Dear BJP..

There exists a truism in life, "Never argue with idiots, they will bring you down to their level and then beat you with experience".. For the longest time, I believed our relationship being one such, and therefore never bothered interacting 

Yet, it never hurts to engage with people, idiots or otherwise, especially if - as in our case - we have to make peace for the next 4 years, and very likely more. It is important to explain where we stand, and what our misgivings and misunderstandings might be, and to try the very best to give it the best shot.. 

This, therefore, is the beginning of the effort. This ought to be a regular exchange, and hopefully not one sided.. 

You see, I have historically been accused of being a Congress supporter, an unfair (and to use a recent Jaitley term, baseless,) accusation. The Congress has historically made a mockery of the potential of this country, indulging in cynical symbolism. They have succeeded in doing this, because thus far, there was no voice to point this out. 

And I was so hoping, against hope, that yours would be that voice.

The reason I say this, was because your past interactions with me have not really been very inspiring.. You see, I am not the type who gets patriotic or outraged or anything like that.. So your past shenanigans have been a turn off.. I have also been wary given your role in stoking the "religious" fire, even though you might term that as much needed.. As for your record in power, I think it is fair to say that the root cause of the Kargil war was an intelligence failure, plus you ruled over 2 other major security lapse - the Indian Airlines hijack and the attack on the Parliament.. You even handed over a major criminal - with the defence minister actually escorting the bastard Masood Azhar as part of the handover.. Economically, I really don't remember life being any better - and the downturn of 1998 - 00 actually took down our family business.. Basically, the romance of the Vajpayee rests in the minds of the people who have either been in nappies then or were wearing rose tinted glasses. 

But still, it was time for a change, and whether I liked it or not, you were that change.. 

I must say, that though the initial noises were promising, they had an important lacuna. That was the absolute and complete lack of details on what it is that you were planning to do, other than bring India's GDP back to 8% and restore India's reputation in the world - for which there is no universally agreed to metric.. Your manifesto, if I am not mistaken, actually came out after the first phase of voting.. It is a reflection of the Indian mindset that you won such a thumping majority despite nobody knowing what exactly you were going to do.. Your focus on "execution" and not so much on questioning the fundamentals of Indian governance, also implied to me that you didn't have a problem with the patronizing, favour based system of political governance that the Congress has cynically executed for 60 years, rather your problem was with the execution of the system.. 

But, as they say, raat gayi, baat gayi.. 

Your first 13 months in power though - an important milestone since Mr. Vajpayee first was elected for 13 months - have been essentially UPA on steroids.. Nothing really different from what the 2 Manmohan Singh governments have been doing, just rushing through them.. Again, very little focus on details, more on the optics.. Whether it is ramrodding the Land Acquisition Bill or the GST upgrade or the Aadhar, all of these are essentially bills that you blocked continuously through the last 5 years, and now it is your 300+ majority that is allowing you to get these in place.. 

This is what I don't understand.. If the people of India voted for a change, why are you giving us the same shit that the UPA had been trying to serve us for the last 10 years?? The single largest land holder in the country, by a hitherto unknown order of magnitude is the Government of India.. Why then do we need a Land Acquisition Bill? Why is it that the names of Warren Anderson and Quattrocchi need to be pulled out when Lalit Modi comes to the fore?? I mean, what's the bloody connection?? Why is it that you need to indulge in continuous "what-about"ism when any question is asked of you?? Why is it that a party which promised "Minimum Government, Maximum Governance" has brought about more regulations in the first year than the last 3 combined?? 

And I am not even going to the Sakshi Maharaj and his other loudmouth brethren.. 

Fundamentally, is your only plan for Acche Din, to apply lipstick on a pig?? 

  

A Rant!!!

I wish I was more prolific in writing.. I really need to pick up this habit again..

All this bottling up inside, is not good for me.. Have been meaning to write something about Modi, something about Rahul Gandhi, etc.. But really haven't found the motivation to do so.. the German phrase, "Kein Lust mehr" is probably more applicable..

I mean, what's the point?? We're on our way (or so the press says) to vote into power a man, who has significant question marks over his character in terms of engineering a massacre for political gain.. All in the name of development.. In normal times, we'd be ashamed of such a development, but in this day and age, there is no culpability, no responsibility, no accountability.. The only people eager to take responsibility seem to be terrorists, and that is after they've caused grievous harm..

The problem is not that the man with the question marks wants to be the leader.. The problem is that no one is questioning him.. The bigger problem, is more like the people are rather looking forward to him being the leader.. People in my own family, actually.. That's what is more painful.. I feel like I am wrong, and I should be the one who should be ashamed for not seeing the light..

Is it really so easy to forgive and forget?? The person who has brought shame to the country, is now looked at as a savior, and we're all ok with it??

All in the name of pragmatism?? 

The best few lines I read today..

From Pratap Bhanu Mehta in today's Indian Express: "A sleepwalking economy"..

...The third fatalism comes from an excessive faith in deliverance by a leader. The complete abdication of responsibility by the top leaders of the Congress has sowed the seeds of confusion. It is also true that the institutional chaos in the wake of the corruption scandals has slowed down some sectors. But it does not follow that a single leader can come and fix this. For one thing, there is no evidence yet that the current opposition party has anything sensible to say on macroeconomics. And what Narendra Modi does in fact say on a range of issues of fundamental reform, from FDI to the value of the rupee, is not very reassuring. He also distinctly seems to lack control of his parliamentary party, which is busy putting its weight behind all kinds of half baked laws, including the Lokpal Bill. But it has little time to intelligently talk about the economy.
Admittedly, administrative decision-making at the top will help. But it will get you only so far. Cleaning up the institutional mess on a range of things from contracting to environmental clearances will be a huge task. The UPA's legacy of institutional corrosion is so deep in these areas that rebooting them will not just be a matter of one man's will to give orders. It will be setting new norms. Indeed, the big worry is that the system will again risk wheels getting stuck in the sand if new norms are not institutionalised. While there is some discussion of institutions to tackle corruption, there is very little about institutions to promote growth in a new context.

There's something about Modi..

Lately, whether I am reading the news or scanning Facebook, I get the impression that in 2014, we’re going to have Narendra Modi as the prime minister of India. It is just a small matter of having the elections over and done with. The shouting over the rooftops, the writing on the wall, the entire point of the discussion is that it is a mere formality, just the coronation is pending. All this dilly-dallying, nonsensical, rudderless style of governance will end, and will be replaced by a strong, patriotic leader who will bring India back to the days of 9% GDP growth till our kids have kids of their own. (After that, who really cares man, after all the whole point of life is to play with grandchildren!!!)

But given that this is being billed by everyone and their nanaji, that this is a straight fight between Mr. Modi and Mr. Rahul Gandhi, and given that I have already sent out an open letter to Mr. Gandhi on this blog (which you can read at leisure here) on what he would have to do to get my vote in 2014 (or whenever), I think it is incumbent on me to give a similar bhashan to Mr. Modi.

Mr. Modi, 

Please surprise me.

Thanks,
Chirag Panjikar.

Dang!!! That was so easy, I could even have tweeted it!!!

I have been accused of a Congress supporter in the past, but it’s truly not the case. I really don’t see the difference between the average Congress politician, and any other average politician. Which is what everyone seems to say anyway, when they utter the standard refrain of “All Politicians are the same!!!?”, and I do have extremely, extremely, extremely low expectations of the standard politician. 

But what I am hearing from Mr. Modi seems to be different, so I am interested & intrigued by this new language. I must admit I didn’t read or see the speech he gave at the Sri Ram College in Delhi, but whatever I read, seemed to be a fair representation of what I think is needed in this country.

Yes, the youth of this country is the future, and is where we can differentiate ourselves from the rest of the world. Yes, government has not business to be in business (among other things. I mean c’mon, why should there be a ministry of sports & youth affairs, or a ministry for animal husbandry). Yes, there should be no vote bank politics. And all that jazz.

All in all, it’s very difficult for me to decipher whether or not he’s going to be the one. But for what it’s worth, the guy doesn’t pass my “smell” test. I wish I could elaborate, and not be able to restrict myself to abstract smell tests to gauge the character of a person. There’s something about this entire narrative that leaves me as yet unconvinced that his policies are the best thing for India. But I’m still not convinced that he’s the guy to do this for us.

Here’s why:

Most of the people I see supporting or denouncing Mr. Modi seem to make emotional cases for their opinion, and very little data to convince me this way or that. Based on the material available on the internet, there’s really no conclusive evidence this way or that whether he’s the next prophet.

I read a report that Gujarat is the best state in India to do business, but I also read that off the 1000-odd MOUs of starting a business, the state has only about 50 or so projects which have taken off.

I read somewhere that Gujarat is at  9% annual GDP growth, but then so is Maharashtra and that too with a much higher base, and from personal experience I can vouch that the government of Maharashtra is ridiculously incompetent.

My Facebook wall tells me that he will take a bullet on his 56” chest before anything wrong happens in India, but then it also tells me that if I type 71 and “like”, then some kid in that photo will start dancing.

I don’t know whether it is the fact that while Gujarat has the largest amount of MOUs signed for investment every year, for some reason it has an extremely meager amount of businesses actually fructify. I keep hearing that business heads are saying we need a leader like him, but other than Mr. Tata*, no one has invested much in that state (anew. Reliance and Adani have been there since before. GM is there, but from what I recall, it has been there for a while, before this hype started). I don’t know much about the budget of the state, but surely given his popularity with the net savvy public, if the state had a budget surplus then we would have heard about it over and over and over again. (A simple search will lead to an RBI document (see here) which will suggest that the debt to GDP ratio of Gujarat is above average, and has the third highest interest-revenue expenditure ratio) Neither does it seem to have taxes any lower than the average state in India. Almost none of the people who are shouting over the rooftops to have him installed as the leader are from Gujarat, nor do they seem to have any intention of moving there.

So on what exact basis people are clamoring for him, is beyond me. However, there are some things that do trouble me, and these have nothing to do with any nonsensical labeling of “communal” politics. The Congress is, if anything, much more communal than the BJP, and is also spectacularly and shamelessly cynical about it.

What troubles me, is that anytime someone tries to write anything remotely negative him about him, you get a slew of trolls after you like zombies**. What troubles me is that any voice of dissent in his own state has been crushed ruthlessly like a dictator would do to a prospective coup. What troubles me, is that most of this seems to be the handiwork of a PR agency called APCO, which has been contracted to promote Mr. Modi (not the state of Gujarat). What troubles me is that any time I check anything remotely related to Gujarat, I see his face and nothing and no one else. What troubles me, is that other than Mr. Modi, the only other ministers from his cabinet that I hear of, are when they are convicted of carnage. What troubles me is that the justification of having said ministers in the cabinet, is the example of Kamal Nath, which really is not a factor of differentiation from the other team, when your main point is that you're different from the other team...

But then, surely so many Gujaratis cannot go wrong. Surely so many of my friends cannot be wrong (I mean, scientifically comparing a sample size of one (me) to a sample of a few millions, you know which one is more reliable, right?) Surely, they’ve seen something in the man that has them convinced that he is the one to lead us to the path of salvation, and is not really the BJP’s answer to Indira Gandhi’s despotism. Surely, when he comes to power all of India’s ills will get solved, even though the last time the BJP was in power, we had a year of about 4% GDP growth, terrorists attacked the Indian parliament, and the Indian intelligence setup failed so miserably that the Pakistani army actually crossed the border leading to the Kargil war. Surely, he is a patriot of unquestionable integrity, who just happens to be in politics, an area where anyone associated is immediately considered as ruthless, self-centered and corrupt. 

Which is why, all I can say is,

Mr. Modi, please surprise me!!!! 

*- Full disclosure: The company I work for has invested in a mid-size manufacturing plant in Gujarat and also has a Public-Private-Partnership with the Government of Gujarat. The post on this blog is in my personal capacity as a citizen of India, and has no bearing on any professional commitments. In any case, the main point of this post if you haven't figured out yet, is that the Chief Minister is no different from the average Indian Chief Minister in terms of performance, but certainly seems to be much better in making an emotional connect with the average Indian voter. 

**- I must admit, the 3 posts I have written till now about him, have been among the higher viewed on the net, including visitors from Russia, Brazil and Sweden, so there is an ulterior motive here. 

Lies and Statistics...

"What makes me a blogger is the physical discomfort I get from knowing a terrible idea sits out there needing to be destroyed so badly" - Modeled Behavior


Or so it says on top of this page.

And I think there sits a terrible idea out there, which is waiting for me to destroy it “with great vengeance and furious anger”

However for the last month or so, I have been unable to articulate it enough. I briefly indicated what I wanted to post, as a follow-up to a previous post, but never really got the angst or the burden of the proof.

But something I saw this morning as I was surfing the net while sipping my morning coffee made me sit up and try to make another attempt at culling the sort of nonsense that gets peddled these days.

And that something was this FDI by state chart on the Financial Times “Beyond Brics” blog.

What’s so weird you ask?

Despite the annual road show that highlights the “Vibrant” nature of the state, despite the standard Google Ad Sense Advert that comes on my blog bestowing the strong leadership presence in the state, it looks like “industry friendly, dynamic, business minded (and whatever other nonsense you want to scope out)” Gujarat lies 6th in FDI invested over the last two years.

Surely something was wrong. I distinctly recall doing some research for my MBA Macroeconomics assignment, where there was an official site which said the state gets 22% of all investment in India. Heck, I even put it in my paper!!!

Sure enough, here it was..

In any case, a single chart does not signify reality, so I decided to do some more research, and landed on this analysis from Business World on India’s most competitive cities.

Published last week.

The most competitive city in Gujarat is Ahmedabad (not surprising) but ranked only 10th in all of India, behind at least 6 cities currently being misgoverned by UPA coalition partners. 10th is not bad, definitely, but somewhat like the disappointment you get when Indian Olympians end 10th in their events.

But then these are numbers which are only showing one element of the entire dynamic. What about the people of Gujarat? How are they performing? Surely they must be doing very well, given the dynamic leadership of their state government?

Voila!!! Google Zindabad.

There is a fabulous report released on Human Development Factors released last year. That can provide some guidance. . You can read it if you have some spare time. All 261 pages of it

Again, not bad, somewhat good, mostly distinctly average.

So what’s the point, here?

Seriously?? You still don’t get it???

Simply put, Is Narendra Modi - who my Facebook wall tells me is our saviour if there is a God above, and is the only one who truly deserves to rule  lead us come 2014 - all fart and no shit???

Overdraft at the Vote Bank..

So I voted yesterday.

Not that it will make much of a difference to my life. At least not right away.

You see, I live about 15 wards away from where my name is registered.

Because I find it easier to vote in my parents ward once every 5 years, rather than go through the procedural requirements of changing my address.

I don't do that, also because if I go through the entire process of registering a new address, I fear I'll find our dream home suddenly available another 15 wards away, and then everything is moot again. 

So, I voted yesterday, for the person who my mom said would benefit her ward the most in her opinion.

Not really any different from any of the people who vote for whoever their sarpanch, community head, mukhiya or maulana tells them to.

But then, this level of ignorance hit me hard somewhat.

So I made a promise to myself,

The next time I vote, I will vote for the person I know the best.

I'd like to say that person would be me.

But I need to get the pulse of the population

So to paraphrase Paul McCartney...

What would you do, if I ask for your vote..

Would you stand up and vote for me???

Lend me your ear, and I'll make you think,

And I promise not to let things be...

So let me know if I should contest the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Pune.

You may "like" it or "+1" it to show your support.  

Especially if you're a sarpanch, community head, mukhiya or maulana :)

Looking London, Talking Tokyo...

So by now we all know that Salman Rushdie will be addressing the Jaipur Lit Fest through a video uplink which will be thoroughly vetted by censors for inappropriate mentions of banned utterances. He was going to attend in person, but he now has some threat to his life, true or otherwise, and so our man is forced to present like he is giving a job interview in a neighborhood Reliance Web World.

Death of Free Speech, I hear you say?

Well, Free Speech was never alive in the first place, but anyway, that's not the point of this post.  

The organizers could very well have saved the entire embarrassment to everyone concerned, if only they had organized the festival after March 3, 2012.

Eh???

Nothing to do with any astrological misalignment, of any kind.

You see, the entire brouhaha about Salman Rushdie, has nothing to do with him, his book, his speech, or anything like that, and has everything to do with the elections in our great state of Uttar Pradesh.

You do know that the Congress is in tough battle with the Samajwadi Party (at least in their minds) for the so-called "Muslim" vote there, don't you? Outlook tells me from a few weeks ago, that most of the population would vote for whomever the village imam sahib would tell them to vote for. The Muslim vote would define the power brokers in Uttar Pradesh, a crowning moment for Rahul Gandhi to gain ascendancy into an eventual prime ministerial berth.

Put it another way, not a single participant, author, reader, fan, organizer, journalist, or Reliance Web World operator is going to vote in Uttar Pradesh come February. Do you seriously believe that, with so much at stake, by inviting the one man in this world who is associated with blasphemy against the Prophet (PBUH), a Congress chief minister would risk giving the SP so much of an advantage?

So I ask you again,

Death of Free Speech??

Or

A Vibrant Democracy??

No offence, but why you so angry???

Someone I know, and respect a lot, sent me this article 

I read this article, and also some of the others that have been forwarded to me from the same blog in the past. And the one recurring theme in these articles has been how the media are crooks. This is related to stuff I have been writing in the past, though with a slight difference. And I just wanted to make the situation and distinction clear.

Unfortunately, for modern India, it is the Congress that is the standard ruler. Like it or not, all political parties in modern India, are born out of an opposition to the Congress. The Jan Sangh, probably for some time defied that rule and went more on principle, but the BJP of today, is more an anti-Congress party rather than a pro-principle party. The principle that the Congress was built on - independence from the British - is so antiquated, that in a few years from now, the youngest freedom fighter for India's independence should logically be about 75 years old, and most likely has defected from the Congress already. None of the core values that any of the parties were set up for, in any case, has anything to do with the development of the country.

But they're still in power, and have been so for all except a few occasions. Let's face it, if the country really didn't want the Congress to rule, it had 15 chances in the Lok Sabha to ensure that. By my count, only on 5 occasions has it done so (Morarji '78, VP Singh '89, Deve Gowda/Gujral, Vajpayee '98, Vajpayee '99). A score of 10-5 is a score I would take that the country really likes the democratic monarchy concept. Even on the 5 times we kicked them out, 4 times out they got the largest vote percentage as a single party.

What does that tell someone?

In most of the cases, my challenge has been to sift through the media and identify articles without a hidden motive behind them. Yet, it's one thing to call media as "puppets in the hands of unseen masters", it's quite another to term them as crooks. That Rahul Gandhi is following a template set by his grandmother, (and subsequently followed by his father) is obvious. However, it's not worth getting so angry on Rahul Gandhi or even the media. They are doing what (in their opinion) is in their best interests. What hurts me more, is that the phoneyness in the entire exercise that seems so obvious to me, doesn't seem that obvious to others.

Which could also mean that it is my interpretation that is wrong. If I am the only one seeing this facade, then maybe it isn't a facade, and what Rahul Gandhi (and his caravan) are doing is really what people like. The king, the benevolent ruler, showers goodies on the "praja" and they are happy with their lives, and the king is free to do as he pleases..  He is the King, after all!!!

Maybe people do like this kind of mollycoddling, after all.. Could it be that people expect Government to be
like a benevolent king? Their mental image of the leader of a country, seems more like a "kind" ruler, rather than one of us. Stories of leadership told to us are Lord Rama, Vikramaditya, Shivaji, Tipu Sultan, Akbar etc. - all kings with no known oppostion, or even a known history of tolerating dissent (probably Akbar, but even then there is no history of anyone surviving a dissenting opinion with him). We don't have a history of the knowing the truth. What we have had, consistently through history has been a set of smoke and mirrors which we assume as "Rajdharma".. You look at Anna Hazare's movement for example, and all you will see are cases where the expectation from his group has been following this Rajdharma.. He has no qualms thrashing drunks, and forced sterilization if you have more than 2 kids, where the final word is that of a one man prosecutor, judge and jury.

On other fronts, I would be very interested to see how the "Maryada Purushottam" would have responded to breaking news that he sent his wife into exile.

Which begs the question, why is it that they do this? Are they evil people, who have pure evil on their minds?

Or could it be that they're doing this, for no other reason, than it is bloody effective..

Fool me once, shame on you..

Fool me twice, shame on me..

Things I think I think

- Can mostly be found on Facebook..

- But it has been a while, hasn't it?? I think I last wrote this string almost a year ago.. It's not been like I have stopped thinking.. You could say I stopped writing.. But I am now making a concerted effort to start writing again.. There aren't too many things that I think though.. There's no one to blame.. Just me.. I do have ideas that I would like to expand on.. I could possibly write a book like Author Gogoi.. Author Gogoi is coming up with a book, sometime now soon.. Was to be around the Aug. 15th timeline, but it's coming up soon.. Buy a copy.. NOW.. Or rather, hen it comes out..

- But Facebook is indeed a good thing.. Half a Billion people can hardly be wrong.. It felt good to "meet" old friends.. Also felt nice to see most people are doing well.. Felt really good to see my friend Thaminie Perera, doing what she really likes and setting up her own Piano Studio.. If you're in the LA area, and want your kids to play like Bach or Beethoven, get in line to her studio.. Sometimes, when people do what they always wanted to, it makes you feel good... I guess living vicariously is the best some folks can do..

- As I write this, I am also watching Jab We Met.. I don't know why I like the movie.. But I do... What can I say?

- There are days when I think I am creative, and there are days when I think I am as creative as a tortoise.. I don't know how creative tortoises are, but I think not much..

- The more I think of it, the more I regret not running for the elections last time around..

- I think this post is a very bland one, and I apologize in advance.. Think of it like a batsman who's having his first hit in months.. I have even stopped promising that I shall write more often, going forward.. Cannot guarantee..

- A passing thought.. Is Sachin Tendulkar eligible for a pension for being a Air Force Group Captain??

How not to report the news

Here is the front page news report in today's The Times of India(italics are mine)

New Delhi: In a bizarre directive, vulnerable to be misused by the authorities,Election Commission on Tuesday said the electronic media cannot telecast anything which can influence voters in areas where elections are to take place, in the 48 hours preceding voting.

In a separate order, EC has also banned dissemination of results of opinion and exit polls by the media.

The gag on electronic media, issued under section 126 of the Representation of People’s Act that prohibits displaying any election matter on television or any related medium 48 hours before poll, is seen as unsuitable for multi-phase elections as well as innocent of the ways the media functions. With their satellite uplink, the channels beam programmes of all-India relevance completely uncircumscribed by the geographical division that the commission wants to enforce.
It also carries the danger of harassment of the media by local authorities.
Take the case of a national news channel which may show a programme on starvation deaths in Andhra Pradesh or impact of Salwa Judum in Chhattisgarh which, like most of others, have multi-phase polls. Both starvation deaths and Salva Judum are issues that can have impact throughout the state, and any functionary can easily argue that their telecast was violative of the EC order and, therefore, liable to be punished. How will EC check the misuse?
In another instance of its naive understanding of working of media, EC has said programmes like debate/panel discussions may be telecast provided they are not in the nature of election campaign or promoting/prejudicing the prospects of any particular party or candidates.

But since most of the news channels call representatives of key parties for panel discussion, will it be possible for EC to make the fine distinction between harmless debate and promoting/prejudicing prospects of any party? It may all boil down to the subjective assessment of the local official.

Given the legion of cases of harassment of the media in districts on various excuses, EC clearly seemed to have erred big time by not factoring in the risk of arbitrary enforcement of its directive.

As part of the order, EC has also said the programmes involving the candidates from the constituencies that are going to polls including interviewing or projecting the candidates should not be telecast/ broadcast during the prohibited period of 48 hours

Now here is the same article without the italics. Request to read independent of the news report above.

(The) Election Commission on Tuesday said the electronic media cannot telecast anything which can influence voters in areas where elections are to take place, in the 48 hours preceding voting. In a separate order, EC has also banned dissemination of results of opinion and exit polls by the media.

The gag on electronic media, (was) issued under section 126 of the Representation of People’s Act that prohibits displaying any election matter on television or any related medium 48 hours before (the) poll

As part of the order, (the) EC has also said the programmes involving the candidates from the constituencies that are going to polls including interviewing or projecting the candidates should not be telecast/ broadcast during the prohibited period of 48 hours

Notice any difference there?

All I did was remove the opinion pieces from the news report. Nobody wants to know what some news reporter thinks. He is just like you and me. Not an expert on anything worthwhile. Hence he has a job to report the news. If he wants the world to know what he thinks about this order of the Election Commission, he write a blog. But not on the front page of (supposedly) India's leading newspaper.

Unfortunately, the Times of India today, is a newspaper which has sold it's journalistic soul to the corporate devil, who demands that newspapers sold count more than it's own integrity. Why it disappoints me is because the Times more than any other thing has a special place in my memories. It is the disappointment that comes when someone close to you breaks your trust. You get bitter towards that special someone.

When I was a kid, my grandpa would read me the Times of India. From front page to last (or rather in reverse) we would go through the previous days news. With no TV, and definitely no internet, the Times would serve as our eyes and ears to the world. My world views were definitely formed in a large part by the newspaper, which in it's own words was "The Leader (who) guards the Reader". It would be neutral and almost sage-like. News reports would be on the front pages and the opinion pieces would be in the middle pages. The news reports would not be judgemental, just report the facts. The middle pages would use these reports and pass their analysis. Life was quite simple. You want to know what someone said, you read the front page and if you want to know what he/she meant, you read the op-eds.

One more noble profession bites the dust.

Jaago Re

The Elections are coming..

Just because I am not contesting, doesn't mean I won't cover the elections..

When Chiranjeevi is covered in the Economist, you know that the world will be covering it too..

Sandgroper Pulls out

There's been crap loads I have been wanting to write for the last so many days.. So here I am, going late to work and blogging instead.. (The late going is officially permissible, by the way).. But the point remains, I have been wanting to write so many things, about life in general, but have not been doing so...

Why??

Because I decided to run for the elections, that's why..

So, I have decided not to contest the elections..

At least then I don't have to worry about freely speaking my mind.. I don't have to worry about hurting someone's religious, cultural, linguistic, artistic feelings..

Not that I have no pride or drive to do something for my country.. I can do that without contesting elections..

Not that I have any closeted skeletons.. I pay my taxes and adhere to traffic..

But everything has a proper time..

And it is time to do other things right now.. Time to do what I do best..

..

Speak my mind..

Here comes competition

No sooner that I declare my intention to run for the election, than along comes the competition to gun for me.. (Mrs. Lobo would be proud... correct usage of "No sooner.... than")

This morning along with the Times of India, I get a pamphlet asking me to donate to the noble cause of getting Mr. Arun Bhatia elected. Now, let's not get ahead of ourselves guys.. Singh is still King.. There's time for the election.. Plus, to my knowledge there's a limit to the amount you can spend on the election.. If everyone was to pay up, Mr. Bhatia would go over the limit, and my money may not be spent..

However, I shall do what no known election candidate has done till in the known history of mankind.

Advertise his / her opponents.

http://www.arunbhatiaelect.org/index.htm

Why should I advertise an opponent, you ask?? Well, for one, you can immediately see the difference between a tech savvy person who has the werewithal to withstand changes due to technological advances and who can channel technological advances to change society in the fast changing 21st century, and an ex-IAS officer who needs money because he cannot run his own website and therefore has to raise the funds to pay for it.

So.. now we have 3 known candidates..

An ex-officer
An ex-pilot
An ex-student..

Seriously, I already have a large votebank cornered.. There are few IAS officers, and fewer airforce pilots.. But almost everyone can relate to being an ex-student..

Btw.. I have already outlined my evil plan for funding my elections long ago on my blog.. Refreshing your memory..

Singh Is King...

Wonderful news from the Lok Sabha.. The government will stay in power for 6 months more.. 

Gives me enough time to start working on the juggernaut that's coming when I stand for elections..  I already have an IIM graduate lined up for my campaign manager.. He is currently on paternity leave, shall introduce him to you guys once he gets back.. Oh, and once he completes his first year at the IIM.. Right now wouldn't have been the best time.. 

I don't think my manager would approve my leave.. 

Hot News in Kolkata

 

Dilli ab door nahi..

Here's my top reasons why I think I should contest the next Lok Sabha elections from Pune

7. I have potential to be a good politician. I look good (not as good as the Scindia kid, but not quite Amar Singh either), I speak the 3 main languages spoken in Pune (Marathi, Hindi, English) fluently along with it all its 10 or so dialects (Anglicised Marathi, Anglicised Hindi, Anglicised English, North Indian Hindi, North Indian Marathi, North Indian English, Puneri Marathi, Non-Puneri (but Maharashtrian) Marathi, Sadashiv Pethi English, Camp English, Puneri Hindi), I pay my taxes regularly, I actually drive my own car. In short, I am one of the people..

6. I am not a bad politician either. Been married for almost 5 years now. So, every sort of situation can be handled. The confidence is there.

5. The country now needs young blood, and I need a stimulating challenge. Every politician says so. (About the young blood part, not the challenge part). Probably why a politician ranks as high as Dracula in public estimation. Even "yuva neta" Rahul Gandhi is 8 years older than me.

4. I have an advertisement at my desk with Saurav Ganguly posing which says "With Chirag, my India can dream big". So, I have all of the Durga Puja Sansad of Pune members in my camp already. Now if only I can get Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni to do this ad...

3. C'mon, admit it. If you're reading my blog, I think you think I make sense most of the time. Not bad for a politician.

2. I heard the deposit is Rs. 10,000. People spend more on mobile phones these days.

1. How much worse than Suresh Kalmadi can I be?

There, I said it. Give me more such reasons and massage my ego.