Welcome !
When I first started blogging about politics, food, general stuff, I wrote everything on live--to--eat.blogspot.com
With me increasingly writing about everything except food on the blog, I decided it was time to separate food and current affairs! Therefore, live--to--eat blog will have reviews of restaurants, and serious--fun will have blogs pertaining to all other topics - serious and fun :D
And also I hope to stop this habit of creating new blogs ;-)
Happy Reading!
1. P. Sainath of The Hindu did an awesome report this week. In this article here, he exposes the dirty nexus between the politicians and the media. He took up the case of recent Maharashtra elections, and clearly pointed out how the CM could get the same news report (verbatim) printed in three different newspapers on three different days. The article has much clearer details, but I wish to make another important point here. One of the newspapers Sainath mentions is Lokmat owned by a Congress MP. Lokmat and IBN have a tie-up in Maharashtra and they run a channel. Rajdeep Sardesai, who is the Editor-in-Chief on CNN-IBN pontificates on twitter that "media has to answer". Not just him, almost everyone from the self-righteus gloating national english media say that media should answer as if they are in some totally different profession! After repeated questioning by folks on twitter, Rajdeep Sardesai answers (to yours truly ;-) ) that the Editor's guild is meeting this month to discuss about paid news! Wah, when it comes to the media, all of them uniformly went silent and are waiting for some meeting to decide on future course of action! Anyways, let's wait till January 1st and take this up further.
2. There is this person in Andhra Pradesh who goes by the name KCR. Under his awesome stewardship, the party has lost multiple elections badly, the latest one being 2009 general elections. YSR's death turned everything around. KCR got some renewed energy and decided to do a fast unto death agitation. And as expected, he broke it the second day. Within hours, there was severe backlash and he had to resume it!! Imagine his plight. However, the supposed "movement" has taken ugly violent proportions. KCR is on "fast" for about 5 days now and there are a lot of student organisations truning violent in their protests. Even the TRS cadre is turning violent at will. And the state government is not able to control this violence. The local media is hyping up the violence as if it is some kind of impulsive reaction. How can violence such as this be justified at all? A bunch of hooligans can hold one-thirds of the state to ransom and we are calling it a movement? So you blackmail the government and you assume that your demands will be met? KCR, and KCR alone must be held responsible for this violence. He must be booked for disturbing the peace of the land, and be asked to keep quiet for his lifetime!
3. Ajmal Kasab's lawyer has been fired!! A new lawyer has been appointed. So now the new guy will have to get acquainted with the case. Basically, the case will get delayed more. Ultimately, Kasab gets more time to eat biryanis.
4. ULFA Chief Arabinda Rajkhowa and deputy commander in chief Raju Barua were arrested this week! Actually, the national media flashed saying that both of them surrendered! Both of the surrendering is a massive blow to ULFA, but within hours of flashing that news, the news channels announce that these people have actually been arrested. Both of them refuse to hold negotiations with handcuffs! Apparently Arabinda expected garlands it seems! Wonder what made him think that terrorists will be garlanded in our country ;-)
5. I happened to watch Question hour in Lok Sabha this week for two days. If atleast 80% of the time, the session can go such smoothly, I am telling you the respect on politicians will surely increase!
ఆంధ్రుల అభిమాన హాస్య నటుడు శ్రీ కేసీఆర్ గారు ఈ వారం ప్రజల్ని తెగ ఇబ్బందుల్లో పడేసారు. ఇబ్బంది అనేది చాలా చిన్న పదం. అయన చేపట్టిన ఆమరణ నిరాహార దీక్ష వాళ్ళ రాష్ట్రం లోని తెలంగాణా జిల్లాల్లో పలు చోట్ల హింస చెలరేగింది. ఆదివారం చేపట్టిన దీఖ్స ను ఆయన సోమవారం రాత్రి కి విరమించారు. ఈ వార్త తెలియగానే విద్యార్ధి సంఘాలు ఊగిపోయాయి. ఇంత స్తే లో వ్యతిరేకత వచ్చేసరికి, కేసీఆర్ గారు మళ్ళి దీక్ష ప్రారంభించారు. అయితే అప్పటికే హింస మార్గం అనుసరించడం మొదలుపెట్టిన కార్యకర్తలు మరియు విద్యార్ధులు మరింత చెలరేగిపోయారు. బుసుల్ల్ని తగలపెట్టారు, షాపుల్ని మూసేశారు, అద్దాలని విరగోట్టారు ... పై పెచ్చు మీడియా కూడా ఈ ఉద్యమంకి మద్దతు చూపుతుంది! దీనిని ఉద్యయం అనడం కన్నా అరాచకం అనడం చాలా సబబు. అసలు కొన్ని అసాంఘిక శక్తులు ఇలా విచ్చల విడి గా ప్రవర్తించినంత మాత్రానా ఒక రాష్ట్రం వచ్చేస్తుంది అని అనుకుంటే, ఇంత కన్నా మూర్ఖత్వం ఏమి ఉంటాదో నాకు అయితే తెలిదు మరి!
ఇది ఇలా ఉండగా, ప్రజా రాజ్యం పార్టీ నుంచి మరో వృద్ధ నేత శ్రీ హరిరామ జోగయ్య గారు రాజీనామా చేసారు ! జై ఆంద్ర ఉద్యమం లో పాల్గొనడానికి రాజీనామా చేసారు అంట! ఏదో ఒకటి లే, మీరు ఉంటె ఎంత లేకపోతె ఎంత లెండి ప్రరపా లో!
నేను నమ్మిన వాళ్ళు మోసం చేసారు అంటూ చిరంజీవి గారు మొన్న ఆ మధ్య వాపోయారు. ఇప్పుడు ఎందుకు లెండి ఇలాంటి డైలాగ్స్ ... మీకు ఉన్న ఆ కొద్ది పాటి మర్యాద కూడా పోతుంది మీ పార్టీ కార్యకర్తలకి !
ఈ వారం కి ఇక్కడితో ఆపెస్తా.. కంప్యుటర్ చాల నెమ్మది గా ఉంది... కష్టం గా ఉంది రాయడానికి...
Anti-Sikh Riots took place in 1984. 3000 Sikhs killed. Thousands of families orphaned.25 years later,still no one is punished. Victims still waiting for justice.
Gas leak in Union Carbide plant in Bhopal in 1984.Termed as the World's worst Industrial Disaster. 15,000 killed. Gas leak still affects lakhs of people. 25 years later, still no one is punished. Victims are still waiting for justice.
Prime Minsiter Indira Gandhi was shot dead by two gunmen in 1984. One died soon, and the other was hanged. Her son became Prime Minister of India. 25 years later, her daughter-in-law is super PM and her grandson is being touted as the future PM.
25 years from now, will the situation change?
1. Babri Masjid in Ayodhya was demolished in 1992. And the then government appointed Justice Liberhan to head a one man commission to submit a detailed report. 17 years later, in 2009, the final report is ready. Before it was officially tabled in Parliament, it was very selectively leaked to media. And when all hell broke lose, the report was tabled in Parliament. And because it took 17 years to prepare the report, all of us had lot of expectations. We downloaded the 130MB (1000 pages) document from the Internet and started to read it. Then all hell broke lose again!!! The whole report looked like a high school essay in which practically every aspect of post independence history of India was discussed. And in the section that was meant to recommend action against conspirators, Justice Liberhan spoke about constitutional reforms, bureaucratic reforms etc. He gave us a lecture on secularism and various other such topics. What we all knew 17 months after the demolition, Mr. Justice took 17 years to document it! It cost 8 crores just in salaries/perks for him and his staff in these 17 years. Talk about waste of public exchequer!
2. If you think the report was funny, you should read the Action Taken Report (ATR) by the government here. The ATR is replete with two words - "Noted". "Agreed". Poor Mr. Liberhan. He must have been fuming that after his 17 years of "hard work", all that the government had to say was "Noted". Please do read the ATR, it is bound to lighten up your mood!
3. It has been an year since the gory attacks on Mumbai happened. In Parliament, the opposition asked why compensation has been delayed to the victims. Government accused the opposition of politicising the issue, and all hell broke lose. The media then forgot about the compensation and started asking questions like "Will our politicians stop fighting?". Very conveiniently, instead of debating the question, we started to debate the timing of the question. Wow.
4. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited US this week. No agreement was signed, a joint press conference was held in which only 2 questions were allowed to be asked. The first question to Obama was not about Indo-US relations, but about US's new policy towards Afghanisthan! And then one Indian reporter asked the PM when the nuclear deal will be finalised. He says, we are dotting the i's and crossing the t's. Please don't ask how long that will take. Afterall, the PM knows everything!
5. Amar Singh held the collar of a fellow MP in Rajya Sabha. The link is here. The news died very quickly, primarily because Amar Singh was at fault!
1. ఈ వారం లో గ్రేటర్ హైదరాబాద్ మునిసిపల్ కార్పోరేషన్ ఎన్నికల ఫలితాలు వచ్చాయి. ఈ ఫలితాలు కాంగ్రెస్స్ కు షాక్ ని ఇస్తే, తెదేపా కి ఊపు ని ఇచ్చాయి ! మజ్లీస్ పార్టీ కి ఏకంగా 43 సీట్లు వచ్చి, కింగ్ మేకర్ స్థాయి కి ఎదిగిపోయింది ! పానకం లో పుడక లాగ పీఆర్పీ కి ఒక్క సీటు వచ్చింది లెండి! అదీ కాంగ్రెస్స్ రెబెల్ గా పోటి చేసిన అభ్యర్ది పీఆర్పీ నుంచి గెలిచాడు ! లోక్ సత్తా కి ప్రజలు మొండి చెయ్యి చూపించారు. ఇది ఉహించని ఎదురు దెబ్బ! మొత్తానికి ఈ ఎన్నికలతో స్పష్టం అయ్యింది ఏంటి అంటే, రాజశేకర రెడ్డి లేని కాంగ్రెస్ పార్టీ చాటికల బడటానికి పెద్దగ సమయం అవసరం పడలేదు!
2. ఎట్టకేలకు ఈ వారం సీఎల్ల్పీసమావేశం జరిగింది! జగన్ గారే సోనియా గాంధి గారికి పూర్తి నిర్ణయాధికారాలను ఇస్తూ ఒక తీర్మానం చదివారు. అందరు తల ఊపారు. సోనియా గాంధి గారు రోశయ్య గారినే సీఎల్ల్పీ నాయకుడిగా నియమిస్తూ ఇవ్వాళ ప్రకటన జారి చేసారు. ఇంతోటి దానికి ఇన్నాళ్ళు ఆగడం ఎందుకో మరి?!
౩. ఆంధ్రుల అభిమాన హాస్య నటుడు శ్రీ కేసీఆర్ గారు ఆమరణ నిరాహార దీక్ష మొదలుపెత్తబోతునారు. మరిన్ని వివరాలు వచ్చే వారం లో!
The Good:
1. No terror attacks since last year
2. Regional centres set up for NSG
3. Increased vigilance, with policemen constantly on their toes
The Bad:
1. Investigations leading to nowher.
2. Pakistan is playing around with us as if nothing had happened. We gave them 7 dossiers so far, and yet they shamelessly say - not enough evidence!
3. The Prime Minister almost compromised in Egypt with Pakistan, before public backlash prevented him from going any further.
4. No one in the entire system has been held accountable for multiple terror attacks in the country.
5. Kith and kin of victims are raising many questions, but government is just ignoring the questions.
6. R R Patil is back as Home Minister of Maharasthra
7. Vilasrao Deshmukh is now Union Cabinet Minister
8. It might be trivial to many people, but it bothers me a lot that the Prime Minister of this country has chosen to be out of the country for the first anniversary of 26/11. At a time when he has to address the nation and update the citizens of this country about the progress made since last year with the investigations; at a time when he should be visiting Mumbai and be talking to the kith and kin of the victims of the carnage, he chose to be out of the country trying to ink the nuclear deal (which by the way is still not done). This image in today's Hindu speaks says it all.
The Ugly:
1. Ajmal Kasab is STILL alive and kicking, making demands for biryani too. It is a shame that we have not been able to hang him yet.
2. Worst part is that we don't know when he will be hanged!
