Politca I

As any average twenty year old will tell you, politics in a country like India like India is inefficient, retrospective and corrupt. My own point of view isn�t very different. Though what troubles me most is the fact that politics has moved away from the people and issues that are supposed be it�s main focus. It has become the playground of people willing to hurl insults, abuses and sometimes even microphones and chairs at each other! Not many can forget the scenes from the UP assembly from a few years ago, which probably gave reporters their first experience of reporting, live from a scene of battle. And they say that embedded reporting began in Iraq!
It�s been widely chronicled about how streetlights and paved roads miraculously appear on the eve of elections. About how promises that have been pending for over three years suddenly materialize in a matter of months, weeks and sometimes even overnight! Just enough time before the honourable MLA makes his rounds of the constituency. �Aah, you see Mr. Khanna, I told you I will provide your area with water! I am a man of my word. (Read: �I trust you will remember this when you go into that little voting booth.�).
Nobody denies the fact that the honourable MLA did as he promised. Ofcourse, his timing couldn�t have been better. Only three weeks ago, Shantabai had to walk all the way to her mother�s house a kilometre away to draw water from the tap over there. Shantabai, ofcourse is greatly appreciative of the efforts of the tireless and peerless Member.
Though all is not lost, you see, the dear Doctor who had had enough of promises that were forgotten after the ballots were cast, decided to put in his papers and stand for elections. Naturally our hon�ble Member was most outraged. �The gall of that Doctor Sahib! Does he think he can walk all over my area saying he can do better than me?� But that is another story isn�t it?
For the time being, our dear old Member will make sure his glowing achievements make the headlines of all the local press. He will walk around his constituency lending a �concerned� ear to the voices of the people who give him the honour of representing them. It�s mostly an act. Four years from now, the drama will be played out again. The challenger may be different. The only way the �champion� can be ousted is if the voters begin to see beyond the short-term fixes and DEMAND long-term solutions. Time will tell. Though how much time we�re willing to let it take depends on us.

As Ancient As Globalization Itself

History is an amazing repository of knowledge. After listening to what seemed like the millionth debate that had taken place on globalization, I decided to do a little research to see what exactly these people were arguing about. As it turns out, Globalization was not a game that began with America or the European Union as I have heard some half-baked �experts� argue!
The earliest and most recognizable form of Globalization began in about the 5th and 6th century B.C. The great Silk Route of Central Asia became civilization�s flag bearer of cross-cultural trade. Silk, spices, minerals and precious stones flowed from kingdom to kingdom along this several thousand kilometer long amalgamation of horse and camel paths (this is not to discount the valuable service provided by hundreds of donkeys and mules as well!) the original traders were freight carriers who moved goods at their will. Though quite often a raiding party from some nearby murderous tribe or even Mother Nature herself would determine when and if these goods actually made it to where they were supposed to. Evidence of this comes from several pieces of silk and stones found in burial sites across the Mediterranean that date back to that time. Also writings such as the arthashartra from India, (the art and science of statecraft) talk about sinopatta or �Chinese cloth�. This work dates way back to the 4th century BC, establishing evidence of trade between these two countries to even further back in time.

Marco Polo and the others that followed him, including Magellan, Vespucci and Columbus were merely men fascinated by the possibilities of vast riches that would befall them should they establish similar trade routes by sea. Naturally since school kids till this day study about them, these guys obviously made quite a killing!

But what became of those pioneers? History doesn�t reveal much. What is known is the extent of this trade. Some experts believe it began as far east as the ancient Japanese capital of Nara and ended well inside Central Europe. The Romans ofcourse helped a lot by way of extending this route well up to England.
What this ancient trade route gave the world is something quite that cannot be valued. Some examples include Ice Cream, medicine, mathematics and algebra, tea, languages and countless other priceless contributions. So much for the ill effects of globalization! What would the world do without Ice cream in the summers? For that matter, what would the English do without tea on any afternoon?
Today, the Silk Route isn�t quite what it used to be. You�d be hard pressed to find caravans of camels and horses crossing the Great Plains and deserts of central Asia. The occasional goatherd may be found tending to his flock. If you�re lucky you may find a semi precious stone that got left behind in the carnage that followed some unfortunate caravan�s encounter with one of those marauding tribes. What you will never see in the stones and vast barren expanses is the legacy that this ancient global trade route left the world. It made men dream of great riches and some, of greatness itself. Some things, they say, never change!