Epic!

Krish Ashok tweeted this link and since WSW loves everything kitschy, this had to be put up.

And on other news guess who visited Twitter HQ? Btw why does the HQ look like a home?

 

The Goverment’s attitude problem.

Courtesy TOI

“Due to the attitude of the government that it cannot provide security for the tournament, we are forced to take a decision to move the IPL out of India. I apologise to the people of India for moving the tournament out,” BCCI chief Shashank Manohar said.

Because elections come and go but cricket is forever.

Of course Mr.Manohar went on to show his caring and nurturing side as well.

“But we’re are going ahead with the event so that they can at least watch the event on television,” Mahohar added.

The Govt’s lack of consideration has angered Mr Bhalla from MP to question the government’s err..reproductive powers

This show how impotent and selfish Indian government is and doesn’t have foresight for plan B.

Lopesh requested the Govt to learn from Hitler

Hitler managed to host Olympics in Germany during Second World War. Second World War\’s magnitue was much larger than current terrorist threats. Olympics has been even bigger than IPL or even for that matter a Cricket World Cup. Its a shame that Indian Govt can not provide security to a sporting event during Elections. Its a victory for terrorist organizations in the end.

And lets save the last word for nan12345

I seriously think that the Home Minister should tender his resignation for being so inefficient.

As long as cricket is on schedule it aint my problem that Mayawati might be my next PM.

Update: Had to retrieve this solution to the Govt.’s problem from Akismet’s spam filter

 

Panty-social post

Being a pubgoing,loose and forward woman its of course my duty to inform the 3 people left on the planet who are not aware of the Pink Chaddi movement.

This would of course put a damper my thrifty plans of a free marriage. But I can do this much for the upholders of the great Indian tradition (of beating up women of course)

I guess silliness is the only remedy for silliness.

So here’s a toast to jeans, noodle straps, masculine..err loose  morals and being forward!

PS: Ram Sena has promised sarees in return to chaddi donators. That is quite a bargain I say!

 

PS 2:This is fast becoming a farce. We now have the Pink Condom Campaign for restoring the image of Hindus.

 Think the irreverence and satire is lost on people who have taken the campaign a little to literally.

 Also the media attention is providing the very limelight the goons wanted by beating up women in an upmarket  pub. I have almost converted to the view that instead of disregard their diktat perhaps we should do exactly what they ask-empty the pubs, At the same time egg Ramadoss to ban all local bars as well.The alcohol lobbies should take care of the rest. Secondly total media blackout. If violence occurs, show those incidents on TV(without 24 hours loop) but dont showcase statements, interviews, discussion by netas of these groups. Just a thought.

Also was thinking how its easier for me to forgive a misguided zealot who actually believes he is waging Gods war than people who take the crutch of culture/tradition to gain limelight. Not just the Sena look at Mr and Mrs Dutt who after snorting cocaine through their brains, aiding anti-national activities and showing their underwear to the world in item numbers respectively think they have a right to speak and be moral leaders on Indian tradition.

Sometimes seriously Jai Ho!

 

Yeh shehar nahi hain mehfil hain, yeh Delhi hain mere yaar!

Bada kaske gale lagata hai,
Dhadkan ki dhun sunata hai,
Iske baaye taraf bhi dil hai,
Iske daaye taraf bhi dil dil hai,
Yeh shehar nahi mehfil hai
Yeh delhi hai mere yaar,
Bass ishq mohabbat pyaar,
Delhi 6 delhi delhi 6 delhi,
Kabhi pyaar mein gaali dekha hai
Kabhi gaali mein pyaar bhi hota hai apni
Aankhon ka taara bhi yahan pyaar mein bilkul khota hai,
Bolo bolo milo se dilli dilli,
Bolo bolo milo se dilli 6,
Basti hai mastaano ki dilli dilli,
Gali hai deewano ki dilli 6…

I cannot think straight about Delhi. I cannot love it like Mumbai, I cannot “un-love” it like Bangalore and I cannot be okay with it like the other cities I have lived in.

I have realized that I end up loving some part of everywhere I stay, because of the memories and the part of life I have spent there. But if you ask me my hometown the narrow congested lanes of Karol Bagh, the dingy house I grew up in, the red-bricked school building, the endless circles of Connaught Place flood the memory on cue.

Home means and will soon become meant Delhi.Delhi-5 to be precise for a long time.

(Yes I am a product of the oh-so-LS Karol Bagh!)

My biggest regret about Delhi is that once I left it 7 years ago I never returned to it as an adult and I couldn’t explore and know its heartbeat like the other cities. I never knew what it meant to live in Delhi. Yes I spent 18 years there. But they were a ritual of home to school and vice versa accompanied by once a blue moon outing in and around CP.

I never got on a bus with friends and said “chal yaar aaj uss side chalte hain”. I never hung out at Priya’s eating at Big Chill. I never braved rikshawalas at Chandni Chowk(the flavor of Bollywood this season) to go to paranthewali gali. Never went to India Gate at 1 am to have ice-cream. Never shopped my brains out at SN or Janpath. Never studied at DU despite a Stephens admit. Never went on the Delhi-Noida highway to one of the glitzy malls there.

By never I mean relatively of course. I have seen these places, but they never assumed the normality of a Marine Drive-Churchgate or Linking Road.

Yes a lot of it has to do with the fact that being a woman in Delhi is much different from being a woman in say Mumbai. Even your gait changes to a little defensive I think.

To be never molested or even commented upon in 3 years of Mumbai shocked my bought up in Delhi sensibilities. But men have entered my space in Cochin, in Bangalore and even in Goa, so I have accepted Delhi as a norm and Mumbai as an aberration to the psyche of Indian men.

And you can’t, simply cant trust anyone even for road directions because in Dilli everything is “seedhe jake baayen (straight and then lef)”. Everyone or almost everyone is more than willing to take you on a ride. Dilli main no dil I remember someone once saying.

Then what makes me look forward to the wide open roads and the old world charm of Luytens Delhi. The memories of mangoes squished and eaten while sitting bang in front of a cooler, the fan of which would sometimes sprinkle your face with water when the temperature outside touched 45. The “loo” and the dust storms followed by quick showers. The rainy season of lower classes when my mother would carry Relaxo slippers I can change into so as to prevent my white canvas or brown Mary Janes from getting spoilt. Sometimes trawling through knee high water in school compound and the distinct memory of the slipper once slipping out of my feet and floating ahead of me. Yet there was never a flood as the drainage kicked in sooner than later. Diwali-when the nip in the air becomes just that tad more biting. The ostentatious display of wealth during the time. Rooms stacked of dabbas of mithai. The diyas on every balcony. The firecrackers which can suffocate and kill the weak lunged. No other city even comes close to celebrating it like Diwali in Delhi. The winters where getting out of the rajai is an early morning challenge followed by 5 minute baths and then plonking firmly in the small areas of house where sunlight would stream in for a few hours listening to my mothers halting conversations in Hindi with neighbouring aunties. 26 january parades where as a family we would watch and comment on each and every tableu and running out to the balcony or roof when the Sukhois came into action. Kanjaks where one ran around the locality with a plate collecting poori, halwa and cholle but more importantly 10 rupee notes and competing for the number of red thread on left wrist with other girls.

The tendency to shorten every word. Mujhe to wahi karma hain to maine to wai karma hain. The Punjabi which has woven itself into everyday Hindi. The roads populated with cars-every city has a definite taste in cars. Delhi’s is Maruti Swift-the one with a behind like that of a Punju aunty as AB says. Everyone is a big shot or beta of a big shot in Delhi. The most stylish and good looking people by a fair margin. The number of good looking people you can find in a year elsewhere can be found in a day in Delhi. To the roadside chaats like none another to the seats of power at 10 Janpath and 7 Race Course, this is like none another.

And perhaps the most remarkable for me is there is no authentic Dilliwala. It’s a city of migrants-some 50 years ago from Peshawar, some 5 months ago from Chennai.

This is the city I thank everyday for giving me the ability to dream for the stars. Which filled me with a passive aggression. Which assured me there is a jugaad for each and every thing in life. Blessing me with a neutral name, a neutral face, a convent education this is the city that sent me out to explore the rest of India. Who said Dilli ke paas dil nai hain?

PS: I thought of this post when I listened to Dilli-6 title track for the first time. Love it must be the understatement of the year!

 

Pub Bharo says Renuka and Shaadi karo says Mutalik

According to TOI

On Wednesday afternoon, Rashtriya Hindu Sena chief Pramod Mutalik went into a huddle with his band of supporters and declared war on what he called “anti-Indian” practices. The Sene asked the government, heads of educational institutions and the police to discourage this “Christian practice of celebrating Valentine’s Day’’.

THWARTING V-DAY
* Sene to submit memorandum to government to ban celebrations
* Write letters to colleges, hotels and greeting card shop owners not to promote V-Day on their premises
* Ask colleges to take strict action against students who celebrate
* In Bangalore, to protest before restaurants in prime areas promoting V-Day

WEDDING MARCH
* Tie-or-die is still the Sri Rama Sene’s slogan — firming up plans to marry off dating couples, they said it will have to be either the knot or the rakhi
* Sene has formed five teams comprising a number of members
* They will roam around Bangalore, holding a video camera and a turmeric stub
* On spotting young couples dating, they will be forced to tie the knot, not on the spot, but in a temple
* The couples would be taken to a sub-registrar’s office to solemnize the marriage
* In case they are brothers and sisters, they will be forced to tie a rakhi
* However, the Sene is silent on married couples. “In that case we cannot do anything,” Muthalik said

ROSES AND THORNS
Muthalik’s response to Renuka Chowdhury’s comments on his bachelorhood and ignorance of love: “Being a bachelor does not mean that I do not know anything about love. I am born in a cultured family. I love my parents, sisters and brothers. I welcome her to Bangalore on February 14, as she intends to come here.”
However, he did not comment on whether he would accept a rose given by Renuka with sisterly affection, if she were to.

DRESSING DOWN FOR GIRLS?
Girls are free to wear anything they like. I have never commented about the dress code.

Thank God for Rashtriya Hindu Sena!

No more unneccessary kharcha on V-Day presents. In fact no more outrageously priced western wear, I mean why take the risk?From now on Khadi sarees for yours truly. But wouldnt a saree be easier to tear off by a violent mob?Not to mention more difficult to flee in? But I guess being true sons of soil and highest in upholding the Indian traditions they would be in white starched dhotis and hence be restricted in speed.

I like the “Tie or Die” bit too much. Would it be too Machiavilian to lure the underaged,unwilling to settle down now BF and stun the only our-religion-our-caste-our-subcaste parents by jhat magni phat byah?

I think am beginning to like this Sena..

PS: Its one thing to protest and quite another to fight off a frenzied mob. So please do take care.

 

A geo-political analysis of Mumbai attacks

I have become an information junkie. Everyday I swallow tons of information especially regarding recent attacks. Its not difficult considering it is everywhere.Lunch time conversation, taxi ride conversations all revolve around our lack of political will, the ill-equipped security forces, and Pakistan.

Most people I know want a final confrontation with our neighbour next door. I dont. Its a country where democracy is just a facade and the real power lies with the military. A military which has freely mixed and encouraged the jehadi movement as tactile method to keep the more powerful adversary engaged in its own backyard.

But we have seen repeatedly in the past how easy it is for a mercenary to bite the hand it feeds. US learnt it in Afghanistan when Taliban used the very weapons/funds US provided during Soviet era against it. Benazir Bhutto who turned a blind eye as terrorism festered in POK fell to a bullet by the same lot. Rajiv Gandhi and the LTTE also went down the same path. And hence to think that Pakistan military can always control these hardliners is to finally prove Eisenberg’s principle wrong.

Finally Zardari has assured India that in face of concrete evidence the terror mongers will be tried in Pakistan like a Pakistani citizen. Zardari would know all about the strong legal systems in Pakistan considering he himself was tried, convicted and is now the PM. India meanwhile is still busy arranging defence lawyer for Qasab and letting him eat 3 square meals on tax payers money.

However considering you can do much better than read my pseudo-analysis, I am reproducing bits from a link SG had as his status message. You can read the complete article here. It is quite good in summarizing India’s compulsions, US ‘ interests in the region and Pakistan’s posturing.

Now, step back and consider the situation the Mumbai attackers have created. First, the Indian government faces an internal political crisis driving it toward a confrontation it didn’t plan on. Second, the minimum Pakistani response to a renewed Indo-Pakistani crisis will be withdrawing forces from western Pakistan, thereby strengthening the Taliban and securing al Qaeda. Third, sufficient pressure on Pakistan’s civilian government could cause it to collapse, opening the door to a military-Islamist government — or it could see Pakistan collapse into chaos, giving Islamists security in various regions and an opportunity to reshape Pakistan. Finally, the United States’ situation in Afghanistan has now become enormously more complex.

The welfare of the subcontinent ironically depends on welfare of Pakistan.

 

No sycophancy..

just something that makes so much sense if it were actually being followed including by the party of the statement maker.

“What is important,” said Rahul Gandhi, the heir to the family dynasty that controls the governing Congress Party, “is that we stop worrying about how the world will impact us, we stop being scared about how the world will impact us, and we step out and worry about how we will impact the world.”

Courtesy

 

Gold Rush and other stories

“Bindra wins gold”

A friend informed me. Yes all our new sites were sprouting praises for the 25 year old,the first Indian in 108 years to win individual gold! And yes it is indeed a matter of resilience,that an Indian has performed “despite” the system.

So when MS Gill says

I congratulate myself and every other Indian

How can we not pat ourselves on the back. After all as GreatBong asks without the ministry putting adversity on Bindra’s path how could he have motivated himself?

Now of course states are competing among themselves to shower the highest rewards on Bindra. Even BCCI surprised that cricket has momentarily has been eclipsed out of public periphery has announced an award. Punjab University is instituting an award in his honor. Rifle sales are doubling as you read this.

Of course there was a time when Bindra could have given up the sport because of the huge funds required. Thank god for the millionaire dad!Rashmi Bansal analysis the finances here.

Todays TOI carries an interesting article on how most of our individual sports star (in fact even team sports star except cricket) are on self sustainence. And how only those who can afford it continue to play. Once victory comes lapping so does the temptation of defecting to countries which encourage sports (Rashmi’s article has quoted Bindra’s dad also mentioning such offers). But not before our Committee can congratulate itself and every Indian for making this possible!

On sadder note, Rajyavardhan Rathore,our silver medallist from Athens failed to qualify for the finals.

*******************************************************************************************************************

Completely unrelated note, China’s quest for a picture perfect Olympics has resulted in a “cute” girl forced to mime at Olympics after seven year old with crooked teeth is banned.

Chief music director Chen Qigang explained

‘We had to make that choice – it was fair both for Lin Miaoke and Yang Peiyi.’

‘We combined the perfect voice and the perfect performance.

‘The reason was for the national interest. The child on camera should be flawless in image, internal feelings and expression. Lin Miaoke is excellent in those aspects. But in the aspect of voice, Yang Peiyi is flawless.’

 

Singh is King

Little outdated post but nevertheless, our PM didnt mince words while taking the opposition down

The Leader of Opposition, Shri L.K. Advani has chosen to use all manner of abusive adjectives to describe my performance. He has described me as the weakest Prime Minister, a nikamma PM, and of having devalued the office of PM. To fulfill his ambitions, he has made at least three attempts to topple our government. But on each occasion his astrologers have misled him. This pattern, I am sure, will be repeated today. At his ripe old age, I do not expect Shri Advani to change his thinking. But for his sake and India’s sake, I urge him at least to change his astrologers so that he gets more accurate predictions of things to come.

Of course he could not deliver this speech because of the bags-full-of-money commotion.

This particular trust vote is not the first time exposure of the under-belly of the democracy we are all so proud of. I agree that chargesheeter-MPs, sting operations in the past has more often than not repeatedly shown us this ugly face yet we keep our interest in the grainy sting videos only till the next cricket match or Khan-wars happen.

Yet this trust vote to my living memory had many firsts.

• Papers like TOI used to carry daily quotes of prices of MPs. Horse trading reached new heights.
• CPI-M expelling Somnath Chaterjee because in their own words

Somnath Chatterjee might have acted according to the Indian Constitution, but our party has its own constitution and decisions are taken as per party rules.

And hence seriously compromising party position. So yes of course Indian constitution doesnt stand over and above the party constitution. Can the comrades please stand in a queue whizle we do a quick refresher course on patriotism. Lesson one being we belong to a country called India not China.

• Mayawati’s after-losing-face speech

a conspiracy of BJP and Congress to stop a dalit woman from becoming the next Prime Minister of India

Now it takes a lot for me to criticize another woman’s ambitions. But I wish lady, you wont get to build tall statues of yourself in the capital anytime soon. Caste-politics can get you only so far.

• Sushma Swaraj’s clean chit to Indian Mujahhadin, SIMI and like

The blasts are a conspiracy to divert attention from the cash-for-votes scandal. It is not an off-the-cuff remark. I mean what I say,” Ms Swaraj told reporters here. “Attacks in two BJP-ruled states in a span of two days and within four days of the UPA government winning the trust vote have some meaning, and what I am saying is proved by enough circumstantial evidence.

Our friendly neighboring country has a brand new ally. And guess what its the Hindutva brigade. The most interesting fact was BJP siding with the Left on an issue of national security,one of its major election tom-tom.

The papers believe with the left off their back the UPA Government has an opportunity to introduce real economic reforms and save face.

What happens with the bags of money? They would safely rest in the Swiss accounts till rival party comes to power, files case and drags for 10 years before acquittal. But we are used to that arent we? Just try to control the inflation a bit, so that we can still Mall hop. Ohh and while you are at it,can you make sure I dont get blown to smithereens the next time I go Mall trawling?

 

We are like this only

Bridge over river Roopnarayan-East Midnapore

Edited to add: Aaaaargh!! most people dont get the unintentional pun. “g” missing in bridge has made it bride…leading a whole new meaning to instructions below the line. Grrrrrrrrr!