Sarkaar Ne Aake, Mera Haal Jo Poocchaa . . .

It is that time of the tenure in the five states of Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, that the polity is curdled, and out come the goodies – material and otherwise – to woo the electorate. This is that time of the tenure when the common man is made to feel like King! And Queen!! The time when, actually, the King comes to your doorstep to enquire if all’s well . . .

Each state has its own way of wooing the voters, just like how it has its own, unique set of problems or issues. The colour of the parties, too, varies from left to right of the whole spectrum – not as extreme as one would imagine, though – as does the ideology of each them. But, yes, each has to deal with some kind of extremism, and then some. Both internal and external.

And, talking of ideology, it does not necessarily differ from just party to party, but like chameleons, it changes from time to time with each party, too. If one fought the right the last time around, it fights the left this time. Ultimately, it is the voting citizen who gets punched from all sides.

Much like the issues. Newer ones, or the same ones like the last time around, but with a twist. Some rival-inflicted, some by the nature. Each issue is seen as something that has been pounded upon with vengeance. Be it by a rogue-rival or by the nature. Or just laxity.

Then there are many mini-games within the big one. One such is the blame-game. None is spared. Even God! Cyclones, floods, etc., can be deemed as act of God. But flyover? Floods in Chennai? Poor God . . .

If an economy can be measured by the issues that hound the rivals, then India would be at the top –many pop up around this season – the poll season, that is – when issues are made out of non-issues, and the real ones forgotten conveniently. Only, corruption is common across the regions and parties.

There are floods, refugees and migrants (not political!), prohibition of liquor, et al that make noise during the rallies. All die a silent death soon after the polls. The parties dole out goodies with the party emblems etched on them, that may not even live till the next election. Migrant natives make it a point to head home to get the goodies – vote or not.

There have been democracies – big and small – worldwide that try to emulate the election story of India – a success story at that. Through a few decades since, the Election Commission of India (ECI) – the body that oversees the whole process – has been consistently getting the thumbs up each time the electorate gets its finger marked. And providing it with the logistical support has been the security forces of the country, which invariably puts its hands up to be counted, whose sleepless nights extend much after the day the counting of votes happen. And many of which don’t get to vote!

Come 19 May 2016, India might have a different colour on its corners!

Petals of a lotus

I am not a great fan of any of the three – for their professional exploits, that is, largely – but, as famous personalities, each may have carved a niché in the psyche of the public.

Fables galore about Rajani’s off-screen persona – that he being down-to-earth, humble and simple, benevolent at times, so on and so forth. Indeed, he has given superlative performances on screen – different from the moolah his films rake in thanks to the oceanic spread of his fans – like in Pathinaru Vayathinile (1977, Tamil), that I remember to have watched as a child (the film also has another legend Kamal Haasan, besides Sridevi). Over the years, he has grown bigger than his off-screen – at times, even on-screen – persona amongst his fans, and has developed into an affable human being amongst them and the rest.

The Quntico girl also has seen great success, adding to her Miss India (World) and Miss World titles, besides exploring success in overseas waters as an antagonist in Baywatch. She has displayed enormous, present-day professionalism in developing her career over recent years, seemingly emphasising on quality than on quantity.

(Picture from http://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/rajinikanth-sania-priyanka-chopra-honoured-with-padma-awards/article8466539.ece on Wednesday 13 April 2016)

The khaatoon from Hyderabad also is a deserving recipient of the Award, what with so many other medals and disks that she has won worldwide over the past few years, notwithstanding her feats were with Martina Hingis. She has brought laurels to the nation, after all.

But, I have just become the fan of this picture! The Superstar may not give a damn to the present-day professionalism, as he seems beyond that, and, perhaps, years ahead already. Neither would he need a partner to shoulder the huge expectation his each venture generates. Why? It is learnt that he even makes good the loss if his work turns out to be bad.

But the frame captures his simplicity to the hilt, à la The Common Man of R K Laxman. And, yes! You Said It! Here, he looks like him, indeed!!

The girls seem to just pretend posing for the picture, while posing questions to themselves how fame can be prudently handled. They are no less in any way, in their own right, but the senior pro has a lot to be looked up to. They’ve spread fame beyond borders alright, but remaining firmly grounded is how they can reach for the sky. And that’s when fans see them as Superstars!

It’s for anyone’s wonderment how the two may be feeling to flank the man! They’d surely adore the moment as much as the adornment on their chests! They’d also feel like twinkling stars!

And the Prez would be thanking PeeCee for arriving in that beautiful saree – it is learnt she flew from LA shooting for Baywatch!

Isn’t it time to congratulate all of them who won? And isn’t it time, also, to hope for more from them, and others out there, too?

Best wishes, folks!

Demise of the art

The pictures, match moments and after moments, of the Brazil versus Germany football semi-final match of the 2014 World Cup, showed how crazy a nation could be of a game. It felt like the fans were mourning. Or was it actually the demise of the so-called artistry in football, done in by precision football the Germans played? Or, is there any place for artistry, at all, in games like football?

Neymar was just another player, who was not there to be counted, after all. It seemed like the 22-year-old took the nation’s, and fans’, hearts rather than the field. Luiz’s absence for the match only added to the equation. But did it, really?

By the way, Luiz was cross-checked from the Internet, as his name is not familiar. Klose and Muller (or is it Mueller?) are the only two scorers for Germany, whose names may be remembered. Klose is “close” to remember, and Muller (or Mueller) is identical to Max Mueller Bhavan in Bangalore! Ronaldo is the namesake of a former Brazilian footballer, Messi is popular, and both of them appear is ads aplenty, specially during the WC Finals. Rooney for all the reasons not football. Suarez for you-know-what. And ad, too. But Sachin? Luminous battery ads don’t appear on American TV channels, neither Russian. And cricket is not popularly played in either of those countries. Then how could Maria Sharapova know or remember the chap’s name. Yes; tennis is not popularly played in India, but when was tennis the reason to know Sharapova? We all know why we know Maria Sharapova. Doesn’t she play some kind of ball?

The opposition had given sleepless nights, and days, to Rahul Gandhi, and he is catching up with some sleep now in Parliament. But these media hawks don’t let him do that. All kudos to the ruling, and his own, party for allowing him to go adrift his seat. And dream. May be.

The same hawks – the media, that is – are blowing out-of-proportion Merkel putting football over Modi (not literally). Why not? Her boys are just a step short of being on top of the world. And why are we so much behind Merkel? It’s football, stupid. Not tennis.

And India is called a cricket-crazy nation! We don’t put cricket before our guests. We watch matches together.

NaMo’s NaSha. And their NaNa. Na… Na…, that is.

After all the frenzy of India elections, the dust will finally settle in a couple of days – on Wednesday 28 May 2014, when NaMo will have taken charge of the PMO, after bidding goodbye to NaSha, after they have shook hands to a new dawn in the region – NaNa.

The buildup for NaSha’s visit matched that of NaMo’s taking the PMO and the runup for that, that began over a year ago. Which itself had all the ingredients of a standard Bollywood masala, RaGa’s elevation as V-P, NaMo’s naming of campaign head and, thus, PM-designate, Advani’s grouse, et al. And this one also matched the earlier franchise (a la Dhoom1, 2, 3, . . .) in chaos, frenzy and wit.

The biggest contributor to all that is the media – specially the electronic media. It looked like that these channels had nothing else to report other than NaSha’s impending decision. It actually drowned a similar frenzy from Tamil Nadu, what with all opposing the invite to the Sri Lankan Prez, and his visit for the event.

What is wonderful is that NaMo’s, and the party’s, saintly silence to all this media mêlée. And rightly so. It should be like that. Macro scenario has to be seen, and given importance to, first, than the micro issues. Specially at this juncture. There will be time and personnel to address all the micro issues of the country and will be duly considered to be taken care of. Having a cordial relationship with neighbours and setting the ball to roll at this point in time speaks volumes of the thought to invite the leaders.

No wonder if the same media sets the agenda for the NaNa bilateral talks. Perhaps, it has only masked the circus that might be going on to wrest plum portfolios by the partymen. And partywoman.

AAP’s story is long written. Gopinath’s exit was expected. Rather, not shocking. But Ilmi’s? She seemed to belong there with the Kejriwals, Sisodias, Bhartis, etc. She didn’t seem to be like Medhas, Yogendras, Ashutoshs, who will all come out soon. When is Delhi again going for the polls? And supporters like Balas need not even toil to send in a resignation – they’re wiped out already. Both from AAP and public memory (Bala. Bangalore Central’s AAP candidate in the latest LS polls. He was in Infy. Remember?).

The drama continued with the Gandhis offering to resign, and the partymen rejecting the offer. Why? Ma’am G was also elected CPP head!

It was disgusting to see Abhishek Sighvi and Manish Tiwari continue appearing as spokesmen, when their party’s washout was thought to have flushed them out from TV screens. They’re hoped to start work on rebuilding the party. Behind the scenes, that is.

Wonder what would be IPL’s TRP this year! It’d be worth learning of that, and the advertisers’ opinion on their investment.

The viewer is at the wit’s end, after all this.

It’s the God thing, stupid . . .

What’s in a loss? Everything. Or nothing.

India’s at the WT20 2014 finals has given seriously inedible food for the thoughts of the cricket-crazy nation, leaving a bad taste of the memories of the 2003, and later in 2007, World Cup. Only, this time it was the lone crusader Yuvraj who had to bear the brunt of the irate fans.

Irate? But why stone his house?

Yuvraj has to learn from Dhoni – he collected all those stones, for memorabilia, pledging to outnumber them with mementoes, trophies, cups – and he succeeded. And he has bikes, for good measure. And he has  Zoya, too.

It wasn’t a meek surrender, though. Only a little mind block. Read the newspapers reports of the India-Australia match of the same tournament. Or read “http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/sports/india-vs-australia-t20-world-cup-match-statistical-highlights/article5854695.ece”. The nation is adept at eulogizing and booing the same person at a close interval.

Remember 2003? The team that took all those stones on itself with a saintly calm, waded its way to the dream final against Australia, only to lose by 125 runs – and no one complained. The tournament happened in, of all the places, in SA!

After a “dream” run, losing to Sri Lanka in a T20 final, was unacceptable. What a contrast!

Wonder what would have happened had it been against Pakistan!

Poor Hafeez had to resign, though he did not assign any reason for the WT20 2014 ouster, the reason is evident. No. It’s not for losing to India. It’s for losing the way.

Why can’t the fans, and administrators because of the fans, take victories and losses in equal measure? Why can’t a few leaves from Sammy’s book be borrowed to learn a few things of cricket? Of winning and losing? Of life?

After his team’s loss to SL in the same tournament, he had this to say: "I took it like 'you know what, we have won a World Cup'. We are a praying team, we know God normally answers our prayers but today, I guess two gentlemen who have played for Sri Lanka, given a lot not only to Sri Lanka cricket but cricket on the whole, I guess the Almighty wants them to leave on a high, so I guess they have one more game to try and win a World Cup and leave on a high. Probably that's the reason why God put a hand in this match. I am sure I will have another shot at playing the T20 World Cup and we are looking forward to winning it again in the near future.". What an acknowledgement. Acknowledgement of dream. Of humility. Of better opponents. Of cricket being just a game. Of determination. And, of course, of God.

By the way, Zoya is the dog MSD brought home from Bangalore. Ha . . .

What a champion . . . ! ! !

In the far land of the USA, a young boy of India-origin made us proud – winning a marathon spelling competition. The 13-year old lad out -spelt his 11-year old American competitor to win the championship. It was reported that the runner-up girl was the first to applaud her competitor’s victory, after revisiting the penultimate round that confirmed her misspelling.

Kush Sharma did his tribe proud, but for the new-age generation, Sophia Hoffman’s gesture should lead it to feel victorious even in loss, and her applause to Sharma should get her more fans. She should be feeling like a champion. What a competitor!

When an eleven-year old has such maturity, should there be no soberer exhibition of emotions in other aspects of life? Like the arrogant pumping of the fist accompanied by expletive-laden display on hitting a century during a cricket match? It may be recalled that the great yester-year pacer Kapil Dev once commented why there was no such kind of display during his playing days – he says the current crop is so overwhelmed by the situation that such exhibition of emotion is actually because of the surprise for having achieved a feat – a wicket or a century. Seems so true.

The lesson is for everyone in the public domain – the corporate honchos, the politicians and bureaucrats, the teachers in schools and colleges, the celebrities, etc.

But it is not any game that is going on here in India – it is a war that is being fought. And it is the Indian electorate that has to learn lessons – it is given option of choosing from among the crooks by all the parties – take coal, CWG, riots, mining, etc. Again. Just crooks. The bad, the worse and the worst. Elect. Learn now. There is going to be a new button – NOTA.

In the excerpts of the interview in a TV channel, it is pitying to see Nandan’s innocence or ignorance –certainly not arrogance – to repeatedly announce “I am going to win the election”, attributing it to his experience as an entrepreneur, co-founder of Infosys, having worked with NRN, Aadhaar initiative, authoring a book, etc. Assuming his vision and ideas are from the bottom of his heart, and he wins, will he be able to bring them to reality amidst all the crooks that are there in his party? How much of MPLAD fund can he utilize to realize the promises? He may ultimately be seen as a square peg in a round hole.

By the way, can someone oppose a person contesting from more than one constituency? And also a sitting MLA contesting the Lok Sabha elections, and a sitting MP contesting Assembly elections? Also, how come one can contest from two, or more, constituencies? Does he or she not have to be enlisted in the electoral rolls in the said constituencies? And one cannot be enlisted in more than one constituency . . .

It is worth advocating sports professionals, and not politicians, manage sports bodies for better administration; what is one to say of sports professionals joining political parties? And film celebrities? Of course, there have been instances like NTR, MGR, Jayaprada, Sidhu, etc. None in administrative roles, though. But Bhutia, Mahesh Manjrekar? Chak De, India . . .