numero uno

India becomes no 1 team in tests ??? i dunno how can we become number one in tests without having ever won in Aus in recent times. SA beat Aus black and blue after we handed the arrogant ozs a perth trouncing.. but poor proteas hav just lost their crown to us... may be we stopped oz twice from a record 17th win may well make us the true numero uno.... we may not be world beaters but yeah we give a team a run for their money .....as dhoni said we may find it very very tough to hold on to numero uno.. As
he also said, lets just play good cricket and let the ratings take care of themselves.... foreign media have already started questioning how deserving india is for the numero uno spot? well guys get a break.. brown men also can be numero uno... anyways now that cricket is conquered, let us as well concentrate on gaining lost glory in hockey... Football is another area where we can be numero uno (!!!!!) beleive me it wont take 77 years as in case of cricket if we put the energy in right places.. We can aim for numero uno in 25 years atleast....

Dynasty globally

Yesterday I happened to read a feature in the BBC website about dynasties taking over in northern africa. Well Many of us may ask whats new about it. The article in BBC talks about Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and algeria. Consider Kuwait, saudi arabia, syria. The dynasties are everywhere. India, Philippines, Indonesia and some other far eastern countries have democratic dynasties... Why does all this happen?

Indifference of the people. In some cases like in oppressive regimes, any opposition is either silenced brutally or given economic privileges. In a democratic setup, the people themselves are so frustrated that they do not care about the credentials of their candidates... Well even in the UK and US to lobby for a post of governor or PM or President, a person needs to have sufficient clout in terms of men or money to win elections... Its known that hillary put up with bill's infidelity in return for his clout in the democratic party that gave her a realistic chance of running for president. In our own country, Rthe prince is back from foreign and is now staying in huts to feel the real india. In India's richest state Maharashtra, in the recently concluded assembly polls more than a dozen leader kids have been "elected" MLAs.
Even in the remotest states of North Eastern India dynasties have started growing.
America which wanted to bring democracy to Iraq has long been silent about Saudi ....

What really is democracy all about? is there any real democracy in existence where over 80% of people cast their franchise genuinely. I doubt so.

There wont be long before we go back to monarchy but in a different form....

its in the family

yesterday, due to some pressing need i happened to visit the office library. There, i chanced upon a copy of business today. The cover story of the latest issue has a profile of Noel Naval Tata, the half brother of Ratan N Tata. Noel has been running the group's retail arm Trent Ltd for over a decade now and yet a few have heard much about him in the media. Everytime i visit a Westside outlet, i am sure to find a surprise. I have taken many of my relatives/friends to westside outlets and they all have been impressed by it. More than the flashy big outlets, westside's subtle ambience has captured senses of many. In the last deacade, apart from westside we have seen Trent foray into books and music by acquiring a stake in landmark, partenring with Tesco for Star India Bazaar ( more importantly going slow on it after the retail bust during sub prime crisis where many retail biggies bit the dust), launching electronic retail chain of croma. One point to note here Ladies n Gentlemen is, Trent is 14th in terms of market cap in the tata group ( my company is the first ) . Trent is also not supposed to explicitly use the omnipresent TATA logo as they have to still reach a few goals as per the in-house business excellence model of the group to be able to use it. Until then all it can do is to just display "A TATA Enterprise" in its brands.The man has led the company ably as his elder bro did Nelco more than 2 decades ago. Yet the man hasnt had a stint in Tata Steel or Tata motors , the flagship companies of the group. Noel is the likely successor to the septuagenarian chairman who is set to retire soon and may become chairman emeritus like his mentor JRD. Iam awestruck by the steady growth of Trent that has lived up to the Tata values. I say this not just because I am a Tata employee. I hope the group gets to greater heights once Noel takes over the mantle. With a team of CEOs in their 40s Noel whos in his 50s will have a brighter chance for taking the group to new heights.

pseudo-moral

In India nothing creates controversy more than books that talk history...Nah this is not about the furore caused by Jaswant who was hailing Jinnah... Jinnah and secular.. well its true he was not at all a pious Muslim, his wife was called Ruttie petit ( yup a parsi).. but suddenly he found his religion and became the quaid e azam.. lets leave him apart for a while.. this is about Jinnah's arch rival for premiership, had India been not partitioned; the man in question is Pt Nehru.. a lot has been said , written and seen about his relationships et all... About 2 yrs before an oxford scholar named Alex von Tunzelmann reignited the flame with her book "Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire" . I have read that book and say that there is nothing extremely controersial.. It talks about Gandh, Nehru, Lord Mountbatten, Edwina, very less about Jinnah.. more importantly,it talks about the Nehru-Edwina link. The author has done her bit of research at the Royal Archives.. The book actually talks about the lives of Gandhi, Nehru and the mountbattens before narrating the events of 1947.. Well the Brits are never afraid of writing history and the lady has minced no words in mentioning that the marital link between Lord n Lady Mountbatten was an open marriage and that the Lord was openly bisexual... She has also clearly stated that the Nehru-Edwina link was more than platonic.. It seems some people here have taken their own sweet time to read the book.. after 26 months when some hollywood guy is tryin to film the book, people have come out shouting that this is defamatory to our beloved leader... Well whether or not Nehru had a relation ship with Edwina, the fact remains that he is the architect of modern India and is a statesman par excellence ( yes "IS" is what i use) .. thats how I see it...But with their new found popularity, the congress party doesnt want to take its chances.. It cried foul and a host of Nehru family/extended family members have said that the relationship was just platonic( IJ IT??)....
There has also been an attempt to influence the director to come out n say that he has shown nothing controversial in the movie.. well clear breach of creative freedom.. We are a secular bear all bunch.. aint it friends?.. Well as a matter of fact, the book there are some facts about Gandhiji, which some might feel offensive... But none from Gandhi's family has even made a whimper..
We as a nation are so much obsessed with hero worship that even a small criticism against our beloved leaders is a matter of pride for us....Whatever be the relationship reality is, the fact is Nehru is still a hero... Let us all realise that and not make a hue n cry...

taamil teryaadu

when i was in singara chennai this time, i happened to see many northie folks with this sentence 'taamil teryaadu'... i had a crude pleasure in talking to them in chennai slang and when they replied this i felt elated... i thought to myself wow .. 6 yrs ago in pune when i said marathi maith nahi and spoke in hindi, i usually got replies in chaste marathi ( thanks to tht i am able to understand a bit marathi now).. similarly these northy folks will soon learn claasical divine tamil.... vaazhga thamizh valarga thamizh :-)( Long live classical divine tamil)

bong connexion

after rocking mumbai delhi n kolkatta, Oh calcutta arrived in pune a while ago... well this is about the restaurant owned by Anjan Dutta a famous bong musician/actor....
I have been having a craving to have bong food for long and with Oh calcutta in the vicinity of my office i was getting mad daily... alas these guys dont have buffet on weekdays and i usually stay away from office areas on weekends.. but today i had some business there and that too around lunch... so my dream was about to be fulfilled...
the meal started with bread chops and alor dum... delicious... the main course was a divine treat of alor poshto, veg chorchori, phulkopi....what not..
the non veg selection included hilsa fish, murshidabad style biryani and lauki& chingri curry... alas i am a veggie :-)

then came the dessert... there was a usual selection of mousse n icecreams.. but i opted for payash n roshogulla....its been a good 5 hours since the meal but the aroma n flavour linger on...... Oh caclutta ekdum photaphoti....

team no 1

nopes this is not a title of a govinda david dhawan flick... MS Dhoni and his men have become the no 1 odi teamin the world.. ( they could lose the spot in 24 hrs if they lose today but who cares... weve been there no 1...)yippe.. a consistent performance over a yr... india rockzzz......

censor pangs

while i was on vacation, i caught up with this new hype in tammovie land.. kanthasamy the rooster super hero movie.. the movie was a pain. the best review is written here http://www.thehindu.com/fr/2009/08/28/stories/2009082850560200.htm Yet many tam magazines find something to cheer about this movie... theres no neutrality or common sense in any of the tam mags around...well i also happened to lay my hands on the DVD of a picture called "Iruvar" ... its a biopic with a bit of fiction freely thrown around. Its Mani's masterpiece and Ash's début movie.. It chronicles the friendship turned rivalry of Tamlands two powerhouses Muthuvel Karunanidhi and Mardur Gopalamenon Ramachandran.. well i dont want to say anything about both these movies.. i just have some queries to our censor guys... whats the criteria on whch u give a U or A or U/A and are they transparent... me thinks its as transparent as my company's policy on promotions...u never see a pattern being followed.. why i am saying this is, the movie kanthasaamy has a U certificate .. never know that a movie in which the heroine dances around in towels n bikinis can get a U.... and Iruvar has an A certificate... Goodness me.. Iruvar does not have any violence or sexually explicit sequences.. the only fault of it is, it deals with quite an inflammable topic.. it shud atleat have got an U/A if not a U...this is just a small piece.. if we see many such movies we'll see the inconsistency.. if such is the standards how can we trust these guys and letkids or adolescent folks ( more vulnerable) see some movies.. in today's worls movies and tv play a lot more role in shaping up cultural outlook and we cant totally ignore em..

PS: Why did i choose these two movies for comparision?.. well the director of kanthasaamy was an assistant to Mani and was ne of the important crew members of Iruvar..

back to roots

I happened to be in chennai at the time of the brahmotsavam of the Lakshmi Hayavadhana temple in Nanganallur... Yeah i know its not as famous as tirupathi or any other shrine.. but nonetheless it occupies a very special position in my heart.. its my ultimate palce of pilgrimage and prayer... i have been a devotee of lord hayavadhana ( the male counter part of saraswathi in education, work and arts) ever since my childhood.. Added to the devotion was the association of vedanta desikan to the lord...the temple is a very small one but i get a lot of inner peace when i visit there. I used to go this place almost daily when i was studying back in chennai.. in those days i was a very simple guy ( not that i am a pompous arse now) .. whenever i go back to chennai, i try to relive those days.. walking without a slipper, wearing the traditional outfits et all.. its just a different feeling all together..
The brahmotsavam went on very well and the link to view the photos is http://hayavadhana.co.nr ( not sure why they chose a site based in nauru..)
The highlight of this brahmotsavam was, whenever the lord was taken out in procession in a vahana, one of the committee members had made an arrangement in which a miniature version of the idol and vahana was kept decorated. This miniature version was taken out in procession by small kids... the priests made sure that they taught the kids about all the rituals patiently.. the kids were an enthusiaistic lot and listened keenly.. they way the followed the instructions was amazing.. the kids trying to wear veshtis and kepping it on their waists by means of all sorts of belts was a sight worth watching... amidst all these i did some soul searching... the funnier side is i ended up skipping most of the utsavam as i was sleeping or away to other temples or outside nanganallur... but whatever i could catch up with really took me closer to my roots .. i am glad that i took this vacation..

relief

Often people see me as an aggressive chap who gives a piece if his mind whenever possible....off late i had been trying to curb that instinct after many advised me not to be so outspoken.. it was a good advise too.. but there are sometimes and some places where one needs to show how capable he/she is in countering people who have no concern for others... Today I did that to a person, who was very close to me once but off late was carrying an attitude.. I tried to be as polite as possible in dealing with that person and even wanted to end things without any hostilities.. but certain limits were crossed and i felt that I was being estimated a weak person on the other side.. Hence I decided to give it all and poured out my not so good feelings with the choicest slang available to me...now i dont give a hoot as to what happens and i am glad that i did it... what a relief........

Jana Gana Mana

we celebrate the 63rd Independence day from the brits... Moment of great success. SOme doomsdaysayers will cry saying so many people are below poverty line etc.... But in spite of all short comings we are still a great country and the world cant function without us...At this proud moment, lets reflect on our national anthem.. which is a true essence of our culture... Some say that Gurudeb wrote that song in praise of George V for the 1911 Delhi Durbar. Even that that silly assumption, Gurudeb just stands out. He has written a song in highly sankritized bengali, which is easier for most people in the country to understand. There are still a bunch of fools hanging around who say sanskrit is the language of the aryans and they quote the aryan invasion theory, which in itself is doubtful.. lets leave em out..morons will be morons.

The song praises the adhinayak ( ruler supreme lord) of the mana ( mind) of jan gans ( larger public). It says that all over india from punjab, sindh, gujarat, maratha, vindhya, dravida, himalayas the name reverberates and seeks blessings...and ends with a victory call...

The song praises an ruler which is most likely God. It has been so brilliantly conceived that theres no particular God named...thus reflecting the tenet of secularism.. Gurudeb stands out as a supreme poet..

Jana Gana Mana is not just a song thats sung on government functions.. its a prayer that seeks the well being of our home land.... lets celebrate the spirit of Jana Gana Mana

kashmir again

last week kashmir was in the news for different reasons....
of course shopian is always there but some terrorists killed a 3 yr old and as omar abdullah rightly said, the separatists were silent on that... where's their conscience

but slowly we can be sure that kashmir is really now an integral part.... why this sudden realization?
following are the reasons

1) Sex Scandal... this unites India.. we had one in chandigarh, Tamil nadu, kerala, where not.. kashmir has also joined the bandwagon....

2) Assembly mic incident: well UP did thisin 1990s.. almost many other states too... kashmir is the last but yeh we welcome this... true parliamentary democracy has bloomed in kashmir....

3) Resignation drama : Almost every other CM has done it... Omar is the last again but not the least.. yeh Integration of kashmir is complete.......

dynasty again

Some time in the 1950s rajaji as CM of tamland had this scheme called kula kalvi. According to it students learnt their family profession in addition to the curriculum. Back then it was vehemently opposed by the dravidian parties as a symbol of brahminism. But the same party now is promoting the family .Anyways politics cinema are for sure dynastic industries. You need a strng surname for sure. Over the last week i was follwing telugu politics n cinema. Another starkid is being launchd in gult land. Tam n gult lands have a lot in common. People of both lands put their admiration and trust seriously. They support whom they admire to any extent and destroy people who betray them. More than the politicos, the stars know this and manipulate their brand value. The debut of tthe third gen akkineni star has been planned in such a way. As usual diff story grt direction rhetoric was thr. As usual the heroine dint knw telugu. Well tam and telugu heroines just thrive on dubbings. They also make it a point to spk a wors or two in the local lingo at a public function. Still we're fine with that. So another son has risen...

Back in tamland the 'trend' is towards realistic cinema. Super. We just look at the trend before making a tam muvee. Other things like story fall in place as we move along. Just for a while we thought tam movies got better but nay its just the trend of the season. They may go back after people get bored.

But bollywood is the best. We make any kind of muvee thr and sell it anywhee. If its a flop in india its an overseas hit. Atlest thats wht we say. But these days comedy's the thme thr. And starkids get launcd daily thr these days. What do the older stars do? Some get a doctorate, some meet hilary and talk abt education. Wow.

we say vanashrama dharma is gone. But thats what prevails. Atleast in politics n cinema all over india. 'unity in diversity' jai ho

he he

i had a hunch. i did tell that its unlikely for us to reachT20 semis... now its impossible....

People say dhoni was overconfident etc etc... the only fault of shoni is he isnt batting aggressively.. rest else is fine with him. we dint loose because sehwag wasnt there.. we lost because we have been playing for very long and needed a lot of rest... we arent as atheltic or strong by nature like aussies .. only they can afford such long outings.. if we want to keep winning we will have to take breaks... anyways we won the wc when we were written off. now we lost..lets focus on 2k11 WC.. we should win that... go dhoni go....

பசங்க

சமீபத்தில் இந்த படத்தை பார்க்க நேர்ந்தேன். மிக அருமையாக எடுக்கப்பட்ட படம் இது. இதுதான் நிஜமான குடும்ப படம் . சிறு வயது போட்டி பொறாமைகளை ஒரு கதை மூலமாக சொல்லி இருக்கிறார் இயக்குனர். சற்று கூட முகம் சுளிக்க வைக்காத காட்சிகள், வசனங்கள் மற்றும் பாடல்கள். ஐயா படம் னா இது படம். எடுக்கறானுன்களே மத்த படங்களையும். ஜீவாவின் அப்பாவாக வரும் நடிகர் பிரமாதமாக நடித்துள்ளார். இவருக்கு நிறைய வாய்ப்புகள் வரும். பார்த்தால் ஏதோ தொலைக்காட்சி தொடரில் வருபவர் போல் உள்ளார். நாயகன் நாயகி சுமாராக நடித்து உள்ளனர். படத்தை ஜீவா மற்றும் அன்பு வாக நடித்துள்ள இரண்டு சிறுவர்களும் இரு தூண்கள் போல தாங்கி பிடித்துள்ளனர். படம் பட்டையை கிளப்பி இருக்கிறது .........எப்பூடி

பிகு: அந்த நாயகி பர்ர்பதற்கு லட்சணமாக உள்ளார்.

poor dhoni

Seems the dream is over.. weve lost the first major match.. dhoni will be crucified and mauled ... his state will be worse if we fail to qualify for semis ( most likely as per my intution)... anyways as an Indian i am used to all these.... lets see what happens... moreover we need the real 50 50 wc and not 20 20 now... ;) ( grapes are sour)

electoral system

the first past the post electoral system needs a serious re-thinking... people with less than 30% of the vote are becoming MPs and pass laws that dont have a majority backing.. this leads to law breaches and endless debates....

Reasons for the faults

1) People not voting

we cannot entrely blame the people for low turn outs.. in many a case people who went out to vote found their names missing.. kamal hassan was missing from voter list ridiculous... in delhi many cent govt babus found their names missing... what a pity.... also there should be a provision to allow absentee ballots applicable for even common citizens.. people may not necesarily register to vote in the place they stay .. they may prefer to vote in their home cities just because of the fact that they might have moved into the new place pretty recently.. the voter list should be carefuly revised and ensured that all appropriate names are included. With the technological advances we should also ensure online registration and verification...( Govt enabled and not thru some NGOs as was the case this time)

2) Voting Pattern

why do we need first past the post? why cant we use a proportional system..

this would ensure that to win a person needs atleast some percentage of votes..

we could also try for a primary and a run off system to eliminate people..

we should declare eceltions void if we have less that 55% voter turnout....

lets push for it.....

Secular

when BJP lost we are so happy to say that Secularism won.. is that a reality? We have thus far failed to define what secular means and give it conextual meanings.. One cannot digest the fact that demanding a uniform civil code is not secular... if BJP is really communal it could have said make manusmiriti the code ( Sharia is a code in many islamic countries).. The fact is we still want to appease muslims... Muslims are very much part of this country and we need not go out of the way to please them. Our media is happy to say that the muslims have voted in a block to congress.. thats all fine. when some one asks the same to hindus its regarded communal and fundamental...In kerala and tamil nadu, parties named muslim league and Muslim munnetra kazhagam become part of a secular formation.. I am sorry we need to change this outlook...

Prophecy Comes true

Just 2 yrs before, before oz won the 2k7 wc , i made a prophecy that a day will come when oz will be screwed badly and knocked outta world tournament in the first round... i dint know that it would happen in 2k9 T20 WC... Gayle n Sanga ensured that they did just that to OZ... go ponting rub your face in some mud :) yeow.. the oz are out Ireland is thru to round 2.........
someone please do the same to them in 2k11 WC ... May eng screw themin the ashes due in a month's time... let everyone crush OZ... Amen...

OZ crushed yet again

Gayle is for sure the most exciting cricketer of our times... lovely... his innings made sure that oz idiots bit the dust again...!!! pray lanka defat oz on monday and kick em outta t20 wc....

how foolish

i cant fathom why the INC did not decide on the speaker post along with the ministry.. they make meira kumar a minister, then ask her to resign and then make her a speaker... media as usual is gaga abt it first woman n dalit speaker... well they express this dalit word so much that it creates a sort of awkward situation.. they harped so much abt the first dalit prez kr narayanan so much that a french newspaper published his profile as untouchable something like that... then everyone got offended... but Mr narayanan said that the fault was that of the Indian media which just highlighted his caste credentials so much that his other genuine qualifications ( he was a career diplomat) got shadowed...hope they dont create such situation for Meira.. guys we all know that now in India anybody can reach any post :-)... no need to harp....as a matter of fact Meira is also an ex IFS officer....lets see what more the INC has got...now they will have a reshuffle once in 8-9 months as usual... at times its just too boring .....but as and when the assemble elections keep happening we are bound to see more and more drama...

Heir apparent

So the race to succession on tam land has been decided… it all started with a survey that claimed 2-3 lives… now settled… the general from south tam land is in delhi and the Chennai man is in chef de mission in the state… DYNASTIC POLITICS!!!!!!!

Ij it.. what abt Nehru clan ( they r in opposition party too.. crap), Abdullah clan , badal clan, chavan clan deora clan, karunakaran clan, nandamuri clan, chautala clan, hooda clan, scindias, pilots, patnaik clan wowwie the list is never ending… the only people whose sons n dughters are not in politics are lalu, paswasn n Nitish…. ( well they’ll come soon I guess).
So it’s a proven fact .. you got to have some connection high up else your likelihood to succeed in indian politics is very less…
But one thing is for sure .. quite unlike the Nehru or some other clan. Karuna’s sons have had to try and test themselves out.. at least the younger one stalin has been in politics quite long.. his stint in politics is roughly my age … but these guys are all the same…

But still the fiefdoms are rotated in a democratic way.. we have ensured that we give turns to these dynasties… hardly theres one state in India without a political family…Sikkim may be? Arunachal ?

Luckily mayawati n jaya are kumaris.. jaya also has disowned her ex foster son whose wedding bash was bigger than the mittal wedding at versailles.
Whats the solution to all these.. one thing is regardless of dynasties, we should put a cap on the terms of a chief minister and a PM… max 3. Then lets see atlest we will get to see new faces atleast once in 15 yrs J .. that’s if a man or woman becomes a CM or PM at say 50 ( he/she might have an offspiring at roughly 20-25).. by the time of his/her term expiry, the child wud still be 35-40 ish but will have competition from others.. the dynasty transition might not be this blatant…and even that happens, it will not go on for generation after generation……its high time we took interest in politics of our nation..

Cicuit break - Record break

approx 20% rise in just abt 5minutes trading.. 10% in 30 secs and 10% aftera break.
wow ahs something changed in India so drastic??? whos manipulated such a rise... good thattrading was halted.. else these guys wud have bloated sensex to 20K and then let it go for a free fall....good that we have a stable govt.. doesnt mean that things change overnight .. let them have a yr or two to turn around the economy... lets not be impatient... Jai Hind

Pray this is not False

Velupillai Pirapaharan ( thats how they spell it back in so called eezham).... Is dead... Lovely.... This is probably the first time I am rejoicing for a death and praying that the news be true...this man back in 2002 said that Rajiv's death was a tragic incident... his death has not been comic at all.... साला कुत्ते की मौत मारा गया ...Let peace become a reality in SL.. let tamils n sinhalas live in peace... now that Rajpaksa & brothershave had their objective, let them relax the opression on media... reconcile with all citizens... failing which he might well match the fate of other similar people.....

vishesh tippnis

Now that congress has won we hear a lot of vishesh tippnis some interesting ones ive heard are
1) New Age sycophancy - the so called royal of gwalior scnidia says Rahul shud be PM ( boss MMS was projected as PM b4.. whats the fun inthis now.. we anyways know that RG is PM in waiting and u will get a cabinet birth.. same as ur dad who was a side kick of Rajiv)
2) Sycophancy of the Old age - Prithviraj Chavan says Rahul can claim the PMs chair wheneverhe wants..... PM MMS says he would like Rahul to be a min .. RG says if PM likes he wud be amin ( he bhagwan... is this a price for a stable govt?)
3) Rahul's so callec coming of age- he won in UP ( 20 seats boss, if it was coming ofage it shud have been 30 or 40) .. alsohis decision was to go alone in Bihar and UP.. in biharthey managed only 2... so lets take this vicory with pinch of salt....
4) Victory of secula forces - Lets see how they work and how many more sops to minorit they offer... there is no dearth of festivals and elections in India lets waitand watch how congress manages its show and the BJP reoups...
5) The MNS factor - last time BJP-SS was unlucky tohave lost mumbai, this time they have themselves to blame... political pundits thoughtRaj Thackeray was a joker but he setoutto achieve whathe planned.. he never wantd any MP seat .. he just spolt the party of BJP-SS.. treat him with respect in assembly election guys... he will be a factor worth considering...
6) On Meera Sanyal - B4 elections ppl were really jittery abt the south mumbai corporate candiate Meera, as tey thought she cud spoil the chances of INCs Milnd... but afterhe won , Shekar something Gupta of Indian xpress said that the 6000 odd votes got by Meerawas from her cocktail party members... As if Milind never had cocktail parties......these hypocrites... self proclaimed righteous fellas.... Meera had every right to stand in elections and had she won considerable votes, these guys wud have been silent or rather praising her...

7) Loss of criminals - Is it?? how can the media be so naive... as per them only in UP and Bihar do crimanals contest and if all of them lose, its a great sign... there are many criminals who have won, they are not clean just because they have not been chargesheeted or vindicated or whatever... its not a court where u say ure innocent until proved guilty.... Tam land itself has so many criminals who are MPs now..... cmon...

MMS cabinet part 2

So how should the cabnt look like a wild guess

MMS - PM (some other useless ministires)
Rahul Baba - Deputy PM?? ( can hold any other portfolio as well)
Pranab Dadu - Fin Min
P C ( If hs victory conroversy is not blown up) - Home Min
Sashi Tharoor - Foreign Min
Kamal Nath - Environment or commerce
Murli Deora - Petroleum
Mulayam ( Assuming he pitches hs 22 odd seats t cover the 10 needed) - Defence
La Loo shud this guy be given a ministry at all? Kick him off i say
Farooq - Some minstry
Pawar - Agri
Mamata - Suitable for Railways
Ok enough guesses on portfolios
Praful - Aviaion again to ruin the NACIL
Some guess on who else will me mins
Some 6-8 odd MPs from Andhra ( man they gave UPA and cong a big boost)
some 5-6 from UP ( cong won 20+ alone)
some 3-4 from Rajasthan
the clan - MK Azhagiri , Dayanidhi & Kanimozhi from tamland
sibbal and one more from delhi....
Soren will get another term...

then who else....

Elections

Finally elections are over and seems congress has kind of managed to win... but theywould still be short abput 30 seats and mayawati or mulayam may have to pitch in.. coconut headed lalu is decimated... CPM demolished in WB & Kerala.. COng has sprung a surise mainly due to goos howing in Rajasthan, MP , Punjab, kind of better in UP .. In TN though they've lost AMMA hasn't lived up to her billing.. lets see in assembly 2k11 ... BJD sweeps in orissa shows Navin has carried forward the Patnaik clan to new heights.... whats wrong wth BJP, good in Guj, Kar, Bihar with JDU, its nowhere in Delhi...it still has got another 5 years to rebuild and rebound...
Lets hope this time also congress manages to run 5 years in power.......... In the end we managed to pull it off amidst security threats etc etc...

Fasting fasting

he he the SL issue took a nice turn with the TN CM and his so called indefinite fast... well , having had breakfast, he sat on a fast and by lunch time he was back :).. no offence intended but everyones does this fast :-)fortunately for him, the Lankan government had announced something, which is definitely not a ceasefire...not sure what else we'll get to see as the poll scene unfolds further..

Back to Lankan Crisis

Lanka this time around is creating so much flutter that its not gonna die down soon.. Many people have attempted self immolation in tam land..( emotionally charged eh) .. many saying that SL Army is committing a genocide and that they should stop the fight... well i am pained to see that no one n TAMLAND is empathising with scores of kasmiris wo have been affected by the J&K issue with such a fervour evenhough the nationalty is same... here its just the language that takes precendence.. if you they say that hey show empathy beyond boundaries, do they empathise so much for afghanis who are sufferring for decades or do they empathise with people n darfur ( many in tamland will ask "is darfur a sweet dish?").. Well hell no... these people are just creating political noise based on language and some students and hopeless people have joined in the agitation...If these guys have an iota of genuine iterest in tamil welfare that they show off, did they try anything to stop the real genocide thats happening in tamland??? I'm referring to the scores of rameshwaram fishermen shot down by lankan navy while they were verymuch fishing in Indian waters..... Did the CM who calls himelf tahimzh ina thalaivar ( Head of tamil race) ever protest against this? DId mr Vaiko who claims he will carry weapons to aid LTTE ever raise a voice against this?.. Wake up tamil men... this is a farce....i do agree that people insri lanka suffer but if we try to intervene beyond a certain limit, pakistan might do the same in kashmir citing the same reasons.. here we say language , there they'll use relegion....just realise what we have been upto...

PS: Many of my tamil acquaintences have pointed out that iam heartless toward fellow tamils and my caste is a prime reason for that... To ye all mortals... me being a so and so has nothing to do with my stand on such issues... I see myself as an Indian and first and foremost I tend to see things from an Indian perspective ... I will emptahise as much with Kashmiris , north eastern fellow citizens as i do with fellow tamils in India.. as far as e SL Crisis is concerned.. it pains e but so do the crises in Afghanistan and many other places...

IPL2 - Damp Squib

Really with so much rain it has been a damp squib.
Also no match is interesting.. only one match betn CSK and DD has gone down the wire till the 19th over of 2nd innings...........
The only interesting aspect of IPL2 has been the fakeiplplayer blog. The author is a good writer and keeps his posts interesting.. Many may find the language and nick names obscene.. But whateverhe does say seems to have atleast some bit of truth.... My fav nick names are Appam Chu***a and vinnie d**do .... lets see what happens to this guy...
As faras my last post goes i got another first hand experience about my own rotten luck..... though i dont wish to say the incident....

naseeb

One of my colleagues and I were discussing the effects of naseeb or fate or luck... our conclsion was neither of us had a good outing with fateand both of our naseebs were "pandu" a mumbaiyya slang for a flop show..... Though i said th, i did not realise how true it was unil i went to Mumbai last week.... The offices in mumbai were so nice and one of them was stunning.. wish i worked in such a place... the place where i work is nothing short of a garbage dumping ground :-).... anyways you will have to take these things with a pinch of salt...

IPL Out

Finally after too many meetings and press bites, IPL is out of India....
Sensible decision by the unioin home ministry... Why to stretch our central forces, without hwom this cannot happen... the central forces will anyways have a tough time during elections with the personnel having theirleaves cancelled for a prolonged period... add to this the IPL festival, we risk at stressing them to break point levels.. IPL is an instrument whereby very few people earn hell a lotof money and we should not allow central security to be wasted even though they pay for it.. Increase the security bill 10 tims, and check whether BCCI is sill willing... in the end common sense has prevailed and whatever might be theventual reason, its better that IPL is out of the way.....

hey raam

Well, something bizzare always happens in India so one is never short of surprises...
But the latest surprise or shock was to see Kiran Bedi endorsing a beauty cream!!!! hey raam
when the debates are on bashing beauty cream adverts and calls to ban them ... we see the iron lady endorsing one...eesh.. cmon India's first lady IPS, magasaysay award winner, a lady who demosntarted her pride by quitting when her seniority was overlooked for Delhi Commssioner's job now endorses beauty creams... that too she uses slogans that point to her flawless reputation as a police officer to sell a cream????Hey raam

Slashin Sachin

Sachin these days seems to be playin to set some of his records straight. Last yr he made is first ever odi century in oz land, in the process enabling india to capture the last ever CB tri series ... today he has made a grand first century in NZ land... nz land especially auckland established slashin sachin as the opener, butit was at SL on vinayak chaturti 1994 that he made a century....43 now in 15 is awesome.... so sachin, the next one i expect is hangon until the next tour to enger land and score a test hundred at lords.... i wanna see ur name on that borad at lords.....

Weekend movie

In college days, my good friend Thilak Obla had a fantasy( dream, vision, aim what ever). He wanted to watch 4 shows of different movies back to back in different theatres. I first heard this during the 7th Semester exams ( late 2002) at the canteen. At first, I thought it was madness, but later I took a liking to it and wanted to do something similar but in a multiplex so that travel hassle is reduced. I was never ready to try 4 movies in a day. Two back to back sounded okish but again 2 bollywood or kollywood movies back to back was difficult due to
a) selecting watch-worthy movies back to back and arranging tickets
b) How good the movie may be but standing 12-13 songs in 4 hours is a bit tiresome..
My first trial at two back to back movies was during 2005 on my birthday. Both were English movies, each of about 90 minutes long. Not a big deal.

After 4 years, he experiment was on again but this time an English movie of 120 minutes and a hindi on of around 150 minutes..

The english one was about a plot to kill Hitler that failed and the aftermath of it. Though it dos not sound as exciting as the movies on the holocaust, this one (Valkyrie) was a very neat one. Well planned script and narration, good acting and above all, a plot that makes one sit for 2 hours without moving. Theres not much to go gaga about, still its worth a watch.

Now on to the second one; The much hyped Delhi-6. Swades in anew bottle. The directey rakesh mehra seems to have joined a gang of other film makers who just preach. The portrayal of delhi is clichéd and some the theme for some sequeneces are no different than the ones seen in many other movies… The movie is way too long and boring.
This is one of the movies towing the neo-secular line. Some common aspecs of Indian tradition is mocked at and so called superstitions are questioned. The minority angle is also thrown in. There is nothing new or interesting in the movie. Had it been shorter, it would have been at least a good entertainer. Whatever the makers have tried to do, they have not come out clear and have failed… But many may still like the movie ..

The thamizh feeling

Ideally, i should have posted this one in thamizh but considering the fact that it takes way too much of my time, i chose the queen's english.......
All of a sudden, the sinhala- thamizh problem in SL has come to haunt Indian thamizhs... somebody commits suicide by burning himself, some one fasts until death, some rougues aka lawyers create a ruckus and get a nice thrashing frm police and cry foul, some morons jam the roads, a CM threatens the use of force and threatens criminal proceedings to stop some rhetoric, an external affairs minister is involved .. wow thats a big list.....
Well well well.. i really dont care much about what happens in SL... It is really unfortunate that an ethnic problem has ruined many generations of peace...but shud i cry just because the victims speak the same language as i do? nay i have seen the same thing hapen in the very country i live and no one cares a damn...they just go on as normal... Afghanistan is still eing ravaged by petty war mongering does anyone care either? .. almost 40% of the world's population is in the same plight.. so lets not talk about all these... coming back to he SL question... The brits have a knack of leaving things they started in a disaray... be it India Pak partition animosity or the other issues elsewhere... Ceylon when the brtis left was a fairly peaceful land... the protestant Dons were prominent in politics be it stephen senanayake or hs cousin dudley... no issues,... enter the convert SWRD ( yep they are part of his name) Bandaranayake.... B'nayaka was a protestant but converted budhist .. he tried to drive sinhalese as a prominent language etc... which was not taken well by tamils.. he tred to moderate but was shot in cold blood... hence started the issue.. things were okish until about the late 70s and 80s when LTTE started gainig prominence and a full blwn war started....refugees went from Jaffna to India, and all over the world.. the war was on and off and LTTE became internationally noticed when they mastered the assassination of Rajiv, the Gandhifamily Scion and for sure the PM of India had he survived....Lankan Tamils from all over the world kept funding LTTE. and no one cared until about 2002, when Norway thought something should be done abt it.. btw why did norway give a hoot? bcos as norwegian s thought that the SL refugees were too much for them now... so Eric Solheim became the peace negotiator , Pirabakaran ( thats how they spell it) and Anton Flashed all over world's TV and in answerto Srinivasan Jain's (NDTV Guy) question on Rajiv's murder, they replied that it was a "TRAGIC INCIDENT" ... and ask for pardon from India.. what crap??? Luckily the NDA govt said that it will not be a party in the peace process and whatever the outcome be Pirabaharan is still a wanted crimial in India and LTTE is still a banned org until things changed.... now during the peace time, which saw an economic boom, the LTTE had no dearth of funds and built an airforce.. things changed again and in the full blown war that ensued, LTTE has lost...
suddenly after 2 decades, poiliticos in main tam land have something to shout at...
External Affairs minister as said that the tams in srilanka are a trotured gang, the gov pounds them and so do the LTTE.. hes right.. but his remark drew protests from some MPs.. cant beleive some MPs of Lok Sabha have the guts to supprt the terrorists instead of their own minister... and thats how India is... many members of the film fraternity also have jumped in for LTTE.. guys wake up... LTTE orchestrated the murder of any alternate tamil opinion against pirabakaran.. they shot padmanaha of EPLF at Chennai ... they killed kadiramar and many Tamil MPs from SL... they are using civilians as their shield from army.. still you have the naivity of supporting them.. One long tme MP vaiko has the audacity to say that he will carry arms for them... now he should be banned from politics... freedom of expression cant be taken for granted...one simple logic is , if u support LTTE as martyrs then whats wrong with some ppl in Pak supporting LeT or Jaish or what not? they can give the same reasons as you.. but do you really bother abt that...nay.. cos Kashmiris dont spk tamil do they?.. any form ofterrorism should be condemed and LTTE isno better that LeT cos LTTE's act of building up force when peace was declared is heniuos.....
All tamil students who tow the line of politicos are wating their time.. guys do something worthwhile....
Some lawyers pelted eggson Dr Swamy( a long time anti-LTTE man in India).. Dr Swamy may be a polictical misfit but he is an eminent lawyer of the supreme court and an academic par excellence. you as awyers should have respected him.. for he is one of your seniors... Nay.. we just wanna show our "tamil ness".. Acts like these are not going to help any tamil person and beware, everyone is watching your antics...
the government of India's stance of non interference n SL affairs is a very good one.. we gain credeibility as a nation fighting against terror.. Thanks Pranab and all others... True Tamils are behind your decision...

Musings again

I am back after trying a post in tamil..

want to discuss a few points here
1) President Obama says wall st bonuses are shameful.
Vald in the current situation.. But knowing fuly well abt the crisis ur campaignspent billions of dollars.. A chunk of it wud have come from wall st.... U better cut costs at gov level before asking them to cut bonuses... also they get fired at will.. not like u guys where 4 yrs is guaranteed and even another 4 yrs is sure if u are popular enuf... ur team is no diff u have tax evaders in ur core committee.. but its just that u get a hero;s image while poor bushie is seen as a villian just like papa bush....
2) Renuka chowdhary says Pub Bharo in response to ram sena.. how ridiculous.. she wants a majority of ladies o be alcoholics just bcos some moron hit an odd gal... will she say brothel bharo if tomm some other moron hits someone in a brothel?... what a mudhead of a minister?
she is known for slapping a traffic police man who stopped her at a signal... God save us from creatures like these
3) Pak says part of 26/11 was plotted in pak and wants Kasab back..
WHAT??? thanks for telling us wht we knw.. but why kasab.. let him eat free food in mumbai for a while.
4) Media covering the beating of a 5 yr gal
You guys are hopeless ... you still say u need more freedom.. u had a surver saying u did a gud job in mumbai coverage.. shame on u... u definitely need censor...
5) Dhoni says we'll enjoy the game and keep relishing the wins until something bad happens ( a loss)
Bravo ur feet is still on the ground.. u said this after 4th ODI, we lost the 5th ...No worries.. we dont need a team like aussies who just win and once they get used do anything to win.... all we need is just win a majority of matches and cups :) or atleast fight well..
6) Commies fight in kerala openely...
Shame on u guys... even when u had a reputation for strict intra party discipline , no one voted... now u have scams and factions and wht not made public... who will vote.. u dare not do politics just for opposing BJP ...
7) Pranab mukherjee bats for rahul and someone compares him to Obama....
Height of sycphancy.. Rajiv never got a degree nt sue if Rahul has one... we all know he studies abroad and enjoyd thr... what he really did who knows.. just roamd arnd india for free and now says he'll be PM .. God Save India...
8) India Inc bats for Modi as PM
too early to say that.. agreed hes a grt administrator.. but he has to moderate a lot....
9) Unprecedented protection for valentines day
Its become worse than Dec 6.. cant say anything except for pitying the policemen as they ve got one more headache day... same wil happen for halloweens and what not..
10) Recession!!!!
when will his get over? seems its like hanuman's tail...

எண்ணங்கள்

இன்னிக்கு ஒரு சந்தோஷமான விஷயம் நடந்தது. ஒரு வழியா மேல் படிப்பு முடிச்சாச்சு. இதுக்கு அப்புறம் என்ன பண்றது? யோசிக்க வேண்டிய நேரம். ஏதானும் புது விஷயமா படிக்கலாம். இனிமே என்ன படிச்சாலும் ஒரு ஆர்வத்துக்காக மட்டுமே படிக்கலாம். பரீட்சைல தேர்றது, தோக்கறது பத்தி பயம்,கவலை இல்லாம ஒரு குழந்தை மாதிரி படிக்கலாம். கொஞ்ச நாளைக்கு படிக்காமையே இருக்கலாம் (இல்லடா மட்டும் படிச்சு கிழ்சாச்சு!!!!). எந்த விஷயத்த தேர்ந்தெடுகறது? சட்டம் ,பத்திரிக்கை, கணக்கியல், பொருளாதாரம் இப்படி ஒரு பக்கம். நிர்வாகத்துறை முனைவர் படிப்பு ஒரு பக்கம் ... என்ன முடிவெடுக்கலாம்...?? கொஞ்ச நாள் போகட்டும்... ஆண்டவன் சொல்றதை செய்யலாம்.....

finally

after 4 years i started it, after 6 years of me becoming a graduate, finally i have managed to get a part time MBA.. an chievement personally... its not an ivy league MBA, not one that'll give a jb with awesome perks.. but still a major confidence booster.. i have gained knowledge indeed and imhappy about it.. the area of specialzation also is complimentary to the job i do...so its time to celebrate and im off ..

women rights et all

This is a country which is no good than many other counries in women rights.. well even the US and A has gender prejudice..so what abt us....usually Delhi has the worst history in women rihts abuse.. butother states are fast catchin up.. yesterday's Mangalore incident brings many questions.. no one tried to stop it.. and btw who was filming all this? the attackers or some curious media man.. if it was media folk i have one question.. "Are u human? is ur heart made f mud? wuld u do teh same thing and film it if ur wife or sis was being hitten?" the worst aspect is no one dared to stop the attackers.. agreed people inside the pub were caught unaware but the filiming crew cud have done more , called some folks for help and atleast cud have tried to put up a fight.. Govt is right in censoring media they deserve that.. senseless idiots.. they wud put anything on air to get cheap TRP points... F*****s!!!!!!!
The min Renuka comes up and says she'll disenfranchise any party involved.. if thats the case, we wud have no party left in the country..congress needs to be disenfranchised for 1984 Sikh riots, BJP for 2002 ,and manymore for many such incidents.. ntil and unless we have a public awaekening nothing can stop these.... and Renuka is known for slapping a policeman who stopped her at a signal.. so shes not the one to speak abt all this.....

ne ways life goes on and the cameras are ready to cover another such shame.. how many such incidents have happened in the recent past, the juhu incident, noida and now mangalore... shame on us

La république

So finally R-day is here .. our 60th and 59th anniversary of Bharat Ganarajya aka the Republic of India... and the chief guest is Nursultan Nazarbayev from kazakhstan.. Whenever i hear this name memoirs of Borat haunt my mind.. I have written abt Borat http://kahin-duur.blogspot.com/2006/11/my-name-is-borat.html ... Borat is a fictional creation of Sacha Cohen a hammersmith born cambridge educated brit standup comedian....
comin back to nazarbayev... Not sure why he has been invited.. hes regarded one of the corrupt leaders from the erstwhile soviet era.. with no elections he's clung on to power in Kazakhstan.. Incidentally K'stan is the 9th lagestcuntry in the world and is a land locked country with rich gas deposits.. it borders Uzbekistan, the country where Tashkent is located.. In 1966 LB Shastri died mysteriously when he went for a peace meet with Ayub Khan there...
India of late has been cochi cooing with such people.. including Than Shwe of Myanmar ( Myanmar has untapped gas which China also is eyeing).. Once in some press meet Pranab Mukhejee said we need to change our stance.. im not sure whether this is a part of it..
May be in a yr or two we'll invite Muammar al Gaddafi, Kim Il jong and who not...
of all these dictator guys, the Syrian Assads are the coolest...
Remebering dictatorship, yesterday was the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Bose who said to hitler that under any case India will not accept dicatorship... I am proud to be a bose follower...
Dr Singh is in bed and already succession talks have begun.. atleast the media has started it.. I wish that he agrees for one more term in case UPA wins... in the unlikely event of NDA winning ( i say unlikey cos anyways the commies will support congress and NDA might fall short as last time ) we anyways know who the PM will be... India wll soon again become the fiefdom of the Gandhi family with RG waiting in the wings...some website said hes the Obama of India.. the best insult to Obama which even GOP cudnt think of......
Lets ee in April what happens unil then long live the republic...Jai Hind

new yr

i have been observing for the past 4 years that the new year ushers in a sense of defeatism, boredom and what not in me, which continues for a further 3-4 months.. It has become a pattern since 2006!!!! now i feel i wud have been better off grazing cattle somewhere and want to run away and hide myself at the first instance available......im assuming that this cycle will also have a self correction as teh previous years.. if nuthing happens in the next month or so may be i'll try and make somebody else's life miserable

corollary to my pev post

I was mentioning about my jiju's trip and travelogue .. now he's released a blog version of the same. http://harishna.blogspot.com/2009/01/sandesh-from-east-one-day-during-first.html
He has portrayed me in a bad light (well thers nutin gud about me )...!!!

Corollary to Nivas

This post is a corollary to the earler post http://kahin-duur.blogspot.com/2008/03/nivas.html on Nivas.. Unfortunately Nivas dint make it to any of the services last yr... he is awaiting this yrs results .. but the new yr has brought in a grt news.. Nivas has made it to the Tamil Nadu State Group A police Service and is appointed as a Deputy Superintendent of Police now... way to go .... congrats....

Travels & travails

I dedicate my first piece of crap in the new year to travels...
I am inspired bymy athimber aka Jiju in hindi... Athi shares the same name as me but with the first and last names swapped.. Im Rajagopalan Krishnan n he is Krishnan Rajagopalan.... More than the name, i found out during my 4 months stay in Mumbai that i have a lot in common with him... he is a very practical person with common sense prevaling over him more than anger or frustration.. definitely a person to emulate ( im sure atleast Viju athimber another jiju of mine would agree to this) ..more about Krishna athi later... but this one is dedicated to his first vacation in more than 5 years... While i was in Mumbai, i had played a minor part in making the family plan for a vacation .. My sis jiju and niece had one helluva time in Gangtok , Kolkatta and Bhubneshwar.. Athi who slogs 14-15 hrs at a major bank has somehow taken off time to write a travelogue ( he says it is nt a normal traelogue) .. He is yet to release an official version so i dare not violate copyright..he calls it sandesh from the east... I have been fascinated by the east of india ever since i vistied Guwahati.. and today at 2-3 instances i felt nostalgic abt the east.. first n foremost an NDTV Docu on the Brahmaputra.. it brought the days durin which we used to travel to pan bazaar n phaltan bazaar in front of my eyes.. second my mum called me to get the terminology of magh bihu after reading a newspaper report...magh bihu is makar sankranti in ahom.. the day b4 bihu , which is called bhogi in tamland and whr we burn old ietms,in ahom land theconstruct a hut and stay all night.. in the morning of bihu they burn it.. its called bela ghor...my memoirs in a bela ghor with biblab kolita (landord's son) came rushing to me.. i will soon plan a trip to guwahati ( betel market).....and finally athi's travelogue compunded my resolution to visit the east again.. more than his travels the travails of athi n family make a great read....
I also happened to remember how dad and me just planned a trip on paper using the railway timetable ever year .. we never went on a holiday courtresy my health..
going a step further, trying to emulate jiju i had planned an elaborate two week trip from pune to bangy and chennai and srirangam ...all on first ac ( my long unfulfilled dream)... but had to cancel all and take just a week's holiday to chennai n a crampy low cost carrier....... i end up emulating a scaled up version of our childhood planning ......from planning on paper i got upgraded to planning on web :-) thru etickets................
whatever happens im planning to get one trip by my birthday so that i can also write a travelogue emulating jiju....