Observations and Notes - Lack of reading due to election fever

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 I did not read at all. I continue to read about 50 articles in various disciplines. I used the time I had while traveling to read the Tamil translation of S L Byrappa's "Avarana", called "Thirai" in Tamil. I did not read anything specific for the book club meet later today, though.

So, here I am, eager to turn the pages of books awaiting me and encounter the adventures hidden in their pages!

Comments

The After Effects of BJP Winning Uttar Pradesh

Importance of this huge UP mandate, and the ways in which it will spill over, beyond today's results. Parliament and State Assemblies BJP & NDA gain majority in both houses of the parliament. They are also in power, in about a dozen state assemblies. This will impact two issues. Presidential Elections Narendra Modi and Amit Shah can comfortably appoint the person of their choice to be the next President. In line with this, they can - the must - use the additional support to appoint the right people in key institutions - and I hope they go into serious detail, not just stopping with Governors and Chief Justices. We are in a dire need of replacement for those old fossil remnants of a foregone socialist era. The institutions needs a thorough spring cleaning, and dynamic, vibrant and dharmic personalities should be appointed to key positions. This is so, so crucial because all we have are self-important, dynasty loyalists, sitting in seats of influence, begin

Are we honest?

These are protesting times. A large number of people have taken to the streets - I don't know the real numbers but I am being assured that there are thousands of people on the streets, taking long marches, holding candle-light vigils etc - protesting corruption. I have covered the movement and the ripples it is creating in my other blog. So, I am not going into those details again here. I have a few basic questions though (as usual). What is it that the people are protesting against, essentially? Yes, we know it is corruption, but corruption does not sustain itself. It is perpetrated by individuals. That raises the next question - who are the individuals that perpetrate corruption. Or to simply state - who are the corrupt individuals? Are only those who take bribes and get involved in scams corrupt and dishonest? What about those who pay to get driving licenses without attending the exams? What about those who encroach upon a few square feet next to their own properties an

Waiting for 16 May 2014

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

Hoorray!

Search This Blog