Laloo, Nitish and Bihar

In politics, taking a U-turn is shrewdness but making an O-turn is sheer art. Nitish Kumar has mastered this political art. He is back to where he started. Laloo and Nitish ‘fought together’ against Congress during emergency, fought with each other in Bihar and now are ‘fighting together’ against BJP. The circle of Friend-Foe-Friend is complete. Before 16th May, 2014, which political pundit would have thought in their wildest imagination that pathological hatred toward one man (Modi) can bring Lalu and Nitish together? In politics, there is certainly a limited advantage of using the past as a template to predict the future.

In 2010 Bihar Assembly election, people showered Nitish Kumar with fountain of trust by giving him a historic mandate. But by aligning with Laloo, he has muddied the fountain that once saved his political career.

Until 2014 LS election, to fulfil his desire of becoming PM, he cloaked his hypocrisy with a cunning brow. He was under the illusion that being the largest partner of BJP he is indispensable to NDA and by allying with the anti-Modi faction within NDA, he will be the only acceptable face to lead the NDA and in-turn become PM. In a jibe to Modi he once said, “Those who dream of becoming PM will even cease to remain CM”. His words were like Cassandra- nobody believed but it became true, the only difference was he made a prediction for himself. He ceased to be CM of Bihar after the LS defeat.

Media and pseudo-secularist hailed him as a Martyr when he resigned for taking the moral responsibility of the drubbing in the 2014 LS election, but the same media and Adarsh Liberals went into hibernation mode when he aligned with a convicted Laloo.

Laloo and Nitish may be united by a Fact but are divided by a Factor.

The Fact is – Stop BJP at any cost.
The Factor is – Who will become the Chief Minister?

Laloo has not aligned with him because of any altruist motive or to assuage him for the LS defeat. He knows enemy’s enemy is a pal. Once the primary enemy is defeated, the weaker pal will dance to his tune. Laloo wants to regain his lost glory- the rustic King of Bihar once he was. His every political utterance is chiselled by his astuteness – “I am drinking poison to stop BJP”- a metaphor to justify alliance with JD(U). Kumar’s delusion will be shattered the day RJD gets more seats than JD(U). Laloo has offered a mirage in the form of alliance to Nitish who is desperate to avenge his LS defeat.

A lot can happen over coffee..

A beautiful monsoon weather sans rain. Here I am, sitting at Starbucks KP, observing people.

Next to two empty tables in front of me, a young couple, perhaps in college having heated discussion on a unique topic- Positive Attention! Wonder what does that mean..

Idle brain is devil's workshop and I decided to eavesdrop.

Broadcasting Live..

The upstairs of this store leads to a balcony with few coffee tables.

Two children are playing beside me, banging the big glass wall to get their mom's attention; their mom is sitting on the other side of the glass. They are making it impossible to eavesdrop. Also too much of honking on the street, difficult to concentrate on the couple's conversation. I have to improve my listening skills.

The young girl has shifted her topic to crushes and confession pages. She says some kind of confession would have had made her day.

She likes music and books. Great choices!

The girl is garrulous. The guy is suave. The guy is wearing a geeky black specs. I cannot see the girls face as she is sitting facing the guy. She is wearing blue top and has her hair untied.

Ok here it came- the topic of marriage! The guy just said "You change the diaper and I feed" The girl is definitely leaving, I thought. Or atleast will defend but to my surprise she is not defending but giving an example of probably a distant relative of how he literally changed after marriage, emphasising on the word literally.

Conclusion: the girl is not a feminist vampire and is relying on reasoning.

Thankfully the children have gone but the honking on the street continues.

Next topic - How relationship works! Both giving examples of their friends. The girl asked if he has any fears. Fear of water, he said. Embarrassed by his own answer, the guy tried to take sweet revenge and joked if she watches Fear Factor too much.

Now the guy starts his favourite topic! He mentions one of his favourite songs whose lyrics is all about sex. Coincidentally, the girl has listened to this song. They are unanimously talking in one voice now.

This topic has lead to parenting and openness of society.

"The more open the parents are, the less mistakes their children make", said the girl.

Interesting quote! Have to ponder if it holds true. Her mother is very open minded, she chirped.

She is 17, too young. Her birthday falls on 16th October 1997. I was wrong they must be in school.

The new generation (at 17) talking about sex, marriage, relationship, parenting et al.

I wonder what I use to talk when I was 17? Got the answer! Cricket it was.

Time to go! My coffee is over!

Oh, and the girl is wearing white shorts.

Why Modi Should Become The Prime Minister

According to Economic Times, at 63, Narendra Modi is clocking more than 100 rallies a month with an average of 4 rallies per day. Unlike the chaos that usually marks an Indian election campaign; a typical day in the life of Narendra Modi is a meticulously planned affair. His travails start at 5 am with Yoga and end in bed by 1 am. In between lays hectic campaign to blossom 272+ Lotus thereby dismantling the adamantine wall of Congress.

The element of conjecture and speculation surrounding in the media is that if Modi becomes PM he will steer economic policy, titivate foreign policy, lit up fire in Cimmerian darkness and what not. It cannot be said with certainty whether he can do this or cannot do that but one thing is sure that his work ethics will instill faith in millions of passionate young Indians.

Faith when blended with passion can produce wonders.

His meteoric rise from nobody to somebody will make an 18 year old of impatient desire cock-sure that one doesn’t need to be born with a silver spoon; with hard work, dedication, and determination one can achieve what he/she wants in life. Unlike uninspiring leadership of Manmohan Singh, his leadership is ardent and self-assured laced with great oratory skills. With a carte blanche style of functioning, he will ensure bureaucrats do not underestimate themselves and ministers do not overestimate themselves as had happened during UPAs regime.

His critics have had left no stone unturned to sustain fictions for several years. For 12 years (still on), the general prejudice against him in the media was so violent that it needed a miracle to place him in an amiable light. He has strained every nerve of his to fight the loathsome campaign against him. He has shown how to handle success; how to handle failure; how to handle criticisms; how to ignore hatred of shenanigans; how to bask in love of supporters and most importantly how to turn adversary into realm of opportunity.

The figure on the sand of times has reached a substantial sum; 10 years of little growth would suffice for a generation to become impatient. Before the abdomen of youths, heavily charged with molten lava explodes, the nation needs a good keeper to ensure that the country is not set on fire.

Will he become the Prime Minister?

After 16th May, the answer to this question will serve as a pointer to the future.

Sachin: The Immortal of India

“His life was gentle, and the elements so mix'd in him, that Nature might stand up and say to the entire world, This was a man”

– Shakespeare

Sachin’s career can be divided into two eras: pre ‘99 and post ‘99. During most of the ‘90s, he was a one man army when batting and a man with golden arms when bowling. Post 99’ era, the likes of Ganguly, Dravid, Laxman shared the onus of the Indian batting line up.

[The initial days of Sachin post ’99 era were marked with tennis elbow injury. He subsided his usual aggression and stopped coming down to the pitch to launch projectiles of sixes destined for apogee. He began to rely more on placements and boundaries. He also experimented with his batting position by coming down the order. The losing streak of the team India aggravated the situation. These events resulted in some aficionados turning fans and some fans turning critics. I can put a wager that there was not a single critic of Sachin in pre ’99 era. ]

As they say, childhood memories are most savoring therefore following are the two special memories of pre ’99 era:-

1. An indelible memory of Sachin would be the semi-final innings of 141 against Australia at Sharjah in 1998. On that day, he was like a kamikaze waiting to explode. The two sixes off Michael Kasprowicz at deep mid wicket boundary and that coupled with euphonic commentary of Tony Grieg set the tone for an amazing match. Dancing down to the pitch to hit Warne’s googly over the top with a puckish straight bat was a feast for the eyes. For the first time, Aussies saw the fearlessness hidden under that 5 ft 5” minuscule body.

2. Another indelible memory of Sachin would be the hysteria that enveloped me after the defeat in the 1996 World Cup semi-finals against Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens. I remember when my Dad, an ardent cricket follower, optimistically stopped me from bursting strings of Lady bomb after India won the Quarter Finals against Pakistan. I vividly remember his words-“Don’t finish..save for Semi Finals against Sri Lanka”. [On that day] Sachin’s batting was a treat to watch when he hit every bowler down to the ground. He was batting in full zeal when obliviously he got stumped on 63 while sweeping Murlidharan. After his dismissal, the ball started taking 180 degree turn and the whole team fell like a pack of cards. Moment of grief struck my sinking heart, aggravated by Kamli’s uncontrollable pooling from the tear glands. I swear, I would have painted the town red with my Lady bombs had India won.

General Election 2014- Prognosis

No	States	No of cons.	B.J.P	I.N.C
1	Andhra Pradesh	42	1	12
2	Arunachal Pradesh	2	1	1
3	Assam	14	5	7
4	Bihar	40	15	0
5	Chhattisgarh	12	9	2
6	Goa	2	2	0
7	Gujarat	26	22	4
8	Haryana	10	1	5
9	Himachal Pradesh	4	3	1
10	Jammu & Kashmir	6	1	2
11	Jharkhand	14	8	2
12	Karnataka	28	10	16
13	Kerala	20	0	8
14	Madhya Pradesh	29	24	5
15	Maharastra	48	15	15
16	Manipur	2	0	1
17	Meghalaya	2	0	2
18	Mizoram	1	0	0
19	Nagaland	1	0	1
20	Orrisa	21	1	4
21	Punjab	13	2	4
22	Rajasthan	25	20	5
23	Sikkim	1	0	0
24	Tamil Nadu	39	0	3
25	Tripura	2	0	2
26	Uttrakhand	5	4	1
27	Uttar Pradesh	80	30	10
28	West Bengal	42	0	5
1	Andaman & Nicobar	1	1	0
2	Chandigarhr	1	0	0
3	Dadar & Nagar Haveli	1	1	0
4	Daman & Diu	1	1	0
5	Delhi	7	5	2
6	Lakshadweep	1	0	1
7	Pondicherry	1	0	0
	Total	545	182	121

Note :- As of July 2013 before the anointment of Narendra Modi as PM candidate of BJP.