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opinion

epaper.dnaindia.com

Mumbai, Tue, June 6, 2006

Sniffing the coke trail

Ramesh Chandra Agarwal

Subhash Chandra

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Editor
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Vol.1 Issue No. 308

Printed & Published by M Venkataraman on behalf of Diligent Media
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R.N.I. No. - MAHENG/2005/15154.

Ever since the death of the

late Pramod Mahajans secretary Vivek Moitra and the
hospitalisationand subsequent arrest on Mondayof
his son, Rahul Mahajan, the
issue of the liberal use of
expensive drugs in high
society has come into focus.
Though chemical and other substances have
been used for mind bending for a long time,
it is only in the last decade or so that expensive, designer drugs have made inroads
into India.
The Delhi police are certainly to be congratulated for the swiftness with which they
picked up the drug dealers and peddlers allegedly involved in supplying narcotics to
Rahul Mahajans party. It can only mean one
of two thingseither the police have a terrific network of informers orand this
sounds more probablethe cops know about
the drug dealers of the city and knew exactly where to go.
The customers for such drugs are inevitably the rich, given how expensive they
can be. With growing incomes, India is said
to be a lucrative market for such drugs and
Mumbai and Delhi are where most of the
buyers are, giving a lie to the earlier official

line that India was only a transit point for

the drugs trade. The haul of 200kg of cocaine
in Mumbai on Sunday proves that.
The Mahajan case has shown that the
time for complacency is gone. Young people,
even if they are so far limited to the rich and
spoilt, have easy access to high-end drugs.
But drug abuse is also prevalent among the
middle-classes and the poor; indeed, users in
these segments suffer even more because
they have no recourse to expensive rehab
programmes.
Increasing drug use across all levels of society is a fact of life today. Moralistic posturing has no practical purpose here. What is
needed is a strong campaign to ensure that
everyoneespecially students and youngstersrealise how dangerous such drugs
can be. But most of all, we need effective
policing and strict implementation of
the law to ensure that dealers are kept off
the streets.
The alacrity shown in the present case
would be commendable if it leads to a crackdown on drug dealersand users, however
rich and powerful they may be. Often, the
initial fervour of law and order forces disappears once the spotlight is off a high-profile
case; it would be a pity if this happens this
time round.

VIPs must also queue up

Our politicians are a peripatetic lot. And they have
the knack of visiting exoticand cool-locales, especially
when the weather here is unbearably hot. Most often, if
not always, it is the tax payer who pays for these junkets, taken ostensibly to
study the experience of other countries, like
a team that is heading to Germany in time for
the soccer World Cup to look at the stadia.
As if that was not bad enough, these VIP
travellers, unlike us ordinary citizens, are
accustomed to landing in international cities
and being whisked through immigration and
baggage clearance by dutiful Indian embassy
officials. Indeed, in popular destinations
such as London and New York, the local Indian diplomatic mission becomes a kind of glorified travel agency to handle the travel and
logistical arrangements of visiting politicos
and mandarins.
Well, their passage will not be quite so
smooth in future. The ministry of external
affairs, mindful of the pressures this kind of
junketeering puts on diplomats, has introduced some sensible restrictions. No more access to first class lounges, no VIP immigration clearance and certainly no transport and

s utra...

Pramods sordid legacy

Drugs... destroy your memory and your

self-respect and everything that goes
along with your self-esteem.
Kurt Cobain

outside in...
Fear and mistrust rule Toronto
For many Canadians, the most understandable emotions this week are fear and mistrust, prompted by the stunning arrests late
Friday of 12 men and five youths on terrorrelated charges, allegedly linked with plots
to attack unspecified targets in Toronto and
across southern Ontario. The arrests
sparked front-page headlines, tarnishing
Torontos image as a safe city. The biggest
challenge for politicians and security forces
is to win the support of moderate Muslims.
Toronto police chief Bill Blair launched that
effort by meeting Muslim leaders from
across the GTA. For their part, Islamic leaders issued a welcome statement condemning
any act of terror.
Police are suggesting the alleged Toronto
cell is similar to those operated around the
world by a growing pattern of groups inspired by Al Qaeda.
However, there are two realities that must
be remembered by everyone who is interested in the safety and security of this nation.
First, all 17 who were arrested are innocent
until found guilty in a court of law. And second, if Canada is to fight those who want to
unleash acts of terrorism against us, we all
will be compelled to draw upon the best of
what Canada has represented over the
decadesdiligence and fairness.
The Toronto Star (Canada)

The struggle for Arcelor

The Arcelor affair has made for a most gripping drama. However this battle ends, it will
result in the biggest steel company in the
world. The directors of Arcelor should stop
trying to block the Indian businessman and
allow an open debate by their shareholders.
In January, Mittal Steel, controlled by the
Indian tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, made a surprise bid for Arcelor. Its directors, backed by
Luxembourg and France, reacted with
shameless invective. Arcelors chief executive, Guy Doll, dismissed Mittal as a company of Indians. Then, last week, Arcelor
produced a white knight, Aleksei Mordashov,
the head of Russias Severstal. Joseph Kinsch, the Arcelor chairman, declared that he,
at least, was a true European.
Mittal is not out yet. It raised its cash-andstock proposal by 34 per cent, and a contingent of Arcelor shareholders have called for
an extraordinary general meeting to block
the Russian deal. But the striking scenario of
two businessmen from rising economic powers competing for an old Europe company
speaks of globalisation on a new vector.
Its sad that the struggle for Arcelor has
been accompanied by such an unfortunate
dollop of racial slurs, because there are real
issues at play here. The directors and shareholders of Arcelor have a right and a duty to
explore the relative merits, motives and consequences of the proffered partnerships.
International Herald Tribune

CORRECTION: In our edition dated June

4, Page 3, in the article Its back to school
with a syringe, ME Yoelkar, dean of KEM
Hospital has been mistakenly called KEM
Medical Director ME Yolekar.

i nbox...
Party with a difference?
This refers to Gautam Adhikaris
front page editorial, In High Places,
in DNA (June 5) on the cocaine binge
involving the rich and the mighty. Rahul
Mahajan has proved that he is indeed
part of a party with a difference. For
a layman like me, the sordid episode
was a simple case of drug overdose
but I am appalled at Vajpayees defence
of Rahul Mahajan, saying such mistakes happen at a young age. Would
Vajpayee have reacted in the same
fashion if the young man, who is
Rahuls namesake, were to be from 10
Janpath? The apprehension among the
general public is that this case will be
similar to Jessica Lalls, even more so
looking at Apollo Hospitals vague
reports and the Delhi Polices failure to
register a case against Rahul. As the
editorial comment rightly said, the
media must play its true role to ensure
that facts are not fudged.
PR Kandikkal, Mumbai.

other facilities for all and sundry from now

on, especially if they are on private visits.
Indian missions will now be required to
confine their hospitality and facilitation only
to important state visits. The MEA has correctly pointed out that visiting dignitaries,
especially those on private jaunts, must look
after themselves. This is the practice followed by most western countries where
politicians and bureaucrats are expected to
find their own way around unless they are
part of a state delegation. The mission has
other, more important things to look after,
such as promoting Indias interests in a global environment. Handling VIP visits needlessly takes them away from their job.
The prime minister, who handles the MEA,
is a man known for his simplicity. Clearly, he
has encouraged this much-needed regulation,
which, if implemented to its fullest, will not
only reduce the burden on our missions but
will also go a long way in reducing the bloated
sense of self-importance many of our leaders
suffer from. It is shocking that in a democratic republic such as India, we still suffer from
the VIP syndrome that confers privileges on
our rulers. A good beginning has been
made on how they will be treated abroad; let
us hope this egalitarianism becomes normal
even at home.

Getty Images

An epidemic of caring
After 25 years of AIDS, the focus must be on the patient, not the disease
Abraham Verghese

A quarter-century ago this week,

when the Centers for Disease Control first reported the affliction we
now know as AIDS, I was a 25year-old medical resident. While I
didn't even notice the report at the
time, the milestones of my life
and medical careerand of thousands of other doctors like me
have since been inextricably tied
to the history of the virus.
By 1983, when I moved to
Boston to begin specialty training
in infectious diseases, I was well
aware of AIDS. Like so many
young doctors at that age and in
that era, I was caught up in the
conceit of cure: the hubris that
made us feel that science could
find an answer to most things. On
my first weekend on call at Boston
City Hospital I saw my first AIDS
patient, a man about my age, and
though I have since seen hundreds (perhaps thousands) of people with HIV, the image of his
anxious face is indelible in my
mind.
What followed over the next 10
years was a war, a long siege, with
many casualtiesevery patient I
saw would probably die from the
disease that brought them to my
office. The metaphorical veil of
shame and secrecy that travelled
with this virus tainted everything; being an AIDS doctor could
distance you from other doctors,
and even from friends.
When Robert Gallo and Luc
Montagnier (or Luc Montagnier
and Robert Galloa side story)
discovered the human immunodeficiency virus, it felt initially like
the siege had been broken. But in
fact, the blood testing that followed simply revealed the enormousness of the global problem.
My generation of infectious

II
Rahul Mahajan was carrying his fathers ashes for immersion in the
Brahmaputra. His doctor claims that he
was deeply depressed and on medication. Yet he partied. Vivek Moitra had often commented that he had lost a father
figure with the death of Pramod. Yet, he
too partied. Maybe they wanted to ensure that the departed soul rests in
peace. Such are the ironies of life.
Jayanti Shukla, Mumbai.

How long?
This is with reference to Minhaz Merchants sober views in A caste-less society in DNA (June, 5). He draws his conclusion in the brilliant background of
the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 and asserts
that since we cannot banish caste
overnight we have to make it caste-less
on the basis of EBC rather than OBC
quotas. I agree with him in saying that
quotas should be done away with. According to the provision in the Indian
Constitution, a period of 10 years only
was provided to uplift through free and

disease physiciansmost of us
male and heterosexualfound
ourselves transformed not just by
disease but by the unique population of patients we encountered.
We were more homo-ignorant
than homophobic. The battle left
us with a deep regret that it took a
disease like this for us to understand how much we could learn
from gay men.

People power
I watched with awe as gay
activists rattled the cages
of stodgy government
entities and got results
My patients taught me about
courage, about bravery, about organising for a cause, about dying
for one. They left me with an abiding conviction that has not faded,
the armor to shrug off the slings
and arrows of pettiness and malice that we all encounter: there
are bigger things at stake in life
than just your happiness or mine.
We became zealots for the
cause of our patients, even if zeal
was all we had to give. We had no
cure to offer, and so we began to
visit our patients in their homes,
at their deathbeds. Paradoxically
we discovered that our presence,
our promise not to desert our patients, our continued care brought
about a sort of healing.
I went at great personal cost to
the international AIDS conferences; I watched with awe as politics eclipsed science and as gay activists rattled the cages of stodgy
government entities like the Food
and Drug Administration, and got
results.
The men who died never lost
hope. But I did, as one drug after

compulsory education the standards of

the economically backward classes (IV,
45). But none of the objectives have yet
been achieved. How long would we allow
such party politics to play with our nation and its people?
MV Atre, Mumbai.

In the company of liars

The curtain raiser on the monsoons early
this week and the media expos on the degree of the citys unpreparedness shows
how the government, politicians and bureaucrats have lied about monsoon management in Mumbai. Do we deserve to be
governed by incapable bureaucrats?
Mumbai must decide. In the midst of
this, the BMC commissioner is set to take
up the plum posting of chairman of
JNPT. It is important that he be held back
and account for the work he has done or
not done to save the city from another
26/7. The new commissioner cannot be
made a scapegoat.
Anil Kalaga, Mumbai.
Letters: inbox@ dnaindia.net

another failed. I became a therapeutic nihilist. I did not think I

would live to see the day when we
had something that could really
control the disease. When that
moment came in America, with
the drug cocktails in the mid-90's,
I cried for all the patients I had
known who would never have the
Lazarus-like resurrections I could
now bring about.
HIV clinics changed. From being poignant settings full of brave
laughter in the face of great
tragedy, clinics were now all business. Don't get me wrongI would
not want to go back to the old
days. But once treatment was
available, the challenge seemed to
be elsewhere.
Today I see so many of us who
came of age at the same time now
have one foot in Africa or Asia, as
if we need the kind of challenge
we once faced here. Victories are
now to be won one child at a time.
I wonder now what I would
have done if I had known in 1981
that AIDS would be as huge as it
turned out to be. I am ashamed to
admit that I might have gone into
another field. Which is why I have
such optimism for the future, because I meet so many students and
residents now who, knowing the
magnitude of the problem, are
still going into infectious diseases.
I think perhaps that is the legacy of my patients, the legacy of
people from all walks of life who
toiled against AIDS when there
was no hope. My students seem to
know what we had to so painfully
learn: the secret in the care of the
patient is caring for the patient.
The writer is Director, Center for
Medical Humanities and Ethics,
University of Texas Health Sciences Center, San Antonio.

Swapan Dasgupta
ist who was generous in his conIf what took place in Delhis 7 Saftributions to the
darjung Road last Thursday night
BJP.
had happened a week later, the
The
second
Bharatiya Janata Party leaderdistortion was
ship would have found no hostriggered
by
pitable corner of India to hide
what he called
their faces. According to the chocadre building. It involved an
reographed script, Rahul Mahaelaborate network of private subjan was to travel to Assam on
June 3 to immerse his fathers
sidies to individuals who were eiashes in the Brahmaputra. On his
ther fiercely loyal to him personreturn, he would have announced
ally or were deemed useful in the
his decision to perpetuate
long term. The individual sums
Pramod Mahajans legacy and forinvolved werent necessarily stagmally join the BJP. A day or two
geringa little help with houselater, he would have been appointhold expenses here and help with
ed a vice-president of the partys
securing an agency there. These
youth wing. Rahul would have
were old Congress techniques and
been honoured for his greatest asPramod grafted them on to the
setbeing his father's son.
BJP. This process meant that the
By hosting a small rave party
party treasury became detached
before his initiation, Rahul blew
from a private war chest conhis chances. However, the misttrolled by Pramod.
imed celebrations provided the
It is not that Pramods parallel
BJP a small face-saver. At least
economy was unknown to the
Sushma Swaraj could claim that
BJP leadership. Indeed, many of
the death of Bibek Moitra and the
them gleefully plugged themhospitalisation of Rahul was a
selves into the network. Pramod
family tragedy that had nothing
had an uncanny way of identifyto do with politics
ing human weakand Atal Bihari Vajnesses and turning
payee could loftily
these into political
blame it on bad comopportunities.
He
pany and youthful Mahajan ran a
was ruthless and unindiscretion.
sparing in his attisystem prefaced
The disclaimers
tude towards those
are unlikely to wash. on money.
who he identified as
The latest misfortune Everything, he
obstacles in the path
of the Mahajan famiof his political adly has destroyed the believed, had a
vance. Even the top
posthumous halo con- price and could
leadership
didnt
ferred on Pramod and
want to get on his
brought into the open be managed
wrong side. He ran
the decadent underwhat at least two senbelly of an organisation that once
ior BJP leaders have described to
claimed to be the repository of ethme as a mafia operation.
ical politics. The sordid tale of inPramod ran a system which
dulgence is not merely an indictwas prefaced on money. Everyment of a lifestyle centred on easy,
thing, he believed, had a price and
unearned money. It is also an ineverything could be managed.
dictment of an entire leadership
Once an astute political mind, he
that chose to be either willing parended up reposing all faith in
ticipants or mute spectators to a
Mammon. Even elections, he believed, could be won by the necesperversion of public life.
sary deployment of resourcesa
There is no question that
misreading that cost the NDA the
Pramod had many things going for
2004 election and contributed to
him. Intelligent, articulate, witty,
the partys dismal showing in Asinnovative and, above all, pragsam in April this year.
matic, he was among the brightest
Money warped his vision and
sparks in the BJP. He fitted into a
it distorted his lifestyle. An atleadership role almost effortlessly.
Unfortunately, all these attributes
mosphere of unwholesome reckblended with a ruthless disregard
lessness permeated into the heart
for ethical niceties.
of the system he created. It may
Pramod first undertook fundor may not have triggered his own
raising for the party because, as
murder but it has certainly enhe once explained, someone had
sured that his sons political cato do the job. But money dereer was still-born.
voured him and became almost an
Last December, Pramod was
end in itself. He institutionalised
anointed Lakshman by the BJPs
a regime of quid pro quo with
most towering leader. Six months
leading donors on the pragmatic
later, the entire party stands displea that if you sleep with somehonoured by his epic legacy. What
one at night, you cant treat him
went wrong is well known. The
as a whore in the morning. The
BJP needs to ask why the wrongs
colourful imagery wasnt a
were knowingly condoned.
Pramod original; he was echoing
a prominent Mumbai industrialEmail: swapan55@gmail.com

Money matters

NYT

r eflexions...

Keeping the faith

Have you ever seen the eyes of the faithful on
a mission? The burning of the faith fire in
the form of patriotic zeal, religious reform or
scientific search has powered people in ways
unmatched. Neither the carrot not the stick
can compete with the momentum given
by something so intangible yet so powerful
as faith.
Faith exists in almost everyones life to
some degree. From going to the doctor, getting married, discovering new lands, inventing things or seeking God. Even science is
not free of faith. Most, if not all, of its laws
begin with a belief, a hypothesis that is either
proved later as truth or rejected outright. Not
so with religious faith.
God is neither proved nor disproved and
perpetually falls in the grey zone of belief.
Does intense and total faith imply that what
we believe is true? Do we create that which
we believe in or do we delude ourselves

and project the unreal phantoms of our

minds onto a reality that is independent of
our beliefs?
Civilisations have been built on a set of beliefs. Battles have been fought for the sake of
that which we believe to be true. This is truer
of religious belief. Scientists have rarely taken up arms over the atomic weight of an element. So, a scientific approach solves controversies. Perhaps even wars can be wiped out
if we acted solely on empirical evidence.
However, if we act only by that which is
proven and testable, then we may never act or
live because that leaves out much of life and
the world.
To some extent you got to have faith in the
concept of faith, as a prerequisite to knowing. On the religious path faith is the key that
opens doors to a divine reality. In the spiritual mind, myths, visions, prayers and stories
mingle to form the private inner world. How
much of this is true we can never know. The
secret is to have a balance of faith and doubt.
Neither be blinded by faith nor be so rigidly
against it that it shuts the doors to discovery.
Harvinder Kaur