Wow !!! Congress faces funding crisis ...

As I opened the morning papers ...I was delighted to see Business Line reporting that ' With big business tap shut, Cong faces funds crisis'. What a wonderful news !

Nobody pays you when you can't work for them anymore - and certainly not business men. Donations to political parties are investments ...or protection money or both. So, it is natural that the Congress will find no money from big business ...who clearly see that this party will be unproductive for atleast the next five years. But businesses keep on investing ...and logically now, money is flowing somewhere else.

But, think a little more and we immediately realize that if only the congress party had relied on people directly for funds, it would be unlikely that they would be facing such a crisis....small granular contributions don't dry up easily . We are told that the Kerala unit of the party does it....and the Congress has a strong presence and now weild power in the state. But, if they had indeed done it across the country , the Congress would have worked hard to ensure that they serve the people - who would have been their paymasters. In part that explains why politicians in Kerala are -at least outwardly - humble and accessible .

When big business is your paymaster , you do what they bid you to do....but you can throw your weight around and ride fortuners and boleros. You sell the idea that big business and big investments naturally mean development and welfare. To aid you in this proces is the big media (also owned by big business ). And , when it is election time, when it is big money that is supporting you, you can buy votes.

Coming back, we realize and it is obvious there is big business money that has now flown into the saffron party ....and hence it is natural that we will see pro-big business policy action by the government...and naturally all these need not be pro people. One of the first evidences of this is the Land grabbing ordinance...and other such ordinances. Unless the saffron party actually broad bases itself and approaches people directly, we can only see policy for big business and preachings for the people....broad basing will require a humongous effort and change in mindset - which is unlikely.

Over time, I don't expect the saffron party to be any different from the hand that passed on the baton of governance to it, for, as they say ,  எல்லாம் ஒரே குட்டையில் ஊறிய மட்டைகள் (they are all from the same marsh).

Interestingly, this probably explains why the AAP , which has not raised money from big business yet (that two crores is small change when compared to donations for other parties and even they don't seem to be from any big corporate house), is labelled as left of center, the emerging left, extreme left and what not.

Parties know that big money is hot money and as long as they pursue policies that favors big business, and also sell it people as reform and development, they will be able to swim in it. When polices don't come forth or when people don't buy the story ...the model collapses. We are delightfully seeing it happen to the Congress and I hope it happens to the saffron party as well. I hope that this model collapses so many times that parties dump it once and for all. Only then will we have true democracy ...until then we will have to suffer this kleptocracy.

அரங்கத்தில் அம்மா Money திட்டம் !

அழகிரி அங்கென்னா
அரங்கத்தில் அம்மாங்க - நம்மள
அம்மாவும் அய்யாவும்
மாறி மாறி ஆண்டாலும்
கட்சி கொடி கலருலதான்
வித்தியாசம்  இருக்குங்கோ !
கொள்கையெல்லாம் ஒண்ணுங்கோ..
அது ...
"ஆம்புட்ட வரை அள்ளுங்கோ" ...
கணக்கில்லாம அள்ளுனத
கணக்கு பாத்து தாராங்க
ஆளுக்கீராயிரம்
ஆளரவுங்க தாராங்க
ஆளாத கட்சியாரும்
ஐந்நூறு தாரங்க !!
கருக்கலில வாரங்க
கதவைத்  தட்டி தாராங்க !

ஆமா !

யாருங்கடா சொன்னது
PDS சொதப்பலுன்னு ....
இரண்டு பேர அனுப்புங்க
இங்க வந்து பாக்கட்டும் - எம்மா
கச்சிதமா நடக்குது இங்க
அம்மா money திட்டமுன்னு ...

ஆஹா !

எந்த மடையன் சொன்னது
சனநாயகம் நடக்குதுன்னு ?
வந்து இங்க பாக்கட்டும்
நல்லாவே வெளங்கிடும்
ஊரல  செழிப்பா  நடக்கறது
பணநாயக ஆட்சியின்னு ..

AAP win : Hard work, aided and abetted in no small measure by the BJP

Call them naxals, anarchists , the mango people or the zamanaat zapt party or call their leader muffler man or a quitter or whatever, the fact - and yes , it is real hard for a lot of people to swallow is that the man and his rag tag team has won 67 constituencies i.e, 95% of the seats with 54 % popular vote . Now Delhiites are portrayed as nuts, people who don't understand basics, how the national capital is populated by people who want freebies etc and some have even told that they are anti-national !!! Whatever ...a lot of people think that Delhiites usually exhibit a level of confidence that borders on arrogance - and yes they have given the AAP a confident 'Yes' and the BJP an arrogant 'No'.

AAP :......This party quit running the state - or a glorified municipality as some call it -  in 49 days ( although it was on principle), much to the irritation and anger of people who voted it in. People naturally felt cheated. It looked like these fellows are capable of only dharnas - and not of governance. They were reduced to rubble in the parliamentary election and ended up looking like jokers contesting in 400 seats and losing deposit monies in over 90 of them . And though they managed to actually increase their vote share marginally and sent 4 people to the parliament, a lot of us wrote them off. At least I did.

Kejriwal was a butt of jokes...and AAP were labled as AAP tards...its sympathizers labelled as anti nationalists - the logic for which was simple. You wont want to do anything with a scam ridden Congress - and so you have to be with the only alternative the BJP- and being with BJP was being nationalistic and if you are against it, you are anti-national. The media had shifted its focus off to more interesting things ...Modi and the BJP.  And in what seemed as perfect master stroke, Modi pulled Gandhi from the Congress and the broom from AAP and launched the Swacch Bharat Mission. ... For most of us it looked that the AAP was a failed experiment for others it was thankfully a failed experiment. From there to bounce back with such a massive majority ...it no mean act.

To my mind this is a combination of AAP's own effort and the huge effort put in by BJP.

I am personally pleasantly surprised by the way Kejriwal made a comeback. If you had faced failure, you will know that failure can be very painful..and a massive failure combined with huge amount of ridicule can kill people - or their morale. Pulling up from that level must have been really really tough. And going around asking forgiveness and seeking another chance is not something is easy. And motivating and keeping together a bunch of people who came together kicked by an idea to form a fledgling party that  subsequently faced a rout - would have been a stupendous task.

These guys actually went about doing that...they reached out to people, connected with them in a way that no politician has done in the recent past. The volunteer force which was basically a group of rag-tag , disorganized group was slowly built into a structure... This connect with people helped the party to clearly identify priorities, think of solutions and come up with a clear action program as a manifesto. From a party that was identified with a middle-class that was disenchanted with corruption and obsessed with a Jan Lokpal etc ..they moved wider and deeper, linking up with the urban poor - without upsetting the middle class. Their manifesto is well thought out and actionable. They spoke of development with equity in the Mohalla meetings... So what helped the AAP was

1. Kejriwal going out and saying sorry for quitting and seeking another chance
2. The paanch saal Kejriwal slogan ...that was an assurance that they will not quit this time
3. A better organized structure 
4. A longer preparation time (in part granted to them by the BJP)
5. An ability to connect with people across various classes
6. The memory of the 49 days rule when power tariff was lower , water was free and petty corruption disappeared ...Yes this did seem to have mattered ...if at all , this was the only proof of concept that the AAP could talk of. 
7. A clean, and man- next door image. 

But then, the BJP contributed to the victory in no small measure.

1. They stretched the time for election to over 8 months ...giving valuable time for the AAP to reorganize and rework. It was plain stupid to do that. 
2. The 4 M strategy - Modi, Money , Mud and Majoritism just did not work. Modi was not able to connect with the people. The 'Move ahead with Modi' story is no longer exciting enough. The massive contingent of MPs and Ministers campaigning - just showed that the party was getting jittery. The mudslinging and mid night hawala etc failed again as it backfired terribly. It only made Kejriwal stronger... people clearly saw that this as a smear campaign. And I guess nobody was bothered about Majoritism. 
3. Lack of clarity and then a wrong CM candidate . First they ran 'Vote for Modi sarkar campaign' - with Modi as the face and when the first rally failed, they removed Harsha Vardan who was the familiar face and imposed Kiran Bedi... Bedi was a terrible mistake. She managed to rub both the voters and the party folks on the wrong side. She was seen as a turncoat ( and she indeed is. Till yesterday she was saying that she was a responsible person ....blah blah and today, she quickly said that it as she has given her 100% , the party will need to introspect for the defeat)
4. And there was over exposure of Modi , on photos, in posters,  in news papers , over the radio ....just all over ..it was just Modi Modi Modi..... Modi appeared to be almost narcissistic - with name-stripped coats and all that. The party is just refusing to grow up.
5. An all talk and no concrete delivery track record for the last 8 odd months - for the people who mattered. For the man on the street, it was all vague announcements and pronouncements ...nothing else.
6. An aggressive pro-big corporate image that the BJP created - with the Land Grabbing ordinance ...sorry Land Acquisition ordinance , changes to labour laws etc... Well that clearly showed that growth trajectory that BJP was taking was not inclusive. 
7. The BJP did not paint itself in glory with all the ghar wapsi dramas that the sangh parivar enacted ....and psychotic blabber from some the parties MPs....it clearly alienated the minorities...and moderates . And with the Congress giving up even before the election, they moved to the AAP. ...(and AAP did the smart thing of rejecting the Imam's support - else it would have given the BJP a chance to play the majoritism card).
8. And finally, nobody wants a lecture on culture, lifestyle and dressing, on the number of children you have and where to send thrm to etc ...least of all a Delhiite ....and the BJP MPs..not just the Sangh and its gang went about just doing that ...playing moral police. 

When Modi addressed the rally in Delhi, he said 'Jo Desh ka mood hai - wahi Dilli ka mood hai'... In time, the converse will also be true.. Wonder if the party will introspect ( as Bedi wanted it to do) and rework its strategy.

The ordeal of attending wedding receptions

If attending wedding ceremonies is futile - attending wedding receptions is an ordeal - actually a series.

The first problem is finding a gift. I never realized that finding a gift is a problem , till some years back - when my friend confided that he normally re-packed and re-'presented' gifts that he received...."What do you do with 17 wall clocks, 8 pairs of watches , a dozen Milton Casserole hot packs and a half a dozen flower vases?" - he asked. Ever since he made this startling 'disclosure' - it has been my challenge to find a gift that does not get re-packed and re-presented. For a while thereafter, I thought I got over this problem by getting gift vouchers or gift cards...till another friend to whom I had gifted a gift-card for his wedding called me about a year later to say that the card's validity period had expired and wanted know how the validity period could be extended !!!. I then decided to ask the 'inviter' what they wanted . Some have been helpful...but not all. So....the problem still remains...

If after some mental wrestling and walking up and down several stores, you finally manage to find a gift that wont get re-'presented' (that is , if you are really concerned about it) and go to the wedding reception, you encounter the next problem. - actually a question and that is when to reach ?. If you reach early - you have a problem and if you go late - you have a problem.

It took more than a couple of instances for me to realize that punctuality is not a virtue when  it comes to attending receptions. Whenever I had gone to the reception hall on time - I would realize that I was usually the only soul there...people would start trickling in quite some time later. And whenever I checked, I was told that the bride and the groom had gone to the parlour !!?!  Men going to parlours sounded obnoxious and unmanly to me - for,  those were the days when there were no 'Naturals' or 'Green trends' and the term metrosexuality was not yet in vogue (people are now saying  that metrosexuality is giving way for 'spornosexuality'...whatever that means) ... After a while, the couple would walk in - both made-up in the parlour beyond recognition...with the girl usually more un-recognizable of the two. The groom would have his hair looking wet, with a coat of powder on his face and the girl would have her hair (I guess it is mostly wigs) done up with plastic pearls pinned up here and there, hair and wig , all swirled around. The greatest damage would be to the face - with all colours ( matching with her saree) applied above and below her eyes, a garish lip stick, several coats of paint ... oh ! ...terrible. !!. Further, ever since the days of Hum Aapke Hain Koun - or about that time, it is become a norm that grooms in Tamil Nadu should wear richly brocaded sherwanis for wedding receptions and the bride should wear a gaghra choli or a glass and stone embroided saree - even if the reception is in Omalur or Puthanampatti....(call it cultural penetration if you want to) ...I have always wondered if they ever got to wear the sherwani another time.... Anyway - the point is - if you go early - you will have to wait.

And if you go a bit late, apart from the trouble of having to find a parking slot for your car, you will still have to to wait . You will have stand in a queue and wait to pass on the gift. A long winding queue it is. Waiting for the queue to subside is no panacea ...the queue only gets longer. After so many years of attending wedding receptions, I must admit that I haven't yet found out the exact time to enter the reception hall.

In the meanwhile if in the hall, you see some folks you know, you soon realize that you have to be an expert in sign language to be able to communicate with them. Reception halls these days are usually awfully noisy. Forget classical cutcheries - even soft and pleasing music has become a rarity . These days, it is a deadly cacophony of heavy noise - voice and instrument that masquerades as music. People who arrange for the reception usually make it a point to get some super-singer drop outs and the like to come , belt out some recent and no so recent movie numbers - of all kinds - yes - of all kinds - and tear your ear drums. You just can't shout beyond their 'notes' - and so communication within the community in the hall is purely non-verbal....You keep hearing that dun dun dun dun ..and some off-notes ...and soon, all that you hear is a 'koooooiiiinnnnnnn' sound in your ear.

You realize it is time and join the queue. When you finally manage to reach the dais and wait for your turn , over all the din in the place, you slowly start hearing things (probably your system has got used to the noise) ...interesting conversations that are spoken in loud voices. And they are usually of the following kinds : A man in late forties would usually asks the girl ...'Hi , Do you recognize me ?' - and the girl would quickly do some thinking and says ' Yes of course - I do Mama', and the gentleman would quickly correct her ' I am not your Mama - I am your Chittappa'.....( as if it mattered to the girl :) !... . And a little later, a Mami in early sixties would come, squeeze the grooms chin - and much to his discomfiture,  tell the girl ...'this boy was very mischievous as a kid' and would go on recounting some terrible goof up by the poor fellow. After all these people move, you get your turn . You say a big congratulations to the groom - while  he takes a lot of effort and introduces you to the girl ( you can be dead sure that she wont remember a bit of it) ...and they insist that they will want a visible proof of attendance - in the form of a photograph. So, you hold your breath, pull in your now-starting-to-show belly , freeze as a statue for the photographer to do the honours and carefully get down ...(thanks to the videographer's glaring light- you cant see anything for a while) ...

And then comes the next problem ...dining. The dining hall is usually overflowing and you wonder if people had come straight to the dining hall before going up to see the couple. While you wait to see if there is some kind of a queue there too, to your horror you see some people standing behind people who are having their food - waiting for them to get up...OMG !. Now you have decide if you can shun shame, stand till somebody gets up , to hop into the seat or if you should drive to some restaurant nearby for your dinner...And if you decide on the former,  in a jiffy you see a large plantain leaf spread out with some 23 items served on it ( I counted it once)...the mere sight of which fills your stomach...But if you have the fortitude to taste all that stuff , and by chance if you really want a second helping it is really tough ..the Uncle and Aunt who sat next to you would have already left and the hungry ones would have already started to occupy their seats...So , you wind up - wondering if you had a proper meal or not , walk out, pick up a beeda and move out.

இப்படி ஒரு திருமணவரவேற்பு  நிகழ்ச்சிக்கு போகலேன்ன என்ன ?  ...மக்களே !, don't take invitations for wedding receptions too seriously. If you care for the couple, call them up a few days later and convey your wishes. And if they are really your real near and real dear - call them over for lunch or dinner at home - or if you are confident of the quality of cooking at home , you may call them to a good restaurant...You can be sure that you are seeing the couple, your eyes and ears remain undamaged and they will also be a normal and relaxed. 

The futility of attending wedding ceremonies

Marriages are occasions when co-habitation is formalized....And because there are 'risks' associated in the process, divine and social sanction is sought by ceremonies - particularly in the prajapatya system of marriage ( Manusmriti lists 8 types of marriages - and these are brahmana, daiva, arsha, prajapatya, asura, gandharva, rakshasa and pisaka ).

In the 'good' old days, there was a higher emphasis on divine sanction....and probably because, mobility was not great, marriages would happen in houses or in temples. Marriage ceremonies would go on for about a week and in some cases even 10 days. Close relatives from far and near would come stay over and the entire place would be brimming with activity....and somewhere down the line - along with divinity and social sanction ( read 'community' sanction) , 'commerce', also got in. And as times changed (for better or worse - depending on how one wants to look at it), marriage ceremonies moved from houses to 'marriage halls' - chatirams , the number of days shrunk to two - and the usual post-wedding reception has in the last several years become pre-wedding reception. The size of the hall and its address have now become symbols of wealth...weddings are fixed after blocking the hall. Ceremonies have been cut to the bare minimum....and the emphasis has moved more to blatant displays of wealth, political connections and what not.... 

All this is still fine. You can call them socio-economic-religio changes..

In the recent times - well - not exactly recent...ever since the video camera  came in, there is a craze for recording the entire wedding rituals on the video. At one level I have always wondered if anybody would want to watch the video at all.....I mean , why will somebody want to see and re-live the memory of himself getting trapped ? Anyway, when you go to a wedding hall, you will see one or more video-graphers going around blinding your eyes with glaring light, freezing your picture in awkward positions and capturing all movements , from the time you enter to the time you have the feast. You don't even have the freedom of walking around - since there are so many cables running hither and tither that you will need to be really careful. 

And things have become worse of late. 

Well, one doesn't travel long distances just to eat the wedding feast...One goes to the wedding to shower some flowers and 'akshadai' on the boy and to pray that he gets divine help ( he needs a lot of it) for life thereafter. 

And, when you go to the hall, you see a stage on which one can easily count more than a few dozen people - mainly women - the heavier ones in traditional heavy Kanchivarams and bedecked with heavy jewelry, and the not yet heavy ones, with heavy make up ,'fashion' jewelry and flowing sarees, several children of varying ages , and few gray haired or dyed men - all clamoring for space, for a view and of course a lot of attention. Somewhere between all these people, the camera men, the priest and his assistant(s), lamps, pots and a havan, you see the poor groom sweating it out in a silk shirt (that is usually used just once in a lifetime) - with an already tired but beaming face (with no clue of what he is getting into). And the 'final' moment comes, when the boy is to tie the knot (and ironically get tied down)...,when the nadhaswaram reaches a crescendo...and lo and behold  you see nothing but posteriors of all camera men ( photo and video), everybody who thinks she/ he is a camera man and everybody else who has managed to fish out a smart or not so smart phone with a camera. ..Yes ..just all their posteriors ..nothing else... Senseless. You take some effort to go to the wedding - and get to see only people's posteriors. While somebody logs in to their fb account and sees the groom and the bride.  

And so Ladies and Gentlemen ! If the boy/ girl is not your immediate 'இஷ்ட மித்ர பந்து ' attending weddings is a futile exercise ...see the pair's pictures on fb , pray to the Almighty to bless them and be done with it. You would have saved yourself a lot of time , effort and the embarrassment of having to see  so many people's posteriors. 

Payment Banks - Will they make money ?

There has been a huge hype about payment banks. Some in the business media have said that these banks will be a boost to financial inclusion...look at telecom companies offering mobile wallets and white label ATMs they said.

I am very skeptical about this story of financial inclusion ...I don't think it will happen with Jan Dhan scheme ( I hear that 75% of the accounts opened have no balance and no operations ), or with payments banks or what ever... Financial inclusion can happen only with economic inclusion. But somehow, policy makers don't seem to be talking about it....

Lets us assume that these banks would help in financial inclusion, as policy makers would want us to be believe....the question that begs an answer is - will these entities make money and be sustainable as stand alone entities ? 

What these banks can do : 

i) Accept demand deposits ( current and savings bank deposits) upto Rs 1 lakh per customer 

ii) Payments and remittance services through various channels including branches, business correspondents and mobile banking

iii) Issuance of pre-paid instruments.

iv) Function as Business correspondents 

v) Apart from CRR,  all monies have to be held in SLR securities as investments. The capital adequacy ratio has to be 15% , which is not very difficult, considering that the risk weights in their exposure is negligible - but they the overall leverage ratio should not be below 5. The bank should also have a minimum capital of Rs 100 Crores at all times. 

But these banks cannot lend. And that means, they don't make any spread . The most important way that banks make money is hence gone. And that means, they will have to rely entirely on their ability to charge customers for using their payment systems to make money. While that is possible, will they be able to actually generate enough business volumes to remain profitable is a big question....particularly, since all banks currently offer all that the payments bank can offer. 

First , I don't think people are going to just queue up to open accounts in a payments bank ? Why would they ? As these banks cannot lend, their ability to pay interest on savings accounts is going to be limited...so why will somebody shift ? 

Second, the expectation that POS terminals in Kirana will start functioning as ATMs ( the payments bank can offer cash-out at POS terminals) is a wildly optimistic one - at least in the forseeable future. 

Third, I also don't know what additional benefits would be available for an existing telecom companies offering mobile wallets or the white label ATMs by becoming a payments bank. In-fact, RBI has prohibited telecom majors from using their existing channels for the payments business - and  so, even if there were players interested, they would now have a contend with the cost of setting up a new channel for this business....

Fourth, while the payment of subsidies and benefits may move to banks, it is unlikely that ALL cash transactions between individuals will move into banks. In-fact the recent move limit free transactions over the ATM and to charge for it, will only increase the use of cash....I am already hearing of people drawing out a big chunk of their salary as soon as it is credited !

I don't think stand alone payment banks will be sustainable. I will be surprised if commercial entities will evince interest in this - with the current guidelines. If at all there is any entity that may be interested, it can be India Post. But, although there will be a large HR policy rework that will be required, I think India Post should work on a becoming a full fledged bank - not just a payments bank. 

The myth of being a Brahmin by birth : III

After negating the soul, the physical body, birth ( caste), karma and dharma as being causes of Brahmin-hood, the Upanishads explains who is a Brahmin.

तर्हि को वा ब्रह्मणो नाम । 

Who indeed then bears the name ( designation) of Brahmin ? 

यः कश्चिदात्मानमद्वितीयं जातिगुणक्रियाहीनं षडूर्मिषड्भावेत्यादिसर्वदोषरहितं सत्यज्ञानानन्दानन्तस्वरूपं
स्वयं निर्विकल्पमशेषकल्पाधारमशेषभूतान्तर्यामित्वेन 
वर्तमानमन्तर्यहिश्चाकाशवदनुस्यूतमखण्डानन्दस्वभावमप्रमेयं
अनुभवैकवेद्यमपरोक्षतया भासमानं करतळामलकवत्साक्षादपरोक्षीकृत्य
कृतार्थतया कामरागादिदोषरहितः शमदमादिसंपन्नो भाव मात्सर्य
तृष्णा आशा मोहादिरहितो दम्भाहङ्कारदिभिरसंस्पृष्टचेता वर्तत
एवमुक्तलक्षणो यः स एव ब्राह्मणेति शृतिस्मृतीतिहासपुराणाभ्यामभिप्रायः 
अन्यथा हि ब्राह्मणत्वसिद्धिर्नास्त्येव ।
सच्चिदानान्दमात्मानमद्वितीयं ब्रह्म भावयेदित्युपनिषत् ॥
॥ इति वज्रसूच्युपनिषत्समाप्ता ॥
He who succeeds in perceiving directly the self without a second like an amalaka (gooseberry) fruit in the palm of his hand, who is devoid of (the distinction) of caste, gunas ( or trait) and action,
(who is devoid of ) all the faults such as the six imperfections (old age, death, sorrow, delusion, hunger and thirst) and the six states of being ( birth, existence, growth, transformation, waning  and perishing), (who is) of the nature of satya-gnana-anandha-anantha (truth, knowledge, bliss and infinity), who is independent (or self existent) , without determinations ( nir-vikalpa), but the base for infinite determination, (who) exists in all as the indwelling spirit, (who) is within and without of all like the akash (ether),  (who is ) of the nature of indivisible bliss, immeasurable, known only through ones direct experience, (who ) manifests himself directly as truth, (who) has successfully overcome such imperfections as desire and passion, (who is ) filled with the riches of tranquility, (who ) has eliminated from his being such states as envy, greed and infatuation, (who)  lives unaffected by such things as ostentation and egoism - these aforesaid qualities make up a Brahmin.

This is the opinion expressed by all the srutis (Vedas), smritis (religious books), Puranas (ancient lore) and the Ithihasas (historical works). There is no other way to attain Brahmin-hood. Meditate upon Brahman, the inmost Self, who is of the nature of truth, consciousness and bliss and who is without a second. Meditate upon Brahman, the very Self, who is without a second. 

This is the Upanishad.

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There are two main inferences of this Upanishad.

i) The first one is this - that it is not birth or circumstance which decides 'Brahmin-hood'. It is true that here are socio-economic differences between people that arise because of one's birth. Birth and context may hinder somebody from achieving a exalted social or economic status. But the Vedas clearly explain that the attainment of the exalted status of Brahmin-hood from a spiritual perspective is not dependent on any of this. Nobody is a Brahmin by birth ( and by extension , no one is born into a Varna). One becomes a Brahmin and anybody can. To claim 'spiritual' superiority based on birth is the most 'anti -vedic' thing a person can do. It is akin to calling the world (உலகம் / ஜகம் ) false or an illusion and in the same breath ,calling oneself the guru of the world (லோககுரு / ஜகத்குரு) - completely contradictory. 

That there is no difference based on birth was so clearly stated by Poet Tiruvalluvar , who said 

பிறப்பொக்கும்  எல்லா  உயிர்க்கும்  சிறப்பொவ்வா
செய்தொழில்  வேற்றுமை  யான் ( 972) 
All beings are born equal ( as one), diversities of work gives each his special worth. 

ii) The second one is that it is difficult to see how one can easily claim to be a Brahmin. One cannot claim or be certified as a 'Brahmin' in the true sense either by one's parents or by the State's Registration Department. Such a certificate is a mere caste or community certificate - not a certificate of one's Varna. From a strictly spiritual perspective, such a claim or certificate is at best spurious. The only true 'certificate' of brahmin-hood, can obviously be 'issued' by a fully realized soul / or by the Almighty ! So, how does one get to know this ? Whether one is a realized one of not , or one's inner experience of bliss, truth and tranquility can be known only to oneself and the Almighty !. But, a realized  soul experiencing God's grace or a true Brahmin can give only what he has - and will hence naturally be gracious to all beings. So, anybody who discriminates against another person, looks down on others, has greed, ego or hatred can never be a Brahmin that the Vedas extol. And this is so easy to observe. As Saint Poet Tiruvalluvar said 

அந்தணர்  என்போர்  அறவோர் மற் றெவ்வுயிர்க்கும்
செந்தண்மை  பூண்டொழு க லான். (30)
The Anthanar(s) are they who are truly virtuous ; because in their conduct towards all creatures they are clothed in graciousness. 

It is not that I am the first person to pull this Upanishad and present. A great many have possibly read it.  Several great people have time and again quoted / quoted from this Upanishad. And yet the myth of being a Brahmin by birth continues to be perpetuated and believed. 

It can  only be so either because these people who claim or believe to be Brahmins by birth 
i) Are ignorant or in some kind of delusion , in which case we can only pity them or let them continue to live in that state ....அம்மட்டில்  அவர்  மகிழ்க  !
and / or 
ii) Are desirous of using other's ignorance , in which case, we can only arm ourselves with knowledge and handle them.

We will also need to understand the true meaning of becoming a Dvija ( or a twice-born) , the Brahmopadesa , the wearing of the sacred thread or yagnobaveetham etc, about the authority to conduct worship in temples etc...and all these directly from the scriptures...