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.

Rajiv Gandhi Setu or Worli Bandra Link – What’s in a name?

Rajiv Gandhi: That makes my count to 561. I am coming close to you Gandhiji.

Gandhi: Son, Whatever you do, you will never be able to beat my record. I stand at 1000000.

Veer Savarkar: This is just not fair!! I am still crawling at 201. Rajeev, you should have given this one to me. You or your mother takes all the ones at Delhi and I face tough competition in Mumbai from Shivaji. I thought I had a chance for this one.

B.R.Ambedkar: You guys just wait till Mayawati becomes the Prime Minister of India. I will soon become the new father of the nation.

I guess the politicians of this country think that the great leaders of India must be having this conversation in the heaven (presumably). They would be fighting over and trying to make and break records with relation to how many monuments of them are being made, how many roads, airports, bridges are being named after them etc. I can think of only that as the reason why our politicians behave in such manner.

Shiv Sena is hauling Congress for naming the Bandra Worli Sea Link after Rajiv Gandhi, as they believe that, its construction was started by the BJP – Shiv Sena combine and they should get the credit for it and hence, want it named after Veer Savarkar. Mayawati objects to money being spent on Rajghat and the stature of Mahatma Gandhi in the nation and believes that she and Ambedkar deserve better. Never mind that Ambedkar might be turning in his grave when he sees the dire condition of Dalits in the country even 60 years after independence.

To deal with our over zealous politicians, I propose that we have a separate ministry for the purpose of naming and renaming of public property and places, the ‘What’s in a name’ ministry. Then we can have a commission set up for each property that needs to be named, have proper debate and channelize our public resources for such important activity. After all we don’t want a war to start in the heaven and we should give equal opportunity to each ‘neta’, dead or alive.

Return of Sarkari Naukri and Sarkari Babus

A couple of years when all was hunky dory in our recession free lives, my mother had found a reason to get worried about. To somehow get her only daughter married and according to her friends, a NRI working for an IT firm would be the best match. My mother often told me that how the world has changed topsy turvy since her days. During her marriageable days, getting your daughter married to someone working in a private firm was not opined to be a good watch. Parents were also wary of sending their daughters to a faraway land. Where as public jobs were supposed to be the safest, well paid and ensured a life long guarantee. IAS cadres had the highest rate in the dowry market followed by boys working in PSUs.

And how all that changed three decades later. Most of my school/ college gang, were settled in USA with either green card holders or IT NRI’s. I was the only one left and often asked by dozens that when will I get lucky like my friends. To top that my IT employer didnot even think me worthy enough to be sent on an onsite assignment. So I had to live with those additional queries about why I am not being sent abroad when ever far flung relative of everyone else is. Somehow, I managed to escape the NRI’s or you could say the poor NRI’s were saved from me when I met my husband. (prospective husband then!!) Atleast he was from IT and had been a NRI for 2 years, so I wasn’t that off the track.

Now, when I read about IIM grads going for public sector jobs and fathers looking for PSU working grooms and saying a definitive no - no to IT (and if you are a NRI especially in US – dude you have some serious chances of not finding a bride at all), I wonder that I didn’t even had to wait for my daughter’s marriage for the world to turn topsy turvy again. I read interesting news lately, wherein a man asks the court to reduce the alimony that he has to pay to his wife, as due to the recession he has to take a pay cut. So, even for a healthy divorce you now need a PSU working husband who can ensure a lifelong alimony with assured guarantee.

In a matter of few months, like the Sensex, the dowry market has turned upside down too. Sarkari Babus are back in demand with increased price of their shares and my poor IT brethren have become like penny stocks. The economic cycle had given rise to a new eligible groom cycle and I propose that we should also have a groom index now to track the eligibility of bachelors with respect to changes in economy. How about a Groomex??

Railway Budget 2009-10 or a Boxing match

If you have never seen a boxing ring match between a former champion and a challenger, you can view the recent video of the Railway Budget 2009-10 of India being presented in the Parliament. The former champion was our ever entertaining Lalu Prasad Yadav, erstwhile Railway Minister, and the challenger, our ‘didi’, Mamata Banerjee, the current Railway Minister. I can’t tell you who won which round and the whole match, as I don’t think we have seen the end of it. The match will definitely go on.

Laloo was roaring like the lion who has enjoyed an excellent regime but now has to accept defeat and give way to the new king ( or shall I say Queen) of the jungle. Not to be outdone, the lioness roared back with an equally big roar. At the onset, the Queen challenged her predecessor’s claims of enormous profits and revenues, by stating that she has to reduce the estimated revenues for current fiscal at Rs 8,121.48 crore from Rs 10,876.48 crore as presented in the interim budget, as the Railways had failed to meet the target in 2008-09. She has also stated that ministry would come out with a white paper on the organizational, operational and financial status based on the last five years’ performance. This is seen as a direct challenge to Laloo’s claims of running a good ministry in the past 5 years as Mamata is now trying to verify his claims.

Now if you think that by the above actions or by announcing a popular budget, Round one is won by Mamata, then our Laloo is not far behind. How can you expect him to not provide fodder for entertainment? He has gone on the record of alleging that his successor in the Rail Bhawan was a “complex-ridden” person who was trying to prepare her “Vision 2020’’ for the ministry on the basis of his “achievements.’’ He has also accused her of purposefully ignoring Bihar, as Patna is not on the list of the to-be world class stations, only 4 news trains have been proposed in Bihar and it has been ignored in the non-stop point-to-point Turant list of trains.

I can imagine people of Bihar feeling left out, as they are used to being pampered by the Railway ministers who have been from their state since the past few governments. Also feeling left out are states like Tripura, Karnataka, Chattisgarh, Orissa whose MPs and Chief Ministers have shown their disapproval for the budget as they say that their respective states have been left out. I guess it pays to have the Railway Minister from your state and irrespective of which minister won the round one, the people of West Bengal surely look like the current winners.