This is not a status message. First things first. My kind readers are requested not to view this post’s title as symptomatic of a fetish for scandalous titles driven by a desire for unprecedented readership. It is not even that, for lack of anything better to do, I have taken up gratuitous advertising for social networking sites that use loud and clear status messages. For abundant caution and to dispell all doubts, let me clarify that my shocking discovery - that while my post on life was read by less than 10 readers the one on suicide achieved the readership of over 90 – is not behind the choice of title for this post. As far as speculation about my complimentary work for any website is concerned, let me remind you that if given an opportunity a lawyer would not shy from charging for being born. I believe we have devoted adequate amount of space and time to the title. No more.

The title can stand on its legs now, but will not make any sense to our generation. It is ludicrous to see how much more we have started using the word “commitment” and how much less it makes sense to us. We cannot keep our commitments to jobs, friends, partners, clients, seniors, and the world around us. Pople who do persist in honoring their word tend to lag behind the rest. The moment I left my old job, I was offered a position by my previous employer in his office. I could not accept his attractive offer as I was looking for a different role and could not join him only till I got a job of my choice. However, I was shocked to hear my friends call me “mad” and “impractical”. They wanted me to draw inspiration from people who resign without giving a day’s notice. Apparently, there is nothing that goes by the name of commitment these days. FYI…I have not been able to find the job of my choice in over three months…and I have not been able to join my previous employer either!

That nobody sells this commodity called commitment is best displayed by the oft-hailed fraternity of builders. I still remember preparing the most detailed and elaborate construction contract of my life in the hope that the esteemed builder would religiously comply with the clauses that had dervied their strength from his verbal promises. Mr. Builder actually put Santa Claus to shame when he sent chauffeur driven luxury cars to his potential client’s doortstep for facilitating a thorough inspection of buildings made by him before the contract was signed. I hear that impressed with the end and means of the inspection, the deal was finalized by the client and the builder developed an overnight dislike for Santa’s robe. All his chauffeurs and cars were put on the busy mode and in the changed circumstance the 72 years old client had to send paid cabs to drag the builder to inspect his site. The builder drank the water of Lethe (the river of forgetfulness), watched Ghazini and could not remember any of the commitments he had made. All the commitments had been buried with the contract.

Do not be disheartened though. There is something very nice about evaporation of commitment. It is uniform across all the sections of our society and no disparity has been observed yet. Our dear cha wala at Delhi’s India Gate can be invited to deliver eloquent lectures to our students of marketing. This sweet chai wala could so not contain his sweetness that he sold a sugar mill within a cup of tea to my diabetic friend inspite of a clear agreement between the two for the supply of one sugar free cup of tea. By the time my cheated friend realized what had happened, our chai wala was practicing his marketing skills elsewhere.

These are just a few examples in a world where the ruling party is more committed to ruling than to the nation, cricketers are more committed to modelling than to the game, and the police are more committed to harassing the public to protect corrupt politicians. In such circumstances, if you were to question me about the deteriorating quality of my posts or about the arrival of next post, I would say…There never was any commitment!

Commissions and their reports have never held any interest for the common man in India. It is an accepted fact that all such reports are always way beyond late, rarely nail the actual wrongdoers and can never force the hand of the government to take action.

Therefore, more intriguing and interesting than the findings and recommendations of the Liberhan report is its ‘leakage’ and the timing of its leak.

As suggested by media reports, the leakage serves to shatter the recent opposition unity as displayed in the sugarcane prices issue. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Liberhan-report-leak-source-still-a-mystery/articleshow/5265606.cms

If we conduct a close examination of the timing of this leakage and the consequent infighting and name calling amongst the political parties, there are some major gains from this discord for the perpetrator of this leak.

The first and the most important gain is that this infighting will ensure that the government will face a lesser degree of heat as the nation faces the first anniversary of Mumbai terror attacks – a sore point in the Indian hearts.

Two, it diverts attention from a close scrutiny of PM’s US visit.

Three, it will also ensure that the ruling party is not pulled up on important issues like inflation, high price rise in essential items and the recessionary state of the economy in the ongoing session of the parliament.

Four, the dramatisation of the leak and the subsequent reactions have once again brought the Hindu-Muslim factor to the forefront. Politicos stand to gain only if the communities remain divided in India.

And of course the most obvious of the lot is to further weaken an already battered major opposition party. 

The drama here lies not in the content of the report but in the timing of the ‘leak’. It makes for a good example of the opportunistic nature of politics. The game of politics has been played extremely adroitly!

Since fleeing Thailand last year, the self-exiled, billionaire ex-premier has zig-zagged the globe while stirring anti-establishment supporters from afar.

He has incessantly needled the ruling party through in-country proxies, sarcastic Tweet messages and Skype video calls, broadcast at political pep rallies that sometimes turn violent.

Source:
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/thailand/091028/thaksin-protest-bangkok-shiniwatra-skype

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“At the moment what stands between the English and either left or right authoritarianism is tradition, an independent judiciary, and the goodwill of the ruling party. We are effectively Weimar, with all the legal framework any future government will need to turn us at will either into Nazi Germany or the GDR.

We just have to hope that the wrong people don’t get elected. If they do, its all over.” – Budenny

Full thread at /.

South Africans vote in Jobert Park, Johannesburg, on Election Day

It’s been a while since I last posted. I took some much-needed rest over this past three-day weekend after pulling double-digit-hour days covering the election. And, oh, it was quite an election to cover. Although we all knew the ANC would win, we weren’t quite sure how comfortably the ruling party would remain in power. The Western Cape was definitely the biggest battleground province, with the KZN and the Eastern Cape regions close behind. With the new breakaway party COPE in the mix among the 20 some odd opposition parties, this election had all the ingredients for a fascinating political study.

My prediction, as tweeted on my Twitter feed, was that ANC would win (duh), but wouldn’t get the two-thirds majority necessary to be able to change South Africa’s constitution with ease. At points during the initial days after the election when the results were still being tallied, it seemed possible the ANC would secure this power. However, it was wrested from them by a mere 0.7 percentage point. I could only imagine how tense the ANC and opposition parties DA and COPE must have been watching the votes coming in through the Independent Electoral Commission’s Results Operation Centre in Pretoria. At a presser after the results were finalized on Saturday, Jacob Zuma said he wasn’t disappointed with the results, saying that he still “smelled” getting his predicted 70 percent of the total vote. It would’ve been worse for Julius Malema, the ANC Youth League leader if he had to speak at that presser as well. Malema declared infamously days before the election that his party would get a three-thirds majority. Yes, there are public officials here who utter Bushisms.

IEC's Results Centre in Pretoria

I had also predicted that the DA would win the Western Cape, which it did convincingly enough that they will be able to govern that one-ninth of South Africa without the help of any other opposition party. It’s a massive undertaking. While Helen Zille was able to make some substantial changes in Cape Town, expanding that success to the entire province will be a difficult task. Unlike the ANC, which can hide behind the mantra that it’s the liberation party, the DA will really have to prove itself in the next four years for it to be a viable opposition party on the national scene by the 2014 election. I don’t see Zille sleeping much until then, but then again, I never did see her sleep. She was seriously like an Energizer bunny hopping around the ROC even after months of tireless campaigning.

My other prediction was that COPE would disappoint. I never expected that a political party formed only months prior to the election would get a surprising 7 percent of the vote and become the official opposition party to the ANC in four of the nine provinces. With a bare-bones political organization and mobilization strategy, it seemed too difficult for COPE to do that well, especially when many of its members were defectors from the ruling party (problematic since they claimed they’re not the ANC). Something like this could really only happen in a country where floor-crossing was de rigeur until recently and where political parties aren’t absolutely entrenched in society like in the States. 

The biggest story post-election is what the other smaller opposition parties are planning to do now. Many of them were decimated in the election, all but one losing members. One clear example of this occurred in the traditional IFP party “stronghold” in the KZN region, where Zuma’s Zulu background helped the ANC to an extent. I’m certain these smaller parties will have to form coalitions with each other or become absorbed into the larger parties. Political parties are cementing themselves into South African society, and its people are becoming less likely to “throw away” their votes to opposition parties of the past that have tried and failed in the face of the ANC.

All in all, it was quite an experience to cover these elections. On April 22, South Africa held its fourth democratic election that once again consolidated democracy where it didn’t exist a mere 15 years ago. But more than that, it was an election that made me realize the allure of elections as a journalist. As a colleague put it to me, it represents the one day every five years where the people have all the power. Despite all the problems, all the corruption, all the politicking that contributes to the overwhelming feeling of powerlessness that the marginalized feel in South Africa, they have their ballot and their say on this one day. It’s a shame there aren’t more election days. 

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TRS Cries Foul, Complains To Election Commission

Balkonda (Nizamabad):

For a leader seeking votes for his party in lieu of promises to look after their welfare in the next five years, it is a good example of callousness and lack of sensitivity. This besides being a violation of the model code of conduct for elections.

On Wednesday, chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy seeking votes addressed a public meeting at a ground adjoining the government school at Balkonda in Nizamabad district even as the class X board examinations were being held in the school.

The chief minister entered the ground next to the Zilla Parishad High School premises at 11.35 am — 25 minutes before completion of the physics paper and addressed the meeting for more than half an hour.

Students complained about the cacophony outside their classrooms when they were writing the exam. A student, B Raju, told  “The peace required when writing an exam was disturbed by the election meeting and greatly affected us.” “The noise and the leaders’ speeches were reverberating in the exam hall and badly affected our concentration. Who is going to make up for all the damage to us,” another student, Nagendar, complained.

It is learnt that the local Congress leaders had sought the school management’s permission to use the open playground after completion of the exam at 12 noon, but Rajasekhara Reddy arrived ahead of the schedule.

Since Rajasekhara Reddy came in ahead of time, he went ahead and addressed the meeting. We are not sure whether he knew an exam was going on close by,” a party insider said.

As per the election code, no public meetings can be held within a hundred metre radius of a school campus, if classes are on or an examination is being held. A local police official batting for the ruling party told  “We had barricaded the area, but a large crowd gathered and occupied the ground very close to the school compound. Why blame the chief minister?”

But miffed by the development, TRS and other political parties have lodged a complaint with the Election Commission charging the chief minister with violating the model code. Election observer Meera Srivastava, who interacted with the school authorities, said that a suitable action can be taken after conducting a comprehensive enquiry.

In a related development, Telugu Desam leaders also complained to the Election Commission that the chief minister had violated the model code by using the Armoor court premises to park vehicles while addressing a public meeting in the same district.

]]> http://leowbh.wordpress.com/2009/02/19/anwar-promises-proof-of-bn-blackmail/ Thu, 19 Feb 2009 01:55:05 +0000 leowbh http://leowbh.wordpress.com/2009/02/19/anwar-promises-proof-of-bn-blackmail/

Anwar Ibrahim

Let’s empty the closet, people need to know the “tricks” politicians use to discredit or “eliminate” others. Abang Anwar, expose them and describe the details in full. 

Malaysian Insider KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 18 — Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim says he will expose how threats and inducements are used against Pakatan Rakyat state assemblymen and members of parliament in his speech in parliament tomorrow.

“I am going to show proof of blackmail in my parliament speech tomorrow,”

Pakatan Rakyat leaders have been under ferocious pressure with talk of defections rife ever since three Perak state representatives switched their support from the fledging coalition earlier this month giving BN a lead in the state assembly and causing the ouster of Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaludin.

It is speculated that the proof that Anwar plans to present tomorrow will be related to the resignation of PKR’s Bukit Selambau state assemblyman V Arumugam on February 8. The resignation was allegedly due to pressure exerted by BN on Arumugam to defect.

Most recently, naked photographs of PKR’s Bukit Lanjan state representative Elizabeth Wong have been leaked to the media and Pakatan Rakyat has been quick to label the photos as BN’s attempt at gutter politics aimed at discrediting the Selangor state government with which Wong was a state executive councillor.

The day has come, in another 2 months time we will be beckoned to bestow our votes to the party, which will be given the mandate to rule us. Its high time you recognise the merit of those who you will vote to power. Its pretty vivid to all of us that neither of the national party is any good to serve the country nor the third front which is just a negligible alliance. But we have to select the best of the lots. The ruling party has played a great role in creating havoc all across the country. It has the dubious record of being in office in the country when 12 major terror attacks happened in a calendar year, with the biggest one ever to send shivers to all the citizen happened in mumbai, worst is the fact that nobody has been convicted yet. They claim to be the guardian of secularism in the country. Just check the allied parties of the ruling coalition, you witness a religious party in their fold, so the claim of secularism is just a tactic played to woo vote banks and to fool the citizens of our country (the same goes with a regional ruling party in the south, which claims secular but has a religious party as their ally)You should give it to them!!! for their commendable strategy in embracing the media to mesmerize the electorate and show the opposition as the grotesque alliance and how well the media barons toe the line is quite a sight!!! The latest quagmire is that it has arm-twisted the CBI on a case against its ally. Clearly the country is heading towards disintegration. Now, lets look at the other party, which is rightly grieved due to the malice of the other national party. But still it has ride high on the way it has ruled a few state with grit and confidence. They have been pinned for any small incident, which had been blown out of proportion by the media, on the behest of the ruling party. Hope sanity prevail during the election. Chose the opposition as your government, We can….make the change for good.

Thursday, Dec. 18, 2008 – South Korean opposition Democratic Party member uses a sledgehammer and a firehose to tear down the door of a parliamentary committee room barricaded by ruling party legislators in Seoul. In response, the ruling Grand National Party members spray fire extinguishers from the room, to block them at the National Assembly in Seoul. South Korean MPs barricaded themselves into a parliamentary committee room Thursday after opponents smashed down the door, as tempers flared over a bid to ratify a US free trade pact. Opposition parties tried to block a ruling party move to introduce a bill behind closed doors to approve a free trade pact with the United States.

-Courtesy of Associated Press

Have you tried kicking yourself in the behind?? Try it!

‘Humma humma kar bhaiyya…’

Why do ppl do such things to themselves? I mean, if ur slitting ur wrists or overdosing on sleeping pills, i get that u had a difficult childhood! But what could possibly make anyone sing a song like that? Im sure nobody PAID them for it!

So have u realized that human physiology does not allow for a self-butt-kick? If it allows YOU to do so my friend, i suggest u take the next flight to China and compete in the olympics(do make sure u take some tiger balm with you, for potential sports injuries)…

The new government is showing great interest in attempting to revive our economy. Government officials have reported in a press conference that ever since they have come into power, Pakistan has become the largest producer of Pakistanis! The next step towards progress is to impeach the president so Mr. 10% can take over ! His supporters say hes a changed man now. I bet that means we should rename him to Mr. 20% then, no?

Anyways, those of who arent going to China can indulge in a metaphorical self-butt-kick. Next time you go to work, simply do as follows:

• LEAVE YOUR KEYS INSIDE YOUR CAR!

Itll work like a charm, i guarantee it! Your suffering will follow a simple four step process:

1. You will need to find someone to jack your car for you.
2. You need to open the lock asap so you can find out that your battery was on and it is now out of power. Find yourself a battery wala asap!
3. It is vital that you have a battery wala so he can inform you that your car has also run outta fuel!
4. You now need to push your car to the nearest gas station to get CNG so the battery wala can start up your car for you!

To ensure maximum effectiveness, conduct the above mentioned activity under the observation of the scorching summer sun…

Like the terminator and unlike Mushi bhai, ill be back(unless the taliban invade)!

You must check out the video, its a metal cover!

SILIGURI, May 4: Several cultural organisations organised a rally in Siliguri today condemning the assault on a particular ethnic community by some political activists on 2 May. The rally also slammed the district administration for being dictated by the ruling party. A number of academicians hailing from the north Bengal participated in the rally that terminated at the Siliguri court premises after marching through various lanes in the town.

Mr Bani Prasanna Mishra, a retired director, Centre for Himalayan Studies, North Bengal University, said that a solution to the vexed Darjeeling Hill crisis would continue to elude so long as the administration remained partisan in dealing with a democratic movement. “A political problem must be solved by political means principally through dialogue based on restraint and understanding. Hooliganism has no role in a democratic system of polity,” Mr Misra said. Prof Ajit Roy of North Bengal University also castigated the administration for having remained mute spectators while some political activists had gone berserk in tyrannising over innocent people belonging to a particular ethnic community on 2 May.

Mr Mishra alleged that the ruling party with the connivance of a pliant administration was actively instigating communal discord. “The approach as clearly manifested on 2 May would further dim the prospect of an amicable solution to the Hill problem. Innocent families belonging to a particular community were subjected to humiliation by a group of goons owing allegiance to a political party. This is unacceptable to the peace loving people of the region,” the noted academician affirmed. [The Statesman]