This blog page has shifted!

Yes, after over 4 years of writing and taking out my frustrations, I have finally shifted to a new blog, at shayonpal.com. So, if you are still interested to read my posts, kindly sift your ass to my new home! ;-)

India Votes- And what a Verdict...

If there is real drams ever to be captured... the best would be the Voting and formation of the government here in India.

When the largest democracy in the world goes out to vote- Its a war for the seat. Its a war to reach that ultimate source of Power.

In about the last two odd decades- whenevr India has voted, it has been very predictable. The era of a Hung Parliament it seems is on a decline.

The General elections that happened this time- Have reopened the doors for the Gandhi Family to the throne... let us see if it works out that way. But- in way, the people of India have voted for a government that looks forward rather than looking backwards... 

I agree that- Manmohan Singh cannot compete with Obama, when it comes to the age factor... but I do believe that Mr. Singh, has much more experience than Mr. Obama. Lets not forget that this is the man who introduced the era of Globalization and liberalization in the country. 

India belives in this man with soft features, humble attitude and the all too famous Blue turban.

But- if on one hand, India believes in experience, it has also shoen faith in the young Blood. Even though the stats say that average age of an MP in the 15th Lok Sabha is 50 +, there are 79 MP's who are the young blood. And, the credit of this goes entirely to Rahul Gandhi ( I am BIG Fan) . His strategies along with tireless campaigns and rallies, made sure that his Party gets a strong foothold in the country. 

If this election was Change of Picture for the congress... it has completely shaken the other Parties that were trying to be the King Makers...

1. BJP:  The party which was so sure...fell flat on their face. Many believe that it was the negative campaigning as opposed to the positive campaigning of the Congress. I agree. Whereas BJP was targetting petty issues and failures of Congress... and doing all the Mudslinging... Congress, was just advertising about the work that they have accomplished over the pat 5 years. Another thing that I believe that worked against them was The Prodigal son of the Gandhi Family- Varun. His hate speech, did not really work for the Youth.

2. Left:  They have totally been left out. Seems that in West Bengal an era has come to an End... and a new chapter is going to begin. Just one lil line here, I read on Facebook... "Prakash Karat not being on TV for the next 5 years is itself worth 500 points on the Sensex" That sums it all up.

3. BSP:  Thank Heavens... she is nowhere near the PM's post. It would have been a suicide... had that happened... Everyone was comparing Mayawati with Obama... there is a HUGE difference- He knows how to speak in Public... and is well mannered. Look at her guts- On losing Uttar Pradesh- she accused voters of not supporting her...man... 

4. SP: Though they get Uttar Pradesh... but well- Amar Singh is begging to join the Government. 

5. Lalu Ji: He has also tasted defeat... and in what a manner... though, he has been invited to talk to Sonia ji... He learned his lesson- Work for the people and they will love you.

Well- Most of all- I am very happy that the Youth made the right choice. I have always advocated the importance of Youth in our society and how we can truely make a difference... and Change has slowly begun.

Flouting the Norms... how the hell can they Make laws??

When they themselves can't stick to regulations that have been made for them???

The 'they' in question are the Politicians the great...!!!

And the norm in question are the various kinds as put down by the Election Commission of India. ECI had put a limit on the campaign spending... as per the little news item.. in the newspaper- The Cap was 25Lakh Rupees, but with the campaigns that are being aired in all forma of media... crores and crores, is the estimate that has been put down.

And, not to forget, that most of the Lok Sabha candidates happen to have some sort of criminal cases going against them... 

Its such an irony- That the Legislators, the ones who make laws... have no respect for any sort of rules or regulations or the laws of land...!!! 

A Few Question

I got a forwarded mail (Despite all my detestation of this particular genre of mails, and despite my whole-hearted sincere efforts of dissuading people from sending me such stuff, I still keep getting them by the dozens each week). The same stuff was here. My patriotism was being instigated to forward a certain mail to all whom I could. The content was funny.
The mail spoke of how Abhinav Bindra achieved a gold medal and got Rs.3cr from the government, but a security personnel who had laid down his life fighting terrorists got only 5 lacs. It spoke of how millions are given to cricketers who just play a game, and nothing to those who play with their lives for the country's sake. It indicted the politicians and government for not giving proper value to those who deserve. Finally it told me - 'be a patriot, forward this to as many people as you can'.
Isn't this funny? To begin with, it may not be fair to give only 5 lacs to a martyr, but how is it unfair to give away 3 cr to someone who achieved the first ever solo Olympic gold medal in the history of the country? Doesn't this speak of narrow mentality? Which believs that all that matters is what you have done militarily for the country. We must not forget that a truly developed nation doesn't only have a deadly arsenal. It is also a leader in all fields, be it sports, cinema or other forms of art.
Who runs cricket in our country? Certainly not the government. Its the BCCI, a private body. It is the richest cricket body in the world. And who made it so? We, the people of this country, who treat it as a religion. So if someone is so angry at cricketers being paid so much, ask people to not pay for it, simple. Why blame the government?
I found this important, because it reflects a few character traits we seem to have developed. To begin with, we feel all our responsibilities end with blaming the politicians. As if had it not been for them, we would have been the best country in the world by now. We criticize them for being corrupt, but dont think twice about giving a bribe to get some work done. We dont go to vote, and blame our elected representatives. We are always right, its them who are wrong. But who chose them? Also, we associate frivolous things with patriotism. Patriotism is not forwarding a mail, or voting for the Taj Mahal. It is about fighting to change it for the better. It is about doing your own bit honestly and to the best of your capabilities, as the message in Swades says. It is not in believing that your country is the best, but in believing that it can be made better through your efforts. Are we realising??

The Dance Begins...

The Biggest Democratic Elections are almost a Month a away and the Dance to reach the highest seat of authority has begun.

But unlike the reality show ' Dancing with the Stars', we can't eliminate the ones that we don not like every week. And, we only have one chance to make the difference. To make sure that the Right People are put at the place.

The Elections dates have been announced.

The First phase starts on the 13th of April and the last Phase is on 13th May. The counting will happen on one day for all the constituencies- 16th May. Therefore in the coming two months we will have  a new Government.

24% of the Voting population is between 18 - 25 years. And, 43 Million is the number of new voters that have been added in the electoral rolls since 2004.

So, what is it that is going really sway the elections this time??

US- The Youth.

Guys, its once in a 5 years chance that is coming our way. Lets make a difference... and Vote. Vote Wisely.

Stand up for the values of the Gen X... and make the right choices. And, for further information on the Dance of Democracy... and the role that we can play in the Coming General elections... join the Lead India Initiative.

Its time for Change. Lets make it Happen.

Learning from the Manglore Issue..

I found this article while surfing the net.

Its by Vir Sanghvi.

You can follow the link and read it at the actual source, or read it below.

"Learning Lessons from Manglore

Vir SanghviSun, Feb 8 01:40 AM

Most of us will have been encouraged by some of the political responses to the attack on pub-goers in Mangalore. Even Rajnath Singh, not usually perceived as a pillar of the liberal establishment, delivered a ringing condemnation of the assaults and most political parties joined the chorus of disapproval. The politicians - and many media commentators - based their criticisms of the assault on two separate liberal principles. The first was: nobody can take the law into his or her own hands. It is legitimate to strongly object to something but quite unacceptable to forego due process and take direct action. The second principle was the traditional liberal one of 'live and let live'. I may disapprove of what you do but unless your actions directly harm me I have no right to stop you. This principle has been used to argue that even if the lunatics on the fringes of the Sangh parivar found the pubs objectionable, they had no business preventing those who liked the so-called 'pub culture' from enjoying it. Both principles are strong and well-established and I can see why they have been quoted. They are usually used by politicians and editorial writers to condemn attacks on cinema halls showing Fire, on shops selling Valentine's Day cards, etc. etc. But here's my problem: I think we need to go beyond the standard liberal denunciations of the Mangalore violence because the usual objections seem to me to be entirely inadequate here. The real issues run much deeper. Go to the politicians who have condemned the Mangalore attack, ask them a few significant questions and see what responses you get. Ask Rajnath Singh, for instance, what he thinks of the so-called 'pub culture'. My guess is that he will say that he disapproves of it entirely because it goes against Indian culture. Ashok Gehlot has already been asked this question and delivered an attack on 'pub culture'. (Later, when it was pointed out to him that his response came off as toeing the Sangh parivar line, he quickly amended it to say that he was only against alcoholism - but by then, the damage had been done.) Go further. Ask this question of L.K. Advani. Of Lalu Prasad Yadav. Of Mayawati. My guess is they'll all say the same thing: that going to pubs is against 'Indian culture'. That's my problem with the liberal position that is being used to condemn the Mangalore attacks. Politicians will say they disapprove of the violence and shed tears over the incident. But they will still support the cause and agenda of the goondas. This was brought out most clearly in the response of the Karnataka Chief Minister who issued the routine condemnation but then followed it up with a ringing denunciation of the 'pub culture'. He was a liberal, he said. He did not mind if people went out to eat 'non-veg' (wow!). But it was against our very cultural traditions to go drinking in pubs at night. My fear is that we will allow the politicians to fool us. Because they appear to making the right condemnatory noises, we do not realise that, in essence, their views are no different from those of the hoodlums, who attacked the pub. It is only the methods that they are quibbling over. At the root of the against-our-cultural-traditions argument is a specious notion of what culture is. What the politicians are saying is that culture is static; that it is the sum total of social practices at any given time. Any deviation from those practices represents a dangerous drift away from all the things that make us Indian. This is so flawed an argument that it is plain silly. What is Indian culture, in this sense, anyway? Is it sati? That was an established practice once upon a time. Is it untouchability? Is it dowry? Is it beef-eating? (We know that the Vedic Aryans ate beef.) Is it forcing widows to wear white? All of us would agree that none of these things represents Indian culture as we know it. Yet, there was a time when all these practices were part of the cultural consensus. And deviations from them were vigorously opposed as being alien to our cultural traditions. The truth is that culture is never static; it changes over time. If the BJP wants us to go back to the roots of ancient Indian culture then where do we stop? At sati? At wearing unstitched clothes? It is entirely legitimate for Yeddyurappa or Gehlot or other politicians to disapprove of bars or of alcohol. But they have no right to define Indian culture or to claim that it should be frozen in time. They are not the custodians of our culture. And my guess is that politicians don't even understand what culture is anyway. There is a second, worrying element to the Mangalore attacks that, despite Renuka Chowdhury's agitated response, seems to have passed without much comment from other politicians. Have you noticed how every time male politicians jump up and down shouting about threats to our culture, the issue nearly always involves the freedom and choices of women? Think about it. When Sharad Yadav is in full flow, it is 'baal-katti' women he objects to. When M.A. Naqvi protests about TV coverage of 26/11, he complains about women who wear lipstick. When R.R. Patil wants to shut down Bombay's beer bars (as he successfully did), it's not the beer he objects to but the women dancers. When the Sangh parivar wants to ban Fire, it is because the film shows two women in a lesbian relationship. Nobody objects to the homosexual sub-text of Dostana - hell, they probably identify with it. Similarly, when Hindu communalists attack the crew of Water, it is because the film shows how badly we treat our widows. Make a film about how badly we treat our adivasis or dalits and nobody will care. Even moral policing, as we call it, is really about keeping women in check. Why do policemen and political hoodlums crack down on courting couples? Only because they think it is 'immoral' or wrong (or 'against Indian culture') for women to be allowed to display affection with men of their choice. What angers me the most about the Mangalore attack is that the agenda is not really anti-alcohol or about any concern for India's cultural traditions. It is about controlling women. The pubs had been going for a while but the hoodlums had never attacked them. When they launched their assault it was directed at the women in the pub. It was the very presence of women, their exercise of their free choice to drink and their decision to sit with men that so angered the political goondas. All this is more worrying than the simple fact of vigilantes taking the law into their own hands. Of course it is wrong to do that - as all the politicians have dutifully pointed out. But that's not the real issue. The crisis within our society is not just about random acts of violent political protest. It is the unspoken agreement between politicians across parties that it is entirely legitimate to deny Indian women the same rights as men; that they cannot have any sexual or romantic choices of their own; and that if they dare enjoy themselves in the way that men do (in a pub, for instance), they will be punished and made to suffer. The BJP holds forth about intolerance and about how women get a bad deal within the Muslim community. But does it have any right to complain about Talibanisation when members of the extended parivar do much the same thing and BJP Chief Ministers suggest that apart from the violence, they agree with these retrograde positions? These are the questions we need to ask - not just of the BJP, but of all of India's politicians. Let's not be fobbed off with platitudes about how all violence is bad. Let's get to the core issues: what right do these jokers have to define Indian culture? And why do modern Indian women make our male politicians so insecure? Is it because they are even more inadequate than we realise??"

I completely agree with what Mr. Sanghvi has to say.

How can the so called keepers of Morals, and Indian culture define 'Indian Culture' when they themselves have no morals or ethics?

We are still there...

Recession has surely stuck really hard...!!!

This blogpage is back to being a blogspot from a .com page.

But, I am going to try and make sure that recession the form posts doesn't hit the page.

I know that it has been a long time since a post has been put up on this page. But, I am going to try really hard to make sure that posts are put up on Shayon's Labyrinth, more often.

Dear Reader,

You have been the constant support to the page... please remain so.

And We are going to give you some great reads. For sure. Atleast try... to do just that.

Thanks, and keep coming back.