A movie review

Saguni. With a captivating,political title, it was a Tamil movie, I am seeing after a long time. Expectations soared high with my friends convincing me that Karthi is an intelligent actor who chooses his films smartly. With all these thoughts, I expected the film to a mass political thriller. But the film failed to live up to my expectations. No doubt, it was a fantastic movie plot and the casting was terrific with most of the big names roped in. But then, screenplay did not carry the movie forward and that left an impression that all the characters were not at all utilized to the fullest.

Cast:

Karthi was is usual self, in portraying the role of a young man, making political moves to save his ancestral property. With Santhanam as his buddy, they have tried to tickle our funny bones and have been fairly successful. The heroine of the film, apart from the songs, has a much lesser role and appears in the movie for a lesser time when compared to Andrea and Anushka, who appear in unwanted and totally unnecessary guest roles. Roja,Radhika and Nasser, appear intermittently, when the screenplay sags and try their best to revive it. Kiran and Prakash Raj also play important roles, but as you've guessed by now, there is no coherence in the way they appear and no taut screenplay to offer their roles good scope. In short, a fantastic plot and apt casting, terribly wasted due to lack of imagination in screenplay.

When Karunanidhi failed and where Mulayam passed...

The recent political developments in Uttar Pradesh showcases, in a fantastic manner, precisely the differences between Mulayam Singh Yadav and Karunanidhi. Mulayam won where Karuna lost.

To start with, there are many similarities between Mulayam and Karunanidhi. Both have been very strong regional leaders and have, on many occasions, dictated the terms at the centre. Both fight against women chief ministers who chose to remain single and with whom both of them do not see eye to eye. Both have extended families, occupying primary party positions. Both have always played the minority card (Mulayam – Muslim, Karuna - Dalit) to garner votes.

So where did Karuna lose and Mulayam win?

MK, was always behind power. He could not control himself from relinquishing the chief ministership. He has been at the helm from 1967 and recently lost the election to his arch nemesis Jayalalitha. The way he became the chief minister, after Anna’s death and the steps that he took to thwart MGR’s plans are part of folklore. It is precisely in this move that Karuna failed. Now, he has his 2 sons who can’t stand each other, his daughter, his grand-nieces and his grand –daughters and grandsons who have become power-centers inside the party. Had he made Stalin (his son who is seen as heir-apparent) the chief minister when DMK came to power the last time, things would have been definitely different. The ugly family politics, that has now come to be associated with MK’s family, would not have come out in the open. Now, with reformed Jayalalitha (that is what everyone believes after the ouster of Sasikala) in power, and another four years to go, and with MK’s health condition, it is not sure if he could contest the next election. Only until MK is active, will DMK remain a force to reckon with. Even if MK is active and DMK wins the next election, the party would not fade into oblivion, only if MK relinquishes his dearest chief ministership and appoints someone as CM. Only such an act would send a strong message to the existing power centers in the party.

Mulayam,on the other hand, was shrewd, to make his son the chief minister, when his party won fabulously. He had a tough job, in convincing his brother and other senior leaders, but, he made sure the power remained inside his house. When looking at the cabinet closely, it can be easily ascertained that while Akhilesh is the CM, the cabinet is full of Mulayam loyals, right from Azam Khan to Raja Bhaiyya. It’s a win-win situation for Mulayam, where he has retained power as well as made his son CM ahead of his brother and other party seniors. If he had not done that, Mulayam would have become another Karuna.

Its another sad note that politics is a family business. You can read that here.

Pairs

Rahul Dravid announced his retirement last friday and as expected tributes started to pour in from all corners of the globe. As echoed by most of the people, test cricket is not the same anymore, at least to me. I have followed Dravid's career,right from the time he made his debut, to his first test century against South Africa to his last series in Australia. To put that in a single sentence, I've grown with Dravid.

All the posts,while showering him encomiums, mentioned he was an unsung hero, over-shadowed by Sachin's exploits. Reading this makes it hard for me not to ignore the comparison that pops up in my mind.

Rahul Dravid --> Sachin Tendulkar and G.R. Viswanath --> Sunil Gavaskar

The similarities are many. To start with,the former in both the cases were from Bangalore while the latter were from Bombay. Sunil and Sachin were/are always superstars in their playing days. For a cricket and cricket-statistics obsessed nation as ours, Sachin and Sunil, represented the best of India to the world. They were world record holders for their centuries and runs scored and we remember them more for their records than for their game. This is in total contrast with what we associate with Vishy or Dravid. They were always the unsung heroes, more in the 'firefighter' mould, saving the team most of the time from the blushes. We remember them not for their records, but for their game.

The whole world waits in bated breath for Sachin's hundredth hundred. The whole world wrote about Sachin and his deeds, on his reaching the 10,000th run. But for Dravid, there was a line about him reaching the 10,000 run landmark. Press and the media spoke of Sehwag's runs when Dravid scored his 10,000th run. Considered by many as Dravid's best, his score of 180 against Australia in Kolkata, is remembered more for Laxman's heroics and the series for Harbhajan's wickets.

Similarly, we only know of the 34 centuries, Sunil Gavaskar scored. When asked about Vishy, what comes to mind is his game against West Indies in Chennai. His fighting knock,against the best bowling attack in that time is all we remember.

Also,we know more tales from childhood of these superstars than that of our unsung heroes. We know,how Gavaskar was saved by his uncle from being swapped when he was born or how he broke his mother's nose. We know what Sachin did in school with Kambli or the way he played his cricket near his locality. But we know nothing about Dravid's or Vishy's childhood cricketing exploits. They were,of course,overshadowed by the superstars in their own team.

The similarities may not cease here, but they would always continue to surprise me and would make me wait for the next such pair to arrive. After all, history repeats itself.

What next

Probably for the first time in my life, I feel I don't know whats my target is. Ever since I have tried to realize myself, I have always worked towards something. There was always this question of 'whats next?' that has pushed me, guided me and forced me to choose paths. Be it my early days of school, where I had to work towards achieving good grades, be it the high school that made me want more and aim for better colleges, there has always been a target to achieve. Even after college, when I was employed, I was always a fish out of water, with me working to secure myself a college of great reputation for my higher studies. It was getting into the company of my dreams once I was in grad school, that became my target. Now that these things have been achieved, I am terribly confused. I feel like roaming around unknown territories, getting into uncharted waters,blindfolded. I think I need to be patient at this juncture.Once I take up new challenges arising out of my job and I think I can regain my normal self. Or is it that we have been brought up in this way, in a world full of competition that we tend to forget what we love and start loving what we do? This thought has been lingering in my mind, bothering me and would bother me,I suppose, until I realize what my next target, towards what that I need to work on. I pray, hopefully that this day comes soon.

Independence Day

One of the biggest grouse this year is the loss of a public holiday as our "beloved" Independence day falls on a Sunday.I think its necessary for us to really reconsider this holiday of ours. It has become so customary what a public holiday would be like. Most people are glued to their idiot boxes, with special programs in every channel which use these occasions to garner high viewership to promote themselves. These holidays came into effect to make people understand what these occasions really meant. But none seem to understand its value. Independence day and Republic days have become so stereotypical. Be it the opposition bashing speeches after flag hoisting or the programs aired on TV with just a half hour slot for some patriotic songs to "celebrate" the occasion close to dawn when none would be awake. Independence day is perceived only as another special Sunday. Hence its better to work on these days to contribute to the country rather than lazing around as we have failed to understand its very essence and will never bother to understand it in the future.

Notes of a simple devotee

Anybody coming to Sri Parthasarathy swami temple after a couple of years would find a sea change in the environment and in the surroundings of the temple. To start with, a whole array of new flex banners of the deities adores the walls of the temple obstructing and covering the intricate murals on the walls. To a devotee like me, things like these are a huge turn off and take away a feeling of spirituality that you generally associate with any temple.

The second major change that one notices is the wooden steps connecting the temple. A temple is a place that provides you an ambience that is complete with peace and tranquility. But then, the constant movement on the wooden steps takes away the peacefulness completely.

The third major factor is the lighting. The entire temple is peppered with high intensity focus lights that makes the entire place bright. But they are everywhere and too much of them spoil the atmosphere and make the entire place look artificial. Usage of such high intensity lights not only irritates the devotee by blinding the eyes but also has a huge environmental impact and also consumes lot of power. Also the usage of similar lights while the deity is taken out on the streets has the same impact.

http://www.naturalnews.com/025765_cancer_melatonin_health.html

http://environment.about.com/od/pollution/a/light_pollution.htm

The fourth noticeable aspect is that there is a huge influx of cheap plastic covers that fills the entire temple. Though the temple makes every effort to make the place clean, it is still unable to stop the growth of plastic covers.

The last two factors have a major environmental and economic impact. When the whole world is concerned about global warming and spread of toxic plastics, we at such an ancient temple have forgotten our ancient best practices of using tree leaves and cloth bags to carry stuff to the temple. Also the usage of low intensity lights would not only save expenses on current charges but also contribute to a pleasant ambience that would help in providing a conducive atmosphere for every devotee.

I would only want the temple authorities concerned to take necessary steps in doing away with such unwanted and unnecessary stuff that makes the pilgrimage to the temple to look like a picnic.

Women's Bill

Lot of hue and cry have been raised over the 33% reservations that was passed in the RAJYA SABHA alone. The woman's bill does no good to the womenfolk of this country. By bringing this, I strongly feel that they are limiting themselves to 33%. I accept there aren't many women in Indian politics. But thinking that this bill would change that would only stay as a hope. For, Lalu Prasad has already shown the way by making his wife the CM of Bihar when he was forced out by a judgment. Rabri, till date does not know anything, by her own admission and she was just a mere puppet in the hands of Lalu. If people supporting the woman's bill call only this as empowerment, then this truly is an empowering moment.

P.S The bill was not passed in Lok Sabha. For it was traded to gain support against the Cut motion brought in by BJP.

மேரேஜ்னா பரவாயில்லப்பா social matter, divorce case எல்லாம் வருது.

I get reminded of this dialogue by Koundamani - 'மேரேஜ்னா பரவாயில்லப்பா social matter, divorce case எல்லாம் வருது.' ,after a Andhra minister intervened in Sania-Shoaib marriage issue.. What a foreboding dialogue by Koundamani..

Hussain and Khajuraho

Sunday's edition of Hindu had contradictory news juxtaposed in its pages. On one side, it had a discussion board of eminent personalities voicing their views on M F Hussain's paintings which were criticized for its content while at the bottom, it had an article on the beauty of Khajuraho paintings. Though there content were similar, the differences between the them was apparent. Hussain's paintaings had Hindu gods and Mother India painted nude and Hussain himself once said that his way of abuse and making it disgraceful was to paint it nude. Hence this would amount only to sacrilege. On the other hand, everybody admires the sculptures of Khajurao. In fact, many places in India has sculptures carved in a compromising position or carved nude. Why isn't then there an uprising from the so-called guardians of the society. The reason could be because the intention behind these sculptures being structured that way could be noble at that time (Not that it isn't now). One reason that I learnt on seeing a sculpture of a King carved sans clothes was that the King felt that the dress code would gradually evolve and would be different in the coming generations. Not wanting to confine his image, he had asked to carve it that way. How foreboding?
Thus its only the intent that needs to be questioned and not the painter himself. After all in this democratic world of ours, its his right to paint want he desires and its our right to question that if it hurts our sentiments.

BJP

The recent tussle and turmoil thats happening to the country's primary opposition party is something that was on the cards ever since the charismatic A.B. Vajpayee decided to call it a day. The election debacle only acted as a catalyst and provided an opportune moment for disgruntled cadres to voice their opposition against the party.

The recent outbursts by its senior leaders and their subsequent expulsion from the party is mainly because the BJP wants to project L.K. Advani as its prime leader, not to the liking of many in the party. Advani's peers while he was in RSS and subsequently in BJP, wanted a greater share in the power pie after Vajpayee quit. When this was not happening, they invented reasons to bring to light their plight so that their position and say in the party would acquire greater significance. Yashwant Sinha wanted analysis of the poll defeat almost immediately and wanted that to be over before their Chinthan Baithak. Jaswanth Singh, courted controversy with his book on Jinnah while Arun Shourie questioned the leadership and some of the decisions taken. Brijesh Patel came out in the open with his comparisons on Advani and Vajpayee.

These are definitely testing times for BJP. This is the time where the baton is passed to a new generation and a complete re-assessment of its policies would take place Their commitment to Hindutva may also be shaped in a different way with younger and fresher brains at the helm. The two biggest challenges for the BJP hence would be the way they shape their ideals as they still are very much unclear about their policy on Hindutva while attracting the minorities too. This is because, its trying to shed its communal tag heaped on it by other parties which are more communal than the BJP. The second biggest challenge is that the BJP should not be bogged down at this point and should wait patiently until things stabilize before taking important decisions.

Only time should tell whether the country's chief opposition party stands to fight another election or becomes obsolete, making it a thing of the past.

Dynasty Rule

When our neighbours like Nepal and Pakistan are demanding and persevering for democracy, India is slowly turning to monarchy- dynasty rule silently without anybody noticing it. If recently concluded elections are to be taken as an indicator, the dynasty rule is here to stay. Most politicians today fight for seats for their kin and if not granted abuse their parties before parting ways. This phenomenon exists in every state right from Tamil Nadu and Kerala in south to Jammu in North. and from Maharashtra in West to Arunachal and Assam in East. Karunakaran and Muralidharan, the father and son duo are the most famous ones from Kerala while in Tamil Nadu the list is endless and well known, topped by the polygamous Karunanidhi. The state of Andhra has some well known names with NTR, his daughters as well as his son in law- Chandrababu Naidu apart from sons of YSR and other party leaders. Karnataka can boast itself of the controversial H.D Kumarasamy and erstwhile PM Deve Gowda while Maharashtra has the Thackerays that makes them gain entry into this coveted list. Not to be left far behind is Sharad Pawar with his daughter Supriya and the Dutts - Sunil, Priya and Sanjay. Orissa has Naveen Patnaik, son of Biju Patnaik while Lalu and Paswan have their close kin in prominent positions in the party. Far East, we have Agatha Sangma, daughter of ex-Speaker P.A. Sangma. Coming to Central India, U.P has the Yadavs- Mulayam Singh, his son Akhilesh. The rest includes the Badals of Punjab, Chautals of Haryana. Jammu has Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, children of predominant parties of Jammu. These are just a handful of names from a huge list as the Mahajans, Anubumanis and Natwar Singhs have been left out.
But the top slot would always remain with the Nehru-Gandhi family who have ru(ined)led India all these years. Its remarkable that this family has sustained its rule and grip on the world's second populous nation for these long years cutting across 4 generations. Think Indians would always favour a monarchy for they have been under a democracy (if you can call it one, given the above list) only for the last 50 years and rest of its rich history has always been under monarchs.

Secular Parties

Its election time and the entire country is resonating with promises, sops, concessions and resolutions. Its no different here, especially with the elections scheduled only in the final phase, it has given the politicians ample time to work out their strategy and analyse trends. The major deciding factor in elections here are the caste. On one side, you have a group of people proclaiming to form a casteless society while others play politics with caste as their trump card. The irony lies in the fact that the two groups are the same and are in no ways different. All political parties here are just “democratic front office” of caste organizations. No, its not the BJP, its all other parties accusing BJP of being non-secular when they themselves are confined only to a small community of people. The PMK is the political outfit of Vanniyars, Sarath Kumar’s’ SMK is for nadars, not to mention TMMK for Muslims and other trivial parties for various other communities. Though DMK or AIADMK will not figure in that list, they cannot be discounted from the fact that it was them who nurtured and nourished these outfits. What an irony when these people accuse BJP of being non-secular?

Madras

Madras – It’s a special word that conjures up lot of beautiful memories to me. Though it is Chennai now, I prefer it to be Madras. One reason is that it was Madras when I was born. Lots of things have changed after I was born, especially in the last decade, but Madras to me, has always and will always retain its old charm.
A decade back, lots of areas of the present Madras were unknown. Its core part was Mylapore and areas around it.It would be very hard to believe that places like Nanganallur and Thiruvanmiyur were only suburbs and didn’t qualify to be a part of Madras.
During its nascent days, Madras was a village with dense forests all over the area. Quoting Thirumangai alwar in his reference to the present day Triplicane, he says the sun’s rays would not even pass through the thick vegetation cover. The areas that we know have interesting facts behind their present names. Triplicane or Thiruvallikeni is from the pond with ‘alli’ flowers. Mylapore is ‘Mahila puri’ meaning the place of women.
There were lots of followers of Madhvacharya in the vicinity of Triplicane and hence their place was called ‘Rayar pettai’ which , with the passage of time became ‘Royapettai’. Apart from the vegetation, there was also abundance of cattle and the place of this activity was ‘Dhenu pettai’. Dhenu in sanskrit meant cows. It is this area which is called Teynampet. Similarly, the Thousand lights area, translated to Tamil is called ‘Aayiram vilakku’ which has its origins in ‘Aayar vilakku ‘, the place were cow herds lived.
Change has always been happening, but in spite of this, Madras has always preserved few things for posterity.

Near Death Experience (NDE)

For software folks plying in share autos on OMR, NDE is an everyday affair. Being packaged into a rickety share auto with 8 other people, you only pray that you reach your destination in full shape as you boarded the auto. The auto carries 8 people at its back apart from 2 burly fellows on either side of the driver. The way the the driver runs through the traffic, with the poor condition of roads adding to the woes, only traffic signals provide you with some respite. But then, these people jump traffic signals too. With the twists and turns , you are squeezed so badly that even your clothes may become loose the next time you put them on. You heave a sigh of relief only when you get out of it. But then, you simply endure it to reach office in time. Thats an Indian for you who endures all this to reach office just because they charge you 5 bucks less than the regular autos.

Rane = Bane

The aftermath of Mumbai terror attacks have seen a spate of resignations. The foremost among them was that of the useless, incapable Shivraj Patil. The second hi-fi resignation was that of Vilasrao Deshmukh, the CM of Maharashtra. But the latter's resignation was succeeded by drama that woul put any country and its politicos in disgrace. The chief architect responsible for this pandemonium is the opportunistic Narayan Rane. When the entire world is sympathising with India and Mumbai in particular, Rane rebelled against his own party just because he wasn't given the Chief ministership. When the need of hour is unity, moles like Rane are a bane to our entire system. No wonder India is only tagged as a 'developing country' inspite of its abundant resources.

At this time of crisis, people expect unity from politicians cutting across parties and ideologies not feuds without principles within the same party just. People like Rane should not be allowed to contest because they are not service-oriented. They do not have even the slightest intention of serving the nation and its people. They have entered into politics with the sole aim of garnering money. Weeds like Rane need to be removed from our entire system for it to be more effective. I only hope that the people do away with people like Rane, setting an example for other states to follow and for other opportunistic politicians a lesson.

Is the ruling party really concerned about Sri Lankan Tamils?

The Chief Minister owes a great deal of gratitude to the director of a film starring Vikram. Just like the politician who rakes up an issue which has been an issue for a long time to revive his sagging career, Karunanidhi has raked the the issue of Srilankan Tamils to gain political mileage, diverting the entire attention from the raging power crisis in the state. SriLankan Tamils definitely deserve a better livelihood and we should go all the way in helping them achieving it. But these acts of the politicians are only gimmicks to shroud the people's memory making them forget their own misery and their fellow country men. There are thousands of small scale industries such as weavers spread over the entire state for whom power supply is supremely important to sustain their livelihood. Making them devoid of power supply would eventually lead to famine and starvation and the world's perception of India as a poor country with famines all over will never change. One more atrocious act is forcing school children to form human chains as demonstrations to attract publicity. Instead of wasting tons of resources in the name of creating awareness. the money could have been spent on improving the current situation. All these are done not in the genuine interest of Srilankan Tamils but only to divert the attention from the raging power crisis and also to cash in on the situation of Tamils by evoking public sympathy in their favour, by showcasing the agony of Tamils. The only motive and outcome of this whole exercise has been and still is to gain political mileage and divert the attention of people from the 'current' situation.

Communism and Atheism

Is communism a name of party or is it just the opposite of capitalism? Is atheism an integral part of communism?

Well, to me communism is neither of those listed above. Its just a feeling like love, hate and desire. And more importantly, communism is in no way related to atheism. I strongly believe its possible for a core communist to have immense belief in God. In fact, when people realize there is a Super power above us, they are automatically overwhelmed by their feeling of humbleness and would treat the fellow beings on par with them, which I think is the essence of communism. There are many true communists in this country who are equally conscious of the presence of the Almighty. All religions preach people only to treat everybody as their own. But I wonder where the concept of atheism being an integral part of communism came into existence. Probably because the first breed of communist leaders were atheist. And people, greatly influenced by their principles, could have actually seen it to be a part of communism and could have accepted it. But then. What everybody does in the name of communism is only its diluted version with core values sacrificed and replaced by corruption.

Right

The word 'right' has now got a whole new connotation. Previously, it meant 'correct' or just the direction apart from the huge paras listed in dictionaries. Now, this word is more increasingly used to convert statements into questions. A full fledged statement, suffixed with 'right' is being increasingly believed and portrayed as a question asked. People have started using that to such an effect that there is no awareness on 'isn’t it' type clauses.

The source from which they pick up these should be someone with a decent command over the language who must have used it to camouflage the blunder. This, with frequent usage should have made life easy for people who have picked up these things to put a question to others.....

Back after a long hiatus.

I don't know why i didn't write. Its not that i had nothing to write but i didn't feel like writing one. I have also decided not to make this blog a dedicated one to politics which I actually wanted it to be. I just hope I continue to write with more consistency and frequency.

Politics and Family

Karunanidhi (M.K) has sacrificed the lives of 3 innocent civilians for his ‘poles apart’ sons to recoincile. All this happened because of a poll result published in a daily, owned by his nephews, predicting his successor.

At the first place, India is not a monarchy where the successor is chosen from the ‘royal’ family. India, atlest going by the constitution is still a democracy.Secondly, M.K has not done any good to the people all this 50 years he has been in office for the daily to conduct a poll to predict a worthy successor. Thirdly all the members listed in the poll where only kins of M.K. This explains the situation present in this state. M.K and his family members have been ‘ruling’ this state except few gaps where the situation is not any better.Now with M.K ageing, the tussle for the party leadership has come out in the open.The contenders included his two sons and his daughter and his grandnephew. Only in this state do we have family in politics to such an extent(except Congress where the difference is that there are only 2 contenders for top post – Rahul and Priyanka). M.K is credited as the first one to begin involving his sons in politics, giving them top post in the state machinery. Never did other earlier leaders bring their family nor such was there any tussle for the party leadership when the leaders died. Even when Annadorai and E.V Ramasamy (periyar to outside world) died, the reins were taken over smoothly by others. This is the first occasion where such an event has immediately triggered violence. What is more alarming is that this has happened when M.K is still there. What may happen after his death may be beyond imagination. Such is the way M.K has brought up his power thirsty sons.

While all this has been happening, it is Dayanidhi Maran who evokes sympathy. In spite of distancing himself from his brother’s TV network, he has been compelled to put his papers. Maran’s removal from cabinet and the way the grand celebration of M.K took place when all these were happening shows M.K in a much poorer light. Maran did not participate in the event. Whether he voluntarily opted out or was forced to skip is debatable.

Finally, it was a poll conducted among the public and not party members. It is only the party people that will select M.K’s successor(thats what we believe) and not the public.If the party men had realized this, no violence would have occurred. Its high time the politicians of the state behave, take actions and decisions sensibly