Padmavati Row

Faith its degeneration when alone — bigotry
fanaticism — sectarianism. Narrowing
finite therefore cannot get to the infinite
Sometimes gain in intensity but loses in
extensity — and in bigots & fanatics become
worship of his own pride & vanity                                         

                                                          - Swami Vivekananda

              

A lot has been said and written in the recent past about the film Padmavati.

The Indian Film Industry makes a lot of cinema,thousands of which are absolutely crap,junk movies and mind you they make lots of crores.

In this situation where good stories are hard to come by,where there is a dearth of good content for making films,I believe historical stories,inspirations,influences have become more of a necessity rather than just being welcome.

Being a huge film enthusiast I wait patiently for months and sometimes years to watch a good movie or cinema.

Getting back specifically to Padmavati,there is a lot of talk on getting historical facts right,I believe flimmakers are not in the business of writing history textbooks,they make films and they make it for an audience.

The script or story of the film,is completely the filmmakers story,it is his interpretation, his understanding of the subject and let me add I believe he has the complete freedom to express his understanding of the topic.

There have been various instances in our history were people have given there own interpretations to many historical epics. Eg: MT Vasudevan Nair ‘s Randamoozham is a story of Mahabharata from Bhima’s Point of view. Also there are many interpretations and variations of classic Indian epic Ramayanam by absolutely amazing Indian authors like Valmiki Ramayanam, Adhyatma Ramayanam by Ved Vyasa,Ramacharitmanas by Tulisidas,Thunchaththu Ezuthachan’s Adhyatma Ramayanam – Kilipattu and Kamba Ramayanam to name a few.

I believe the filmmaker also has the right to be wrong.He is not in the business of making a curriculum for school students.People have the complete freedom to disagree with his view of Padmavati.

If Shri Rajput Karni Sena or Maharana Arvind Singh Mewar of Udaipur or anybody else feel that the filmmaker has got his history wrong on Padmavati,I am sure that Shri Rajput Karni Sena or Maharana Arvind Singh Mewar of Udaipur can most certainly make a better film with the correct historical facts.

As an audience I am happy watching a better movie.

A phenomenon called “Narendra Modi”

“People ask what your vision is, what is your big vision? I say ‘bhai’, I got here by way of selling tea (crowd erupts in applause). I am a simple (Chhota) man. I like focusing on simple and small tasks. I want to accomplish big things for the little guy.” –Narendra Modi

I am sure Modi era would be written as a golden era in Indian history whenever it gets published something similar to Ashoka rule of the Mauryan empire.Our future generations would be enticed and overawed by the beauty called Narendra Modi.

I think India is in the brink of a revolution with a revolutionary and dynamic leader Modi ushering a golden period for India.

I believe as patriotic Indians we need to make the best use of it rather than repent it later(read Mamta Banerjee,NDTV).People opposed to Narendra Modi should release that the country has a PM who has business acumen to negotiate with the US and Japan effectively, Kshatriya skills to take on the diktaks of China head on,political manoeuvre to take all parties along ,and above all who serves selflessly for the welfare of the economically backward sections of the society.

Rahul Gandhi to be a better Prime Minister than Priyanka Gandhi

The fragrance of flowers spread only in the direction of the wind. But the goodness of a person spreads in all directions.

The perception in and around the people of India especially the media is that the fairer sex Priyanka Gandhi would be a better leader than Rahul Gandhi.It is widely believed that she would be able to win more votes and is a mass leader like Indira Gandhi.

On the contrary it is believed widely that Rahul Gandhi does not have the charisma that she may have ,has a low IQ,is a bunny of online trolls and not a mass leader who is able to generate votes and has not been able to ensure a win for the Congress.

The slogan from the party workers is “Priyanka laoo Congress Bachoo”.

I think Priyanka Gandhi being a magic wand and will be able to save the sinking ship of the Congress is a myth.I do not believe she in any way has the expertize to be in politics,forget winning it as the results of the recent UP elections do show.Her insistence on 105 seats at the cost of an alliance is very deplorable.Neither has she been able to win any seats in Amethi or make a big difference in Rae Bareli.

On the other Rahul Gandhi has more experience being in politics for sometime now and learnt the trade.He listens to people (read congress leaders etc.) knows the importance of collision (taking people along as in UP and Bihar) and does not live in myth or shadow of Congress being the Grand Old Party of India.He learns from mistakes faster and ready to play second fiddle if the situation demands so,thus making him more opportunistic of winning the elections in the years ahead.Rahul Gandhi though would do a lot better just working in silence.

Priyanka Gandhi definitely speaks better but she neither has the organisational skills or political acumen to be a successful politician and also still lives in the myth of Grand old party of India called Congress.

Though for either of them to be the Prime Minister of India they would definitely need to wait for the man of the moment called Narendra Modi to retire from active politics.

Also the voters are showing an interesting trend in UP,Bihar and Maharashtra muncipal polls of supporting development politics than freebies politics,though Kerala being an exception.

Dance bars to open in Maharashtra: Supreme Court

                          

               I think it is better to have strip clubs than dance bars.

In my view, the move of the honorable SC ruling is a little regressive and myopic.The aspect that the people in the profession will lose their jobs is absolutely misplaced.It is again a case of misplaced compassion.The same reasoning was given for people who run alcohol bars in Bihar,they were told that they would to be provided with alternate profession of selling milk.

I think the honorable  SC should not fall prey in the traps of these scrupless people who run these dance bars and their clients who are giving it twist of “decent means of earning a living”, for their own ulterior motives.

I request the respected SC, to pass a ruling of banning these dance bars again and I think the Maharashtra Government under Devendra Fadnavis be fully capable of providing alternate professions to these dance bar girls ,by skilling them ,those who are interested,in various skills  like speaking english,tailoring ,housekeeping and computer literacy and not fall prey to the ulterior motives of the few who run the show.

Bhagat Singh v/s Mahatma Gandhi

My job is to take wickets,not turn the ball.-Anil Kumble

Bhagat Singh is most definitely a martyr,and his contribution to freedom struggle is unparalleled.But then he was hanged to death for taking revenge on Lala Lajpat Rai’s death.

I think he became myopic in his vision.My personal believe is that is lost track of the vision or the greater goal of accomplishing the freedom of India.

In the pursuit of winning a battle ,he lost the war.

It is sad that we lost a freedom fighter,for a battle and lost a war.

In retrospect Mahatma Gandhi had a higher goal or vision in mind of attaining independence from the British Raj.Mahatma Gandhi in turn did accomplish his biggest goal of life, in which many others had failed miserably,of attaining Purna Swaraj for India.I think The Father of the Nation deserves total credit for that.

I have often seen youth despising at Mahatma Gandhi’s ideals and praising Bhagat Singh for his valour and courage.

But a task half done is not done.

Long queues and Demonitization

 I am in queue for Shah Rukh Khan's latest "Dear Zindagi".

A person collapsed before my eyes today....he was also standing in a Queue,...but wait this was not a queue for withdrawing cash from an ATM or bank...he was standing in long queue for buying alcohol.In Kerala queues for alcohol have been very famous and it streches for km and miles,but still I have never seen any political party protest these queues.

Many deaths have happened and continue to happen over the previous decades by the menice of alcohol,but nobody questions it,nobody bans it.Many families lose their near and dear ones for alcohol,many don’t even get to have a decent livelihood due to addiction to alcohol.Many childrens education gets stopped,due to lack of money,many face social stigma ,and no to say about the domestic violence it causes.Many families have got destroyed,but nobody talks about banning them.I am never come across political parties who protest these.

We do stand in longer queues for getting our railway tickets in any of the suburban trains in Mumbai and waiting in Airports,Road Traffic and the queues have been long for ages now but still I do not find any protest for these by any political parties.

Talking about queues closer to my workplace we have long queues in our canteen to buy lunch everyday,but we still find no people protesting.

Myth: Patriotism restricted to Indian Residents

The identity that was largely believed in post independence Indian times was that anybody who was patriotic had to join the Indian Army. A person not in the defense services was not considered patriotic and was self centered.

I like to believe a farmer who provides us food is as patriotic as the army men.

Times have changed and many people today feel that a person who resides in India is only an Indian. I believe it is a conservative mindset, which has led us to believe the same.

I believe that Gandhi came through after sometime in South Africa and England and he was considered as a patriot. Swami Vivekanda preached his Vedanta in the west and his patriotism was never questioned.

I like to believe an NRI who stays in Silicon Valley, funds or invest in the startups in India is as patriotic as anyone who resides in India. He helps in policies governing the relations with Indian subcontinent or with its neighbor Pakistan.

Many persons pretend to be patriotic by shouting slogans and being residents if India permanently.

I would like to believe in the present context the person who works with devotion for the country irrespective of where he stays is truly patriotic and ought to be supported.

Sarita Devi fully justified in her action.

Every time we witness an injustice and do not act ,we train our character to be passive,and thereby eventually lose our ability to defend ourselves and those we love.

Anybody who watched the boxing clout would say Sarita Devi was the clear winner,against her South Korean opponent,Jina Park where she was denied a victory and had to settle for a bronze.

In the podium,Sarita refused to accept her medal and put it on the South Korean player.Sarita fully justified in showing the injustice done to her,after her appeal was turned down.Sarita action was fully sportive.

The Indian officials instead of lodging a strong protest against the judges and supporting Sarita,were demanding disciplinary action against Sarita.

I request the Indian Prime Minister to intervene and immediately suspend the officials who did not support the Indian boxer's hard work and effort .

India should also lodge a strong protest against the judges with the AIBA and the OCA.

Vibrancy of a Democracy

“All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.” 

                                                     -JRR Tolkein

When Obama has come to India he mentioned India has one of the world’s largest democracies because of its three reasons

•          Elections conducted in a fair manner
•          Judiciary and justice delivery mechanism
•          And Free Press

I am sure the time is apt to say the foundations of all need to be strengthened.

To conduct elections  without any illegitimate mechanisms, money and muscle power.

The judiciary and its abilty to give justice in a speedy ,and to all sections of the society in a easy manner.

The media to be able to ask any question fearlessly and not for TRP monerging  as its moral duty.

My attention to the democracratic aspect has been also drawn more to the history of non violent protests in India be it an anna haraze ,a narmada bachav andolan,many ganga bachav protests ,a mamta banergee fast at singur ,and also a protest by Iron Sharmila in Manipur .

History has been very indicative that the no. of non-violent protest have had far lesser  impact to the people in power in terms of any change in policy making or to the cause of protest.So what are the means of making oneself heard and changes brought about?  Are violent protests (Naxalism)an answer?

The depth and reach of the questions that can be  asked , and are asked by the media  to the representatives of the democracy (politicians) and are responded to by them in a honest and convincing manner is an indicator of the vibrancy of a democracy.

The fearlessness of the questionnaire and the magnanimity of the person who responds to it , makes the vibrancy of a democracy.

It is not about,  the media bashes ,  its about how much honest the discussion is on both sides.

Sovereign,Socialist,Secular,Democratic,Republic OR Political Gunsmanship

"It is rare to be born as a human being,

It is still rarer to be born without any deformity.
Even if you are born without any deformity,
It is rare to acquire knowledge and education.
Even if one could acquire knowledge and education,
It is still rare to offer service to the mankind and contemplate on the higher self.
If one leads such a selfless divine life,

The gates of heaven open to greet such an evolved soul"

Are we living In a democracy?

Recently we did have an exodus of people moving from banglore and Mumbai back to NE eastern states.

We are told they did not feel safe and we did have thousands of people living in the major cities travelling back overnight. Did you have the same feeling anytime on your own.

I am told the same scenes happened in the 1970’s when the south Indians living in Mumbai and more recently with the bihari’s and baiyass living in Mumbai.

Leave the normal citizens aside event he stars like Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh khan had to face the brunt of the so called political class. When these stars themselves had to face the brunt forget the common man.

The issue with Amitabh I am told was him praising the Allahabad and Shah was about having pakistani players in his team. These people had to face the brunt of the political class by violence to the man on streets and also tearing away of the posters of their films .But more importantly creating a fear cykosis in the people themselves.

Are we a guinune democracy if we are not able to speak out issues touching our heart?

I am told that the freedom of speech also states that we are not supposed to  hurt the sentiments of the people, which are grossly misused by these politicians. I am sure that neither shah rukh nor amitabh bachchan were hurting the sentiments of the people.

So are we still a republic which functions on the whims and fancies of these netas who use political gunmanship. They do have the right to respond by saying they do not agree with the person.Also at these points in time none of the so called other progressive  democratic parties have condemned the incidents by their contemporaries or supported the victims plight.

Are these qualities of a vibrant democracy or a so called timid neta raj ?.

Though coming back to the N-E the response from the parliament has been in Union and has been categoric  and quick ‘That people from any part of India can live anywhere’.

A wise person  has said life is about serving not gunning them down.

Independent Investigating Agency:CBI

There are millions of Americans who are clever and fearless, but the trouble is they are only four years old.-Anonymous

      

Once there was a competition between the FBI, Scotland Yard and CBI from India to decide the most effective investigating agency.

The task given to them was to find a white deer accused for corruption ‘eating more grass rather specified’.

Now the FBI found the deer and brought its head in 20 min.

Scotland Yard took around 25 minutes to solve the case.

The CBI was not to be seen even after  5 -6 hours, till the evening they did not come up. The media did try and locate them -----they found CBI had caught a monkey and was asking it to repeat that ‘I am a deer’  ‘I am a deer’.In the end the monkey gave up saying it was deer....

One media journalist  identified the monkey to be a deer and  asked the CBI about it.

The officer replied it had got a call stating  that the deer was an endangered species  and ‘not to touch it’ by the government of India.

Reservations: AARAKSHAN

Natural inclinations,
unrequited vindications,
unadorned specifications.

These all make for reservations
of forced vacations -
like a sad
and elongated
Pythagorean theorem
that always equals = a bad poem

Its like the pears advertisement the girl in the add.  Seems to be saying –

“Mummy mummy mujhe jaldi se pears jaise sundar bana do...”

Just with a change “Mummy Mummy mujhe jaldi se jaldi SC/ST bana do.”

The argument given in favour of reservations has been that of opportunities not being available for the backward sections of the society of the last 60 years and the gross injustice done to them, hence the reservations in these government jobs and higher educational institutions. Also being said is that 52 % of the population has  been backward castes therefore 27 % has to be reserved for them based on census done in 1931.

 I am very sure if mayavati had her way she would make that the PM and president of India should also be reserved.

So lets get to the facts has the caste based reservations really improved the social status of these people or has it been just to serve the political interests of a few.The mandal commission itself mentions a series of steps to empower people like -the radical alteration in production relations through progressive land reforms;

• special educational facilities to upgrade the cultural environment of the students,
• with special emphasis on vocational training;
• separate coaching facilities for students aspiring to enter technical and professional institutions;
• creation of adequate facilities for improving the skills of village artisans;
• subsidised loans for setting up small-scale industries; the setting up of a separate chain of financial and technical bodies to assist OBC entrepreneurs.

The policy makers have been very selective in their implementation of the recommendations  mandal commission.

The provision for creamy layer seems creamier than a pastry form mongines as it mentions the gross annual income for a period of three years to be consistently more than 2.5 lakhs that excludes income from agricultural derivatives and salary (don’t understand which income they are looking at)

Reservations  have definitely tried to create more acrimony in the society than harmany with the self interest of the politicians who have been very short sighted in their self interest for power rather for positive change towards the nation.Reservations have been a body blow to the meritocracy and promoting mediocracy.

Reservations have also paved way for rampant corruption in admission to educational institutions ,issuance of fake caste certificates and government jobs.

I am sure the real benificiaries have been the so called politicians and not the people really intended to benefit from it.The need is to empower people by providing knowhow,training,skills ,free loans , healthcare to take better decisions rather than give reservations that actually makes them weak .

The 25% reservations into RTE for economically backward would be a step forward to eliminate reservations based on caste,community or religion.

I am sure the effective  measures to empower these people would get taken by the collective wisdom of the political parties rather than taking India 60 years backward.

Parliament

The Parliament is a place of highest order in India. It is the most essential feature of a democracy.It is the pride of any nation.I am sure as a citizen of  India with its democratic,soverign,socialist republic character does pride at this institution.

Its does give the citizen of India a part of the decision making process through the elected representatives and a sense of being an Indian.

The function of the parliament is to take path breaking decision effectively at a good pace. They are lawmaking bodies,they are a body which are responsible of revenue raising for the nation in the form of passing of bills.So time wasted is money lost.

But over the years parliament has become a place to settle political scores for the party over the nation.Many disruptions many of them unwanted have tried to spoil the sanctity of the parliament.
Example in the recent history of a winter session being completely whitewashed,also the time of resignation of the minister of state for External affairs Mr Shashi tharror,the parliament seemed to be have been working for the  an inapporpiate direction.

There have been signs when great discussions/debate have happened and policies changed. Example In the  present scenario was an excellent discussion on phone tapping.Hopefully everyday there would be many such discussions/debates.

In the recent history the parliament members seemed to be concerned about the parliament supremacy.I am sure that the sanity of the parliament rests with the
members itself not with any outside party.The supremacy or the conduct of the parliament rests solely on the members appropriate conduct.

In the end the parliament is a place where a matter is deliberated at length, views are expressed freely, the matter is considered in depth, in a business-like manner and in a calmer atmosphere without unwanted disruptions.

A calm atmosphere helps good decision making to find perfect solutions.

ANNA HAZARE- A phenomenon

Why this is to be supported?

A departure from the Chalta hai attitude to the Nahi Chalta hai attitude.

Everywhere the people have resigned to believe that everything is acceptable whether it is the bomb blast,or a farmers suicide or a rain waterlogging or a potholes on the roads or a traffic blockade or a capitation in education, one believes that to get the work done faster one is required to pay.

• The movement for once teaches us to say No firmly,rightfully and without fear of any hassles.
• This movement is special as it teaches us to Question our representatives and in a way what is a meaning of a democracy without fear and cause of worry.
• This is movement also also the effective way of protesting and making the voice of the people heard that is with sacrifice ,without violence and without cause of destruction.
• This movement is special in all respects as it concentrates on the solution not on personal vedanta.
• This movement finally tells us the meaning of the constitution “of the people by the people for the people.
  
  

  Therefore I support the movement. May we find a fast and effective solution so that Anna with the whole of India can smile.

  
  

  
  

  Happy Janmastrami to All!!!

THE "K" Word

In between the forces of the military and terrorism lies the people of Kashmir.
Torn between the bullets and wounds lie the people of kashmir.
Not knowing on which side to turn to save their heads they lie in the hope for peace.
In the hope for reclaiming their paradise on earth.

With earnest eyes and lot of despair and pain they ask  is it possible ,is it possible.
I wish to tell them
yes it will happen
yes it has to happen
and yes it is to happen.

A Solution for only the people

• Complete Demiltarization .
• Joint police forces (from both and Pok and kashmir) who acta s facilitators for the people on both sides.
• Joint sensitization training to be imparted to the police  forces to help the people.
• Trade and free movement of people across Kashmir ( pok and Kashmir).
• Military at specific points like the Siachen and leh,Ladakh border areas as preventive infiltration measures.