Sach is life

A master blaster for ages, he is now being blasted for 'metamorphosing' into a miser run scorer. Yes, I am talking about the greatness of Sachin Tendulkar, who despite this rough patch in his long career, continues to overshadow minion critics.
Sachin's case highlights the often-stated fact that public memory lasts as long as you are performing. It's like the present-day corporate philosophy of being judged by your yesterday's performance, your years of toil notwithstanding. Now, a political twist here. Left, the great guardians of the Indian middle and worker class, should find Sachin's fall from greatness in the last year or so to be his victimisation since he is being benchmarked by corporate standards of 'present-day performance'. Shouldn't Sachin be equated with a PSU_the undeniable forte of the Left_since performance and productivity don't look good in the company of these white elephants? But, not a single Left leader has seen Red in the Sachin controversy? Even if one agrees that Sachin has become an NPA, the Left should make it a point to persist with him till he collapses completely! Instead, they have been hurt by Dada being asked to sit out. No voices for Sachin though, who has become Team India proverbial NPA. The little master should restire with grace by not trying to score good Marx anymore.

Development of castes

The wheels of development have started moving, an acquaintance of mine told me after he returned from his Bihar sojourn. The Bhumihars have regained their supremacy after 15 years of utter neglect, he tells me proudly. He also talks about the newly-coined political superlative: Kurmi ka taaj, Bhumiharo ka raj.
He talks with pride and vengeance about the return of the rule of law in the state but not without giving it a caste colour. "The gun-and-lathi-weilding Yadavs are scurrying for cover... the top positions in the police force are occupied by the forwards... all the tenders are going to the upper castes... it's their moment to brandish the state power..."
If you are thinking that this narrator is deeply rooted in state politics and was at the receiving end of Lalu-Rabri 15-year misrule, you are mistaken. He is a bright student from Bihar studying in a professional college in the country's commercial capital. But, his update on the caste politics intermingling with goveranance might actually confuse you. He narrated all the rosy details about the changing power equations with the forwards at the helm of affairs.
I was thrilled at the prospect of my state hitting the road to development but at the same time I wondered whether the wheel has moved at all? Instead the viscious cycle of caste supremacy has turned once again after 15 years. I realised that it's only the development and prosperity of castes, which were neglected during the 15 years of social justice rule, that he unconsciosly talked about...
The wheels of development are not moving... it's the other wheel of caste that has come a full circle in the last 100 days of Nitish rule... Development will again become caste-centric... Bhumihars and Kurmis will certainly see their development... But, the development of state... let time decide and the voters....

Once was Bombay

My westward movement in journalism has brought me to Mumbai, the city of dreams and opportunities that travel on packed local trains. From the upmarket Churchgate to the suburbs of Goregaon and Malad, thousands dreams take birth and die simultaneously. Though I never came to this glitzy city with a dream, I am forgetting to dream in this claustrophobic Mumbai. People everywhere. Superficiality abounds. The squalor of slums being hidden by the gloss of high rises. Race to beat time in a frame that never stops. Housing prices defying the definitions of humungous fraud. The changing colours of politics. All voices and projects drowning in the post flood clamour. The alert citizen who is politicaly not conscious, the Mumbai marathon, the Wankhede, the media boom, the Kalaghoda, Nariman Point, a dirty chowpatti, the numerous discotheques, bars and pubs, the Gateway, the bollywood, the Arabian Sea, Gods and Shivaji in the numerous temples, the Maratha chauvinism, the culture police, the outsider feel, bad roads, unrelenting rains, and above all the soft underbelly of Indian globalisation... that's Mumbai, which once was Bombay, for me.... I had grown up seeing Bombay in Bollywood movies... from underworld to the endless romantic scenes, I had conceived Bombay in the imagination of Bollywood... But when I confront the Maximum city in all its gory realities, I am shell-shocked. It's not Bombay, it's Mumbai... the great Maratha shift... the greatest sex change in the history... from Victora Terminus to Chhtrapati Shivaji Terminus, Bombay of my imagination has braved it all.... from a liberal city to a city held prisoner to taboo mindsets... that's Bombay for me...

will resume later....