What Kerala said

Kerala Assembly Elections 2011 will go down as one of the fiercely competed political tug-of-war India has ever witnessed. Almost like a lengthy Hollywood thriller or rather a T20 game gone down to the wire.

Concludes with red-faced winners staring down the barrel of not one, but a good few potentially lethal cannons, and the beaming losers already licking their lips to do what they do best: make mayhem in the Opposition ranks.

Statistical highlights: 

UDF scrapes through 72- 68
LDF wins 9 districts out of 14, sweeping larger districts with 10+ constituencies. UDF has clear monopoly in just 3 big districts, Malappuram being one of them (thanks to Muslim League)
CPI(M) is the single largest party; Congress lost 49 contested seats (out of 87) when CPI(M) won 45.
Just 1.68 lakh votes seperate LDF from UDF (a miniscule 0.58%)
BJP still unbelievably consistent: 0

Reminds of the odd cricket match where your batsmen made centuries and your bowler took a 5 wicket haul but yet you ended up on the losing side by a brace because of some Duckworth Lewis shit. Kinda South African cricket team jinx.

I'm afraid whoever leads the Commie Opposition may not have to sweat it out much as UDF themselves carry enough ammunition to blow themselves up to smithereens. In other words, I request you guys to let us live a peaceful life in our towns and cities instead of switching into a destructive mode as soon as you wear the other hat.

Nevertheless, there are a few positives amidst all the encircling gloom and confusion while the winners head towards Rajbhavan and then onto the Legislative Complex.

• UDF will be well aware of the risk factors of this wafer-thin coalition and will be in a self-sustaining mode. How it will affect the equations and governing process of the state is anyone's call but these local parties have amassed Herculean powers to topple this Govt at the drop of a hat. Shambolic. These infinitesimal parties project more real threat to our democratic system than any of those extreme right-wing joints. Like this tweet has a point:

@vrsaju Saju V Ramachandran

 

Time to wipe out all eerkil parties.This includes A-Z factions of Kerala congress. Cant remember the last political cause they supported

• Congress has reasons to relax as well. Major troublemaker and nemesis of erstwhile Antony and Chandy Govt has finally yielded to the call of Yamaraj, no disrespect meant. Hoping for a United Congress without the I-Congress and A-Congress dogfights, but last time I checked I heard there was an OC-Congress, a RC-Congress and a VR-Congress. Did I miss anyone? Starfish variety. 

• Hopefully, and this is a big 'if', MMS and his treasury-plundering jingle bellers will realize that people are not jackasses to silently tolerate all the daylight robbery being white-flagged on those citadels along South Delhi avenues. Make no mistake, people are sick and tired of all this burglary which had repercussions on the minds of neutral voters, leading them to tick en masse the crystal image of VS Achuthanandan yet another time, against Kerala's history of yo-yo political pickings.

• CPI(M) may very well understand the fact that 'individuals matter', even if it is a stubborn Marxist style cadre-hierarchy set-up. We all know where the Reds would've landed sans VS Achuthanandan. Even with my persistent non-left leanings it's hard not to salute and respect this person, a personification of honesty, selflessness and social-committment unlike any of our generation. The fact that VS chose to fast for Endosulfan-ban days after voting ended is a testimony to his commitment to people, not just to his party.

• BJP, you still around? Personally disappointed with Rajagopal's loss at Nemom but it's pretty clear why BJP loses out big time. Lack of strong, influential leaders resulting in a disjointed, undisciplined and direction-less party workforce and tactics. This is an issue not just for BJP but also for all major political parties of our country, (with the exception of Communist Parties) where family-tree politics have dried up the step-by-step rise of able politicians.

• Talking of a Congressman wearing the 'youth icon' leader's hat, being handsome and media-savvy, running road-stage dramas and live reality shows doesn't work. As a matter of fact for this Z-categorized individual, becoming more popular under 'Amul' tag, it's been one whip after another after another after another. Get mama to find you a woman and settle down in US or Italy. Don't even think of Amethi. Being a people's leader is a different ballgame altogether. Your numbers are DEFINITELY not working as evident by the numbers themselves: 4/243 in Bihar, 5/234 in TN and now Kerala.

• Noone gives a damn to SNDP, NSS and those fringe groups, neither does Bishops and co matter much. My advice: Stick on to your churches, mosques, community welfare and stuff; please leave decisions as to who must rule the state to people. You don't represent me or majority of us Keralites. If you're so inclined towards knowing the 'communal angle' of proceedings, click this link >>  Communal Analysis of Kerala Elections. [link opens in new window] It's simple, despite how that author has chosen to see the numbers, we can say 45% of minority communities have approx. 45% representation in Kerala Assembly! This should make all happy,

As always, we have tall hopes when a new Govt takes stage. Wishing the UDF Govt all the best to help India's #1 state reach where we belong. 

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A few privileged gentlemen... and ladies

The earth rotates at over 1600 km/hr, and jeez thats fast! Supersonic. It's quite amazing how fast horoscopes change and caricatures collapse within that small capsule of time. The pejorative called democracy, especially in India is a great pedagogue, for us citizens, because it constantly evolve, epiphanize and epitomize in the way it do things.

In the 2 months of forced-hibernation from this small web-space, mother Earth continued its loop around the sun at 1,07,000 km/hr, Commonwealth Games began (!) and ended (!!!!) without major embarrassments to the host as feared, and then its main organizer-cum-benificiary-cum-perpetrator's head rolled, befittingly, the US President came, danced a bit, buttered a lot, secured work-placements for his countrymen (including for Ms. Pam An) and left, the lady-of-small-things twisted her tongue aimed at usual publicity stunt via misguided anti-nationalism, one CM leads the way in the most infamous of India's BIMARU states, on way teaching a prolific young 'G' that exuberance alone won't always work, 2 Chief ministers got the boot; one for skulduggery and another in default politricks, yet another one getting his butt kicked for land-grab, 2 prolific 'newsmakers' made it into the news for wrong reasons and are in the red-hot seats themselves, and LIC, of all companies, making it into the one-scam-a-day list, all this while the lady-boss and the apprentice play the inert puppet-show roles to perfection.

Yes, the Earth is oblique spheroid; that means what goes around comes around...

First things first, a pack of lions if led by a mule will be as ineffective and sterile as the leader itself. Compounding the conundrum, this mule is destined to steer a bunch of hyenas instead of lions. That makes things worse, doesn't it?

One thing is sure. Our leaders and netas know very well how to step it up. Else, when our stock markets rise and fall as any ordinary nation's, our poverty levels are reduced only by a few percentage every decade, our percapita incomes are painstakingly increasing in single digits whereas the scams involving our babus & netas tend to multiply in geometric proportions.

Not kidding, the latest scam involving some 'G's fused my brain with regard to the no: of zeros involved in it.
17,63,90,00,00,000 to be precise, or 1.76 lakh crore to make it easy. Yes, 1.76 lakh crore! As filmi Thampuran Jagannathan famously said, we can buy the whole Kerala state for 250 crores. But for some people the world is not enough.

Least of all bothers, come, in our own malluland, the vivacious party leader who takes pride in using the law to hunt down extremely dangerous cyber-criminals, to be exact netizens who are satiric with their humour sense. This portraits the real face of the "people's" party, as it is in Cuba, China or Korea, which apocryphally subjects to inject elements of its malignant autocratic character into our democracy; as if that's the only attribute our system lacks!

I present the objectionable, incriminating criminal evidence.

Image courtesy: Janakeeya Aikyavedi

Extremely important Disclaimer: The author of this blog does not endorse the viewpoints presented in the above snap-shot of the 'evidence' and I swear I haven't e-mailed, faxed, laughed, giggled, smiled or talked to my mother, brother, friends, wife, neighbours or to my pet dog about it. I present this evidence just for better understanding of the 'case' and I protest against the unlawful use of the sense-of-humour and hereby request the think-tanks to draft out something on the lines of the legendary 'vetti-nirathal samaram' be advocated against bourgeois neo-media outlets like blogs, twitter, facebook and such anit-social'ist' sites.

Oh, the original version of the "crime", if you havent already seen it. From this I understand that the smear-campaign began way back in 1991! Kudos to Cyber-cell for cracking an age-old case.



This, even after the people of Kerala have pulled down those red knickers to exhibit the nobleness of the people's party. We're moving onto become the original Police State, where, "if you can't beat them, then beat them up" is the motto.

The difference is that the law takes a hypocritical passive stance when it comes to cyber-space. Try the iron fist on any of our traditional media folks and you'll be butchered. Webspace, for our misery, isn't organized or protected by a PTI, and the www doesn't have a union to lock-down the streets, cry their hearts out on the tv and paper and bring the state to a standstill until the politicos come out, apologize, and echo the 'free press' 'free press' mantra after them.

But as I said earlier, the Earth is very very very round. Remember Cheytanya Kunte? He must be a happy chap that his adversary has learned it the hard way :-)

How befitting, the holier than thou 4th estate has finally been blown apart by the cheekiest of scams. Talk about the hunter being hunted, the #mediagate scandal has proven a theory we always suspected. But the pawns in the tale turn out to be lead roles and India see first-hand evidence of how the unholy alliance of the politicians- media- businessmen have inflicted devastating cracks at the heart of what we used to call the 4th pillar of democracy.

Not finished, the media kept the matters well in the black, from exposure to public so that self-made statues of remain so. Except for a few media houses, possible because of their own interests, all major channels chose not to run the story. But elementary gold-plating can't prevent the mucky odour from leaking into the public air. If not for Twitter, the #mediagate would've remained a 'not to be made public' tale.

Real story behind the stories we're shown, told and made to believe everyday, how a few privileged ones pull the chords in the South Delhi puppet-play and how tax-payers' hard earned money end up in Mauritius, cricket teams, oil wells, Jaguars and where not?

Because these are the creme de la creme of our nation; the priviledged ones who can, and will get away with blue murder.

PS: Remembering another 26/11 on way. A moment to remember all the lives lost, including the brave soldiers who laid down their lives, so that we and Kasab could live a bit more longer.

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Granites galore!

Attention Keralaites! The year of the 'stone' has begun in Kerala. Just after the celebration of an unprecedented 4 years in office, Chief Minister Comrade Achuthanandan and collegues have kick started a nomadic state-trotting with a spree of inaugurations and foundation stone laying pan-Kerala. Yakkooo...At this rate the busybody ministers will be totally exasperated and the sculptors will have blisters on their palms by early 2011.

Not funny, but the CM's driver is on a well-deserved sickness leave, courtesy H1N1.

Comrade Achuthanandan and his PR Dept surely must've had a real hard time formatting the media ads to herald the 'achievements' of the Govt. Apart from the CM's smiling face, the artifact commie symbol and the corresponding Minister-in-charge, there was nothing significant to fill the page for many portfolios.

Minister Vijayakumar laid the second foundation stone (on top of the one he laid in 2001) for the development of Kesavadasapuram- Nalanchira Road in the capital just the other day. This was just after taking a breath from Technocity foundation stone, Infopark Phase II foundation stone (remember, the Smart City stone which VS laid in 2006 is still somewhere around hidden beneath bushes), Vytilla Mobility hub stone, Cyberpark stone, and a plethora of other tactics fabricated to fool the public. I won't be surprised if a fresh granite is carved for Smart City, guessing by some of the recent statements from the CM. And as TRDCL works in the Capital near completion, the city may well be choked with a plethora of inaugurations very soon.

What has this Govt given the young and unemployed ever since V.S. over-ceremoniously took over from Chandy?

It's and easy, single-word: n-o-t-h-i-n-g!

A mere look back at the promises V.S made just after assuming the power now is all set to bite the man back. From naming the V.I.P in Kilirur case, locking up all criminals and goondas within 2 months, to claiming the Govt land back from land-grabbers, anything which V.S touched scalded his own hands and burned the butt of his party, be it the Munnar fiasco which he himself admitted as a flop, the Smart City or any other project which he initiated. VS must be a modern day Midas because anything he himself involved in, as well as the other ministers touched also seem to freeze instantaneously. Look at Shobha Hi-Tech City, Salarpuria Knowledge City, HDIL Cyber City, Kinaloor and whatever, they're all dead ducks.

Four years have gone by and the Govt is still at sea with the socially crucial Private Professional College issue. Every year we hear some announcements and statements from the minister-in-charge which turn out to be mere lines drawn on water.

Lately, the Centrally-sponsored multi-million project of developing the TS Canal and connecting it to the National Waterway in Kollam has lapsed because those concerned never bothered to do their work. I don't see any minister or official worried about it, a project which could have hugely beneficial to thousands of ordinary people, apart from giving a major boost to the economy of the state. The national and local media reported the incessant lapse of funds many times, and in the end 2000 crores went unutilised. Who is responsible? 

The less we speak about the Highway Development saga unfolding, the better. We have lost 4 years purely due to the tomfoolery of V.S and his party ideologies, and it is almost certain that the ongoing 30m-45m dilly-dally will see the crucial project won't begin this year. And if the Congress Govt assumes power next time, the Commies are sure to let out the goons and gangs loose against land acquisition. I'd bet my house on that.

3.75 crore Keralites will lose out but why bother? Everyday 7 precious lives are lost on our highway alters, 2 dozens mutilated or handicapped but who cares? The rotten teeter-board politics we practice in this state will take us to the dooms.

CPM's backpedal on the ADB loan, Coca-cola, Expressway project, Smart City,  Professional College issue etc has underlined one fact. The Communist parties infest Kerala only to fudge out their slow poison into this land. Nobody at AKG Center or AKG Bhavan is genuinely bothered about the development or future of the state, they're ready to play any dirty games in the name of pseudo-socialism, just to gain political mileage.

Industrial development has almost come to a standstill in the state. That's not surprising at all. The Govt still speaks about PSUs and traditional industries like coir, fisheries and co as saviours. Oh c'mon, you want all the graduated, unemployed youth out of those colleges go out to open sea and start fishing?  The only other viable option I see (apart from escaping to Bangalore or Gelf) is joining the 'Quotation Gangs' which have expanded into thriving livelihood options even in small towns and villages. May be this is what Darwin meant by 'survival of the fittest'.

The major initiatives like the Brahmos, BEML etc have purely been Central Govt initiatives. Same with the case of premier institutions like IIST, National Maritime University or IISER. Other major projects like Vallarpadom Container Terminal and the LNG Terminal are heading towards commissioning, also nothing for the LDF Govt to lay hands on. Achuthanandan Govt has little to claim when it comes to new initiatives in any front in the state. Though the regime has been working honest and hard to get Vizhinjam Port off the mark, it is still some time away from realization. But I'd bet again that the granite will be up vertical in Vizhinjam with all the names on it.

And in the coming few months we will see more and more heavyweight 'stones' being laid, my strong guesses lie with International Airports of Kannur, Aranmula, Kottayam and Idukki. Also spare a few granites for the IT Parks planned in all 200 taluks of the state, also please don't forget to put one for Cochin Metro before you leave. Shall I also suggest some stones and ribbon-cutting for some bridges, roads, parks, sulabh toilets, health centers, bus shelters, traffic signals and fish markets. Anyone with a  knows that it will be all like stones in the water. The ship will go down.

How strikingly different has been the CM Achutanandan from the robust and revolting Opposition Leader we all knew! Pinarayi and team managed to tame the wild lion into a pussycat. But V.S has managed to hang on, we should give him that. He has manged what he always yearned for: to sit in that reverent chair on the III floor, North Block, Secretariat. But the important question is how did it benefit us Keralites?

Our politicians may not realize, or may not want to accept that the sand is slowly draining from under our feet. With virtually no sources of income being found for day-to-day chores, how long can Kerala afford to crawl? When other states are marching ahead with hundreds of job opportunities created every month, we're still boasting about the cliched Kerala-model. Migration and associated remittances from abroad have ensured that Kerala society doesn't crumble and fall into a state of civil-unrest. GoK plans to suck dry the NRI tits for its survival and has no back-up plans to set the foundations strong and straight.

This leaves us in a very precarious situation where Kerala State doesn't have a penny for social welfare, road works, water supply or poverty eradication projects without the burden of loans from foreign banks or begging in front of the Center. Remember the situation in 2001 when E.K Nayanar left the chair to A.K.Antony without a nickel in the treasury. Well, Achumama may well step down leaving us deep and buried.

For me the biggest achievements of the current LDF regime was that both Kairali TV and Deshabhimani  could build their multi-crore headquarters in the prime-most locales of Trivandrum city.

Kairali Towers, close to MLA Quarters, Trivandrum

So even for the staunchest commie supporter the previous 4 years will not have much to dance around about. Perhaps we will see the CM laugh again after the 2011 Assembly polls the same way he famously laughed after the 2009 Parliament results. Its not long away dear CM, you may better get all your stones carved out and set before the Code of Conduct is formally in place. Good luck! :-)

Images courtesy Keralatv.com, www.tribiz.in, fotolia.

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Shashi Tharoor: A year into the job

Spoiler: This post is a mere look-back on my MP Shashi Tharoor and how he has fared as the most hyped-up representative of Trivandrum. If you're looking forward to discussing the likes of cattle class, interlocutor, IPL and so on,  then you may please close this browser window asap. I propose to look at something very different and in all probability pretty uninteresting. Thanks...

The dates connoted in the passage indicate the tweets of @ShashiTharoor. You can access the tweet-archive on twimp.in or tweeple.in

I'm least bothered about the Foreign Policies and the erstwhile External Affairs conundrum of Dr. Tharoor, its all Greek and Latin for me. This is my perspective of my MP from my constituency and state, simple as that!

Dr. Tharoor surely must've taken this first year as an internship to understand the internal games of Indian politics, and surely got some very hard lessons. The gains for Trivandrum commenced the very day he announced his candidature. The constituency hogged national spotlight and Tharoor deservedly climbed the steps into the Lok Sabha by squashing the now obsolete commie opponent by six-figure margin. Period.

But not before he was taught the first lesson in Politics by the Trivandrum DCC, that you needn't try too hard to create enemies in Politics. His late night party with a group of 'red-class' businessmen irked some local Congressmen who were getting irritated by the limelight a newcomer like him hogged. Tharoor did start well,  on way learning that  if ever there was a 7-day a week job it was that of a politician (May 17). Before leaving for the Capital, he held a 3 hour meeting on the development needs of his constituency within a wide range of experts (May 17) including fellow blogger Ajay Prasad.

On reaching Delhi and assuming the power at his Office of MEA, Tharoor diplomatically handled the doubts about his open tweeting and also pitched in for Trivandrum's long awaited demand on High Court Bench. He was different from ordinary politicians we see around us when he openly declared that the struggle for the High Court Bench couldn't be settled anytime soon and that there has to be a softer stand adopted by the Trivandrum Bar Association. (June 17) The appointment of the one-man commission by the Ministry of Law is a direct reflection of the efforts Dr. Tharoor put in for the High Court Bench.

From eating 6 mangoes a day (June 9) to meeting with CM Achuthanandan in Trivandrum (June 13) Tharoor soon realized his priorities should be the unfortunate sections of society who lives on <$1.25 a day. Inaugurating his first bridge at Kazhakkuttam(June 17), initiating steps for new Passport Office facility, (July 6) and the successful inclusion of economically backward girls in Rai Foundation's scholarship (July 29) saw Tharoor stamping his arrival on all arenas of Indian public life.

It might be ironical to see his caricature as the US-bred-and-spoiled, blackberry wielding NRI Minister who connected with his Twitter constituents and not to the roti-kapada-makan folks in his hometown. 

Tharoor, like other politicians, didn't jump in front of the camera claiming responsibility for the fruitful proposals for Kerala in Rail Budget ' 09. There was just a quite tweet that he was so grateful to the Railway Miniters for showering his constituency and state with the best ever Rail Budget (July 9). And he did continue his efforts to make sure that all the proposals got implemented. Papers have moved more briskly for the Kochuveli and Nemom development plans, though the Trivandrum Central modernization project is still bonded by Fevicol somewhere. Depressing to say though, the 2010 Mamata speech was a disaster.

In a quite robust event Tharoor managed to get Trivandrum twinned with Spanish city Barcelona, the idea being co-operation for city planning and improvement. It was another joke for many eager Trivandrum enthusiasts (and Tharoor deterrents) because of previous experiences with other sister-city projects. Remains to be seen where Tharoor and Barcelona will take Trivandrum to. Fingers crossed. But unlike his predecessors Tharoor took a few useful steps forward, including evoking an official Spanish interest in Trivandrum's dream project Vizhinjam, (that now VISL is seriously looking up at a G-G model) making sure that his brain-child wouldn't be left stranded and become a point for his critics to joke about.

Tharoor's panaciousness saved Trivandrum from losing of the Mental Health Center of Excellence originally proposed in Trivandrum, to Calicut. Tharoor did vociferously fight for the city but it appeared for a while that the executionery power of the State Govt would win. State Minister for health Sreemathi teacher almost succeeded in taking the institute to her constituency but as Tharoor would tweet later, an MP can influence the Central govt but without the co-operation of the State Govt nothing gets done(Sept 11). But the one relief is that this tug-of-war didn't result in the State losing an Institute, like what happened with the IIT. (You can read more about it on Hijacked City on TrivandrumLife)


Tharoor's timely involvement in the Sree Chithra Tirunal Institute of Health Sciences and Technology expansion plans may save Trivandrum from losing yet another prestigious development to Malabar. This has been the curse of this city,  when the Congress led coalition is at the helm its Central Travancore-Cochin areas in focus and when the Reds are in control its the Malabar region which is given the thrust. Tharoor has been a welcome relief for Trivandrumites on that count and episodes like IIT, NIFT, NIALS doesn't happen too often.

It might be imperative to note the way he used the foundation in the name of his late father, the Chandran Tharoor Foundation to assist the Neyyar Dam kids to access their school safely. Airport Development, new road developments and infrastructural initiatives have picked up during the tenure of Dr. Tharoor, unlike the previous regimes where Trivandrumites heard more and saw less.

Even small things matter. Tharoor was earnest in appreciating even minor initiatives from his constituency because his Tweets carried the weight of Gold. Tharoor happily responded to a local web initiative http://www.filmydum.com/ to promote their website by his tweet. (Feb 2)

A new working platform was formed for the integrated development of the capital region, TCAN (Trivandrum Citizens Action Network), for expediting the developmental works for the city. (Mar 13).

Tharoor did hint at his hands were tied because an MP didn't have executionery powers. Quite right, the LDF Govt getting cold feet over Trivandrum becoming like  a family property for Dr. Tharoor just like Amethi for Rajiv Gandhi. Quite interesting when you think that the likes of Mr. Vijayakumar who was the fighting warrior for Trivandrum, has almost gone into a shell.

Tharoor may still regard his most important achievement as bringing the  IPL team to Kerala. Rest is history. All in all, a Greek tragedy...A great cricket enthusiast himself, Tharoor was instrumental in bringing the Rendezvous Consortia together for a Kerala team above the much stronger contenders like Ahmedabad, Nagpur and so. His works also helped in expediting the Edakochi stadium by KCA and also in the putting the skids on the similar stadium in Trivandrum as a part of National Games. Tharoor was very vocal about getting the facilities ready in Trivandrum to hold IPL matches, even as we speak now.


Just not IPL, it would be cruel to suggest that he is not trying to uphold his constituency when he has mentioned about efforts to bring in world-class events to Trivandrum, like the Hay Literary Festival (May8). These kind of events may give our local economy great boost than TRIDA building a market complex.


Some people feel that Tharoor hasn't lived upto his expectations, that they see no 'visible' changes. Well folks, what do you expect to see in 12 months? A palm-island in the Arabian Sea off Veli or a new Burj Trivandrum in the CBD or a Maglev from Attingal to Kovalam? First time in my living memory I'm seeing someone who're honest and committed to his constituency and ready to look beyond the 2.5 crores MP fund. Remember, all what our previous MPs had managed to do with that money was re-thatching a few school sheds, building public toilets and tarring a few roads to their in-law's houses... Tharoor has pretty much addressed the most needed development needs of the city instead of promising castles in the air.

Its just one year folks, and Rome was not built in a day! A small example: We are just getting to see some obvious changes to the urbanscapes of Trivandrum after the road development project was kicked off 8 years back! So how wise it is to write the post-script now?


Pretty much of the Tharoor critics seem to run and hide when someone talks about pointing out a suitable replacement especially for Trivandrum. Even hardcore critics who care about the city, gumly agree that the city can't get a better one, well at least in the next few years. 

Perhaps my political viewpoints may change over time but one thing I'm pretty much assertive about. Trivandrum may never get someone as committed as Tharoor, at least we have a person whom we can speak to. As his Congress deterrents said he wasn't accessible, but how ironic he was available at the press of a button to you and me.

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Odd man out

Shashi Tharoor resigns.

Winners:

Congress
BJP
Left

And the lone loser...

Shashi Thaoor.  And the millions of men and women including yourselves and myself who rejoiced a bit too much (and a bit early) to see someone enter our political scenario who could clear a bit of stagnation and odour from it. Sad, the system is rigid and primeval than we thought, so are the ones who control it.

But why just Tharoor? Because the greenhorn didn't learn the ubiquitous hide n seek ploy? In politics they say, if you get a chance to strike down an opponent, grab it with both hands. That's exactly what the BJP did, credits to them. Moreover its their duty and obligation to come out tooth-n-nails, especially when it was their darling boy Lalit Modi who was in a corner. They played the politics well, and Congress caved in without a fight.

If our national party is honest about fighting the so-called 'corruption' then perhaps Kaangress should open up the knickers of some of their own men, co-alition partners and friends and peep inside. How about Sharad Pawar and A. Raja for a start?

Any citizen of this country would like to know how our politicians amass wealth in hundreds of crores whichever way you do the math with their salaries and perks.

Ah, you need balls mate. A political neophyte like Tharoor made a perfect sitting duck for the party's double standards. The whole of Maharashtra and Tamilakam will come crashing down if you dare touch the above mentioned boys. The equation: politics= business= money has become the anthem in those parts, not so much in Kerala.

Not to mention our great leaders from Kerala keeping their tongues securely zipped up inside the buccal cavity. Characteristic, wonder if the old Kerala crab tale is a bare fact afterall. May be a blackberry yielding, handsome, educated and trendy politician has given some serious mediocrity feelings to some of our khadar-clad netas.

But someone raised a very valid question. A successful UN diplomat who served nearly 3 decades in high ranking positions without ruffling a single feather has been such a glaring misfit in our system. May be the odd Tharoor-cynic is right afterall. Indian politics is not for the likes of him, give us more Pappu Yadavs, Shibu Sorens and Mayavatis.

The latter folks have got a glossy CV full dotted with exemplary qualities befitting an Indian politician. Murder, arson, rape, corruption...you name it. And they've learned the fine art of  feathering one's nest without even God Almightly getting a wave of it. Tharoor may have been a touch injudicious in flaunting his lady friend who just had a major gain from something he was involved. Right or wrong, but certainly skulduggery and favouritism didn't reach India with Tharoor.

Make no mistake, this is not the end of the road for him in any sense. Relieved of the duties of MEA may be a blessing in disguise for the suave diplomat-turned-politician. Now he will have apt time on his hand to sweat it out for his constituency and state. In fact, 4 years from now when he returns to the voters he would've been least judged by what he did at his MEA desk.

Talking about his constituency, Trivandrum may not have yet got a Burj Trivandrum or a Palm Island or a Mag-lev but steps for some realistic projects have surely been taken. My party has been spoiled in a sense, but nevertheless a folder of  Tharoor: The MP will be published here in a short while.

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No India for Indians

The Union Govt has given in to the regionalistic TRS's (Telangana Rashtra Samithi) stormy tactics for the bisection of Andhra Pradesh to form a new state: Telangana. 

Though the leader of TRS Mr. K. Chandrasekhar Rao is acclaimed to have followed the Gandhian method of agitation there was nothing much "Gandhianism" to be seen on the streets, the way his supporters and students rioted on the streets of Hyderabad. The Telangana Resolution will be initiated in the State Assembly, which if successful, will lead to the formation of the 29th State of India, and hopefully also the 8th Union Territory.

Now this Telengana movement did have a long history, but was in the freezer for a long period of time and it was the "keep-on-charming" tactics of the succeeding Central Govts that led to the worsening of the situation and the resultant cave-in.

An even-handed Constitutional process has been transmuted into a turbulent tumult, which in the end leaves a very bad taste in the mouth. There are fears that what had transpired with Telangana may be an archetype for other partisan advocates in India.

Oh, we have more than enough in our country, haven't we? There are subdues demands for new states for Suarashtra (Gujarat), Vidharbha (Maharashtra), Gorkhaland (West Bengal), Bundelkhand (UP & MP) and numerous others, and the Home Ministry has set a very bad example. Lest not we forget the local-extremist outfits like MNS and Shiv Sena who can now tear Mumbai apart, demanding for its special status and then kick out the non-Marathis out of the nation's financial capital.

Oh Chidambaram! You, surely could've done this in a far better way. The country is fragmented yet again, first on the basis of language and now on the basis of slang!!!

Well, tomorrow some crack politician could revolt for Malabar State as it has a dialect of Malayalam different from the rest of Kerala, it is under-developed because of the intrusion of the South, and there may be takers for all this crap. It will never happen in Kerala but it's almost the same case, only that Telangana has some history behind it.

TRS Chief has a headload of rosy dreams for his new state. Of course he owns it now... He and his son, K.T. Rama Rao MLA are head-supremos and demi-Gods for people speaking Telungu, but in a different tone. He argues that the forced marriage with Andhra after Independence is the core reason why Telangana remained backward and that most of the resources from Telangana were used up to develop the other 2 regions of the state, the Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema. He conveniently forgets that Hyderabad city, the 6000bhp engine of the Andhra Economy is politically within Telangana and is the main reason why the previous 2 Chief Ministers could foster development to a much broader region.

K.T. Rama Rao goes a crucial step forward claiming that "there would be no Telangana without Hyderabad." This has put the city back on a revolving pivot again after it entered the Indian Union under volatile and unique circumstances post-independence.

Hyderabad owes its progress to the former CM Chandrababu Naidu, ironically from Rayalaseema, who propelled the city from an undistinguished Indian town to a throbbing IT destination renowned the world-over. Thousands of crores were pumped into the city to develop its infrastructure and naturally the city took giant strides. It is now the 6th largest city of India, bestowed with the Metro status and home to over 4 million people. Hyderabad's growth came at a price, the dissent of the peasant community in rural Andhra who were unhappy about their drought-affected, dried up farms when their capital city parks & road-dividers grew greener.

The succeeding CM Dr. Y. Rajashekhara Reddy managed to realign this urban-rural balance while funding development, without neglecting Hyderabad. And now Chandrasekhar Rao and TRS is looking forward to milking the city to its limits which was built at the expense of the whole Andhra-ites.

Let me tell you, there wont be one soul outside Telangana happy to let go their Capital, which the whole state gave their sweat and blood to build. This could well be another thorn in the flesh for the Union Govt, bestowing a Union Territory status to the Metropolis is said to be an acceptable option. At least until the divided Andhra builds their new Capital, but that'll burn another 10k crores, minimum.

Good in a way... India needs more planned cities. Perhaps this could be an opportunity to follow the Chinese model and create novel urban centers.

KCR squawks that Telangana and Hyderabad have been spoiled by the "intrusion of Andhra folks" and he would now toil for the development of the whole Telangana region. He talks about irrigation projects, utilizing the Krishna/ Godavari headlands, electrification and associated developments, but is a new state quintessential  for all these developments? True, smaller states are better for governance and for pooling investment but being an arid landlocked region how KCR plans to realize his dreams is anybody's guess. Obviously, Hyderabad becomes crucial here.

KSR ends 11 day fast image courtesy The Hindu

But KCR and Telangana is a case study of how a stock politician, a ploy exploiting regional sentiments and a misguided guile-play by the Center could adversely affect the nation. In a sense, politics is diplomacy but something much more sinister than the latter. Congress has been toying with TRS and their leaders and this one has backfired badly. Worryingly, this could be a precedent for similar separatist movements in the future.

I wonder who is now licking their lips, hope its not the Thackareys.


The story of the tormented is the same all throughout the world. Indian Homemaker has something to tell about the most unfortunate human beings of our times. Read about it here.

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Earthquake in Trivandrum, lonely man Twitter & more wtf

Consider this a compulsive sequel to the September 17 post on the Tharoor tweet controversy.

I hate to do this again, but the whole nation is on a debate left, right and center about a casual joke of Dr. Shashi Tharoor. I don't intend an autopsy on the ongoing fiddle-faddle but I can't help registering the utterly ridiculous deluge of gibberish from our self-proclaimed common-man's representatives.

Tharoor himself has acknowledged the political incorrectness of his pun and accepted the momentary lack of acumen to give his antagonists a potent weapon to hit him back. And he has said "sorry"!

But some people just don't want to let go.. Especially the ones who are green eyed at the high-speed elevator Dr. Tharoor took to reach the ranks, his closeness with the High-Command, his remarkable ability to hog the spotlight oh him and who're dazed by his flair, finesse and rising popularity among the country's youth.

So what do they do? Roll out a teething attack all in the name of a 71-word joke! Make no mistake here, its Congress leading the official attack on Tharoor, with BJP and the lefties yet to catch up.

First of all our Hindi media dudes committed the first purposeful misdeed of translating a perfectly tolerable  slang into Hindi, which immediately erased the humour element and turned it into blasphemy! Instantly lands Mrs. Jayanthi Natarajan, claiming to a Congress spokesperson, who clamours over the 'insensitive' nature of that tweet.



Congress elements are claiming that they are forced to speak out on this Twitter issue because the National Media has made a mountain out this mole. True in a sense; but how did the party handle this, especially at a crucial point when Assembly Elections are approaching? Every Tom, Dick and Harry has voiced their alarm at the insult delivered to common travelling public, and even  Kerala ex-CM Oomen Chandy voices his displeasure saying that  public figures should be compassionate. After Jayanthi Natarajan it was the turn of  Rajasthan CM and senior Congressman Ashok Gehlot to make matters worse by this public condemnation.

This, you must not forget, is when Prime Minister Dr. Man Mohan Singh has brushed aside this matter in the proper way, that this was a joke from Dr. Tharoor and nothing to ponder on.



Times of India columnist Mr. Jug Suraiya has depicted this in a facetious yet factual manner. Our traditional mail, the India Post is termed snail-mail. So can all the people who put a letter into our post-box called snails? And that the business class travellers are called "fat rats" as opposed to "cattle class", so now which one would you mind?

Shashi Tharoor has become the icon of hope for the citizens of Trivandrum as well as the whole nation. He has already acknowledged the situation and voiced that his priority would be the 400 million citizens of India living on just 1.25$ and less per day. In a short span of 3 months he has already started the ground work of strengthening the foundations for a sustained growth, viz the Rai Foundation scholarships for girls from lower economic strata and many more.

Sukumar Azhikode, an acclaimed critic and orator ridiculed the voters of Trivandrum as being "blind" and "foolish" for electing someone like Tharoor to New Delhi. In a stark paradox, IBN Live found out that the blind and foolish Trivandrumites could actually see the lighter side of the tweet which all the politicians failed to note.  Perhaps the 3.4 magnitude earthquake which struck the city yesterday evening could help shake off some clog from the brains of these holier than thou souls craving for Tharoor's blood.

Now, take this Mr. Azhikode!

Trivandrum says LOL! 

Click here if the video-link on top is not working.


A massive boo-hoo arrived from another Congressman and Waynad  MP Mr. M.A. Shanavas who openly remarked on IndiaVision that Twitter, Email and all are Western concepts and we as Indians should discard them!! No comments on that, but it received more than enough clatter from Congress MP Mr. Sudhakaran, interestingly another rare politician who tweets regularly.

The best joke of all came from Mr. Tom Vadakkan, so-called AICC Media Secreatry . And by god, just listen to the great invention he has made about Twitter. He apparently did a research about Twitter when Times Now contacted him and this is what he 'found out' about the micro-blogging site. Hold on to your knickers pals... This one takes the cake!




Did you notice the shock that blogger Amit Varma (the guy in glasses beside Tom uncle) got listening live to  the 'lonely man' stuff? Oh, its priceless! Watch 00:14 in the video..

Click for Full video of Times Now interview. Watch it, its worth it!

I did a bit of research myself about Mr. Vadkkan's interpretation of Twitter and its relation with loneliness, and sorry mates; I've come out blank. Perhaps this is the most plausible explanation I could think of:  Twitter is meant for people who are very lonely and depressed and who doesn't have anything worthy to do. And according to Tom Vadakkan they need psychological counselling. Did you hear that Jack Dorsey?

Now isn't this an instance you truly want to scream STFU!! ?

Tailpiece: Think about it, this guy Vadakkan was under serious consideration as a contestant  from Trichur for the recent Lok Sabha elections! Breathe a sigh of relief my old Trichur folks, that you're saved from colossal embarrassment of calling this dude your MP. God bless Trichur!

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The Women Power?

The customary practices of mud-slinging, double-crossing and foul-mouthing amalgamated with the selection of dummkopfs for the biggest democratic exercise in the world is at the anticlimax.

In about a weeks time we will know for certain whom to look out for around our shelters, with that once-in-five-year Colgate smile and exhibition of oh-hello-there-my-dear-old-friend kind of intimacy.

Congress Candidates for 16 constituencies Courtesy: Keralakaumudi

2. 16 crore Keralites are obligated to dispatch 20 cast-offs to fill up the 543 seats in that colossal oriental building in New Delhi. Our two bigbodies, the dynamic and fragmented Congress and the bullheaded Commie blocs have drawn up the list of the most-eligible, with BJP still waiting for that Godot to open their account. Leave aside the age-old faces and the farcical candidatures, the list is all too lame with the glaring dearth of female candidates.


Our political parties appear astutely reluctant to hand the lead over to the fairer sex for some mysterious reasons. Apart from K.R. Gouriamma, there hasn't been a single femme good enough to hold the reins. And the ones who are remembered over time, like Padmaja and Shobhana George made waves for wrong reasons.

Its very strange that Kerala, with its high female literacy, advanced social indices and women-oriented family practices fail to produce women leaders of mass. Kerala, is more often equated to the Western world in relation to social development but pales in comparison when it comes to empowerment of women at the Executive and Legislative levels. It is unexplainable because ladies with the power of command has propped up even in highly unlikely states like Uttar Pradesh.

Arguing a case for the 'weaker' sex, CPI(M) has pitted the young and energetic Sindhu Joy opposite veteran K. V. Thomas in Ernakulam. The poignant SFI Vice President did give Oomen Chandy a run for his money in his own den in the previous Assembly race, and is an encouraging prospect in the long run.

The other lady-in-red in the ranks is Sathi Devi in Vadakara, but she is as non-inspiring as our Health Minister Smt. PK. Sreemathi Teacher.

Congress, as usual has been nothing short of an embarrassment to the womenfolks in Kerala. The ongoing juggling with the Kasargode seat underlines the party's indifference and dishonest attitude towards allowing the fairer sex to take over.

For any society to move forward the hands of women must be stronger. With the fairer sex shunted away from the major highways of power, it seriously handicaps the nations ability to reinforce the basics. Read it together with the unique issues Kerala faces within itself, we render ourselves responsible for leaving our women power unharnessed behind the levees.

What a waste of potential!

Check history, we can see that women has been able to penetrate more easily into the underbellies of our society. Certainly they exhibit more compassion and delicacy when dealing with issues at the foundational level, say, the alcoholism and related related domestic violence at the lower strata of our society.

If we can find a lady who is motivated by one particular issue, then we would most often than not come to a solution to that problem. Arguably because women tend to be driven by principles whereas menfolks may just be reaching out for the pleasure of power.

And hopefully a woman at the helm or in high ranks of Legislature would prompt the Kerala male to learn the art of respecting a female counterpart, one thing our guys need some iron-fisted lessons on.


I'm unaware if any political party has taken up the Women's Reservation Bill as an issue in their agenda. Its been a big and shameful farce when it came up in the house last time. Forget the bill, if our party think-tanks could be convinced to bring in more Sindhu Joys and Shanimols to the frame... not as a ritual without any intrinsic purpose, but as an honest attempt to kick start a much needed change.

Oh, in the meantime we don't want more Jayalalitas, please. One is doing enough and more damage. :)

PS: The candidature of Neelalohitadasan Nadar is an insult not only to the entire Indian womanhood but also to the voters in Trivandrum constituency who have the luxury of pressing the button for perhaps the most charismatic and worthy of candidates, Dr. Shashi Tharoor.

What a refreshing change after decades of picking the best among duds!

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The lesson not learned...

Its an all too familiar situation if you are in Kerala at the moment. Yeah, there is a typhoon swirling across the state, a political one as always, and the storm originating in the teacup(again, as usual).

The calmest part of a storm is said to be the eye, and the adjective is easily adorned to the center of the present controversy: Page 24 in the History textbook, Class VII, Kerala Syllabus.

Ok, so before I go on about what I feel in this case, here are some excerpts from some of the social bloggers I take seriously...I've long back ceded relying on print & visual media to catch a glimpse of the true state of affairs, and blogosphere is the last arena where you can see some honest and open opinions.

Just as I was fretting over the vacuum in the versatile Kerala blogspace about this affair, Talkies guru Brahmaprakash Narayanan detailed out the matter, for the first time for me to understand what the turmoil was all about.

Insights into the matter were given by Kerala Tips, in a revealing mirror image twin posts. Make sure you read the corrected second post before the original opinion. Ajay Prasad, who seldom writes anything without "Trivandrum" in it, has his say here, and is surprised himself by the response he received for an off-topic. I've gone through the posts of Kenny Jacob and a few other related ones and found them all supporting the chapter.

Now here is the eye of the tempest, anglicized.

The setting is the principals office, where the kid, Jeevan appears with his parents.

Principal: “What is your name?”
“Jeevan”

Principal: “Good name...father’s name?”
“Anwar Rasheed''

Principal: "Mother’s name?”
“Lakshmi Devi”

The Principal raises his chin & looks at the parents

Principal: “What should I fill in for the kid’s religion?”
Parents : “Keep it blank…or else add No Religion”

Principal: “What about Caste?”
Parents : “not needed”

The Principal leans back on his chair and asks seriously.

Principal: “What if he wants a religion when he grows up?”
Parents : “If he feels he needs a religion, he is free to choose the one he likes then”

I'm damn sure about my feelings in this case.. This lesson needs to be taught... Taught in such a way that the kids never lose the lesson in it.

Now back to the outburst itself. This seemingly innocuous prose managed to kick up such vehement hostility among a large section of the public. All the religious organisations and political parties joined hands against the Govt accusing this as a definite attempt to instill Communism and atheism in juvenile thoughts.

The Education Ministry, though boldly rubbishing the allegations, stands in deep waters. The interests of all the players in this drama are temporarily aligned. It turned out that there was a well-disguised backup to this chapter in a series of sessions & workouts in the textbook, which brings the intentions of the Govt under scrutiny. Check out the following excerpts from the same text book:

This time the setting is an agitation against a typo landlord, who has a car and a big bungalow. There is a group shown as agitating against him. A motorist is watching the scene.

The group: Stop letting the fields remain without harvest.

Landlaord: I'll do whatever I like in my paddyfield...may fill it...leave it barren or will construct a building. I'm a free citizen of India.

The Motorist:(at the agitators) don't these people have any other job?

The textbook asks the students: How will you respond to social situations like these?

Here is a very evident attempt to promote the commie ideas of ''vettinirathal'' and ''anti-feudalism protests''. But for Gods sake where does feudal landlords exist in Kerala now? And it is a dangerous attempt to create more futile citizens like we have in DYFI and the likes now. Please allow at least the next generation of Keralites to come out of the hole???

There is another instance in the textbook when a guy apparently hails India's present day economic development, but immediately it is compared to India's progress under the British regime...

Guy 1: Whatever, British rule was a class in itself. Everything had a proper arrangement.

Guy 2: What are you telling? Even if it was for 2 days, didn't Mukesh Ambani become the wealthiest man in the world?

Now how vicious is that appearing to be?? This essentially provides opportunity for interpretations as a deliberate way to turn young minds against big-gun Industrialists..

Throughout the textbook there are passages about ''social equality'' and ''freedom''. We know where this water flows to...I'm not arguing that there shouldn't be social equality and freedom, but Communism is the last thing you'd need to create that.

Nowhere in the 4.6 billion years of Mother Earth's history has a Communist setting provided the above social qualities.. As a contrary check out the major red-zones of the world; you will clearly see what is meant by anarchism. Just look at China, North Korea and co...

The textbook also hails Gowri Amma's historic speech in the Assembly(oops...Gowri Amma, of all people!), Channar & Kayyur rebellions(have a clue what it is?) , land reforms, liquor and land mafia and other touchwood communist ideologies. Compare to the Gandhiji & Nehru speeches, Freedom struggles and other historic rebellions we were taught as kids. Now perhaps we could teach them Geography of Cuba and Chinese language in schools, eh?

And at the end of it all the lesson in page 24 appears. Innoxious, as it is in itself, but read it with the whole script...you will find a well-written story unfolding.

No wonder the Congress is on strike. They are the only guys who are desperate to get this textbook out of the schools, and they got strong and effective allies: their traditional strongholds, the Church & the Muslim League. Sadly, the 2 latter groups doesn't know what they are fighting for, because the chapter in itself doesn't proclaim atheism or communism.

In other words, the chapter must be taught! No confusions about that. Let the children learn what is the true meaning of ''secularism''. Let them understand that India is a secular state, meaning a no-religion state; and not a state where all religions are considered equally. Many of the most secular nations of the world provide a 'No Religion' option for their citizens, and its high time that we adopt such forward ideologies. C'mon, we don't need a brand to trust in God, do we? And did someone tell that social rot occurs if one doesn't have religion? mmmm... Santhosh Madhavan, Osama Bin Laden & George Bush did so much on behalf of their own religions. Are they doing the world a whole lot of good?

Allow the individual to have a say about his religion, let it be one of his personal rights. But in a country where parents & society decide what the child studies, whom to become, how, when and whom to marry and when to reproduce, this thought will take some time to go in...

So what about the landlord, Ambani, Gowri Amma and Kayyur saga in that book? Well, press that 'delete' button please...quick!

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