Deve Gowda, to me, is The Go(w)d…Ask me why ?

Deve, in all the languages I know of, means God …and Gowd sounds like God, albeit with a twist ….of course – with a Twist…So here is The God – with the twist….and what more he acts like one too.

So, The Go(w)d, as I lovingly call him, is beyond the realm of my understanding…When I hear this name the one thing that comes to my mind is his ardent love for sleep…It appears that he has been deprived of sleep throughout his life- a la Kumbhkarn ! Everywhere he went, every word he spoke, every step he took – he symbolized senility, boredom, sleepishness etc etc..How long can one sleep, by the way? ….I’ve not sneaked into his bedroom…nor have I ever dreamt of, but yes the question lingers.

Deve Gowda – Tussi Go(w)d ho!….I mean Go(wd) of Sleep

That was the image that I had about him till about a few years ago…

..And then began the power struggle in Karnataka. We know how the Dharam Singh government was toppled. Although they say, it wasn’t without his blessing – it is quite in the open how much The God loved his children just like any other man on earth. The children a.k.a  The Prince & His Anna (Read Kumaraswamy & Revanna) were a victim of his nepotistic tendencies..or rather beneficiaries, should I say?. ..And they say his party is called Janata Dal which means party for the people, where all the people are his family members.

Deve Gowda – Tussi Go(w)d ho!….Really!

…And did I mention about his aversion to anything that is remotely called “development”.  No, I  wasn’t going to speak on that…Today he proved me right, in front of the media – Showering his blessings for the CM – Haven’t seen yet ?  See it here.

Not that I am a big fan of Yeddy, but these kind of showers does help The God’s cause in  enhancing his image as the “Biggest” Go(w)d of his times. And if that is not enough, his son – erstwhile CM, emerges and supports his dad.

Jaisa Pita, Vaisa hi Putr…..Oops! Suputr!

Yeah right – you say that the CM is a Ba@$%@#d and say later, this was said because he was stressed. WTF ?  And we speak of moral standard for ourselves, our politicians and the society in general. Imagine the plight of the millions of kids who would be idolizing The God….oops, The Go(w)d.

What lessons?!..Wah bhai wah! …Tussi wakeyi Go(w)d ho ji!

Surprised that this has not caused a furore yet on the Twitterati or anywhere else…So here is my contribution to the twitter world – my first of sort. I am creating a hashtag called #TussiGowdHo…Similar Posts:

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Hillary Clinton’s visit to India last week paved another path for bilateral ties. Defense deals, new trade agreements, joint ventures to fight climate change etc., are some of the key highlights of discussion during Hilary’s visit to India. Given the mandate that this election has thrown out coupled with Obama’s vision for India, the number of opportunities between India and US will only grow north.

If I were a business man and I had some innovative concepts or planning to expand my current footing, the first thing that I would do is to look at countries like India and China. Assuming I had a few million dollars to plan for a plethora of activities, my first few activities would include doing a survey, understanding the local requirements, hiring a team of experts locally, assigning them responsibilities, setting them targets and working with them to achieve my goals. Easier said than done, right ?

Now lets think practically – How many of us have a few million dollars to spare ? How many of us can afford to go to India often, stay there for a while and establish practically everything from scratch – A handful ?

A difficult proposition considering the effort required to set up your office, infrastructure, team etc., right ? So, what happens when you land in India – How will you be treated ? Will you be cheated ? How are the hotels ? Is everyone transparent enough ? What is your support level ? Who can you contact, in case you need help ? Do you need to take insurance ? How can you trust the doctors there ?

A million questions in your mind and you don’t have your answers. You wish there were answers to all these questions, so you could happily venture out in India without having to worry about individual and organizational credibility. You wish there was a helping hand to walk you through your road to success. You wish there was someone responsible who answered all your queries. You just wished !

Until about a few years ago, these wishes would have been mere wishes, with entrepreneurs and businessmen wading in the dark experimenting with the truth and reality of life in India. But now, things are different, way different than you can imagine.

A company called Entry India has made the life easier for Americans to start business in India. In their own words

Our Mission at Entry India is to Bring India Opportunities and US Businesses Closer.

The First Step towards this is to be aware of the ‘opportunity’. Our opportunity reports are specially designed for small businesses, start-up companies and investors to quickly size up the opportunity and get prepared to seize it. Our personalized approach to collect, organize, validate, and disseminate information is uniquely effective in overcoming entry barriers and ensuring successful outcomes for you.

India is beckoning U.S. companies. Let us take you there.

Entry India has recently completed their Delhi Travel Directory . Whether you are traveling to India for pleasure, business, study or medical care, the best way to ensure a successful and hassle free trip is to be thoroughly prepared for the trip. Delhi Travel Directory covers important information for planning your trip to Delhi and practical personal, business and government contact numbers and information you will need while in Delhi. It is a resource created by Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) for NRIs to make their endeavors in Delhi successful especially when they visit Delhi for personal or business purposes.

Like Delhi, there are plans to come up with Directories for Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai etc. What more? Each of the associates/address listed in this directory are handpicked and qualified by Entry India LLC. It can’t get better!

Dr. Mahendra Pratap, one of the partners with Entry India, presented ‘Doing Business in India’ at the 14th BMM Convention’s US-India Trade Fair/Expo on July 04th, 2009. Here is a glimpse of the presentation.

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In 2 weeks, India has moved from cautious to infected. The numbers continue to grow on a daily basis. For a disease that is highly contagious and with symptoms that could be easily mistaken for common ailments, the danger is omnipresent for a nation like ours – rich in people, average in medicare and poor in awareness.

Thankfully, India has finally raised a travel advisory yesterday. They have also requested for infected nations to screen air passengers at the source rather than just at the destination. The media is trying to bring in awareness to the masses and doctors and hospitals immediately refering suspect cases to the Govt. medicare centers.

Despite all this, a suspect escaped from a hospital quarantine a couple of days back. Officials were seen desperately trying to track down fellow passengers from flights that brougnt in confirmed cases to the country. Govt. centers are trying to arrange for adequate stocks of Tamiflu and Relenza. All this as research is now showing that H1N1 can further mutate to resist these drugs and yet hoping for a vaccine in then next 3 months.

As science tries to find a solution, and research better ways to counter the threat, we must acknowledge that no one  is beyond this danger. Thankfully H1N1 is still treatable and many nations are already prepared to (hopefully) contain it.

Prevention is better than cure. If you are interested to know more about H1N1, visit the WHO pages for:
- All about H1N1 and latest updates
- What each of us need to know about reducing risk of infection
- How we can help our our communities fight this dread

Spread the word! Awareness is the need of the day.

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I’ve had a lot of fun watching both these leagues unfold over the last few months. If the ride up to these events was fun, the actual events and the end result was very heartening to see indeed. Here is my take on five big lessons learnt from these leagues:

1. Planning & execution is the key to success:

The Congress pulled off a few rabbits off their hat. Sweeping the polls in states that have never been their bastion, the Congress clearly showed that planning and executing well is the key to success. The cricket league had something pretty similar to showcase too. Teams ranked 7 and 8 in the inaugural edition of the IPL played the finals and it was ironic enough that the tables turned and turned literally. The team that finished last a year ago was the winner. Gilly, the man behind this turn around has in interviews revealed the secret of this turn around – Some good planning, learning from mistakes and some smart execution.

2. There’s no place for “Left” overs:

The Left, a major opponent of development was ousted. In what I believe is a fitting message for them to change and embrace development, the Indian electorate showed that we want to move on. In subsequent interviews, the leaders of the Left, snorting under the message they received said that their party was out of touch with the ground reality! WOW! Did it need Einstein to figure this out?

Wasn’t Somnath Chatterjee saying the same thing a while ago? The story wasn’t different in the cricket league  either – Ganguly, the Lord who can’t field, run or bat was a poor shadow of himself. Being a passenger on the slow moving good train that was KKR, he for sure played his last ever game. Should I say I was fortunate enough to see him play his last? . Laxman, the rock star of test cricket and a spectator in T20 was asked to go home mid-way with the champion side. He was rusty to say the best and played his part “motivating” the team on the benches for a large part of the second half!

3. Charge of the “Youth” brigade:

While old is not necessarily out, youth for sure is in. From Rahul Gandhi to all those young chaps who’ve become members of Parliament, this is a new beginning. There’s for a moment no discounting the old hands here – but the guy’s who actually made it through are the finest and probably the fittest. While I’d love to believe that it’s the case always, there are a few exceptions too right?

How else can you explain an 81 year old with prime ministerial aspirations running the race and winning too? The sane can be said if a former Finance minister who won by the skin of his teeth – there’s a sect of people that believe he didn’t but, is controversy ever away from Indian politics? With the cricket, the Suresh Raina’s and the Rohit Sharma’s continue to impress driving home the fact that Indian cricket is in safe hands. If that wasn’t enough, the emergence of Kamran Khan and Manish Pandey is more testimony to this fact. Welcome to the future – the big turn is just around the corner

4. Failure is an orphan:

From being the toast of Indian cricket ( I still believe he is), MSD wasn’t a part of the dream team that the Chairman of selectors put together. At the expense of stating the obvious, I find it ridiculous that a semi final loss actually had such a steep fall for poor MS. Don’t worry MS – you hold all the keys with your young guns – this is a freaking domestic league at the end of it. Don’t let these distractions take anything away from you.. we need you and nee you in full flow for the other big things coming up. These spineless souls will soon be singing your praises! On the political side, the queen makers if you will, had such a fall. From being courted, wined and dined, they were all dropped like hot potatoes (don’t tell me they look like one now please!) from the moment the lead results started to come out. So much for loyalties and alliances eh!

5. Don’t burn bridges, especially by wagging your tongue:

The cake goes to out former Railway minister. After having a good 5 yrs at the helm, he fell apart with the leadership and went on record to say that the Congress will not win more than 3 seats in Bihar. He didn’t stop there, going on to criticize Sonia and the party that he has been associated with for a good 5 yrs. Guess what happened? Our friend won just 3 seats instead and had to eat humble pie – but to his credit, he came out and said he made a mistake! He went to Delhi with his tail between his legs saying I will provide my unconditional support! What does 3 mean when someone already has 300+ mate? What happened on the cricket?

The war of words on the proposed multi captain theory had its share of fallouts – While people love to talk and comment, this war broke an already divided house into pieces of garlic bread that everyone was content to just eat! From being the butt of all jokes to finishing last on the table, they saw it all. The extent of the damage that these talk have done is still being estimated ( hopefully, Fake IPL players predictions on changes to this team will seal it). The piece I loved the most was a commentator on TV saying, forget winning here – I understand… but look at the fair play awards list, KKR are last here too!! I can tell you one thing for a fact – this commentator has no role to play in any future KKR team. Will he want to is a different question though!

With these leagues over, I realize that my evenings are never going to be the same again. TV shows will be back in vogue – but what the hell, the cricket is just around the corner you see!

Image Credit: Tom@HKSimilar Posts:

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Unfortunately, in our country, the power I wield is very ephemeral. Till I get another chance after 5 years at pressing that button again, the people whom I am supposed to have anointed to rule over my destiny run amuck. They amass wealth, plunder, and run rough-shod over the people on whose behalf they govern. During those 5 years, I become part of an amorphous, formless crowd. Let me tell you the sad story of Dr.Binayak Sen so that you may understand the other side of the dance of democracy.

Young Binayak wanted to be a doctor and he went to C.M.C, Vellore to do his M.B.B.S in 1966. He was a gold medalist and was selected to do M.D course in paediatrics. Here again he excelled and was among the top students. He then joined the faculty of the Centre for Social Medicine at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Though as a bright doctor the world was his for the asking, his idealism led him to join a rural health programme in Madhya Pradesh.

Later, he And his wife, Illina, a teacher, chose to go to rural Chattisgarh, to work with mine workers’ unions. The husband-wife team plunged headlong into various projects aimed at improving the rural health and education of the community. The tribal Adivasis lived in a world of abject poverty, injustice and a system that bred exploitation. He then worked for a salary of Rs.600.

Dr. Sen and his wife, Dr. Ilina Sen, founded Rupantar, a community-based organization aimed at training and supporting community health workers in several villages, fighting against alcohol abuse and violence against women. Dr. Sen has been involved in various other organizations committed to developing a low-cost, effective, community health programme in the tribal and rural areas of Chhattisgarh. He holds the postion as the Vice President of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).

It soon became clear to him that health of the community he sought to serve was linked to organized movement towards attainment of human rights. He raised his voice against human rights violations and the fake encounters involving supposed Maoists. He also spoke up against the war waged by the government of Chhattisgarh against the adivasis in Dantewara in the name of Salwa Judum which is an army of private citizens armed and supported by the government supposedly to fight the menace of the Maoists. What Salwa Judum initiative has achieved is to pit Adivasis against Adivasis and break their bond and unity.

On 14 May 2007 Dr Binayak Sen was arrested and thrown into a Raipur prison on trumped up charges of supporting Naxal activity in Chhattisgarh. He is charged under various draconian laws pertaining to sedition, waging war against State under various sections of the repressive Chhatisgarh Special Public Security Act, 2005 and the Unlawful Activities Act, 2004 (Amended) and various sections of the IPC. He has been denied bail though the case against him is very weak. To compound matters, Dr.Sen has a weak heart condition and he has been denied permission to get treated in Vellore Medical Mission hospital.

Two years of continuing sentence in jail is the price a non-violent, peace loving Dr.Binayak Sen has paid for giving three decades of his life for the sake of the poor and the voiceless. It is a shame that we in India allow a person like him to be sent to jail while carrying on our shoulders some elected looters and murderers masquerading as our leaders. Just as we celebrate the greatness of our democracy through these elections, Dr.Sen’s case should prick our conscience. In this case, the less said about the Indian judiciary, the better. It has repeatedly denied Dr Sen bail for two years.

Is it not frightening when the state wages a war against its own citizens and the rights of the individual is confined only to the constitution? What is even more depressing is that Dr.Sen is a non-issue for most of us Indians.

There is a nice quote from Martin Niemoller to wake us up. “First they came for the Jews. I was silent. I was not a Jew. Then they came for the Communists. I was silent. I was not a Communist. Then they came for the trade unionists. I was silent. I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for me. There was no one left to speak for me.”

At the heart of democracy is the right of the Individual. The rights of the individual should last beyond the act of voting. It should last a life time. We have a long way to go.

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Unfortunately for them, their vision of success could not be replicated in the field during the first season of IPL. While Shah Rukh’s Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) came 6^th in the field of 8 teams, Mallya’s Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) finished at the 7^th position. Mallya gave vent to his frustration by sacking the CEO Charu Sharma even before the tournament was complete.

According to some estimates, RCB lost the most money during the first season of IPL, around Rs. 43 Crores. But Shah Rukh proved to be the most business savvy among the franchise owners and his franchise was the top profit generator in IPL, an estimated net profit of Rs. 13 Crores. This number is impressive considering the fact that only 2 teams apparently made profits, the other one being the winner, Rajasthan Royals (RR). RR reportedly made a profit of Rs.6 Crore. Regardless of the performance of their teams in the first edition of IPL, they were hoping to turn around things in 2009.

But the IPL-Season 2 has started on a wrong note for both RCB and KKR. Before the start of the new season, both Mallya and Shah Rukh made several changes to their franchises. Both were not happy with their respective team captains. Mallya sacked his captain, Rahul Dravid, and replaced him with Kevin Pietersen, whom Mallya bought for a whopping Rs.6.61 Crore. Unfortunately for Mallya, at the end of 5 matches, RCB occupies the bottom of the points table. RCB won only one of their 5 matches and have a huge challenge in getting to the semi-finals. The gamble of buying the costliest player in IPL has not out worked well so far.

KKR has only done marginally better than RCB. Like RCB, KKR has also only won only 1 out of their 5 matches, but have an extra point from a match washed away by rain. Shah Rukh and his franchise coach, John Buchanan, are trying a new strategy of multiple-captains and this has not gone down with the fans of the local hero and captain, Saurav Ganguly. KKR has been moving from one controversy to another since then. First, Gavaskar criticized KKR’s multiple-captains theory and Shah Rukh fired back at Gavaskar. Ganguly’s fans think this is a conspiracy to sideline Saurav and sent hate mails to Shah Rukh. Shah Rukh being a shrewd businessman, must be aware that controversy is always good. Controversy can generate more TV viewership for his franchise matches which means more advertisement revenue and surprise (not really), more profit!!

But the biggest news related to KKR has nothing to do with its performance in the field. Rather, it relates to a blog that goes by the name Fake IPL player. (If you haven’t already heard or read his blog, here is the link for you – http://fakeiplplayer.blogspot.com/ ).

The “Fake IPL player” is apparently someone in the KKR team who gets to play very little cricket. He blogs about the team’s inside news and bashes the franchise-management in a very sarcastic tone. This did not go well with Shah Rukh and Buchanan and they tried different ways to plug the leakage of inside news. They banned laptops, wireless and whatever technology is available for blogging in the team dressing room, but to no avail.

The latest news that KKR is sending back two senior players, Sanjay Bangar and Akash Chopra, to India has raised the speculation that these were the people blogging as Fake IPL Player. But Fake IPL player’s latest blog suggests that it is not the case. So, the hunt for Fake IPL player is still on.

Fake IPL player may be a big headache for KKR, but cricket fans love his blogs. The internet forums are active with discussions about Fake IPL player and on an average, each of his blog posts get thousands of comments. But the mystery regarding his identity continues.

Both KKR and RCB have 9 matches left in the tournament and we will have to wait and see if either of them can put up a better performance in the remaining matches. Will Mallya and Shah Rukh have the last laugh?

PS: The following are my pick of teams to reach the IPL semi-finals.

1. Mumbai Indians
2. Deccan Chargers
3. Delhi Daredevils
4. King’s XI Punjab

What is yours?

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Consider this – At the time of writing this article, Susan Boyle-related videos have generated more than 100 million views in Youtube. As you are reading this, there must be thousands of viewers watching Susan Boyle’s videos. The video that I watched had 40 million views, 162,000 ratings (all 5 stars- can anything beat that?), 613 video responses, close to 200,000 text comments. Moments later when I went back to check these statistics, I was completely surprised. These numbers had gone up significantly. There cannot be a better example of an outrageously successful viral video.

So Who is Susan Boyle? What makes her a sensational figure? You will get the answers to these questions when you watch the video. It is so self-explanatory. I suggest that you watch the video before reading further.

Watch the video here

Susan is a 47 year old poor unemployed woman who took part in the UK reality show – “Britain’s Got Talent”. She had a not so pleasing personality and was quite awkward when she was put in front of camera. When she entered the stage, people looked at her mockingly and wanted her to get off the stage as soon as possible.In short, she was written off even before she performed on the stage. But when she started singing, the audience was stunned by her sweet voice. Within seconds, she became a sensation. The audience wildly cheered for her and gave here a standing ovation. The judges were equally stunned and awarded her the maximum possible points. With that, another rags-to-riches story was born. Another underdog, in this case Susan Boyle, fought against all odds and won.

The common thread between the successes of Danny and Susan Boyles’ underdog stories is that people are so tired of bad news and any feel- good story that is soothing is warmly embraced. There are stories in the internet about how audience felt exhilarated after watching “Slumdog Millionaire”(SDM) and about people watching Susan Boyle’s videos repeatedly and weeping with joy every time they saw it. There are also critics who slam both SDM and Susan Boyle’s videos as over-hyped and opine that both are mediocre at best. And these critics have a valid point.

However, the bottom-line is, in both the cases, the audience were not “thinking” and analysing critically. Instead, they were “feeling” and giving vent to their emotions. Looks like the heart continues to be more powerful than the head. Isn’t it?

PS: Here is an article about the Susan Boyle phenomenon that I found quite interesting

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All these parties and leaders have come together to form the Third Front. Their only common ideal? Ambition. Whenever the non-Congress, non-BJP lead alliances have ruled the country, there have been long periods of social, economic and political instability. The first non-Congress government formed by the Janata Party ruled for 3 years (1977-1980) and had two Prime ministers – Morarji Desai and Charan Singh. The next non-Congress, non-BJP government was the National Front government which lasted for 2 years (1989-1991) and had two Prime ministers – V.P.Singh and Chandrasekhar. The United Front government lasted less than 2 years (1996-1998) and had 2 Prime ministers – H.D. DeveGowda and I.K. Gujral.

If we look at the trend, we will notice that unstable Third Front governments and stable BJP/Congress led governments come to power alternately. So if that trend continues, we can be sure that we will see another unstable Third Front government coming to power this time.

Interestingly, two new groups seem to be emerging in the political scene. The first group claims it is a non-Congress, non-BJP and non-Third Front alliance and calls itself the Fourth Front. The constituents of the Front are the parties of the movie stars Praja Rajyam Party (of Chiranjeevi in Andhra Pradesh) and DMDK (of Vijaykanth in Tamil Nadu). The alliance within the UPA alliance – Lalu Yadav, Ram Vilas Paswan and Mulayam Yadav , Sharad Pawar – also seem to be gravitating towards the Fourth Front.

The second is a disparate group of individuals who are mostly highly successful professionals in their chosen fields and have entered the politics with noble intentions. They are contesting as independents in urban constituencies that have higher number of educated middle class voters. They include Meera Sanyal from South Mumbai, Capt. Gopinath from South Bangalore, Sarath Babu from South Chennai, Ashish Saxena (a 30 year old social worker-) and Mallika Sarabhai from Ahmadabad among others.

The established parties are worried about these independents and hence brand them as spoilers and many voters wonder if elected, will they achieve anything worthwhile since they will not have any clout in the government. Since voters do not perceive them as winnable, they also have a lower chance of getting these votes.

It is very likely that these candidates do not win this election. But there is definitely hope for them for the next election. The Indian middle class is expanding and the number of urban Lok Sabha seats is increasing. The frustration of the middle class voters at non-performing politicians is increasing and if there is a viable alternative, these voters are definitely going to vote for that alternative.

In my mind, the best alternative is the formation of the Fifth Front. This Front should bring together all the capable independents under one fold and have a set of common manifesto. The candidates themselves should have individual manifestos that touch upon the developmental issues pertaining to their constituency.

They should also rope in similar minded people like Shashi Tharoor, K. Pandiarajan from other parties and parties like Lok Satta, Lok Paritran, Jago Party and Professionals Party of India. This Front will have no caste, regional or linguistic identity and will have the noble purpose of serving the country. The Front will focus on developmental activities for the countries and not try to divide the country along various lines.

Is it possible? The answer is yes. Is it probable? Tough to say. What do you think?Similar Posts:

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Who will win this election ? Will Mayawati be a strong candidate for Prime Minister ? Or will Congress regain majority with the other UPA allies ? Or will Advani win the heart of the nation?

There are several of these questions that need to be answered. No one knows better than you do in your state or city. India Special is opening its doors to everyone who can contribute articles with primary focus on elections.

At India Special, are neither a pro BJP nor a pro Congress….and we don’t intend to be with the Third Front either. But yes, we do want to speak out, promote the right candidates, the right ideologies as much as we can.

At the same time, we would like to be of service to those who intend to speak their mind out.

India Special has a backend team of editors, publishers, technologists etc who are willing to support you in your analysis for and against candidates in each and every state.

If you are willing to participate in this debate and want your articles to be published, just write your thoughts and opinions to editor@indiaspecial.net

Please note that we do edit the articles to meet our quality standards. Also, some of the points that you may want to keep in mind while writing articles, analysis or opinions are

a) The article should be in the range of 500-800 words

b) The article should not have spelling and grammar mistakes

c) The article should not be communal in nature, promote hatred etc.

d) The article should not contain any foul language

You are free to express your opinion and we respect it. Please make all efforts to be a responsible contributor. Please take a look at some of the articles that we have published in recent times, just to get an idea

a) The Importance Of Being Earnest In Politics

b) Shashi Tharoor- A New Beginning?

c) Indian Politics – Change Is Coming Soon

d) Lok Satta – Powered By People, Driven By Actions

e) Meera Sanyal –The Hope For Mumbai

Looking forward for an excellent analysis of the coming elections. Get your thoughts published, initiate a debate and do your bit to make a difference. Please also spread the word around. Thank you.

You can email your articles to  editor@indiaspecial.net

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Having said this, I understand the grave implications of the elections. All the cocks and hens fighting it out in the middle have the power to make or break our lives.

Kandamangalm’s article on Ms.Meera Sanyal entering the fray as an independent MP candidate from Mumbai South was timely. I admire the idealism conveyed through her web site and I bet she wants to make a difference. But, I feel sad for Meera Sanyal. There is hardly any chance of the miracle win she is hoping for. She is surely a realist, why is she doing this to herself? Perhaps in politics the loser also wins in some ways. The number of votes a candidate gets is like the number of customers a business can boast of. And politics is all about leveraging with numbers.

I agree with Madhavan that Meera should have got into a political party and increased her chances of winning. At any rate, why is she contesting against Milind Deora who has already made a name for working with vision and dynamism? Tell me, what is the use of felling a good, sturdy tree? Are you against him just because he is his father’s son? May the forces be with you, Meera. And, don’t lose heart!

Kandamangalm’s suggestion to vote for the individual rather than the party is okay with me, but there is a part of me that rebels. If a good man stands from Raj Thackeray’s party in my constituency, I will not vote for that candidate. Nor will I consider a very good candidate from any of the archaic communist parties. A man is defined by his ideologies and thoughts.

That brings me to the topic of a very good man who is not necessarily in terrific company. I am speaking of Mr.Pandia Rajan who is the D.M.D.K (Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam) candidate from Virudhunagar constituency near Madurai. This party was started in 2006 by popular Tamil film actor Vijaykanth also known as black M.G.R or ‘Captain Vijaykanth’. Ever since he started his acting career in 1979, Vijaykanth has carefully nurtured his image in the mould of M.G.R, as a do-gooder and a champion of the oppressed. He has been very vocal about the plight of the Tamils in Sri Lanka. In spite of overtures from several parties, D.M.D.K has decided to approach the people alone, without any alliance.

Mr.K.Pandia Rajan dived into the rough waters of Indian politics more than two years back. He first joined the BJP and after being with them for more than a year he became disillusioned with them and joined the party of Vijaykanth. Why is he in the company of a temperamental film star? Perhaps he loathes being a small fish in a big river. Being the risk taker that he is, Mr.Pandia Rajan smells some heady stuff brewing in Vijaykanth’s party. He is now a big fish in D.M.D.K and is now aiming for the stars. He is surely a person to watch out for in Indian politics.

Pandia Rajan’s story is the stuff of heroism and grit. Born in Vilampatti village in Sivakasi district, he was brought up by his grand father as his father who was a worker at a match factory died when Pandia Rajan was just three months old. After studying in the village school, he went to Coimbatore to study engineering at the PSG College of Technology. He joined XLRI, Jamshedpur for his MBA.

K. Pandia Rajan founded Ma Foi Management Consultants Limited in 1992 with an aim to make it a one-stop shop for all HR needs. With a capital of just Rs. 60,000, Pandia Rajan has transformed Ma Foi which now finds jobs for around 5,500 people every month. Today, its turn over is Rs.550 crore. Very soon, they are likely to provide more employment than all the Government employment exchanges in India put together. Ma Foi is now part of Vedior NV, a 6.85 billion Euro staffing company and the third largest in the world.

Pandia Rajan’s belief in giving back to society for what life has given him inspired him to create Ma Foi Foundation which works towards education for children, women empowerment, and capacity building for NGOs. Ma Foi Foundation, spear-headed by Mr.Pandia Rajan and his wife have made very good impact in several villages.

I have no doubt that Mr.Pandia Rajan has his game plan firmly in place. If he and we are lucky, we have another clean, effective and visionary politician in the making. Whether he makes it big in politics or not, he is another reason for all of us to be proud as Indians. He is a living example teaching us about the importance of being earnest in life and also in politics.Similar Posts:

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Perhaps not – may be because you are not aware of some of the big names in the banking industry…or may be you are too tied up in your own world…Don’t worry…

Wait before I tell you who she is, and what she stands for….I am pretty sure you will establish a connection like many of us, by the time you finish reading this..

Meera is a professional banker with over 25 years of experience. Currently the Chairperson and Country Executive of the erstwhile ABN Amro Bank (now RBS). She probably one of the few corporate citizens to  enter the electoral foray.

As per her website

As an Investment banker she has worked both in India and within the Asian region on a number of Project Finance and Advisory and M&A mandates. In 2001, she set up ACES, ABN AMRO’s Global Shared Services company, which currently employs over 5,000 staff and provides banking operations, research, global finance, and HR shared services to 40 countries. ACES has consistently recorded both high client satisfaction and high employee engagement scores and is one of the most highly certified BPOs in India today.

An area very dear to her has been ABN AMRO’s Corporate Social Responsibility activities. The bank has financed over 7,00,000 women who live below the poverty line in rural India. Through the activities of their Foundation, which Meera chairs, they have undertaken several projects that aim both to alleviate poverty and conserve biodiversity (especially in endangered tiger habitats), as well as promote watersheds and sequester carbon through working with tribals and marginal farmers in degraded land areas.

Meera served on the Board of Trustees of an asset management company, and is currently on the National Advisory Board of AIESEC, an international students’ organization. She also chairs the boards of various bank subsidiaries in India.

Let me be honest, I knew Meera only by her name and some news clippings on various websites and today after going through her website, I feel comfortable that at last there are corporate citizens who too think that Indian politics has to change and change for the better. She has given me renewed hope that Mumbai will once again be resurgent, a city that lost its reputation for all the wrong reasons. I hope that South Mumbai will vote for a fresh, energetic and result oriented face.

Oh! By the way, did I tell you Meera Sanyal is contesting for Lok Sabha elections as an independent candidate from South Mumbai.

Independent Candidate ???

That’s what I thought too when she initially decided to stand for election, as I did not think she would stand a chance. But I happened to read this webpage from her site and I know now how wrong I was. She has taken the right decision to stand as an independent candidate from South Mumbai and I can’t agree more with her decision, keeping in mind the no. of corrupt and criminal politicians that we have in our country.

I was also enamored what her Facebook fans had to say about her. Read this and I am sure why you will like what you read..

When Meera will enter the Lok Sabha in June this year, she will bring to the Parliament grace, intelligence, soundness, smartness, and wit, and her astute thoughts will lend an impartiality the House has lacked.

In an election field that already has, on one hand, an incumbent who has inherited his father’s parliamentary seat in a way that does not reflect the market-driven meritocracy of this city, and on the other, a challenger whose party prefers our city to be less inclusive and more sectarian, looking less than itself, Meera offers the freshness, brilliance, verve, and bold ideas that can transform the nature of our politics and reclaim the country’s most cosmopolitan constituency for its residents.

This would mean South Mumbai, which leads India in every area except politics, would now be able to lead in political thinking and action, too. Meera is not beholden to any political party or creeds that cannot be challenged; she does not have to rush to a high command for clearance before speaking her mind, nor to a fortress in the middle of our bustling city from where editorials pour forth condemning Indians its prejudiced leaders don’t like.

I looked at what she had to offer for Mumbai and I must admit her plan to elevate Mumbai to amazing levels are simply superb. Her five point agenda, popularly called as Punch-A-Mantra talks of

• More Investment for Infrastructure in Mumbai
• A Radically Improved Public Transport System
• Stronger Security
• Systemic Reforms Through the Nagara Raj Bill…
• Directly Elected and Empowered Mayor

This agenda is covered in her Master Plan for Mumbai, which can be downloaded here

If you are living in South Mumbai and you think India needs a new generation of politicians, then go out and vote for people like Meera Sanyal. For once, understand who your true leaders are and vote for them. Meera Sanyal certainly seems to have the leadership qualities and the capabilities to take Mumbai to unseen levels…after all she has been the country head for one of the largest banks in the world.

Meera Sanyal is most definitely my Hope for Mumbai!

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I always had a different idea about this statement until recently. My thoughts revolved around the fact that it is always to be on the side of the err than to be not on any side. Likewise, my father always preached and practiced this adage “Wrong decisions are always better than indecisions”.

Many a times in life you’d have across some incidents that changes your perspective about certain way of living. Sometimes you defy the common, sometimes you follow the herd and sometimes you are in a world of your own.

Mr. Vincent wrote an article on elections being bawdy carnival . In the article he focused more on Varun Gandhi and his histrionics, sometimes reminding India of the grim past that it had during election seasons – from Advani’s Rath Yatra to VP Singh’s Mandal Commission, from Gujarat Riots to Pilibhit, the hatred of politics and the politics of hatred growing in tandem, competing with each other and defying the youth of our country a chance to dream of a democratic and secular sovereign .

What Varun Gandhi said was totally unacceptable by any means. Even his so called claim that the video has been doctored, although, seems a bit too clichéd his latest stunt as he surrendered to the law enforcement agencies is nothing sort of a melodrama, causing a near riot and a few clashes of the saffron men with the local police.

I chanced upon an article in Indian Express, which further vindicated my thoughts on this Gandhi.

Apparently, in his writ petition Varun Gandhi submitted

“That the petitioner is a well-educated and peace-loving citizen and has done his BSc Economics from the London School of Economics in the year 1999 till 2002, and thereafter went on to do his MSc in public policy at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, in the year 2002-2004.”

Both LSE and SOAS have now said Gandhi’s claim is not accurate. This, if found true, would mean that Gandhi lied under oath and the court can initiate contempt proceedings as well as perjury charges which could lead upto 7 years behind bars. Phew!

If that’s not all, Varun Gandhi has been booked under National Security Act, attempt to murder and for inciting communal riots. This would mean a detention of at least one year.

The last couple of weeks Gandhi has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. If he was in his sane mind, he would never have gotten into something as rotten as this. Such are the times, you do one bad deed and you knowingly or unknowingly get into the habit of doing bad deeds – one after the other and the end doesn’t seem to be in the horizon.

This is definitely a lesson for the youth of this country. It is also a message to the political sycophants of the communal minded that the politics of the hatred will soon see an end in the resurgent India. For once, the UP government has done the right thing. And all my kudos to Mayawati for not succumbing to political pressures. Some might call the arrest of Varun Gandhi as a political vendetta and others might call it being opportunistic.

Whatever said and done, what Varun Gandhi has displayed is the height of futility …an epitome of foolhardiness!

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These are times when I temporarily fear that God has given up on India and evil forces are having a rollicking time. I do not see any connections between the law of Karma and the spectacle of politicians reaping a fortune out of hate and divisions. Let me explain why, with reference to the last few elections.

Lal Krishna Advani’s Rath Yatra of 1990 began from September 23 to ‘unite Hindus’ on an anti-Muslim agenda. Jointly planned with the Vishva Hindu Parishad leadership to counter the Mandal card of V.P Singh, the Rath Yatra eventually caused deep polarization of the Indian society by inciting communal passion and goading people to violent communal outburst. At least thirty-nine places along the path of the Rath Yatra were affected by communal violence. Nearly 275 people were killed in these clashes.

Advani felt his Rath Yatra, “brought about social harmony”. He said, “I want to put the record straight, not a single riot or violence took place anywhere during my rath yatra”. Advani later stated, “It was because of Ayodhya and the people’s perception of it that the BJP increased its voter support.” What he said was indeed true. From 85 seats in 1989, the party notched 120 seats in 1991, a jump from 11.36 per cent of votes to 20.8 per cent.

Astride the tiger he had mounted, Advani watched the domes of the Babri Masjid fall on December 6, 1992. Following this, there were riots all over India, particularly in Mumbai. More than 1000 lives were lost in shameful communal clashes everywhere. The chief instigator who brought this about is aspiring to be our next Prime Minister.

Another leader who used the atmosphere of hate and caused divides along religious lines was Narendra Modi. The infamous Gujarat riots happened during his wake. About 2000 people lost their lives during this riot. He was successful in polarizing people of Gujarat along religious lines during and after the riots to devastating effect. In the following state re-elections, the BJP led by Modi, won 127 seats in the 182-member assembly.

The success of Advani and Modi in sowing hatred and reaping votes encouraged the birth of their proto-types in several parts of India. The latest entrant to the tribe is the other Gandhi – Varun Gandhi. He used decadent language of the gutters to inflict deep wounds on a community. Though the Election Commission and the entire world know that he had uttered those words clearly aired on TV, he now says that the tapes were doctored and the voice in it was not his. His party stands by him and his blatant lie. Perhaps this marks the birth of another great rabble-rouser leader who would preside over our destinies.

Rath Yatras that separate people on the basis of their religion apparently makes sense in the short term. The fact is, hate sells. Hate also makes very good news sense. And, it gets votes. However, a possible consequence is, we may resemble Pakistan in the foreseeable future, where the Taliban and other terrorists exert and extend their sphere of influence within that country.

Goodness or quiet, positive actions do not make good news. Nor does it win votes in most cases. But goodness alone can lift us out of our ordinariness and exalt our country and its citizens among the nations of the world.

The Rath called Time also inexorably moves noiselessly to meet our children of tomorrow. What will this Rath called Time beqeath to them? If we in our generation are not careful, our children will inherit the accumulated poison and hate of all the Raths criss-crossing the nerve centres of our nation.

Thomas L Friedman, the author of The World Is Flat was recently asked by NDTV’s Barkha Dutt about what he thought of 9/11. According to him, 9/11 was significant for them (meaning the terrorists). He asserted poignantly that he was a man of July 4 – (American Independence). For us in our country, it is time to test whether we are August 15 people believing in the high ideals of freedom, equality, secularism and togetherness. The elections give us an opportunity to assert our beliefs and the future of our children.

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The money is something that cricket had not seen before. Money talks they say and so is it in this case!  From bringing in cricketers who the world thought was long gone back to stage, to helping another part of the world discover some amazing “young” talent, to entertaining all those cricket crazy fans every evening after work and last not least, giving kids around the country an extra reason to celebrate summer vacations, the IPL did it all in it’s inaugural edition. All good things come with controversies and IPL was not exception to this either. Accusing the league for pushing cricketers around the world into pre-mature retirement, choosing money over country and last but not least, not being inclusive, we saw it all.

I personally enjoyed season one. Choosing whom to support was an easy decision. Being a Bangalorean, I was disappointed to see a test team line up to play T20. My loyalty quickly swung to the best thing that’s happened to Indian cricket – MS Dhoni and his Chennai Super Kings. MSD played masterstroke with the team selection even before a ball was bowled. Getting a right mix of locals and expats, Dhoni ensured that he got along an uncut diamond, Raina along with him to stitch his team of the boys in yellow. The joker in the pack was of course the Rajasthan Royals. Acclaimed to have the greatest ever cricketing brain ever and blessed with exceptional skill to turn a cricket ball on glass, Shane Warne, up north, was putting together his team of underdogs. I wasn’t surprised to see these two teams do battle in the finals. I would have loved to see MSD and his boys win, but on a given day, the team that plays better cricket wins and right so, the Royals.

With time to kick start season 2 around the corner, the hype started as early as the New Year – the fallout of 26/11 meant that the Pakistani players didn’t want to come. For those that may argue this on who didn’t want who, the trading window and the money spent did its share to the share of ink. The nail in the coffin was the recent attack in neighboring Pakistan on a touring Sri Lankan team. While this was “outside” India, the event’s ripples traveled over 500 kms to the national capital for the administrators to sit up and take notice of potential security risks.

From an exchange of words to reading between lines, from the politics of power to the politics of money, in the name of democracy and elections, the home ministry showed who is the boss by having the IPL postpone it’s initial published schedule. Lalit Modi is a die hard and he went out saying this will happen with no change. Someone in the higher echelons of power asked him to backtrack and so he did, with a revised schedule – more cities and slightly different dates. This time around, the states came in to the party saying they were not staffed well enough to support security cover for these games and the proposed elections.

The issue of “security” in the sub-continent is being viewed at very differently by all the foreign players who were itching to come and get a game – life Vs money and we all know the obvious choice that these so called players from safe havens from around the world tend to make. With a couple of casualties in terms of big names dripping out for the fear of life, this storm is yet to blow over.

To me, the real issue on hand is the question of these two events co-existing. Elections are no doubt important and so too is the issue of security. A country of a billion people is suddenly faced with the issue of resources for security – what a paradox.

If I were Modi, I’d flex my financial muscle to hire SO many of those unemployed, semi skilled youth and train them to build up my own security forces for the IPL. Hiring or training is not an issue considering how much time is left. If you want to run and need shoes, you must go and get them! Waiting for someone to give them to you is not smart business. To me, this move is a great win win – strike a deal with the center to say that this newly built security force can be used as a potential resource to staff up national security services. Upskilling them to play a different game is easy and is doable if they clear hurdle one. Your cup of woes is filling up real quick Mr. Modi.. game to try?

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I have been arguing for some time that the educated middle class in our country should not abdicate the political space to others. …. (The middle class people) are the engine of the politics but in our country, they tend to abstain. They are taking to professions – civil services, lawyers and doctors, they don’t go into politics and I think that’s the shame. Certainly like I who spends so much time thinking and writing about the issues that are the outcome of politics.

If I now have an opportunity to actually put my feet in the arena , to put my feet where my words were and my mouth was, I think I should take on the challenge. It’s not easy, it’s not familiar territory but I think it’s time for people like us to try and connect with people who have normally not been part of the kinds of daily engagements that we normally conduct in our professional life. It’s time that more professionals got involved

These were the words of Shashi Tharoor when he was asked by the TV channel IBNLive about his nomination for the Lok Sabha seat for the Thiruvananthapuram constituency.

For long, many political commentators and intellectuals have been lamenting about the indifference of the middle class to the political process. They were arguing that, by staying away from politics, the educated middle class is allowing incompetent people to govern the country and letting criminals decide the future of the nation.

While they were right, none of these people were willing to lead from the front by entering politics themselves and making a positive change. They wanted someone else to do the “dirty” job. That is now changing. By jumping into the political fray, Shashi has proved that he can walk the talk.

Shashi Tharoor is no stranger to many of us. He served the United Nations for 29 years (1978-2007). During that period, he rose to the level of UN Under-Secretary General. He campaigned for the UN Secretary General post but was unsuccessful in that endeavour.

Shashi has an outstanding academic and leadership record. He was the University topper in St. Stephen’s College, Delhi and he completed his PhD from Tufts University, USA at the age of 22, which was a record. He is an avid debater, quizzer and writer. His weekly columns in “Times of India” are well read. His books “The Great Indian Novel” and “The Elephant, the Tiger and the Cell Phone: Reflections on India in the 21st Century” are among the bestsellers. His other achievements can be found here

At a time when the voting public is appalled by the nomination of personalities with dubious records (Sanjay Dutt, Md. Azharuddin) and criminals for Lok Sabha elections, news about Shashi Tharoor’s nomination comes as a whiff of fresh air.The Congress party deserves praise for this bold move and we can only hope that all the other parties follow suit. The political parties will be doing a great service to the country if they field a few outstanding candidates with proven record of good performance.

It is not clear if Shashi Tharoor will win in the Lok Sabha election. But irrespective of the result, he has once again set an example for us educated people to follow. We can hope that what was a trickle of professionals entering politics (like T.N.Seshan, Mallika Sarabhai) turns into a deluge.

PS: Shashi Tharoor’s website is http://www.shashitharoor.in/

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