This Onam, its Mahabali v/s Vamana again

Onam is essentially a harvest festival of Kerala, a feature in all agrarian societies. It also has a cultural/religious/historical perspective, being considered the day when the ancient king Mahabali comes on annual visit to his former kingdom to visit his subjects (or descendants). Now, Mahabali was an Asura king who was much beloved by his subjects. This was not palatable to the Suras (or devas/devatas) & they hatched a clever plan to show him is proper place. Now, I won’t be getting into the story of what all happened (you can read more about it at: http://www.onamfestival.org/king-mahabali-onam.html) & get to the end. Vishnu (in an avatar as Vamana), defeated Mahabali & dispatched him to Patala. Of course, the devatas were gracious enough in victory to grant Mahabali the concession of visiting his land once a year.

People of Kerala celebrate this annual homecoming of Mahabali as Onam. This also gives them a reason to celebrate this harvest festival in good times & bad. Of course, today it doesn’t really matter whether the harvest has been good or bad as Kerala economy now lives on petrodollars. In all their goodness, RSS has now decided to give Kerala another reason to celebrate Onam. They have introduced Vamana Jayanti into the Kerala cultural calendar so that the it has another reason to celebrate.

Now, like the political opponents of Kerala I am tempted to look for the ulterior motives behind this move. Which is not really a difficult task. One, as an organisation that has essentially a divisive way of looking at a society RSS/BJP will not take kindly to a mythical character who treated all his subjects as one. Two, as an organisation that basically follows the north Indian cultural traits, it will not be very pleased with an Asura king being worshipped. Three, as a festival that is celebrated by all irrespective of religion, Onam does not support the kind of politics that necessitates dehomogenising the society. And so on… But, I am least perturbed by what a political group does because the rest do the same too.

I am more perplexed by the fact that RSS/BJP are pitching Vamana Jayanti directly against Onam. Now, Onam being the day when Mahabali comes for his annual visit, is the day when Vamana (or Vishnu) would have been back in Swarga. So how can this be considered as Vamana Jayanti? Unless Mahabali returns on the same day that he was defeated & banished from his kingdom. Being not at all knowledgeable in this area, I have absolutely no clue on this.

I think Vamana Jayanti should be celebrated on the day Vamana defeated Mahabali. Also, the fact that Vishnu took on the avatar of Vamana solely to defeat Mahabali, this should also be the birth anniversary of Vamana. But one of the legends has it that the day Vamana defeated Mahabali is the day celebrated as Diwali. Now, the major reason for Diwali being a major festival is that Rama, along with his wife & brother, returned to his kingdom after 14 years. So, celebrating Diwali as Vamana Jayanti would belittle the stature of Rama in the pantheon of gods. So, what if both were avataras of Vishnu? He is the guiding light of an entire political movement.

I think RSS/BJP have decided to celebrate Onam as Vamana Jayanti only to avoid a conflict between these two avataras of Vishnu. If it clashes with celebration of Mahabali’s return, so be it. Vamana defeated Mahabali once & can do so again too. At least, there will be no Vishnu v/s. Vishnu in Prithvi Lok!!

Pic courtesy: http://www.kochiservnet.com/Onam-2011/About_Onam.php  

Why don’t they come in from the cold?

After her retirement posting as Kerala governor was cruelly cut short by the new BJP government, the political career of Ms. Sheila Dixit has been unexpectedly resurrected. The badlands of UP is her new Karmabhoomi where she is the chief ministerial candidate. Whatever the imperatives for this turn of fortunes, there are other lost faces that we would like to be back:

DD Newsreaders – Those who were born after the satellite TV revolution will never believe that there existed a species that read out news every evening, without emphasizing every 2^nd minute what the nation wanted to know and who were more of newsreaders than an agitated school teacher handling an unruly class. Maybe, that was a reason people in those days didn’t suffer from stress-related illnesses.

Govinda/David Dhawan Movies – Considering that movies such as Grand Masti & the Welcome series are today served as “comedies”, the David Dhawan directed Govinda starrers seem “Padosan” class. Wish they team up again & bring back the Achhe Din to Bollywood. And those outlandish clothes and unbelievable dance moves too!

Poet politicians – When they were angry at someone, it never sounded like a Gabbar Singh or Dharam paaji. Not just AB Vajpayee, a bard in his own right, who taught others lessons in a very amiable way. Before he became Maunmohan Singh, the former PM liberally sprinkled his budget speeches with urdu couplets. Did age mellow them down.

Angry Young Man – Krish & Kabaali have also been righting the wrongs. But they no longer represent the angst of youth fighting against the system. Yes, we do have Hardik Patels in real life but they don’t bash the baddies & clean up the society on their own. They can now take out a rally or sit on a dharna or go on a hunger strike.

Letter Box – There was at least one kid who dressed as one in a fancy dress contest at school. But in this age of instant messaging & online communication, who cares for an oversized red box on the street. Don't we have a mailbox on each desk & an inbox in every hand? Hope the kids today don't have that mandatory question on letter writing in the language exams.

Mallika Sherawat – Long before Priyanka Chopra & Deepika Padukone, she was making Hiss-story in Hollywood. And long before Sunny Leone set the big screen alight (and gobbled up gigabytes of mobile memories), Ms. Sherawat was the Mallika of male fantasy. Wonder where is she now a days.

Pix credit:

Sheila Dixit - http://www.deccanchronicle.com/140826/nation-current-affairs/article/kerala-governor-sheila-dikshit-meets-rajnath-singh-president

DD Newsreaders - https://www.reddit.com/r/india/comments/2tplbv/some_doordarshan_nostalgia_on_republic_day/

Govinda - http://top10photos.com/2014/12/top-10-best-govinda-movies-time.html

AB Vajpayee - http://www.theforthright.com/atal-bihari-vajpayees-speech-nuclear-test-rocked-parliament/

Amitabh Bachchan - http://www.metrojournalist.com/oops-iconic-angry-young-man-look-was-a-tailoring-slip-up/

Letter Box - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_Posts

Mallika Sherawat - http://celebhealthy.com/mallika-sherawat-health-fitness-height-weight-bust-waist-and-hip-size/

Winning Kashmir Peacefully

Well, it’s a war out there & a bloody one at that. All our efforts to find a lasting resolution have not succeeded till now & I think we should listen to Sun Tzu. Of course, he is Chinese but his doctrine is the only Chinese product of lasting quality. The following two of his dictum definitely make sense in the case of Kashmir:

• There is no instance of a country having benefited from a prolonged warfare. (Ch. II – Waging War)
• The skillful leader subdues the enemy's troops without any fighting; he captures their cities without laying siege to them; he overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations in the field. (Ch. III – Attack by Stratagem)

I suggest a three phase strategy to win Kashmir once & for all without shedding any blood along with measures to achieve these objectives. The three phases are:

1. Neutralize the leaders & the militants
2. Divert the energy of the youth
3. Consolidate the wins

Neutralisation:

The first step should be sending Arvind Kejriwal to the scene. He is the miracleman who got practically the entire city state, where no two motorists agree with each other, to vote for him. He also has the audacity to take on anyone, he has spared very few politicians or businessmen. Send him to the valley & he will raise enough muck to defile the heroes of terror. He can push those gun wielding kids into a credibility crisis that no amount of social media heroics can see them through. AK is adept at Twitter warfare too, which is a big help. All he needs is loads of cough syrup to endure the Kashmiri winter.

He has a dossier on everyone plus he knows the law. Put Dr. Subramanian Swamy alongside AK & the two will tango like no one else before. The separatist leaders would be too entangled in the legal maze to be of use to their Paki handlers. Once they are deprived the easy money, this secessionism business will no longer make sense for them. But knowing Dr. Swamy, the established political leaders too run the risk of becoming victims. But we already have AK to fill any political vacuum.

Diversion:

Why did no one think of this before? The valley should be flooded with cheap Gutkha, for the youngsters there need a past time better than picking up a gun. Gutkha has multiple uses. With Gutkha in their mouths, there will be no one shouting slogans in the rallies, thus demoralizing the leaders. Imagine you are firing back at the army or fleeing an army ambush & you get this urge to have a gutkha. You just can’t do both at the same time. The urge for gutkha is strong enough to make them put down their guns, hopefully forever. Even the more peaceful ones who only stone pelt the cops, would stop once they near a gutkha shop. Gutkha is surely the messenger of peace that needs to be sent to the valley. Moreover, the ladies who have been providing them a cover will be too disgusted by the gutkha stains all over the place to sympathise with the rebellious ones. Which would wipe out (or should it be, gutkha smear?)  almost 50% of support base. I agree that Gutkha is injurious to health, but far less than guns & bombs.

As an atheist I don’t believe in god. But if there has to be one, it can be no other than Rajinikanth. Why are we holding him back? The government should make Rajini movies tax free in the valley (all over the country too, if you ask me) & make them compulsory viewing at schools. The only people Kashmiris can look upon as heroes today are those that take the gun. Show them a Rajini starrer, and they will realize that Burhan Vanis of the world are only comic strip class. Rajini posters would replace azaadi banners. Maybe the Kashmiri youth will be inspired enough to take on the baddies of this world, beginning from their neighbourhood. So, why not begin with Kabali? AK is sure to tweet a very favourable review.

Consolidation:

Poonam Pandey always makes a promise to Team India if it wins the World Cup, but the men in blue never do. We should ask Ms. Pandey to make a similar promise to the militants who surrender. Will this work? Well, these young guys are ready to surrender their lives for a promise of 72 virgins, where no further details (of the virgins) are provided. So I think they will definitely put down their arms for a Poonam Pandey show (there’s no pun here, pls). And the selfies of these surrendered militants with Ms. Pandey should inspire the others to do so too. After all, no one has yet seen those 72 virgins.

Once brought back into the fold, we need to reform & prepare the former militants for a normal life. They will need plenty of peace & dollops of spiritualism to undo the hard work put in by our western neighbours. Who better than Ravi Shankar with his Art of Living course? He may be too busy managing his global empire & would not be comfortable in sending his lieutenants to a war zone. But remember, we will have AK on the field who will be all too willing to do all the groundwork for a spiritual show by our godman for all seasons. And I am sure, like all godmen of his stature even Ravi Shankar will have enough influence in the Paki establishment for his shows to be disturbed by fireworks.

On the face of it, the above looks very doable, the only flaw being necessity of having Arvind Kejriwal on the field. He is too busy now governing Delhi & confronting Modi. But with his wife joining AAP, maybe AK will be able to spare some time for Kashmir. Or will have to wait till elections in Punjab & Goa are over.

Pics courtesy:

Arvind Kejriwal: http://www.firstpost.com/politics/arvind-kejriwal-takes-charge-as-delhi-cm-at-historical-swearing-in-ceremony-1311317.html

Dr. Subramanian Swamy: http://www.hindustantimes.com/india/tipu-sultan-had-no-qualities-worth-celebrating-subramanian-swamy/story-DpE7IberY2i9lzYiZ9PaCP.html

Gutkha: http://www.orissadiary.com/CurrentNews.asp?id=35138

Rajinikanth: http://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/regional/rajinikanths-kabali-audio-launched-2848612/

Poonam Pandey: http://www.indiatvnews.com/entertainment/masala/poonam-pandey-top-10-controversies-1716.html

Ravi Shankar: http://www.firstpost.com/india/sri-sri-ravi-shankar-baits-critics-agrees-world-culture-festival-is-his-private-party-as-entire-world-is-my-family-2670658.html

On Appointments, Disappointments & Misappointments

It started with Mr. Gajendra Chauhan being made to head the FTII (appointment), then news leaked that Dr. Raghuram Rajan will not taking up a second term (disappointment), followed by Mr. Chetan Chauhan put at the helm of NIFT (misappointment). As happens these days, all hell broke loose. Things have turned out to be so grave that the opposition to another International Yoga (on the day of posting) is muted this time round.

This is not a very good situation to be in. To help our government smoothly push appointments to important positions, here is my list of candidates for its consideration:

President  of Sahitya Akademi

If Mr. Gajendra Chauhan can head FTII, Mr. Chetan Bhagat can brag of better credentials in the literary field. Of course, his rivals would not be wrong to claim that Mr. Bhagat's books are not as trashy as Mr. Chauhan's films, but merit has not been a consideration for a long time. And, like Mr. Pahlaj Nihalani, Mr. Bhagat doesn't back down when confronted by the high & mighty. This would be useful if (or when) the award wapasi gang returns. This would also keep him too busy to write another book for a long time.

Commissioner at Large for NRI Affairs

I know there is no such position, but one can always be created for Mr. Anupam Kher. Hasn't he been the most vocal supporter of rights of displaced Kashmiris? Though not NRI's in the strictest sense of the term, the KP's are Indians who are non residents in their own homeland - let's call them domestic NRI's. Mr. Kher can be expected to bring the same empathy, as in the case of domestic NRI's, to improve the plight of our expat NRI's too. This may become critical as Trump appears to be the next POTUS.

RBI Governor

He is a businessman/industrialist, an ex-member of Parliament, and has very good working relations with Banks. In other words, a business-friendly person on good terms with the politicians who also makes the banks do his bidding without holding any office. What more do you want in a Governor of RBI? If all this is not enough, Dr. Vijay Mallya, if given this responsibility, can also be expected to manage the unputdownable Dr. Subramanian Swamy!

Permanent Representative to UN

Any other organisation/position will be too low for a person of his mettle. A learned scholar (wasn't he the 1st Indian to teach at Harvard?), trust him to stand up to the world. The foreign service babus may not support this, but Dr. Subramanian Swamy should be privy to enough of their murky secrets for them to make any noise about this.  And the loose cannon that he is, he can scare the shit out of the seasoned diplomats at UN too. Who knows, just to placate Dr. Swamy, they would make India not only a member of NSG but also a permanent member of Security Council. Yes, we need a strong person like him at the apex body of international affairs. After all, akela Modi kya kya karega?

President of India

Times are bad & getting worse. Only Nirmal Baba, as head of the nation, can guide us to salvation in double quick time. I am amazed why the central government never aproached him when all its game changing legislations were stuck in the Rajya Sabha. Nirmal Baba would have told where exactly the "Kripa" was held up. But it's still not too late & making Nirmal Baba the next president can definitely ensure a second term for Mr. Modi by accelerating the arrival of Achhe Din. What's more, the simplistic, down to earth solutions that Nirmal Baba has for the common & not-so-common problems of the common man would definitely endear him to Mr. Arvind Kejriwal & we may finally see the two governments in Delhi seeing eye to eye on an issue.

Well, these are my choices & you may have your own preferences different than these above. Also, this is not the comprehensive list of offices that need to be replaced. So, why don't you add to this list to make our government's task easier?

Pix credit:

Mr. Chetan Bhagat (http://www.indiatimes.com/entertainment/more-bollywood/chetan-bhagat-on-salman-khan-kick-and-middleclass-heroes-163897.html)

Mr. Anupam Kher (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/anupam-kher-collaborating-with-ashoke-pandit-for-a-film-on-the-plight-of-kashmiri-pandits/articleshow/51950308.cms)

Dr. Vijay Mallya (http://www.newsmobile.in/articles/2016/04/29/willing-to-reach-reasonable-debt-settlement-vijay-mallya/)

Dr. Subramanian Swamy (http://www.hindustantimes.com/india/tipu-sultan-had-no-qualities-worth-celebrating-subramanian-swamy/story-DpE7IberY2i9lzYiZ9PaCP.html)

Nirmal Baba (http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/court-reserves-on-anticipatory-bail-plea-of-nirmal-baba/966927/)

Why stop at Salman, when Bollywood has so much to offer?

Appointment of Salman Khan as the goodwill ambassador of our Olympic squad has created fissures within the sporting community. I have already talked about that in my previous post (Where the Ambassador needs some Goodwill himself). But in the current times when even politicians limit themselves to 140 characters, it’s a good idea to have ambassadors for other areas too. And who better than Bollywood to provide us with these knights? Here’s my choice of Bollywood worthies to promote India & Indianness.

Amitabh Bachchan: How can a Bollywood list begin without the Big B? He may have been made the brand ambassador for Incredible India campaign, but I feel he can be an equally good ambassador for the banking industry. Remember Bofors case, where the Big B’s name cropped up along with brother Ajitabh? That proved that Big B wasn’t just loitering around after his shoots for Yashraj films in Switzerland. But Swiss banks becoming home to all & sundry was not to his comfort & he moved to upcoming destinations like Panama & British Virgin Islands, this time along with daughter-in-law. And it was not just “me & my family” for Amitabh. He also made ordinary Indians into millionaires through his TV show (KBC). Who knows he could be the messiah that Indian banks need after being kingfishered.

Sunny Deol: If love for his wife made him go all the way to Pakistan, imagine what would 125 crore Indians inspire him to achieve. I would like Sunny to be made the goodwill ambassador for the agriculture sector. He will then pull out all the hand pumps in Pakistan, Bangladesh & China which would give some respite to our suffering farmers. I am also sure that BCCI would be willing to shell out the expenses for a smooth conduct of IPL-10. And yes, people staying in Arnab Goswamy’s housing complex would be able to celebrate a wet dhuleti next year!!

Sanjay Dutt: There can be no better person than Sanjay Dutt as the ambassador for our Police force. He not only glamourized the gangster in his movies, but has also played many a memorable role as a cop. In real life too, he made a guarded police premises his second home and the policemen his extended family. Sanju baba is the one to champion the lives of policemen. Of course, I am also hoping that this will also keep him away from real life gangsters & real life guns. And that he will also not play Chatur Singh again!

Alok Nath: If the efforts of people such as Smriti Irani & Yogi Adityanath are successful, we are in for a socio-cultural revolution. But the left/commie/fiberal/sickular brigade is not playing ball. More damaging is the fact that the image of India & Indians is getting sullied abroad. So, who better than Alok Nath to showcase the values of Indian diaspora in the global arena. With the social media frenzy that our Sanskari Babuji generates, the decadent west may finally accept the traditional Indian way of life. But there is a downside to this… Next time our popstar PM performs at Madison Square, it would turn out to be bhajan sandhya. I am not sure whether Modi will like it.

Sunny Leone: It is not just our traditions & values, but also our culture & heritage that need a goodwill ambassador. Today, the world knows us mainly for Yoga & Taj Mahal. What about the other accomplishments of our ancestors in the field of arts, literature, architecture? To promote & popularize past glory, we need a globally known face & Sunny Leone has much more than that!! I don’t expect hordes of tourists waiting for a glimpse of the treasure inside Khajuraho caves just because Sunny is put on the job. But the world will definitely have more interest & better awareness of what our forefathers talked, wrote & created. Maybe, even the IIM’s would start a course in Sanskrit.

Do you have someone in mind who can be added to this list? If so, pls let us all know about him/her.

Picture credits:

Alok Nath (http://www.rediff.com/movies/report/alok-nath-reveals-his-favourite-sanskar-joke/20140103.htm)

Amitabh Bachchan (http://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/screen/amitabh-bachchans-character-in-aankhen-2-will-be-neither-negative-or-positive/)

Sanjay Dutt (http://www.bollywoodlife.com/news-gossip/is-sanjay-dutt-getting-better-with-age/#!1/sanjay-dutt-policeuniform-220113/)

Sunny Deol (http://www.in.com/sholay/gallery-100-years-of-cinema-unforgettable-cinematic-moments-303498-50004622.html#21)

Sunny Leone (http://www.financialexpress.com/photos/business-gallery/183217/google-trends-india-2015-cricket-wc-beats-bahubali-to-top-sunny-leone-salman-khan-in-top-searches-too/5/)