Hoorray!

One of the first news report I read this morning is this - http://indianexpress.com/article/india/politics/muslim-techie-beaten-to-death-in-pune-7-men-of-hindu-outfit-held/#.U46d2V4S8zI.twitter It immediately elicited a flurry of responses along expected lines from the usual, useful idiots. Even the basic courtesy of expressing condolences for the dead person and the bereaving family was seen to have been forgotten, in their haste to tie their favorite punching bags to the conspiracy. They did not stop to think that the outfit named here had as much probability to be NOT related to RSS or any other parivar organizations, and could be floated by anyone, and funded by anyone. Not that the useful idiots ever demonstrated an ability to think. Now they are also demonstrating their insensitivity to loss - because it is a loss only to someone else and not to them. Without digging back on their 1400 year history, and with events of only the 21st century, we can conclude that the follow

I thought of a lot of titles for this post: "Ache Din Aane Wale Hain" "Iss Bar Modi Sarkar" "Time for a new India" Some more are running around in my head. But the most predominant emotion in my mind was - relief. When the election dates were announced, I couldn't wait for this day - the counting day - to come sooner. Now that it has come and is almost over, the feeling of euphoria has given way to relief. As of this moment Modi is taking 268 colleagues along with him to the Lok Sabha for sure, according the Election Commission of India 's website. In a few more minutes, that number will change to 280. This is a big relief, since to run a government - the central government or The Government of India - he needs only 272 members in parliament. Along with the MPs from his allies, that number is somewhere beyond 330+. The trepidation and the excitement I felt yesterday when I penned the previous post were long gone - in fact they were dis

For 2014, I wanted to read at least 100 books. Across genres, in both English and Tamil. Accessibility was not a problem, since I have bought a large number of books in the last 2-3 years. However, I forgot to consider that this is an election year. Over the last 2-3 months, I have been deeply immersed in following the people, the trends, the incidents and everything that a huge election like this brings. I was totally sucked in. As an ardent supporter of Modi and BJP, I wanted to take part in this process much more intently, though in the end, all I could do was go to the polling booth on voting day and press the button. I was so immersed in it, that I even forgot to complete and publish this post, which i started to pen last month! Anyway, now that elections are over and results are out - technically, they came out yesterday since it's already 12 AM on the 17th of May, 2014 - I can now go back to my books. I seriously have to go back to my books! It's not like

Tomorrow is a big day. It would be a day marked in the history of India and a turning point in Indian politics. After a lengthy 9-Phase election, counting happens tomorrow - all the epithets like world's largest democracy, largest electorate, just a 100 million short of the combined population of US & Europe at this moment have been trumpeted again and again. Still, we need to keep the numbers in mind. The number of Indians who were eligible to vote were 814.5 million.  Of these 66.38% or 551.3 million people have voted (including yours truly, exercising my right to vote in the fifth election since 2006).  Our votes have been recorded in 1.4 million electronic voting machines, which will reveal the numbers tomorrow.  For more of these numbers you can refer this comprehensive page on Indian General Elections, 2014 over at wikipedia. This is a big enough spectacle to attract the attention of a large part of the planet. Running around right now are excitement, jubila

What exactly is patriotism? Is it also just a form of lust for land? What does a militant fanaticism towards language hide? Instead of freeing you, do these abstracts immerse you in emotional extremism? The strong emotions that you feel when you think of your Motherland, Mothertongue - Do they bind you much more firmly to the dirt of the land? To hatred? To violence? "Daanah Pah Daanah Da Nana..." Long before the singers began singing, the beat got me going. This song is written in a language of a small group of people who tend to sheep and goats in a harsh landscape. Akhtar Chanal Zahri is the writer as well as the singer. Born in Balochistan, he grew up belting folk songs in Brahvi, his mothertongue. In Brahvi, he has penned this incredible song, to describe his land, its beauty. This language may be tribal and harsh, but it blends itself to so much lyrical beauty and is thereby lofty and sweet to me. I have been listening to this song repeatedly, mesmerized by i