Newsmakers of 2010

A Raja: A Raja wins the top slot for this list. A little known minister in UPA cabinet who has created storm in the Parliament and not allowed even a single winter parliament session to run deserve a standing ovation. Both Raja and Kalmadi were front-runners for this blog but CAG report works in favor of Raja, which reported a revenue loss of 1.76 Lac crores as against 5000 crores committed by Kalmadi & company. The oppositions are training guns against the most competent minister in UPA govt. He simply followed the policies of previous govt. and gave spectrum to telecom at first come first serve basis. Had he not given spectrum at throwaway prices we will not be able to enjoy the 50-paisa STD plan or ½ paisa per second plans. Pranab Mukerjee sold 3G services to poor Telecom companies at skyrocketing prices and the cost of high-speed internet services will be borne by the consumers. Anyways the revenue earned through 3G is going to be waste, as govt. will spend this money in useless policies as the Aam Aadmi is still struggling to meet its daily needs. At the time of writing this blog, the price of onion was Rs 50 per kg. At-least Raja has made the mobile services affordable to poor people by giving a leeway to telecom companies by selling it cheaply.

Abhishek Bachhan: Abhishek Bachhan find a place in the coveted slot thanks to back to back two super duds of the year Ravan and Kehelein hum jee jaan se. Hrithik stood behind with Kites and Guzzarish, but failed to find his name mentioned here after winning critical acclaim for his splendid performance in the Guzzarish. However, Chota B tried his level best to resemble Ravan but the critics failed to understand why he has one head. After all, in original one Ravan has 10 heads. Had some common sense prevailed in the filmmaker who tried to depict the split personality of the character with a Single head instead of 10, the Ravan would have been the official entry from India for Oscars.

Arundhati Roy: Arundhati Roy has a special place in our hearts as she brings glory to our country by winning the Booker prize in 1997. She won accolades not only in India but also in the world for her no-nonsense writing. However, an unfortunate incident struck this gem and she suffers from Writers block. Media labeled her one book wonder and she has to resort to other means to sustain livelihood. Therefore, she drove into Narmada Bachao Andolan, Moist movement and most recently on Kashmir Issue. In Early days Reality Shows have not gain much popularity and high viewership that they commands today, so she had no better option than this to remain in news. Arundhati due to her wide media presence is a strong contender for next big boss Season-5. Let us wish her a very happy and prosperous New Year ahead, hope that she participates in the big boss, and recreate the magic of 1997.

Malaika Arora: This blog deserves special mention of Munni for being the most popular item girl. She gives his husband and brother in law a much-needed hit but also inspire Neha Dhupia for carrying forward her legacy in Phans Gaya Re Obama. However, what Our Munni got in return? Zandu Slapped a legal notice on her for using their Balm. Media start comparing her with Shiela, a belly dancer. Our Malaika make ‘Munni’ a household name. The domestic workers association has decided to patent all their names after Munni and Sheila. Henceforth the Bollywood have to shell out more on these item numbers for using these names.

B. S. Yeddyurappa: The Yeddyurappa is the sole survivor of the 2010, a firm believer in Law of Justice that “one is innocent unless proven guilty”. Through his determination and will power, he survived the political onslaught by his opponents. A Raja, Kalmadi, Shashi Tharoor, Ashok Chavan all failed miserably on this account. The Political astuteness required to sustain was completely missing in these leaders. Our Yeddyurappa is a role model for all politicians especially to these crazy four. Let the enquiry comes up with its report and findings until then enjoy a cup of tea in the power after all it is the only and last govt. of BJP in south.

Autumn is Finally here

Past month has left bitter memories for the whole of India. We have never hoped that we will be confronted by multitude of problems that seems to have no end. Shoddy Common wealth games preparations, unprecedented monsoon showers, continual turmoil in Kashmir and the verdict of 60 year old dispute.
Critics have panned our seriousness for organizing the mega event. The allegation of siphoning of funds, rampant corruption, and inadequate infrastructure has made us a bunch of fools in the eyes of international media. Serious questions were made whether it was wise enough to spend 70,000 crores of tax payers’ money in the games; when we are not even prepared to hold such events. Mr. Suresh Kalmadi, the chief organizer of common wealth games though is a brilliant administrator, but the inexperience of holding such an event come in his way. If these were not enough then we have to face wrath of Indra Lord who continues to rain beyond their stipulated time. Every time the deadlines were missed Indra was made the scape goat along with of course Kalmadi.
On one side the common wealth was hogging all the lime lights in media for wrong reasons and on the other Kashmir was burning in wake of protests called by separatists misguiding youth for waging a war against their own country. 100 innocent civilians lost their lives mostly of them were teenagers who were not even aware for what reasons they are pelting stones. The way in which the centre has handled this is commendable. The All party delegation not only raised the hope for a peace but also gave a fitting reply to the separatists who want to score brownie points. The reopening of schools and lifting of curfew is a positive step in the direction of normalization of situation in valley.
Each one of us was anticipating the verdict of Babri maszid-mandir out of despair and anxiety. The refusal of Supreme Court to postpone the verdict was an important step in resolving the dispute. But the common man of today is not so emotionally attached to this issue as was the case when Advani led the rath yatra. The aspiring middle class is more concerned of bread and butter needs then in the religious sentiments. We are becoming more and more tolerant. I have observed a trend among youngsters to treat religion very personal and not the things to be flaunted and discussed publically. Except for the judiciary, politicians and the fundamentalists every common man wanted that the verdict should be postponed so as that they can at least live for another day peacefully. Schools and offices were closed as precautionary measures. The maturity displayed by us after verdict is a tight slap on all those who want to mobilize the masses for their electoral gains. Let’s don’t ponder over the outcome of the verdict; there is no single winner in this verdict. Neither Hindus have won neither Muslims have lost. If somebody has won out of this verdict is a common man who otherwise would have been brutally killed in wake of any adverse fallout of verdict in the name of being a Hindu or Muslim. And the biggest losers are the fundamentalists who were eyeing for an opportunity to raise religious sentiments.
Now it’s time for vodka, October is finally here, with the Pleasant season on the roll it’s time to enjoy the commonwealth games as finally kalmadi and his team has put their house in order. Winter is slowly stepping in and no more trouble from Rain God as predicted by our Meteorological department so we can finally take a breath and enjoy the games. Though delhiite kids have been on extended holidays but it’s time for Kashmiri kids to make up for the losses of their studies.

Bullet Vs Ballot

The World’s largest democracy is in the danger of its survival after the recent strikes by the Naxalites in the wake of crackdown by security forces. India built on the ideology of socialism by Pandit Nehru has not only inclined towards the policies of Neo Liberalism but the gap between have and have-nots has increased to such an extent that a day will come that the word middle class will no longer exists in society.

A visit by any Expatriate to this country and he will be back by a varied experience where sitting in any IT office one can feel the ambience and aroma which can beat even Microsoft and on the other side tribal people are still lives unaware of the word INDIA.

Forced Land acquisitions, years of neglect and exploitation by the successive state governments has made these people to rage a civil war against their own country. Naxalites are not the Pakistani and Chinese intruding into our territories but common people who are fighting to save their own land from grabbing by the Govt. This war is not like LTTE which was ethnic but in similar to war in Nepal which was against corruption, nepotism, and exploitation by Ruling class.

There has been debate going on whether to deploy army and go for a major strike against Naxals. The deployment of Army will only worsen the situation as in case of J&K and North East. Army has been slapped with number of cases of violations of human rights. Army has refused to deploy its forces amid the fear of backlash by people and on the basis that they are not meant for internal security. The CRPF and police forces does not match the guerilla war tactics to defeat Naxalites. Barring the incident of derailing of passenger train in which 148 innocent people were killed; Naxalites have always targeted Police forces and thus escaped the outrage of people. This isolated incident has given the govt. a prerogative to divert the attention from the root cause of this conflict .The Government needs to realize that it is not a separatist movement but a war against poverty and marginalization which can be only won by providing relief and rehabilitation to the Naxalites affected people.

If India which boasts of resolving all issues through composite dialogues; then why is it resorting to go for a massive strike against naxals? What the state governments were doing all these years when the naxals were spreading their wings all over India?

The real fight between bullet and ballot has begun. Let’s see whether bullet prevails over ballot or successive governments sit on their laurels and let the ballots decide.

Twenty20 match

The twenty20 tournament between Thackeray and Rest of India has generated a lot of heat in the political theatre. The Thackeray Sena comprises of Udhav Sena and Raj Thackeray. The Rest of India comprises the likes of Mukesh Ambani, Sachin tendulkar, Abu Azmi, Amitabh Bachhan and Shahrukh Khan.
Thackeray bros have emerged as the most sought after players ever in the history of cricket leaving behind the Waugh Bros. The Thackeray Sena though are playing with Raj and Udhav but as per the media reports there are speculations that both of them are eying for the captaincy. So there are two camps in Thackeray Sena one favoring Raj and other Udhav. The Thackeray Sena is lions at home as in spite of playing so many tournaments they have to still open their winning accounts in foreign territories. But ever dare to come and play in Mumbai and they will smash your head with their bouncers and body line.
Instead of organizing all the tournaments at a single venue BCCI has decided to organize all the matches in Delhi and Mumbai in alternate fashion. It is a unique tournament in which winner will be decided on the basis of who first win a match in others’ home ground. Till now both the teams have won their matches at their homes. The reason to organize this tournament was the non inclusion of Pakistan Players in Twenty20 matches. The owners of the IPL teams were unable to afford the exorbitant fees of Pakistani players. After non inclusion of Pakistani Players the Pakistan Govt. criticizes the Indian Govt. for their inability to include Pakistani players in the tournament. There was a wide spread criticism and backlash in India that even the Home Minister has to stepped in to make a plea for the Pakistani Players that non inclusion of Pakistani Players was a disservice to cricket. The word Modi has become a synonym for controversy. This time it was Lalit Modi, the Commissioner of IPL. He swings into action and organized this unique Twenty20 tournament to make up the losses and the disservice to the cricket.
But the tournament has mired into controversies and match fixing allegations. One of the leading fast bowlers of rest of India, Amitabh has been reported to join hands with Thackeray as he has been seen praising them and inviting them for the preview of his movie. Sachin tendulkar of Rest of India has to pay the price of being born in Mumbai as he is continuously being heckled by the Thackeray for being a traitor. Prior to the tournament Abu Azmi was slapped by Thackeray Sena for racial behavior as most of the members of Thackeray Sena are unable to speak and understand Hindi. He was like Harbhajan; called them MAAN KI and the poor fellows take it otherwise and thought they were bullied as Monkey. The Thackeray Sena is supposed to be worry about inclusion of Shahrukh khan in Rest of India squad as he is one of the most valuable players. As per the media speculations Thackeray Sena has pleaded before the organizers to send Shahrukh to Pakistan for the time being so as both the teams are equally strong.
The First match has however been won by Rest of India with an all round performance by a novice Rahul. The young guy playing his first game led the rest of India to a landslide victory. He was awarded Man of the Match with a cash prize to withdraw any amount from an ATM in Mumbai.Sena smarting under the defeat has trained their guns for the next match on 12 Feb. The moral of Rest of India is at all time high but the complacency might derail them. So stay tune to this blog for latest updates.

Few Idiots

The recent controversy over the adaption of theme of novel five point someone has outraged the whole Chetan Bhagat fans. The same author was a source of inspiration for all those
Guys who messed up their College life and still got a descent job.
Frustrated call centers guys, who are often being scolded for always making a call at wrong time.
Idiots who always remorse on the past; and are not ready to Move on with life after committing blunders.
Lovers who are entangled in the inter caste marriage tussle and have to run from pillar to post to convince their parents.
We find a little bit of us in each of his four novels. That was the only reason why Chetan captured the mood of entire nation. He employed simple words and refrained from using those heavy words with jargons. Thus his novels became an instant best seller as you are not supposed to have a degree in English Honors to digest the stuff.
But Few Idiots Amir, Rajkumar Hirani and Vidhu Vinod Chopra joined hands and as usual bollywood plot made a remake of his best seller. Amir is always known for creating hype and cheap publicity before the release of his movies. You can watch him playing cricket, standing for Narmada Andolan, or playing with kids and this latest gimmick of disguising himself.
Chetan has his own fan circle that is intelligent enough to understand his emotions and not to be carried away by Amir’s allegations. I know that Chetan don’t have a mass appeal like Amir but he has a strong and intellectual base that is capable of defending him.
Well Amir my serious advice to you is to first crack IIM Ahmedabad and then even dare to write or speak absurd things about Chetan.