Resolving my Resolution

Every new year I come up with thoughts of yearly resolutions. Watching the attachments to 'resolutions', I found it quite interesting. With attachments I mean the retrospection that one is clouded with over the last week of the year, and also the important events occurring during the same time frame. Its kind of cool talking about my yearly resolutions, the 'what' and 'why' added with zeal to improve myself. It all seems so blissful - new year resolution, cutting/adding on some habit and evolving as a better guy.

Then I recall some new year from the past and how my resolutions' failed drastically! Somehow every time, every single resolution that I took up was either forgotten after few weeks or ...
Taking up a resolution(decision)  is simple, sustaining it is not!

Well in the recent past year, my life has been more eventful than ever before. Graduated from Allahabad University, moved to Amravati for Post Graduation, enrolled into Journalism, new people, new ambiance and a lot new to be explored laid in front of me. Suddenly, one lazy Sunday morning I realized that something is missing. Something non- material, something from within me eludes. I took time out of my free schedule to look within and resolve my curious case. Who do i talk to about this, and more importantly What do i talk about? After earnest attempts of introspection, I could pin point that I have NOT been writing since long!
Writing for myself, writing for my blog post and few interested (coerced) readers.

On the dawn of 2013 i decided that I will write regularly. I have a resolution to keep, an instinct to suffice. Nevertheless, this sheer laziness and lost soul inside me keeps me wandering in less productive and fruit-less works. I intended to publish this post in the first week of January. posting it now, a month later! I need to improve my timing and be more disciplined.

Nothing much of satire or sarcasm, least of all humour in this post. Should it always be like that, maybe not.

एक शेर लिखा था जब इलाहाबाद में पेहले साल था तो ..

हवा खुश्क , मौसम कुछ सर्द था 
और बस थी इतनी खबर के बेखबर थे हम ..  

On a better day!
Have Fun, Take care!

KD :)

Thok-Pal..

Already three months to this year, eh? Belated, Happy New year!

Team Anna staged a one-day anshan at the jantar mantar on 25th march,
and re-itereated their deamnd for jan-lokpal bill to be passed.
two days later, i.e today a motion of censure was passed in the parliament against the usage of derogatory remarks by team anna against the parliamentarians during their stage shows and speeches for it hurts the righteousness and supremecy of the parliament (as bestowed by the constitution). However, interestingly, there was no such motion or even any action against the MPs who tore the women's reservation bill and the lokpal draft bill much prior to this incident. Moreover, the allegation is vehemently and plausibly challenged by the basic fact that there are 162 members of parliament who are still under CBI probe and other criminal charges (cases still pending). Now the underlying fact is that only three more days for the ongoing budget session of the parliament are left, which means no jan lok pal bill will be passes in this session. The movement which started actively last year (from april 5, 2011) , is yet to see any substantial improvement, and what is interesting here to know is that no member of the parliament opposes the lokpal individualy (or in media) then who stops the improvement is anybody's guess! No consensus among members is cited as the justification for this delay. 10 minutes is quite enough time to make consensus and reach a decision for the motivation has to be salary-hike, but for lokpal bill even a year does not suffice.
The television, newspaper, lok sabha, rajya sabha, auditoriums, public stages, drawing rooms, facebook, twitter, brains, brainless.. all are filled with debates. Unfortunately, it is only school debates that end up with results, not national debates. Dialogue is the key to solve issues, no doubt but dialogue should be followed by action too. It took 3 years to frame the Constitution of India, but what makes it take more than 40 years to induce in it a lokpal (lokpal bill first proposed in 1968) is certainly a matter to ponder over followed by some substntial actions.
The UPA-II rule has seen some of the ugliest scams in any goverment's rule is a fact, as true and believable as the sun that shines. These matters do not hurt the sentiments of the MPs. They remain unhurt, unshaken and unagitated to the news that 16 jawans (who were carrying amenities for the tribes including sewing machines, bicycles, medicines and others) were martyred by the naxalites while they were condemning someone who called them "CHOR". Tables, chairs, paper-wieghts and microphones have been hurrled and thrown in the august house is now a well digested fact, it never caused any agitation among the members. The Mafia growing so blatant that it kills the IPS officer and policemen leaves them unacting except for a two-minute silence. They (MPs) did not agitate to the fact and stats that in 5 years time 22000 farmers have committed suicide because of ignorance to their living conditions (as in 2011) while the 543 members of lok sabha have a combined asset (as declared in 2009 induction to lok sabha) of Rs 30,750 million. But, they are hurt by the terminology used by common people!
The common man is not akin to the "constitutional" lingua, so they they lose the right to ask their representatives to bring in a check to corruption. As pitty as pathetic it is.
Criminalization of Politics and Politicization of Crime is the (law and) order of the day.

All this while, the catalysing force for the movement, i.e We, the people, tend to losing the zeal and enthusiasm as each day passes by. This is but natural to us as the time has moulded us, we tend to lose interest and enthusiasm in any matter which stays for quite sometime, be it any trending news, be it kolaveri di, be it martyrs, be it rise in fuel price. Everything subsides now in a few days. The anti-corruption movement will get "boring" day by day. This innate human tendency, to move on, is known to the ruling government and they are tapping it to the best of their use, by delaying the lok pal bill.


Meanwhile, Mr. Vijay Mallaya can be accredited to the fact that nowadays children name Kingfisher when asked "Name a flightless bird.".


On a better day.

Have Fun!
Take care!

Zindagi Ka Saath Nibhaata.. Chala Gaya..

.. अरे कोई अंदाजा है ये देव आनंद की उम्र कितनी होगी?
पता नहीं यार कबसे तो देख रहे हैं, हमारे बाबा कहते हैं उनसे भी पुराने हैं ..
.. तो शायद अल्लाह मियाँ से दो -चार साल छोटे होंगे और क्या!

I have a sense of personal apology. The reason, this not being "a better day".


88, quite a ripe and digestible age for demise. But certainly not for someone whom the world knew as Dev Anand. D-E-V A-N-A-N-D countless adjectives have been conferred upon him. But the greatness emerged when the name itself was adopted as an adjective. "अहा .. मेरे देव आनंद!" Even I, (born '91) heard it at occassions. Such is the legend, such his magnamity.

December 4, I woke up to the news that Dev Saab is no more with us. An instantaneous feeling of sadness poured in. The day passed, the feeling did not. I do not doubt that this feeling might just transform into a nostalgia eventually. Its quite obvious with someone like myself to whom bollywood is an obsession. Infact, its not just about bollywood or global cinema, it is all about greatness. Greatness in the form of Dev Anand.

We all see old people around us but hardly few (especially octagenarians)
so active as Dev Saab was. I do not know other celebs high on age so ignited in minds and passion (besides, Khushwant Singh) for work. To him age was just a number and he romanced that too!
So the news of his leaving for heavenly abode was more a kind of shock. He celebrated life. He personified life and living. Death, is like cheating on life and he was too honest to do that. Life's biggest asset and objective, to him, was life itself. So it was basically not in the nature of Dev Saab to die. People around him till that fateful ( read fateless) day never attributed death to him. Presumably
even they had immortalized him. No wonder why the world refers to him as "Evergreen"!

Shammi Kapoor, Feroz Khan, Jagjeet Singh, Dev Anand.. my Immortals!


P.S. Do see his movie Guide, if you have not.
(two lines have been quoted from an article in the Times of India)

DEMO(n)CRACY!

Violence is never good, though it may seem appropriate at certain situation.

Sharad Pawar, union minister for agriculture in India, was bewildered with
a slap which was perceived by the civilised intelligentsia as an "assault" on
democracy.

Now what really wonders me is that there are two perceptions of democracy
we breathe in. There are two constitutions, one for the ordinary citizens also
resented as "the common man" and the other for their elected representatives.
The citizens' constitution begins..
"WE, THE PEOPLE.."
and the other opens..
"WHO THE PEOPLE?"

Todays' incident followed wave of reactions. Some condemned it, some believed its a
publicity stunt, some (posing intellect) remarked it as the outburst of the affliction on the common-man. Nevertheless, bottomline -everyone enjoyed.

Drifting a bit, the winter session of the parliament has begun. With all the chaos and non-agreements, all three days (as yet) have been wasted. No discussions, no bills, no work.
Being responsible, have the members of parliament given a thought to the
fact that an hour of session costs Rs. 25 lakhs and a day Rs. 2.25 crore and the whole session would cost Rs.52 crores.. I doubt. Talking about all the 8 sessions of the present 15th Lok Sabha, it should have worked 897 hours but it turned out to have worked only 372 hours!
Outside the parliament they talk about justice to tax-payers' hard-earned money and
taking up issues of public interest but when in house what are they upto is anybody's guess.

But, that does not disappoint, because recently a culture has evolved in which discussions are not held in official places instead issues are discussed in news channels with a pannel of few guests (a couple of rival politicians, an economic expert, a social worker, etc) and a journalist cum host, which often concludes with the line ..और समय की कमी के चलते इस बहस यहीं समाप्त करते हैं। नमस्कार। Let us see, where it takes us.

And just for information, foreign direct investment (FDI) has been approved in Indian retail
market. Walmart et al to soon be seen, shine in Indian cities. On the other hand, UN says, India has 40 percent of its population living below poverty line. Indian officials deny, they say ONLY 37 percent!


On a better day.

Have Fun!
Take Care! :)

SPLIT- personality!

After more than half a century of Independence, large area and population now hinders the growth and development. Once the PROs now the CONs.

With a total land area of 294,500 sq. kms and inhibited by a phenomenal popluation
of about 19.95 crore individuals, Uttar Pradesh is all set to get split into four parts-
Pashchim/Harit Pradesh, Awadh Pradesh, Purvanchal and Bundelkhand.

Now here is something to "Whop!"..
Uttar Pradesh is not only the most populous state in India but also the most
populous substantial entity in the whole world! Only five countries (China, India, USA, Indonesia and Brazil) have a population more than Uttar Pradesh.
Uttar Pradesh is half the size of France, double the size of Portugal, it can fit in seven Switzerlands and ten Belgiums. And guess what.. It's slightly bigger than England, our masters for two centuries!
Findings say that every 3rd guy in the world is Chinese, 4th an Indian and 36th औ का- अपने यूपी का!

And to criticise(righteously) if its not population, area and birth rates (not the crude birth rates)
Uttar Pradesh ranks among the lowest in almost every index of economical and social development be it health, litercay, employment.

Then, there is certainly much more to this split than just the "whops" mentioned above.
Uttar Pradesh resides 16 percent of total Indian population. Reserves the highest number
of chairs in Lok Sabha (माई-बाप की हवेली), unambiguosly has a strong political presence at
the centre. Besides, it is seen as a trump card by BSP(Bahujan Samaj Party- Mayawati wali) for the forthcoming state elcetions in Uttar Pradesh. History records it, A Trump either Makes it or Breaks it!

Here is the apparent crux of the split:

• Mayawati gains politically as her core constituency - Dalits - are evenly spread throughout the state.
• Samajwadi Party's 8.7 per cent core Yadav vote is not uniform. One chunk is in Eastern UP and another in Etawah, Mainpuri and Etah belt.
• RLD has been campaigning for Harit Pradesh in Western UP region. It is bound to gain there because of the dominant Jats.
• The Congress like the BSP has influence in all regions, but it's far too thin, so no visible gain.
• The BJP has influence in Eastern UP because of caste equation of Rajputs and Brahmins.

वैसे अगर हमारी मानें मुख्यमंत्री मायावती जी तो उत्तर प्रदेश को एक अलग देश ही बनवा लें और स्वयं प्रधानमंत्री बन जायें!




P.S. The Split resolution has been passed by the State Assembly, it is yet to get a final nod of agreement from the Central Government.


On a better tomorrow.

Have fun!
Take Care! :)

Formula- "Won"

Been quite some time. Doesn't make much of a difference.
What brought you here? My text message/ call/ fb notification?
Whatever be it, I appreciate you are here. Thank you.

So, it was morning, today itself, when the news flashed that
the world has crossed 7 billion mark population. Surely debates and discussions
are to follow and like always "who cares?" and why not as all these "discussions and
debates" lead to the one and same objective- the TRP (television rating points).
But nevertheless, With the birth of every child I realize that God has still not lost hope in Human Race.

Now onto "bigger", much hyped and talked issue - Formula-One!!
Fans had an overwhelming response and excitement. On the other hand rather other pole
the critics and the "socially-concerned" intelligentsia have their own arguments, well
supported but not accepted. Poor fellas! They'll die concerned but unconsidered!
But the biggest of inference, the whole event was a herculian task carried out well in time
(except for Metallica performing in Gurgaon) and apparently no malpractices.
The reason lies in its sole private organisation and management. Had it been a government
organised- managed event.. (ha ha ha)

बाकी सब सही है। भ्रष्टाचार तो चल ही रहा है India Against Corruption भी चल रहा है। वैसे ठीक ही है क्योंकि ये सब ख़तम हो जाएगा तो ये लोग करेंगे क्या??


On a better day.
take care :)

India vs Indians

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.

Anna hazaare, as a force, has pounded the door of political authorities with the aim
to slam down the corrupt practices. Gathering a mass support Anna and his team have
made their motives clear. But..(I so frenzy this word, it changes the whole equation) it is
almost next to impossible to get over the UPA II's team of hardcore professionals.
Citing the UPA's rule it is a state of desparity that it lacks a leader. A mass leader.
What it has got is a team full of professionals ranging from legal consultants to taxation expert
to Media managers and Lobbyists. However shrewed these " elected representatives" be, nevertheless I have faith in Anna "the silver lining" Hazaare.

Now, into the sixty-five year of our Independence. A lot many things have changed. The supposed and proposed base lost in thick air. India, an agrarian country, shifted its attention from the villages to the Metropolis. अब दिल्ली में बैठा बाबू ये तय करेगा की फलां फलां गाँव में या जिले में क्या और कैसे होगा! The "decentralised outlook of our good governance"!

Freedom of Speech. The least said, the best said.
P.S. The above written statement does not imply to General Secrataries of Indian national congress.

And sometimes I really go awestruck the way electronic media has emerged.
Since recent, with the debate over good governance a point has been raised and reiterated
countless times and that is "The Parliament is Supreme." Should i laugh at it or scorn it off. Pathetic knowledge. BREAKING NEWS "The Indian
Constitution is Supreme!" nothing/no one parallels, not even the Parliament.
The media is a flock of cattles. One drowns they all shall drown.

Gandhi wanted SYSTEM IN POLITICS. Gandhi(s) brought POLITICS IN SYSTEM.

A stoic war of ideologies has always prevailed in my country. A war between bad and worse.
An unproclaimed, undeclared war between the ruling and the ruled.

Lets participate, await and see whether this mass movement turns into a revolution with the expected consequences.


On a better tomorrow.

Have Fun!
Take care!