recover from this body blow?

This is not the first time cricket or cricketers were targeted in the subcontinent, especially Pakistan.

Despite the threat to players' security, something which has led to postponement or cancellations of many tours, the subcontinent has always presented a united front which many will say was instrumental in the centre of gravity of world cricket shifting from England to South Asia.

There was always the fear of violence, the threat was clear and present, but what unfolded outside the Gaddafi Stadium at Lahore took the fear and threat to a new realm. Is cricket in the continent critically injured?

Can cricket recover from this body blow?

[CROSSPOST blog: 37 post: 548]

Original Post Text:

Yet another year is coming to an end and independent India's idea of being a republic is a year older. But is it any wiser?

On many counts, 2008 was both tumultuous and memorable for India, testing its men and the manner in which they confronted the challenges.

It was a year which saw the Manmohan Singh government face some of the toughest questions in its 4-year rule.

For that matter, some of the questions were directed at the people, the polity and the nation itself, which is still on edge after horrific images of a militant rampage on Mumbai made headlines around the world in late November.

It was a promising start to the year with the economy growing at well above 8 pct and the Sensex touching a staggering 21,000 points in late January.

Inflation was the only worry as global crude prices were near the 100-dollar mark.

For its part, the govt was confident about handling inflation and announced a 60,000-crore rupee debt relief package for farmers which became the highlight of the annual budget.

But global crude prices showed no signs of moderation and India's inflation too crossed the double digit mark.

What added to the govt's problems was pressure from its coalition allies. The Communist parties pulled out over India's historic civilian nuclear deal with the United States and the govt's survival was put to the ultimate test.

But parliamentary politics in India dipped to a new low when wads of cash were whipped out in the well of the house. Opposition MPs claimed money was used to buy support. The allegations did not stick and the Manmohan Singh govt survived the trust vote.

But the problems were mounting. The global subprime crisis took its toll and the stock markets started crashing as FIIs pulled out billions of dollars. The Sensex has lost more than 60 percent this year and is now hovering around the 10,000 mark, making it one of the worst performers in the Asian equity scene.

The economy too was no longer insulated and growth estimates for one of the world's fastest growing economies have been revised downwards. Multi-billion dollar stimulus packages have been announced and an aggressive rate-cut campaign has been initiated by the Reserve Bank of India. But economists and analysts say more needs to be done to salvage India as the rest of the world sets off on a road to recession.

Corporate India too had its share of highs and lows. While Tata wowed everyone with the Nano, the world's cheapest car, the company was forced to move its plant out of West Bengal thereby delaying the car's roll-out.

Investor confidence was on a razor's edge throughout the year. While India's top private lender ICICI's share price dipped more than 70 pct as concerns arose over the health of its books, IT major Satyam Computer Services faced some tough questions about corporate governance after a botched attempt to buy two of its sister firms for $1.6 billion.

Indian airlines struggled too amid soaring fuel costs and dwindling passenger numbers. Carriers like Jet Airways faced staff ire over efforts to downsize and survive.

More than anything else, it was the internal security situation that took a turn for the worse. Hundreds of lives were lost as a series of blasts shook various Indian cities.

If the bombs in Bangalore, Ahmedabad, New Delhi and Guwahati were blamed on Islamist militants, the needle of suspicion in the Malegaon blasts pointed to Hindu extremists. A serving officer of the Indian army is still being interrogated.

But all the violence seemed only a dress rehearsal for what turned out to be the most audacious terror strike in the history of independent India.

Armed assailants held India's financial capital hostage for nearly three days. 179 people were killed as many of Mumbai's iconic landmarks including the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Taj Mahal hotel and the Oberoi-Trident came under fire.

The lone surviving attacker said he came from Pakistan and New Delhi has put Islamabad on notice. A worried world is watching and urging restraint as reports emerge of heightened military activity along the border separating the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

The man on the street is anxious too. There's been a clarion call for civilian activism. They want accountability, not just hollow assurances from the political leadership.

Heads did roll. Union home minister Shivraj Patil was asked to go. The Maharashtra CM and home minister were sacked too.

But did it placate the common man? Amid all the tension, five Indian states went to polls and the results showed that development was a bigger election issue than terror. It was a lesson that the main opposition party BJP learnt the hard away.

Its "Congress is soft on terror" campaign failed to win public approval as it tried to mount an assault on the Congress-led coalition ahead of the 2009 general elections.

The biggest surprise of all was the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir which witnessed more than 50 per cent voter turnout.

The turnaround in public opinion comes less than six months after the state was up in arms over the Amarnath land row, some thing  which  led some commentators in New Delhi to even question the worthiness of holding on to Kashmir.

So, does this mean that what had started off a memorable year will turn out to be one best forgotten?

Well, if you look at the sporting arena, it's actually been a good year for India.

The Indian cricket team started off winning the tri-series in Australia. The success of the inaugural IPL 20/20 league reaffirmed India's pre-eminence as one of most powerful forces in the world of cricket. India capped its season with home series wins over both World champions Australia and England and many Indians now hope India can actually become no.1 in world cricket.

2008 was also a year that saw Saurav Ganguly leave in a blaze of glory while others like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid did enough to let a demanding but adoring public know that they remain a force to reckon with.

New heroes like Gautam Gambhir and Ishant Sharma emerged, and there was success for other Indian sportsmen too.

Abhinav Bindra made the nation proud winning India's first individual Gold in shooting at the Beijing Olympics.

While boxers like Vijender Kumar packed a punch, Sushil Kumar grappled both inner fear and pressure to add a bronze from the wrestling mat and make it one of India's most memorable campaigns in the world's biggest sporting spectacle.

Jeev Milkha Singh winning the Asian Golf's Order of Merit and shuttler Saina Nehwal's meteoric rise in the badminton world brought India more cheer.

In the field of literature, India's Aravind Adiga won the Man Booker Prize for his novel ‘The White Tiger’, a dark tale about the son of a rickshaw puller who dreams of escaping poverty.

It was only the third time in the Booker's 40-year history that a debut novel won the award. But the win also raised the question whether only the darker side of contemporary India appealed to Western readers.

So, it has indeed been a rollercoaster year for the country.

But what about 2009? What's in store for India and Indians?

We're running a lookahead poll. We've posted a few questions in our yearender special.

Do vote... not just on Reuters.co.in but also when India goes to polls next year. Have your say. It might be your and India's best chance to set things right.

India in 2008: Full Coverage | Memorable quotes from 2008

The world of equities seems to have opted for a bargain-basement sale. The BSE Sensex which scaled the dizzy heights of 21,000 points in January 2008 is today testing 10,000 and nobody is sure if the bottom has been found.

"Nowhere in the world are we close to a bottom. Put your money in a safe bank at 9 pct and forget about the stock market for the next two years," Shankar Sharma, Joint Managing Director of First Global, told Reuters.

If that's the case, one wonders if the response pattern will change to the Reuters Money question - Where do you see the Sensex by Diwali??

High-profile equities investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala who had advised Indian investors to keep away from the stock markets as early as November 2007 declined comment on the current situation.

The Indian stock markets have been on a downward spiral for the past 8 months and more and bellwether stocks like Reliance Industries, ICICI, Infosys have taken a serious hammering at the bourses. Some equities analysts do see this as a good opportunity to buy and build a good portfolio for the future.

British economist John Maynard Keynes who said "in the long run, we're all dead" be damned.

But, there again, some of the "experts" were advising investors to buy at every level of the tumble - 18,000, 16,000, 14,000, 12,000 and now near 10,000.

As my good friend and former NSE member PV Subramanyam says "these so called experts on TV are only looking at a teleprompter and not a crystal ball."

Subbu's advice: "Stay the course, there's no point in cutting losses now and neither will you gain anything by panicking."

Frankly, I've less time for those sharks who make their millions in the stock markets and lose a couple during a downturn than for the average retail investor who would've entered the market on a "tip" here and a "tip" there.

And, there's a reason. A man who made and lost a million will most probably find ways to make more. But what about those ignorant investors who bought in a bull run because they wanted that extra money to meet a contingency. That hard-earned money is lost forever.

Although just 3-4 pct of the India's one billion plus population invest in the stock market, the roller-coaster ride on board the Sensex Express is a story one cannot ignore. It's still an significant indicator of where the real economy is headed.

There are those who say India, with its domestic demand and lesser dependancy on exports, will remain comparitively insulated from this mess. But this is a connected world, and India still needs foreign capital. If that dries up during a likely recession, India cannot come out unscathed.

Some experts say this is just the beginning. This downturn is going to hit the world (and it definitely includes India) in three waves - the credit market crunch, the trust deficit in the inter-bank money market and lastly a squeeze on corprate funding.

Equities analysts are likely to downgrade companies across sectors and regions as a tight funding environment can push up the cost of borrowing for companies thereby further squeezing their margins, which have already come under immense strain.

Things are not looking great at all and over the past few weeks I've seen friends and colleagues heaving a sigh of relief when markets remained closed on national holidays.

But the markets cannot be shut down despite the clear and present crisis and the India stock markets have their own circuit breakers which come into play to arrest free falls.

In such turbulent times, I'll stick my neck out and request the average investor to stay away for at least a year.

But, I'm no expert and you might as well go by what an ex-Reuters colleague has posted as his Facebook update - a bull run is when fund managers sound like economists and a bear hug is when economists feel like prophets.

Maybe, he has a point. Your views?

-- Madhu Soman is a Reuters journalist. The views and opinions expressed are the writer's own and not those of Reuters. The article above is not intended to be a financial advisory. Readers must seek specific advice from experts before making investment decisions --

Joke 1
Joe Blogger had a cheque returned last week. They said it was due to "Insufficient Funds." Now, Joe's not sure if they meant his account or the bank's?

Joke 2
There are two sides to a bank's balance sheet - the left side and the right side. On the left side, there is nothing right, and on the right side, there is nothing left!

My cell phone has been bombarded with forwarded jokes like the ones above ever since the global financial crisis started. At least some people have their sense of humour intact despite the troubled times. Some might even thank God for such small mercies.

The BSE Sensex which has been hurtling down in a merciless downward spiral for the past 8 months has seen a Monday morning surge. The index is up more than 7 pct on assurances from finance minister P Chidambaram that the government was working on more measures to improve liquidity.

But will liquidity revive the markets and restore confidence?

For its part, India's top private sector lender ICICI has unleashed an unprecedented information drive (on TV, by email and SMS) to assure depositors that all is well with the bank.

Over the past months, the world which went flat so that business could go where it's done best might have actually shrunk. Pundits and punters talking about the Great Depression of the 1930s as if it was a Friday movie release that was not well-received.

Money which made the world go round seems to have suddenly done a vanishing act and we're searching for answers.

The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) CRR cut is expected to infuse Rs 60,000 crores into the markets. This money can ease pressure on businesses which some newspapers reports said were forced to borrow from private lenders at 35-40 pct to sustain or complete existing projects, especially in the real estate sector.

Realty stocks like DLF which launched promoters like KP Singh into the global rich list have foundered badly.

But the contagion did not stop at just the real estate scrips. Bellwether IT firms like Infosys and TCS have been hammered along with banking stocks like ICICI which fell prey to a world-wide market aversion to the financial sector.

All this despite a general consensus among market analysts and economists that India remain comparatively insulated because of its strong fundamentals and less dependency on exports.

Monday's rally has raised a number of questions, more so for the retail investor many of whom got singed badly.

Has the bottom been found finally?

Is this the right time to buy battered stocks and build your portfolio?

Can someone actually time this market?

We would love to get some answers. If you don't have them, even jokes will do. I know it's too late to laugh our way to the banks. But a smile can help, even in such days of despair.