Silly
There's a lot of controversy about what Narayana Murthy said/did to the national anthem during President Kalam's visit to their campus in Mysore. Check here and here. Somehow the apology seems too hifalutin and hollow.
While a section of media is going bonkers proclaiming him to be the next president (I am sure Slimes of India would be there in this list, which by the way, has not even covered this whole incident), Cho Ramaswamy, as usual, gives a potent observation.
"Totally unconnected". Brilliant words, Cho.
Mr.Murthy, here is a sincere request to you. You are running a company. Please continue running it. If you want to retire, please do so. If you want to do something good, please look no further than your wife, for the kind of changes she is making in the lives of ordinary people. In case you want to come into politics, please contest elections. No empty rhetoric please. Thank you.
K.Shyam
Tags:
Infosys, 
Narayana Murthy
Posted by Unknown at 11:05 PM
11 Comments
well what can Murthy do if media projects him as a candidate? if media projects me, will I say no? should he become politically correct all of a sudden?
whats wrong with playing instrumental national anthem? even doordharshan does. will this country go to dogs if five pretty girls from infosys don't sing on stage. 'embarrassment' is infact not a bad choice of word. he didn't mean it as 'shame'. i wonder how Indians will sing 'star spangled banner' if Bush visits a s/w company in US.
Kannada media is stupid at best and xenophobic at worst. we shud ignore their rants.
balaji:
yennadhu idhu siru pulla thanama irukku ?
indians singing star spangled banner ? they are not going to sing in a mike. the national anthem must be played in the proper manner. what was his reason for playing instrumental ? assume he meant that it would be an embarrassment for us if the foreigners sing it wrongly. are we making them sing in front of mikes ? foreigner or not, you should follow the country's protocol.
think of this too. most south indians do not know hindi. however in all official functions, national anthem is played and we all sing along in whatever hindi we know.
it is plain and simple. he made a mistake. he did give an apology that sounded more like "hey i did no wrong here. shut up"
this is no rant and this is a fairly serious issue.
as for media projecting and stuff, that is not my problem. there is no scope for him to win it.
K.Shyam
Shyam,
I am kind of confused about the whole controversy!
I keep attending toastmasters meetings here in USA. In some meetings, people are very particular about the 'pledge of allegiance'. In most of these meetings, I am the only foreigner (alien, as immigration would say!). During the pledge, I just keep my hand at my chest (just like everyone else does), but keep quiet! Of course, nobody is going to hit me if I don't keep my hand in the chest! I do not want to hurt anyone else's feelings!
Now, why would Mr. Murthy feel that foreigners would feel embarrassed when National Anthem is played? In Olympics, the national anthem of the winner is played after each game! Does that mean International Olympic Council wants to embarrass the rest of the countries who are participating in the tournament?
Having said that, I strongly feel it was just a slip up from Mr. Murthy. The media is fond of blowing small things out of proportion!! Huh, haven't you seen them doing a GREAT coverage of the spat between Liz Hurley and her in-laws? As if, Liz Hurley's domestic problem is of national importance!!
Secondly, playing an instrumental of National Anthem is very much practiced. Long ago, I have seen in DD, Mandolin Srinivas playing the national anthem in one of the Republic day dinners and the honourable President and everyone else, standing in attention for that! I don't know whether it is legal or not. But when the President didn't question it, I would believe it is legal and allowed!!
Does the army/police sing the national anthem? Its always played on the band. No protocol was breached. The only controversy is because the media is so 'uneducated' that they didn't know how to interpret 'embarrassment'. and regarding his apology what else could he have said?
see the other news item on ibn today. Sachin's 'insult' to the national flag?!
funny national anthem is in Bengali! both my hindi/tamil don't help me to decipher some of the words.
if he doesn't become prez, he has nothing to loose. Cho's comments are equally funny. Was Kalam's views known on all issues? Infact it is Murthy's no-nonsense views on reservations, cauvery, infrastructre etc that have ruffled many feathers.
For a businessman, Murthy has been conscious of the society. I'm not saying he is the best candidate. Just that he is not a bad candidate. Anyday he is better than Shinde and Shekhawat.
Hello!
I am manoj!, I too love chennai but only by idling inside the ac room..
OK the issue is : Media expected NRN to behave in "Indian" manner- like all politians who issue a denial that they were Quoted out of context after the contraversy.
But NRN behaved in an "American" manner by telling 'sorry'
So the our 'illiterate and incompetant' media and jantha programs crashed and hell has broke loose with Nagaraj caliming NRN to be deported.
So this defect has to be fixed and someone has to raised the CR and work on it
Sukku: That exactly is my point. Why should we even think that some x,y,z would be embarrassed when we sing our national anthem ?
Balaji: I have nothing to say about the president issue. That is never my point here. That was just an addendum to the main issue here, which was his words/sentences.
Manoj: American manner by telling sorry ? Will America say sorry after all that they did to Iraq ? What is this fixation with America and anything American ? Even Europeans say sorry. Why, even Mexicans say sorry. Anyway, that is beside the point. There is a way to apologize. Simple. And there would have been no need to apologize if such statements were not made.
My closing point is this. Why do we even need to think about foreigners when we are singing our national anthem ?
K.Shyam
Hello Chennai_bengalooru guy!
NRN did a mistake in in explaining the non-vocal song to the 'incompetant& illerate' media.
I accept NRN company did the mistake of not playing the national anthen in the presence of the president..
But this should not repeat and he has said sorry.
We must have gratitude to accept his apologies and move on..
I agree with shyam. The issue is not whether they used an instrument or sang. It is the reason given: "foreigners would be embarassed, that's why we didn't want to sing" is what is causing the problem.
NRN's initial justification is wrong.. To be condemed
But also have gratitude to accept his following apologies and exit your program gracefully instead of crashing them.
Shyam,
Why are you bringing USA, Mexico, and Uganda (:-) well that is my addendum) here.
Would you apologize in case you make a mistake, if so i think u r still not late to apologize to the whole HPC and specifically to Guruji for the way you pretended to do you know wht......
Why not u lead by example ?
Dey akku/hpc gang;
Firstly, I have apologized many a time to guruji whenever I have slipped deadlines. So who says I do not apologize ? Ask guruji ;-)
And what pretensions ? If you are referring to that incident, well yes, I was not aware guruji was calling out to me ! And that, bugger, is a hard mother f*cking fact of life ;-) (pulp fiction !)
K.Shyam
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