Of Winners, Wave Rats and Whinos

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Of Winners, Wave Rats and Whinos
By Narayanan Komerath

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Posted by Amber G., on January 10, 2005 at 4:43
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Thanks so much for taking time to write it.
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Posted by Viren, on January 10, 2005 at 4:47
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->  This whine (by Mothership of the DFYI) takes the cake: "The Communist Party of India-Marxist, in the latest issue of its weekly publication, People's Democracy, has darkly hinted that Black Sunday was god's retribution for the people voting the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance Government to power in two successive elections and keeping it in office for six years" Source: http://us.rediff.com/news/2005/jan/10kanch.htm
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Posted by Vijay Ashar, on January 10, 2005 at 9:15
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->  Wonderful account of the Anatomy of Tsunami Relief--both its healthy and vibrant aspect as well as diseased and decrepit aspect. All Indians must take the trouble of making themselves and others aware of these facts, and feel proud of the noble and selfless yeoman service of volunteers from such NGOs as IDRF, RSS, AIM for Sewa, Sewa International, Ammachi Brigade, Ramakrishna Mission, etc. With so many indigenous NGOs of such high spirit, vitality and calibre, why should we run to international or foreign-based organizations of dubious motives and credentials to give our charitable contributions to? Vijay
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Posted by veena shety, on January 10, 2005 at 10:35
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->A wonderful article. It confirms what indians always say "ghar chhota hua to kya hua dil to bada hai"<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

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Posted by Kaushal, on January 11, 2005 at 7:00
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Another meticulously researched gem from our friend Narayanan K. Keep up the good work, N3.
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Posted by Veera Vishnu, on January 11, 2005 at 9:18
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Excellent and hard hitting article, N guru! Keep 'em coming...
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Posted by VIJAYABHASKAR REDDY, on January 14, 2005 at 12:38
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Good One Narayanan (n3). VIJAY (AKA MANJU)<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

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Posted by Rajiv, on January 15, 2005 at 12:32
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Well researched and wonderful article. Keep up the good work, Naryanan.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

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Posted by Vasu, on January 17, 2005 at 9:34
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Thanks for such a thorough article, Narayanan!
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Posted by Amber G., on January 19, 2005 at 2:10
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->More rats fool editors of newsday and Baltimore Sun etc.. . Here Editors of newsday make fool of themselves by a bunch of crooks..http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/bal-te.md.rivals18jan18,0,214173.story
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[narayanan]

Gentlefolks:


Below is a correspondence with an esteemed reader of the above article. Please note that it was said reader's choice to go sort-of behind my back and complain about "False accusation" etc. to someone to try to damage my ability to publish stuff - and has not taken the opportunity to back down from that when faced with the facts. So I maintain that this gent forfeited any expectation of privacy in this correspondence.

Here goes:



<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->- Jayaram Venkatesan <XXXXXX@yahoo.com> wrote:
Dear Editor,

In the article 'Of Winners, Wave Rats and Whinos', the author has wrongly accused AID India. I would like you to post AID India's response to the false allegations in the following link

http://www.aidindia.org/AIDRebuttal/
Thanks
Jayaram
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[narayanan]

To which the IndiaCause Editor replied:

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Hello,

if this is to be published on IC, this has to come from an AID authorized person in MS word file. more details here:

http://www.indiacause.com/IC_WriteFor.htm

I have copied this mail to the author of the original article.

thanks <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[narayanan]

Apparently the dear reader had not considered the possibility that the Editor of IndiaCause would pass that email on to me instead of believing AID totally. How shocking of the Editor! <!--emo&:eager--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/lmaosmiley.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='lmaosmiley.gif' /><!--endemo-->

I did not realize this, which I why I was genuinely puzzled when I asked the reader to explain himself.



<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Dear Mr. Venkatesan:

You state that

"In the article 'Of Winners, Wave Rats and Whinos', the author has wrongly accused AID India."

Kindly provide exact details. I don't recall feeling anything but admiration for the DYFI people who were reported as doing the grassroots work - so I don't believe I had any intention of criticizing them.

Please specify exactly what I wrote that was "accusing" of AID India, and if so, what was "wrong" about that. If indeed there were errors, I will be glad to see how I can correct or make amends in a follow-up article. Absolutely no intention of wrongly accusing anyone - least of all those who do true social service in India!

Best regards

narayanan komerath <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[narayanan]

Here comes the convoluted "complaint":



<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> narayanan@XXXXXXX
Cc: XXXXXXXXXX@yahoo.com
Subject: Clarifications
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2005 15:41:09 +0000 [View Source]


Prof. Narayanan,

Thanks for your email. Your article states that

'The DYFI and the SFI, listed as �principal mass organizations� of the Communist Party (Marxist) of India, profusely thanked AID-India for the free flow of funds to them'

'In a seamless integration of dishonesty and poor taste, AID baldly denied that any funds were going to the DYFI'

The author of the article (linked by you in your post) on Rediff.com, Mr. Amit Varma has never mentioned any such thing. This is pure distortion of statements. Mr. Varma has not explicitly mentioned that AID funds DYFI. The ambiguity in Mr. Varma's article has been clarified by himself.

AID has never been dishonest to anyone, be it our donors or the organizations we work with for providing relief and rehabilitation.

The AID Rebuttal link was sent to IndiaCause.com editor because it clearly states that AID has never sent any funds to DYFI and also contains Mr. Amit Varma's blog link where he has provided clarification of his article.

I have quoted his clarification below :

"I had written: 'DYFI suffers from the drawback of not having a high profile and, consequently, having rather low funds. But AID India takes care of that.' This was taken by many people to indicate that AID India funds DYFI, which is not true. AID India does not fund and has never funded DYFI, which was something that A Ravishankar, one of their key functionaries in Chennai, had told me during my trip. Instead, by including DYFI volunteers in their relief umbrella, AID India enables DYFI to play a more productive role in the relief work than they otherwise would have been able to. I felt the need to clarify this because there's been too much controversy recently about AID India's relationship with DYFI. Frankly, I think it is all a fuss about nothing. AID India have set certain objectives for themselves in terms of socal work, and using DYFI's manpower can help their achieve those goals. I am strongly opposed to communist parties like DYFI in the political and economic spheres, where I believe their naive and misguided ideas can cause a lot of damage. But in terms of social work, they do a fantastic job. That is the only sphere in which AID India associate with them."

http://indiauncut.blogspot.com/2005/02/pol...ocial-work.html

Here is AID's answer to your question of removing DYFI references from AID website.

http://www.aidindia.org/AIDRebuttal/#_&#65...533;:_Borrowing

Hope I have clarified what was wrong in your article. I would appreciate if you could post a clarification in the IndiaCause.com website retracting your negative comments about AID. While I completely laud your efforts to acknowledge the good work done by various groups for the tsunami relief, I strongly urge you to verify and research facts before slandering AID, or for that matter any credible organization. As people engaged in higher education and research, you as well as I know the power of knowledge and the associated social responsibilty.

The years and years of hardwork and dedication of hundreds of AID volunteers in US and in India has given AID a position of trust and credibility with our patrons. We would never let a few misguided individuals derail our efforts. I request you to not encourage such people by spreading their slander about AID.

I thank you for writing about many many selfless volunteers and organizations doing relief work.

Together we can make a difference !

Regards

Jayaram Venkatesan <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[narayanan]

Now that was certainly intriguing, but equally unclear. So I asked again. After all, if one is to "retract" and apologize, etc., one had to know WHAT to retract, hey?



<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Dear Shri Venkatesan:

Thanks for narrowing the scope of what you object to, but I must still ask for precise clarification. First, thank you for referring to me with a "professor" designation, but Shri Narayanan will do just fine. I assume that it is likewise OK to call you Shri Venkatesan, not as Electrical Engineering Graduate Student J. Venkatesan, etc. I will assume that you do not lack education, since you write so well.

I see elsewhere that you claim to have delivered medicines to the disaster area on your vacation. I commend that, and it is what motivates me to try to understand you unhappiness with an article which commended AID’s grassroots volunteer effort.

Your complaint apparently refers to the following:

"'The DYFI and the SFI, listed as ‘principal mass organizations’ of the Communist Party (Marxist) of India, profusely thanked AID-India for the free flow of funds to them'

'In a seamless integration of dishonesty and poor taste, AID baldly denied that any funds were going to the DYFI'

1. You complain that Amit Verma’s blog, which I hyperlinked, does not say “that” – but not what about ‘that’. Obviously I wasn’t trying to repeat, or hide, what Verma said, and your allegation of "distortion" is grossly uncalled-for. <b>The purpose of hyperlinking in an Opinion Column, is to let readers read PRECISELY what the link says, at one click. </b> People don’t read things that are just referenced in the endnotes. I did not hyperlink the authoritative source on the nature of CPI(M) and DYFI. Unlike AID leaders, my focus was not on DYFI’s political lineage at such a time, but on their relief activities. If Verma is unhappy, he, not you, should contact me with proper identification, and explain why he is unhappy to have his BLOG publicized.

2. "profusely thanked AID-India for the free flow of funds to them”

I am going to assume that you are too smart to contest that. Clearly the DYFI has far better taste than AID's leaders, because they had the basic decency to show gratitude. Surely you don't want me to focus any more attention on that! All that remains then is:

3. "'In a seamless integration of dishonesty and poor taste, AID baldly denied that any funds were going to the DYFI "

Now what is your position, please?
a) That AID leaders did NOT deny that AID-collected funds were going to DYFI? That would be a lie, not just poor taste. They denied it very clearly.

b) That they are not bald? The term “bald denial” is a figure of speech unrelated to hair style.

c) That it was in good taste for AID leaders to write so contemptuously about the grassroots volunteers who were desperately trying to help their neighbors?

d) That it was 0% bad taste, but 100% dishonesty? I don't think so, and you seem to agree.

e) It was 100% bad taste and completely honest? Well... that’s an interesting interpretation of the word "honest".

I did NOT say that "AID is sending funds to DYFI". It was your bloggers etc. who led readers to believe that, very loud and clear, as long as you were soliciting funds. Presumably this was to make donors believe that AID actually had someone on the ground delivering relief, rather than 'blogging' and touring. I see <b>Verma admitting</b> now that his statements were interpreted by readers that way, to the extent <b>that DONORS COMPLAINED!</b>

Per your 'rebuttal', AID now confirms that:
a) AID lacked grassroots volunteers in India, but did not lack funds

b) DYFI could organize and mobilize plenty of volunteers in India, but lacked funds

c) It was a brilliant idea to put these two together, so that you had both funds to organize the volunteers and volunteers whom the funds could organize. <b>Verma makes it very clear that AID funds and DYFI manpower are complementary. </b>

From your own "rebuttal", quoting Verma:<b> "AID India have set certain objectives for themselves in terms of socal work, and using DYFI's manpower can help their achieve those goals."</b>

When your own donors started complaining, (as I read from Verma's "clarification”), AID humiliated the DYFI volunteers in public, while those poor guys were still out there braving fatal infections. I felt (and still feel) compelled to point out the injustice of that. After the DYFI had worked so hard, your leaders, sitting fat and happy in the US spending the overhead from the donors' funds, were (and still are) saying, in effect: "Yech! I don't like the party for whom the DYFI vote in democratic elections! I won’t give the DYFI of this money collected for relief activities!" It sickened me.  <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo-->

Now I can't tell exactly what percentage of that was dishonesty, vs. sheer bad taste, so I called it a "seamless integration" of those. Let me assure you, since you say you are in "higher education", that if you don't see what is less than honest in your organization's actions and statements, you have a SERIOUS problem. I believe your university has an “honor code” which may help you understand these issues, which are supposed to be learned in kindergarten, before you make some horrible error in front of people who are not as liberal and sympathetic as I am. I also do encourage you very strongly to take this up within your organization, and get leaders who are worthy of the grand name: "Association for India's Development".  <!--emo&:guitar--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/guitar.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='guitar.gif' /><!--endemo-->

The other “clarifications” and “corrections” came after my article appeared, and completely confirm that AID and DYFI are a tight fit. Perhaps reader comments caused AID leaders to start acquiring some glimmer of good taste (doubtful), but what they did in those hectic days was, well....   <!--emo&:flush--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Flush.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='Flush.gif' /><!--endemo-->

I tried to be as nice as possible, precisely because I recognized that the volunteers in the field, and the naive kids doing fundraising here, were innocent of this. It was the leadership's fault.

Thanks for the kind words about the rest of my article, and your sentiment that all honest desi fundraising organizations (and there are only a few) should work together for the good of our respective nations. I have always have agreed and worked very hard for that. However, this is hindered precisely because people like your AID leaders have these Caste Untouchability hang-ups and other superstitions about people’s voting preferences, place and family of birth, etc. etc, which leave people wondering about their standards of honesty even with themselves.

Get leaders who are honest and not driven by political greed, who understand the basic standards of humanity needed for a truly Secular (not Communist) and free India. I, as a donor to Indian-American charities, would be glad to see that.

Please do clarify your problem with the statements you have cited.

Best regards <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[narayanan]

Unfortunately, all I got was a sullen silence - which proved that the reader had no valid gripe, and that of course put an ENTIRELY new light on his actions. So, after waiting several days, I kindly gave him a decent opportunity to retract, apologize etc.

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Mr. Jayaram Venkatesan:

You have written to someone else (Editor of IndiaCause) accusing me of "falsely..." without first writing to me. In doing so, you made a conscious, deliberate choice to make a public accusation. Obviously, being in "higher education", you were quite capable of searching for my identity on the internet, so there is no excuse for not writing to me first, if you had honest concerns.

What you did is a direct personal attack and slander. Obviously both the Editor and I have the clear, irrefutable proof of that - no amount of website squirming by you and your AID netas can save your hide there.

Despite these facts being obvious to me, I treated you with courtesy and respect, and I have been extremely patient and generous in giving you plenty of opportunity explain yourself. We have now established that you had no basis for your slander. Further, when cornered and asked to explain your complaint, you compounded your folly by accusing me of "distortion" when the facts prove that I had taken the trouble to point the reader to the exact sources. There is no way to believe that you were unable to figure this out for yourself before you made such an accusation. Again, you have failed to retract when this was pointed out to you.

It appears that your email to the Editor of IndiaCause was intended to pressure them to consider your organization's so-called "Rebuttal" published without considering its merits and accuracy if any. In the process you deliberately and callously abused my integrity.

Such conduct is unacceptable, and cannot go unpunished. It may be that you were acting on behalf of your organization, since you are a listed office-bearer of AID Cincinnati. That makes you and your organization liable for your actions.

Your grossly unethical, hostile and malicious conduct has succeeded in erasing any goodwill I had towards your organization. Such conduct deserves to be exposed - the public needs to know what you and your organization represent in reality.

In view of your youth and apparent lack of good sense, I am giving you the opportunity to retract and apologize. I suggest that you take it while you have it - in other words, immediately. Be clear, please. Thanks.

Regards <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

Well done <!--emo&N^3--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/n3.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='n3.gif' /><!--endemo-->. <!--emo&:cool--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/specool.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='specool.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-narayanan+Feb 25 2005, 02:38 PM-->QUOTE(narayanan @ Feb 25 2005, 02:38 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->
<!--QuoteBegin--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->- Jayaram Venkatesan <XXXXXX@yahoo.com> wrote:
Dear Editor,

In the article 'Of Winners, Wave Rats and Whinos', the author has wrongly accused AID India. I would like you to post AID India's response to the false allegations in the following link

http://www.aidindia.org/AIDRebuttal/
Thanks
Jayaram
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--> <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
ASHA and AID displayed sabdung's report on their websites and pushed it in their email lists and didn't bother to post the response from the other side.

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-narayanan+Feb 26 2005, 03:40 AM-->QUOTE(narayanan @ Feb 26 2005, 03:40 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin--> Unfortunately, all I got was a sullen silence - which proved that the reader had no valid gripe, and that of course put an ENTIRELY new light on his actions. So, after waiting several days,  I kindly gave him a decent opportunity to retract, apologize etc.

<!--QuoteBegin--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Mr. Jayaram Venkatesan:

You have written to someone else (Editor of IndiaCause) accusing me of "falsely..." without first writing to me. In doing so, you made a conscious, deliberate choice to make a public accusation. Obviously, being in "higher education", you were quite capable of searching for my identity on the internet, so there is no excuse for not writing to me first, if you had honest concerns.

What you did is a direct personal attack and slander. Obviously both the Editor and I have the clear, irrefutable proof of that - no amount of website squirming by you and your AID netas can save your hide there.

Despite these facts being obvious to me, I treated you with courtesy and respect, and I have been extremely patient and generous in giving you plenty of opportunity explain yourself. We have now established that you had no basis for your slander. Further, when cornered and asked to explain your complaint, you compounded your folly by accusing me of "distortion" when the facts prove that I had taken the trouble to point the reader to the exact sources. There is no way to believe that you were unable to figure this out for yourself before you made such an accusation. Again, you have failed to retract when this was pointed out to you.

It appears that your email to the Editor of IndiaCause was intended to pressure them to consider your organization's so-called "Rebuttal" published without considering its merits and accuracy if any. In the process you deliberately and callously abused my integrity.

Such conduct is unacceptable, and cannot go unpunished. It may be that you were acting on behalf of your organization, since you are a listed office-bearer of AID Cincinnati. That makes you and your organization liable for your actions.

Your grossly unethical, hostile and malicious conduct has succeeded in erasing any goodwill I had towards your organization. Such conduct deserves to be exposed - the public needs to know what you and your organization represent in reality.

In view of your youth and apparent lack of good sense, I am giving you the opportunity to retract and apologize. I suggest that you take it while you have it - in other words, immediately. Be clear, please. Thanks.

Regards <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--> <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--emo&:lol:--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='laugh.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:rock--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rock.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='rock.gif' /><!--endemo-->