COO of SpeakAsia, Tarak Bajpai detained

"But please tell us, how will we get back our invested money?", lamented one gentleman in Comments section of an article in the website of a prominent Indian News Channel. The article reported the detention of Tarak Bajpai, the COO of SpeakAsia. Like this guy above, there are many others who got lured by the promise of easy money. If the numbers are to be believed, there are about 20 Lakh panelists of Speak Asia, a scheme that pays money to its subscribers (panelists) for filling survey forms, online.

I empathize with this gentleman. Make no mistake, I being from a humble middle-class family, understand how it feels when hard earned money gets lost to a dubious scheme. However, truth be told, this money is not an investment. An investment happens as a result of researching a particular business model, an analysis of expected future cash flows, the profile and trustworthiness of the promoters of the business. On all these counts, money chipped in such schemes can not be called an investment. Even after doing all this research, you may end up losing some money in your investment. But not researching any of this, surely is not an investment. Yet this is not the first instance where a large number of gullible masses have lost their money to ponzi schemes, online lotteries, etc. Bernie Madoff is a living proof that people across the world, irrespective of their educational background can be lured into schemes that certainly are not investment.

A recent episode of a prime-time Hindi TV show "Tarak Mehta Ka Ulta Chashma" (coincidentally sharing his first name with COO of Speak Asia!), showed how Bhide (a middle-class Maharashtrian guy) got lured into an online lottery scam and almost lost his entire net-worth as well as his wife's jewellery. Fortunately, it was a serial that is known for happy endings. However, this is unlike life. In such instances, more often than not, life throws up rude shocks.

I sincerely hope, the guy above and many others like him, get back their money. But a lesson that is never learnt despite the numerous ponzi schemes in the past is that whenever some money scheme appears too good to be true, it most certainly is a fraud.

My Love For BJP formally ends today

Either Yeddyurappa must resign or the BJP government in Karnataka must go. An arrogant attitude from the party that is visible from its stance that Yeddyurappa will continue to be the Chief Minister, on the back of some very serious charges made by Karnataka Lokayukta, pertaining to the nexus with the mining brothers of Bellary means that the BJP does not provide any serious alternative to the corrupt Congress. It is lamentable that while Congress has provided the nation just 60 years of misrule and corruption of the worst kind, BJP ditched the very masses that hoped that it would provide a credible alternative to the Congress. Gradually it drifted from the moral high ground that it took during its formative years. But now it has reached a point at which there is absolutely no difference between the Congress and the BJP.

This comes from a typical urban middle-class guy who has always been a BJP supporter all the way since early childhood till Jharkhand alliance happened. Though, I thought that the alliance with Shibu Soren is just an aberration. But now with Karnataka, it is clear that the BJP is just Congress in Bonzai form. Given 50 - 60 years in power, its corruption may as well have been the size of Congress. The party is dead. Now all that I have is an admiration for certain few individuals in the party, like the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi.

The nation is in a hopeless state. An ordinary voter, who can think and have an independent view of his own based on what he thinks is national interest, has absolutely no choice to make between the BJP and the Congress. For those who can't think, they still have choices based on which party offers what to his/her religion, caste, creed, or language. I think it is these people who will influence the nation's politics. It is these people who will matter to the politicians of today.

I have already made up my mind for Lok Sabha 2014. I will cast my vote for an independent candidate from my constituency. No more BJP, no more Congress or any of their numerous alliance partners which by the way, keep changing every now and then. I hope some independents, supported by the Civil Society Movement take a plunge into politics. At least that will motivate people like me to go out and vote.