Shivaji for solving drought in Maharashtra

If you thought that only Mayawati was spending crores on her statues then you are sadly mistaken. The breed of politicians always follows the herd. Close on heels of UP statues, comes the news that the Maharshtra government is erecting a mammoth statue of Shivaji in the sea off Marine Drive, which will cost Rs. 350 crore of rupees.

It's supposedly an election promise that the state government had made during 2004 elections and as the politicans are so eager to always keep their promises, they intend to fulfill the promise before the next assembly elections of Maharashtra which are due shortly. They obviously know better than anyone else that the voters of Maharashtra are more interested in the statue of Shivaji than the increasing food prices.

The government thinks that next time the drought stricken farmer wants to commit suicide, he will atleast come to Marine drive, pay his last respects and then take a dive in Arabian Sea signing off his life. Also, the harried commuters who are stuck in traffic jams will have something to gawk at while they dwindle their thumbs in the sweltering heat. Plus, the statue will be taller than the Statue of liberty. Finally the Maharshtra politicians are going global, rather than competing with each another for vada pav stalls. And this is also a topic that will finally unite politicians of all the parties. No one can ever say no to a Shivaji statue in Maharashtra.

Meanwhile like UP, Maharashtra continues to ask central government for thousands of crores as help for fighting drought. It does not make sense to me though. Shouldn't building a statue take care of the problems? Surely Shivaji will be so happy to go higher than Statue of liberty that he will definitely make a recommendation to rain gods and all are problems will be resolved.

Related posts : The White Elephants of UP

The BJP saga – Winners and Losers

The whole BJP saga comes across a game in which the real winners and losers are not the participants of the game but the spectators watching the game from sidelines. The game players are the senior leaders of BJP who are whiplashing the party one after another and getting expelled, being serviced notices and are everywhere on your TV screen and daily newspapers. BJP has expelled Jaswant Singh for his book which apparently praises Jinnah and describes him as a secular leader. Its not possible that before making a decision, the BJP leaders might have read the saga considering the humongous size of the book. Arun Shourie and Vasundhara Raje are other leaders who have revolted against the BJP leadership (read BJP President Rajnath Singh) and are awaiting their respective decisions.

The winner in this game is clearly the publisher of the Jaswant Singh's book, which is selling like hot cakes throughout the country and I am sure the sales in India will be outpaced by ones in Pakistan. The runner up is Pakistan, who must be enjoying oneself looking at the imbroglio their father of nation has created in India's main opposition party. Where their current leaders were not successful, the dead have come to the rescue. Closely followed by them is the Indian television media which must be enjoying a gala time broadcasting Arun Shourie running with a lose toungue like a mad man and Jaswant Singh firing salvos at LK Advani. Time to earn good advertising revenues.

The biggest loser is definitely the Indian public. It's imperative for a nation like India, to have a strong opposition and to have atleast 2 big parties fighting election against each other rather than to have a monopoly like situation which existed during earlier Congress regimes. If the BJP cracks, we will be deprived of a formidable opposition to the current government. Also, with the country facing drought and challenging economic conditions, we would be better off with leaders fighting against these conditions rather than among themselves.

(P.S.Just read that ex-RSS chief Sudarshan has also come out in supprt of Jinnah and against Gandhi. I believe that as a party, BJP stands more united in their stand against Gandhi and Congress than Pakistan or Jinnah. So as long as BJP has enough ammunition to fire against Congress, the minorities need not worry.)

News that I have blocked

Some news items get such extensive and non deserving media coverage, that seeing a mention of them anywhere automatically switches off my mind towards them. Here are 4 such news items currently in circulation that I have learned to ignore.

The Ambani War

The country is facing a severe drought, price rise in value of basic items, a difficult GDP target to achieve and in midst all this we have a multi billionaire brother who wants to earn more billions than his richer multi billionaire brother. And we also have daily ads by Anil Ambani launching a scathing attack on his brother, Mukesh Ambani and the government, and we have editorials and talk shows about the war. Do I care? The earlier public war between the two split the company and made the brothers a few notches richer and now there is another war to go a few notches higher. It has absolutely nothing for you except if you have invested in Reliance shares and it turns me off completely.

SRK's USA treatment

I maybe a big fan of SRK but all this media frenzy is making me cringe. You go to a foreign land to celebrate India's independence because it's your biggest NRI market and you get paid in dollars for it. So, you have to obey the laws of the country, good or bad. If you think USA has no business treating other communities the way it does, please stop going there or else accept that there are greater pleasures involved. More than SRK, the media needs to understand that and stop analyzing inane news.

Economic revival and not so revival

One day we have the newspapers reporting revival because the industry results are good. Second day, the not so good unemployment data is out and markets tank. One day you have news about major economies coming out of recession, next day you read about China's poor economic data and Sensex plunges. Until I get a job in Melbourne or any of my friends who have lost their jobs in India, get a job, this see-saw of recovery has no meaning for me.

Jinnah politics

As if digging the grave of dead Indian leaders was not enough, that our politicians have taken interest in their Pakistani counterparts now. How can a party lead a democratic nation, if there is no democracy within the party? Does a common man on street really care about BJP expelling or retaining their leaders who have an opinion on Jinnah? Only BJP, other political parties and media seems to care about them.

It’s a dog’s world – and now Indian dogs too!!

"It's a dog's world out there", I understood the meaning of this phrase when I landed in Melbourne. Back in India, I wondered how this could be a dog's world. One look at the malnourished, pelted by kids, often left to die on road kind of street dogs, and you know that dog's life cannot be easy. I am not against dogs, but am not a big fan of theirs either. They are the only ones I am scared off when I come home late in evening. In Mumbai, a girl might not be scared of men when she comes home after 12 at night but she definitely needs to be vigilant about the street dogs surrounding her home turf. That and being a victim of some ferocious, non obedient pet dogs of a few relatives made me an ardent non dog lover. (To put it in mild words to avoid the wrath of PETA)

But my opinion definitely changed when I saw the treatment meted out to the dogs in Melbourne. Firstly there is no species like street dogs. Most of the ones that you encounter are of the poochie variety that to me looks like the Barbie doll version of a dog. Furry, cute, small and often dressed in cute jackets they scurry around speedily. (The owners of such dogs are generally very fit. Not surprising understanding the running around they must be resorting to.) Most of the times, the daily news has some report on a dog being lost and found by the owners, the owners risking their lives for saving their pet's life, etc. And by the way, they are not dogs, they are PETS. At first, news about dogs, ads on pet food, lifestyle shows on dogs (I watched a show dedicated to how dogs can lose weight!! I once read about a treadmill for elephants in Germany, I guess the dogs don't want to be left behind) amused me no end, but now I find myself looking for dope on dogs in the Indian newspapers. And that's where I read this interesting bit of news.

Two entrepreneurs in India, Himanshu Bhasin, 27, and Abhishek Kapoor, 29 have started a dabba service for dogs in Delhi delivering healthy homemade food for your dog. And this is not the first Indian venture of this kind. It was first started by Wasiff Khan as Home Care Foods in 2006. These gentlemen obviously have some great foresight, because, if India is on a growth trajectory and if Indians are following the lifestyle of developed countries, then soon Indian dogs will follow suit too. Three cheers for dog power – Woof Woof Woof!!

Who ever called Laloo to IIM must be squirming now

Our politicians deserve a salute because nowhere I have seen such amusing characters. Had this incident not being a serious matter of life and death, I would have thought it was some stand up comedian joke. Bihar is one of the worst affected states from drought. The farmers heavily dependent on rainfalls are now using guns to protect their water. Some areas of Bihar like the Sitamarhi and Muzaffarpur districts, had to face a situation of floods due to the overflowing Bagmati river. Admist such natural crisis, one would think that the state leaders would be engaged in serious planning to cruise the affected public towards a life of normalcy. Alas! This is India and we are talking about Bihar. Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav, the prominent leader from Bihar and the ex Railway Minister of India who is often credited with the turnaround of world’s largest employer, the India Railway, is more worried about arousing the wrath of Sun God. He is accusing the current Chief Minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar of eating biscuits during Solar Eclipse. The poor people of Bihar may even follow him owing to the low literacy rates in the state. This is the same man who was invited to prestigious platforms like IIMs to narrate his success story of a historical turnaround. Encouraging such blatant superstition in a crisis like this, is something that only our politicians can get away with.