Year of The Expos'e?

In a few days the year will come to an end. With time hanging so heavily, many like me keep themselves busy reviewing  the year gone by or making a list of New Year promises to be made and hopefully kept. The TV Channels have started short listing the person of the year. In a pensive mood I too tried to figure out what 2010 will be remembered for. I couldn’t narrow down on any incident or person who had an impact on me. No major human tragedy, natural disaster or terrorist strike, fortunately.  And no watershed moment that had a positive impact.  Everything considered, it looks like an uneventful year.  Wouldn’t be surprised if Times finds it difficult too to project an individual as the Person of the year.  I’ll wait.

In India the theatre of the absurd had Sania Mirza and Dr Sasi Tharoor hogging the media space around the same time. Both had happy endings, mercifully. There were no less controversies, as usual, stoked by the 24/7 news channels.  Arundhati Roy narrowly missed her fame to a claim for the Nobel peace prize; her fault, she having not been jailed (for sedition/prisoner of conscience) despite valiant efforts. She has time and any number of causes.

For India the weather has been kind. Good rains and bountiful crops. No major flood or drought.  Whether these will result in lower food prices is anybody’s guess. Inflation remains high and government’s efforts don’t seem to bring results. World economy seems to be looking up although there are still hiccups here and there. World’s largest economy, USA, has its President on a tour to market Corporate USA. The Wikileaks will engage our minds for some more time. Possibly next year also with revelations which are likely to embarrass and shame Corporate US still more. 

Looking back, the last few weeks have been full of one expose or the other that has jolted middle class. A buoyant middle class who consider the four pillars of Democracy as sacrosanct find their value systems being challenged day in and day out. We have been hearing about scams of many hues. The  housing scam , the spectrum scam , the spectrum tape scam, housing finance scam, the land scam, CWG scam, the IPL scam. The list seems to be endless. The dramatis personae include the cream of the society. Judiciary, Chief Ministers, Union Ministers, Defense personnel, Beurocrats, Corporate Czars, TV anchors, Company Chiefs, Lobbyist, PROs, Financial intermediaries, Bankers. A big list, indeed.  All these personae have built cozy relations too close for comfort.  On a facetious note, if anybody has been left out, it is purely unintentional!

The amounts involved are astronomical.  Putting to shame all the earlier scams.  All these make one cynical. Are there no individual / institution which is unblemished by these charges of malfeasance?  Has the four pillars of democracy lost its credibility?

The skeletons keep tumbling one after the other. All our heroes and icons appear to be having feet of clay.  The malaise is deep rooted and spread widely that a cleansing of massive proportions is the need of the hour. Thankfully we still have individuals and institutions (sections perhaps, but significant nevertheless) unblemished by these accusations of impropriety and are quite adequate for the job. As our Prime Minister said, and I repeat, the word for Crisis and Opportunity is the same in Chinese.  Let us make a resolve to convert the crisis of confidence to an opportunity to cleanse our system.  Let 2010 be remembered not for the gloom it brought but for the hope it entails.