...Contd from the last post

2.6 billion USD was spent on the last general elections in India that happened in 2004. How does the President of CPI-M, have the audacity/guts/balls to say to the Prime Minister of the country that either quit discussing nuclear deal or face elections in the beginning of 2008?

These people are allowed to spend tax payers money so that they come to Delhi and stay there for 5 years building the country. One, they are not building the country and second, they don’t even want to stay there for 5 years. The Indian constitution should probably be amended to include that if any political party forms a coalition and comes into power, either they stay there for 5 years or reimburse the total spending of the elections. This is the only way of ensuring stability of Governments in our country. I don’t think a common man (who voted for CPI-M) even knows about the deal (or what is the CPI-M objection to it) or even wants another election. I am sure everyone would enjoy another day of holiday (or would they, at this cost?).

It’s such an irony in my country. Everyone takes things for granted. The best case practice is Mr. Narendra Modi. The whole country knows that he is wrong, yet no one does or can do anything. Last weeks, I have followed the reports on election campaigns in Gujarat. From banning movies of an actor because he supported a drive against the state government (don’t know what happened to freedom of speech here) to openly announcing that killing a person in broad daylight/encounter (maybe fake) was fair and if someone thinks otherwise, can hang him for it. The best thing this guy could do was to walk out of an interview when being asked about the Gujarat riots of 2002. And let’s not even talk about the political gibberish these guys talk about almost humiliating each other publicly.

Is this the kind of example we are setting for the young generation?

While writing this, I just saw the RSS feed that Taslima Nasreen (an estranged Bangladeshi writer in asylum in India since 1994) has been asked to either stay in Delhi (and not go out in public) or leave India. This is what led to the situation:
11 people were killed in police firing at Nandigram in West Bengal (ruled by CPI – Communist Party of India). The casualty, West Bengal’s worst in 30 years of Left Front rule, left the state stunned. Till today, the army is uncovering graves near Nandigram believed to have human remains from the massacre. In Calcutta, angry mobs burnt over a dozen vehicles in protest against the developments in Nandigram, and the continued presence in the city of Taslima Nasreen. Some believe that Taslima’s issue was raised by the Government as a cover up for Nandigram and the events that were unfolding in the last months. To give another controversial issue to think about was enough for people to forget Nandigram. So the writer was asked to leave Calcutta because of security reasons and sent to Jaipur, only to be sent to Delhi from there the next day.

No wonder, the Tourism department changed the slogan from ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’ (Guest is God) to !ncredible India. Sure, there is no other word to describe the Rising (or did you read Shining) & resurgent India of today.

I feel sorry for the state of affairs of our great nation. No, actually, I AM ANGRY. VERY ANGRY. No, I don’t want to vote in the next elections, whether they are early next year or in 2 years time. I remember about 8 years ago, during a family dinner, general election was one of the discussion points. The conclusion was – we have right people in the wrong party, and wrong people in the right party.

Today, I think there are no right parties or right people, we just have political parties who bend their backs to gain power (no respect for their own values) and people who go against their own parties if given power. It’s much like the call centre street in Bangalore where the young execs do job hopping every month to get an extra 100 rupees, without worrying about company loyalty or aligning individual values and vision with company values and vision.

We are building a great nation. Indeed. And thanks for leading the way, dear politicians.

2007 - Sum up 1

2007, for me will be remembered as the year of Politics. I have tried not to show disgust on the current state of affairs, but sometimes it’s just too much and the frustration has to be vented on someone, something, somewhere…

If you just start reflecting on some of the significant elections (complete list) that have taken place in this year, there is Ukraine, France, Belgium, Russia, Pakistan, Argentina and Gujarat (in India).

Now, I don’t know much about most of these countries and there is no point in copy/pasting from web pages, hence I will not comment on some of them.

Belgium (I am currently living here) – It’s been 6 months since election and no government has been formed yet. Reason – The Flemish and Waloon can’t agree on common terms and hence the dispute. The current dispute is complicated - how should an electoral district which includes suburban Flanders and parts of Brussels be split up between the country's Flemish and French-speaking political parties?

Pakistan – The least said the better. This is how a friend has been blogging about the Emergency and post Emergency events. I remember a conversation in my office, when one of the EU lobbyist asked me about what I thought on Emergency in Pakistan. My sincere answer was that I don’t care. There is nothing new in it for me. What will happen eventually is that a new judiciary (Musharraf’s men) would be set up. Musharraf would become President again and Benny Bhutto (love this name for her) would become PM. The last part still has to unfold though. Fingers crossed.

Russia (I lived there couple of years ago) – The biggest shocker. Not the results, but the drama before it. BBC and CNN, out rightly showed how Russia was not developing because of Putin’s government. A friend had these thoughts on the same “People may say what they want- Russia has been growing. I also don’t understand those political games. Putin put himself into the list of United Russia party. That's ok. He is finishing his president term. He can’t apply for 3rd term. So what should he do? Being a part of Duma, lower chamber of Parliament, he still will be in control and ruling Russia, yeap, in different ways. There are lots of things being said now in Russia. But more than 50% voted for United Russia! Many many people believe in Putin.” And it’s a fact, no matter how good or bad (I think bad overall) the country is growing and developing.

Argentina – Christina Fernandez took over from her husband as the President of the country. Guess Hilary Clinton should go and take some advices from her.

India – When I talk about India, I don’t mean that there was any national election, I am just generally referring to the “politics” part of it all. So you take the Indo-US nuclear deal (Explained here for a layman) in a jar, add some people from CPI-M (Communist Party of India- Marxist), definitely add some of those honcho’s from BJP – who since losing elections don’t have anything to do except oppose anything NDA (read Congress) proposes, and shake it all up. What you get is a disheartened Prime Minister, who doesn’t have support within his team and for sure outside it. How the hell is he supposed to develop India???????


...to be continued

Due...

A big post is due from my end...and it would be here before the week finishes.

Arghh

Bored and Tired, today

Breaking the tradition, i am making a second post in as many days. But couldnt resist posting these news feeds from Indian news channels, which today are highlighting the same thing i mentioned in my blog yesterday.


NDTV Correspondent
Wednesday, September 26, 2007 (New Delhi)
Chak de has become the theme song for victory but while the cricket team is basking in its glory the hockey team feels orphaned.Upset at the step-motherly treatment meted out to the Indian hockey players by the central and state governments compared to the rewards lavished on the cricket team some members of the Indian hockey team have decided to go on a hunger strike.Chief Coach of the national team Joaquim Carvalho asked "Why are our hockey players being treated like orphans and why are our politicians biased against hockey, the national game?"

So is the resentment of the hockey players justified? While the cricket team won cash rewards and luxury cars, the hockey team that won Asia Cup got a paltry in comparison.For winning the Asian cup each player got Rs 50,000 and an incentive of Rs 1,000 for every goal scored and Rs 2,000 fine for every goal conceded.

CNN IBN had a similar story

"I am okay with cricketers winning. I am proud of their achievements but where were the state governments when we won the Asia Cup? I am upset about that," a visibly upset Carvalho said on Wednesday.

Formula Chak De

It all started when i walked out of the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul. There standing on the right side of Exit was a McLaren car, just next to a Vodafone shop. That was enough to announce that it was the Grand Prix weekend in Istanbul. I have followed F1 for about 4 years now, but nothing seemed more exciting then being in a city where F1 was happening. Throughout the bus ride (1.45 hours) going from one part of Istanbul to the other, F1 flags, banners, posters, hoardings kept me excited.

Add to that, saturday evening ING brought a Renault car to the venue along with a realtime simulator. I dont know how many delegates were excited about it, i was. And i gave in to the temptation of getting a picture done.

Unfortunately, couldnt watch the race. But was happy to hear that Massa won. Or rather was more happy to hear that Alonso didnt win. I dont know what is it about Alonso, that makes me hate him.

Back in Belgium and its time for Belgian Grand Prix. I had asked a friend from Bridgestone to arrange tickets if possible. Lady luck shined on me and Spa Francorchamps became a reality. Although was a little sad that we couldnt manage tickets for the race itself, but only for the Qualifying on saturday. But trust me, even that was amazing specially as it was followed by a Formula 2 race. I didnt in my wildest dreams had imagined that those cars are THAT loud. They are just simply LOUD. You can hear every gear change as if a fire cracker is bursting nearby. Listening to cars slow down at the curve and then pick up speed - 4 gears changed by each car, was just AWESOME.

Kimi won the race the next day, Alonso didnt.

And then came the Ferrarigate controversy. And by the time it finished, Alonso was right there in the middle of it. All have voiced their anger at the double world champion’s attempted blackmailing of McLaren team boss Ron Dennis and have echoed sentiments that were he to win the championship this year, it would be a sad day for Formula 1. In just a couple of years Alonso has transformed himself into a self-centred egomaniac. It has almost brought down the entire team.

Anyone should win the championship but Alonso.

Two days ago watched the recent bollywood hit "Chak De India". Brilliant movie. Shah Rukh Khan has done another great movie after Swades. And the girls team has done justice to their roles. The movie was brilliant because it showed the root cause behind India's degradation in hockey. The system. The good thing about the story was that it was not about a 'hero' singlehandedly changing the system. It had its moments of patriotism and it had its moments where hockey players find themselves lost in a country of cricket fans. All said and done, i think Chak de India, has been a great effort to bring hockey in some limelight in India. This is the first movie by Bollywood talking about a sport, which has stayed in the school books as the National Sport of India.

I dont know when will Mr. Gill will finally hand in his resignation. Or someone in the Government comes to his/her senses and throws him out.


The only thing which could kill the passion for hockey generated by the movie, was India winning the Cricket Twenty20 World Cup. Suddenly, out of nowhere India defeated Pakistan to win the championship. Great performance. Great team effort (rarity). Great passion. Brought cricket fans back to their TV sets for a busy season ahead. And money is pouring in for the players. From BCCI to state governments everyone is pouring in cash rewards, and all those 20 somethings are getting richer by the hour.

I wish someone would have given some rewards to those 'men in blue' who play with sticks and brought the Asia cup recently to India. But i guess that's too optimistic.

Ramblings

Got up on this Sunday morning and instantly switched on BBC to check whats going on in the world. Yes, i still prefer TV to Internet for this. Anyways, what was on was a program called 'Hunting Hezbollah'. Since, my knowledge about this particular topic and that region overall is quite restricted i kinda decided to watch the program and postpone the morning rituals.

As an Indian, i am a Israel supporter as Israel and India have always been allies when it came to Military power and counter terrorism activities. I have always heard that Israel is so strong/powerful/cool that it is surrounded by Islamic countries yet is it managing to hold its fort. For such a long time.

I discovered the contradictory part of it some months back when i was talking to a lebanese girl (AIESEC member) in Brussels while on an apartment hunting spree. I dont know why but i asked her the question about her thoughts on Israel and Lebanon conflict. I should have guessed the answer even before asking it. If anyone would ask me on India and Pakistan conflict, what would i say.

Another time some weeks ago, (again on a sunday morning) me and Katya got into the discussion of Middle East as she had recently visited Armenia and shared space and time with people from Iran. Some of her questions to me, challenged my views on the region again. And some of them actually brought me to the same conclusion as the conclusion of the program today.

There were a lot of contradicting points in the program regarding the Lebanese goverment, Hezbollah as the single largest party, Guerrilas of Hezbollah, Syria, Iran, the UN peace keeping force and then of course Israel and the US. As all of these war driven program, this one also showed how civilians had died in the recent fighting. It also showed a Hezbollah leader claiming that the preparation for the next war is on in full swing.

The person who was taking the journalist around Lebanon asked a few interesting questions to the journalist, specially "If US supports Israel by giving 10 billion dollars every year, why cant Iran support us?", "If you are not with us, you are against us, is this policy of US fair?"
The journalist didnt have answers to these questions. I dont either. And i am not searching for it. I still dont know too much about the region or about the problem at hand. My only concern is, why does the discussion always stop on USA. Or why there are unanswered questions on US.


Later, went online to IBNLive to check on whats happening in India and found out a series on the 10 moments in the last 60 years which shaped today's India.

1. Gandhi's assasination
2. The making of the Indian Constitution
3. First General Elections
4. The division of the states
5. Nuclear tests
6. Imposition of Emergency
7. Mandal Commission report
8. Demolition of Babri Masjid (Mosque)
9. 1983 Cricket World Cup win
10. Economic Liberalization in 1991

Looking back at India, i can only say that in 60 years of self rule, India has truly become a super power in the global arena. I am proud of being an Indian. Totally agree, that there are lots of flaws that still need to be rectified, but India as a nation is 60 years YOUNG today. And we should wait till it celebrates its 100th birthday.