Desiderata!

If you are wondering what it means... Its the latin term which means "Desired Things". This is the title of the famous poem by Max Ehrmann which starts "GO PLACIDLY AMIDST THE NOISE AND THE HASTE AND REMEMBER WHAT PEACE THERE MAY BE IN SILENCE".

I wouldn't call it a poem! Its a verse or a short essay (if the poet lived now, he would have blogged it!). I don't really know the purpose of this Poem. But some verses have touched me deeply! Both ways i should say! Some of it i agree... And some it i dont!

1) AS FAR AS POSSIBLE BE "WITHOUT SURRENDER" BE ON GOOD TERMS WITH ALL PERSONS!

Awesome statement. I've learnt a lot in life. Most of them love me...! Thats true.. But am not too sure if they LOOOVE me! they love me because I am usually on good terms with all... They don't LOOVE me because i surrender sometimes... It's in sync with the Rajinikanth principle.. be good to those who are good... and u know the rest!

2) DONT COMPARE, FOR ALWAYS THERE WILL BE GREATER AND LESSER PERSON THAN YOURSELF!

So true... We always live for someone else.. We compare! Our clothers, our food, our work, our body language and in some cases, what we want to be is determined by someone else.. Is'nt that disgusting! Its our life after all. We were made to be like this. We were moulded periodically but if there is a boss, then there will be an office boy. If not where is the organisation.!

3) KEEP INTERESTED IN YOUR CAREER HOWEVER HUMBLE!

Love this... Settled in a mofussil area, lots of well-wishers chide me for having ruined my life. Some say they need a "good" career. I seriously dont feel that there is anything bad about my career. I educate the uneducated at the rural areas, whereas most of them inform the misinformed on the urban areas! Good career has nothing to do with where one works but with how one works and what impact the work creates for a common man.

4) BE YOURSELF, DO NOT FEIGN AFFECTION!

Do you think it is possible nowadays? Most of us fictitiously provide immense affection. This reminds me of one of favourite school teacher who was absolutely straight forward. He is what he is, because of which he has seen the worst and best part of his life. This is like the Brutus dialogue in Julius Ceaser "There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats; For I am armed so strong in honesty, that they pass by me as the idle wind". Be true to yourself. Success would come some day. But later the better.

5) DONT BE CYNICAL ABOUT LOVE, FOR IT IS AS PERENNIAL AS THE GRASS!

Surprising! This is where the poet plays with words. The game that makes us misunderstandably understand the phrase. Is Grass perennial?? The normal dictionary meaning of perennial is "something that last for many year". Love does last more that what we understand perennial. Or maybe since he used "Cynical", he assumes it to be perennial... Poets and their words..!

6) NUTURE THE STRENGTH OF SPIRIT TO SHIELD YOU IN SUDDEN MISFORTUNE. BUT DO NOT DISTRESS YOURSELF WITH IMAGININGS!

If this is well understood by everyone, there would be no hyper tension and people would live at peace. Most of the problems in the world would be solved. But what is strength of spirit? It is not just the emotional strength. It is the strength of the inner self. Emotions are driven by what happens exteriorly. This is the inner self. And Talk about imaginings??? The super phrase which most of us use atleast 20 times in a day. Believe me.. We do.. if not utter, we think... "What if?" What if this happens, what if this happens... So many what if's and it does distress us!

7) MANY FEAR ARE BORN OF FATIGUE & LONELINESS!

We have all experienced this. But (with the sense of pride!) I have overcome this. Not just like any other individual, I have not gone where the wind blows, but I've endured the storm! Started practise all alone, and been handling immense pressure all alone. Lonely yet successful. It was indeed frightening. But that is what pushes me to complete the job. I'm sorry all you clustered corporate clans, you are not lonely, yet you are fatigued and ofcourse dead scared.

8) YOU ARE A CHILD OF THE UNIVERSE, NO LESS THAN THE TREES AND THE STARS, YOU JAVE A RIGHT TO BE HERE!

Yessss! This is my world. I own it... But why are some people destroying my world? That's because they have not realised that they are no less that the trees. They want supremacy. It will be defeated!

9) WHETHER OR NOT IT IS CLEAR TO YOU, NO DOUBT THE UNIVERSE IS UNFOLDING AS IT SHOULD!

I dont understand the purpose of the world. Why should there be a universe? Why mankind? But thats the way it is.. I'm reminded of verses from the Bhagavath Gita.. "Edhu Nadandhadho adhu nanragavae nadandhadhu... " I'm sure most of you know the rest!

10) WITH ALL ITS SHAME, DRUDGEERY AND BROKEN DREAMS, IT IS STILL A BEAUTIFUL WORLD! BE HAPPY. STRIVE TO BE HAPPY!
(My favourite)

The poet considers all three as unavoidable. The beauty of the poem lies here.
SHAME = We feel ashamed due to our thoughts or actions.
DRUDGERY = We do not choose drudgery. It comes to us.
BROKEN DREAMS = These our thoughs but have not come to us as an accomplished task.

Three different words and meanings but the association with each on of them is well handled!


This verse has been framed in my room. Don't really know how it would help me. But all I could do after reading this poem is.. "Strive to be happy!"

Mother Nature????

I am getting a little sick of this rainfall.. heavy is not the word. Its pouring literally... Just imagine 5 days of power cut... No transport. Managed to take the motorbike to office for a few days but it was terribly risky. The heaviest rainfall Nilgiris has ever seen. Things here are getting worse...

1) Over 100 deaths
2) 1800 people have lost their homes
3) Nilgiri Mountain railway would take 6 months to operate again
4) All access to Coimbatore and metros are cut
5) No fuel, so it comes from Mysore
6) People on the streets wit nobody to blame.

Something which was there yesterday is missin today. Atleast by gods grace no personal damage but most of my friends complaining... Their agricultural fields are just MISSING... Washed off.. acres of lands washed off. Something even more interesting but painful to digest. One of my close friends resort, very popular resort in the Coonoor Mettupalayam ghats is washed off. No trace of anything around. Most of my close associates have spend so many nights there..

1 km from my house there is (was!) a colony. Now all the houses are literally washed off.. around 200 people have been brought the village school. They are living with absolutely no hope of a better tomorrow. Its not just a social thought... Have given some relief material, but what else can be done... Some facts that has irritated me over these days..

1) BLAME THE GOVERNMENT

Why are they politisizing the aggression of mother nature?? The rainfall has been so heavy that every street and every path is badly runied. How many PWD staff can get the trees cut, or how many JCP machines can clear the land slides?? How can the n number of electric posts be set right when the entire district is in darkness, both in their minds and their homes? Its upto us to digest the disgust and let them do their duty. We are just sick of the blame game. One popular news paper read as "During J's tenure, there was no rainfall and no water but she provided undisrupted electricity... During K's tenure, there is abundant rainfall, but disrupted supply of electricity. Now what is your mandate? who would win in the next elections???" This is one of the dumbest things i've ever heard. I guess the press or even the people for that matter want the politicians to conduct some religious ceremonies to seek rainfall or electricity... This is just not happening.!

2) MEDIA JUST ENJOYS PAIN...! (As always)

I dont want to name the channel, but there was a show about the destruction in Nilgiris... clippings of the people crying, disgusted looks, relief operations, experiences shared by the unlucky as determined by fate of fact. To top it all,the channel claimed that it had evidence about the future destruction in an "Olai Chuvadi". Its the palm leaf where Thiruvalluvar wrote the Thirukural. It ia also believed (not by me) that good old sages had written about every individuals life. Its like the Nostradamus prediction but this one is for every individual. Strange though.. But this channel claimed it had this writing about the fate of nilgiris.. and will be destroyed by an earthquake and thats gonna happen very soon... Now See the impact of districts growth? All investors are going to pull out of our district. The richest sportsman, Dhoni also has a house and estate in Nilgiris.. whats with the media?? Im sure its going to affect the tourist inflow next season. Im also sure that the channels TRP inflow would have been an all time high..

3) POVERTY AMIDST PLENTY

There was some kind of announcement that some relief items were being distributed in my locality. I experienced something called the HALL OF SHAME.... The people who had comfortable houses, absolutely no damage, happy smiles and their children safe at some corner of the globe making money for big corporates to get richer, stood in the queues.. Something that brings tears... Is Relief a subjective term??? They interpret it the way they want. At one end, the affected people complain about not receiving adequate material.. Other end blood hounds collecting material that is rightfully not theirs..

Now i can digest the fact that there might be a potential threat of an earthquake.. We dont deserve to live.. We are all poor memory people, we tend to forget things easily. May be we would mourn at the anniversary, but everybody has their schedule fixed.. oh yes.. thanks to the media too.. atleast for every anniversary they would show the clippings... bring disgust in our face again..

OK NOW I AM REALLY ANGRY... its been almost 18 years since the babri masjid was torn down by fanatics.. but every year they show the clippings.. develop hatred?? Its 26/11 time. so please.. dont make us develop hatred.. not all neighbours are bad.. just a few.. we shall befriend them...

Sometimes i am reminded of this famous phrase, "THIS TOO WILL PASS". Maybe its a rough patch in our lives but all my prayers as i sit comfortably in my couch and type while people are just dying arond me... Save us....

Mother nature... How can I call you a mother????

Death & the awakening!

Dear Grandfather,

"He was a man, take him for all in all, I shall not look upon his like again", said William Shakespeare...I would never ever find a person like you. Only if i was to attain the heights of virtues of the blessed would i become you... But thats impossible.. Life serves the best death to the person who has lived life to the fullest, both in form and content...

Discipline and devotion are one of the greatest virtues i learnt from you... If i were to write about your virtues my fingers would melt at the warmth that your thoughts would create on continuous writing... Simply unstoppable... I condemn people who talk about your virtues because they limit and confine it to only a few... Somehow i have been wanting to write about you but tears wet the plastic upon my eye and brain while you din't possess both... Your vision was clear and your thoughts were clear.. Nothing of plastic to be made of... Please forgive me for confining my words to just two of your virtues which would serve as an unfollowable advice to the readers and relatives...

Organise your things and live long

You had things organised to the greatest extent and everything you needed from pin to plane was at your reach.. When folks critisize your habbit of saving simple things and retaining things where it was supposed to be, i cursed them of such a thought.. In this so called modern dirty world, people call you old fashioned but I wish I would continue to be like you... When my friends call me fussy because I never like crumpled bedsheets and disfigured bookshelf, I always took pride in comparing myself to you. I took pride because i realised much earlier the reason for your strength even after you survived two attacks and the weak heart functioning with just one valve.. Simple reason was because you were organised when everything around you was distorted... I salute you...

Love and loud speech are inversely proportional

When people are agitated their speech becomes louder.. We all tend to shout.. According to a study by some institute (that never knew anything about you!), when people are in love they tend to speak less and when they do speak, their volume is almost muted... That's why it is said that peoople in love speak with their eyes.. When people are agitated and angry, the volume of speech increases.. Noise distances love...! But... You were (are.. sorry... u still live in our hearts) only person i've ever seen whose volume is almost muted when you scream... Even at hightest degree of agitation the volume at which you speak is lesser than your usual speech... This shows the love and care you had towards all of us.. I worship you..

You have lived such a good life and now u lay down while we still look up, to reach to your picture and your thoughts... Both stand tall.. Even if i request you to shower your blessings, from the bottom of my heart i request you not to see our sins and unorganised living and scream with your muted voice because it was'nt audible in your presence... I'm sure it would'nt be audible from heaven...

Your death has awakened us...

Your Grandson,

Lokesh Vasudevan

No headline!

This one doesn't deserve a headline... speculative thoughts and tough times... Blogging after a really long gap... unrealistic realisation of the inner self... A welcome break... Have you ever thought of the importance of relationship? Immense satisfaction and clarity of thought.. Not trying to get philosophical.. Life has been welcoming me with open arms but recently closed fist is inevitable... Loss of friends and consistent mails contacts have become more of a parliamentary relationship...There..! Politics again...

Never a mystery once is now more of a treasure hunt..! Ask how much i miss my friends. To correlate with the blog name, its my thought and here it is... I'm somewhere between nowhere and goodbye... Get me back to right place... Possibility and probability is both with enhanced support from pals and relatives... :-)

Lagaan Vs. Long on!

Now that the IPL has come to an end, the fever has not subsided. The much awaited T20world cup is just a few days away. The mighty display which left the viewers spellbound is back. However the transition from the last world cup seems to be a little slower than expected. The spinners are doing the job and no high scoring matches. Is the T20 format exciting?

IPL T20, the bubbly business model (Not that model!), has proved to be a money spinning affair. TRP rates have been exceedingly high but what are the benefits to the country? The IPL earns income through media rights and advertisements. Sony Entertainment and World Sports group have acquired the television rights by paying Rs. 8,200 crores for a period of 10 years. Along with this income, all other forms of income like advertisement and sponsorship are pooled. After deducting expenses incurred by BCCI the remaining amount is paid to franchisees in equal proportion. Central Media Rights income and other sponsorship income of approximately Rs.1,000 crores is received by BCCI. It is shared in this proportion:

Media Rights income of Rs. 820 crores is split as follows:

Till 2013:
1) Franchise share (72%) – Rs. 590 crores
2) BCCI share (20%) – Rs. 165 crores
3) Final stand payments (8%) – Rs. 65 crores
From 2013 to 2017 the share would be:
1) Franchise share – 54%
2) BCCI share – 40%
3) Final stand payments – 6%
2018 onwards
1) Franchise share – 45%
2) BCCI share – 50%
3) Final stand payments – 5%

Other Income of approx Rs. 180 crores is split as follows:

Till 2017:
1) Franchise share (54%) – Rs.98 crores
2) BCCI share (40%) – Rs. 72 crores
3) Final stand payments (6%) – Rs. 10 crores
2018 onwards
1) Franchise share – 45%
2) BCCI share – 50%
3) Final stand payments – 5%

The franchise share is further pooled and split between the 8 franchisees. Each franchise should get approximately Rs. 85 crores each. The expense incurred by BCCI is deducted and the remaining amount is paid. It is evident from press releases that each franchise has received approximately Rs. 35 crores from BCCI as their share of rights income. Which means the remaining Rs. 400 crores (50*8) is spent by BCCI. The final stand payments are nothing but prize money which is split among the players.

The Lion

The trend of income sharing over a period of time reveals that BCCI would increase its share of gain. It is further more evident that BCCI is paying the franchisee’s share of rights income only after deducting the expenses. The entire share BCCI approx Rs. 250 crores in a year is in the bucket. (Don’t forget the increasing revenue trend!)

The Goat

The business approach of the franchisees (Indian Companies using share holders money as a sales promotion expense) is as follows:

1) Share from BCCI – Rs. 35 crores
(Statistics explained above)

2) Income from sponsors – Rs. 15 crores approx.
(Like NOKIA for KKR & AIRCEL for CSK)

3) Gate income – Rs. 10 crores approx
(All match ticket collections in their respective states would go to the franchise. For example, Ticket sales income from all matches played in Chennai would go to CSK)

4) Advertisement income – 10 crores approx
(Banners and hoarding around stadiums)

The franchisee does receive around Rs. 70 crores income in a year. However, the expenses are very huge considering the franchise fees, player fees, sales promotion, glamour quotient, advertisement, administration, etc, which would be atleast Rs. 150 crores. The expense is a tax saving for the company and NIL income for the government.

The Grass

We the people:
1) Direct to Home Service charges
2) Lots of time wasted
3) Sleepless nights
4) Ticket charges, if conducted in India

The Ecosystem

After all the revenue generation, degeneration and migration, I’ve decided to enjoy the game of cricket. For the simple fact that the so called legends are under played and youngsters are given an opportunity to exhibit their talent. I am in no mind set to accept the fact that IPL would bring revenue to the company and thereby benefiting the shareholders. The Statement would be something like, ‘Sharukh doesn’t smoke’ or ‘Preity doesn’t jump’ or ‘Shilpa doesn’t pray’ and ‘Mallya doesn’t drink’. The King makers are taking all chances to make the rich richer and the poor poorer.

Trust me! I saw the movie LAGAAN for the 3rd time, just a few hours before the IPL finals. It was still exciting, even after knowing the outcome. The emotion prevailed because in LAGAAN they played to save their LAND, in IPL they play to save their BRAND!

A display of valour was mightier than the display of glamour!

Celebration of Shame!

The celebration of the Sri Lankan Government, which it claims to be the victory against terrorism, displeases me. Displeases me to the extent of deep distress, for this is not the end but just a new beginning. Poor memory people, as we are, tend to forget distress very soon because the value of life is under valued. However, for those who have lost many, it’s a matter of incomplete insurgency. It has brought deep discomfort in me. A rebel who was created and not born is now dead. Should we question the planned separatism by the Sinhalese Government or the unplanned emotions that have succumbed? Why dedicate his life for the freedom of the Tamil people? Why send a son to study abroad and indulge in what he calls freedom? ‘Lead’ from the front and now ‘lead’ on his front.

The journey

1) The Anti Tamil Legislation 1948 – Denial of citizenship for Tamils which proved that Tamils were looked down upon by the so called elite Sinhalese Citizens.

2) The Ceylon Amendment Act – Denied voting rights to Tamils who were not citizens anymore.

3) Bandaranayke then Prime minister, in 1956 declared Sinhala only Official Language Act thereby proving the lack of autonomy and limited education and employment to Tamils.

4) The Bandaranayke Chelvanayagam Pact (BC pact) of 1965 was broken under pressure from the Sinhalese extremists. It was a ‘No Tamil Cause’ pact.

5) In 1971 the Standardisation scheme of education was adopted and qualifying marks were fixed for Sinhalese than for Tamil students, both regarding the language of instruction and the subjects themselves.

6) In 1972 Ceylon was renamed Sri Lanka and the constitution formally made Buddhism its primary religion.

7) In 1975 LTTE was formed and Prevention of terrorism Act was executed by the government which led to the arrest of several Tamil youth.

8) 1983 – The LTTE killed an army convoy of 13 Sinhalese to mark their violent protest that was an uncontrolled burstout of the silent protest.

9) Riots, bloodshed and mass killing of Tamils. Millions of people were dislocated. All tamil prisoners were massacred.

I am reminded of Shri .P.V.Narasimha Rao, the then External Affairs Minister’s visit to Srilanka during the 1983 riots. He had seen killings and riots on his way to the prime ministers office from the airport. The meeting with the then President Jayewardene is said to have lasted for just 7 minutes. After the talks, the riots stopped in 2 hours. Some ‘unquestionable’ doubts, which would certainly provoke intuitive anger. How did the riots stop immediately? Was the attacks planned by the government itself?

India, had tried its best or should I say a ‘nose poking’ kind of intrusion and justified it stating that both India and Sri Lanka had so many cultural similarities and hence any form of unrest would affect the other. But least did they think about the root of the problem, which was the cultural similarity itself.

It was evident that the Sinhalese didn’t want Tamils in their nation. A nation where the seed was sown by the Tamils, Manured by Sinhalese, shared by both and finally when it came to ownership of the land, all was wanted by Sinhalese. 40 years of silent struggle and 30 years of violent struggle and the result… Celebration in the streets of Sri Lanka. A celebration of shame. Not that I am Pro – LTTE and my blood doesn’t boil at the sight of killing. After all, it’s a matter of silly sympathy of a neighbor. I would have been happy if the sweets were distributed at the refugee camps and the people were taken back to their homes.

This is not the end. It’s just a beginning to the end!

Who wants to be a minister?

Well! Guess who wanted it first? Jeffrey Archer, the internationally acclaimed author wants to be the transport minister. His sarcastic remark about people in India driving with the road lines directed to the middle of their cars and not towards the left or right was thoughtful though. Not that I am a big fan of Jeff. Ok! This is confession time…! I have read just two books in my lifetime, ‘The Alchemist’ by Paula Coelho and ‘Painter of signs’ by RK Narayan. I don’t know anything about Jeffrey archer except for the fact that he is an internationally acclaimed author. There was never an intuition or an initiation to glorify the art of book reading, predominantly because I loved playing most of the time and not just sit with a book. However, there has always been a school of thought that reading is also an emotional enhancer that brings a balance to ones life. Sometimes I feel ashamed amidst friends who have so much to talk about books while all I can do is just nod my head.

I met him at the book launch at landmark and was quite impressed by this 20 minute speech and a 30 minute interactive session. Clad in a yellow t-shirt, the 69 year old (eh..young!) man not just tickled every person’s funny bone but our thoughts too.

The Happy me!

1) Crowd thronging across every corridor and pillar in landmark to get a glimpse of this famous man. With so much crowd in a small hall, we were all sweating like criminals in the court of law, yet I seemed to be enjoying it. The reason… I always believed that there was just one place where people wouldn’t mind the heat and sweat but still love the place, a rock concert! This book launch had most of the things similar, like young boys and girls, sweat and ofcourse they loved what they were watching.

2) Jeff’s love and respect for India is indeed very amusing. He considered every reader to be a critic and also mentioned that one needs to be very careful with an Indian reader. He pointed out that most of the hits on his blog were from India.

3) RK Narayanan was his favorite author. A wave of parallelism between my head and his, cut across the crowd in between and a ‘silly’ moment of joy. I loved his remark about RK Narayan. I’ve read just one book of his and was overwhelmed by the simplicity of the plot he handled and the language. I literally used my eye balls to flip the pages because I couldn’t just take my eyes of that 100 odd page book called ‘Painter of Signs’.

4) His love for the ‘realistic imagination’ was very much in sync with my thought of writing a book. Clubbing of imagination and facts are always interesting. Unlike the ‘realistic imagination’ in a political manifesto, which we generally forget after the elections, his new book is about George Mallary a person who had a dream, and when he'd achieved it, there was no proof that he had fulfilled his ambition.

5) The best and most intelligent question was put forth by a kid named Vajresh. He enquired about the convincing capacity of realistic imagination in the book and how Jeff proves the imagination with facts. He stressed on the amount of research that had to be done before writing a book which would convince a reader about clubbing imagination and facts.

The Sad me!

Fake laughter and ‘intended to be heard murmuring’ was prevalent among the audience. Jeff’s jokes didn’t require a higher decibel roar, but most of them were loud. A natural human being wouldn’t laugh as loud as most of them did for his sarcastic remarks. May be the crowd was trying their part of realistic imagination.

The sole intention of going there was not to see how Jeff looked like, but I wanted to listen to his speech. There was convincing evidence that most writers could speak well and also handle the questions of the fans with comforting intuition, after I heard Jeff speak. But the sad part is that I couldn’t here most of it.

The intention of 70% of the crowd was to grab a copy with Jeff’s signature and of course nobody would leave that copy to rest in their bedrooms but would circulate with a sense of pride saying, “Yea… that one is personally autographed by Jeff Himself’. I was there to see what was in him rather than to get what’s with him. Most of the fans were so excited about the fact that they would have a copy of the favorite book autographed by their favorite author and that kept their heart beat pumping and the result… It was pouring through their mouths… Next day I read the papers and it said Jeff autographed copies till 11 pm. Imagine if he was asked to talk about writing books, controversies, success factor and love for India till 11 pm? I would have started to write or atleast read his book for sure.

Now I can only pledge allegiance to the sensational accomplishments and not be obliged by the accomplished sensationalism!

5…4…3…2…1…?

It’s not a count down. 543 seats… 21 (205 to 185 or 165 to 185) cited as the differential magic number to prove the majority. Now the President is saying her prayers. With the largest electoral process in the world coming to an end, we are looking at a tight photo finish. All we should do as citizens is, wait. Few things have made me terribly unhappy.

1) I did not (could not?) vote – Yes. Believe me, I could not vote. I could not work on any transport measure to get me to my polling booth which is 6100 feet above sea level. No justifications, but the truth is, I’m entitled to vote in the town of Coonoor, a hill station in the Nilgiri district. I could not get myself to my home town due to non-availability of tickets and the crude truth is, I had to rethink because I would be shelling almost Rs. 2,000 to go vote and return to Chennai.

I fear the fieriest…! I have not pointed my index finger to caste my vote. Can I point a finger at someone to caste my thoughts? After all, we are Indians and all we can do is write, talk and not act. I am a true Indian! If I had to reconsider my decision due to “simple financial complexity”, imagine the plight of other poor people who are relocated and cannot cast their vote. Guess what the postal ballot rule says? Postal ballot is only for “notified voters”. Anyways… No party is going to notice me once the election results are out, how can I expect to be one of the notified voters?

2) Exit Polls – I know you’ve been waiting to hear this from me, “and the media massacre continues”. I understand how crucial the post poll analysis was those days when it would take 15 odd days for the counting process to end. Now with just 3 days for the electronic machines to spit out the winner, we are contemplating the unwanted. Two media persons, few guests, the so called panelists focused on different windows and chaos is all I can see on the news channels. With the politicians being tight lipped about alliances since majority would be a ‘beg, borrow or steal deal’, why disturb them now? The media should just let the politicians rest. One more request to Pranoy. I saw a very disturbing flash on NDTV a few weeks back. It read as, “Guess the next Prime Minister and win Skoda”. You have demoralized electoral spirits. I’ve lost respect.

3) Hung parliament – The politicians are going to face a very delicate situation on the 16th when the requirement of majority would be based on this funny scenario.

- Before polls – ‘Boo’ your opponent
- During polls – ‘Sue’ your opponent
- After polls – ‘Woo’ your opponent

There can never be a single party majority ever in India. In ‘order’ to bring ‘order’, we need effective alliances. I don’t know what is ethical or unethical because all parties are open to any option. Now that’s what I call ‘secularism’.

4) Party Players Vs. Political Drama – Worst case scenario is what I see.

- UPA – Under Pressure always
- NDA – Not democratic anyday
- Third ‘Front’ – Please look ‘back’
- Fourth Front – No comments
- NCP – Now ceding Primeministership
- Jaya & Maya – Gynophobia

And the list goes on… Amidst all the pressure, the politicians aren’t left alone. Media following them from homes to homicide. What is going to be the final verdict? I am reminded of my football practice story. When I was playing for my school at the sub junior level I could not afford a football boot. Before the final match day my coach said, “This is your last chance. It’s the most important day of your life. I hope you don’t regret it. Please use a football boot. You beg, borrow or steal, but come into the field with a boot”. On the final day I bought one. Though it is a crude comparison, I wouldn’t mind the politicians begging, borrowing or stealing seats from friends and foes. But hope they don’t ‘buy’ them. If it’s going to be a hung parliament, please don’t bring cash inside the house.

Let the votes count and not the notes!

To be or not to be…!

There’s one impressive dialogue from the movie TROY where Achilles tells Briseis, “Let me tell you a secret, something they don't teach you in your temple. The Gods envy us. They envy us because we're mortal, because any moment may be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we're doomed. You will never be more lovely than you are now. We will never be here again.”

I had forgotten this very thought that we are doomed, not because I felt like GOD, but with lotsa work and worked up thoughts I doubted the very purpose of my life. Mechanical and monotonous living is the order of the day. I call it organized living. But for our skulls and skins, we are nothing but machines. I may sound like a philosopher or a theorist but this is what lies deep within. We are mortals and why don’t we love the things we do? However, there had been one period of my life where everything was beautiful even without the thought of knowing that we are doomed. Childhood!

Be it pebbles or parker pens, caps or cars, flies or flowers… Everything was beautiful. I loved everything I did sans recourse. ‘Fresh’ thoughts and ‘unfresh’ memories. We never remembered the bad and never forgot the best. But now it is contrariwise. How I wished the Curious Case could happen to Lokesh Vasudevan instead of Benjamin Button. I am an expert baby sitter my self but I have been missing all the “free will” reactions of kids for a while. Recently there had been several encounters with kids that had made me a happy.

1) Deepak, my friend’s cousin. Highly energetic kid. Quiet as he was initially, but later the ray of energy was shining from every smile. Somehow I always get to blend with kids and after a really long time I felt amazingly close to this kid, unfortunately for the very little time I spent with him. From that day, I’ve been a big fan and ofcourse he’s going to be my wingman!

2) A small kid sandwiched by parents in a two wheeler, stayed focused. Incredibly focused on the competitor (that’s me) riding beside. I couldn’t take my eyes of that kid. Was it anger or enjoyment? But as I retreated, a wonderful smile followed and the thought too, upto the destination.

3) Harshi, my niece, who has been mimicking several people, is the love of my life. This incredibly talented kid has a blog for her stories. Recently she has been faking to my parents that it was some other person over the phone and not me. I’ve enjoyed this fun factor.

Coming to the most important reason; this movie I watched last week, “Pasanga”. This is Kollywood’s answer to Taare Zameen Par. No delicate dyslexia involved, but a simple theme where the cornea of the kids has been used as the camera. The Child artists have done an incredibly good job and all seniors please from these kids. Nobody can rate any other movie of recent times better than this. It took me back to my school days. Friendship, jealousy, sport, fun, fight, competition and uncanny emotions. I laughed so loud in the cinema hall that everybody gave me a weird look, as if I was an alien with a big head and a puny body. Just then I realized that I never bothered about others when I was a kid. When I laughed, I laughed aloud.

Everything “seems” to be beautiful now, but when I was a kid everything “was” beautiful. I always wish if I can rekindle the kinder garden age. To be a kid or not be is a matter of choice and not compulsion!

Like Polls Rebel!!!

Or should it be “Like poles Repel?” Though the fight for the “7 race course road” (surprised why I mentioned the residential address? You’ve heard 10 Janpath all these days.. That’s why!!!) is on, the great political battle field hasn’t been the way it was earlier. Parties started off accusing each other (hypothetically hurling shoes!) and now its time to be dearly dear to the opponent, wooing alliances against all odds. Hung parliament is what I foresee and all my hopes of a better tomorrow have withered.

Down south where the alliance is pretty strong, the parties have started the dietician trick to give the co-tamilians a safe place to live. But the truth is, “like polls repel.” I’ve had enough of mails containing pictures of Sri Lankan tamil’s distress, filling up my inbox and also my senses with immense sensitivity, but least was I affected. I always compared the LTTE affair to the POK desire. If India fights terrorist and would never give away the snow clad mountains to Pakistan, how would you expect Rajapakse to just give away what LTTE wants? A question that has several stodgy answers. However, I found my strongest of emotions that was buried within outburst yesterday. The two “unimportantly significant” things (in my view) had allied to thrust my tear gland:

1)The media
2)A reality show

I watched the Vijay TV’s “Ungalil Yaar Adutha Prabhu Deva”, a reality dance show. Considerably good one when compared to other reality shows, with very little of talking and immense action. The fourth Semi-finalist Prem Gopal, who happens to be a Sri Lankan Tamil had experienced the Sri Lankan Governments irrational racism towards Tamil at the age of 10. A performance that’s worth nothing less than victory, not just material but emotional because he is not only going to win the show but he would continue to win the hearts of a million people. After the performance he explains, “When i was ten years old, I travelled from Jaffna to Colombo with my mum, dad and sister. We were in a mini bus with 30 other people in Candy. The Sri Lankan Army stopped the mini bus. The road was wide and by it a small stream was running. They made us all get off the bus. Why? Because we were Tamil. Do u know how we all stood there? With our hands up. We stood there for about half an hour”

Not many of us do things that define a purpose and it is never for the betterment of a fellow being. But Prem did the right thing at the right time. A dramatic picturisation of the Sri Lankan Tamil issue. A few metres away I could see Prem’s sister shedding all her tears till the last drop and explains how difficult situations are in Sri Lanka. For once I saw a true depiction of emotion which was not controlled by blood relation but by and for the blood shedding relation.

Though the Sri Lankan government has restricted movement of the LTTE under a final radius of 4 kms, the pain has stretched far north where the distress of congress is evident, and farthest away in London where a considerable number of Sri Lankan tamils continue to shed their tears and money to save their fellow beings.
Two aspects soaring to the skies, the rocket bombs and the price of basic commodities like rice and clothes. As the differently blessed people continue to look up at the skies and pray, I look down with immense shame while the tears from my eyes calm the goddess earth. On touch down, the tears evaporate. Where is god? Up there where Sri Lankan Tamils look or down under where my tear drops evaporate? May be inbetween. Each one of us are Gods. Please stop the War… Let the, “Like poles attract”.

Man – I – Fest – Oh!!!

Strange but true… The fear of facing the elections has reached the peak. Like literally being pushed into a house of vampires with a lab report in your hand which states that your hemoglobin content is above normal!

There are two theories to an election vote out.

1)“Theory of familiarity” – I’ve given adequate explanation in one of my posts. It culminates as the general mass feeling.

Looks like this party is going to win, so let’s vote for them!

2)“Let’s love the lost law” – as I call it, is the weirdest but the most interesting law that prevails in the minds of the voters.

We’ve given THESE guys a chance in the previous elections, let’s give THOSE guys a chance now… Come on!

If you sit back and think (please do it atleast now, because we never do it before the elections).. All these years, over 60% of the people have been doing this. I know you are scratching your head now, but it really doesn’t matter because scratching it inside rather than outside is what is required. Now that we intend to scratch it at the right place, what’s best to decide as to which party should rule? Yes. Let’s analyse the “wackiest” (improbable?) aspects of the election manifestos.

Indian National Congress
- Maximum Possible security through unique ID cards after 2011
- Accountability of the police force will be institutionalized. (They were not accountable until date?)
- All BPL families entitled to 25 kgs of rice or wheat per month at Rs 3 per kg. (The Tamil Nadu effect!)
- Connect all villages to a broadband network in three years time (But where is the electricity?)
- Moderate goods and services tax (GST). Once GST is implemented, all other central and state-level indirect taxes such as VAT, excise duty, service tax, entertainment tax, luxury tax, etc. will stand abolished. (All the acts I studied for my CA exams are going to be scrapped?)

Bharatiya Janata Party
- National ID card to be issued and it will be made forgery and hacking resistant. (BJP cards better than INC cards!)
- All BPL families to get 35 kg of rice or wheat every month at Rs 2 per kg. (BJP rice cheaper and more quantity than INC rice!)
- Exempt personal Income Tax for those earning up to Rs. 3 lakhs per annum. For women and Senior Citizens, the exemption will be Rs 3.5 lakh per annum. (That’s greater delight. Empty treasuries!)
- Scrap Fringe Benefit Tax (Anti-Chidambaram!)
- Abolish CST and fix a ceiling of 12-14 percent on GST. (BJP knows the rates of GST too…!)
- Identify and retrieve Indian money stashed away in foreign banks. (The great swiss bank robbery?)
- Fencing of the India-Bangladesh border (Barbed wires or electric fences?)
- Construct Ram temple, New route for Ram-Sethu, Clean river ganga, cow protection as a mark of faith. (Mmmm… Sorry I don’t want to comment and get converted, married or even killed – the saffron way!)
- Removal of Article 370 (Kashmir is mine rule!)

Third Front
- Demand that Indian Parliament has minimum 100 day sittings in a year. (Shows how we insult the parliament or is the minimum parliamentary wage rule?)
- Complete restoration of Article 370 (Kashmir is not really mine rule!)
- Resist carbon trading and insists on global emissions cuts on the basis of equitable per-capita entitlements. (We resist any form of foreign mechanism)
- Uphold federal structures and ensure that states get reasonable shares from Central funds (How generous, what does centre do with all the money?)
- Demand the accountability of the judiciary and police reforms (they were never accountable?)
- “Immediate package” for lost jobs due to lay offs. (How is that possible?)
- Children to be given “quality free education” (free quality!)
- Equal wage for equal work scheme (they are going to measure work!)
- Strive to include children from the 0-6 age group in the right to education Bill (0 to 6 is a good age to learn)
- No to acquisition of farmers’ land for non- farming purposes particularly real estate business. (Then why would they buy or even sell?)
- Increase wealth Tax and introduce Inheritance Tax. (Funeral Tax?)

Samajwadi Party
- Ban English language from Schools and other institutions
- Remove computers from all offices
- Remove tractors in agriculture and promote usage of Bullock Carts
- Ban share Trading
- Take action against high corporate salaries
- Mall culture to be stopped

I’m not going to give sarcastic remarks. I know you’re still laughing.

Bahujan Samaj Party
I have noting to say! The 100% tainted candidature has no manifesto but has released a 32 page appeal. Yes… Trust me…

Rashtriya Janat Dal
The party president who ruled Bihar all these years has come out with a manifesto and has ensured introduction of economic schemes to bring Bihar at par with other developed states, and massive anti-corruption drive in the state to restore transparency in the system. That’s Funny Right??

I can go on and on with the state government manifestos too… I think you’ve had enough. I have analysed the facts that I have heard, but try to squeeze in some time (amidst your busy schedule!) and read the election manifestos. Every party manifesto is on an average a 30 page document with first 20 pages exhibiting the failures of the earlier government, 3 pages of blah blah, and 7 pages of promises. (that are rarely kept!)

After reading all this I have discovered the third theory. “Ask not what the party has done for you, ask what you have done for the party”. The answer for both would be a certain “NO”. Finally we would all realise that we have done nothing for the country!

Getting into the shoes!!!

Though the reality of my making is cruel, I serve humanity. Leather is the basic raw material, but nowadays I am made of synthetic rubber, cloth and plastic too. My life span is generally lesser than that of humans, but I am getting as famous.

There are some interesting proverbs associated with me…

1)“If the shoe fits, wear it” – Simple yet exemplary. If something fits, you need to use it. But you must use me for the PURPOSE for which I am made!
2)“Old shoes are the easiest” – Another simple one. Old shoes don’t BITE. They are easy to handle and our OWNERS get used to us.
3)“Don’t throw away your own shoes till you have new ones” – Very true and generally most of them follow this. I’m sure those who THROW me would either have one already or buy one on the way with the money GIFTED for throwing me around.
4)“One shoe will not fit every foot” – If this proverb is understood well then my owners will start ASKING the size of the other before throwing. Might as well throw both.
5)“Between saying and doing, many a pair of shoes is worn out” – Leaders don’t SAY what they DO and DO what they SAY. So I get worn out and worthy enough to be thrown.

Jokes apart… Eh… Proverbs apart, let us focus on branding and marketing. These are the few words the marketing executives use:

1)This is the new USE-AND-THROW model!!
2)This one comes with SPIKES!!
3)Easy to HANDLE and highly flexible!!
4)SOLID Grip!!
5)Light weight, acts EASY on your BODY!!
6)Long LASTing!!!

The last one is the best, “You buy this one and use it well, and all eyes are on you!!”

Every great politician and leader is associated with me. Remember Abraham Lincoln? He was once asked "Mr. Lincoln, you should not forget that your father used to make shoes for my family". And the whole senate laughed; they thought they had made a fool of him. But he said “I know that my father used to make shoes in your house for your family, and there will be many other here... because the way he made shoes; nobody else can. He was a creator. His shoes were not just shoes, he poured his whole soul in it. I can also make shoes.”

Remember Mahatma Gandhi? One day as he stepped aboard a train and one of his shoes slipped and landed on the track. Unable to retrieve it, he threw the other pair close to the first one and said, “The poor man who finds the shoes lying on the track will now have a pair he can use.” Gandhi also learnt the craft of shoe-making. At the age of 63, he made a pair of sandals for Vallabhbhai Patel when they were both imprisoned at Yeravda jail. He had once presented a pair of hand made sandals to General Smuts, who had jailed him in SA. On Gandhij's 70th birthday, Gen. Smuts wrote, “I have worn them for many a summer, though I feel that I am not worthy to stand in the shoes of so great a man."

These stories of political leaders range way back to the good old days were I was used as a measure of love and affection and the “receiving end” endeavor made me feel good. Now with Bush, Chidambaram, Jindal, Advani I am at the “giving end”. The transition is painful!!!

I am called the shoe… Kindly reverse the letters “SHOE” and pronounce them, you will know why I am thrown around.

Whhoooossshhh!!!

Illegally Legal Vs. Legally Illegal

Anjali Waghmare… Brave advocate, appointed to defend Mr. Amir Ajmal Kasab for the 26/11 case has been currently removed citing “professional misconduct”. I’m dumbfound by some aspects of the Indian constitution and the Penal Code.

11,280 page chargesheet, 173 killed, 308 wounded, video as well as individual evidences, strong forensic reports, finally, the confession by the lone surviving terrorist himself has resulted in punishment? No..! It has resulted in the appointment of an advocate in defense.

Article 22 of the Constitution, provides that no arrested person “shall be denied the right to consult, and to be defended by, a legal practitioner of his choice”. But in our particular case we are not just allowing him to defend but providing free legal service. In an authoritative ruling the Supreme Court had ruled that the right to free legal service is a constitutional right of every accused person who is unable to engage a lawyer and secure legal service on account of reasons, such as poverty, indigence or incummunicado situation and the State is under a mandate to provide a lawyer to an accused person if the circumstances of the case and the needs of the justice so require”. I don’t know under what situation the lawyer is appointed!!!

I pity the lawyer and the basis of the defense claim. “Your honour, my client is innocent. He loves playstation, laser tag and paintball. While he was indulged in practice sessions in various parts of the city, several people gathered to watch his skill. Infact they played along with him, dodging, hiding and some attacking too. It’s very unfortunate that most of them died, I don’t know for what reason because there are no evidences that they were hit by some bullet that my opponent claims to have come from my clients toy gun”.

The honourable judge says “I appoint a special commission to assess the facts of the case and conclude if the gun used by Kasab could actually kill people or was it a toy gun”.

Call it clash of civilizations or terror attacks; it is evident that the justification is to divide the country on religious grounds. So we call the person who tries to divide the country on religious grounds as a terrorist and a rebel. Though a lawyer is appointed, death sentence is certain. (Waste of time and Mr. Chdambaram assures that the trial would be completed in 90 days!)

Now that’s what I call, “Illegally Legal!!”

If you speculate the salutation to the lone terrorist in the first line of my post, read along. The lower house of the parliament, in my words, the “house of shame”, so called due to the following reasons:

1) poor attendance record in the 14th session
2) bringing “cash” into the house,
3) Disrupted discipline (I guess, Somnath’s medical bill was up by 50%!)

After all that has happened, the election campaign is a “comedy of terrors” to me. “Comedy” because, we all know how unfit most of the candidates are. “Terror” because the 14th Lok Sabha has the maximum number of tainted candidates ever in the history of Indian Governance.

Let me not give statistics and embarrass everyone, including me. We cannot avoid tainted ministers from becoming parliamentarians. The seat sharing agreement is a well “drafted” agreement between parties! If one closely monitors the election campaign technique the candidate is carefully selected based on his/her religious base. (not to forget the Tytler withdrawal due to the Sikh background in the area in which is was to contest and ofcourse the saffron sympathy called hindutva!). The parliamentarians (so called “leaders”) themselves divide our country citing religious grounds.

Now that’s what I call, “Legally Illegal!!”

If we are ready to accept “tainted” as “sainted”, then a “rebel” is “noble” to me.

Forgive me Mr.Manmohan, Mr.Advani, Mr.Ajmal!!!

Reality Bites!!!

Yes... With more and more reality shows coming up daily, it’s becoming more of a “finger pain” for sincere viewers trying to watch every channel, fiddling with the remote and “eye strain” for people like me.

Initially it was fun to watch these reality shows, not because they are interesting but a welcome deviation from the mega serials with mega mothers doing the mega crying in mega style to get the mega audience glued. There were some dance shows, good quality singing and some comedy too. But let me tell you why I’m beginning to hate these shows:

1) There are too many to remember. Try googling for list of Indian reality television series and you would get over 60 shows only in Hindi. Imagine the rest… (Actually don’t… you’re wasting time!)

2) Stardom is what matters. Finding the best jury and special guests for each show is “THE” TRP factor and absolutely no attention on the performers.

3) All talk and no performance has me a dull boy. (heard this line somewhere?) The jury and the special guests have so much to talk that the entire performance is forgotten by the end of their so called “Advice”.

4) These anchors are now totally out of words. I’m so sure there is nothing else to replenish. The “masti” factor is getting “musty” now. After each performance he/she goes:
- “that was a power-packed performance” if it happens to be energetic, or
- “that was a great performance” if it happens to be decent enough, or
- “that was a nice performance” if it totally flops.

5) Heights of sadistic behavior! They make every participant cry and trust me; the camera man gets the best close up shots and not to forget the slow motion editing when the parent is around.

What’s the Gain factor for the media?
“Estimated gross audience viewership multiplied by the performers emotional imbalance is equal to lots of money!”
(Guess they are trying to get back to the mega serial mode!)

6) Talent factor of aam admi is gone and now the stars are themselves proving a point. What point? “We celebrities are bad performers and you can see us improve in this stage”. All old celebrities (Retired Hurt?) are back, trying to fit into the current pace.

7) How real is the reality living? I’m pretty sure there are no hidden cameras around you. With camera persons around, how “real” can you be? Thank God, the roadies and splitsvilla camera persons are well within the limits.

8) Baichung Bhutia, Mohinder Amarnath and Harbhajan Singh have hung their sports shoes. Being frank, the Indian ambassadors are bad with their dancing shoes. (How can I forget Harbhajan-Mona-Ravan-Sita controversy?)

Shocking and as “REAL” as it can get. NDTV Imagine is going to launch the “BAAP” of all reality shows called Rakhi Ka Swayamvar. (Sorry, then it should be the “babe” of all reality shows because it is Rakhi Sawant!) There would be auditions across the length and breath of the country and 15 men would be selected. The selected lot would be tested on grounds of skill, personality, fitness, talent and “Compatibility” with Rakhi Sawant and any guess as to what happens finally?

Rakhi Sawant would marry the Winner!!

Reality doesn’t bite anymore… It Stings!!!

Nothing "Nano" about the Nano!!!

A promise is a promise! TATA’s focus on bringing the world’s cheapest car was right on target. Though the engine is beneath the rear seat, there’s no looking back. As a 71 year old bachelor, the soft spoken TATA said, “You really don’t want to wait too long for the car, because it is like waiting for a pretty woman, you wait for too long and she becomes fat and old,” as if he had experienced agony on love. (Maybe that’s why he isn’t married!!!).

Realizing a dream is what everybody talks about in every other meeting. But realizing a dream amidst immense political pressure is a “daytime-nightmare!!!” How would one ever come through all this to deliver something that India is now proud of? It’s not with the system that works around him but it’s in the person himself. Educated at Cornell University and at the Harvard Business School, TATA was sent to TATA steel at Jamshedpur, where he worked on the floor along with other employees, shoveling limestone and handling the blast furnaces. Many may see the technology involved, but the thought matters. “Thought is the root for technology.” The very idea conceptualized only after he wanted to bring a safe and cheap form of transport.

Now comes the big question. Is the “Aam Admi” going to be a “Calm Admi”?
1) Booking starts from April 4th and closes April 23rd
2) Initial Down payment is Rs. 2,999 ONLY!!
3) Only 1,00,000 cars rolling initially.
It’s time to rush… Guess what? The car delivery will be on a computerized lottery system and others might have to wait for atleast 12-18 months. WELCOME TO INDIA…!

With decent specifications and safety clearance, NANO is going to be a “car” and not a “four wheel auto-rickshaw”. I better get myself this huge, old model, sturdy truck. With more and more cars “hitting” the Indian roads, “hitting” each others would be inevitable!

Let the “Nano-Physics” (Vehicle) not destroy the “Nano-Chemisty” (polluting the atmosphere).

Truly Madly Hyderabadi...!

I had visited Hyderabad a few days back. The visit turned out to be very warm. Not just the weather, but the people too... Surprising that people were so friendly in a City like this... Be it office or a hang out, all the people around were very friendly and caring. A few things that made me happy:

1) The people ofcourse, they made me feel as if I was a well wisher in some royal palace..
2) Very clean roads... Believe me, i didn't find a single dust bin on the roads and yet every road was clean... The true Indian feeling of littering the place, as if unnoticed was not prevalent in my mind.
3) Hilly landscapes and enjoyable drive. From Hitech City to Rajbhavan road, across all the so called "Hills", was amazing.
4) Delicious and Cheap food (the very thought is mouth watering!). A hundred rupee hyderabadi chicken biriyani take away, serves 3 good eaters.. Should i call it recession? Where are the profit motives?
5)Coming to the best part... This one is called "Hustle". On Thursday night i had been to a resto-bar with my sister... For one particular song everybody in the resto-bar danced alike.. Though it was an easy move, the synchronisation was just perfect. A perfect sight...

Now for the negative, yet funny part of the story. Nobody in Hyderabad respects the traffic signal... You find the traffic sergeant and the traffic signal (both signalling ofcourse!) but nobody seems to bother about it.. Not the cop too.. Strange!!

It was a perfect weekend.. While I sit back at home, hot (not warm!) weather where i sweat like a criminal in the court of law, fond memories about Hyderabad eluate.. May be i should call it a city where we "hide-bad-era" (Hyd-era-bad).!

Percussions Sans Programming!!!

"If music be the food of love, play on, Give me excess of it; that surfeiting, the appetite may sicken, and so die," said Orsino in Twelfth Night. Music, over the years has gained high importance, be it a concert, a play, a movie or a discotheque… The appetite will never “sicken and so die”.

I had been to a Japanese Drum ensemble organized by the Indo-Japanese Foundation and the Consulate general of Japan at Narada Gana Sabha. I anticipated a high entertainment dose and it actually got heavier than I thought. Being a percussionist myself, I really enjoyed the energy displayed by the drummers. Some “Goose-bumpish” details about the show:

1) Excellent back drop and stage arrangement
2) Energetic posture of the drummers, highly athletic as if they portrayed some martial arts technique.
3) At the later part of the show, they got the audience screaming. Applause from all age groups.
4) Tsugaru Shamisen, a stringed instrument, with a huge plectrum and the body of which is made of wood from South India. (Trust me!!)

My heart was beating very fast, faster than the beat of the drums… I wanted to shout too, not because I was really excited but I remembered the other percussion instrument that had made me groove several times, and the instrument I always wanted to play, the karamadai ranganadhar drum (that’s what I call it!!) and the thappattam.

I am pretty sure that most of the audience who were there and most of you reading this blog are not aware of these instruments. I always loved listening to them because I love folk and the energy displayed, the rhythm and ofcourse the dance. My eyes were filled with tears after listening to the applause, while Chennai Sangamam which reveals all the native folk instruments fails to draw crowd.

It was indeed painful to digest this fact. The Japanese consulate has brought their tradition to India and I’m sure everybody who attended the show was gibbering about it. But how may of us really know about these traditional percussion art forms that are more energetic, more rhythmic and make our heart pounce like little deer? How may of us actually insist on taking our instrument worldwide?

Towards the end of the show I let the tear drop. The group coordinator admitted that the instruments had to be displayed powerfully and required some extra energy, since it would be lack entertainment if played plainly. Unlike the tabla that can produce several sounds, the wadaiko is a dull instrument. I wish the Indian Consulate in Japan would organize a drum concert using the karamadai drums and the thappattam.

Call it emotional terrorism or clash of civilizations, the deep rooted Indian feeling prevails!

Who is a Gandhi???

Pretty strange that Varun Gandhi remarked, “I am a gandhi, nationalist and a Hindu”, to the press yesterday after the controversial hate speech. By the way, who is a Gandhi? What did he mean when he said he was a Gandhi. Well, I don’t really know if I would be hurting nationalist sentiments, but let me tell what "Gandhi" actually means (from what I know).

Origin: Ghandy. (A person of Parsi Origin)
Cast : Nehru, Indira, Sanjay, Menaka, Rajiv, Sonia, Varun, Rahul, Priyanka. (Please add Gandhi now, because after you read this post, I don’t know if you would really want to).
Story and screenplay : Indian Politics
Viewers : Intellectual prostitutes of India (Me and you!!!)

1) Indira Priyadharshini Nehru – The lonely girl who was chased out of Shantiniketan University by Guru Dev Rabindranath himself for misdemeanor was married to Feroz Khan, son of a Muslim grocer and coverted to Muslim. Feroz’s mother was a Parsi. Kamala Nehru (I’m sure you are wondering who this is. Its Nehru’s wife!! Come on! The picture you saw with Lady Mountbatten was the outcome of a political relationship), was unhappy with her daughter's marriage and was dying. Our beloved Mahatma called Nehru and dictated the change of the young man’s name from Khan to Gandhi. There was no change of religion, but a change of name through an affidavit. Feroze agreed to inherit the name Gandhi since it represented his parsi mother’s family name, “Ghandy”.

2) Rajiv – Eldest son of Indira and Feroz, recorded as a “QUALIFIED” Mechanical engineer from Cambridge, who hadn’t cleared a single examination in all three years, converted to Catholic to marry Sania. His catholic name was Roberto. Their children were named Bianca and Raul. (Now you know their Indian Names. Quite rhyming though!)

3) Sania Maino (Yes.. I spelt it right!) – The ‘I’talian lady who currently rules ‘I’ndia, is also from Cambridge, but not on the “technical” university but she was educated at a language school, where foreign students learn English. Trust me friends, without attending any language school in India, she is well versed in Hindi!!!

4) Sanjay – Younger son of Indira and… Not Feroze now, but another Muslim person named Mohammed Yunus was initially named Sanjiv. He was arrested in London and his passport was impounded for stealing a car. The Indian high commissioner in London offered to issue another passport to the criminal who changed his name to Sanjay. He took high advantage of his undeclared father’s state and his distructive influence on his mother was highly political. He wandered around if India was his and we all know the Maruthi Controversy and his share in the emergency rule. Rajiv once blamed Sanjay for his mothers state at the 1977 election defeat.

4) Menaka – The Bombay Dyeing towel model who takes pride in rearing 11 stray dogs in her house, serves the BJP currently. As a politically ill motivated journalist, she shocked the nation by publishing obscene pictures of Suresh Ram, the son of the then Defence Minister, Babu Jagjivan Ram with Sushma Chaudry, a delhi university student. This was a clear political-killing for her mother-in-law Indira. The pictures were published to disgrace Jagjivan Ram, who left the congress and helped bring Janta party to power in 1977.

5) Priyanka, Rahul & Varun – And the battle continues… As part of the so called “Gandhi” family, the earlier stated politicians ruled India. Now with the split in the family who can call themselves “A Gandhi”. Priyanka, Rahul helping the mother (Mother India!) and Varun serves the BJP with his mother.

“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind” – Mahatma Gandhi.

“Many Gandhi’s for a Gandhi have made the whole world blind” – Lokesh Vasudevan.

Shut up and Vote!!!

Seen the latest IPL ad, “The only thing that one billion people do at the same time?” A good advertisement but suits the voting campaign better. The only thing that one billion people do at the same time is vote.

Saw this poster at a popular eat out today, it read as “Jaago re - Shut up and Vote tour” organized by TATA tea. A rock concert tour organized all over India. So why call it “Shut up and vote tour?” Don’t really understand the following logic:

1) Why does TATA tea organize such a campaign? (The high profile suspicion!!!)
2) Why do they want us to shut up?
3) Why do they want us to shut up and then vote?

Simple…. We youth ask a million questions and shout at the top of our voices but fail to realise our basis civic duties. How many of us actually follow the basic rules that are required to be followed by our Constitution? I know you are smiling now. I’m not going to let you think, nor let you ask if I follow all the rules. (after all we make youth!!). All I’m going to do is, “Shut up and vote”. Atleast it’ll let me think (when I shut up!) and then vote. This phrase energizes me. It made no sense when I looked at the poster. Simply amazes me now. Let’s just go ahead and vote the best candidate (if we can find one) without complaining about what had happened all these days. Atleast we can bring about a small change in the way things work. Like:

1) Scare the politicians by recording a huge voting percentage by the younger masses. We know how the politicians thrive with the good old “genetic” voting practice.

2) Change the exit poll rules. Let Pranoy, Rajdeep and gang chose a higher youth sample size for their assessment, and when they ask us, let us say that it’s a secret ballot and not let out the secret.

3) Make Dr. Manmohan Singh realise that he can’t be termed as “Singh is King”. Lets terminate “Sonia mania” and Call the saffron lord, “Aam Aadmi Advani”.

If all this doesn’t change, I sincerely do hope that due to higher voting percentage of the youth, a change in the Indian constitution is facilitated. What’s the Change? Atleast the Youth Affairs Minister should be young. Any guesses what the age of the current Youth Affairs Minister is? Dr.M.S.Gill, 72 year young man.!

If the constitution defines youth as persons within the age of 21, then we need one more constitutional amendment. Article 84 (b) of Constitution of India provides that the minimum age for becoming a candidate for Lok Sabha election shall be 25 years.
“Result = Youth cannot contest”.

So what do we do? Simple… Shut up and vote. I’m going to head bang and sway as I listen to the rock bands perform and then raise my index finger, this time for a different cause…!!!

Dev D - Sprung Rhythm…!

“It’s the poetic rhythm designed to imitate the rhythm of natural speech”

Anything but the usual… We all look for something different… Be it work, play or any form of art. I’ve convinced myself that some of my poems that I’ve posted in my poem blog are of sprung rhythm, but how far it appeals to the readers is the question. Talking about art form, how bout sprung rhythm in Indian film music? Some form of music which is different from the usual rhythm. We all fail to realise that the true form of music is the rhythm of natural speech… Thanks to the efforts of our “middle aged hindi film” music directors who were consistent with their rhythm, every song sounded the same. Harmony, chorus and background score of every movie was almost the same. We still seem to enjoy that kind of music. Where was change? Who created the difference? As far as tamil film music is concerned, we see a clear demarcation and uniqueness in their form of music.

1) M.S. Viswanathan – the creator
2) Ilayaraja – the maestro
3) ARR – the revolutionist

However, I haven’t found such individuality in the hindi film industry. What we see in the hindi film music are two slow numbers, one jatka and two remixes of the slow and jatka numbers, which makes one film music album. Nothing actually remains in our rusty minds for a considerable time (of course, the video does!!).

After being terribly perturbed about the “DISTORTED ARRANGEMENT” of the hindi film music, there’s some consolation finally. This time, the kind of music that “DEFINES” sprung rhythm. Thanks AMIT TRIVEDI. Yes.. DEV D is the film. With 18 tracks, every song is absolutely unique. After having watched the film, I realised that not a single song was “singled out”. Not like the usual dream song that would certainly follow after the romantic hug. All the songs blended well with the screenplay. I love to elaborate the excellence of every song in detail, but lets focus on a few:

1) Emotional Attyachar (Brass band version) – The whole country has been humming the verses of the Punjab’s Presley’s… With appropriate stress on words like “Dhuaaaa” and “Tragedeeey”, this is the painfully happy song of love break up. Truly band bajaying…!

2) Emotional Attyachar (Rock version) – portrays pain and distress. Bonny Chakravarthy sings aloud with immense energy. The way the lead guitar starts is amazing.

3) Duniya – Amit Trivedi proves his singing talent as well. Open voice as that of the creator (yes he is!!). Confidence with “Jhee-jhee-jhee” is exciting.

4) Nayan Tarse – Amazing start, with sound of amplifiers and distortion getting plugged, I try to strum the tune on my guitar but a 30 second stretch of the fast beat drum pattern takes me on a rollercoaster ride. Can’t stay on with the acoustic and transform to the flavour of rock. Immense concentration and hard work by Amit.

5) Saali Kushi – The best one of the entire album with “Ayaho… Ayaho” which creates goose bumps. Agony presented well. Best song to listen to when one is terribly depressed.

6) Paayaliya – Very unique and “My god” between the beats are just unthinkable. Shruthi Pathak has been used well. Classical touch in non-contemporary style would be very difficult to imitate.

“Dol yara dol” and “Ek hal chal si” also amazes me. I’m pretty sure, no orchestra or college band could ever dream of performing these numbers. Performing with the MIDI files would certainly spoil the originality of the song. I’ve been tripping on these songs from the time the music was out and I would certainly continue listening to it.

To sum it all.. Amit Trivedi is going to be the “Band Bajaying Baap of Bollywood”.

Media Massacre..!

It's Monday... Wish i could start this week with a pleasant note but news telecast every morning scares me... With the Lok Sabha Elections round the corner sense and sensibility are the key words... Who cares the most..? Not the people, ofcourse... We don't care about anything... It's the Media.. Right behind... They can push any party to success or stab them without their knowledge...

What's with me and media??? Call it mediaphobia?? May be.. A few cases (out of the many), highly unfair:

1) Aarushi Murder : India is called the "murder capital of the world". According to the Crime Records Bureau, India is right at the top.. followed by US of A... Then why just aarushi in the news...? What protocol does the media believe in? Showing the degree of cruelty involved or the so called affairs connected with the murder..? what is sickening is the sensationalism in the Indian media... what was initially a sensational affair over the killing of the 14 year old was then transformed into a love affair analysis... Did Aarushi have an affair or did the father, Dr.Talwar? What a topic to investigate, and the CBI actually did.. Though autopsy reports prove that there had been no sexual assault, the media has done their part.. Deep scar.. Though the long drawn investigation and the TRP thirsty media have hibernated, much damage has been done.. Now NDTV has organised a campaign called "Justice for Aarushi". How Pranoy?

2) Mangalore maniacs : Pub Culture assault or the pink chaddi campaign, what remains is the insult to humanity… I appreciate the media for having received first hand information and getting to the spot to capture the rampant behavior… I suppose they had just the incoming facility in their phones, that’s why they couldn’t alert the police… I appreciate their efforts.. They carried their cameras all the way before the incident… Good focus too.. Telecasted repeatedly in slow motion, with circles around girls who were assaulted. If the assaulters caused physical injuries, the media brought mental trauma… Feel terribly sorry for the girl in the white top… Don’t really know what the media people would have done if their daughters or relatives were one of those girls who were assaulted.. Slow motion or no motion…?

3) Terror attacks : Hey Media… YOU don’t have to declare the commandos who handled the 26/11 terror attacks as the heroes of the year by conducting lavish shows… What are you trying to cover up by being overgenerous? We all know their duty and we respect them whole heartedly… You caused a few extra deaths by giving detailed information to the terrorists about what was happening outside… I don’t know what the IPC calls a person or an organization assisting a terrorist… Finally you try to assess the reason for the terror attacks and conclude calling it “Clash of civilizations”.

Alright! Alright! My blood is boiling… Now coming to the point… Now that the elections are approaching, you would definitely enjoy calling a few politicians to your studios and watch them all speak (shout) at the same time and make every citizen lose respect… For all reading this blog, try this… Assess the party or a candidate without watching the exit polls… The results would definitely vary.. I call this “Theory of familiarity”. Most of us want Schumacher to win because we know he would win for sure and much is spoken about him... Not many of us know about the other 20 drivers… Once familiarity is cut, we begin watching and concentrating on every other candidate..

Forget the exit polls by the media… You poll and exit what is supposed to be…!!!

Sombre Somnath - More to remember!!!

It's time to say Goodbye to Somnath as the 14th Lok Sabha draws to a close.. But he's not going anywhere from the safe corner of my heart...

1) Lawyer of repute
2) Disciplined Parliamentarian
3) Ethical individual

The rare dignity that every politician fails to portray is upheld in his case.. Like any headmaster of Village school, he commands and demands respect.. Not for his experience or position but for the very simple reason of being elected unanimously.. Some points that i would never forget about this person.. Thoughfuly said by fellow ministers.. "We should never forget our retired policiticians".

1) Even after his party, the CPM, had withdrawn support from the UPA government Chatterjee refused to step down, arguing that as a Speaker, who was elected unanimously, he did not owe allegiance to any political party...
2) He ensured that regulations were adhered to, in the upper house. He made an honest effort to bring discipline, unlike other speakers who kept mum at times of disorderly behaviour...
3) He was agitated about the fact that an ordinance had been passed in order to increase the pay package and allowances of Supreme and high court judges. He felt that judges could have waited for a couple of months...
4) After having been expelled from his party, he never questioned the authority of the party.. He said "I accept the expulsion.. thats the greatest scar in my heart, I shall carry it till my last breath..."
5) Frequent disruptions and walkouts dominated the current session at the upper house with cash being brought into the house, Somnath inculcated a sense of discipline at the trust vote session... The agitated Somnath cried out that the MP's dont deserve a 'single paisa' of public money... A bold statement and heartfelt...
6) He suggested invoking of provisions of the constitution, rule 373 which allows the Speaker to throw out any member whose conduct is "grossly disorderly", and Rule 374A which provides for "automatic suspension of a member" for causing "grave disorder" and "wilfully obstructing" the business of the House...
7) He tried pursuading the members to accept the "no work, no pay" scheme, by which no wastage of funds due to disruption at the upper house is ensured...
8) In the current scenario where every tea bill and household purchases are billed on the government, he said,"I think I can afford my bathroom expenses. And I can also afford a cup of tea for my guests."

A disciplined parliamentarian at 80 should not be forgotten... He mentions at his farewell speech, "Thanks for tolerating me".

There is nothing permanent except change... As a close well-wisher of mine says,love can change every 10 months, its not new for people of India to forget this man.. For we are called "poor memory people"...

Love shall never fade... I bow down sir...!!!

My Speech at the public speaking competition

Management Lessons from MOTHERHOOD

Multitasking is her Middle name!!
Planning is her arm!!
Responsibilities are her shoulders!!
Execution is her skill!!
Leadership is Inborn!

YES… MOTHERHOOD!!! Ladies & Gentlemen, the greatest manager I’ve ever seen is my mother. Efforts to seek management lessons from the outer world are futile when compared to how our mothers handle the activity of home making. Here goes… A few of the innumerable management qualities…

SHE HEARD THE UNHEARD!!!
True quality of an effective leader. Good management doesn’t take action only based on the inputs that the MIS provides, but the intuitive aura that is created around the organization. A mother does not need evidences to act upon. Similarly a good manager too should not depend on evidences… He should act even without being heard…!!

ACCEPTANCE OF RESPONSIBILITIES!!!
A sense of belonging is engraved in her soul. Every activity, good or bad, happy or sad, she accepts responsibilities gracefully. A good manager should also accept responsibilities. There must be a sense of belonging to the organization to produce effective results.

INSTINCTIVE ACTION!!!
Just as the instinctive action that results in the crying out of the word “Amma!!” at times of pain, the resultant act of a mother is also instinctive. It is spontaneous but mindful of consequences. As we all know.. its always the best. The acts of good managers should also be spontaneous, but he should bear in mind the consequences.

DECISION MAKING!!!
She thinks twice… Once to assess the action… Second, to assess the consequential effect on others. She never thinks about herself. Similarly, a good manager should assess the decision and also assess the outcome of the decision to the organization as a whole, without considering personal consequences.

LEADERSHIP!!!
Defined by character and role that she plays. Motherhood by itself commands respect. No child requires special knowledge to understand why a mother has to be respected. Qualities of a good manager should be such that the organization respects him as a leader undoubtedly.


OFFER HOPE!!!
A mothers abiding optimism has a profound impact on recovery. At any given situation a mother offers hope to ensure success. A good manager should also offer brighter prospects to create an effective work environment.

To sum up…

“A full time job of motherhood is highly remunerative with an account payee cheque of love… If we understand her job, we can encash it to become successful managers…!!!”

And thus I stand amidst you, as a leader, as a manager, to make this bitter world a better world…

IPL Vs. IPL Vs. IPL

Indian Premier League Vs. Indian Politicians League Vs. Indian Publicity League...

Indian Premier League: Lalit Modi wants the IPL..!!! Blames it on the media for creating a big hype... He says "I haven't slept with a thought that IPL wouldn't happen". After being ousted from Rajasthan Cricket Association as its President, he says "Its not about money, its about cricket". He continuously slams the media for creating a hype when no official confirmation was received from the Home ministry.. While we wonder if the cricket festival would ever happen:

1) Shilpa throws a party at Mumbai yesterday
2) Chennai Super Kings tie up with Vijay TV to select the Cheer leaders
3) SRK selects 24 girls to participate in the reality show knights and angels to promote the Kolkota Knight Riders..

Reschedule IPL?? Call it Recession??

Indian Politicians League: Defence Minister says, "I can give adequate security, but i don't want to stretch my forces during the elections". Home Minister says, "Postponment of IPL would be a better proposition".
The Ruling party not too happy.. Obviously some unforeseen incident during the elections would cost them another 5 years of defence, accusation and opposing the ruling party..
As pressure from High Profiles mount, YES or NO, both are tough to answer...

Indian Publicity League: Sorry Pranoy, Rajdeep & Arnab... As usual you have been workin' on your TRP's.. Viewers get brilliant when there is a straight accusation from Modi.. We know what u want... Media Massacre on the high.. What is that they want.. Few answers:

1) Pressure on Modi - a certain reschedule of dates, so that they can keep talkin about the "Spill over effect" of the terror attacks..
2) Pressure on politicians - Keep asking questions whether Mr.Chidambaram can provide security and if rescheduled, ask request for SMS polls, "Is India a safe country?"
3) Capitalise on hot subjects - Shilpa, SRK, Preity etc.. Sorry media, it shows how glamour oriented you are.. No focus on the CSK bid which was the costliest.. not a single official of ICL was shown in the TV..

We know what you want.. and you know what some ppl want..

IPL Vs. IPL Vs. IPL =
1) Huge Revenue for players - total of 6.5 crores for a 30 hr maximum match schedule for Kevin, Dhoni & Flintoff..
2) Glamour in the industry..

Who ultimately wins?? Its the game of cricket... So keep ur purse full now, matches are happening and we need to buy the passes which are high on demand..!!!

Kudos Rehman!!!

Jai Ho!!! This being my first post of this blog, something pleasant to start off with..The very Indian thought of bringing a sense of belonging to the Indian Glory is upheld... Slumdog millionaire doesnt appeal to me as an award winning movie... The music too... Sorry Rehman... The thought is not destructive.. You should've got one of them for your very first film "Roja".

Two at a time.. What a way to win?? Moment of glory.. I WIN, I PERFORM, I WIN.. Kudos Rehman...

Im astonished by a few things:

1) Award for Rehman was too late... Yet well deserved...
2) "Ella Pugazhum Iraivanukae..." - Tamil at the oscars- Lokesh & Kalaingar happy for sure..!!
3) Love & affection shown by a billion people culminates to victory.. (personally felt)

Few strange issues now:
1) The golden Knight (Oscar Statuette) is made of gold-plated britannium and costs 500 US dollars (approx Rs.25,000). As per Customs Baggage Rules, Rehman can bring baggage upto the limit of Rs. 25,000 which makes the second one liable to customs Duty. Our Fellow Tamilian Home Minister was fast enough to state that in case of a cash award, he would recommend for an exemption.. I'm not sure what happened at the airport.. (apart from the royal welcome)

2) Did Rehman use a digital sync synthesiser during his performance... Could actually hear a second ARR singing...

3) During the rehearsals, he would have crushed under the weight of the chandelier and died... A technical fault.. If he had not moved quick, that would have been a sad day.. Mistakes happen everywhere.. thanks to all the prayers..

4) ARR ditches Rohit Bal??? Rahman walked the red carpet in a black Lanvin tuxedo teamed with a silver Satya Paul tie, before changing into a traditional sherwani designed by Sabyasachi Mukherjee for his live performance. Saira was also in Sabyasachi's creation.. Was there a last minute change??? Anyways.. Anu (my sister) is on cloud 9... :-)

To top it all.. India is shining... slums to red carpet.. dogs to oscars..!!