The best b'day of my life...

Hi friends

Birthdays come and go, but the birthday presents – well they stay forever (atleast till you outgrow them). I had the time of my life and I am sure I shall never forget my 24th birthday.

It all started with Dussehra coming on Monday (28/09) this year, making it a long weekend. Since my birthday happens to fall on 25th September (Friday) and following my tradition of not doing anything on that day (since my engineering days), I decided to make my long weekend a longer one :) And Baroda seemed to be the perfect place in my mind – It was not that far from Delhi, was in Gujarat (a state I always wanted to see) and Jango was there in Baroda, hence good company. And so I decided two months ago that I would be going to Baroda.

24th / 25th September: Thanks to the Swine Flu, MDI Gurgaon was closed abruptly for 2 weeks, thereby giving Anup a chance to come along with me to Baroda (his home is a few hours from the place). The train journey was great – I quizzed for more than two hours with Anup and I finally happened to see Kota! Well at least the railway station, at 3:30 am in the morning !!! More was to follow as I saw Ratlam station (remember Jab We Met, the Shahid – Kareena starrer?) and Godhra (the place seemed so peaceful!) en-route to Baroda. The train was on time (the day was just getting better and better!)

Jango picked me up at the railway station and took me to his place. We then went for lunch, and had a delicious chicken curry. Afterwards, he went back to his office and I took bath, went to church and slept peacefully (Since Anup was travelling with me, I didn’t have the chance to sleep the whole night). In the evening, Jango took me to see the most traditional garba dance in entire Gujarat – at the Arts College of MSU (Maharaja Sayajirao University). Baroda is considered the arts hub of Gujarat and what better than see garba at the heart of the heart :) It was awesome! Just seeing those women in the various colourful dresses, and the atmosphere, all made my brief 20-minute stay at the garba most memorable! Although we were not allowed to click any pictures, the memories would linger forever. Then we had a light dinner – I didn’t want to drink the vodka I had got for Jango, because we were supposed to get up early the next day.

26th September: A big day indeed – we were supposed to go to Pavagadh Hill Kalika Mata Temple, which was around 45 km away from Baroda. After reaching the place, we walked all the way to the top of the hill, climbing more than 2000 steep steps along the way (My toes hurt!). We then came down walking in the midst of a broken-down fort, part of some earlier city in Champaner ruins I guess. We came back to Baroda, rested and went to Barbeque Nation for dinner! After the unlimited starters and slushies, I ate pudding, fruits and cake till my tummy almost burst. Again the plan to drink was put on hold (because we were too full, and I had to wake up early the next day).

27th September: Sunday morning meant Morning Mass @ 8 am. We went to some restaurant for more chicken curry for lunch (yum yum!). The entire afternoon was spent walking in Vadodara Central, Landmark and other malls. We checked out some cool electronics stuff @ Croma too. In the evening, I finally decided to drown that Vodka, with 2 pizzas :) and “Little Zizou”. Inspite of 6-7 large pegs, I didn’t feel inebriated at all! While Jango fell asleep very soon, I stayed awake, watching some videos and copying a lot of stuff from his HDD to mine :)

28th September: Dussehra Time! But we woke up lazily @ 11 am (I felt so fresh after vodka!). Today was Gujarati food time! And what better place for that than Rajdhani “Gujarati” thali! We went very early (reached there @ 11.55 am) and had a heavy lunch. Lunch was followed by some more window-shopping, well not entirely, as I bought a new bag at a Samsonite Factory outlet, for a 40% discount! Then we came back, and I did some last-minute packing etc. I was feeling sad on leaving Baroda, but then, it’s my work in Delhi that could afford such a trip.

Talking about birthday gifts, well I got two gifts this time (that’s two more than what I usually get!). My quizzer friend from Thailand Andy (real name Anand) sent me a hard-cover of the latest Dan Brown thriller “The Lost Symbol”. And while in the train, Anup presented me with a Denim t-shirt, which was luckily my size!

It was a trip I will not forget for a long time. A long time. And it was all thanks to Jango, Anup, Barbeque Nation and Smirnoff Vodka :)

Anup (extreme right) @ Ratlam station - the train did not stop here, but that bugger managed to get down and even pose for a picture!

And Pigs Shall Fly!!!

Hi friends

Swine Flu! These two words have struck more terror in the hearts of every world citizen today than the words "AL Qaeda" or "Osama Bin Laden" did in September 2001. The virus has spread like wildfire, and has reached almost every continent in the world - perhaps Australia seems much safer in that context in spite of the recent "racial attacks" on the Indians there :) Pune, Delhi, Hyderabad have all witnessed deaths to this deadly virus.

I have been following a lot of Television lately and have been keeping close track of the events shown in them. I happened to observe this - All news Channels sensationalize news more than ever! And they only go after the hot-news. Take swine-flu as an example. When the outbreak first took place in the USA, it was immediately picked up by the news in India. Although it had not yet spread to India, the news-casters were "hopeful" that it would soon reach the Indian shores, thanks to the immigration patterns of the Indians in the USA. The news was hot property till it reached India. As soon as the flu struck Indian shores, it was the main headline for the news for almost a week.

But then something happened - the virus did not spread as quickly as they "anticipated". They thought that a country like India, with such a huge population, must witness a epidemic of sorts. Even the WHO had declared it a Level-5 pandemic by then. But the flu did not spread much because a) All the carriers where those who had arrived from the US and Europe. They were certainly not the kind of people who roamed in the local trains and buses of the country (thank God!) and b) It was a dry season for India and the monsoons had not set in yet, making the virus spread at a much lower rate than in the relatively less-hot US and Europe.

The newscasters were "disappointed" and suddenly, the flu was off the news - Not a single channel even reported the spread of the virus elsewhere in the world :) This was clearly visible in all the news channels, and you could see how every other news was given importance to the news of a Level-5 Pandemic.

And now the monsoons have set in (albeit in smaller proportions than expected). And the virus is making hay while the sun ain't shining! The newscasters are back again with full gusto, reporting about the deadly virus wearing masks that could easily cover the pimples on most of their faces. One death of a child has resurrected the newscasters to the fact that THE VIRUS STILL LIVES. And it will not rest until it has all the slots 24*7. I am sure it will not be disappointed, as long as it kills more and more people.

Just take all the necessary precautions even if your city has not witnessed a single outbreak yet - You certainly do not want the first to be affected by the flu because the newscasters will know your condition faster than you do. After all, they have all the experts :)

Ciao and take care.

Sleeper Class and me...

Hi friends

I am back home (just for a few days) and am relishing it even though it's been just a few hours since I arrived here. The train was late by just 20 minutes (amazing by my standards for a 26 hr journey) and I calmly walked home, since my house is just 10 min walk from Platform No. 10 of the Secunderabad Railway Station. Unfortunately, the train arrived on Platform No. 1 today, so it was a 10-platform extra walk for me and my non-beer belly.

I happened to travel in the sleeper class of AP Express for two reasons. First, it is relatively inexpensive as compared to the 3-Tier AC and other higher AC Classes. Being a rainy season, I expected a cool climate and some nice breeze to go with the already hurling speed of the train. Second, it's recession and I have decided to cut down on everything that I could cut down, with traveling being the first. No AC travel unless really necessary. Afterall, if I am comfortable enough in non-AC, then why waste money on AC just because "I can afford it"?

I also remembered my sir, Rajesh Aithal (IIML), telling us that sleeper class gives us a true picture of India, both inside and outside the train. I can agree with him fully on that aspect. It is only in the Sleeper class that one can get a good picture of life in India, especially in a 26-hour journey!

Since I was not in the window seat, I did not have the liberty of looking out much, but I noticed something peculiar in my compartment. There were 2 huge contingents/families in my compartment. From what I gathered in my eavesdropping their conversations (I rarely talk in trains and hence just listen to conversations when I am not hooked onto my Ipod), one family was a Muslim family from Hyderabad and the other was a Hindu family from Secunderabad.

It was funny to see that both families operated in the same fashion. I found so many similarities that I was left feeling "Damn, society is the same irrespective of religions!". Both families has a head, who was around 65 years of age. They were very active in keeping the law and order in the family, ensuring the family and its luggage are safe and sound. The families had 2 sub-elders - one having two brothers and the other having a brother and a sister, who came with their respective families. Kids were a plenty, with each family having 2 sons and a daughter each.

They occupied adjecent berths in the same compartment, taking around 12 seats each. The family behavioural patterns were all too similar in everything - they had food together as a family, with the food sourced directly from the Pantry Car; the children were overly enthusiastic and making different noises all around; the women all grouped together for general chatting and playing small games with the kids; the men discussing sports and politics; the head of the family just resting when needed and actively moving around the compartment at the remaining times.

It occured to me that family patterns are similar for a similar size of the family. It does not matter which religion or which area the family belongs too - a big family functions as a similar entity. I never realized it until now, and I can assure you that it was an eye opener for me.

Well, lucky for me the train was not more than 20 minutes late (which is quite surprising, since I always happen to be on the train which comes late). Life is good!!!

Ciao till my next post.

Short and tweet - the twitter camp Quiz by IQL!

Hi friends

The Indian Quizzing League team (of which I am proud to be a member) hosted the world's first ever Twitter Live Quiz!!! Here are the details of the quiz as follows:

The Indian Quizzing League team was involved in the Organizing Committee of the inaugural Twitter Unconference titled Buzz140! in Chennai on June 21, 2009. Even though the venue was quite far away from the heart of the city (Photon Infotech, the venue is in the middle of OMR, about 30 kms from the heart of Chennai), quite a few tweeps turned up.

There were around 60 odd teams (teams of two each) that participated in the prelims (some of the 150 odd people that turned up for the event left after lunch). The Prelims hosted by Ananthashankar had 20 questions with in-built tie breakers.

Karthik Narayan (KN as I call him) hosted a rather quickfire, fun-oriented and tech-savvy final. The final consisted of three simple rounds – round one was a Twitter based round – with questions based on tweets, and within 140 characters. This premise ensured the questions were short and sweet!! Round two was an innovation of cryptic clues to identify technology websites and people associated with technology. The quiz ended with the last round which was a grid where teams could pick their questions and answer. The quiz ended with a photo-finish where three teams on equal scores. Eventually as many as 4 tie breakers were required to separate the Best of two teams out of three!!

Two students from Anna University won the quiz on the penultimate question and Sylvian Patrick and Ahmed from Zoho came second when they scored on the last question!! The audience had their share of the fun with questions redirected at them which they answered with glee. They were also highly appreciative of the quiz and the questions.

By hosting this quiz, a little piece of history had been created - this was officially the first Twitter Live Quiz in the entire world. That's a perhaps the biggest feather so far in IQL's hat!!

IQL is continuing the good job by hosting an online Twitter Quiz which can be accessed on http://twitter.com/oceansiql

About Twitter:

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author's profile page and delivered to the author's subscribers who are known as followers.

Ciao for now!

Benefits of Defence Spending

Hi friends

It’s been quite sometime since I have done any sensible blogging. One of my friends asked me the other day, telling me that “your job has made you lose interest in the thing you loved to do so much”. Hence I have decided to come back and try to post one article every week. I have decided to write about the things that I read - something that may come in handy to those who are preparing for debates or arguments. I will also provide links to the articles as and when I get any.

This short post of mine is in reference to an article written in the column “Cross Hairs” written by Mr. Raghuraman. This article appeared in the July 16th edition of the newspaper “Mint”. This article is helpful for CAT aspirants and the like, because it presents a very interesting and logical argument as to why we should spend more on defence (contrary to common sense) and on how it is advantageous to us.

One main point that the author puts forth is that wars are inevitable in the modern human community. Resources are scarce and everyone wants to control them. The demand for these resources will increase with the scarcity levels and so will the need to control them – thereby leading to more wars. Hence defence spending is a must to gather new resources or defend the existing resources.

The author puts forth 4 major points as to how wars have helped shape civilization for the better:

1. A war helps mobilize inventions. Although wars and the fear of it may not actually lead to an invention, it helps make the invention available to us in a mass scale. Communications, sonar and radar are just few of the examples that show how spending on defence leads to better innovations that can redefine the current technology. Just look at the prevalence of the Internet, nuclear power and transcontinental communications in our daily lives.

2. The Defence Sector creates opportunities for thousands of young minds, who are trained to become a disciplined set of leaders. On their discharge from service, they contribute back to the society by their leadership in driving the society through different entrepreneurial ventures. Capt. Gopinath is one such example, whose low-cost airlines revolutionized the Indian Aviation Sector. Such men bring with them a national outlook and vision for the betterment of the society.

3. Weapons industry may incur a lot of expenditure, but it also contributes a lot back to the GDP of the country. The Indian Defence Sector recovers as much as 50% of the weapons’ cost by placing contracts that an “offset policy” which makes it compulsory that the arms-seller has to buy or provision up to 50% of the cost of the weapons from Indian manufacturers. This policy usually comes in place in a G-to-G trade as it helps to develop trade between the two countries. This gives incentives for the foreign companies to collaborate with Indian partners to make indigenous equipment to fulfill this offset obligation, thereby facilitating technology transfer into Indian industries – thereby having the following 3 advantages:

a) Sellers will need to transfer technology to make indigenous equipment.
b) In the longer duration, it will lead the seller and his Indian partner down the road into “offshoring” – where the weapons could be built at a lower cost enabling it to become globally competitive and establish India as a global defence production and service hub.
c) Defence spending is largely recession-proof and will help the manufacturing sector stay in business even in bad times.

4. Our defence budget also consists of regular revenue expenditure in the form of salaries, allowances and sustenance costs of maintaining an army. Food has to be bought, roads have to be built, vehicles need to ply and the agricultural produce of several thousand villages goes to maintaining garrisons stationed all over the country. An entire ecosystem thrives on maintaining and mobilizing the defence forces. Cantonment towns are examples of cities which have been fuelled by defence establishments that literally created them. (Taken directly from the article).
We can see that the defence sector has a big role to play in strengthening our country’s economy by virtue of its trade potential and manpower.

Link to the article:

http://www.livemint.com/2009/07/15215942/How-defence-spending-can-benef.html

Is the Price Right?

Consider this conversation:

Anurag: Suppose there is something that belongs to you. You love it dearly. But one day, that thing disappoints you a lot. It fails your expectations. You see no other alternative and you destroy that thing. Is it morally or legally right?

Satish: Well, if you own that thing, then it is upto you to decide what to do with it. You own it; you have every right over it.
Anurag: Then why is suicide a crime? Do I, or do I not, own my life?
Satish: Well, one’s life is a different thing altogether. You cannot compare your life to any other thing...
Anurag: But do I own my life or not?
Satish: Hmmm...

What would you say to this? Is your life your own? If yes, then why is an attempt to commit suicide a crime? If no, then who has the right over one’s life?

Suicide is considered a crime in this modern age. In this era, where the word freedom is as misused as public funds, a person doesn’t have the freedom over one’s own life. Where is the freedom if one doesn’t have freedom over one’s own life – the only thing we were born with when we came to earth?

People give many reasons as to why suicide is a crime. Some if the common ones are as follows:
1. It is doing injustice to your self. Just because you are in bad times doesn’t mean that you must end your life. Good times and bad times come in cycles and you have to just wait it out
2. Suicide is the last resort. Life is precious. Human life is a gift from God and it will end only when God wills it to end
3. Think about your parents and your dependants. How will they feel when you are not there anymore?
4. It’s an act of cowardice on the part of the individual. It must be condemned. What if all human beings feel the same way? Then the human race wouldn’t exist at all! People must be made to realize that it is not acceptable in the society.
5. Every life has a purpose. Just because you just haven’t realized it yet, it doesn’t mean you can end your life. You need to keep up hope.
6. Your life belongs to everyone who has ever interacted with you at every stage of your life. People who have seen you and know you. Just think about all of them. How would they feel when you die? Don’t you have nay respect for their feelings too?

And many more...

Of all such explanations that are put forward by various individuals, the one that appealed to me was the last point. You life is not just yours. It belongs to others too. But yes, you are the largest stakeholder and you are in the driver’s seat. But if you control 51% of your life, then the people around you have a stake in the remaining 49% of your life, don’t they?

So the next time you think about giving up your life, remember that your life is not just yours – it belongs to the whole world. Just don’t be the fluttering butterfly that causes a hurricane somewhere else in the world.

Youth Brigade, but “Old is Gold”

We have heard a lot in the news about the youth brigade formed by Mr. Rahul Gandhi and how the present cabinet is a lot younger than the previous cabinet. We can certainly see a lot of young faces like Ms. Agatha Sangma, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sachin Pilot, Naveen Jindal etc. Does this brigade represent infusion of new life into Indian politics? Or is it just a “more of the same”?

The first thing that hits us when we hear/see these names are their surnames – Gandhi, Sangma etc. All of them come from a known family i.e. they have a family legacy behind them. This new-found position is a mere extension of the bloodline, something like a new face over the old body. Living under the shadow of great parents/family is not easy and their family must have had an impact on their way of thinking and working, including their political thought.

I know you may say, “C’mon, you are being too harsh and cynical now, they are new and fresh faces. They have a lot of new ideas and they can effect change from such powerful positions.” I will not argue with you on this as they will certainly bring about a “change”. The question is “Is the change the needed change or the same “change” that we have witnessed for a long time now?”

Change – this word has gained immense prominence after Obama’s ascendency to the most powerful post in the world. The change which took place in the USA was in many forms – shift in ideology (Republican to Democratic), from partisan politics to “unification” politics, from older leaders to younger leaders, from family names to newcomers (First time in 28 years where neither the President nor the Vice-President has the name Bush or Clinton). It was a wholesome change and not just a “old-to-young” change. This real shift came when Obama defeated Hillary Clinton in the primaries, the public rejecting “family name” for a new comer who promised real change. Hillary was a woman, but she carried the tag of a “former first lady” that did not appear to resonate that well with the voters (although I still dispute the result of the primaries). People had already seen Bill and Co. in action, and wanted to see someone different at the helm. Obama was their man.

As much as I criticized Obama the President, I have always acknowledged the fact that his rise has been remarkable - from such poor roots, unconventional childhood, he rose through sheer hardwork. He did not have his mom/dad to support him and teach him to dream big. He achieved what no one thought was possible for atleast another 100 years - a black President, well atleast half black :)

This is where “Pilot” or “Scindia” lag behind as such – they had a headstart. And in a country like India, it is tough for people without that “start” to make it as big as they did. The youth are mere reflections of the legacies of their parents. They have not experienced what we have experienced and what our parents went through. How many of them had to fight for entry into a good school, or fight for a good college education, or even for a job/living? Were they as confused as we were on what to do in life? How many of them have struggled to finance that book club they always wanted to start in school? I am sure that the answer is “NO” to almost all of these questions from their side. They had it all and will continue to have it all too.

I surely love to see young faces, but not those who carry their parents’ legacies. True, they may be more efficient than their illustrious parents or any other older politician in the cabinet. But will they understand the real India? Only time will tell…

Election Analysis (Q&A format)

Well, I am sure you already know a lot about the 15^th Lok Sabha (LS) Election results, so I won’t elaborate much on it. However, there are some things I would like to comment on w.r.t this election, answering them in the form of questions that could be raised as debate points.

Going by the rise in the total number of seats for the two major Parties, can we say that the people are more in favour of national parties than regional parties?

No. The number of seats is never an indication of the mood of the people. A better indicator is the vote-share garnered by the different parties. In that aspect, nothing has changed significantly from 2004, as the vote share garnered by these two parties has increased by a mere 0.2% (from 48.7% to 48.9%), which is very insignificant compared to the rise in the number of seats garnered by the combo (from 283 to 321, a rise of 13.4%).

Also, the wins of Nitish Kumar (Bihar), Naveen Patnaik (Orissa), Karunanidhi (Tamil Nadu) and the showing of NCP and Shiv Sena (in Maharashtra) can clearly out to rest the fact that regional parties are on their way out – their showing actually points to the opposite fact that they are actually here to stay. Also the regional effect was seen clearly in the forms of YSR (AP), Hooda (HR), Gehlot (Raj), Ms. Dixit (DEL) and Modi (Gujarat).

Is this house a lot cleaner as compared to the previous house? And has the recession affected the fortunes of the MPs?

Well, unfortunately no. There are 150 MPs in the new house with criminal charges, as compared to 128 in 2004, a rise of 17.1%, with 73 of them facing serious charges as compared to 55 in the previous LS, a rise of 30.9%.

The party with the maximum number of criminal MPs is, as I expected it to be, the BJP, with 42 of them facing criminal charges (36% of elected BJP MPs!), closely followed by the Congress (I) with 41 (19.9% of Congress MPs). SP has the 3^rd best in this list, with 8 MPs (34.8% MPs, less than BJP atleast!).

As far as recession is concerned, politicans are making hay when there is a solar eclipse in the universe. There are 300 crorepati MPs in the current LS – more than double the previous count of 154! Looks like this industry can donate a lot for the stimulus package for other industries

Is the “Rahul Effect” a reality? Did the “Modi Effect” change anything for the BJP in the positive sense?

Yes, the “Rahul Effect” was indeed significant, atleast in the numbers. My numbers are not accurate to the tee, but the UPA won in 66 seats out of the 106 seats that he campaigned for, with 21 of them coming from Uttar Pradesh, making it a high 62% conversion rate overall.

On the other hand, the “Modi Effect” backfired completely. Out of the 108 seats that he campaigned for the NDA, they could win only 35 seats, 17 of then coming from Gujarat. So it was effectively only 18 seats out of the 83 non-Gujarat seats for the NDA, a dismal 22% conversion rate outside Gujarat. Why did this happen? As one person out it, “When you go to a circus, the Joker gets the maximum claps and attention, but no one takes him seriously. Modi, with his joker-like antics, could just get people to attend his rallies, but failed to grab their votes.”

What are the (positive) implications for the UPA and the Congress (I) in particular, after this mandate?

The current mandate seems decisive, but it was also because of the lack of an opposition with a clear mindset. The result will clearly help the Congress (I) cut down its “estranged allies” to size. Lalu and Paswan were dumbstruck at the result and even Sharad Pawar, although was loyal to the UPA in Maharashtra, had PM ambitions, which will not be fulfilled for another 5 years atleast.

Considering that Rahul Gandhi is not going to join the cabinet anytime soon, the UPA should use his services fully to make sure that its network in UP and Bihar becomes stronger. For the first time in many years, the Congress (I) received more than 10% vote-share in Bihar and its rise in UP was really unprecedented, with both the vote-share and seat-share rising well above expected. The sullen and “humble” mood in the SP, BSP and RJD camps, and their sucking upto the UPA-alliance, is clearly a sign of desperation and the party must make full use of its nation-wide influence to capitalize on this “wave”.

This mandate destroyed the effect of the Left parties completely and removed their chances of playing the role of a kingmaker. The UPA will certainly strive along with Mamata Banerjee in order to wipe out the left in West Bengal. Mamata has also clearly stated that she is eyeing the state leadership and not a cabinet berth. Even in Kerala, the Congress (I) must strive to make sure that the people’s verdict is properly rewarded. This is their best chance to increase their vote base all over India, even in Maharashtra, where there are talks about the Congress (I) ditching the NCP and going alone there.

But this win may also lead to the “God Syndrome” in the Congress (I). Unchecked by the Left and other parties with alternative views, the UPA may resort to economic reforms that may actually backfire. Also, too much “Sonia” and “Rahul” chants may lead to resentment among the public, who are, in my view, tired of dynastic politics. The Congress (I) needs to be more pro-poor and more future-oriented for another good showing in 2014.

What are the implications for the NDA and the BJP in particular after this mandate?

The “drubbing” that the BJP received was a severe setback to the leadership of the party, namely L K Advani and Rajnath Singh. Even their own exit polls failed to see this drop in the number of seats and the vote-share for the party. Mr. Advani was forced to contest one last election and he was shown the realistic chances of becoming a PM. He complied, never expecting such a result. Even his resignation was not accepted by the party.

This clearly shows that the BJP is not having any fixed No. 2 in its party. It is a time for change of leadership, to build a new wave for 2014. Instead Mr. Advani is being made the leader of the opposition yet again. This move will severely affect the chances of BJP recovering anytime in the next 2-3 years.

They need a clear image change after all this. They need to behave like a responsible opposition and try to focus on the core issues, and remind the public that they behaved like a constructive opposition. At the same time, they must try to build a much-more solid base in states where they were affected a lot – Rajasthan, UP, Maharashtra and Uttarakhand.

They also need to forge better allies in order to make their presence stronger all over India, especially the South. BJD left the alliance and won by a handsome margin in Orissa and it is widely expected that Nitish Kumar may ditch the BJP in the upcoming Assembly Elections in Bihar in order to appease to the Muslim vote-bank even more. There are also talks about the UPA trying to woo Nitish to its side, but that may not materialize.

The BJP tried to appease the urban youth a lot and all the talks of change clearly showed the aping of the “Obama” model of campaigning. However, India and coalition politics are a very different ball-game and the entire party’s image can be damaged by just 1-2 individuals like Varun Gandhi. It is high time for the BJP to change their leadership and look for a new direction.

Specific to Andhra Pradesh, how can one explain the huge difference in the results of the LS and Assembly election results? Also, what looks to be the future of the TRS there?

The difference can be explained to a good extent by the maturity of the voters in this election. They clearly differentiated between the local and national issues and voted accordingly. All the MLAs who performed badly were the ones who were shown the boot because of the neglect of their constituencies. But the performance of the UPA Govt. had a serious effect on the fortunes of the MPs in the state in a positive sense.

Also, we can see the effect of the MLAs as a bunch in the elections. Inspite of being advised to change the MLAs in her constituency, Renuka Chowdhary stuck to the old guns and paid the price for it, by losing even her LS seat.

TRS is gone and out. The Telangana issue is irrelevant and the popularity-waning of the TRS is clear by the fact that KCR himself won in his constituency by a very narrow margin, similar to his son (who won by a margin of around 400 votes). People recognized that KCR was opportunistic when he allied with TDP (who had been a staunch opponent of a separate Telangana from the very beginning). And they showed him the “kick”.

Any bets on the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) sweeping even the next Assembly elections (they won all 32 seats this time, like the last time in 2004)?

Not likely to lose any seat even in 2014. The opposition (Congress) has no base and the party has no grassroots in Sikkim at all. The SDF will continue to retain power for atleast another 20 years surely. With Chamling at the helm, the SDF will continue to get support of the Sikkim people for more development of the state in all areas.

Ciao for now!

The 5-Phase Election Fever (Part 2)

Hi

The Andhera Pradesh state has thrown up a lot of surprises this election, especially with Badi Maa banking on “I-am-Sam” Ever Reddy to deliver the goods. But Reddy is also clever enough to realize that he will not be able to stand on his own two feet this time on. Already the “Grand-Alliance”, consisting of Mr. “Maine-NTR-ko-nahin-maara” Cycle Babuji, Mr. “Telangana-ke-liye-kuch-bhi-karega” Chandu Gaadu and some “educated naxalites” has claimed victory. But in all probability, the GA will also fall short of a majority. This is because of the new entrant Mr. “Chiru-is-King” Megastar, who is said to be the real kingmaker in this election, both at the state and also at the national level. Currently, both the alliances are in tough with the Megastar for a possible post-poll alliance. But at the national level, Chandu Gaadu is clearly tired of being sidelined and has already shown his support to the NDA in a rally held on Sunday. He has firmly professed his support for Buddhe ki-vaani who was promised the creation of a new state within 100 days (on the lines of Obama who promised a trrop withdrawl within 100 days and already the 100 days are up with no such action). 

Kashmir seems to have hogged all the attention in Phase 3 of the elections, when the turnout suddenly reached 24% as compared to 15% in the last election. Although the Hurriyat 2^nd-in-command Mr. A-Lone has called that nothing is to be seen in this “rise” of mere 9% as compared to more than 76% still not voting, the news-channels, particularly the Out of Times and particularly Swami tried to make a big issue over a small k-issue.

West Bengal was also in the news, with the people from Croak-land demanding a separate state for themselves, because the Croaks have no similarities with the highly intellectual Bongs. They even roped in Mr. “I-wanna-win” Santa Singha to contest on behalf of the BJP, with the promise of a separate state doled out. The place witnessed a turnout of 80%, which was slightly more than the state average of 75% this time. Let’s see whether the Croaks have croaked in the right spirit this time on!

The truly swing state in this election happens to be north-western state, aptly called “Land of Kings”. After seeing their voting record in the last 20 years, they must be named “The Land of Swings”! This is the only state where the GOP and the pseudo-GYP (henceforth called PSYP) are at direct loggerheads. Here, the GOP is headed by current CM “Main-hoon-number-one” Crappy Baal and the PSYP by the “Hitler-in-Saree” Sundry Rahe. Although Rahe had done substantial amount of developmental work in her state as a CM, her autocratic attitude and her partiality towards the Meena community brought about the downfall of her government. Though Crappy Baal is confident that his hairstyle will surely take the GOP to a good victory there, the PGYP hopes to make pretty big dents, using the big  eyes of Sundry Rahe, as emphasized by the Mohra-song “Akhiyon se Goli Maare”.

For the glossary of terms used, please refer to this LINK. For Part-1 of this series, please look at this LINK.

The 5-Phase Election Fever (Part 1)

Hi

As the IPL rages on with all its fury, the nation is also gripped with another fever called as the “Election Fever”. Thousands of candidates across the nation fight for getting an entry into the prestigious “Lok Sabha”, also called “A jail where you get paid to shout incessantly and commit crimes against the nation” by many educated individuals, who unfortunately have better things to worry about that the sorry state of the nation and try to change it. The news-channels are doing their usual bit of creating more chaos and confusion than there is already present.

I have been looking at the news for the last 1 month and the only news that I have got to know understand very clearly is that there is no new “news”. The Out of Times channel goes on repeating every damn news that is possible, with the “debate” host Joy-Ho Swami trying to get the top-class politicians to debate, including the “I will never make sense” Congressman Holly Polly staunchly defending the young and dashing “statesman” Mr. “Pinch-me-I-am-in-a-dream” Diaper Baba. While the pseudo-GYP cadre is also not far behind, with the ever-ready-to-speak Jai Jai Shankar always in the heat to make sure that his voice drowns every other voice, including that of the Swami. But the press always gets away with what they say and one of the media analysts “know-it-all” Fraud Akbaari clearly states that all depends on the numbers (as if we never knew that).

In the midst of all this, the not-too-far-behind Headache Everyday news-channel promptly manages to make the Harishchandra-ka-beta Bihari CM a bakra with an exclusive interview taken by a person who was so nervous that he almost looked like India’s first case of Swine Flu! After the lengthy and somewhat exhaustive interview, the channel kept showing the interview clippings for another 24 hours, as if there was no other news to be reported in India.

Meanwhile, trouble was brewing in the air when Ms. Lallu-thi supported the cause of Mr. Teda-Muh for the post of the PM of India. Suddenly, there were more than two people who were vying for the post of the PM apart from the two main contenders “Am-I-the-PM” Mommy Singh and “Mera-number-kab-aayega” Buddhe ki-Vaani. The field was thrown wide open and many more entered the fray, with the Social Engineer Maya Memsaab openly staking her claim. Infact, “The Economist” had an article on her, calling her “India’s Anti-Obama” and that her election to the post of the PM would not be a welcome move. But since she and Teda-Muh made known that they were in the fray, reports started surfacing about the Diaper Baba alternative for the pseudo-GYP in the form of “Mein-development-hoon” Mr. Toymaker, who was endorsed by none other than two main leaders of the BJP, Mr. full-of-facts Lawyer Baba and Mr. Showroom. However, Harishchandra-ka-beta clearly stated in the interview that his support was only for Buddhe ki-Vaani ji and any other name is out of the question.

But then how can the Toymaker keep out of the news. Inspite of him calling the GOP a “Budhiya” and then a “Gudiya”, the Maa Ki Beti was still calm and asked if she is old enough to be called a Budhiya. Meanwhile, there was more kichdi being cooked, as the Toymaker’s previous crimes, one of them being “very small insignificant” riot in 2002, were called into the question. For the first time, both the GOP and the pseudo-GYP questioned this accusation for its timing – The pseudo-GYP calling it a political stunt to bring its credentials to question and the GOP calling it a poll-stunt to generate a sympathy wave in the baniya state.

In the South, health issues and Diaper Baba issues forced the “Grand-old-man-of-Indian-Tamils” Mr. No-Kaccha Anna to cancel a rally in his state. The poll issues in this state are not related in any way to even India, but to the issue of Tamils living in another country that hangs like a tear-drop in the Indian Ocean. The leader of the Tamil Agitation there, Mr. “I-was-once-handsome” Barrel Tiger, is almost surrounded by the Lankan army and will be captured soon. But Ms. Lallu-thi is not going to stop her rantings, making India perhaps the only major country in the world where an election issue lies in the people from another nation!

It seems to be that some bigwigs do not like the rise of the Toymaker and have deflected the questions about him, one of them being Mr. “I-never-chew-paan” Raja Beta. But the entire maamla about the Toymaker was suddenly forgotten when the Seedha-Sadhu Party (SP) supremo Mr. “I-am-all-powerful” Hatta-Katta Yadav has told that his support will be for any party that would promise to remove Maya Memsaab from her seat. What a sham! Meanwhile, there is trouble brewing in the SP, where two main members, Mr. “Never-say-die” Ambani Bhakt and Mr. Khan Saheb are at loggerheads over the inclusion of Mr. “Who-am-I” Kallu Mama into the party. Hatta-Katta has deferred the issue till the results come out.

For the glossary of terms used, please refer to this LINK.

Part 2 of the Fever will be up soon...