Bharat Ratna for Sports and Entertainment

So the Ministry of Home recommends that the scope of the Bharat Ratna be widened to include sports and entertainment.

Sachin Tendulkar is the prime contender for this honour. The day he scores his 100^th century will be the day India including the Government will go hysterical. Tonnes of newsprint, hours of T V and Radio time, , millions of SMSes, fireworks all night to accompany to crates of beer… celebrations, cheer…

Of course ,there is plenty of reason why India will do that. A nation starved of heroes will celebrate the one hero who touches such dizzy heights.

Sachin IS a master batsman, and a dedicated sportsman. His love of India is second to none. He has entertained millions in the last 20 years. But, always, it looked as if he was playing for himself. His goals appeared personal, not the team’s. The team came first when as a 16 year-old he got a masterful century in England to save a test match for India. Later The two knocks at Sharjah—operation Desert Storm—in two ODI matches stand out for a national zeal. Remember how cut up he was when Rahul Dravid, as Captain, declared the innings closed with Sachin four or five runs short of a double century? A captain’s decision concerning the state of the match should never be contested. Sachin has learnt to be careful with umpires… may be with captains, too, now. But all said and done, the passion of a Kapil, the controlled aggression of Anil Kumble, the strategic calm of a Dhoni… in service of the country, seems to leave a little something desirable in Sachin.

This is not to suggest that Sachin not be honoured with a Bharat Ratna. He has done enough to deserve the signal honour, and more. The issue is whether the scope of that honour be enlarged in such a way that significant contribution to India’s overall image rather than the significance of the individual is the accountable criterion

Sportspersons and Entertainers contribute as much, as politicians and cultural icons do, if not more. Sachin qualifies for his gallant twenty year cricketing career , indeed lore; Vishwanathan Anand’s distinguished career as the Chessmaster must surely stand the test equally well. Cinema, the defining art of the twentieth century and of this stage of the twenty first century boasts a Naseeruddin Shah, whose range is amazing and growing all the time. Balraj Sahni deserves a posthumous award.

There must , however, be some proviso. Has some one built an academy for nurturing more talent in his field of excellence or invested from his considerable resources in some educationally, medically, socially relevant cause or trust? Please don’t say association with AIDS awareness campaigns or animal rights activism.

For such tokenisms we have an extraordinarily efficient bunch of politicians -- the games they play are by far the most entertaining part of India’s public life.

Let our sportspersons and entertainers invest a part of their energies to the making of a more viable and vibrant society. The Bhart Ratna will follow them to the ends of the world .

Subbu kahey suno bhai sadho: Harish Rao, Harried AP Bhavan

Subbu kahey suno bhai sadho: Harish Rao, Harried AP Bhavan: "A Dalit employee of the AP Bhavan at Delhi was manhandled by the Telangana Leader Mr. Harish Rao today. It is all over the television chan..."

Harish Rao, Harried AP Bhavan

A Dalit employee of the AP Bhavan at Delhi was manhandled by the Telangana Leader Mr. Harish Rao today. It is all over the television channels.

Mr. Chandra Rao, was beaten up even as TV cameras captured the footage. Later the employees of the AP Bhavan joined together in a Dharna calling for justice . The employee’s wife ,slipper in hand, dared Harish Rao to face her family wrath.

Harish Rao’s behaviour is nothing if not political and caste arrogance. For Harish Rao this seemed like a long awaited opportunity to flex his muscles. The restraint required by the political movement over the last two years has been very frustrating for Harish Rao and his ilk. When he tried to join the million-march on the Tank Bund a couple of months ago, using a mechanized boat to cross the lake, he was quite excited with the heroics. But certainly, it wasn’t as exciting as this chance to physically assault someone. The adrenaline pumping when you deliver a knockout punch, the thrill of throwing a foam pie at someone, the sharp swing of the arm as a tight slap is about to be administered, the sheer animal pleasure of seeing blood gushing out—ah! That is different!! Political correctness prevented Harish Rao all these months, but today was different. The chance at last, was too good to miss. One can almost hear him roar like a tiger appreciating its kill.

But questions are being asked: if this is the fate of a dalit before a solution to the Telangana imbroglio is found, what would be the condition of dalits in an upper-caste ruled Telangana?

Hypothetical, feels Harish Rao. After all, WE are born to rule! If someone misbehaves, we have the right to give corporal punishment. Can Dalits do these things… kick open doors, beat up an old man, break glass-panes…? Basically, damn it, one must know how to Rule with an iron hand!

But questions are being asked…

If this episode can become a review and rallying point for Dalits in Telangana, then Professor Kancha Ilaiah’s repeated demand for defining the status of dalits, and for an unconditional commitment NOW, that a Dalit leader will be Chief Minister of a new Telangana State, has much power and justification. Indeed, if AP is carved out into two or three new States, Prof. Ilaiah and Manda Krishna Madiga’s MRPS group will be fully justified in demanding that Dalit leaders should become the chief ministers of all the ‘new’ states.

I am the invisible and undefined man. I have reasonable assurance that I was born in Calcutta in 1955, in a Telugu Brahmin family; that I was brought to Hyderabad in 1957 when my grandfather’s joint family moved to the city; most of my education was in Hyderabad at various schools and then Badruka College, then Arts College, then Hyderabad University. I taught at Osmania University for 30 years from 1980 to 2010 before taking voluntary retirement. I know that the contestations are perfectly right in their contexts and that a solution should come sooner than later. Hopefully it will be reasonably satisfactory to all and it has to be a peaceful solution, not one that leads to violence.

If Harish Rao’s behavior is indicative of anything, my hope has no chance at all.

Katrina Kaif on Being Half Indian

Is Hybridity so hypo-valent?

Katrina Kaif made a telecast apology in case anyone was hurt by her observations on Being Half-Indian.

Isn’t there too much apology going round in this country despite a Constitutional guarantee of Free-Speech?

Yes… yes… we know that free speech does not mean insulting and arrogant speech.

But one Harbinger of a new constructivism in a Sate west of India, can speak ill of migrant population without any protest from any one except from a harbinger of a new era for the oppressed classes.

A neophyte politician can walk over some part of a northern State and all over its political leadership without feeling the need for saying sorry to an elder and more respected messiah of dalit groups across India.

A liquor baron can be unapologetic about an advertisement offending a community’s sentiment.

A member of that community, can show off without remorse his agro-attitude in sport by slapping another talented fellow-player.

Wealthy and powerful politicians can stash away the country’s wealth in Swiss Banks; God-men can amass amazing treasures in their bedrooms; academics can plagiarise doctoral thesis; doctors can deny first aid to accident victims; restaurateurs can mix stale food and adulterated ingredients and serve them at mind-boggling prices to unsuspecting revelry-makers—all, all without an apology.

But Katrina Kaif must say sorry immediately because her analogy for half-Indianness was another half-Indian, Rahul Gandhi. Analogy–wise there couldn’t have been a more appropriate and known-face than Rahul baba. Show us another Indian who is half as well known as Rahul Gandhi who can better illustrate Katrina’s point.

India has Anglo-Indians and other Hybrid persons as its citizens. This hybridity is a point of national pride. It shows how the system has learnt to accommodate and value all-comers.

Another kind of hybrids are religious converts. Proselytizing of different kinds has gone on for long and continues without hindrance. Political converts can do it faster than a juggler at a beach.. All this is accommodated , if not welcomed heartily.

Now genetically manipulated hybrid, high-yielding produce is becoming highly valued.

If Katrina Kaif of hybrid parentage asks why she is singled out and repeatedly asked this question about her parentage; and illustrates her point by referring to Rahul’s parentage, what HAS she said that can injure or insult Rahul Gandhi, or the political classes ruling the country, and create controversy? Isn’t this a Rupert Murdoch-like media creation, grab-the–head-line policy of Indian TV?

Katrina was very quick-witted in referring to Rahul Gandhi, nothing less. She should be complimented for that. Instead she is cornered into an apology.

Let us ask Rahul… are you ashamed of your parentage and feel injured or insulted?

Let us ask Sonia Gandhi whether she is injured or insulted for parenting a hybrid son?

Surely Sonia and Rahul are proud to be mother and son; and surely they are proud to be Rajiv Gandhi’s biological heirs and political heirs?!

Whatever the political climate of India is, surely India does not disown the hybrid and its value. Todays India is not an ancient Sanskrit India. It is an Anglo-India that speaks English, plays cricket, parties on Scotch, sends students to Oxford, follows the fortunes of Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United without a sense of hybridity that is nothing short of astonishing. The country knows when the hybrid is valuable, and when it must be given short-shrift.

Those of us who oppose Sonia as prime-minister, oppose Rahul Gandhi as prime minister NOT because he is hal-Italian but because he has not yet experienced the totality of India. When that happens, he will be as much a prime candidate for the top job as any any one from the biggest slum of Asia.

Being Half-Indian does not mean bad; it only signifies some apprehension about the suitability for a purpose at this moment. Once suitability is established, Being Hybrid sheds the illogical prejudicial perception of a negative. If unsuitable, being fully Indian adds nothing positive.

The media ,making so much noise should know, Katrina has established her suitability in every way. Do not compel her to apologize for nothing. India needs all the hybridity it can gather. It is the pristine purity , the inbreeding that has let down the country

Aano bhadraah krataveyantu Vishwtah.

Raj Thackeray – A Migraine

Mayawati flays Raj Thackeray for remarks on migrants reported IANS, yesterday (15-7-2011) on the Yahoo Home page. Raj Thackeray had reportedly said that the incidence of crime had increased with the increase of migrant population in Mumbai.

Mayawati did well to pull up the young and powerful politician from Maharashtra. After all , if Raj Thackeray was referring to the 13/7 terrorist blasts, he couldn’t possibly have called the attack just crime, nor could he have called migrants criminals. All migrants aren’t mohajirs with a chip on their shoulder, right? The kind that Naseeruddin Shah played in Sarfarosh… Raj Thackeray certainly must be well-informed about Mumbai cinema, if not the history of India and Pakistan, he being too young to have anything to do with the Freedom Movement. Raj sahib will learn as he grows older like his illustrious Elder named Bal ( curiously it means child, and a strand of hair with all the connotations one can derive from the expression!). Meanwhile he will bawl out after a safe period of silence, once it is reasonably certain that the attackers have left the scene duly satisfied with their handiwork. So Mayawatiji must sternly pull up the Bal Thackeray to teach him lessons he needs to establish and expand his Raj.

At the same time Raj sahib must be complimented for giving Mayawati a migraine The usually unflappable Boss of UP, unperturbed by events like doctors being murdered in jail and sundry rape-cases ( all too common, come on media, give us something New), was sufficiently disturbed by the young Thackeray to make a public response. Manmohan ji, of course, did not respond to Thackeray because he had PR business there on 14^th and it wouldn’t be a nice PR exercise to tick off the messiah who is seriously looking at Navnirmaan. Besides Manmohanji’s experience with head-aches is by far the greater than the UP CM’s experience. One more migraine could wait its turn, probably anytime from August 1, 2011 when the Parliament session begins.

Think of it... If Raj Thackeray and Mayawati are good advertisement for Aspirin and Migranil, Manmohan Singh can drive the formulation industry into bankruptcy

Response to Terrorism: Advani’s Way and Chidambaram’s

Failure of Policy, not Intelligence said the octogenarian Leader of the Opposition. Should have a zero tolerance policy towards terrorism.

He is a forgetful old man, poor fellow.

Ten years ago, on 13 December 2001, Advani was Home Minister and inside the Parliament Building when suspected Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed squads attacked the Indian Parliament. Months later, four people were captured for alleged involvement in the incident. Years later One person, Afzal Guru, was convicted and handed a death-penalty. Soon his mercy-petition reached the Office of the President of India, the Supreme Commander of the Indian Military.

Meanwhile the NDA government of the Atal Behari-LK Advani went out of power, a UPA government installed, and now enjoying a second term. One Mr. Shivaraj Patil was Home Minister when Kasab and party held Mumbai in thrall for almost 4 days (26/11/2009) performing a dahan-kaand with unheard of temerity. Indians and international visitors, security personnel died in heaps. Finally Kasab was captured, a trial was held, convicted and awarded death. His Mercy Petition is with the Office of the President of India, the Supreme Commander of the Indian Military.

Now, on 13 July 2011, terrorists struck Mumbai again. Mr. Chidambaram , who reluctantly took over from Shivraj Patil, and was hoping for a change of Portfolio in the Cabinet Reshuffle on 12 July 2011, is the Home Minister. He said this was not due to Intelligence failure. All sensitive places have been put on high alert. Great work Thiru Chidambaram!

Mr. Advani has said it is a policy-failure. Would you like to comment?

Yes. I agree entirely, said Chidambaram. It is the same policy as when Advaniji was Home Minister. India’s great pride is that its policy is always constant and consistent. Also please note, Advaniji agreed with me that there is no Intelligence failure. There are areas of agreement though we are in different parties and have zero tolerance towards each other on many issues. That is why we are the best democracy in the world. Our policies do not change, there is no Intelligence hence no failure and we extend proper judicial facilities even to our enemies.Summary treatment is impatient America’s way. We prefer to read 10,000 page reports and judgements as civil people ought to do. And as for Christian Mercy, there is no better example than the Indian President. Keeps nearly a hundred mercy petitions pending for as long as possible.

Blasted Mumbai

So it goes round.

B for Bomb, M for Mumbai.

Our varnamaala, both English and Indian language charts will have to be re-done to relate to the children.

The colours Camlin sell can do away with white and add more red .Their paint brushes can be bold, no fine ones needed.

Social Studies text books can do away with the Kalinga war etc. and include these more contemporary guerilla wars. First-aid and self-help, Personal-Safety Studies, Rescue and Retaliation Studies can replace Moral Science and Cultural Activities (SUPW classes and Sports can also go). Instant bomb-mix can be sold by MTR instead of gulab-jamoon mix.

Songs of Innocence can be dropped from literary studies and martial songs from various languages can be introduced.

Cinema can adopt fewer theme colours. Roudra and Bheebhatsa can replace Shringaara as the prime rasa; karuna and shanti can be excluded from the navarasa.

Someones birthday can be celebrated with Obituary-General

School-prayers be reworded using The Bard’s most powerful invocation to evil --

“Ye sprites that tend on mortal thoughts

Hie thee hither! And fill me

From top to toe full of direst cruelty”.

And Naseeruddin Shah in the movie ”A Wednesday” should be the role-model for future generations doomed to wanton daily destruction.

Azad in China Shop

He chose the Chinese soil to make his pronouncements on an issue of internal significance for India. Telangana, it will be agreed , is India’s internal matter.

It is an issue that has thrown the Indian government led by the Congress, and the Andhra Pradesh government, also led by the Congress into a state of absolute confusion and turmoil.

Mr. Veerappa Moily was replaced by Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad as Congress Party functionary in charge of AP affairs. Mr. Azad is behaving with the delicacy of a bull in a China shop. This can only worsen the situation for Telugu people as a whole.

Why did Azad choose China as the platform for unleashing his tongue on as sensitive an issue as Telangana?

He did not speak about the 50 year- old Chinese occupancy of Indian territory (Aksai Chin and a part of Arunachal Pradesh).

He did not speak about the building of dams on the Brahmaputra (Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet) which could reduce water inflow for irrigation in India.

He did not speak about ‘stapled’ visas, even.

China’s support for Pakistan’s occupation of part of Kashmir did not warrant mention on Chinese soil.

The Ghulam sahib had little Azadi to speak about any of the known sensitive issues.

The wiseman of Congress did not dare to speak of the reasons why Kashmir is such an insoluble problem. Nor did he speak about Israel and Palestine. At least, it would have been a sufficiently international issue to merit an international platform as big as China.

Whether he had any health related observations (especially mental-health of a political kind) to make at the meeting of the BRIC health ministers, neither the Indian government nor Azad’s own maker has any clue.

So Azad picked on a ‘safe’ subject, one which does not affect Sino-Indian relations adversely. When it comes to Telangana, both China and Mr. Azad could toe Hamlet’s line – what’s He to Hecuba, or Hecuba to him?

Azad felt free to comment on Telangana in China; to gore the Telugu people, play havoc with their delicate , fragile relational figurines, and frangible nerves. Seems to be politics of a very ur-sophist kind . The only people who took offense were the Telangana leaders. Even the Union government and the Congress Party have quietly condoned this impolitic behavior of a senior politician.

Have we heard any leader of any nation comment on their internal matters from foreign soil?

Even American Presidents, both intelligent and ordinary ones, though very powerful are pretty circumspect in their approach to domestic issues when in another country.

But Tealngana and Seemandhra in China? And no contextualizing comments on Gorkha, Bodo, Vidarbha aspirations as a method in madness?

Sonia ji… you managed to shuffle the jokers in the pack. Now how about the chinamen?

Competitive Doping

The amazingly muscular body of Ben Johnson, leaving Carl Lewis and others behind; a stunning 9.79 seconds timing at the Seoul Olympics 100 meters sprint; Ben Johnson being hustled along by security guards from the Olympic Village. The images will not blur for any one who saw them live on television in 1988.

East Germany had managed it ,it is said, for long, from Leipzig.

But the real story of steroids and sports begins, for most avid fans from that dramatic moment at Seoul. A visual treat of human triumph, followed by disbelief,devastation and despair and indignation, Ben Johnson’s was the equivalent of Caesar’s death in the Roman Senate. Many voices must have muttered, “ What a Fall…” mimicking Antony. Florence Griffith-Joyner, popularly known as Flo-Jo, reigned unrivalled in women’s sprints for some years before dying suddenly aged 38 owing to epileptic seizure; but though she never tested positive, it was widely held that she used steroids and hastened her retirement upon the introduction of random drug-testing. Her death also is attributed to drug-abuse, but the belief is not supported by evidence. A popular cyclist who made the Tour de France virtually his own, Lance Armstrong, has over the years faced allegations of steroid abuse, but without a decisive conclusion.

Indian athletes have tested positive for steroids on occasions. The story of Sini Jose ,Ashwini Akkunji , the Ukranian coach and others in the past ten days has been a major scandal comparable to the Raja, Maran, Kani case. Kunjurani Devi, the star weight-lifter and one woman shuttler have experienced the mortification of testing positive during their sports career.

What compels a sportsman, an athlete to resort to drug-abuse?

The glory and fame of victory and the great amounts of prize money to be won . The headiness, of these allurements is so high that it suspends judgement and encourages cut-throat competition. There is a sense in which one can speak of a career in sport as a neck-or nothing gamble. But, even a gambler tries to play to win, not to lose, and his stakes are ever so high. Athletes work very hard… and then, when the performance is not consistent with the desire, anabolic steroids, performance enhancing drugs make their grand entry with the flourish of trumpets, world records, gold medals and money.One throw of dice in a competitive, surcharged atmosphere makes a Ben Johnson or a Yudhishtira out of an ordinary mortal.

Competition, is the villain of the piece. While Nature allows a great variety to exist, it also allows a method by which ’power’ is asserted in an interesting equilibrium.

In human society, despite all attempts to civilize and ethicize, there is no real attempt to establish an equilibrium. The balancing act is pure theory , of an academic nature, bearing no relation to the corpulent imagination of the nature of power. Power is a desire that scythes like a scimitar through the apparent strength of ethical and humane values. This desire manifests itself through ‘competition’, the mantra of capitalism and market economy. It is a pathogen that runs virulently through human organizations, and pits one organization against all others. There is no ‘healthy’ competition one can talk about. Competition is a cancer, whether malignant or benign, and always undesirable. Evolved individuals should be able to present their best, not with a view to condescension for the ‘other’ but with a spirit of celebration of the best that one is capable of, even improvement of ones own performance through greater application. The straight and narrow , even arduous path is what we may hope to take. Lady Macbeth’s chastisement of Macbeth ‘with the valour of [her] tongue’, the sense of despair with which she lashes out at him for being unable ‘to catch the nearest way’ will not do for us.

Competitive doping is every athlete’s attempt to catch the nearest way. Unless competition as a concept is erased from the consciousness of the human race, the taint of doping will continue to blacken Ashwini Akkunji, Sini Jose.............................................................................................................….Kalmadi, Raja, and Kanimozhi.

Remember, Raja and Kanimozhli ,Maran and Kalmadi are competing for power, and are on a steroid-high much higher than Ben Johnson or Ashwini. Only Hitler and Chengiz Khan went higher.

Competitive Doping

The amazingly muscular body of Ben Johnson, leaving Carl Lewis and others behind; a stunning 9.79 seconds timing at the Seoul Olympics 100 meters sprint; Ben Johnson being hustled along by security guards from the Olympic Village. The images will not blur for any one who saw them live on television in 1988.

East Germany had managed it ,it is said, for long, from Leipzig.

But the real story of steroids and sports begins, for most avid fans from that dramatic moment at Seoul. A visual treat of human triumph, followed by disbelief,devastation and despair and indignation, Ben Johnson’s was the equivalent of Caesar’s death in the Roman Senate. Many voices must have muttered, “ What a Fall…” mimicking Antony. Florence Griffith-Joyner, popularly known as Flo-Jo, reigned unrivalled in women’s sprints for some years before dying suddenly aged 38 owing to epileptic seizure; but though she never tested positive, it was widely held that she used steroids and hastened her retirement upon the introduction of random drug-testing. Her death also is attributed to drug-abuse, but the belief is not supported by evidence. A popular cyclist who made the Tour de France virtually his own, Lance Armstrong, has over the years faced allegations of steroid abuse, but without a decisive conclusion.

Indian athletes have tested positive for steroids on occasions. The story of Sini Jose ,Ashwini Akkunji , the Ukranian coach and others in the past ten days has been a major scandal comparable to the Raja, Maran, Kani case. Kunjurani Devi, the star weight-lifter and one woman shuttler have experienced the mortification of testing positive during their sports career.

What compels a sportsman, an athlete to resort to drug-abuse?

The glory and fame of victory and the great amounts of prize money to be won . The headiness, of these allurements is so high that it suspends judgement and encourages cut-throat competition. There is a sense in which one can speak of a career in sport as a neck-or nothing gamble. But, even a gambler tries to play to win, not to lose, and his stakes are ever so high. Athletes work very hard… and then, when the performance is not consistent with the desire, anabolic steroids, performance enhancing drugs make their grand entry with the flourish of trumpets, world records, gold medals and money.One throw of dice in a competitive, surcharged atmosphere makes a Ben Johnson or a Yudhishtira out of an ordinary mortal.

Competition, is the villain of the piece. While Nature allows a great variety to exist, it also allows a method by which ’power’ is asserted in an interesting equilibrium.

In human society, despite all attempts to civilize and ethicize, there is no real attempt to establish an equilibrium. The balancing act is pure theory , of an academic nature, bearing no relation to the corpulent imagination of the nature of power. Power is a desire that scythes like a scimitar through the apparent strength of ethical and humane values. This desire manifests itself through ‘competition’, the mantra of capitalism and market economy. It is a pathogen that runs virulently through human organizations, and pits one organization against all others. There is no ‘healthy’ competition one can talk about. Competition is a cancer, whether malignant or benign, and always undesirable. Evolved individuals should be able to present their best, not with a view to condescension for the ‘other’ but with a spirit of celebration of the best that one is capable of, even improvement of ones own performance through greater application. The straight and narrow , even arduous path is what we may hope to take. Lady Macbeth’s chastisement of Macbeth ‘with the valour of [her] tongue’, the sense of despair with which she lashes out at him for being unable ‘to catch the nearest way’ will not do for us.

Competitive doping is every athlete’s attempt to catch the nearest way. Unless competition as a concept is erased from the consciousness of the human race, the taint of doping will continue to blacken Ashwini Akkunji, Sini Jose….

Kalmadi, Raja, and Kanimozhi.

Remember, Raja and Kanimozhli ,Maran and Kalmadi are competing for power, and are on a steroid-high much higher than Ben Johnson or Ashwini. Only Hitler and Chengiz Khan went higher.

The Song of Telan’gaana’

It is being sung.

The sizeable number of elected representatives who have submitted their resignations may have different motives and attitudes – from cautious optimism through excited anticipation to desperate recklessness.

But the man on the streets of Telangana is singing.

Every inch of the soil wells up with pride and with a song in its heart.

Has the Union government acceded to the demand and unveiled a roadmap?

No. But that does not matter. The shrill voice of the people has been heard and the Union government has been disturbed in its slumber. The song with all its harsh notes and unrhythmic beats has breached the soundproofed interiors of the places of power and pounded the deafened cochlea of a cocooned political party and its king-makers. When Bhagath Singh threw a bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly he explained his action thus: If the deaf are to hear, the sound has to be very loud. The song of Telan’gaana’ must perforce be harsh, and it has been so today. Never mind that this concerted shrillness has come much later than required. Better late than never.

The song is being sung.

Were the elected representatives cornered into a position they never wanted , into joining their voice to the symphony ? Let there be no illusions: They felt the compulsion like never before.The heat was turned on. And they resigned because they had no choice. And they will retract if the slightest opportunity presents itself. Chidambaram, Azad, Ahmed Patel will certainly try to sing a Man-mohak tune to lead the pack into a more harmonious melody. Their casual statements today notwithstanding, they’ll certainly have to conduct the affair now like Zubin Mehta conducting a philharmonic. But, anyone who resiles from today’s position will have to reckon with the song of fury the people will sing.The representatives know it. But, having sung different tunes at different times, they might, just might believe that they can continue to do so at their convenience. Not so, trills a little bird from somewhere. So…

Let everyone know that the breath has filled the lungs and is ready to blow the conch.

If the song turns into a roar, if the conch is blown, the Union government will quake in Hastina. In Hyderabad a tsunami will sweep in from the parched lands.

Anna’s song, the Supreme Court’s song,Telangana’s song – three notes in the Saptak, all vivadi swara in the raga of democracy… does the government want more?

Hope , NOT.

If the entire set of notes are sung at once, the resulting Omkaara will carry a nuclear charge this false government can not withstand.

Beware. The song is being sung.

The notes you hear are not just localized folk music. It is not just lokpal. It is not just a Supreme court’s direction for an SIT into Swiss and Liechtenstein Banks It is not just Telan’gaana’. It is the voice of the people of India who are fed up of a self-serving ruling class, a dissembling Congress, a rudderless BJP and a clueless CPM.

The song of Telangana is the song of everywhere.

Beware. The song is being sung.

The song is not of a regional aspiration. It is not divisive. It unifies the aspirations of all regions alike. And if smaller states is the route to achievement of aspirations, then so be it. The Congress can not suppress these aspirations lest its own dominance should be in danger.

When all notes are sung, there is no vivadi swara. The Congress enjoys vivad; vivad keeps it in power.

The song of Talangana asks for an end to vivad. Telangana; the million rubied veena sings for harmony.

Hind ,Bouddha, Sikha/ Jaina, Paarasika/ Musalmaana, Christaanii.

The song is being sung.

Jaswant’s Attitude to Fraud

The Old Brigadier is out of his mind.

With such members in the Party, the BJP needs no enemies.

Brigadier sahib wondered why Raja and Kanimozhi haven't been given bail.

"I personally feel, I am not a jurist or lawyer either by training or preference. I feel that somebody has been charged and that charge is not of heinous nature like robbery, murder or any such thing.”

In a country where millions exist on ONE rupee a day, and must be dying because the grain is rotting outside the warehouses and the Prime Minister adduces practical difiiculties when the Apex Court directs immediate public distribution as a solution to warehousing, rotting and hunger; in such a country, the magnitude of the frauds allegedly committed by Raja, Kani and Kalmadi nothing short of culpable homicide amounting to genocide, forget murder.

Jaswant’s comment that these worthies ,charged with such fraud and denied bail, have done nothing heinous , is surely indicative of moral depravity and geriatry gripping the once reasonably intelligent and dignified parliamentarian.

Whatever his understanding of the word ‘heinous’, and whatever his attitude to the actions of people’s elected representatives; whether his views are personal and untrained; at all events, Jaswant Singh must immediately retire from public life. His comments have done as much damage to the BJP’s image, as the Jana Lokpal issue has done to that of the Congress.

A studied silence would certainly have been a more suitable response than the insertion of a parenthetical disclaimer.
It is just a thought, but... did the treatment of Maria Susairaj in the Neeraj Grover murder case kind of tweak Jaswant’s understanding of ‘heinous crime’? A lot of people are wondering whether the Indian Judicial system really understands English... dicing and cubing a murdered body, does not appear sufficiently cold-blooded to warrant a rarest-of- rare treatment.

Jaswant ‘s comment on fraudsters is probably just the first indication of a possible fall-out of the lax judgement in the Grover case.