New Blog

A new blog thoughtmore.blogspot.com was started by me. Those who are following this blog can move there and the posts will be in any genre.

End Note

The effect this blog has produced is neither expected nor controlled by me. Like any of its readers, I equally cherished its aura. However, this cannot continue forever and I decided to end it. I think it is a wise decision. Started as a pastime activity when I am completely free, this blog does not fit my present bill nor does I fit into the blog's bill. The air is clear as the readers (if at all there are any) need not wait anymore and I expect you to understand the situation. Thanking you all for becoming audience of this blog...

Elections Special

                India is going to polls this month and there is an air of tense in the political circles, festive mood in the people who are going to get cash for their votes and normality among those who benefit neither from the polls nor its outcome. For the generation next like me this is the first chance to cast a vote and see how the ‘magic’ unfolds. These elections also provide an opportunity for all voters to place the governance at state and centre in safe hands. The state- its land and water, money in the form of taxes, their use and misuse, for the next five years depend on the judgement of voters. In a country with high illiteracy and where far-sightedness of its people is repeatedly blinded by ‘traditions’ like money and liquor distribution, the missile called vote seldom hits the target.

               A triangular contest is on cards in A.P. with congress, T.D.P and P.R.P vying to rule. In its regime, congress implemented several schemes of which some of them reached out the needy but if allegations made by the opposition and the media are to be believed, the ministers are highly corrupt and prioritized their own interests. This is the backdrop in the formation of T.D.P and P.R.P. But the situation is not as worse as in 1982 when T.D.P was formed. There is no major alternative to congress at that time which is unstable and the necessity of a regional party to bag local-sentiment votes is felt keenly  by an astute, service-driven founder of T.D.P- N.T.Rama Rao. But P.R.P in the present scenario is superfluous in that it is similar to T.D.P. which is existing. Based on a rational evaluation, if either Babu or Chiru has to be chosen, Chiranjeevi qualifies as an actor on any day and for now Chandrababu as a politician. Both are fit for the job except that the experience of Chandrababu is an added advantage. An alternative to these stereotype political parties is being offered by Loksatta party which has entered the fray to redefine politics. The party came with an agenda to empty the trash in the political dust bin. Though it is a no-competition to the three big guns in terms of money and charisma, the magnitude of this party’s success is a barometer for the ‘change’ the public is aspiring.

               At centre, the all-including congress, B.J.P which has Hindutva at its core and the newly formed Third front, whose main ideology is to bring down congress and B.J.P are in the tussle to form the government. A look at the strengths of the 3 parties gives a outside chance of each party bagging a third of total Loksabha seats. Then, if third front remain true to its principle of non-cooperation with B.J.P and congress(which is nearly impossible), the latter two may join hands to impart real spin on the voting heads of the country. Such have become the nature of coalition politics where parties spend more time in attaining the approval of allies in an alliance than in implementing a certain plan.

 Congress : 123 agreement.

C.P.I :  No 123.

Congress:  Capitalism

C.P.1:  Communism

Congress:  Free trade.

C.P.I:   No trade.

Congress: U.S.A.

C.P.I:  Russia.

Congress: Right.

C.P.I:   Left.

                Thus the two parties which are poles apart came into coalition only to be at loggerheads. The need of a strong leader who can bring absolute majority with a single party is paramount under these circumstances. Till then it is going to be the same song. Singers may differ.  

 

Speaking A Pets Mind

            

             One year ‘bolted’ past since I last logged into blogger.com. All the things remained same except that I am one year older physically. From tomorrow India and Australia are going to play yet another time and come this 20^th , we have our 4-1 exams. So, feeling a bit nostalgic about the setting and this place.

            Just to rant , we often come across pet dogs, cats and rats. The creatures belonging to this cadre are bought at a very tender age and raised with utmost care and affection. In many instances they are counted in along with offsprings or siblings.

            “Scooby sit” (The dog promptly sits down)

             “Scooby stand” (Scooby does the same)

            “Scooby jump” (Scooby jumps high in the air)

            “Scooby silence” (Scooby stops barking)

            “Scooby usko” (Now Scooby attacks)

            “Scooby disco” (Scooby starts dancing)

             All the while there is an apparent amusement on the trainers face as the trainee is obeying his instructions to the hilt. And one may assume the life of a pet dog is rosy. The little boy in the house thinks Scooby is way too lucky as it stays home all the time and he has to go to school six days a week. For all that is meted out to Scooby, there is broad distinction between a pet dog and a stray dog. Not that the former is burly and the latter is bony. But a more intuitive look yields that the stray dog has a fair&lovely glow on its face while the pet doesn’t. The reason is not just it is chained but it is robbed of its essence of living (that of forwarding its gene). This is done under the name of ‘I love my pet so much’(but it actually hates you). Well , as petty as one may think but it’s no ordinary sin and a remotely possible salvation might be a role reversal in the next birth.(Yes, the trainer becomes trainee)

 P.S : I wish I will post more often than once in a year.

 

Laughter angle-3

Along with cricket , let me look at some of the issues that created a buzz in the media in the recent past.

Ramsethu :

This is the bridge which ,according to Hindu mythology, was believed to be constructed by lord Rama &co. long back between India and Sri Lanka. Probably the bridge was build only for one up and down journey(to get Sita back) and hence it is partly ruined coming into the present modern era, giving scope for speculations whether it is man-made or naturally formed. Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) did some experiments and after taking few readings concluded that it is not man-made and revealed the same to govt. which then gave a green signal to Dredging corporation of India to remove the remaining's of Rama's construction as it reduces the distance between east and west coasts for the ships which are used to circumnavigate Sri Lanka.

As this is a project involving lumps of money and a few regional benefits, Tamil nadu govt. , dis reputing the beliefs and faiths of millions, is firing all guns to get the project done and the chief minister, who is an atheist himself went on saying following

“Who is that Rama? In which engineering college did he graduate to becomeanengineer? When did he build that bridge? Is there any evidence [to show thathebuilt Ram Sethu]? No.”
Source: Frontline.

A reply from VHP would be along the lines --He is the son of Dasrath maharaj and graduated from school of ocean engineering with specialization in building bridges across oceans.

Power transfer fiasco in K'taka :-

This is a gentleman's deal between the 2 parties BJP and JD(s), that were the part of coalition govt, to rule the state for equal time periods. After their reign, JD(s) said a 'no' to hand over the baton to BJP. As if all the political parties are ethical and politicians live up to their words, the leaders of BJP termed it as worst ever betrayal.

Now an interesting question is: why did JD(s) refused to step down :-

1)They love to serve the people .
2)This would enforce elections and they would be the front runners as the local polls suggested it.
3)As they are humans and that too politicians, they are obsessed with power and their egos acted as barrier.
4)They did not get their due 'returns'.Whatever the answer is, I do not see any other political party to do otherwise as no politician is ready to say 'come brother, have my seat! '.

G.O. 610 in A.P :

This is an order to filter out non-locals from a region (intended for telangana ) , so that native people will alone get the jobs . While the world over is pining for diversity in the domain , here is an order intended against it. And whatever progress they are looking for by implementing this order is unrealistic as Hyderabad would have never attained its present shape without people pouring in from different parts of the state. Its equal to U.S. issuing a G.O. 420 and asking the Indians to pack their baggage and catch the next flight back home.

On a personal front, this Sunday I have been to a marriage ceremony in the nearby town. While I was not a big fan watching those lengthy rituals, I attend a function for the dinner section.This time around I had no choice than to remain in the function hall for the whole day as the relatives are closer to us. So, after lunch I spend time with an uncle , who is another cricket fanatic, and as a habit we checked the score to find Indians on track chasing the mammoth total. We began to grow restless unable to find a T.V to watch live action. He then went out for a smoke and I accompanied him . While all the retail outlets were closed, we found a thin population watching from outside a barber shop which is playing live cricket. He said " mmm let's go" . It's not a gesture of his kind as he held high self-regard (ask his sons, they piss in front of him) and here he penetrated through the crowd and stood by the door for 40 minutes. He left after the fall of second wicket and I continued till the end. Watching Andrew Symonds bowl on a T.V. in a barber shop , I wondered how this bloke get his hair cut. May be a string at a time.

Some facts about Aussies:

*More than injuries to themselves ,we often find them in news because of their injured spouses.
*Despite their sledging and rough appearance they held moral high ground when it comes to looking after their diseased wives and small kids.
*Aussies party harder after a defeat as it is rare to come by. No doubt, Symonds got irritated by the Indian celebrations after their T20 victory.
*If India has Big3 ,they have Big11 (physically and otherwise).

As Sreesanth continues to play a jerry withs the toms of world cricket , a gripping contest would be between him and Shoaib Akthar 'with a bat in his hand'. If a mocking smile ensued a bruised thigh, then piercing looks ,am-going -to-munch-you type of provocations will be dealt with??

dushka ...dushka...damaal...dush....dush ......dhab (body crest fallen).
This is how a back ground score sounds like.

Cricket Rewind

The ongoing one day series between England and India reach the final stage , with England on the verge of a revenge and Indian men set to embark on the Titanic. Tests in England are generally calm, owing to its gentle audience -who maintain pin-drop silence , applaud only through claps for either sides and produce standing ovations not only for players but also for themselves to flex their muscles after hours of inactivity. Whereas in the one day matches , the Indian diaspora which flock to the stadia makes noise much to the disgust of any teacher and the situation gets only worse in India. With Indian masses not bound to embrace the refined English citizens even in the near future, Indianness lies closer to the one day arena and , of late ,the boxer form of the game-Twenty20. Now ,what can the poor fans do other than to expect for the tidal turn over.

I would like to mull over another lengthy 7 match series between India and West Indies in 2002, not for any special rhyme or reason but for the last match which was held in our home city. You earn the credentials to talk about the passion for the game when it gets closer to you.
The craze grow to frenzy with both teams levelled 0n 3-3 and the game scheduled on a Sunday.
Prior to a week,the main road running through the city was embellished with decoration bulbs never like before. It was a festival handed over by BCCI , accepted by ICC, organised by our municipal corporation and celebrated by people. Nothing can describe the euphoria better than the ticket sales. With the pavilion tickets reserved for VIP s and corporates ,the bulk of the rest booked by the educational institutions , only 2000 were left for common man which had vanished in a blink of an eye. Faced with the ire of bulk bookings , the officials retraced 5000 tickets and put them on public sale. Men collected at the stadium in large numbers and seeing the desperation , the Commissioner of Police stationed himself to issue tokens to first 5k fortune bearers. Others ,on whose faces disappointment was writ large were sent back.

Some features of the match :

* Marlon Samuels blew the wind out of Indian players with his maiden century filled with 5 sixers and healthy contributions from Sarwan and Hinds meant India has to chase down a target of 300 plus.

*The cannon balls from Jermaine Lawson were hardly visible to audience on square boundaries as were to 4 Indian top order batsmen.

* That Sir Viv Richards became child Viv Richards ,jumping around in his chair and fist-pumping, upon Dravid's early dismissal which virtually ended India's hopes.

* Kaif and Yuvraj couldn't replicate the Natwest final heroics and Yuvraj who ran out of partners struck an entertaining innings in the end.

The day after , a friend named Chakradhar came to the class and started narrating the following story with a glow in his eyes :

" You know ,I spend the Saturday evening with players in the hotel. They are all very friendly and mixed freely with me. I took autographs from almost all the players and photographs of them by the side of me. Dravid went upstairs early with a ground map. I was said that the cells in his focus gets activated from the night before a match. Yuvraj and Kaif were jovial with me and Agarkar and others were quick to respond to my requests .An ex-Windies fast bowler came to the groin of mine. Sorry reverse. For my brains and the night time, all Windies players looked more or less similar. So , I couldn't exactly describe my intimacy with each of them. In the end I got more autographs from the Windies players. "

" Nice story ra ."

" And you were a member of playing XI ."

" You know, we even screamed Chakri ! Chakri ! from the stands when you opened innings with Sehwag . "

"-----------------------------
-----------------------------"

The personnel surrounding short putted his hitherto bright filaments, unexcited by his appeared -to-be-fiction on a dull Monday morning. He ran back home that after noon and brought those pieces of evidences to silent his critics. The bottom story being that he is the son of a cop and some how sneaked through to party with players.

Laughter angle - Part 2

Some snippets:-

- The other day we were laughing our tears out to a witty cracker. A studious guy who heard the joke gave a wide grin for a second and then contorted the smile by crushing his cheeks between the teeth. When asked about the reason for this evasive measure , he said " Those who laugh harder will cry even harder" , a crap statement in its own front. Rest of the day we guffawed for no reason, tickled him every time and got some dirty looks .

- Last week a software company conducted a off- campus interview in our college which attracted 1200 students from 10 colleges around Vijayawada. The selection took place across 3 days and only 16 were shortlisted for the final H.R interview. After the final round they left without declaring the result. Here raised the eyebrows - if none from 1200 (not all are futile) was palatable , its intriguing to know the standard of their employees. May be all Einsteins and Newtons in the world are working over there , defying logics of sort ' why apple fall on ground' . One would be forced to think whether they are selecting a high-tech coolie or a coach to TeamIndia. If not on Earth ,lets hope someone from Jupiter will fulfill their requirements.

- Our 2-2 result was out and my score in maths was displayed as 15( out of 70) , kick starting traumatic phase. I used to wipe for the unconquered 10 when I scored a 90 in maths during my school. But with age your priorities change and after wading through all the tests since my childhood , I no longer has fire in the belly to perform in these endless exams but there's no let-up in getting less than 25% in maths. So, I thought of doing an Alok in Five point someone but couldn't find a ten storey building around and eventually deferred the act. ( I was so fond of this book that, along with other reasons, the 3 characters in the story really inspired me to screw my marks and that's where a loser gets his inspiration from - other losers.)

Though these results depict the hard work and discipline of a person, there is much more in this world which is going unnoticed. I would rate a zealot who stood in the queue from the day before to catch Sahankar dada zindabad on first day much higher than the aggressor who scored a 80%. Despite the fact that reaping an 80 involves months of hardship , the manner in which they both went about their efforts is strikingly different. Whereas the hero-adulation is self-less and draws nothing in return, we adore books only to gain knowledge and earn moolah. A dictum in the holy 'Gita' states - commit yourself to the task without expecting the outcome. So, of these two, who will go to heaven?

- This Monday will mark the end of our assignments and recalling our MoU , both of us violated one or the other rule but the legal drawback is that there is no witness to this MoU. So, the case cannot hold its ground in the court and we left each other without filing suit.