For one reason or another, I miss something or the other about India every day -- but in the four-plus months I've been here this time, I've never missed home as much as I did last week.
I've been so accustomed to taking my ringside seat at the greatest show on earth for granted that it sucked to have to follow it through news reports, on Rediff and other sites.
I dunno about you guys, but I find these debates on no-confidence motions, in our Parliament, more fun than a weekend with Jerry Sienfeld. Or Robin Williams on speed. Or both.
It is amazing -- here you have this bunch of guys, supposedly old enough, and wise enough, to lead the rest of us miserable millions through the uncharted waters of the future.
You give them one simple question to answer: Do you have confidence in this government, or no?
And they stand up on their hind legs and talk of anything but the question at hand; they scream and rant and yell and use the kind of language their mothers should wash their mouths out with detergent for, and shout their opposition down.
I've been thrown out of class for behaviour that was not one-tenth as obnoxious -- and to think these blokes are our leaders!
Rediff columnist T V R Shenoy spelt out the futility of the latest exercise in his column, so I won't go there.
I wonder, though -- does it occur to you that the most humongous scams (and I am not thinking merely of India now) involve defence? Think Krishna Menon, think Bofors, think coffins, think CVC report, think Tehelka?
Ask yourself why.
Could it be a combination of huge sums of money, and almost zero transparency? Defence traditionally gets enormous budgets; what they do with the money is rarely made public because national security may be involved.
The argument runs that no defence ministry would want to itemise what it is buying and not buying, since such details could tip potential enemies off to the strengths and weaknesses of that country's army.
I am not sure I buy that -- if you buy so much as a box of pins, you can be pretty sure every other nation in the world with an interest in you knows about it anyway.
The whole debate in Parliament reminded me of a conversation I had with a leading politician during the 1998 election campaign.
He was a gent with a reputation for probity, so much so the word 'honest' was tagged on to his name as a sobriquet.
We spent some time discussing the question of corruption. It exists, he admitted. How can we root it out, I asked. Of course, he said -- all it needs is for us to introduce complete, total transparency in all walks of government and of life.
That is it? I asked; introduce transparency and all our problems are solved? Yes, he insisted. He gave me an example of what he meant. And then he said: "If you as a media person, or even any ordinary citizen, is given the right to ask, at any time, for any document concerning any deal I have made as a minister, how can I be corrupt?"
Think about it, and it makes sense. The temptation to be corrupt comes when you know that Joe Citizen is not looking over your shoulder; that no one is checking up on you to find out what you are up to.
Agreed? Would you, then, also agree that maybe it is time for a public movement aimed at enforcing transparency? Would you say pressure must be brought on our elected representatives to push for a bill in Parliament mandating such transparent methods at all levels of our public life? Would you say the country would be a lot better off with a law like that?
Be interested to know what you think -- is this the solution? Are there others? And do we the voters have the savvy to use our voting might to bring about this change?
Incidentally, the gent I was talking to, and who I quoted above, was George Fernandes; I met him in the Pune home of Suresh Kalmadi; Honest George was campaigning for Kalmadi at the time and much of what he said then made eminent sense.
Still does, as a matter of fact.
Here is the interview: 'If my father is a rapist, I cannot, should not, defend him only because he is my father'
And now, over to you -- and your thoughts on how we celebrate our Independence Day.