Central Government

So we are back to a situation where the government is tottering and an election may hit us anytime. Though I am not a great fan of congress purely because of the corruption and the pseudo secular agenda it has, I still feel that FDI is retail is needed .. One thing is it will make our local products even more competitive and innovative..  But thats apart, why are we so dependent on such smaller fringe parties to run a country.. Honestly Nitish Kumar (22), Mamta B (19) Mayawati (21) Mulayam (22) MK (18) should not have this much bargaining power.  The people who drafted the constitution committed a great blunder by accepting a plurality electoral system for such a large country.. This means anyone can win in a local area and if that area happens to have a greater population/seats he /she has a better bargaining card.. Imagine this, one state UP has more bargaining power than 7-8 states put together.. Imagine the plight of north east.. they have hardly 20 MPs for 7 states or including sikkim 8 states???

Lalu, Mulayam, left etc. say that they will still support corrupt congress than BJP just because of secularism?? what is secular??? USSR was the only secular nation.. secularism means EQUI DISTANCE from all religions.. appeasing a minority religion is definitely non secular... I cant understand how a muslim league in kerala can be a part of secular alliance and a BJP is fundamental!!!

The predominantly catholic populace of Goa have waken up and realised that the so called hindu party can offer better governance .. Thats how a nation is built.. not by the myopic polices of appeasement

Will a mid term poll throw a clear winner? I don't think so.. It will only help increase the bargaining power of people like Nitish.. I have begun to hate that man... Bihar has a total of 243 setats of which he has 115 and BJP 91.. he has a vote share of only 22% in Bihar and yet he nurtures ambition of being PM? compare that to Modi who's part of a national party, has absolute majority in his state and has a better governance record.. Oh no but Modi killed muslims???  so by that standard congress should never be voted n Punjab as they killed far many sikhs in 1984!!!!

The problem the country has now is there is no real opposition!!! BJP is targeted left right and centre even by the media and that weakens it. Its allies are not very consistent.. Only God knows what Shiv Sena's agenda is.. they support congress candidate in every presidential elections.. appear desirous of winning Maharashtra legislative assemble and are content with BMC alone!!  Nitish is behaving as if he is the lord of Bihar.. he doesn't realise if BJP goes out then Lalu has a stronger chance of  winning Bihar than himself.. BJP shot itself in the foot by distancing BJD....only BJD can save them.. Andhra is a black hole with TDP going down and out !!!

The best option is to mandate that there should be only two major political formations at the centre and the leader of a particular formation depends on the vote share .. To be in power one of the formations must have in excess of 50% vote share!!! Based on the vote share seats should be allocated ...simply put to win a seat, any one must have 50% vote share or more.. this  may result in a primary/run off election format but that expense is worth it...

This will ensure party with a pan india presence (congress or BJP or someone else tomorrow) to shape the country's policies as opposed to a fringe player with a local presence.. I definitely don't want Mulayam or Nitish as PM.. I wouldn't vote for both in the current scenario..

The best coalition government this country had was in 1999-2004!! In 1998 ABV had the guts not to horse trade, lose by 1 vote and seek fresh mandate.. because he knew that he will be able to win over people.. He showed how strong the PM's office can be even with so called coalition compulsions...
Does the current govt. have the guts to do so?

Still a lot of this local players will support the same formation as they can derive maximum benefit!!

If we don't get the act right then this country is in a great danger of descending into a greater chaos

Wasseypur Saga

This wasseypur flick is one of the most refreshing movies in recent times. Though its very crass in terms of language, content  et all, its just gripping... Its an bold attempt at hitherto untouched coal mafia area.. The last movie I remember on coal mafia was koyla which was not watchable at all... :-)
Wasseypur has so many plots sub plots and is 40% documentary...The director and the creative team have pulled across a stunner though making it utterly presentable..

The character of Sardar Khan is by far the best.. it beats all the other negative characters todate with élan!!!!!Manoj Bajpayee has set a bar .. so has have Nawazuddin Siddiqui as the pothead Faizal, Zeeshan as Deifinite and boy Tigmanshu Dhulia has shown his acting side as well.. awesome...

One of my Uncles lived & worked in Sindri in the Dhanbad district.. In childhood we knew Bihar as a lawless place but never imagined something like this...

Ganster saga is  tried and tested subject and comparisions with previous (i.e.hollywood) movies are inevitable.. In the narration of generation sagas, sub plots the film resembles the cult God Father series.. however, in God Father, Don Vito & Don Michael are the heroes... They have what one calls as high morals for a gangster.. Sardar Khan & Faizal Khan are the limit of "characterless"ness.....They are not heroes.. In fact, no one is a hero in this... Its just a narration of the evolution of crime in a mineral rich area of India were most of the people are illiterate/semi literate

The dark humour in the movie is just amazing..the taunts made by Nagma Khatton to Sardar or Sardar's reasoning to philander...  the verbal exchanges between Sardar & Ramadhir..  the romance of faizal & Mohsina... the characterization of Perpendicular and Definite..the discussion on fruits n veggies before sultan khan is popped off .. .. the list goes on and on...

The music and the BG score compliment the movie exceptionally well...
Realistic yet cinematic... extremely long yet gripping .. super fast at times and slower than a good train at times.. This movie has all colors...

Is this the flawless hindi movie ever made?? naah.. In an attempt to tell multiple stories and mix up timelines, the creative team has left a lot of holes... what are the ages of Ramadhir & Farhan.. Both are seen in 1947 when the movie begins.. farhan is the associate of Sardar's dad Shahid.. yet they both are seen almost 62 years later .. even if an age of 20 is assumed, in the 2000s their look doesn't suggest an age of 80+.. Farhan is seen in 2009 with the kid of Faizal in Mumbai..
In an election scene in 2004 ballot boxes and ballot sheets are shown.... correct me by 2004 assembly & parliament elections (even in remotest corners of North east) had voting machines only civic polls used ballot boxes..  The films ending is also very loose.. its just that the director didnt know how to end it... Even if Definte wanted to kill Faizal, he could have shot him after Faizal shot Ramadhir.. why wait till police arrest both and then shoot him? What was the real motivation for JP to have his father shot.. Its difficult to buy the argument that his dad was too overbearing for him.. Then why did he wait so long.. As per the timeline, he would have been in his late 50s :-)

Well all these should be forgotten as one is used to movies where there is no logic at all...

Gangs of Wassepur 1 & 2 are definitely the best movies in a loong time beating every other so called best movie!!!

History through stories

William Dalrymple is a master travel writer. His narration delves on putting historical facts that sound like a story. His book "from the holy mountain" tells the fate of Christianity in its eastern homeland. To achive this narration, he takes the help of a previous travel through eastern holyland and the commentary of those experience. He.retraced the old route and builds the present picture with a short history. Pretty same theme like his first book where he retraced the silk route.
This book however is based on eastern Christianity, starts from Greece, goes to turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel and winds up in Egypt....
I pretty much thought that Islamic fundamentalism would be the main reason for the decline of Christianity in middle east..but except in Egypt, this is not true. Also learnt what Syrian Christianity is all about. Knew that some Syriacs are in Kerala but never knew a thing beyond that.
Learnt how Syrian xtians are on the edge and why might happen of Asad goes.
Learnt how Lebanon was born and how the maronite xtians pressed self destruct button.
Got to know that Arab does not mean Muslim by default.
Could sense the pain of Palestinian xtians in Israel feeling the same brunt as the Muslims under the Jewish state
Felt how the Egyptian copts would go through as Egypt is under an Islamic resurgence and future is uncertain.
Also noticed one more thing.... Egypt under Mubarak though did not persecute minority, it wasn't openly appeasing as well. Minority is discriminated.. whereas , in India there's no explicit discrimination and yet the govt is extremely appeasing to the level of granting sub quotas... Hmmmm Overall a very poignant picture about the story of Christianity in its homeland that ends with a question about its expiry date... Though written on the 1990s its still very relevant

Hyperbole

We are a nation of hyperboles.. we react strongly to everything... we were asking the greatest cricketer ever to call it quits just because he couldn't score 100th 100.. now that he scored 99 tons didn't matter to us... Now that he has scored many say go for more against minnows... Bangladesh showed that they are no pushovers by defeating us.. still we are angry that we lost... When India as minnows can show fight and turn a giant killer by defeating WI 29 yrs ago, why don't we think that some other minnow can't defeat us.. thats the glorious uncertainty of cricket... Some ppl blame Sachin again for this loss saying his slow batting cost us the match..does it mean that our bowlers will defend totals above 300 only? what sort of bowlers are they then? we can't cover up our failure by just blaming one person.. he will continue to do his duty... We hailed MS dDoni when he won world cup.. he could never be wrong.. just two white washes abroad and is he still a man with midas touch.... does it mean he should go? if he goes then who's next viral kohli? are we sure he's mature enough to lead... Yes we win the world cup but we can't just keep winning.. what matters most is the fight we put up.. we did not show any fight in the 2 white washes and we have every right to be angry about it.. but the fact is this too shall pass.. We came from the darkest hours of Mohd. Azharuddin captaincy where he and nayan mongia took wickets while batting..we saw azhar deliberately getting out by giving catch practices...Azhar's team lost just about every other match in a dubious manner we still cheered.. Then came Ganguly who gave us some fighting spirit and backed the right youngsters.. We then saw the forgettable dravid captaincy where we were knocked out by Banglas in Wc first round... We bounced back the very next year with a WC win under dhoni.. so what willa few losses do to us.. we will win as long as there is talent..And by God there is talent in India.. Jai Hind...

rashtrapathi mahoday/mahodaya???

who's going to be president? Well the congress does not have the majority in the electoral college and hence cannot push any sycophant!!! no other opposition has that majority too.. so as per indian secular traditions, it will be a dalit or muslim or some other minority .. Like last time when it tried to project a maharshtrian and broke the Shiv Sena's vote from NDA, the congress might try to do something similar .. There was a similar situation in circa 2002... NDA in power, wanted to push its candidate but could not muster the support in electoral college... it chose Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.... whom everyone supported not because he was muslim minority or a tamilian but because he served the nation with merit... And I still respect AB Vajpayee for that.. there was no winner or loser at that time.. the nation won... Kalam gave a tough time to both DNA & later on the UPA... made some sense to the largely ceremonial post... Can the ruling class show some Classy act this time and elect someone untainted and out of the political spectrum.. and yes please don't make the caste or religion or both as criteria.. and may be the right choice for president could very well earn the govt brownie points... This is another issue that I'm keen about

political situation..

Just wondering about the current political situation, whether mid term polls or not, what happens to a third fourth fifth front etc... I have a firm belief that the third front of regional parties will never work at the central government.. It will be a harakiri.. We need to main national parties, ably supported by the regional ones... Currently, Congress and BJP play the roles of 2 contenders.. it might change if any one of the regional parties honestly attempt to play a constructive role instead of the gimmick of third front and make a difference to the people... Congress was needed after independence and some of its ways were fine during the first 10-20 years of the country ... But the main problem is it has not been quick on its toes and continued with Nehruvian policies for long until a survival threat loomed which opened the country to liberalization ... It just does not nurture a national leadership beyond one family.. all other leaders are reduced to mere sycophants .. Its brand of secularism is questionable as it tries to over appease minorities to win over votes.. and even after winning does not do much to improve their social status.. It was also responsible for one of the worst riots in the country (1984) .. That makes it no different from the BJP.. With all these, its has not done much during the send term of the current govt.. ppl voted for ups even after some shortcomings in UPA 1. That faith has not been kept.. On the other hand, BJP with many of its shortcomings has been better in delivering good governance in many of the states it rules ( some are bad but the % of good is more ) Currently, in Goa, it has won such a huge mandate so definitely its not anti minority... As a party, if you look at BJP it has more discipline than many other parties.. it does not look up to one family, the party president keeps changing.. The current set of national leaders seem more prepared in their debates in parliament.. So i guess the next time an election happens, BJP does deserve a chance and to make it happen, it should balance the coalition with the correct regional partners...