So many points, so little time!: Oct.25-31

1. October 31st is also Sardar Patel's birthday. Not just the day when Indira Gandhi died. Let us please remember this fact too, and celebrate that a man called Sardar Patel once walked on our land.

2. The most wanted murderer/terrorist in the country today is Koteswara Rao. Surprised? He is now more popularly known as Kishenji, the Maoist leader in West Bengal. So, now we are respecting murderers, looters, and those who declared war on the Indian state. Kishenji is what his co-murderers call him. Why should we call him that too? We should call him Koteswara Rao only. Read this article, to know the experience of a reporter who went to cover the "release" of the abducted police officer by the Naxalite. The put a board on him, which read "Prisoner of War". They have declared war, and because Mamta Banerjee wants the government to wait to respond, we are all forced to sit and watch. Also, apparently Koteswara Rao "arrested" some journalists for taking photographs. Are we even living in a country where there are rules? So any citizen who is not happy with the government can pick up arms and start behaving like this? Koteswara Rao is a blot on the Indian society. Naxal problem is no more a social one, it has long transformed into a law and order problem. But then with politicians like Mamta Banerjee, and activists like Arundhati Roy, are we really surprised that the problem still lingers?

3. "Yeddy vs. Reddy" was a headline in one of the news portals. hehehe. Nice one! This was referring to the infighting in Karnataka BJP. The Reddy brothers, Janardhan Reddy and Karunakar Reddy, from Bellary want the CM Yedyurappa removed. And ofcourse Yedyurappa wants to stay. Reddy brothers are claiming to have the support of 60 MLA's out of 117. Yedyurappa's camp claims more than 80 MLA's are on this side. While the numbers are being played out, the AP government suddenly cancelled the permission given to the Reddy brothers to mine at Obulapuram in Anantapur Distrcit in Andhra Pradesh. Apprently, the Karnataka CM has asked this favour from the Andhra CM, to put a check on the Reddy brothers. And it is a known fact that the Reddy brothers are very close to YSR and his family. So the politics take a more interesting turn! With so much action, how can one not love the drama involved in politics?

4. Andre Agassi confessed to using some drug while he was at a low in his career. Well, I really don't have an opinion, but I guess this incident reinforces the fact that anti-doping policies need to be strong. Apparently, Agassi was able to convince the authorities that he took it by accident! Some people are demanding that he should be stripped of his titles, but... I don't know... whatever!

5. Read this article by P. Sainath in The Hindu. Clearly exposing some dirty deals made by newspapers with politicians. Not exactly an eye-opener, but it never was printed in a national newspaper.