BJP wins Karnataka!

BJP has won the Karnataka Assembly elections, winning 110 seats out of the total 224 seats.

Congress, and those despicable local sons of the soil in Janata Dal (Secular) managed only 80 and 28 seats respectively. This will be BJP's first government in the south. People say this is the sign of things to come in the coming union elections. Congress politicians have been vehemently calling this a local issue having no bearing at the central level, but I don't believe a word of that. Congress has lost state elections in most states in the last 4 years, I suppose they are all local elections too, and Congress is probably hoping to ride on its 'successes' of reservations and minority appeasement into its next term at the center.

I am happy to see that the Gowda family has been reduced to nothing. I suppose that's inevitable when you are a two-faced, deceitful politician. I am really hoping the BJB grabs on this opportunity, and does great work in Karnataka, because this will have a good effect on its LS poll chances.

the pressure's been paying off

I am really used to writing about myself on the internet, and personally, it freaks me out, but I think I should probably mention a really grand achievement of my live.

I have made it to IIM Calcutta.

I started last year without an aim and without a plan. Well, a plan to stay in India that is. Thanks to a lot of factors, I worked towards this competition in earnest, and thanks to the Almightly, its paid off. I always considered myself the dark horse - an NRI for the past six years, not an engineering degree, and without any science education in the last eight years. But hey, I proposed, and God disposed. I can't even imagine the number of absolutely smart kids I must have left behind. They were better than me in maths, maybe DI, and probably had a lot more practice, but I got through. But enough with beating this subject to death. Perhaps this blog is again speed up once I report to the Joka campus.

By the way, this journey hasn't been without its hiccups. Arjun "sycophant" Singh implemented the OBC quota, obviously on instructions from his gutless and divisive party, so that delayed the results by around three weeks. I had fears in my mind whether they will cut general seats to accommodate the new applicants, but fortunately that wasn't the case.

I can't bitch enough about the entire quota system in education. Only recently did I hear of the government's efforts to increase educational funding and other grants. This is the only way to go in our education system. We need to design it that it is equal for everyone, and everybody has an equal opportunity to get in.

The problem lies in the economically weaker sections. But the government isn't thinking about the economically weaker, it is thinking about the apparently 'backward' castes that it aims to exploit for their votes. This has been the quota trend for all our independence. What the government needs to do is ensure that the economically weaker students have enough money to fund their preparations, and if they make it, fund their tuitions.

The problem with our skewed and absolutely messed up economy is that even when they try to target the weaker sections, the only group of people who usually benefit are the stronger among the crowd. For example, because of a lack of accountability and unreliable tax set-up, the rich pose as poor to avail government benefits. Similarly, most perks for the "backward" castes are lapped up by the rich and politically strong amongst them.

I doubt our politicians will ever get rid of the quota systems in our every part of the state as the constitution envisions, and this situation will only get worse, and probably force a lot of good brains to flee. I am sure Dr. Ambedkar is turning in his grave seeing how his great name is being exploited by today's politicians for their own gains.

Urja Pradesh?

I would tell people that if you have lived on the hills, you probably can't live in the plains. All my trips to the Delhi region have been filled with my disdain for the region and the lifestyle. I tell them that in Uttarakhand, at least we get water and electricity, and the people aren't that bad, but I am proven wrong soon after.

There were huge posters in newspapers a few days ago about the commissioning of the Maneri Bhali hydroelectric project in Uttarakhand, and they said it would go a long way in help the state meet its electricity needs. But I get back from Delhi and see that we are facing power cuts too. Makes me feel kind of stupid now considering I told people there that we are the Urja Pradesh, and we hardly have any power cuts at all, amounting to less than an hour a day. But the lights have been going out in my house a lot more, and I ain't happy about it.

President Kalam said in his book, India 2020, that India needs to cut down the T&D losses in a big way if we have to be energy efficient in the future. Unfortunately, none of the policy makers have focused in this direction at all. I believe some areas lose almost 40 to 50 percent of the power before it reaches the consumer from the power station. That is a criminal waste of electricity and our resources. The Con'gress party has been peddling the Ultra Mega Power Projects for a while, which will cost thousands of crores of rupees, but if we focused on improving our transmission and distribution infrastructure, I am sure we could save as much electricity at much less the cost. Unfortunately, no policy maker is thinking this way, and I just don't understand how the planners of this country, if they are planning at all, can't fathom the fact that India can't move forward if we don't focus on our basic infrastructure, most notable being power and water.

For Freedom

Here's hoping the Congress Government will stop bending over backwards to the Chinese. The Left owes its allegiance to the "Peoples" Party, but its sad to see the Con'gress do so too, just to stay in power. The Commies banned Tibetan protests in West Bengal, and I hope the rest of the country noticed. What most of the country didn't notice is that the Congress Government in Arunachal Pradesh also banned Tibetan protests. These obedient dogs have been patted by their masters in Beijing.

Come elections, and I hope the Commies are wiped out from the Parliament. I don't know if I should wish the same for the Con'gress, but my faith in regional parties is even lesser. God forbid that national policies be made by people like Mayawati and Karunanidhi!

Instant cricket

In this day and age of instant cricket, the BCCI has cut absolutely no corners in making the IPL as big a marketing event as this country as ever seen. There are cheerleaders imported from the NFL teams in the United States, and now there is talk of making betting legal for the IPL. All the concepts have been picked up from the western leagues, like fantasy cricket, ownership by corporations and individuals, and huge salaries for superstars.

Initially when the IPL was first mooted by the BCCI, I hated its formation, mainly because I hate the BCCI. When it comes to corruption and incompetence in sports, the BCCI tops the list. Now one might say that how can that be, when the Indian cricket team is one of the best cricket teams in the world. Sure, but imagine the BCCI as a pimp who has a goose that lays the golden eggs. I call them pimps because they feed off the money they generate when India plays, and the domestic structure gets no attention even though it has been rotting away for decades.

Now with this purely commercial venture, the BCCI hopes to make even more money, and some say they will use it to strengthen domestic cricket. I just don’t understand the entire system. Why strengthen the Ranji and other tournaments when nobody goes to watch them? What good does that do. Where are their marketing plans to get more people to watch Ranji games, and other domestic one-day tournaments? What happens to the hundreds of players who play their hearts out for a pittance?

Before anything, the IPL is definitely a knee jerk reaction to the ICL. The ICL was a new venture, and the BCCI, just like a rich, crass person with a gargantuan ego, reacts by trying to show everyone that they can do it on a much grander scale. So bring out the pom-poms and the film stars and strut your national players where ever they will be eagerly lapped up by the doe-eyed media.

I watched the ICL, and this year, I thought it was organized very well. Most of the games were good quality, and the finals, between Lahore and Hyderabad, were just outstanding. Very well done, and the stadium in Hyderabad was packed as if the Indian national team was playing. What made me feel happiest was all these young Indian cricketers playing such good cricket, and getting so much recognition and attention and above all, good money.

The IPL, like the rich, crass person, went out to the market and auctioned all the Indian national team and international players to the teams, got all the corporates to pay for them, and are sitting smug in their chairs, counting their money. But it remains to be seen how quickly they can come up with the money to pay for everything.

I suppose I am an idealist, and I always like the underdog, but I am in no way the hypocritical fan who says cricket is his religion, but forgets to mention that its only when the Indian national team plays. In this day of media packaging, BCCI has left domestic cricket to die, and with the IPL, one can probably forget about any attention to our premier tournaments, like the Ranji Trophy, which has been around since before independence!

Yesterday was Sachin Tendulkar’s birthday, and while his birthday should be a cause for celebration for the entire country, apparently it’s only the duty of his IPL team, the Mumbai Indians, to celebrate his birthday. No, his birthday should have been celebrated by the Indian cricket team, not the team which BCCI made for him.

Ah, and finally, they are called the Mumbai Indians, and ironically, one asswipe posing as a Maratha leader is trying to portray exactly the opposite, that Mumbai is not for other Indians. I am surprised the Thackrey family didn’t create a ruckus and hurt people to demand that Mumbai team only consist of sons of the Maratha soil.