Indian Politics, a funny game

Mr. Vilasrao Deshmukh, the former Chief Minister of Maharashtra gets a cabinet berth.  The same Mr. Deshmukh who was forced to resign after the Mumbai attacks. Widespread protest by the people as well as the media resulted in him leaving the post of the CM. Now  six  months later he becomes a cabinet minister,  isn’t this a mockery of  the Indian public?  Someone who had failed to perform get a bumper  bonus.

I was excited about the young brigade as they are called, young faces old surname, its so difficult for normal middle class girl/boy to break into two most public professions, films and politics. You need to have a famous surname to get a foothold, which is so sad, so much for Rahul Gandhi saying that he wants youth power,  there is no representation in the cabinet. The tussel between various allies will continue. DMK supremo openly saying he wants cabinet berth for his family members.  Mamta didi in spite of publicly claiming ,she does not want any cabinet berth gets Railways, well  Mr. Lalu Prasad Yadav is a tough act to follow, so look out Mamta di. And so the Great Indian Political Tamasha continues.

What an Idea !!!!!!!!!

Idea have scored a sixer with their new advertisement featuring the three superstars of Mumbai Indians. Gullible people , totally addicted to cricket will surely give it a try, who wouldn’t want to talk to Sachin Tendulkar or Zaheer Khan.

My cousin could not stop laughing , when I confessed I did try to call up Sachin Tendulkar. Ok, so i’m not a great fan of cricket, but its SACHIN TENDULKAR yaar, what I got was a stupid voice message.

There must be hundreds  like me; not so gullible but curious people and thousands die hard cricket fan, calling the numbers. How many  of them actually got to talk to Sachin, I would like to know. But Idea sure did rake in a lot of money.

Truly “what an Idea, Sirji”

Is Secularism the most abused word in Indian Politics?

Secularism: the dictionary says Secularism is “A doctrine that rejects religion and religious considerations”.  This is one word that defines political alliances in India, one word that can bring about parties with different ideologies together as one. Suddenly parties who had been bickering and mud slinging, become great friends, all because of this one powerful word.

But, does secularism truly exist in Indian politics; can we call any party truly secular?  The definition of secularism in Indian politics is anti-BJP. If this is the definition we are following then we have hundreds of secular party in the country, both national and regional, there is one BJP so anyone opposed to BJP is secular. But if we look into the actual definition of the word, I don’t find any one party that is truly secular.

The BJP with their Hinduvta ideology, have always been considered to be communal, but then they do have Muslim, Sikh and Christian leaders within their party, so can we call them communal? Congress the grand old party of India, have always been known to woo the Muslim voters, so doesn’t that make them equally communal? Every party in India tries to portray itself as the messiah of the minority community, isn’t this a sign of not being secular.

I do not have alliance with any political party, neither the BJP or the Congress or any of the ‘n’ number of parties existing. I am just an Indian tired of seeing religion coming into politics. Why can’t we have politics based on development? Why does it have to be based on religion, caste, race, language etc, etc? As an Indian I want inclusive development for all, not for selected few. I want a nation which moves forward, I want opportunities for all, based on merit not on social status. I want us to be a corruption free happy nation, I want honest leaders, not criminals, I want a strong government and equally strong opposition who will all work together for the development of the nation.

But do I see all this happening? Sadly no, not in the near future.

My vote

Election day is always an event , the whole family gathers at our ancestral house in our village, its festive and its fun, it was the same this year too.

This was the second time I was voting, so I felt like a veteran, but then when I reached the polling booth I had a queasy feeling, there were butterflies fluttering in my stomach. It was the same the first time too, almost like I’m going in for some examination.

There was a long line, my dad and uncle went right in and cast their vote but poor me had to stand in line. Perks of being a police officers his whole life maybe, he never has to stand in lines. You either have to be a senior citizen, a police officer, or mother with brattish, whiney kids to have any chance of breaking the line. I didn’t belong to any of the above mentioned category, so I diligently stood in line for 30 mins before my turn came. There was a guy who was constantly cracking jokes and keeping everyone entertained, so I didn’t have much problem standing for 30 mins, and the weather was pleasant too. After having my voters id verified I pressed the buttons in the EVM. Then I walked back home feeling proud of having done my duty towards the nation. I’m glad to be living in a democratic nation.

Seven facts about myself

I have been tagged by vj to reveal seven facts about myself. Facts that people don’t know about me. I’m not sure about the not knowing part, but here are the facts.

1. I love reading, books, magazines, comics, newspapers i.e. just about anything . What most people don’t know is that I love reading Mills & Boon too or any other romance , handsome Greek or Italian tycoons wooing normal girls , Dutch doctors and English nurses ( Betty Neels), Scottish lairds, English lords, cowboys etc, etc. They make such easy uncomplicated read, and I like the happy endings.
2. I used to diligently buy the yearly horoscope by Bejan Daruwala till a few years back. Now I don’t even read the daily horoscope in the newspapers.
3. I never watch horror movies. Movies are for entertainment and relaxation so why should I watch things that leave me shit scared.
4. I love sports: cricket , football, F1, tennis, X games, just about everything ( I don’t play any ). But football is my favourite. I dream of watching Chelsea play live at Stamford Bridge.
5. I can spend hours doing nothing but cooking up stories, basically daydreaming. I have thought of writing those tales down, but have not got around doing it, maybe someday I will actually be able to write it down.
6. I cry buckets while reading emotional books, they move me more than movies.
7. I want to try out all adventure sports at least once , bungee jumping, para gliding , river rafting, scuba diving, skiing etc etc

The rule says 7 or else I could have gone on and on

Now I’m supposed to tag 7 people, sorry cant make it 7 but I’ll tag few people Rinchen, Sinolchu, ,Harsh
And yes u’r supposed to mention who tagged you.

If you have nothing else to do (like me ) you can do the tag or else leave it.

My Vote, it counts !!!

image: ibnlive.com

With assembly as well as parliamentary elections round the corner, our tea time discussion has moved on from football to the current political scenario, in the state as well as the country.

Listening to others point of view , I realised we do not actually understand the power of our vote.  We need not follow the trend, we need not fear repercussion,we need not fear anything.

Once inside the booth, it is just me and not we,  not what the family, or the village or the  community thinks. Its all about what I think and my choices. It is a great power bestowed to us by the founder of this nation and  it is our duty to use it, and use in intelligently.

Its Over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don’t need Gus Hiddink to spell it out for me. Its over , the race  is truly over.  Now we can sit back and let Liverpool and Man United fight it out.  Do I see us catching up? No, not even in my dreams. And with the kind of form Liverpool is in, the champions league will remain a distant dream.  Arsenal is suddenly playing good, so can’t say about FA cup too. We are going to be trophy less this year too boo  hooooo

An Interview

Thanks to The Pakistani Spectator , my first interview as a blogger has been published. Hope everyone visiting this page will read the interview.  Its here
Comments are welcome

Is the race on?

The 4-1 drubbing of Manchester United by Liverpool has got everyone excited.  Its not just the defeat but the kind of defeat and the time of defeat that is important. Since saturday Rafa Benitez has been going on about how they are back in the title race. But he is forgetting one small fact, his race is not just with Man U but Chelsea too, we are placed above them on the table,  and everyone else seems to have forgotten this. Which I think works well for the blues, let the battle of words continue between Liverpool and Man U, and let us sneak in.

But personally I don’t see ManU losing another three games. After the defeat on Saturday I looked into the fixture list, and feel that they will have prettily tied it up by the end of the season.  The Man U- Aston Villa  tie can be crucial, but Villa’s wheels seems to have come off at a very inopportune time.  Then there is Tottenham, they will be looking to avenge there defeat in the Carling Cup final ,and Harry Redknapp’s side usually  does  well against Manchester United. The Manchester derby may bring in some interesting result. City are bad travellers, but this is a derby and strange things can happen, there will be much more passion and they will be fighting for bragging rights too. If these game works in our favour then we have the all important  ManU vs Arsenal tie.  This game may seal the fate for all. But the most important part is that Liverpool and Chelsea will have to win all their matches, and with FA Cup and Champions league thrown in it may be difficult.  But then we can all hope. Lets go Chelsea !!!!!!!

Friends, Food & Music a cracking combination

Soulmate

Soulmate the most popular Blues band is India were here in our town.  I am not really a blues fan, but nevertheless enjoyed the show.  They were awesome, so was the new place Cafe Live and Loud, the hip  and happening hangout destination in Gangtok. With good interiors, pulsh sofas and very good sound system, is its the perfect place to relax after a hectic week of work.  The ambience is superb, if only the selection of drinks and nibbles were as good.

It was a perfect setting for a night out with few of my girl pals from school days.  Enjoyed the suberb music by the band from Shillong and the not so superb drink and food. The weekend is over and back to the grind tomorrow but I sure did enjoy this one.

Girls night out