H D Deve Gowda –  That name rings a bell or two. Actually no..several .. I know Deve Gowda was the 14^th Prime Minister and all that stuff. But truly, I wouldn’t know much about him unless he kept himself in the news and for all the ‘right’ reasons …Yea right – RIGHT in Caps

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…

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The Times of India has been tracking a very interesting story over the last few days. A Legislative Assembly (MLA) member was caught red handed for accepting a bribe of INR 500K in cash to settle a civil dispute. Ever since this MLA has been caught, he’s been on the run. In a bid to avoid being arrested, this MLA has been hospital hopping!

His misfortune or otherwise, the heart hospital that he went to seeking cover first said he was perfectly fit and said here were no grounds to admit him. The MLA then developed a severe headache and then went to another hospital where he has been admitted. This is the National Health of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) where he is now housed on the stated pretext that he is unwell!

In such a blatant act of exploiting the loop holes in the law, this MLA, who has no way to get out of the mess that he is in, is now in hospital. The organization that caught him is complaining saying that this time enables a man in power to tamper evidence.

This is certainly no isolated incident – the fact that the SEBI is moving the high court to seek access to someone who himself has confessed that he siphoned out money, the fact that the state governments of both Andhra and Karnataka took their own sweet time to act on cases where there was immense pressure to act and did all but bare little, the fact that someone who has been convicted for attacking parliament is still alive, and let’s not forget the story of the captured militant from 26/11 who’s still yet to have a formal charge sheet registered against him… the list is just endless.

When the principles of the Indian constitution were being formed, we choose to mirror “best practices” from the land that ruled us for a long time – the British. If the laws we incorporated were on the principles of natural justice, where has natural justice gone suddenly?

While our laws badly need a re-look, I think institutions like hospitals need to act a little more responsibly. If a hospital is intended to be a cause to support a noble profession like medicine, who does their act to house someone on “medical grounds” go in line with their stated cause? It’s easy to argue a case the other way saying we are doing our jobs. If that’s the case, the yard sticks have to be the same and hospitals need to accept a common man who goes to hospital with a burn or an accident. It is in situations like these that hospitals gets on to the moral high ground and says that an FIR is needed for us to accept this person as this is “police case”.

We all know how frustrating these acts are. It’s time for change… but who is listening???

Image Credit: Atomic Jeep

Popularity: 9%

Sumathi The Rebellious

Sumathi sounded very iconoclastic in her recent article India – A Land Of Compulsions. Her article was seething with anger and frustration about Indian society and particularly with Dr.Anbumani Ramadoss for cracking down on smoking, drinking and i-pill. She sounded rebellious and anti-establishment. According to her, “banning the spirit is just not on…..and ultimately, if our leaders want to do all our thinking we might as well be born without brains.”

Muthalik The….

A few young people in Mangalore were roughed up on January 25, by members of Sri Ram Sene founded by Pramod Muthalik. The hooligans chased five or six girls out and attacked men who tried to protect them. There are also reports that the girls were molested. Members of the Sri Ram Sene have justified their actions.

Reactions

The reactions to the attack on the youngsters in the pub came thick and fast. The comments represented extreme polarities, and some made themselves ludicrous for their ability to do the chameleon act while others expressed thoughts of resignation.

The National Commission for Women whose representatives were all rage and picture of consternation immediately after the incident, did a volte-face two days later. NDTV reported, “Blaming security lapses in the Mangalore pub incident, the NCW said on Friday that it will recommend cancellation of license of the restaurant as it was supposed to serve only food to guests.”

Here is another one. Dsilva in NDTV blog, on  Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Hi everyone, I would like to convey one thing, this is not the first time where it has brought shame to our country or people crying out for help or demanding the arrest of the culprits. This is happening often in our country and people responsible for it will be simply watching it, so please without wasting your time, carry on with your work.

Dear D’Silva, You may be right and I should perhaps wind up, right now and here, embrace sleep and just forget about these calamitous happenings around us. After all, why should I worry about some self professed social activists reaping the whirlwind and enjoying their hero-hood and time on prime-time news? Why bother about possibly, idealistic, good, sincere boys and girls hiding in the shadows – ostracized, labeled un-Indian, immoral and what not? But D’Silva, bear with me a while longer because I have a self imposed mission today – to delve deep under the surface and discover what makes Sumathi – apparently a very sincere and straight forward girl or lady – very angry and rebellious and why people like Pramod Muthalik are able to sit in self-righteous condemnation.

Bernard Shaw’s Joan of Arc

I now remember the lesson behind Bernard Shaw’s ‘Joan of Arc’, a brilliant play, where Joan of Arc, from her humble beginning as a peasant girl, goes to help the French army to drive out the English from France in the 15^th century while she was still in her teens. Unable to match her achievements and popularity, she is betrayed, tried in a court, sentenced and then consigned to the flames of the stake, by a body of powerful political and church leaders like Bishop Cauchon. And the reason? Because she listened to God directly without mediation from priests and she wore man’s dresses etc.

In the Epilogue of the play, Shaw makes out the case that Bishop Cauchon too was a sincere man and he believed he was acting for the good. “The tragedy lies in human nature itself, which involves us all. According to him, the play is a tragedy without villains, for everyone, in some way or another, believes he or she is acting for the good.”

What Shaw tells us is that we too would burn Joan at the stake if we got the chance.

The Strange Thing About Conscience

Several years ago, I saw a beautiful movie, “The Fixer.” It is about the experience of a Jew in a German prison. There are two hauntingly powerful sentences in the movie I somehow remember to this day, “What makes the world upside down is not madness. It is conscience.” Sumathi would lay claim to her conscience just as Pramod Muthalik would flaunt his as representing the truest of values. Forgive me Sumathi, for giving exalted status to those who you may consider ruffians. You must understand I am only trying my best to understand human nature. I cannot be in judgment-passing-mode, today.

Saint Exupery’s Message

The world cannot go on with such human tragedies. Perhaps we need to listen to the words of the famous French Pilot and writer, Saint Exupery,

What is essential is invisible to the human eyes. One can only understand with the eye of the heart.

Will You Promise, Muthalik ?

Sumathi, did you hear that? And you, Muthalik? Yes? Will you now promise you will not go back to restoring our honored Indian culture by beating our beautiful women blue even if they wear man’s clothes and go to a pub?

Good. Now I will go to sleep. And I will dream.

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