Showing posts with label Corruption. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Corruption. Show all posts

Wednesday, 9 November 2016

Chaiwallahs are collateral damage in a Chaiwallah’s war

As soon as PM Narendra Modi announced that currency notes in the denomination of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 would be demonetised immediately, people ran to the nearest ATMs and began withdrawing Rs 100 denomination notes. And then… the ATMs ran out of money.

Today, as I was going about gauging the mood around town, I stopped for tea at my usual kitli. After the usual pleasantries with my usual chaiwallah, I took my cup of tea and sat down with my phone to check for updates on the US election. Donald Trump had won. OK, no comments.

But then I saw something closer to home. Something I am going to call the ‘short-term collateral damage of demonetisation of notes’.

Photo Credit: Joel George

The chaiwallah was arguing with his stockist. Since this was a small kitli at the corner of residential block, there wasn’t much traffic here and there are lesser customers. Hence, cigarette sales also aren’t that great. So the stockist gave the chaiwallah two boxes of cigarettes and chaiwallah handed over an Rs 500 denomination note to pay for it.

However, the stockist refused to take it, saying that he would not accept anything except Rs 100 notes. Now, the chaiwallah only had Rs 500 notes since he got the news only this morning and by that time, all the ATMs in the area were already out of cash and customers were unwilling to exchange his notes for him.

After a lot of haggling, the stockist came up with a solution. He would give the chaiwallah the boxes on credit instead of either taking the Rs 500 note or not selling the cigarettes to him at all. The chaiwallah, out of options, agreed and put his Rs 500 note back into his pocket with a sigh.

He then turned to me and said, “What have we poor people done? Why should we have to suffer for all the black money these businessmen and politicians have accumulated? We hardly have enough money to run our business and our house.”


And thus, the chaiwallah remains the unwilling and helpless collateral damage in this nationwide war on black money initiated by one of his own.

Tuesday, 22 December 2015

Can Meritocracy survive in the face of Corporate Seniority?

There is usually a lot of chatter at different workplaces about quality of work, standards of employees, dishing out of credit and progress of the deserving and the unworthy alike.

Now, it may occasionally happen that a young employee with formidable talent and skill and may come along, one whose talent may overshadow even those with many years of experience under their belts. These suave and confident beings may or may not realize their potential but in a highly competitive workplace, contemporaries, if not superiors, are sure to take notice sooner rather than later.

With enough time spent and hard work put in, these young ones may tend to catch the eye of the boss if they’re looking enough attention. Well, that is a prerequisite for bosses nowadays when even CEO's are out hunting for jobs. The constant need to improve on the workplace and generate better profits for the company keeps even the laziest of bosses on the lookout for those who have the ability to grasp things and climb the proverbial ladder.

This is where the problem occurs.

Image Courtesy: moneycrashers.com


Should the boss promote the underling and bypass the senior?

OR

Or should the boss risk wasting potential to preserve peace in the workplace?


Not all bosses have the kind of rapport with employees so as to understand the dynamics and offices politics playing out under their own noses. In their rise, they leave behind common ploys and play the same game at a higher level.

But only those working together actually realize how team dynamics work under the complex hierarchy that modern industry is based on. They know who works well with whom, who works better than whom, who cannot work with whom and who cannot be trusted to work at all. And they often know all this more than the bosses themselves who have glass cabins shielding them from the best and worst their employees have to offer.

So, does meritocracy really survive if the hierarchy is put in danger?

Does the workplace dynamic take a hit in light of a jump in promotion?

Does merit even stand a chance in the face of superiors taking credit for everything?

Or is the cumbersome method of seniority the only way to ensure smooth functioning?


Food for thought, dear leaders…

Sunday, 12 July 2015

Is the Illiterate better than the Educated?

The Narrative

So there was this friend of mine who had to go pay her electricity bill and then get to work. To her dismay, she found a long line of people waiting in line to pay their bills. That day she learnt not to wait for the last day to pay a bill. As you will see, a lesson well learnt.

So as she resigned herself to being late to work and getting half a day’s pay getting cut by getting in line, she knew that the boss was wasn’t going to happy. But this was more important. If she didn’t pay the bill today, a lot of other people wouldn’t be happy what with the earth-scorching heat in India rendering even industrial strength fans useless.

So there she stood, drops of sweat dripping down her forehead one by one like the ticking of the seconds hand on her watch. One bill got paid, two, three, four… and then something happened.

A man and someone who appeared to be his valet came into the office. They discussed something and the valet stepped into the back of the queue as his employer went striding directly into the office, not giving a damn to the incredulous looks of all those awaiting their turn.

Image Courtesy: happilyunmarried.com

All this took place in slow motion for her. You see, time tends to slow down the longer you stand in a queue. Every minute becomes longer then the next and one gets the time to ponder upon every thought running in one’s mind till they simply run out eventually.

It was only after she had exhausted every other thought that her mind, craving activity, demanded that she divert herself studying those destined to sweat it out along with her to avoid doing so at home later.

It was then that the man and his valet had appeared from the sunlit doorway and proceeded to do the things they had.

Fast forwarding to five minutes later, when the man came out of the office, summoned his valet to get out of line and bring his car around. Their work there was done, the bill paid, the tea probably drunk and all without breaking a single drop of sweat.

Aghast was the word that she used to describe the expressions of her co –queue mates. Piercing stares followed the couple out the doors, looks probably reserved for the most hateful of criminals and dictators.

And the moment they left, chaos erupted throughout the office. And by chaos, I mean a wild, shouting, discourteous discourse between all those standing in the line. Maybe it wasn’t so dramatic but I’ve been assured it wasn’t murmured whispering of dissent either. Everyone was up in arms about the way that man’s bill had been paid for he had definitely come to pay the bill and he had done it by cutting the queue.

The Mindset

Cutting a queue is considered an act that is viler than even murder in India.

With such a population, queues always seem to be longer than the importance of work to be accomplished at the end of them. And although corruption is an accepted part of life now (debatable), it still invokes the kind of powerless hatred that comes with not being able to stop people who engage in it.

The Takeaway

At the end of this incident, an old woman made a very compelling statement that struck right at the heart of “educated” society. She said, and I paraphrase, “The way these literate people behave, it’s better to be illiterate.

Such a poignant statement from one so experienced is not to be taken lightly and although the lady may be making a gross generalization enveloping all kinds of people under one umbrella of honesty and corruption, the thought dos have merit, at least in this case.

The Million Dollar Question

Assuming that you who read this are literate, allow me to pose a question:


Is the educated Indian really working towards abolishing corruption or engaging even more in its depravity?

Tuesday, 19 May 2015

I am an ousted CEO too

You’ve all no doubt heard about the case about the investors of housing.com oust the very founder of the company, Rahul Yadav. There must be a number of cases where similar things have happened to entrepreneurs who have sought investors to fund their fledgling start-ups. Now, I don’t presume to compare myself with Yadav in any way but…

Mine is one such story as well.



In September, 2013, three of my friends and I came up with an idea of starting up a news website for the students of the institute where we studied. We envisioned it as a platform for our fellow students to participate actively in the fields they were studying for. A practical approach to academics is what we brought our focus on when we thought up our web magazine.

Since we thought this up on the stairs of our institute, and involved the contribution of every one of our students, it was obvious that we were going to approach our management with this plan. We did so, and to our utter surprise obtained instant and enthusiastic support. We were asked to begin work immediately and submit requests for funding as and when required.

We were ecstatic and set up our website over eight months of planning, business model development, website designing and social media operations. Finally, out product was launched on the April 12, 2014 in the presence of the institute management and students. We had our own start up!

I assumed the role of Editor-in-chief, another co-founder as Chief Technical Executive and the other two co-founders as Editors of the two beats they excelled at. Although this selection does not seem fair, I must point out that the people in these posts were ratified by a general election within a week.
We ran the website with vigour and published 54 articles in the first two months of the launch alongside our hectic study schedule, assignments and internships. Some of our students even worked full time to support their education and even they contributed in one way or another to the initial success of this operation.

As in any other organization, we faced criticism, disgruntled employees and complaints relating to bias and prejudice. Although, all of these allegations were proved to be baseless time and again, these problems seemed to have an impact on the trust the management had placed on us and the morale of the entire team as well.

Decision-making ultimately passed to a representative of the investor (management) and although I still held editorial powers along with other editors, it became increasingly apparent that the democratic model upon which we had founded this organization was to come under fire from those who had deigned to finance it.

Finally, fed up with constant intrusions upon my sovereignty as Editor and decision making behind my back, I resigned from my post at the end of two months to allow for a new editor and pledged my support to the team if they needed it; albeit from outside. My resignation was rejected for reason I’m sure you can imagine and was told to maintain charge till they (management) could decide on someone to take my place and restructure the organization, placing their representative in overall charge.

Reluctantly, I withdrew my resignation in the interest of the magazine against my better judgement. But by then, the determination to lead controlled organization had left me and the team’s will to work had waned to the point that they refused work until the tie this matter was sorted out.

Two months of forced pieces and half-hearted work later, the management decided not to amend their mistakes but to make some more. They asked for my resignation in August, 2014, appointed their own Editor and asked the rest of the team to resign as well. They held a rigged election, refused to reveal the results and formed their own team against the wishes of the student body.

They rebelled.

Today, our organization lies, covered in dust, waiting for a new generation of students to shake the dust off what would have been a reputed student’s platform if only power hadn’t corrupted the investor.

Although complete in itself, this is still an excerpt of the whole case. You can read the full story here: The Story of an Ousted CEO

Monday, 2 June 2014

Buying out the Fourth Estate

Today, a lot of media has come under the power of industrialists. It’s not just a lot, but a major portion I believe. Large corporations are buying off small newspapers, television channels, websites or head hunting their best employees to work for their media subsidiaries.

Image Courtesy: Google Images.


It seems all the varied media houses, all the options in the media that we had are being collected under a few big banners who mean to take control of what is viewed by the populace, not only in India but round the world. It is of course in the interests of these oil barons, telecommunication tycoons and entertainment giants to buy out or control a majority shareholding in news outlets.

It is not hard even for a layman to understand what kind of manipulation of the news can take place once the channel or channels are in direct control of their new boss; Positive publicity, doses of advertising, hiding unfavourable news and sensationalizing the news to increase viewership and thereby, revenue.

Image Courtesy: Google Images.

Assuming that those who start news outlets in the form of newspapers, television channels and news websites do so with a view of upholding the true spirit of journalism, we can see what happens after they are bought out by these selfish and to an extent, parasitic corporations who then manage to pocket truckloads of cash by just giving the public the show they want, and not anything substantial.

Journalism, ever since it got pulled into the race for giants trying to control the media, has become a difficult job. Trying to publish a substantial news story becomes as much of a job as getting the story especially if the story is about something that concerns the other subsidiary company held by the parent company which also happens to be a major shareholder of your media house. It can also be difficult in case the story is about that minister or officer or public figure whose campaign is funded by the corporation that owns your media house. Well, if it positive news, it will probably run the whole day but if it is even slightly negative, it goes against the policies of the newspaper or channel. Clear out the story or clear out your desk.

Image Courtesy: Google Images.

Another disastrous downside of these mergers and buyouts in the media is that large corporate now own many channels and publications under a single roof. If one of them does not bring in as much revenue as the rest, it will either be shut down or downsized to cut losses. It is because of this very same reason that sensationalism has become a big part of the media today. Ridiculous things are hyped, people are made to shout at each other, anchors try to grab the limelight and in the middle of all of this, the substantial news is loss in the echoes of those trying to get it out over the cacophony of all the garbage that occupies our screens.

With the latest buyout of those who claim to be ‘18 till they die’, here’s hoping that this media house doesn't change its colour from Red to Saffron.


Here is a video that will help you understand what is happening to the Indian media, albeit from a foreign perspective: Indian Media has never had it so Bad

Sunday, 18 May 2014

Selective Censorship in India

Off late, I’ve come to realize that censorship in India is a pretty selective process. Only those things that the panel find distasteful are edited out or cut completely so that Indian viewers don’t have to watch all kinds of “BAD” things and be disgusted or morally corrupted by the same.

Image Courtesy: Google Images.

Of course, the cinema, television and advertising industry in the western nations don’t need to take care of these things because they are already morally void, so they think. But we Indians, no no no no no, we are those who uphold our culture and moral traditions in the strictest sense. We cannot allow nudity, intimacy, slang, smoking, drinking and rape to go up on any type of screen in India because it would horrify the masses because they don’t spew swear words out of their mouths, they don’t smoke or drink and they most definitely never have sex. The population of India has merely increased due to asexual reproduction.

Now if the various censor boards for different kinds of media in India feel certain things should not go up, there must be a reason and I just stated it, but doesn’t bribery and corruption come under the degradation of morals and ethics that they so loudly preach through their scissor-wielding arms that cut of other things from camera reels?

Image Courtesy: Google Images.

I recently saw an advertisement that has been bothering me since the first time I watched it. The ad shows some kids in a classroom trying to decide which one of them would be the opening batsman for the school cricket team. Many people ask for the opportunity but the child on the first bench just makes sign with his hands, the captain goes to him and the former kid shows him his tiffin box which contains chappatis with jam in them. The captain tastes one and makes the kid the opening batsman.

What does this ad portray?

I know that at first glance or in the first reading, it may appear to be a pretty normal ad for jam and appear to be reinforcing the fact that the jam is very tasty. But if one looks into the ad, one might realize that this is a case of clear bribery and that too among children. The kid bribes the captain to give him the opening spot on the team by parting with a jam roll.

And this advertisement is meant for kids.

Unbelievable!

Dos this ad not show the kids of India that they can get things done by simple bribery? And is bribery not morally and ethically “BAD” for the Indian population?

Oh but that’s quite alright I guess or the censor board might have been too busy editing out naked men and women from perfume ads to notice the blatantly corrupt message that this advertisement gives to the children, albeit very innocently.

The people who sit on such panels should realize that rather than attempting to stop scandalizing the population of India, they should attempt to stop this corruption of children’s mentality.

Tuesday, 11 February 2014

In Defence of Cops

Many of us have had our brush with the keepers of the law. Some for the wrong reasons more than the right. However, I feel that there is an inherent sense of hostility towards the police force, at least as far as I've observed. Well, I've often felt that way too, no denying it. But when one comes to think about it…

Let’s face it; there are good cops and there are bad cops.

Though which of the two categories include more of them, I cannot say. And yes, I've met both types. Obviously, one is bound to meet both types if one has lived long enough in India.

There are cops who are helpful and those who are not.

There are who are corrupt and there are those who are not.

There are cops who are dignified and those who are not.

There are cops who are fit for duty and those who are not.

The list can go on and on depending on the extent of one’s interaction with the police but since mine is painfully limited; I feel should stop before I get ahead of myself and start assuming things. However, I do believe that it is wrong to both be afraid of cops and not to be. This might sound confusing initially, but let me explain.

Image Courtesy: Deep Panchal

People, normal people without connections in high places and access to a lot of money usually tend to be afraid of cops because of the assumption that all cops are rotten and that some unspeakable horror will certainly befall them were they to fall into the hands of any cop. On the other hand, people with access to the above mentioned things roam around with absolutely no fear of the law as a whole because they realize the power that they hold.

However, falling into either of these categories is foolhardy because although there may be a few rotten eggs, which institution doesn't? Agreed that there is much more to fear in this case, however faith in the law of the land should supersede this fear. Even those who think themselves above the law should beware that all cops are not for sale and even though that trick might have worked before, that may not always be the case.

Yesterday I read two stories relating to cops; one that inspired bravery and the other that aroused disgust for the Indian Police Service. The former story was about cops being honoured for bravery in Noida and the latter was about cops raping a homosexual man in Gujarat.

What conflicting stories!

How is someone supposed to get an idea about the police in this country? Exactly! One absolutely cannot. There is no way that one can stereotype the police in this country upon the actions of a few people. The only hope one can garner is that there are a few more good men than the bad ones in the service and believe that there is still hope for the order of law and justice in this land.

Wednesday, 29 January 2014

The Art of Professional Begging

Though I have nothing but empathy and a few tears for the poor, I can’t help but be intrigued by the recent trends in begging that have quite changed since I first started observing the methods and techniques used in the profession. Yes, that’s quite right. I wrote and I meant ‘trends’ in begging. The 21st century has, I've observed, brought a number of changes in the styles with which begging is carried out. I talk not of those who are forced to do so because of circumstances one well understands, but I talk of those who are capable and still opt to beg. I’m writing about the Professional Beggar.

There are a number of marked changes in the way this profession is carried out by these professionals in modern times and after intense research (roaming around and chilling), I've come to the conclusion that these beggars are developing a system to systematically get money from those who are sympathetic to the plight of the people who are really in need. This, in turn makes them cons and not beggars. But since there seems to be no differentiation at the current time, I've made up the term, ‘Professional Beggars.’ Oh, I can make up terms because I have poetic licence. Hope Arnie doesn't ask me to defend my statement against the poor of the nation because the country wants to know what the hell Poetic Licence is, just because he doesn't.

Well, now getting to the point. The first change in trend can be seen at the financial level, which is the whole point of begging in the first place. These professionals do not accept small change anymore. If you give them anything less than a ten rupee note, they will not accept it. Yes, crazy, I know. But that seems to be the truth. One rupee, two rupees and five rupees hold no value for them anymore. Inflation you see!

Then there is the language. These professionals have started picking up English and in a big city like Ahmedabad, one can routinely find these professionals begging in English and that too not very politely. Moving on with the times, you see.

Even the attitude of these professionals is noteworthy. They apparently seem to think that it is their fundamental right to receive alms from society. They believe that they are entitled to the hard-earned money of the people who really work for it. And as mentioned above, nothing less than a ten rupees note. I've actually seen one of these professional throw a couple of coins in the face of the gullible youth who gave it to him. Poor guy was aghast! Oh, and yeah, they sometimes keep talking to someone else when somebody is reaching out to give them money. Talk about lack of professional courtesy.

Another trend that is fascinating is that when a kind soul offers them food instead of money, they flatly refuse. Now, I guess they haven’t heard the adage, ‘Something is better than nothing.’ They also want the right of choice. Firstly, they have no intention to work. Secondly, they should not be even getting the food that is being offered. And still they are stony-faced when offered food. They just up and turn away muttering swearwords at the person who is feeling sorry for them.

Last, but not the least, I come to the point of the religion-mongers who attempt to sell their God to anyone and everyone in the middle of the road. Now one might say that this is not a new trend. Agreed. But what is new is that these people then mutter curses and invoke the wrath of the Gods upon those who refuse them alms. Now that is novel! That didn't used to happen before.

Now, as mentioned above, these patterns have been carefully studied by yours truly and I hope that one day, with society getting smarter to this nonsense, this profession will delve into insignificance.

Sunday, 19 January 2014

The Ukrainian Dilemma

Ukraine, a former state of the Soviet Union is on the verge of taking a big step that either holds the key to its rapid development or stagnant rust in the years to come. The people of Ukraine have the choice of joining either the European Union or the Russia led Customs Union. The Ukrainian government is now stuck on both sides as joining the former will offend and strain relations with their powerful neighbour, while joining the latter will cause the people of the nation to throw them out of power.

The state of Ukraine is both, a former Soviet nation and now a European nation. By that standard, it is easy to assume the pull it is receiving from both sides to join in alliance. The European Union claims that Ukraine is an integral part of Europe and that trouble in that country can lead to trouble in Union itself as majority of exports in the form of oils and agrarian products are sourced from there. On the other hand, Russia is attempting to rearrange an alliance of the former Soviet countries in order to increase its influence and bring it on par with the United States. Russia’s tactics are such that it seems to be extending a helping hand to its former family but in reality is just playing the big bully by making institution in such countries dependent on its own economy.

The European Union offers unbridled trade and security in exchange for Ukraine joining its ranks and building a stronger Europe and this fact seems to be ratified by the existing trade agreements between the two. Even the youth of Ukraine sees the benefits, both economic and educational, of joining the EU. But President Yanukovych has sought 20 Billion Euros a year to upgrade the Ukrainian economy.

The Customs Union, or to be more exact, Russia offers financial aid, near redemption of due payments and a slash of a third in prices of oil import to Ukraine. It is also offering to purchase government bonds to the tune of $15 billion. Kiev is also under pressure from her neighbour to pay an outstanding gas bill of $17 billion. Russia has further put a ban on Ukrainian chocolates and will probably escalate measures in order to coerce them into joining the Customs Union that now also includes Belarus and Kazakhstan.

Since President Yanukovych visited President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin, there have been rumours that he had decided to join the Customs Union against the wishes of the people. That he might have sold out the country in exchange of all the monetary benefit that Russia was willing to extend to Ukraine. Protests against the Customs Union have been in progress for the past two months and had intensified after the meeting, on the verge of getting violent as claimed by the government which recently passed a law banning anti-government protests, illegal tents on public grounds and criminalized the slandering of government officials. This controversial law was passed with just a show of hands by the President’s supporters in Parliament instead of electronic voting. The opposition has claimed this to be a coup by the government which had turned corrupt to its core and was now following directions given by Russia.


The above is a classic example of a large nation trying to strong-arm its weaker neighbour into submission by the very ‘subtle’ methods of overdue payments, refusal of financial aid and trade embargo. And even though this is a case where Russia is doing so, it is not just them; the United States of America has also displayed this tendency a number of times where it has splayed its military presence all over the world in spite of opposition from all quarters, all in the name of maintaining ‘World Peace.’

Tuesday, 25 June 2013

Is this the Hand of God?

The recent tragedy in North India, the flood, the devastation, the loss of life in that region got me thinking about the expiration date of things. I know it sounds a little insensitive of me to put it in a matter-of-fact way but I can’t help thinking about this series of incidents from an objective angle. Is it so that everything must be destroyed and then renewed again through a new process, is it Nature’s way of saying that we went too far or are these natural calamities God’s way of wiping the slate clean to start again?

I thought about the God angle and as I thought, I saw even deeper into it and came to the following conclusion. There are many examples of floods destroying those places where evil had bloomed out of control and the people become so corrupt that it seemed impossible to remove those stains from their soul and so they were washed away or one can say that they were perhaps smitten by the Hand of God. I’m not saying that it should have happened but it seems that it did. Now, as I mentioned earlier in this paragraph, there seem to be many indications of such incidents to have occurred in the past as well as in contemporary times. I have noted only a few which came through the top of my head because I’m too lazy to research anything in my vacations.

So, first up on the list is the incident from the Bible. In Christian mythology, God washed away life from the whole planet once upon a time and just kept this man Noah alive, supposedly because he was a righteous man living in a rotten world. God, it says, literally made it rain till the whole world was flooded and people of all races and religions and languages and colour and creed were washed away because they had become corrupt and their souls could not be saved. So, apparently, and I’m just guessing here, God wanted to start things fresh but didn't want to go through the whole man-making process again, so he left Noah and his family alive.

From Plato’s work we get that the Greek God, Poseidon destroyed the island of Atlantis with a flood because the people had become too corrupt to save. There is an alternate theory that says that he was pretty pissed at the Atlanteans choosing to elect the Goddess Athena as their protector instead of him, so he caused the tsunami that in turn caused Atlantis to sink beneath the waves, but who knows? Greek Gods seemed to do whatever the hell they pleased, at least according to Hollywood movies, and you know, the fact that they were Gods… So yeah.

So this was history. Now coming back to the present. India has seen her share of floods but what happens when a pilgrimage spot is washed out? What happens when a place of worship is inundated and a lot of people who have travelled to pray – are killed? It is often hard to believe how these things happen, especially for a devout person (which I assure you, I’m not).

How can a House of God be flooded?

How can pilgrims, who have gone to pray, die?

So, you see what I’m trying to say here is that there is a scarcity of Faith, a sudden dearth thereof.
For example, when India’s east coast was hit by a tsunami in 2004, the Basilica of Our Lady of Health Vailankanni in Tamil Nadu, India, was flooded and a lot of people died too. Then came the questions that I mentioned earlier and the doubt and the questioning of Faith. But, if one were to compare what happened here with those ancient floods and the theory of corruption and the anger of God, it may seem plausible that the same may have happened here. I have been to Vailankanni and it’s a beautiful shrine, but on the other hand, I saw how the people had converted the house of God into a marketplace. I was reminded of another incident in the Bible which describes how Jesus flew into a rage and started hitting the merchants and traders sitting outside and doing business at the Temple of Jerusalem. Maybe this was history being repeated, who knows?

If you have managed to bear with me till this point, you will now notice that I've come a full circle to the point where we started. The floods in Uttarakhand may be the anger of God being directed at the place of pilgrimage becoming a centre for tourism and commerce. Everyone knows that a place of worship, especially one which is much hyped, is sure to turn into a tourist spot as well. I think everyone who is well informed knows the prices at which things are being sold in these religious places and even more so because of this calamity. With that, the ‘Marketplace in the House of God’ scene is replayed. What can one expect then?


Note: Through this post, I’m not propagating that floods at religious places should be a regular visitor. Nor am I insinuating that all the people who died or were affected by such calamities were sinners and deserved it. I’m also not inciting hatred against God (because that would be kind of stupid). These are just my musings on a flood well travelled and one of the possible reasons behind the same.


To know more about the marketplace in the House of God, I suggest you read this post by 
 http://krishnayamini.blogspot.in/2013/06/at-their-job.html