** Deepawali Greetings **

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I WISH YOU & ALL YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS A VERY HAPPY DEEPAWALI

எனது உளம் கனிந்த தீபாவளி நல்வாழ்த்துக்கள்

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** கடை தேங்காயும் வழி பிள்ளையாரும் **

ஜம்மு காஷ்மீர் மாநிலத்துக்கு கோடையில் ஸ்ரிநகர், குளிரில் ஜம்மு ஆக இரு தலை நகரங்கள் என்பது யாவரும் அறிந்த உண்மை. வருடம் தவறாமல் இந்த வைபவம் நடத்துவதற்கு எத்தனை கோடிகள் செலவாகிறது என்பது ஆண்டவனுக்கே வெளிச்சம். ஜம்மு காஷ்மீர் மாநிலம் பெற்றுள்ள பல அரசியல் சலுகைகளில் இதுவும் ஒன்று என நினைத்து விட்டாலும், இந்த இரண்டு நகரங்களில் ஒன்றை நிரந்தர தலைநகரம் ஆக்க என்ன தடை என்பதை எண்ணாமல் இருக்க முடியாது.

ஆனால், இத்தகைய கூத்து, மஹாராஷ்ட்டிராவிலும் நடை பெறுவது, பலர் அறியாத செய்தி. கோடையில் மும்பை மற்றும் குளிரில் நாக்பூர் ஆக, இரு இடங்களில், சட்டசபை கூட்டத்தொடர் நடக்கிறது. இதில் குறிப்பிடதக்க அம்சம் என்ன எனில், மும்பையை விட அதிக குளிர் காணும் நாக்பூரில் குளிர் காலக்க் கூட்டம் நடப்பதுதான்.

இப்படியாக, வருடத்துக்கு இரண்டு மூன்று நாட்கள் மட்டுமே நாக்பூரில் நடக்கும் பைத்தியக்காரத்தனத்துக்கு - வண்டி வாகனங்கள், போக்குவரத்து, அலுவல் நடைமுறை செலவு, அரசியல்வாதிகள் மற்றும் அவர்களின் எடுபிடிகள் தங்கும் செலவு இத்தியாதி இத்தியாதி என, எத்தனையோ கோடிகள் விரயம் ஆகிறது. இந்த தேவை அற்ற முட்டாள்தனமான நடைமுறையை மாற்ற எந்த கட்சியும், ஆட்சியும் இது வரை முயன்றது இல்லை என்பதுதான் வேதனை.

சரி வீணாவது என்ன அவர்கள் கட்சிப்பணமா அல்லது தலைவரின் தந்தை வழி சொத்தா - மக்களின் வரிப்பணம் தானே ?? கடை தேங்காயை எடுத்து வழிப் பிள்ளையாருக்கு உடைப்பதுதான் கைவந்த கலை ஆயிற்றே !!!

** A nice poem **

அடுத்து முயன்றாலும் ஆகு நாள் அன்றி
எடுத்த கருமங்கள் ஆகா - தொடுத்த
உருவத்தால் நீண்ட உயர்மரங்கள் எல்லாம்
பருவத்தால் அன்றி பழா.

2009 - A Love Story

Villainous roles portrayed in recent films and serials, in which the bad ones go to great lengths to get their wishes fulfilled, were at times unbelievable. Well…. Not any more! One of our great politicians is showing that he can do much more!

Haryana EX deputy CM- Chandra Mohan, while holding the prestigious office, went into hiding in Nov 08, with a high profile Govt attorney Anuradha Bali, deserting his wife and three children. Both resurfaced in Dec 08 as man and wife, with new religions and names – Chandra Mohan became Chand Mohammed as Anuradha changed her name to Fiza.

Later (?!?!) he was removed from his post of Dy CM and his father EX CM Bhajan Lal disowned him. Media went berserk and enjoyed every moment of this religious ridicule, which was aptly annotated with published love letters and exchanged kisses and much more! Within weeks, he suddenly left Fiza’s house and went underground again, later to be traced in London. Following that, he suddenly ‘divorced’ Fiza over phone (talaaq x 3 times) and through SMS in Feb 09. Then in July, he returned to Hinduism in front of religious (?!?!) leaders.

What a lovely way to lure and later dump a woman! This feat, in which nothing is religiously illegal, is achieved by a person holding a constitutional office and looked upon as a role model by many! In the present political scenario, he may soon contest elections again and become PM or CM. There should be some ruling to make such people ineligible to contest elections or to hold any constitutional office in future.

Meanwhile, Fiza seems to be totally isolated, and is getting ready to face a legal battle against her ex-husband. Having said that, most will agree that she deserves such agonies after spoiling the life of Mrs Seema Bishnoi Chandra Mohan, and her three children.

Reckless Reality shows

“Cheap publicity” has always been used as a tool, by many, for gaining popularity – to market their ‘otherwise not so attractive’ products. John Buchnan’s recent book is another example of that trend. Make one or two observations about Indian Players, and selectively leak them, and the book will sell hot - this is the formula followed by many others too.

TV is another section of this spectrum, which uses such methods to the optimum. Most of the so called Mega serials – which are habituated to showing extramarital affairs, violence of all kinds, murders, conspiracies, rape, abduction, suicides and details of last rites on a dead body – do not have a proper story line, and bank heavily on cheap publicity tactics to prop up their ratings.

‘Reality show’ is one such nuisance, which do not care a bit about the traditions, customs, social values, family relationships, responsibilities and, most important of all, the future of the children watching the show. They never think about consequential damages, and want to fill their coffers by fooling the people.

There are many such shows. Some shows deserve a mention here.

Rakhi Sawant’s swayamwar (NDTV Imagine) – tops the list. The concept is to select a suitable groom for Rakhi- all by herself. Rakhi, a side actress, who shot to fame portraying her “assets” in several “item numbers” – (Tamil equivalent- Record dance), which are tailor made for such exhibition, irritates as much as possible. The show drags on, better to leave the scenes of the show unsaid.

Another one is “Sach Ka Saamna” (Star plus) – In simple words, it is a lie detector test. But more often than not, words are deliberately put or thrust in to the mouth of the participant. There was some debate in parliament (which didn’t bring any result) and another PIL against it, but the court has declined to intervene, saying they have more important job at hand than all this petty issues, which is acceptable.

One show, earlier known as ‘’candid camera’ {Aaditya Tamil Channel}- in the name of comedy – invades in the privacy of unassuming children and other people at some public places. They don’t even spare aged people from their stupid acts. It may take a serious injury or even death, to stop this nonsense show.

It is high time for I&B ministry to take note of such shows, and stop this menace. They should soon appoint some kind of regulatory authority, to take care if such issues. The sooner the better.

Democracy In Danger

The worst thing which can happen in a democratic country – more than all the other damages continuously being caused by our eccentric politicians put together – is the denial of free and fair elections, and cheating in the electoral process. Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), largely hyped to ensure free and fair elections, are under the scanner now.

I recollect making two observations in my earlier blogs. In the first, regarding the election results, I have mentioned that the good results might have even surprised many in congress party. And the second observation questions the fair election of our union home minister. Both these observations gain significance by the news of tampering in EVMs.

Of course, EVM tampering was continuously on news after the elections. There is now a PIL filed in one of the High Courts. The biasing media did not highlight this news enough, and as a result, such news was always confined to back pages, among less interesting news. Had the election results been in favour of BJP, I am sure that the media must have raised a lot of hue and cry, instead of the mysterious silence they maintain now.

Our Honorable Chief Election Commissioner cum senior congress leader, Mr N Chawla, -instead of taking necessary measures to ensure a proper solution- is simply making statements that EVMs are tamper proof. Government, not surprisingly though, did not even bother to clarify about this serious issue. Opposition parties are creating a lot of noises, rightly so, and asking to revert back to old methods. The old but another failed system of ballot paper method, will not only increase the expenditure in multiples of hundreds of crores, but also render these EVMs useless.

Recently, there was a demonstration in Nagpur, by a computer software firm, to show how the EVMs can be tampered. The demonstration was witnessed by large number of people, and leaders of political parties. This surely was not the first demo of its kind, and certainly not going to be the last one. When will this fall into the deaf ears of Govt authorities and Mr CEC? God only knows!

Honest assessment of home minister's constituency

Do you believe in “KARMA” If YES, your faith will be strengthened, and if NO, you may change your mind - at the end of this report.

How else can we explain the plight of the people, for none of their mistakes - and their representative, who did nothing for them, lives in ever increasing luxury for the past 25 years or more.

Yes! I am talking about, Sivaganga constituency, from where our union home minister P Chidambaram has been elected for a sixth consecutive term. Not to mention the fact that he is a mainstay in the union cabinet for many years now. He has served as a minister of state in Rajiv ministry too. Over the years, he has grown to one of the political bigwig of the country. Yet, I should sadly admit, his constituency remains as a true picture of neglect.

Well! I have nothing personal against PC, and I haven’t conducted a survey. By virtue of my extensive travelling through the constituency, and the resultant inevitable comparison with other parts of the state, I could come to such a conclusion. It may be hard to believe or accept- but I am not exaggerating. Absolutely nothing has been done for the people for many years ( I contemplated writing ‘Very little’ instead of ‘Nothing’ – but with what I have seen, ‘Nothing’- would only be appropriate)

I interacted with people with various backgrounds, I kept my eyes and ears and more importantly, the mind open to observe things. I categorized my research under the following agenda:
i) Signs of growth
ii) Basic Infrastructure
iii) Living Conditions
iv) Employment opportunities
v) Development schemes/works

If you want to see a place where no growth could be noticed for decades, you should choose Sivaganga constituency. Things are in their places, just by the will of god, (Bhagwan Bharosa)- just as they were decades ago.

Infrastructure is invisible. Roads, buildings, bus stops, schools, hospitals are in very bad shape. Roads are terribly damaged except for Sivaganga City, where roads ceased to exist long back. Needless to add, other Infrastructure too is just as pathetic. Better not to write about the living conditions in the villages, which form the major part of this constituency…


There are no employment opportunities within the constituency. The trend of people migrating to other parts of the state/nation/world in search of a decent job/living continues. A considerable number of people (min 01 per family) work in Malaysia/ Singapore/ Brunei/Gulf Countries, fetch good money and survive here. A large Granite facility, advertised to have a potential for 5000 direct and indirect employments, is dumped after much deliberation, for reasons and economics known only to Mr PC.

Not so surprisingly, there are no development schemes/ Works at any place I visited. Recently there was news about MPs not utilizing their funds to their constituencies. Hold on! PC’s name did not feature in it. Only thing, there no sign of that utilized fund.

To sum up, PC has nothing to show, other than opening branches of various branches, in and around Karaikkudi and Sivaganga. The changes and growth I got to see were of individual efforts. For example, A famous entrepreneur from Trichy, has provided bore wells throughout his native village and surrounding villages. He is said to be helping people in many other ways. Also the hard earned foreign money of the people,who remain in a foeign country for years together and do all sorts of physical work, help in sustaining the economy in villages.

When individual efforts are able to provide solace to people, much could have been done by PC but he never lived up to the expectations. People can’t be blamed. It is widespread news with in the area that PC was voted out this time, but he barely managed to cling on using his “techniques”- and became home minister again.


If this is not KARMA, then……..?