Excerpts from Mamta's Biography

I was reading yesterday excerpts from Mamta Banerjee's autobiography which talks about her being back-stabbed while helping a friend with mathematics exam, it sounded as if she is justifying her believe no-one attitude towards life ? She has the discretion of being weary of people who are not reliable ... but she appears to be too cautious may be that is the key to her rise to prominence. Her cautious and believe no-one attitude made her successfully challenge and triumph over years of hegemony of the left. She was brutally attacked by the left .... almost came back from the jaws of death.
Despite all that she might have penned  in her biography , or the steps taken by her like streaming rabindra sangeet at traffic lights ~  she needs to pay more attention to high infant mortality and hopeless hospital administration. These hospital deaths may be due to bad health care amenities but I have a feeling that starvation and malnutrition too may be responsible for high mortality.
She can talk about herself and good that she has a literary streak - but she as a statesman (woman) and as an administrator has a lot to do else the vote for change will lead to no transformation at all....

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An afterthought ~

News Just (as on Sunday Jan 29th 2012) in - there are reported 9 deaths in Berhampore Medical Hospital - which has pathetic conditions. I know firsthand as its my hometown I have seen it with my own eyes - but there is something about this which is fishy and surprises me. This is what surprises me-  when the left was there things were equally or far more in a state of ruin and I think many people and kids feel pray to lack of medical amenities, but why is it that news never came out then? Who shielded the free flow of information then? Mamta Banerjee may me whimsical, moody but people of Bengal know she is more swayed by people's plight than the callous left .

Netaji - the freedom fighter , stateman and unparalleled leader

January 23 happens to be the 112th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. I remember that indomitable freedom fighter and uncompromising crusader against British imperialism with lot of reverence. His courage and restless energy made him one of the front-ranking leaders of young India. His dramatic escape during the war years and the exploits of the Azad Hind Fauj under his leadership are an undying legend.(read this in bengali I was mesmerized)  The words “Jai Hind”, which we have adopted as our national rallying call, are a constant reminder of how much we owe to Netaji.
When he was in college he was a brilliant student. He had always had a fondness for spiritual people. He helped the poor, the sick and the needy whenever he could.
Once when he was a young man, cholera broke out in Calcutta and the rich people left the city. When the epidemic broke out, there was no medical treatment for the poor, so he went to the poorest section of town and treated the sick.
There were many hooligans in that part of town. They threatened him and said, "Don't come here and bother us. We don't want you. You're well educated and come from a rich family, while we are poor and ignorant. Leave us alone." Bravely, he replied, "Do whatever you want. If you want to kill me, kill me. I've come into the world to help the poor and sick. I'll continue to bring money and food and try to help as much as I can."
One day the only son of the hooligan leader was stricken with cholera. So the young man went to his house and cared for the son, feeding him and giving him medical treatment. The hooligan leader was deeply moved. "I threatened you and warned you not to come here, and still you come to help my own son. You're a brave man."
The young man said, "It's not a matter of bravery; it's a matter of necessity. I see God in everyone. When I see someone suffering, I feel it is my duty to help. One must help one's brother when he is in need."
The hooligan chief bowed down to the young man and said, "You're not human. You are divine."

Is there any parallel that a leader of his eminence has a date of birth (January 23, 1897) but none for his demise? Even after 112 years and three Commissions of Enquiry, the Indian people do not believe that he is no more.  A legitimate question arises: how did he die? Where and when did he die? Did he live for some period in exile? These are some of the many questions that are baffling for the past 63 years since the 1945 Taihoku plane crash. While the nation still debates the whereabouts of Netaji, his intelligent and practical daughter, Anita Plaff, believes that her father in all probability perished in the air accident.
Bharat Ratna was awarded to Subhash Chandra Bose in 1992, which was later withdrawn due to a legal technicality, the only case of an award being withdrawn. (When I researched a bit found whole of Gandhi Family are Bharat Ratnas haha - in Malyalam I will say Ende Eshwarayay)
Award or no award his mark is etched in my memory forever and he will always be my role model ...... Jai Hind

Google - Less World

Imagine a day - you get up in the morning and as you try to check your mails - for some reason gmail isn't loading. You try to listen to your favorite Kabir Dohas on youtube and loo that too is not working. Next you want to publish your take on the latest features of your technology platform and the blogging site too is down. Pretty frustrating - already many of your regular tasks have been jeopardized. You try to check your internet connection by trying to open www.aicc.com and its working. Your mind starts racing what might be happening ?
Has your internet connection been hacked or what can be the reason ? You check Twitter,  its up and "GoogleCensure" is already trending at number one position . Slowly you switch on the TV(as you are more accustomed to using the web interface for news)  to get a handle of what is happening? The news allays your fears - google and some other websites have been blocked under directive of the Supreme Court. You are trying to access the impact it will have on your daily routine and work efficiency. You are perturbed by the thought of having to leaf through voluminous books to find the solution to the numerous technical challenges which come your way daily. You decide to scan soft-copy versions of all the books in order to save time in future. There are so many other things you have to take care - loads the favourite songs, bhajans and yes that would necessitate buying some more secondary storage devices as in google days all the resources were stored on google platforms and you did not need to bother about space ( Cloud storage) - mammoth  task, you shudder at the thought of all the contingency plans you have to put in place. Will we be going back to days of snail mail?
As you were busy in your deep contemplation the alarm of your cell phone jerks you out of your slumber - oh it was a dream - na na nightmare to be precise and if the government and supreme court have their way we may be living this nightmare - hence protest when we still have time on our side - "Say no to internet censorship "

Lal Bahadur Shastri - The Forgotten Hero

		Yesterday Rahul Gandhi was all praises for the weaver -Faizan - but he and neither any of his fellow Congressmen spared a thought for Lal Bahadur Shastriji on his death Anniversary. Shastri ji was born in Mughal Sarai, United Provinces, British India to Sharada Srivastava Prasad, a school teacher, who later became a clerk in the Revenue Office at Allahabad,and Ramdulari Devi.  There is a very interesting anecdote about Shastriji's
childhood when he was three months old, he had slipped out of his mother's arms into a cowherder's basket at the ghats of the Ganges. The cowherder, who had no children, took the child as a gift from God and took him home. Lal Bahadur's parents lodged a complaint with the police, who traced the child, and returned him to his parents. He became PM of India on June 9, 1964 after death of  Nehru. Shastri shared very little in common with his predecessor Jawaharlal Nehru. While Shastri preferred peace with Pakistan, writing to a friend after the Indo-Pakistani War in 1965 that the problems between both countries should be settled amicably, he had previously displayed a knack for taking quick and decisive actions during the war. He swiftly took the advice of his commanders, and ordered a strike across the Punjab border. This was in stark contrast to Nehru who in a similar situation in 1962, had refused to call in the air force to relieve the pressure on the ground troops. At the end of the conflict, Shastri flamboyantly posed for a photograph on top of a captured Patton tank. He was one of the most upright prime ministers of modern India. When Shastriji took over as  PM , for the country it was a difficult time and the country was facing huge challenges. There was food shortage in the country and on the security front Pakistan was creating problems. In 1965, Pakistan tried to take advantage of India's vulnerability and attacked India. Mild-mannered Lal Bahadur Shastri rose to the occasion and led the country ably. To enthuse soldiers and farmers he coined the slogan of "Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan". Pakistan lost the war and Shastriji's leadership was praised all over the world. In January 1966, to broker peace between India and Pakistan, Russia mediated a meeting between Lal Bahadur Shastri and Ayub Khan in Tashkent, Russia. India and Pakistan signed the joint declaration under Russian mediation. Under the treaty India agreed to return to Pakistan all the territories occupied by it during the war. The joint declaration was signed on January 10, 1966 and Lal Bahadur Shastri died of heart attack on the same night. Mystery surrounding Shastri's Death Lalita Shastri, persistently alleged that her husband was poisoned. Many believed that Shastri's body's turning blue was evidence of his poisoning. Indeed a Russian butler attending to him was arrested on suspicion of poisoning Shastri, but was later absolved of charges. In 2009, when Anuj Dhar, author of CIA's Eye on South Asia, asked the Prime Minister's Office under an RTI plea (Right to Information Act), that Shastri's cause of death be made public, the PMO refused to oblige, citing that this could lead to harming of foreign relations, cause disruption in the country and cause breach of parliamentary privileges. The PMO did reveal however that it had in its possession one document related to Shastri's death, but refused to declassify it. The government also admitted that no post-mortem examination had been conducted on him in the USSR, but it did have a report of a medical investigation conducted by Shastri's personal physician Dr. R.N. Chugh and some Russian doctors. Furthermore, the PMO revealed that there was no record of any destruction or loss of documents in the PMO having a bearing on Shastri's death. As of July 2009, the home ministry is yet to respond to queries whether India conducted a postmortem and if the government had investigated allegations of foul play. We can at least remember this illustrious son of India on his death anniversary .....

Will UP do a Bihar

UP - Uttar Pradesh enjoys the distinction of providing the most of PMs of independent India, they why is it so that after over 64 years of independence the state has lagged behind in growth despite its illustrious political heritage?
Probably its statements like these :-
If we come to power in UP, we will increase the quota on reservation, what is the issue?: Rashid Alvi, Congress
which have spelled the doom for the largest and most culturally rich state of the country. What they need is resources and opportunities for everyone and what they are being promised is a reservation on a subset of resources which anyways is not sufficient for everyone. So in a way such entities are admitting that they will not be able to provide for everyone hence this divisive and rudimentary tactics . Such archiac ploys should be rejected in 21st century India , after all , everyone needs to survive and the people who intent do run the country should at least be transparent about their intentions and capabilities as administrators. 
Also the CEC silence on the above statement shows how pious our current CEC is? Besides we as masses should keep track of such Civil servants and check that they dont become Union Ministers or are donning other government position after superannuation.
Hence instead of censuring Salman Rushdie , talking of religion based quotas - its would in the interest of Uttar Pradesh to vote on lines of good candidates only in its quest to become - UTTAM PRADESH - the ball is in electorates court and they have to rise above caste, religion , petty politics to ensure goods candidates are returned to the assembly.

Mayawati statues are draped by CEC

Mayawati's statues may be outrageous but CEC decision of draping them in the winters was way too magnan-imous. The very frequency and abundance of her statues tells you that you have entered the most populous state of India ~ Uttar Pradesh.
Still this act of CEC Qureshi makes many raise their eyebrow in suspicion ~ is CEC planning to rename or may be encrypt Indira Vikas Yojana during election times. 
I even tweeted and joked to my friends stating - CEC - Qureshi - is asking people to cover bicycles -better ban bicycles (Samajwadi Party's  election symbol) on roads till elections are over and also asking people of India to wear gloves ~ as hand (Indian National Congress's election symbol) is a party symbol after all ~ seeing your hand can lead to unfair polls ..... 
If Mayawati's statues act as a deterrent to free & fair polls what about Rajeev Chowk, Indira Yojna and other such Yojnas and chowks or what about roads and buildings named after other leaders~ will they be renamed/encrypted during elections? 
I am no big fan of Mayawati ~ but she surely deserves praise for her grit and determination and fearless attitude. She may be unreasonable but I think its her brazenness which makes her survive. Also EC may get her statues covered but make no mistake she will use that too for her advantage to fortify her position ~ by stating that she has been singled out and victimized ..... CEC is anti-dalit she will state.
Frankly speaking I dont like this practice of nomenclature of schemes , roads, buildings , etc.. as a ploy to leave a mark on the electorate's mind. Political parties should use good practices to influence the voters - but our politicians will not learn or they prefer the shortcut (all of them are same )...
As one needs to work hard and honestly to ensure employment for everyone. Our politicians know that the nation needs say 1000 Mangoes for everyone ~ now they know nation has only 100 and procuring 900 more will be difficult and will involve hard work ~ so they go for the next good no easy way out ~ they tell 500 ppl I will reserve 20 for you :) ~ They r smart and we the people are fools ~ We should tell all politicians get 900 more mangoes that should be your goal as if any1 is deprived it would spell unhappiness/ discontent for the country .....


But despite everything CEC Qureshi is not adding any value to this August Chair of CEC which was once occupied by the likes of T N Seshan  , J M Lyndoh - he is even bypassing M S Gill in sycophancy and poo-pooing the INC line .. God give him some sad budhi ...

The murder of a Patriot

Before I plunge into wording my thoughts - here's a link for those who are not aware of who Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee is (Our history text books don't talk about him he is not a Gandhi you see- besides he had the guts to differ with Nehru ) ~  

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syama_Prasad_Mookerjee
• http://shyamaprasad.org/about.htm

One of the major political murders of Indian history happened as early as 1953- it was that of Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, he was administered pencilin injection while he was under arrest despite telling the doctor that he was allergic to it ( he was under arrest in a dilapidated home in Kashmir for provision of special status to Kashmir at that time Indians were required to carry ID cards in J&K he was protesting against that) 
Dr. Mukherjee its said was murdered as he opposed Nehru - Nehru and Abdullah conspired and eliminated him , there was no post mortem done, body was flown to Calcutta and not even brought to Delhi ....


Carrying of ID cards in J&K by Indians outside Kashmir was abolished after his death


My main question- which is an offshoot of the whole controversy surrounding renaming of "Indira bhavan" to "Nazrul Bhavan" ~ why not have Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Bhavan huh why have Indira Bhavan ~ Why Nehru should be thrust upon us as a "Chacha" we all have our own chachas. 
Bhagat Singh , Rajguru, Sukhdev , Subhash Chandra Bose is there dearth of people so why name every second government. building, road or yojana after Gandhis ... Respect has to be earned not thrust upon people of a democracy ~ I hope I am not N Korea, China ... so let me choose my Icons and role models ~ I don't like anyone making the choices for me ....


For that matter congress doesnt even respect its own tall leaders like Shastriji, Vallabh Bhai Patel (Iron man of India) ..... Its a party where nannies and governesses are raised to prominence (read minister-ship ) .... our revered Ambika Soni ji is a classic example.
Remember Shastriji too died in mysterious circumstances ..... I keep questioning such incidents ... he was a very honest and tall leader India ever had .... His slogan "Jai Jawan Jai Kisan".


 How many Indians know these facts , does your history book tell you these things ? It will talk about Bapus and Chachus does it talk about these luminaries .... So are we any better than North Korea where people are shown howling and mourning like mad (its all said to be stage managed the mourning and all) when their President dies ....


The conspiracy of the rulers bothers me - Remember Anna too is in hospital ~ lets  be vigilant ...... lets see to it that no conspiracy fructifies ....
My friends says now-a-days people dont mind licking someone's feet for monetary gains. 
Thats why we the citizens have to be more vigilant in this era of paid news- remember ibnlive.com has been been acquired by Mukesh Ambani and he already has a stake in ndtv.com - with that goes the freedom of the forth pillar of democracy ....


Just the other day "Salman Khurshid" was seen quizzing the so-called difficult anchor Karan Thappar it speaks volumes about the affiliations of that channel, which the owners of the channel are not shy of revealing- is a more alarming situation.


So we the masses have to be vigilant lest we are administered doctored news and need to have a mechanism wherein the generations to come are aware of the actual history of the nation vis-a-vis the freedom fighters and people who have dedicated their lives to the nation.

Politics of Nomenclature

TMC the biggest ally of the ruling coalition has been very demanding and at times has been a tiff annoying. The recent renaming of "Indira Bhavan" in Bengal to "Nazrul Bhavan" might have strained things a bit more between Congress and TMC. What Mamta achieved by renaming "Indra Bhavan" was dismantling the symbol of INC~ Left secret alliance ~ fight at state friends at centre bond. Also Mamta has shown that she is an astute politician in her choice of personality for renaming ~ Kazi Nuzrul Islam ~ greatly revered in Bengal next only to Rabindra Nath Tagore, he was known for his patriotic couplets and poems.
My favorite being :-
Hao dhoromete Bir {Be brave in religion} 
Hao Koromete Bir {Be brave in deeds}
Hao Unnotoshil  Nahi Bhoy {Be progressive dont fear anything}
Tetrish Koti mora nohe kobhu heen {33 crores we are not weak - that was the number of Indians then}
Hote pari din tobu nohe mora hin { we may be poor but never weak}
Jogo Jan Manibe Bisshoi {Whole world's people will be acknowledging that}
Coming back to the current issue - the revised nomenclature has irked Congress workers in the state and they have protested. But my point is very simple from Independence till date INC has rampantly named buildings after the first family even ignoring the other tall leaders of its party like Shartri ji, Vallabh Patel to name a few.
I and many others in the country I presume hold deepest regards for Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Subhas Chandra Bose, Lala Lajpat Rai, Vinobha Bhave ... why doesnt the names of roads and buildings reflect their names more often .....
It may irk congress who thinks its their sole monopoly to name buildings after the Gandhi family but the nation as a whole might not hold the same sentiments. Also when will the congress realize that India is a democracy and you cannot force feed sycophancy down the throat of the citizens of this country. 
This habit of preaching the country men to revere Nehru and Gandhi via the agency of text books and buildings should be discarded once for all and the citizens be allowed to decide whom they want to put on pedestals or would rather have their pedestals empty.
Personally I prefer keeping my pedestal empty as you put people on them and they tend to fall from there .....