Mahi to Monster... Monster to Mahan cricketer???

Life has come to a full circle for Mahendra… I mean Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Indian cricket captain. Even since his dramatic debut to Indian team he has only seen things going from good to better. And like most of the mortal beings, success has made him wary of loosing it. He lost touch with his fearless mind. Flawless instinctive decisions gave way to overcautious mistakes. “Captain Cool Dude” became rude hot headed arrogant. Like the eternal story of Bengali crabs, Indian media tried to pull him down. And once, he was disarmed by the pathetic losses, knives came out. He had experimented with Yoginder sharma during last world cup. It paid off and he became Captain courageous. Suresh Raina did magic with balls during the death in IPL T20, Dhoni became master strategist. But the moment gambles started going the other way, his historical win at New Zeeland, just the other day were forgotten like a bad dream. Media pained a “monster” out of “Mahi”.
Now, would be the real test for him. It would be interesting to see how he comes out of this mess. He had opened too many front, had taken fight against too many… selectors, celebrities, team mates, media, ex cricketers… His personal form is down in dumps… his confidence is shaken. It is very easy to slide to obliteration, get caught into this web of failure or run towards resigning to fate. However, if he has the essence of true greatness, he would fight back. We have seen similar turn around from Saurav Ganguli in the past and I am quite sure Dhoni is also capable of one.

Few hours before India got out of world T20, during the national anthem- the camera had focused on Dhoni, there were a sense of pride in his posture and a drop of tear at the corner of his eye. That gave me a feeling- Dhoni is not going to take it lying low. He would again stand up from the ashes like a phoenix… We would be waiting for that moment Mahi…

Saas bahu Aur Saazish…

And you thought it happens only in Saas Bahu serials…

Yes I am talking about the latest S***M*** drama. I had never heard of her before she was arrested. Initially I thought this as another page 3 masala. However since every press report hinted about “family conspiracy”, thought of doing a small internet search on what is this drama all about… and OMG… this is even more chatpata than any serial running on TV. Here goes the story….


A***a, heir of then famous M*** group was engaged with P***B***. Now- who is P***? She is the elder daughter of a very influential (and rich) Pali hill resident. All were going well till they came to know that P***’s sister is having an affair with A***a. Yes, this younger B***t girl is S***l. Her family quickly disowned her so did A***a’s family. A***a got married to some one else but only to get divorced after a while. Soon after that ; A***a got married. S***l was never welcome in the M***l family, she was too modern and used to eat non-veg . However, she managed to do things her way and A***a preferred to follow his wife than his other family members.

After senior M***l died, A***a got all his properties. However, his mother made a police complain stating that A***a and S***l are ill treating her and are trying to capture houses illegally. To make matter more complicated, A***s’s elder sister did a sex change and claimed that since she/ he is the eldest son, property should be assigned to her/ him. A***a however, won the battle in court. Meanwhile S***l became head of M***l L***y and tied up with V***e for their franchise in India. She also had became quite famous page 3 celebrity. Meanwhile M***l textile business sank and factories got shut. Workers claim that they have not yet got the compensation promised to them.

Next we hear about M***s when A***a complained to police about theft of family jewellery worth crores. However his mother informed that the jewellery was with her and she would hand them over to A***a and s***l. Well after all these, I didn’t feel remotely surprised to hear the speculation that M***l family members only tipped off Customs about the jewellery S***l was carrying.

Now what happed to P***m? While S***l was busy in trying out latest fashion, throwing parties and fighting domestic battle with in-laws, P***m got married to one Mr. S***f after a relationship of four years.

He incidentally had two children aged 9 & 11 at the time of marrying P***m. Yes the children were from his first marriage. The marriage which ended in a divorce before his tying knot with P***m…. Huff… confused!!!! and you thought such complications only happen in TV soaps????

(Source of all information in this article is internet news articles and blogs… author is not responsible if any of the information is not authentic)

Change & Suicidal Bengali

I checked with dad, “How many seats do you think Mamata would get this time around?”

“They are saying it would be 50-50 this time. 21 seats each for CPM & Mamata”

Indrajit, a CPM sympathiser, said- Max to max 16 for TMC + Congress. While Drupad, a Mamata & kabir Suman die hard fan did not comment- but kept pleading in Orkut for voting for them…

At the end, the bell for the end of CPM has ringed. They are confined only to 9 seats (15 including CPI, FB & RSP). With assembly elections just two years away, knowing the Bengali Sentiment, End of CPM is all but certain. Only one person can save them and that is Mamata, by doing another self injuring blunder.

But how does it stack up for Bengal as a whole? Not good at all according to me.
Firstly- CMP in order to win back people, would not push Industrialization at all for next two years. Secondly- TMC, if voted to power, would not talk about it since this very anti-industry stance would see them home.
Lastly- With all other states pushing rapid industrialization, we would have no takers after 6-7 years. (I am sure Bihar would get the special status soon and most probably start attracting more industries than any other state in eastern India).

I am convinced that Industrialization is the only answer Bengal has to all the problems of unemployment, development and work culture. I have pointed this out in all my previous posts on similar subject. With Industry shying away, we would miss the tide Buddhadev tried to bring in and mess with the state.

But why committing this hara-kiri? The answer lies in N C Chaudhuri’s comment- Bengalis are suicidal. We love to live in the past, want to relish the glory of yester years while keeping a blind eye to the present realities. For long, we have been romanticizing - how others are envy of us and how they want to pull us down. We want to continue that. Even slightest hint of a temporary hardship for a better future, makes us nervous. We don’t mind turning into group of self destructing souls.

The main slogan for TMC in this election was for Change…

Ironically results show what we have pushed away is exactly that… CHANGE… The inner change.

Form Many to one

When I switched on the TV it was almost 6-30… About 11 am in India. The first words I hear was, “This is a setback for BJP & NDA”… I knew the significance of those words among the speculation of a hung parliament… For the rest of the day, the same message was replayed and retold by several personalities and several different ways… Yes, verdict on the general election 2009 was out. People had (almost) decisively accepted Congress and UPA as the choice for running the country for next five years.

When I look at the result, more than the loss of BJP & CPM, what strikes me is the annihilation or diminishing importance of the fringe players. SP, BSP, RLD, INLD, RJD, LP, TDP, NCP all had suffered embarrassment to the core. Ram Vilas Paswan, who once had a record for the winning margin, was grasping for words while commenting on his loss. Lalu Prasad was never seen during the day to comment on his party’s shameful performance. He is the lone MP and that too after loosing from one constituency.

Now that is a story to follow. Are the days of fragmentation getting over? Are the nuisance makers on their way out? Would this lead to a consolidation among politicians along well defined ideological line? Too early to speculate on that. However, emergence of Congress as a power in UP & Bengal (I consider TMC as a congress only- as all the leaders are old congressmen) & partial polarization of votes across two major axis is a good sign now doubt.

One more observation. Arun Jetly and Prakash Karat, while accepting defeat, were graceful in their speeches. Mayawati & Jayalalitha were not. These ladies had the blame every one but themselves. There were no congratulatory words towards the winning combination, no mention of self introspection. A sigh of relief … these nuisance would be out of business… at least for a while… “Jai Ho” to a stable central government.

PS- News channels in UK (BBC & Sky) treated election in India as low priority news. It came much later news on a local politician being caught for a misappropriation of a few thousand pounds got more importance. BBC’s 96 second coverage made sure that a fat ugly looking congress supporter, making funny moves gets to British households… So predictable from BBC…