total timepass...

Most people will agree with me if I say that today’s political world is highly polarised. We can see it across the largest world democracies, most notable for me being US and India, given my background. In US, this has taken the form of Trump vs an anti-Trump stand. And in India, it’s the Modi vs anti-Modi stance. What we are increasingly seeing are people picking, or made to pick one of two sides. And both sides then decide to stick to their ground of what is right and what is wrong. Come what may. It’s led to an impasse, as both sides refuse to even acknowledge the other point of view. And there is no way out of it, really. Honestly, both sides are to be blamed for this. Both sides feel like they are absolutely right and the other side is absolutely wrong. And this arrogance prevents open and humble dialogues between the two. You can see it when you have discussions with your friends. We continue discussions if the others agree with our viewpoints, but stop listening when they h

Its the time to stop being silent and say something... What is happening in the country today is scary, at more levels than one. And it has forced more and more people to get out and speak up. Leading them of course are the students across the country. But things have to be really messed up for South Delhites, Bombayites, IITians, WIMWIans to protest (I know them all 😋). And things really are... Here are my thoughts why I think what is happening in the country is very scary, and does not bode well for the future: Polarisation of society: We've heard this for a long time, that Modi and his government has polarised society. I did not really get this for a long time, but now I am starting to understand what it means on the ground. Our society is split, into the ones who are pro-BJP and the ones who are anti- BJP. A lot of people are no more capable of looking at an act on its merit anymore. So either you support the govt, whatever they do. Or you don't, whatever they do.

The leader of the Congress party, Sonia Gandhi is an enigma. And not really by accident. That's a persona that has been created and propagated intentionally, to continue the fascination and patronising of the first family of Indian politics by the masses. It is also a master stroke, to have the President of the party as someone who rarely speaks and never really expresses her mind. The person who controlled the government for 10 years never took any sides. So she was never ever wrong, you could never ever find a fault with her. Isn't it the best? All the power without ever having to take any ownership of the acts when they go wrong. I often wondered about it, and then I read some articles related to this - ' The inside story of how Sonia's spin doctoring works '. Its a series of articles describing how very rarely Sonia's views are heard before any happenings. But if they go wrong, articles start appearing in the press on how Madam is unhappy with what happ

I know its not right to compare India with a Scandinavian country, they are way ahead from even the rest of the world, that comparing them with India is just not fair. Still it does increase the irony.. My question is this (la Arnab style), what would India have been if like in Norway, a huge oil reserve had been found in India. Am sure the result would NEVER have been this . In 25 years, the sovereign fund has (notionally) made every Norwegian a millionaire. If this had happened in India, what would have been the result in 25 years? The mind runs wild, The Gandhis could become multi-multi billionaires The Mulayam/Laloo Yadavs could become billionaires Amma, Maya could become billionaires A Raja could be a billionaire ........... The options are infinite, except every Indian becoming a (notional) lakhpati even! That is the one option we all know is not realistically an option. How sad is that?

Rahul Gandhi has been the butt of many a jokes recently, especially on facebook where the majority seem to be pro-Modi and anti-Congress. One of the articles I found on facebook was this f unny list of comparisons that Rahul Gandhi can make in the future, depending on who he is addressing. After I had read this list, he has done another major comparison - talking about escape velocity to dalits in UP. The example seemed fine, but not given who the target audience was. He might do better to take ideas from this list:)

This is an old article I had read a month back, and its one of those news items which come in the news just once and then are forgotten, and never come to the forefront again. The article talks about the not-so-well-known fact that Indian athletes are banned from playing in any Olympic events under the Indian banner. Indian athletics wanting to take part in international events can do so only as independent athletes. How shameful is that? And this ban has already been there for almost a year!! Yet no one talks about it, and other than this one article, I have never heard about it again. And why is the ban there? Because the IOC has asked for the Indian Olympic Association to change its constitution to not allow 'criminals' to hold posts. And of course, since the head of the Association has charges against him, he will not allow the constitution to bar him from election. So the Indian athletes will continue to participate as independent athletes without either the tri-colour

Who is going to be the next Prime Minister of India is going to be an ongoing debate for the next one year, with continuous comparisons drawn between Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi. And it is going to be fun and colourful times; Rahul's inexperience and Modi's nonsecular credentials thrown at all of us throughout this period. With barbs and re-barbs on pages after pages, and supporting fire from all the loyal comrades. As I said, it will be fun. In between this whole process, the fact that the biggest democracy in the world is going through a vote for its next government will be lost. The government is expected to bring about change, reform and development to the country. There are many aspects of this change which need to be talked about, stressed on and promises made for (irrespective of the fact whether those are kept or not). However what will happen is that the personalities of the leaders will be the focus of the campaigns, and with whatever little airtime issues get,

The Iron Lady is no more. And parts of UK are celebrating her death! Other than being a very sad thing to do, it makes you wonder about her, what kind of a person was she; how extraordinary would she be (not necessarily good or bad) that her death brings out such kind of emotions in some people. Hearing about it led me to research her views, her actions and her decisions, to understand how can people either hate her so much or not hate her (I still haven't found people who love her yet, but think its the same as don't hate!). And so I realised how split the country is when it comes to her. On the one side, there will be a ceremonial funeral for her (something rarely accorded to politicians) and on the other side, there are street parties on her death. Just goes to show what an extraordinary woman she was! And as I learnt more about her, I realised what she stands for, is taking decisions, and bold ones at that. They might not necessarily have been all correct (this can

This is an old article from last year I think; Karnataka government spending 18 crores to conduct pooja across the state for the rain gods to give rain to the drought hit land . And all I thought after reading this was that either the ministers in the state are stupid or they just needed 15 crores urgently and cooked up this idea! And honestly, both are equally plausible reasons! In this day, who would think that praying in temples across the state would help! I can understand we are a religious country, but this is taking it to a ridiculous level. It doesn't work this way and am sure the ministers of the state know it as well. Anyways, I never read about whether it worked or not, so don't know if the 18 crores worked or not; but am sure 15 crores of it did make some people happy!

In recent couple of years, I have begun to be more and more disillusioned with India as a country. Am not sure for the reason for it; Is it because I reside out of the country now? Or because the current government has sunk to new lows in corruption and apathy for the public? Or that more and more news comes to light which earlier did not? I don't know but every few days, there are events which make you feel even worse about the current state of affairs. And its about everything about the country, whether social or moral or political , there seems to be decay everywhere. The brutal gangrape in Delhi was the most recent such event which shocked us so more that I still feel unable to even express my emotions and anger and helplessness at the happenings even now. This article is not about any such happening though. Its just about a smaller event, but which just makes me go 'wow! really?'. Italian guards who were released in good faith by Indian jails on the guarantee of t

For the last year, most of my posts on this blog have not been about social/political events happening around me that make me want to express my reaction at their occurrence. They have all been on more neutral and easy topics: movie reviews. Maybe because I am staying in a country where the happenings around me don't affect me at an emotional level to make me want to comment on them? And my own country is too far away for me to be able to feel strong emotions for them? Questions I don't know the answers too.. But then events happen (thank Indian politicians for that!) when all those strong emotions are stirred up again..! And here I am, writing, trying to express my exasperation and the feeling of helplessness at Indian politics (this time in Bengal) .. Maya Diaries were the flavour for the last few years. And now that behenji is not on her throne for the moment, a new didi has taken her place; to give us stories of new heights of what (stupidities?!) a person in power i

Ramdev's protest broken up by Delhi Police and the protestors beaten up..        Anna Hazare not allowed to hold a fast at Jantar Mantar.. but at JP Park..              .. and that too, for not more than 3 days and with not more than 5,000 people... What is India coming to? The largest democracy in the world but protests being stifled?? And the PM shirks any responsibility,  saying he cannot be involved.. (and turning a blind eye to things happening in his administration yet again!). Can the head of the government say that this does not fall within his purview? Can the government get away with not allowing a peaceful protest just because the protest is against the government? Such headlines coming in the papers regularly do not paint a positive picture of what des is coming to.. and worries a bit.. Lets see what it leads to?

Sometime back, I came across this article about an MBA woman sarpanch of a village in India and was pleasantly surprised reading this. It made me happy to know that at least some educated youth of the country are actually doing what a lot of us just love to talk about.. Of actually making a difference to our people, and doing something concrete (even in their own small way) rather than just talking about it but then just expecting others to do something about it rather than themselves.. I have too at times thought of doing something like this, something at the grassroot level, but till now have never really done anything.. This story is definitely inspiring to people like me I guess!

Interesting take  on our prime minister... What all in entailed in a Prime Minister's job? Is being aware (and responsible) of what is happening in his government part of his job? Or not?

There is enough being said and written about all that happened 25 years ago... There is nothing I can write that can express even a percent of the kind of frustration and exasperation we all feel reading about this tragedy! The list of questions are endless.. This was a nice site I read about which was able to put into words what I could only feel... Some excerpts from the article above.. " Why was Warren Anderson, the chief of Union Carbide, given the chief minister's own aircraft to leave India, just four days after the leak and with a charge of 304A against him when he was simply out on bail? On the same day flew out of the country, never to be brought to trial. Also, why did the government accept the Supreme Court settlement with Union Carbide for just 470 million dollars - money not enough to compensate even a fraction of its victims? Why did the Digvijay Singh government allow Carbide to return the land with tonnes of toxic waste sill on it, when the

According to the rules (as I would understand them), a movie before being released in India needs to be cleared by the Censor Board, and thereafter it can be released in India with the relevant certificate. However, in the last couple of years, parallel rules have surfaced, these movies need to be cleared by Shiv Sena, MNS and now the Congress? All I want to know is who are these people to censor what the people get to see? Who gave them the rights to control this? Biographies are written and biographical movies are made sometimes with and sometimes without the approval of the person depicted. Is that wrong? And frankly, if the person does not support such a writing/movie, it will not be treated as an biography, what is the problem with this? Update: Saw the movie Rajneeti, other than the similar way of dressing and walking between Katrina and Sonia, there was not much common in their stories. Wonder why such a huge noise was made by Congress about her character.

Here is an interesting take by Rajdeep Sardesai on the new educated politicians we have on their block and how their careers have been/will be!

Maya never fails to make it to the news on a regular basis.. and all the reasons are mostly the same; more money to her; more statues of her; or just her telling other politicians and the judiciary (and of course the general public) to go to hell!! Anyways here are some more stats on Maya, on how she has worked so hard over the last few years to uplift the weaker sections of society as she had always promised to do...

Ya yeh kehna chahiye, jidhar dekho UP main, Maya hi Maya hai! Either the news she makes regularly or the even bigger statues she has got made! Given how much she loves herself and her publicity, I would also dedicate posts just to her and her claim-to-fame actions!! Lets start here, with two huge garlands made of only Rs. 1000 notes.. Wow it is.. Shows her transformation from 'Dalit ki beti' to 'Daulat ki beti'.. to quote one of her adversaries... News article Video

Another low in India politics.. "The Congress-led Meghalaya United Alliance coalition government now has four “chief ministers”, with senior legislator and state party chief Friday Lyngdoh’s elevation to the status and rank of chief minister. Soon after the formation of the coalition last May under chief minister D.D. Lapang, J.D. Rymbai and Donkupar Roy were accorded the status and rank ." The last low in this category had been the six-monthly Chief Ministers that UP once had, when BJP and BSP had been unable to come up with a consensus CM. That marriage had not lasted more than six months, but now we have another low in this category: Four 'Chief Ministers' at the same time!! How this will go we can guess anyways, four CMs go to five CMs and then six CMs and then so on...! And to top it all, the terms of the appointment are such, that only one of the Chief Ministers will have admistrative powers and duties, the rest would just enjoy th