Organising the 'Vishukkani'.

A major part of the day was spent in designing the 'Vishukkani' as this was going to be our first Vishu at The Quarterdeck. The ingredients that go to the making up of the Vishukkani had to be bought from the market except for the few that were available in house.

For the information of the 'non mallus', Vishukkani is a carefully laid out visual of the common items that are essential in daily life at the 'sanctum santorum' that most people establish in their homes to house their favourite gods. And to my mind, the most important item is the bright yellow Laburnum flowers - the irony, these days, is that the trees bloom as early as in the month of January and by the time the day of Vishu dawns, the abundance of the flowers would have begun to dwindle, so much so, that people having these trees in their courtyards/backyards pluck the flowers to distribute to the needy public at a price and make a a fast buck!

The concept of setting up the Vishukkani and to view it, first thing on the day of Vishu, is to pray to the gods for continued prosperity and contentment.

We'd set off to the market by about a half past 11 - the oppressive heat was thankfully on hold with two back to back thundershowers but the humidity had to be endured - and after about an hour and a half, all the essential ingredients had been bought including a clutch of the elusive Laburnum. It's only then that I could breathe easy.

Later on, during my evening walk, I'd collected another clutch of the bright yellow flower and felt totally 'armed' for ushering in Vishu tomorrow. And by late evening mom, Lekha and me had got around to setting up the Vishukkani. Mom's experience coupled with Lekha's imagination were more than enough to set up the impressive 'kani' and I'd say that my contribution was that of a working hand who meekly took orders and executed them!

And as we turned in for the night, it was with the smug feeling that Vishu was gonna be ushered in with the elegance and gusto that it truly deserves!


Tailpiece.

And yes, this is the holy week. The people, world over, are into prayers for the purification of the selves!   

India needs to shed its sentimental outlook!

Human beings are sentimental. In fact, it's this quality that differentiates him from the animals that inhabit the jungles, though after seeing quite a few documentaries on wild life, I've doubts about the age old belief! Probably, the supporters of the theory might harp on the saying that 'exceptions do not prove the rule'.

We, Indians, are very, very sentimental.......too sentimental to a fault. How can we, otherwise, ever justify the enormous love and affection that we'd bestowed on Sonia Gandhi and her family? Her faults and shortcomings were brushed aside as a woman's genuine mistakes as she charted the murky and dangerous waters of politics. The nation really grieved when she didn't make it to the Prime Ministerial chair and were sold on the subsequent gimmick that indeed she'd never hankered for power but had always wanted to serve the country.

It's this bubble that has been burst by the two books on the UPA I and II governments viz.

     (a) Sanjaya Baru's  'The Reluctant Prime Minister' and
     (b) PC Parakh's     'Crusader or Conspirator? Coalgate and Other Truths'.

As had been cited earlier, the former was in the PMO during the UPA I while the latter was the Coal Secretary to the Government of India, when a massive scam had surfaced during the process of the coal block allocations.

What becomes abundantly clear is that Sonia Gandhi had played a direct role in the major decision making process while Manmohan Singh and his cabinet were mere puppets! Authority without accountability.....what a scary scene it is? And it's based on this piece of news that my queries come tumbling, which are:-

     (a) Suresh Kalmadi's defiance, for months, and refusal to step down from the Commonwealth
          Organiser's post. Wasn't it because he'd just been the 'front man' for someone else?
     (b) A Raja's defiance to quit on account of the scam that was around the allocation of the 2G spectrum?
     (c) Pawan Bansal's drama over the Railway Recruitment scam and subsequently, allowed to fight the
          Lok Sabha elections by the Congress high command?
     (d) Ashok Chavan, tainted by the infamous 'Adarsh' scam, being given the go ahead to fight the elections.

As a follow through, the additional doubts that worry me as an Indian citizen are:-

      (a) Why did the setback to the 'naval submarine acquisition programme' happen?
      (b) Were the induction of substandard spares the cause for the spate of accidents in the armed forces
            or was it the inordinate delays in the acquisition process ?
      (c) Was there a sinister design in the realm of national security? Or has it been a bungling by the
           inefficient troika of P Chidambaram(the Finance Minister), Sushil Kumar Shinde(the Home Minister)
           and AK Antony(the Defence Minister), all of whom'd Sonia Gandhi's patronage.

My take on the series of revelations is that, perhaps, it got a nudge from Manmohan Singh, himself, to come out clean on the entire set of corruption charges against him! On a personal level, I feel angry with him and no, there's no sympathy for his helplessness for having been on the chair for 10 years!! He ought to have resigned long ago when he'd first realised that he was being used!!!

Come to think of his plight when his own ministers used to bypass him or did not feel it necessary to keep him in the loop for the decisions that they took! And he was left to fend for the answers in the Parliament with hardly any support from his own party either!!


Tailpiece.

It would be worthwhile to take a look at the way the Americans handle sentimentality. I think that they're a practical people. Years back, when Kennedy was brutally assassinated and the television grabs showed Jacqueline Kennedy in blood splattered clothes, the whole of America had grieved. But in their moment of grief not a single American had clamoured for making Jacqueline Kennedy the President!

We need to emulate them on this score, at least!      

To cross check or not.

I've always been of the opinion that the need to cross check on anyone's information was unnecessary. It's because of my firm belief that the information collector would have validated the authenticity of the source, the content of the information and ensured that there was no room for even an iota of ambiguity! Alas, this morning's experience has proved me otherwise.

Lekha's brother and family had been with us for the past couple of days and they're slated to go on their return trip by this morning's train. All along, I was under the impression that this particular train took off from here at 0600h everyday. When Lekha'd queried her brother as to whether there was a need to cross check, his wife had categorically stated that she'd checked at the counter - at the time of departure - and ascertained that the scheduled time was 0700h. The matter was, therefore, accepted as gospel and forgotten about till this morning.

After their morning chores and with the last minute rounds of, "When will we see you next?' '' By the next summer hols for sure and during that time we shall endeavour to stay for a longer while", they're ready to leave. I'd chauffeured them to the Railway Station and they'd proceeded to get their tickets from the counter. The train's destination was their's too and they'd confirmed that it was their train that was indeed standing on platform no.1 and without much ado, I'd taken off for home as I generally hate long drawn out goodbyes!

An hour later, Lekha'd rung her brother up to confirm as to whether everything was going as per schedule when she was told the following:-

    (a) their train had actually left the station at 6 AM at its scheduled time.
    (b) the train that they'd seen standing at platform no.1 was another one which would drop them two hours
          from then, at a junction, from where they'd have to board a connecting train and their arrival back at
          their destination was gonna be correspondingly delayed!


Tailpiece.

I'm now convinced that a cross check of another's information would be a prudent action after all. It avoids anxiety, mix ups and associated difficulties to all the concerned parties! Yet another lesson in the journey of life!!   

Elections, after all, throws up facts!

Since the biggest elections are under away can't resist going back to the stories connected with it which, of course, the media has covered/been covering in depth. So I wouldn't like to repeat them but would like to go through a few of them from my viewpoint and here I go:-

      (a) The truth is out.

       The book, 'The Accidental Prime Minister' written by the PM's ex-media adviser, Sanjaya Baru, has
       confirmed that was always speculated in the public domain - it's Sonia Gandhi who'd cleared almost
       all the important files for the Prime Minister. Logic, then, suggests that all the scam-ridden actions like
       the Commonwealth Games imbroglio, 2G spectrum allocation, coal block allocations and wonder how
       many more unearthed ones can be heaped on her about which she owes an explanation to the people
       of this country. Is this what she's given back to her simple party workers who'd loved her whole
       heartedly and literally, wept when she couldn't become PM in the first attempt. And remember the
       drama that was played around implying that she'd sacrificed it all when all she was doing was to wield
       power from behind - responsibility without accountability!

      (b) Personal slanging.

       One was under the impression that Rahul Gandhi and his friends didn't require to go after their
       political opponents on a personal level however much the provocation. Their new ideas and vision
       for the country - explained properly and patiently to the people - were more than adequate to carry
       them along because they'd started off on a lot of goodwill. But over the last weeks, they've proved
       that they intend carrying on with the dirty tricks of their predecessors with a viciousness that leaves
       a bad taste in the mouth. And his remarks about Modi's wife reminded one about a crass remark,
       made years earlier, by his dad, 'naani yaad kara denge' - that dented his gentlemanly image for the
       first time!

       (c) Dad's the limit!

        The Hindi film actress, Ayesha Takia, has reasons to be disgusted with her dad-in-law for saying out his
        mind on rape and about his opinion about rapists. He's just trying to be more loyal than the king -
        his political leader, Mulayam Singh Yadav. Sincerely hope that his constituency and its voters would
        teach him a lesson at the hustings! Enough is enough!!


Tailpiece.

One has always wondered as to how one can show one's face in public after uttering absolutely horrible and mean things about the others. I suppose, this is what shamelessness and a thick hide are all about! And how can these people ever provide path breaking legislation meant for the good of their people?

Sanath's 'whirlwind' tour.

It was raining guests today. After casting her vote, Lekha's kid sister along with her second son and a thorough brat, Sanath, had fetched up around lunch time. His latest craze is a set of toy guns that fires darts!

And for some unfathomable reason, his first target was my mom. The dart that he'd fired landed straight on the right eyepiece of her spectacles. Thankfully, because of its quality, there wasn't any damage except for the fact that my mom was left shaken for a while and because of the spontaneous chorus of disapproval from all quarters, he'd quietly dumped the guns and taken on to other pastimes.

I heard him ask Lekha, for the nth time, as to why he didn't figure in the two collages of the photographs from our albums. As I'd said earlier too, it's a tricky question and the fact is that the omission has been accidental! I suppose for him it's beyond his realm of thinking that we could forget him in our scheme of things. The strange look that he gives after perusing them seems to say, 'Look, this isn't fair and I can't for the life of me understand as to why you did it. And how about taking a corrective action please?'

He was running all around the house at his frenetic pace and his mother had crossed her heart that nothing uncomfortable should befall upon him. It's the same old story about all moms with hyperactive kids! And as usual, he was very reluctant to leave when the time had come. As they're getting into the car, I heard him ask his mother, "Why can't we stay here till the holidays get over?"

And we're breathing easy that yet another 'whirlwind' tour of young Sanath had gone off without major hitches!

The guests continued to trickle as was scheduled quite a while back.


Tailpiece.

Sadly, we happened to be among the 28% of the voters of this constituency, who did not cast their franchise today. Some glitch about the change in our residential address. Feeling bad!



    

This man needs to be booted out of electoral politics forever.

I'd watched the 'Newshour' of last evening and again at 2100h, this evening on the Times Now channel. It was preposterous to hear Mohammed Azam Khan, a minister of the Uttar Pradesh cabinet, tell at a public meeting that the Kargil war was won by the Muslims alone.

Now, one can reach any level of desperation for votes and resort to gimmicks, but to make it at the expense of martyred soldiers can never be accepted, can never be tolerated and can never be endorsed. Apologists for the coward - yes, that's the term that I'd like to use for the man and mind you, this is not the first time that he's said atrocious things and got away - might say that he'd uttered them in the heat of the moment. If, as a senior politician, he's unable to keep his emotions and utterances under check, he should be kicked out of the political arena - the earlier, the better. Unfortunately, his party bosses bank on him thanks to the vote bank politics that they're playing.

For him, it's become a habit and what he's actually doing is to time and again, mock at the institutions which he feels won't dare to 'touch'(?) him because of his religion. He's deliberately hidden the apolitical fabric of our armed forces where all religions or faiths are respected and practised as though it's the most logical and natural thing to do.

What I'm amazed about the man is that he's won election after election without any achievement at governance to his credit but for his rhetoric and crass condemnation of the others. Are the voters of his constituency oblivious of his shenanigans? Why do they let a crass guy like him take them for a ride again and again?

Even after the massive backlash over his statement regarding the Kargil war, he's not apologised to the near and dear ones of the martyrs, the armed forces and his countrymen, strictly in that order. Hope he does it without further delay and subsequently, he needs to be booted out forever! There's no other alternative!! Venomous guys like him cannot be offered the responsibility of deciding upon the country's future in Parliament.


Tailpiece.

The day was quite peaceful and quiet with the expected anticipation of the elections tomorrow. In fact, the usual noise that's prevalent all around was conspicuously absent.        

Electioneering in Kerala has ended.

The Keralites go to the polling booths on 10 Apr when the fate of the 20 parliamentary seats will be decided. The electioneering had drawn to a close this evening around 1800h.

The din of the loudspeakers perched on vehicles, the makeshift 'pandals' that saw the candidates selling their ideas and the participation of the national leaders of various political parties who'd made it a point to canvas for votes on behalf of their candidates had kept the tempo high despite the harsh summer heat. It's also equally interesting to hear popular film songs parodied by all political outfits, asking for votes. The charges and the counter charges traded by the political parties, many a time bordered on the bizarre, stooping to dangerously low levels of propriety and civility.

Except for the campaigning activities of the UDF, the LDF and the BJP that were high on visibility, the other contenders were seldom heard or seen much to the regret of the voters who're looking forward to the interactions with them to understand as to what they rooted  for and what prodded them to remain in the fray despite the overwhelming clout(?) the three major political dispensations seemed to have. Sarah Joseph, the prolific writer and the Aam Aadmi Party's candidate didn't seem to have the funds to sustain a high profile campaign. One can never forget the photograph on most of the newspapers that showed rows of empty chairs and tables at a 'fund raising dinner' that the party had organised, earlier on, before the heat of the campaign was picking up.

I suppose Kejriwal and his ideas have not gone down well with the Malayalees or are we going to see something different when the results are declared?  

My take.

The queries that bother me after seeing the electioneering, this time, are:-

    (a) Why do the political outfits offer us the same candidates time and again? Or 'fresh faces' is a
          euphemism for guys with plenty of money power and who're the blue-eyed boys of the powers
          that be of all political parties?
    (b) Has all of them kept their expenditures within the ceiling of Rs.70 lakhs, as laid down by the EC?
    (c) Much has been talked and written about the changes that were sweeping in especially, with the
         Delhi elections when the AAP had made an impressive debut. But where have these changes gone?
    (d) Or is it that the Malayalees just do not want to change?


Tailpiece.

I'm not gonna make any predictions because psephology is not my cup of tea and neither can I understand as to which way the political winds are blowing. But dispassionately viewing all the candidates in the fray, I think O Rajagopal deserves to win as he's been instrumental in doing a lot for the state when he was the Minister of State, Railways in the Vajpayee cabinet!