Raj - a follower of the 'Raj'

It doesnt take the expertise of a political pundit or an analyst speaking in baritone on a news channel to understand what Raj Thackrey is trying to achieve. He is just doing what we have learnt in the history books of class VI the british Raj did - he is trying to divide and rule. Now what is new int the concept? We will all agree the whole political class tries to do the same. But indeed there is something different about this guy on the bloc than any other.
Raj Thackrey is an accomplished cartoonist. His caricature have found place in many dailies. He has grown under uncle Bal's immense confidence and had seen himself as the rightful heir over the soft spoken Uddhav. But hell broke loose when the king annointed his son to be the heir, overlooking years of organizational activities. Thus was born the MNS. No harm in that. But trying to emulate what the tiger did when he was young and roaring is mere foolishness on the part of Raj. Those were different times forty years back. Standing for the marathi 'manoos' isnt much of a career option today as it was years back.
It indeed is easy to beat up hapless auto drivers, gol-gappa vendors and examinees just because they will not retaliate back then and there. But such an act of vandalism has much deeper repurcussions in the society. I am not a sociologist to comment on the ned of balance in the society and its pivotal role in the growth of any society in the world. But what Raj Thackrey and hiss goons are trying to do is upset this very balance. And therefore only mere condemnation of the act is not sufficient, there has to be action.
Without a shred of doubt i believe the state and then the central government are to be blamed for this. Dear Mr. Deshmukh and Mr. Singh, do you ever realise the plight of a commoner in all these impasses. If you do, do you have any tools in your hands to take corrective and preventive measures. There are some larger questions i would like to pose. Is the state of India so fragile to be held at ransom by people like Raj Thackrays. Does wastage of crores of public money in violence by these people not count in the final tally of everything?
It is high time that governments start restoring faith in the aam janta of India. The today people are scared to walk on the streets. Who knows when a bomb will go off? Who knows when a bunch of goons directed by Raj will beat up anyone? Who knows. With the state shying away from its responsibility in harnessing anti socials, the worst scenario that we could face is where civil wars begin. The chain of events that has followed after Raj has unleashed his whip has all lead to a more destabilized society. The very people for whom Raj is supposedly fighting will suffer.
Raj suffers from political myopia. He is too braggish to learn that these tactics wont help win votes. And if it is the congress which is just not ready to douse the fire thinking that it could cook meat on it, it may so happen that the fire will engulf their own house.
People like Raj Thackreys should be dealt with an iron hand. They should be punished. It is democracy to raise ones voice, true, but jeopardising the very faith of democracy, the people in it is crime. With the failing action of governments in restoring that faith, people will resort to methods which will be undemocratic and barbaric if need be. Thus a no win situation for everyone. An appealt to people with powers - reign in Raj. Instill some confidence.

The Rise Fall and Rise of a Ten Percenter

             

             When he was languishing in the jails for years together, he never thought he would see the broad daylight with dignity any day soon. But daylight he did see and in such a grandeur that everyone would be envy of and the event register in history as a remarkable turnaround in the destiny of a man named Asif Ali Zardari.
            The young Zardari was comfortable in the shadow of his charismatic wife the late Benazir Bhutto and had no inhibitions in being identified as the same. The husband was then made the minister and thus got born the man who was called as Mr. 10 percent. The 10 percent being his alleged share of any government deal that occurred. Zardari is claimed to have bungled tens of millions of dollars of the state fund and was thus arrested on corruption charges so severe that he would have spent his entire life in the jails of karachi.
           There had already occurred a freeze in the relations of Zardari and Benazir and they both maintained separate lives since many years. The thaw in relations was brought about until recently when efforts were taken by America to reinstate a democratic government in Pakistan after having realized the inaction and thus the dispensability of Musharraf. Benazir was propelled by America and was slated to trike a consensus with the dictator. But that was not to happen. The emergence of Nawaz Sharif didnt work well with both the establishments of Musharraf or the plans of Bhutto.
           Pakistan was heading for a political crisis in the form of a hung parliament and with prospects of better bargaining position of Musharraf when the unfortunate yet defining assasination of Benazir Bhutto occurred. Thus emerged the man whom almost everyone had forgotten. The event brought to the forefront Mr. ten percent as the political heir with son Bilawal a know-nothing youngster. With Zardari at the forefront, riding on a massive sympathy wave and an equally strong clout of Sharif, especially in the Punjab province, both parties together gained the necessary numbers to bring sleepless nights to Musharraf.
            However the unlikely marriage was bound to get sour over issues of reinstatement of sacked judges and impeachment of Musharraf. Sharif has been threatening to pull out on the judges issue ever since Zardari failed to provide committment on that. However Pervez Musharraf's resignation created a void which catapulted the most likely yet the most unlikely of candidates Asif Ali Zardari to the powerful post of President of Pakistan. from being a sidekick of influential wife to being called the Mr. 10 percent to serving years of jail term, this has been a remarkable rise of a man who had fallen to depths of darkness.
            Zardari may be the man America would like to have at helm of affairs in Pakistan but such might not be the case with the Pakistan Army and the hardliners. The public too percieves him as a suit wearing foriegner who has amassed millions of dollars of state funds. It will be interesting to see how he manages with the resposibility of being the President of one of the most dangerous places on earth now, balancing the US and the fundamentalists on one hand, engaging the eastern neighbor, India on another, civil wars on another, terrorism on another, turbulent economy on another and so on. Guess quite too much to achieve Mr. Ten Percent. Sorry, correction, Mr. President.

Model United Nations entry essay

This short essay was what i had written for entry to Model United Nations at Manipal, 2007. This got me an entry and i represented the country Uruguay.

Topic: Nuclear Disarmament.

Your first day in the college and a bully comes and asks you to do a few sit-ups. You oblige. What makes you follow his orders? The knuckles in his hands. Read ‘you’ as a small developing country. Read the ‘bully’ as a developed country in your neighborhood (though need not always be in the neighborhood). The knuckles: nuclear weapons. In the skewed geopolitical and socioeconomic setup of the world, the much necessary balance has been shifted by muscle flexing by powerful nations, i.e wielding of the nuclear stick. Lets face it, Nuclear disarmament is myth. Possessing nuclear weapons is just like putting up a house security system and every nation should have a right to it.
The estimated nuclear warheads, given by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, tallies the NPT signatories like U.S of A at close to 10,000, that of UK at 200, non signatories like India at 100 and North Korea at 10 and undeclared nuclear weapon states like Israel at 200. In order to strike a balance and reduce the illegal nuclear material and technology sale, nuclear technology trade should be brought under the regulation of the UN keeping in view the economic and political state of the nation and account kept of every nation’s nuclear arsenal detail.
Nuclear bomb is not just another firecracker and we all understand its implications in full details. At the same time every nation is entitled to safeguard its sovereignty and nuclear deterrence helps in that direction. Disarmament is not the solution.

The Nuclear deal, Politics and the Common man

             

         It was diplomacy at its best at Vienna. hours of astute and awe inspiring diplomacy to give India a room at the NSG hotel paid rich dividends and finally as TOI put it, India became N-abled. it goes as a personal victory for many people. the first and foremost being the prime minister. the DAE chairman, Mr. Kakodkar, Shaym Saran, MK Narayan, the NSA would have all breathed a sigh at the meet which saw not only strong friends going out of their way to support India like France and Russia, but also some backdoor sabotage effort by neighbor China.
However all is well that ends well. Now India can carry nuclear commerce. Projects are already in pipeline with France , the most advanced nuclear energy producer of the world and old ally Russia. The US whose real muscle flexing techniques and die hard diplomacy ensured the NSG waiver will do a major chunk of the multi billion
dollar trade. NSG waiver will solve to a larger extent Indias ever growing energy demand in a few years, will generate many direct and indirect employment opportunities and will open the forum to many other sectors like pharma, IT etc.
           A prelude to this momentous achievement saw some bitter times in indian politics that is unparalleled to anything so lowly in recent times. The opposition parties sadly consider their job to oppose anyhting and everything that is put forth by the government, which saw the BJP oppose the deal whereas it was their own government who laid the foundation stone for the deal. PM - in - waiting Advani is doing no good to his and his party's image by putting his now much experienced hands into lowly mud slinging game. The left are a class apart - thier ideaology, their principles are understood by none other than just themselves which is thecase with China too!
            Now that Mulayam Singh and Amar Singh have emerged as champions of the deal, their real intent of supporting the deal might come to the fore. The left has bitten dust and Karat Inc. might as well be reduced to a minority in the forthcoming elections. The BJP was and still in a fix with the deal as they understand the gravity of the situation but are unable to broaden their mind to support it. The Congress however is seeming to gain brownie points for the clinched deal and may lok forward to make it a poll plank.
               Interestingly the Congress might be making a miscaluculation with regard to the nuclear deal a.k.a India Shining by the BJP five years back.The nuclear deal may be good for the country,but is definitely not a vote winner. this brings me to the common man. what interest is it to the common man the nitty gritty of the deal? he may just be happy if there are fewer hours of power cuts in the scorching summer. however the idea of selling the nuclear deal to gain votes seems to be a daunting task. if it took so much of efforts to convince scientists, politicians (though nothing unexpected about that!), bureaucrats, it can be imagined what it would be for a middle class hard working IT professional or a farmer.
                On one hand where India seems nothing to loose from the deal and have now found a seat among the elite of the nuclear suppliers ensuring nuclear commerce which would be beneficial to the country, the domestic politics looks at all this with a very different spectacle, a spectacle of vote bank politics, with the general elections due next year. The common man has already seen wads of notes in the parliament where earning a single of those notes is a daunting task for the majority of the population. what the common man percieves of the deal, and finally gets out of the deal will be of much importance to the next turn in the road of Indian Politics.

A night on Saturday

              

By the time i write this article on a sunday evening most, if not all, the strewn bottles would have been cleared; cigarette buds, nearing the countless mark, been swept off; girls and guys returned to their 'respective' homes, hostels, rented appartments etc after a grand cyclic event called the saturday night.
             
When the word saturday night comes to mind, it snaps back to the John Travolta starrer superhit saturday night fever movie of 1977. but a saturday night today is much more than just a movie. its a culture. its a phenomenon. its an event and many such similar adjectives can be attributed to it. today the picture that 'saturday night' presents is that of guys and girls getting dressed in the best of their dresses, and 'hit' a pub, a disco or a bar, smoke away packets of cigarretes, gulp down gallons of liquor, dance to the blaring music in smoke filled semi dark rooms, and then end the night by daybreak in various states of dishevelment. ah, quite a lot of activities!
             
 A primary event of the night being dressing up in the best way, well, best on a saturday night means the skimpiest for girls which would ultimately highlight their sexuality, which of course they are proud of and hence the flaunting. their motto: show more skin, make the guys head spin (borrowed from a fallen apart friend). for guysit  is the latest attire of john abraham or hrithik roshan seen in the movie or filmfare magazine, which would make girls drool over them, or in other terms highlight their sexuality too. right of equality you see.
            
 The next event is hitting the right place. no dont get me wrong, it means going to the right kind of place. this aspect is largely controlled by the thickness of the wallet. where a 'broke' condition may call for the party in the room with plastic glasses or glasses made by cutting the 500 ml soft drink bottle, a college guy and girl who have just recieved money in the atm will go to a nearby pub cum disc. a working lady may hit a mall and then the chic pub in the city. a group of techies may go away from the boring city, largely because all the pubs and discs have already been 'hit', to outskirts of city, which would fancy new adventure and thrill, better not ask what. a young suave businessman may go for what i called pub hopping, visiting a string of pubs, checking with the wine and women over there, a high society couple may go to multiple parties-with-themes (themes may be best left to your powers of imagination).

Whatever be the place, the booze (another terminology for subsidising the effect of the word 'drinks') must be good, the girls must be good, the music (which is bound to become incoherent after a few pegs)  must be good, and  the crowd must be good. these are certain pre requisites that everyone looks for on a saturday night celebration.
               
 Liquor is gulped down in gallons, to be modest with the figure, on a saturday night. we as a nation are fast moving to a direction where a majority of people in various age groups are drinking. drinking as a culture is alien (forget the stories of gods drinking 'somras' which every drunkard boasts of). which results in unhealthy drinking practices. for women when its scientifically proven that alcohol is metabolized slow and that the toxicity is higher, getting 'tally' on a 'patiala peg' is niether chic nor smart forget being beneficial. a huge number of girls only come to know of their whereabouts only when they wake up on a sunday morning.
the numerous duels , both physical and verbal that guys get into in high spirits does no good to their careers or peace of mind. women smoking is ever on the rise and non smokers being passive smokers are easily falling into the former bracket.
               
A visit to the pub or disco can be a very funny yet appaling sight. one can see some 'unexpected' girls holding a bottle in one hand and a cigarette in other dancing being oblivious to their surroundings, some guys in the extreme corner doing some chores which you can faintly relate to the drug abuse awareness ads shown on the TV. then there will be a score of girls usually ang guys rarely falling down. ther will be swearing which your ears cant take, affectionate kisses to many, crying out of desperation, guys taking advantage of the dim and scattered lighting, and many such spectacles which might put a lot of people in shock, especially if the breed of people are parents!
              
 It can be said with all the confidence that all the scenario and situation described above is not a slightest of exaggeration. but may qualify for being an understatement. in reality the scene is much grim and bad. where is this saturday night culture (saturday was far off so the new culture brings in wednesday night culture!) leading us? does teenagersguzzling beers and whiskey and smoking packs of cigarettes on saturday night doing justice to what their parents expect of them? does the hard working professionals do justice to their work, their parents, their future and their children future, their responsibilities?
            
Something happens on a saturday night. the moods turn euphoric, all inhibition are shed, personalities change, any worry for the future or the present vanishes and just the glass of liquor, the cigarette in hand, the smothering scantily clad bodies, the disco lights, the blaring music is all that people percieve in some form or the other. can all these be justified on claims of 'enjoyment'? can all this be justified on claims of 'leading my personal life' or 'i am responsible for what i do'? is these the answer for it?

61st Independence Day - celebration or introspection??

                

Yet another independence day. our 61st. quite young for a nation whose history dates back to thousands and thousands of years of recorded glory and tradition. whatever be the history, we have left it behind. they often say history is a bucket of ash. the india that has travelled the path these 61 years has seen a transition from being underconfident, docile nation to a power to be reckoned with. the 'mood of the nation' has been upbeat over numerous achievements, growth stories and an image of shining india.
                But there has been a drastic change this year, the usual euphoria attached to the psyche of the nation with approaching indepenence day is lacking this time around. a notable feature being the magazines not covering the achievements of india, the heroes of india, the tremendous growth story of india, the prospects of a superpower india.
                 There are a multitude of factors responsible for this. on one hand where the rising fuel and essential commodities prices has dampened the mood of the majority of middle class and poorer section of people, the rains leading to floods in many parts of the country has imparted deathly blow to farmers. the bombings in cities like bengaluru, ahmedabad, surat recently, and jaipur and mumbai in the near past has instilled deep fear amongst the people.
               Where a poor man struggles to eat a full meal, a middle class parent struggles to arrange for money for higher education of his son or daughter, wads of thousand rupees notes are flouted in the seat of democracy, the parliament. what good does it do to the psyches of all those people? when the supreme court which has always provided ray of hope in grim situations say that even god cant help this country, all the spirit sags. to top it all the rit that has been produced in jammu and kashmir has further added to the feel bad factor. we as a nation hold J n K ina very different place in our hearts and such bloody turnout of events pains all of us.
                An invisible pall of gloom has shrouded the nation this year. it is not a very good sign for an emerging nation which has a lot at stake. just when the engine is gearing up to gather full steam, blockades in the path does no good to the journey or its passengers. hope the blockades are removed in time.

blogging

Jumping on this remarkable day to the blogging wagon.......
Here comes another 'blogger' - Sambit Dash....with the bolgs Sambit speak.
welcome me...