Mayawati Devi ki Jai.....

As I am thinking of what should be my next post...I feel very confused as I am bombarded with so many interesting pieces of news ranging from Mayawati to IPL. But, I cannot write about IPL unless I dedicate some of my choicest words for Mayawati afterall the games played by her can put any IPL to shame. The Garland Controversy is her latest offering. Can you imagine how cruel is it for a common man to see his contribution being insulted in such a sickening manner?

I have always been against the extravagent adornment of Gods and our temples. I am sure it is not difficult to understand that the best service that one can do to God is by serving the underpriveleged ones. Still, we equate our devotion directly with the amount that we dedicate to such religious extravagence.This is particularly the case with the celebrities who always have been generous to various temple trusts. Hence, it doesn't come as a surprise to see Mayawati being presented with a garland made of Rs.1000 notes. Afterall, she has over the years created a God-like aura of herself in the minds of her followers.It is a case of lunatic fan-following or a shameless display of narcissism, the latter being the most likely answer given her obsession with her statues. 

Please mummify her and dispose her off to Egypt when she would be no more. Atleast, Egyptian tourism would regain its lost glory. I wonder where that garland has finally ended up but I can only hope that Mayawati ko elections main bhi ek badi "haar" miley.And that "haar" will remain with her for a lifetime. But I guess she is not done as yet. "Mayawati ka Maya" itni jaldi khatam nahi hogi.Brace yourselves Guys...next temple in UP on tourism radar is perhaps going to be "Maya Devi Mandir"....really Incredible India.

IPL-India Pakistan League

Yeah that is what IPL is all about at this moment. Its all about the games...political games that has and will keep both the countries involved in a strange kind of love-hate relationship. One day its "Hath milaao,Galey lagaao", the next day its "Jaan lo ya Jaan Bachaao". The so called political representatives are so hungry for an opportunity to showcase their jingoism that they outrageously pick up a wrong cause and make it a cross-border issue of significant implications. By the way,you have to give it to them. They are a talented lot though or else how can one explain their magnificent strike rate at turning a non-issue into an ISSUE. They know how to make a mountain out of a mole hill and ordinary citizens only know how to climb up that mountain and commit suicide.Ofcourse, the politicians are ably aided by media who derive sickening pleasure from igniting fire and then enjoying the warmth of the same without bothering about the resultant fire that burns down everything around them.

Any man in his senses would understand the reason behind the fate of Pakistani players in the IPL auction.As far as I understand, the obvious reasons could be:

• the unprdictability surrounding the presence of these players for the length of the tournament given the volatile nature of relationship between the countries.While Wasim Akram can be roped in as a support staff without much risk,the players come along with a great financial and as well as strategic risk from cricketing point of view.
• round the clock security of these players is an obvious issue and even insurance against terror attacks cannot be considered as a solution to the life risk.Who would like to bear such a risk?If anything happens to any of these players, the same politicians back home would give out a war-cry for sure.
• coming to cricket, apart from Sohail Tanveer none of the rest had exactly set the stage on fire during the first edition of IPL. Perhaps,the price-utility dynamics did not work in their favour.However, this point in isolation could not have influenced the franchisee owners' decision.So, I feel all these three factors would have played their part in the Pakistani players being left in the lurch.

The funniest part in all these have to be the fingers being pointed at Indian Government for this.The election of Board Officials may be a territory for political manouvers but not the selection of players. We have not gone down to that level atleast.This could be possible in Pakistan but not in India as yet. The sorry state of Pakistan cricket especially the domestic cricket to a certain extent is the result of wrongful use of politics in sports. Just consider this, if at all Indian Government was involved in IPL administration then why the hell IPL had to be moved to South Africa in the last edition.The Government would have surely accomodated both IPL and elections easily.

The call for boycott of cross-border talks, IPL on cable television and screening of Indian movies is an unfortunate one and if not curbed would be a great dampener in the strained relations which were slowly but surely on the path to normalcy. More importantly, all the great work till date towards the peace process would go down the drain. There is some kind of hypocrisy as well.Kabbadi team is stopped from going to India but the Hockey team has not yet been asked to forego the chance to win World Cup. Ofcourse, they know Hockey is of much more importance to them than Kabbadi in terms of their presence in the international scene. I hope there would be atleast one man or for that matter woman from the Pakistan Assembly who would paint the actual picture before all the honourable members. The role of media is the most crucial here. They have the power to influence public opinion and so they should realise their responsibilty and present a rational point of view.

India ho ya Pakistan.....every damn problem starts with Politics and ends with Politics. Comparatively, Indian politics is in a slightly better state it seems. For that one cheer to Indian politicians. Don't mind...all you netas still have a long way to go.

If you want something very badly in life.....

If you want something very badly in life.....don't wait for it but move on....move on not because the Universe will anyways conspire to give it to you but because waiting has never helped anybody achieve anything.As the wait becomes longer and longer, the soul inside becomes more restless.It gets torn apart in the fight between "what you are" and "what you could have been".The desperation and frustration shows on the face in spite of your fake smile.The person gets reduced to an automated machine which is bereft of any sense of enjoyment and excitement.Self-motivation become almost impossible.Your ability gets enveloped by the thick mist of undelivered promise.Your self-respect is attacked at will by people who never cared or infact who do not need to understand you beyond a point where your utility value is a "no-value" for them.If you wait and wait thinking that one fine day a Guardian Angel will turn up and lead you on your Road to Glory, you would end up as a loser.So,what should you do?...should you compromise?....should you change your goals and and base those on your current state of affairs?Tough question...isn't it?

I have realised that we human beings are masters in making plans but we cannot master planning.The glorious uncertainties of life would just not allow us to live as we wish."Jeevan ek rangmanch hain....aur hum is rangmanch ke kathputliya".This is a dialogue from the evergreen classic "Anand".It aptly sums up the helplessness of human beings.We can conquer others but we fail miserably when things come to our own life.

A man is always at crossroads.He makes the choices...atleast he assumes so but in reality he has been made to choose what he has chosen by some invisible force of nature.I had my plans too but now that I see those crumbling against forces of destiny,I feel life is just for living.We make it complicated by involving so many equations into it.When you have hit the road and you don't know the destiny,there is no point in waiting for someone to guide you as after a point you would find yourself exploited as that "someone" himself/herself is lost and he/she just used you for his/her journey to the imagined El Dorado.It is better to go ahead and enjoying everything that journey has to offer you for you gain a lot from that holistic experience.The journey is going to be tough and some sort of fight is awaiting you there at every turn.Making plans and losing sleep over it is the worst thing that you can do.Rather, treating life as an extempore would give a whole new meaning to your existence.

United we stand...Divided we fall

This line has been done to death but at this juncture is very important for people of Andhra Pradesh and Indians in a broader sense. For a moment let us consider that Telangana and Andhra are separate states. Then what would be the repurcussions. Ofcourse, Gorkhaland, Khasi Hills, Garo Hills, Bundelkhand, Harit Pradesh, Curg, Vidharva, Bodoland,etc. After 'x' number of years, a faction in Telangana or for dat matter another faction in Bundelkhand would feel that they have got the wrong end of the stick and start agitating for a statehood. This is a far fetched thinking but dats how things might pan out to be because in essence you can never satisfy all and in every population, the disadvantaged lot would try to breakaway. For a political system as is in India, the vote bank politics complicates the matter further.

We have to also consider the fact that whether the creation of so many states won't stretch our financial resources further. For every penny being given by the Central Government to Andhra Pradesh now, 2 pennies have to be sanctioned when the state is divided. Besides, what about the centre's control over states. When the Centre finds it difficult to take care of 30 odd states, how would it control when the number increases to 40 and may be 50? The spread of development would get further skewed. Out of 30 odd states,how many states have developed till today? And how many "carved out" states are doing well? Answer is not many.

I can sympathise with the Telangana activists but separate statehood is not a solution. Instead the Government should strike at the root cause of this demand and similar demands which is basically disatisfaction and disillusionment with Government's work. If Telangana comes through, then a dangerous precedent would be set whereby strong agitation can armtwist the Government into submission. Such agitation would be most dangerous where the Terrorists would back the agitations and throw normal life into grave danger.

When would we Indians learn to stay together and put India first before any 'x' or 'y' region. We let our and resources go down the drain just because we just prefer to go separate ways instead of sorting the issues out by staying together. Take the case of Paes and Bhupati, imagine how many Grandslams they missed out on because of their split.

We should come together and work for overall development of the country with equal focus on each state and the system should be in place so that the nobody remains bereft of the fruits of development. The biggest responsibility lies with the politicians and they should rise over opportunistic political manouvers and vote bank politics and be the agents of change. If we do not stop the geometric progression of states in India and the consequent weak governance and chaos, we would have to prepare ourselves for another 200 years of slavery (provided armageddon is not in 2012).