Pataudi ,theTiger ! Burning Bright

The Nawab of Pataudi, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, and Tiger Pataudi the cricketer who was known variously and for his varied abilioties will have a nice little chapter in a definitive history of Indian cricket.

When I first began following cricket as a 10 year-old, there was the Nawab ; in 1969 Indira Gandhi abolished the Privy Purses, and we got Mansoor ali Khan. The Tiger, however, remained constant. When he took the field to bat or to marshal the fielding and bowling resources, all of India waited expectantly, and the cricketing world looked on with great admiration and respect. He was very alert and quick on the field, quite astute as a captain, gave Indian cricket a direction with the spin-bowlers dominating batsmen all over the world, till Kapil Dev came in 1978. He was aggressive as a batsman, and aggressive as a teamsman. Only M.L. Jaisimha, Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni are comparable, while Kapil’s individual attacking game and Kumble‘s hunger for wickets compare person to person. Kumble and Dravid displayed attacking captaincy qualities but all too briefly.

What stands out about Tiger Pataudi is his overall attitude towards the game. He knew that the ball was there to be hit along the carpet or in the air, but hit certainly. When someone else hit it he had to stop it, not watch it roll over the boundary. And the match was there to be won or lost, not drawn out to a point of boredom as Geoff Boycott or Anshuman Gaekwad were won’t to do. Safety first , was a tactic that came in later years through other captains.

Pataudi will be remembered for many things: his opening over ,then the new ball tossed to Bedi; the ‘dropping’ of medium-pacer Subrata Guha for spinner Venkataraghavan after the playing eleven had first been announced; the loss of Captaincy to Ajit Wadekar by Vijay Merchant’s Casting Vote; the come back as captain against the WIndies in 1975 and a special treatment of Vanburn Holder after a ‘special‘ treatment from Andy Roberts; but most importantly his two knocks of over 70 in Australia handicapped with a hamstring injury beside the blind right eye.

For the 1967-68 series in Australia, ML Jaisimha was not in the touring team. By the end of the 2^nd Test, India was desperately looking for a strong player. An ‘injured’ Chandrasekhar was sent back and Jaisimha flown in. Jaisimha scored a memorable century joining the team virtually from off the aeroplane. I certainly don’t know the politics of it all, but wonder whether Pataudi and Jaisimha, both very accomplished and very proud players, were on the best of terms. It is often said the Jaisimha was the best captain India never had.

That’s not the only Hyderabad note in Pataudi’s life apart from his nephew, Saad Bin Jung’s remarkable century against the West Indies (after which he just faded away). Moin-ud-Dowla was a prestigious tournament in those days.Pataudi played for Hyderabad alongside Jaisimha, Abbas Ali Baig and Abid Ali, a bit of a star-cast you might say.

Star he was. Burning bright. Like Blake’s Tiger.

People Strike in Telangana

The Railway Strike of 1974, called by George Fernandez , lasting 20 days and involving over 1.5 crore railway workers, alone appears bigger than the current Telangana strike. The railway strike and the aftermath led to the imposition of Internal Emergency in 1975 and the subsequent churning in Indian politics changing it forever. This 7 day-old people’s strike is quite as total as a strike can be.

Whether this strike will have the desired impact or not may be a debatable point. But the strategic planning that has gone into it is nothing short of a marvel. The stages by which it is being intensified and implemented merits close analytic attention ; and the minds of the people at the helm of affairs are definitely shrewd. Barring sporadic incidence of violence, by and large the strike has been peaceful. And it has crippled the functioning of the administrative as well as the civil machinery quite emphatically. Where will this lead to? Let it be admitted:Even the most visible faces of the Telangana Movement may not be able to steer the course with the deftness displayed till now. Is chaos set to prevail?

The Centre and the State are ‘watching’ or making ad hoc moves which can do no observable good. It is important for leaders to display statesmanship in this situation. People of this now-untenable State must not be treated as sacrificial pawns in the political chess games of the Congressmen at Hyderabad and Delhi. An active engagement by way of all inclusive and wide-ranging dialogue is an immediate need. The waiting and the deferment are no longer acceptable. Whether there are any compromise formulas or whether all options but the creation of a new state are closed, is less of an issue than the immediate expression of intent to address the problem.

Yet, the Centre and the State are almost unwilling to acknowledge that a problem exists. Then, will they act with urgency to provide solutions?

I expect not.

They behave like monarchs, not democratic governments.I don’t think they are familiar with the famous words: “When Fate summons, monarchs must obey.”

Is anyone listening?

Telangana and the Central Government

With the participation of coal-miners, and of State Government Employees, the strike called by the proponents of Telangana has begun today on a scale that promises to grow larger than the ‘rulers’ expected.

Anna Hazare and YS Jagan, in a sense, took national focus away from the issue.

Let it be said that the interregnum gave the Telangana people time to recoup and plan in such a way that this time the issue may be ignored only at great peril to the powers that be.

What is the UPA government doing?

Why does the Congress send its emissary only two days before the strike is all set to begin?

And why does a Congress government in this State adopt postures it can hardly sustain?

For a moment, let it be imagined that ESMA and other provisions and strategies succeed in defusing

this event now, in a few days, without much damage to the people and the economy of this state.

Will that clear the issue once for all?

Hardly.The polarization is so complete now, that there can only be an even bigger event of unimaginable proportions.

The Congress at the Centre and the State is very definitely pushing in that direction, when people will no longer cook and eat on the streets, or sing and dance. A macabre dance is waiting in the wings for a beckoning history to gesture vigorously enough. Evidently the Centre does not see well and hears little. When the macabre dance unveils itself, the Centre will really be caught unawares. As in Anna’s case, it will make all the mistakes it can before making its customary knee-jerk attempts to resolve the issue.

How sore and listless, how bowed and buffetted to keep ones own counsel; what dire times and governing stars reign unseen! Ha! Manmohan; ’fore civil strife and rot general spread, wake thou, if thou couldst thy political sense and yield ground to the venturesome AlexChanders and Kodands.They that make their fortunes shall make thine, too.Must ye choose t’mar theirs, be thou marred in thine…

Ten Years since 9/11

Because Nature does not destroy mankind the way it destroys most life forms, it gave him intelligence.

He learns unending ways of destroying himself.

There is something of a celebratory rituality about this self-destruction.

He celebrates destruction as victory, and gives it moral names Nature looks on with an air of slight amusement.

A random sample of events in history will suffice to strengthen this view.

9/11 and the succeeding reign of terror is one of a series of such destructive actions of intelligent man.

Religion, power, science, aggression and defense, ethics are names and values man gives to these self-destructive activities. And celebrates them more fiercely than he does compassion , love(making), child-birth, music, poetry and art. Because the intelligence Nature gives man is the instrument of destruction, not the impulse of life. As Ann Stevenson points out in her poem, ‘the sprit is too blunt an instrument’ to create the tenderness of the delicate and complex curves of the ear of a baby.

Osama, Obama, Dubya and Mohd. Atta , and everyone who made and recalls 9/11 is essentially admitting that Nature has outwit them and their gestures are an affirmation that they are carrying out Nature’s Will as it willed.

Two Home Ministers and a Quake

One Home Minister was busy changing his suits, it is said, when Mumbai was under siege of terrorists. He eventually lost his cabinet berth and occupied a workless place worth plenty of privilege and protocol.

Another was probably polishing his parliamentary speech for the day when the Delhi High Court suffered a sledge-hammer punch. The bomb-blast took 11 lives and wounded about 70 people at a fairly early hour in the morning.. The Home Minister was at pains to explain that the country was saddened by this grievous attack, although it was doing its best to prevent such events. Among the major measures undertaken to prevent terrorist strikes were:

1. Scrutiny of tenders to buy CCTV cameras for installation at the High Court;
2. Refining ones English –speaking skills to condemn such attacks in more sophisticated ways;
3. Conducting research into the Opposition party’s record of handling such events when they were last in power;
4. Appearing more concerned than the last time on TV and in the parliament
5. Sounding a Red Alert all over the country.

Excellent, Mr. Home Minister. The terrorists are beginning to quake in their shoes. Their fear showed that night at 11.28. Delhi and other places recorded 4.2 on the Richter scale.

The Home Minister had earlier reacted quickly to the demand for a separate Telangana. That also led to a quake, of a different kind ,though. The after-shocks have not ceased yet. But his alacrity in response has been noticed by one and all. Time he got his reward, too--- a guv’nor’s post and relief from the responsibilities of the Home Ministry.

The PM faces a tough task. Who should be appointed Home Minister?

General Musharraf. He knows all about plotting for bomb blasts; so he’ll be able to monitor the suspicious movements and control the mysterious ways of terrorists.

***Unny's Cartoon in today's Hindu newspaper With Chidambaram watching his reflection in the mirror to find Shivraj Patil was an apt comment.

The Privilege Motions

Om Puri and Kiran Bedi face privilege motions for having spoken against the Loksabha members

Om Puri said the MPs are ‘naalaayak’, ‘nikamma’, ‘anpadh’ and ‘ganwaar’.

That, apparently ,is a breach of privilege of the MPs.

I agree.

Om Puri should not have described themselves as such

They alone have the right and the privilege to describe themselves accurately. Who is Om Puri to take away their rights?

Remember, how once upon a time there was an old man in a hurry, one Mr. Deve Gowda who was Prime Minister? Some MP called him nikamma. In a spirited defense, before handing the baton to IK Gujral, Mr. Gowda who knew little Hindi, asked : What is this ‘nikamma’? Nikkamma… akkamma…

Clearly, if the PM could say that on the floor of the House, it is no longer an unparliamentary word. After all ,it was used to describe the Prime Minister of India , damn it !

Actually, all these words and much worse have been used in many legislatures across the country. The Speakers of these Houses have long been reduced to instructing the secretaries to refrain from taking anything on record. They and the secretaries are so accustomed to it, probably very often they babble in sleep… nothing on record… kuch record mein nahiin jaayega.

As for Kiran Bedi, the mimicry was very poor. She could hardly match a back-bencher in antics. Really, there are a good many law-makers who do a far superior mimicry of democracy than Kiran Bedi could ever hope to match.

So, what privilege was breached?

Nothing . The MPs and the parliament are supreme, and Om Puri and Kiran Bedi are poor imitators. The parliament should send them to the National School of Drama, give them enough time to really learn, and then decide whether they are capable of saying anything that amounts to a trespass. Of parliamentary privilege.

The Cynic and the Sainik

So Arundhati Roy has voiced the belief of most people that Anna Hazare has been used by by foreign-funded NGO s, and that the whole thing, a regressive bill, and the events of the last fortnight were driven by considerations other than the best interests of the Indian people. Lots of people all over India were taken for a ride.

Great.

Political parties and party-men take Indians for a ride.

NGOs and Foreign Agencies take Indians for a ride.

Men posturing as Messaiahs take Indians for a ride.

Babas (Godmen) posturing as Men take Indians for a ride.

White people posturing as bearers of civilization take Indians for a ride.

Indians posing as Indians take Indians for a ride.

You can draw up your lists of people and agencies which take Indians for a ride.

Are Indians so stupid that they lend themselves so easily to impostors? If yes, then we deserve to be… fully.

I don’t believe we are stupid. We are only at loggerheads with each other because of certain laws of Nature by which we are all , in gigantic numbers, fighting for scarce resources. Scarce by political and industrial design, not by Nature.

If we are to survive this exploitative phase, we must leave the cynics to indulge themselves.

And we must follow the Gandhi-Anna Hazare mode… turn into Sainiks and put Sibals, Advanis, Chidambarams, Sushmas and Umas, Manish Tiwaris, Arun Jaitleys in their place.

A huge force of sainiks can keep the cynics from making demoralizing statements. Only demoralized people are taken for a ride. We shall no longer lend our shoulders for these cynics to hop on .Enough of this being taken for a ride. Aundhati Roy speaks the same language as Sibal and Chidambaram … only the dialect is different .Debaters play with idiom… the issue always is I, me, myself.

The cynics are weak ,half-believers in their casual creeds, and talkers.

Sainiks will have to be disciplined, ready to understand the anguish and the language of the people, ready to follow good leaders and build a nation of believers, and workers. The beliefs and the work can be very simple. Food-security for all; desi kapda for all; a shelter over each ones head; complete freedom from harassment, both internal and external.

Very big task. Needs strong sainiks (Volunteers of Shiva and of National Reconstruction must leave their Gods and their ‘heritage-driven’ ideologies before joining this force) .

Are we game?

Back Again

Having been busy with some house-keeping for some days, I'm back to my pastime.

Not that anyone may have missed me; but that I missed the activity.

So the next three posts deal with issues which have current significance but are already 'old' in terms of media-speeds. This is indulgence , but blogging , as a good friend pointed out, are indulgence.

And my first blog spelt out my motto. Koyi na miley tau akeyley mein gaana...

On with it, then...