Thinking aloud

Congratulations to the Deccan Chargers on winning this year’s IPL at South Africa. They have shown the resiliency required to win a big, long tournament like this.  IPL 2009 has been a revelation to the cricket lovers. It proved that classy players will always excel in any format of the game. The performances of the veterans like Anil Kumble, Mathew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist delighted the fans. For me, the notable disappointments were Sourav Ganguly, V.V.S.Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar , Sanath Jayasurya, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan.  The find of the tournament is Manish Pandey. SO many young players including Pragyan Ojha, Naman Ojha, Ravindra Jadeja and many others demonstrate the bench strength that Indian cricket has. This is a good omen and the BCCI needs to preserve and nurture the budding talents.  Looking forward to the Indian team retaining the T20 World Cup....

We are living in an era of mindless, brutal blood shedding and violence. Often, the war is for some cause or the other. The dreams, aspirations, ambitions, love, lust, greed, agony, anguish, anger, frustrations all spill out in the form of bullets and swords. Even petty feuds and silly arguments end up in large scale destruction and communal clashes.  We live in an age of heroes who seek to build their empire atop the graveyards. The Osamas, Prabhakarans, myriad forms of Naxalism, extreme Maoism, communal and caste hatred and all forms of oppressive idealisms seek to establish their dominance on the world order. Saner voices like that of the Dalai Lama are drowned in the midst of the loud, fervent war cries. Even devil’s hell would be a better abode than man’s earth.  When I saw the reports of Prabhakaran’s death, I couldn’t but wonder what the moral of his life is. His fight was against the oppression of Tamils by the Sri Lankan government and the Sinhalese community. But, what di...

The death of dreaded LTTE chief Prabhakaran is a defining moment in the history of Sri Lanka and in fact that of the entire Tamil World. His death is a defining moment in the history of the small Islan nation. I hope this would bring some semblance of peace and stability to that country.  The onus is on the Sri Lankan government to rehabilitate the Tamils and give them their due status. This is a rare second chance that the government has got to correct the past wrongdoings.  India must also find it easier to intervene in a post-Prabhakaran era. India has the responsibility and duty to make sure that the Tamils and Sinhalese peacefully co-exist in the beautiful Lankan nation.

The results of Lok Sabha Elections 2009 show that Kerala has remained faithful to its record of switching between the two prominent fronts, LDF and UDF. So much so that one can even predict the results of the next Lok Sabha Elections which should be held in 2014 unless the new dispensation at Delhi fails to be a stable one. It would be an exact opposite of the current results.  Why? Because by then we will have a UDF government ruling the state for over two years and would be as fed up with it as we are with the current LDF government. It is the utter disappointment of the neutral voters, those who are not hardcore LDF or UDF supporters, which results in the alternating fortunes for the fronts in successive elections. The net result is that the state and its people suffer from the negligence and lack of will power from its rulers. Even the achievements of the government get sidelined due to various controversies that keep flooding the state.  Another side-effect of this is that eac...

UPA improves its tally, disappointment for NDA, severe drubbing for the 3 rd front… The UPA is all set to form the government at the centre for the second time. Disappointing as it is for many like me who would have liked to see Advaniji as the Prime Minister, I still hope the UPA would get its priorities right this time around.  In an earlier post, I had expressed the hope that the Indian polity at the national level would finally come around to a bipartisan system two to three elections from now. I reiterate the same at this juncture.  As for the next government, I strongly suspect there would be a mid-term leadership change if Manmohan Singh stays on as the Prime Minister at initial stage. In spite of being an optimist, I don’t have much hope regarding the performance of a fresh UPA government in key areas like employment generation, inflation control, foreign affairs and anti-terrorist and anti-insurgency drive. I would like the new government to respect the verdict and deli...

Anti LDF wave wreaks havoc…   1.        Ponnani & Kozhikkode - CPI(M)’s Pinarayi group had estranged all other sections in the LDF regarding the candidate selection in Ponnani and Kozhikode. I am delighted at the LDF’s drubbing in these two seats as it deserves the same for its arrogance and total disregard for coalition etiquette. A strong message to the CPI(M) from Left supporters and cadres. 2.        Kannur & Vadakara - Two seats which are the citadels of CPI(M) chose to teach a lesson to the party this time around. A strong political message to the CPI(M) from its own cadres and support base. 3.        Palakkad & Vadakara - CPI(M) rebels who contested the elections putting up a creditable show in these two CPI(M) strong holds. 4.        Thriuvananthapuram -   Shashi Tharoor makes his debut in election politics. This manifests the extend of anti-LDF trend across Kerla. 5.        BJP – As usual, decrease in the BJP vote share across the state would be cause f...

India has seen myriad forms of horse-trading and political back stabbing in its post 1947 history. From the respected Netha going underground with his precious stack of MLAs, who are kept under house arrest till a deal is struck with interested parties, to the honourable MPs being bought with the help of divine God Men and suitcases laden with cash.  Lok Sabha elections 2009 will also throw up interesting and downright comical moments of political bankruptcy and ideological ambiguity. Yesterday, we had the pleasure of watching a former Chief Minister going to meet the leader of the Grand Old Party in a clandestine fashion. The pictures reminded me of criminals and prostitutes who often hide their faces in front of the camera. I cannot understand why the gentle man had to hide himself in such an amateurish fashion.   Even I could have done a better job if I wanted to avoid being identified in front of the camera.    More cynical and disturbing trends are being reported from Rampur w...

This election has been characterised by shameless, opportunistic positions adopted by different players brazenly. The latest among these is the atrocious demand made by Mulayam Singh Yadav regarding post-poll support. He has promised support to any party or group that guarantees the dismissal of Mayavati Government in UP.  This position betrays the total lack of moral and social commitment on the part of a leader who has been one of the major players in the national politics for more than two decades now. Mulayam has been the Chief Minister of UP and also a union minister earlier. One would have expected the leader to have gained some maturity and semblance of accountability after all these years.  It is the bane of Indian polity that egoistic personalities with highly volatile temperament get to control the future of this nation. People like Mulayam, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Mayavati, Mamta Banerjee, Jayalalitha etc have time and again demonstrated their utter disregard for political an...

The IPL season 2 which is underway in South Africa is proving to be a closely fought tournament. With about half the matched over, most of the teams are still with a chance to go into the semi-finals, except for the Kolkata Knight Riders.  I wanted the Knight Riders to stage an impressive show in this edition. But, the stupid four captain theory ensured that the team had quite a few worries even before the tournament started. Just what was the theory all about? In spite of the miserable show by the team, we certainly have not seen any captain other than the pitiable McCullam in the whole tournament so far. I suspect the whole theory was just an excuse to remove Dada from the captaincy. And now John wants more foreign players to be allowed in the team. Really this is ridiculous.  While all the other teams have shown the vision, courage and the skills to bounce back from the most precarious situation, Buchanans’s team has performed well below expectations game after game. A coach has...

After the lacklustre performance in the election campaign, the political parties in Kerala are back to what they are best at, politics of harthal. With the LDF government deciding to accept advocate general’s advice against sanctioning the prosecution of CPI(M) Kerala general secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, the opposition parties have called for a twelve hour harthal in the state.  It is notable that the election was hijacked by the single issue of Madani factor. The opposition parties failed miserably to highlight any other political issues in any meaningful fashion. In this sense, Kerala has followed the national trend of debating sensational but non-productive issues in the elections. I strongly feel that the media too has not served its role well so far in elections 2009.  It is these factors that are responsible for the increased number of apolitical citizens in this country. The decrease in voting percentage is a direct result of an uninspired political leadership and a main stre...

It was a magical evening for music lovers from different parts of the country who converged at the Corporation Stadium at Kozhikode yesterday for A.R.Rahman’s Jai Ho show. While the event was an unforgettable one for the exuberant crowd, it still had its flaws which somehow dampened the spirits of the capacity crowd. This show had its positives and negatives.  I got inside the stadium with my friends by about 4PM for the show slated to start at 7PM. The scorching sun and the summer heat beat down on us while we were seated in the uppermost tier of the gallery (ticket cost 500Rs). The crowd kept pouring in and by about 6:10PM, the gallery was almost full. As the sun’s ferocity started to subside, the spirits began to soar among the expectant crowd.   This was the first time I had gone for any such programme in a big stadium . When I watched cricket and other programmes from different stadiums around the world on my television, I have always wondered how the atmosphere would be. I fo...

It has been a tiresome, but enjoyable week spent travelling across the God’s own Country. And when the journey takes you closer to the loved ones, it is all the more special. Now I am back at Kozhikode and have the perfect arena to recharge myself. Yes, I am going for A.R.Rahman’s Jao Ho show this evening. For fans like us it is a once in a life time opportunity to see the maestro perform live in our own city. Obviously, I am very much excited about the event. Watch out for the updates tomorrow...