Four Weddings and a Funeral

Four Weddings and a funeral

My last post was in February after the tour,after which I have been busy for a while. But its not that I haven't been writing anything to post,its just that I have been writing in parts about a myriad of topics that comes to my mind and I haven't found the time till now to relate all of them in a single post. A lot has happened in the time between my last post and this one,all of which cannot be reviewed in a single column,but will do it.

Wedding 1

Its cricket what else and IPL in particular was the first wedding. After weeks of drama as to where it will be held since it lost out to the biggest democratic process, finally two foreign destinations were chosen to hold the carnival of cricket. But first Mr.Modi what were you thinking when you pitted cricket against the elections, some of my cricket crazy friends suggested that the elections should be postponed in favour of the cricket and for some weeks the electronic media had debates and polls about which one to be moved. Thankfully my friends don't make the decision to run this country,one sane fellow from Sivaganga does and by my opinion it was the right call given the circumstances,logistics and security involved. So for the first time since I know how to make 1+1=3,democracy prevailed over money. In the end or rather the start the guys reluctantly moved it to South Africa where too elections were due. Talk about irony,we came here because elections are going to be held in our country and you have elections too. England was left in the cold as erm...it would be cold there at this time of the year with all the rains and stuff.

So to SA all the teams marched and Delhi became Durban,Jaipur Johannesburg. Finally it was time for bat and ball to speak and they screamed their heads off dint they. Sixes flew,stumps broke as Deccan charged,Delhi dared, Royals roared and Knights lanced. As things settled a clear picture emerged,brute force doesn't always work and teams with a clever leader at the helm and an astute coach seem to read and approach the game well and reap rewards. Four captain theory and fake IPL player and mudslinging dint help the poor fellow Brendon McCullum to steer his team to safety and the two top expensive England players failed to live up to their billing because of the very fact they dint play IPL-1 and were soon exposed of their weakness. Mumbai Indians clicked in parts and it was sight to cherish when both Tendulkar and Sanath sizzled in that one match. Who says Twenty20 is for the young,here are two 35+ guys running between the wickets like teenagers. Injuries kept key players away for the Punjab team as they suffered right through the tournament and maybe the tension on the field spilled elsewhere as the team owners Preity and Ness Wadia broke their relationship halfway into the season. A resurgent Bangalore team under Kumble made a late burst and made it to the semi-final stages along with CDD. But I have to admit it was like getting a overdose of it in the middle stages to sustain interest and it got a bit boring with dead rubbers being played out just for the sake of it. The organisers should be patted on the back as some allied contests,concerts were held during the games to make it a gala affair. As you all know, the all-conquering Delhi came as a cropper against the Adam Gilchrist show and were trounced,mauled,drubbed,massacred and any other adjectives of the same sense. Bangalore showed what they are made of when they edged Dhoni's men in a thrilling encounter which set up a dream finale between the bottom two teams of last year and all-South affair.

Two gentleman cricketers faced off once again as their teams sought glory on the global arena and it was the one from Down Under that took his team to glory although it was a great contest and the champion leg spinner lead from the front for his team which had to play back-to-back semi final and final while Deccan had a days rest. But I believe he will emulate his counterpart next year by going the whole yard. Kudos to Deccan. The IPL has unearthed some rare Indian talents and many outsiders too,so it is here to stay. It has beaten EPL-Football in the sense that EPL guys were thinking of holding a “Match 39” outside the country for a while now,but IPL held its whole tourney outside and has broken new ground and who knows where it will be held next time. All in all,everything went to script as the last team came first. That does worry me a bit,all going to script. Match fixing anyone.....na.

Wedding 2

The biggest democratic process that the world stops and takes notice of every five years (if you have bad coalition it will happen in 13 days and 13 months too..but generally every five years) that is our general elections. Thankfully like the IPL they dint move it elsewhere and the election commission made sure of it that they are held peacefully,fair and transparent. It was held over five phases and in some states in conjunction with the Assembly Elections. It is truly an amazing process considering the logistics,security which might be 1000times more than the IPL. It keeps the faith in democracy wherein the citizen is atleast made to believe that he chooses his leader. Even when the technologically most advanced nation uses the old ballot box and tear their hair off for counting them, we used EVM's in all the polling stations with photo electoral rolls,although some people dint find their name on it.

The parties were in election mood but they dint paint the walls red(just an expression,am not aligned with the left) as the election observers were working overnight to ensure the code. Every other leader wanted to be the star of the day on the telly and some even paid them to put on show. The media industry would have gotten of its feet from recession thanks to the generous amount of currency brought in by these leaders and one man who got the most coverage was Varun Gandhi and his cousin and sister Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi. People don't forget the guy they see on telly everyday and duly voted for them although the lady was not directly in the contest. All the media got on the election bandwagon and many papers ran supplements to cover it. Not to be left out the leader of the two main political parties had a squabble of their own and got some airwaves and print space. Down in the south the regional parties were holding sway and went all out to woo the voters. The Srilankan Tamizh issue was made an election propaganda and the plight of their lives was used for canvassing votes.

Come election day and people were out in large numbers to cast their franchise. The so called literate urban people couldn't brave the elements and did not bother to vote. But the same people would be ranting about their streets not being cleaned or debating the reason for the recession and would pose as citizen journalists on many news channels. This election had seen higher voter turnout than any other election as more youths felt the need to be part of this process. Also I think this was the first election where results would be announced in three days from the day of polling (In Tamilnadu polling was held on May13th and results for all the phases were announced on May16th). The political pundits used some complex statistical formulae and conducted surveys based on whatever sample size they could gather around a tea shop and came out with their own result that it would be a hung verdict and no party would gain a majority with the regional parties would have more of a say in the government. The results were out and people once again proved they are the wiser lot than any statistical formula and stupid surveys. People knew who to vote for in their constituency as local issues came to the fore and the status of the candidate did not matter as Mr.Palaniappan Chidambaram would know of as he lost the seat and won it back again on the same margin of a paltry 3000votes. The traditional Left bastions of Kerala and West Bengal voted otherwise and the party is yet to find the reasons for the dent in their armour. The parties which enjoyed being part of the government till the last minute and switched loyalties citing unacceptable reasons for their switch were clearly identified by the people and taken to the dry cleaners as RJD,LJP in the north and PMK in the south would know. In Andhra Pradesh newcomer Chiranjeevi would have thought that he could have a say in the formation of new government. Now he would have learnt the first lesson in politics “Crowds during a rally doesn't turn into votes” as he himself lost out to a woman in his birth place. He started the party very late and very near the elections that he forgot to develop it at the grassroot level which incidentally was done by Vijayakant in Tamilnadu. Even though his party did not win a seat he emerged as the third best party in almost all the seats and did get a lot of vote share which is a good arithmetic for judging a party's popularity and all this without a coalition. For sure the two main parties DMK and ADMK would make note of this and would not ignore him in the coming elections. Both DMK and ADMK improved their tally from last time as ADMK got off a nought and won the lucky number of seats of the party head and DMK twice as much.

At the national level both BJP and Congress had gained in the biggest state at the expense of the BSP and SP. But Congress was clearly the winner. In 2004 both of them had been neck and neck in the tally of seats won by them(BJP-108 and INC-116) and INC was heavily reliant on the coalition to see through five years. Now though they have turned the tables as they beat BJP comprehensively and even crossed the 200 mark which in turn means less reliance on the coalition partners and more ministers from the party as was evident from the DMK's post poll scenario. Projecting Manmohan Singh as the prime ministerial candidate did the trick as Sonia silenced any notion of Rahul being billed for the top job although he is clearly groomed to be the next PM. His decision to go it alone in UP did wonders for the party and he did a tireless campaign crisscrossing the country and focusing specially at the top where his party was lean.His magic did work and he has the charisma and personality traits of his father. He cleverly targeted the youth and got not only their attention but also their votes. Slowly he will be inducted into the cabinet and rise in the ranks to be the top guy in five years time. Only thing now left for Congress to do is to bring democracy into their own party and conduct elections for party post instead of direct appointment from the top which cost the party some vital seats due to infighting.

The loser in all this was the BJP as they readily accepted defeat and Advani offered to resign for the debacle. The instability at the top with many leaders projecting Modi as the next PM and the Advani's silence on the issue was part of a reason that did them in. Modi is a star campaigner and he should have been used as such. I feel the biggest reason for BJP's defeat was Vajpayee not vouching for the party. As far as I know he did not issue any statement asking to vote for the party or attend any meeting which may be due to his failing health. But he should have made an appearance and read a few lines which would have lent a huge boost to the party's chances among the secular votes as he is the secular face of the party. He is akin to INC's Manmohan. Congress used him well,BJP dint. Now the party has to assess the reasons and should align themselves to the changing trends and appeal to the voters differently.

Saying all this, I have written more than a page on election and you would be inclined to ask if I had cast my ballot and been part of this vast exercise. The answer is “NO”. I desperately wanted to vote this time but due to unavoidable official reasons I was away from my city during the whole week of the process. In this day and age of the internet we should take a step beyond postal votes and go in for e-votes where in we could go in to any polling station anywhere in the country and be able to vote for your constituency by producing your documents. After all your photo and other details are available in the database which should be made accessible at any station. Upon verifying the details the polling officer should make arrangements

to cast your vote. Sounds easy but not impossible to implement. On the result day I had visited the website created by the EC to publish the results and as all things government the website went bust on the day of reckoning due to several hits. So my idea of e-vote will be just that, an idea.

Wedding 3

This one is personal. No I did not run off and get married without telling you guys,just a different kind of wedding. Last week this day my existence in this world entered a quarter of a century. My movie entered the silver jubilee year. I wonder how long would the movie run for golden,platinum or palladium. As every year passes,my question to me would be “What can you boast of having given to this world” and am still searching for an answer and now my humourous side says “Hey,you have given a blog that people can read of and be enlightened”. Yeah right, as Goundamani would say to Senthil “You better write this question on a Thanjavur Temple “Kalvettu” and sit beside it so that future generations would learn of it and be prepared for it” and would beat the hell out of him. So I guess my gift to the world as of now is this stupid blog where I scribble upon when I find the time. I wonder what the next two and a half decades holds in store for me. Whatever it holds,i will write upon it when I encounter them and have friends in you to share them with. I had a thought the other day that before any of us guys take the big step that is inevitable and looming large (am talking about marriage), we should go on a roadtrip somewhere where we should be in control of the wheel and go on wherever the road takes us. I dreamt of fixing a puncture in the middle of nowhere,meet a village girl and drink out of her pot(no two ways about that) to quench my thirst and be involved in some adventure like taking a wrong turn and ending up in the woods. Since many of you guys will be tieing the knot next year or so, we should put this plan into action by this year's winter. What say you members of the jury...i mean you guys. Place your views on the comments.

Wedding 4

I don't know what wedding 4 is actually as I thought 3 weddings and a funeral would be stupid so I decided to go with the movie. Although I did go to a real wedding last week where the groom was my friend,who got married at the right time before he lost all his hair on head. Anyway now he would lose all his hair and can be happy about it for he has a reason.

Funeral

Here comes the sad part of it. While we were out discussing the effects of this election, a neighbour country was witnessing a gruesome end to a civil war. The leader of the rebel force Velupillai Prabahkaran was killed in military action thus effectively bringing down the curtains on a long running civil war that lasted for nearly 25 years. I'm not for or against his
ideology or for his choice of struggle for freedom,rather am a neutral observer who would like to look at his life differently. Seeing the photo of him with his shy wife beside him you could mistake for any regular family album if not for the camouflage overalls on him. I wonder what his life would have been if he had chosen a different path in life. He would lived a simple life just like all of us do and would just be another life form. Instead he chose a path whereby the history of Srilanka cannot be written without mentioning his name. The place where Sita was taken away from Sriram now hopes for a new beginning of a chapter which will be a peaceful one if the government wants it to be.

Thats all folks for now as I leave you with shots from the movie of an obdurate girl who turns it around.....for the shrew in you.