The Women's Reservation Bill

I have been trying to figure out what I think about the women's reservation bill.  Straight off, I am anti-reservation.  I see it as a choice being made to educate/develop only some of the whole.  And I fail to see what justification there is for any education initiative not covering 100 per cent of our population.  Funny that there is no talk anywhere about expanding the education system to cover EVERYONE versus having the education of a few be a basic assumption and the talk is of 'now, who gets those opportunities and how we choose who get to progress in life?'

Parzania!

Saw a movie on Thursday night. First luxury - Thursday night movie. Second luxury - time to talk with husband (lately time is a super luxury!). Third luxury - nice movie system and well made movie. Parzania - among Sarika's comeback movies, Naseerudin Shah and a true story from Gujarat.

Okay, so this is why idealogy has to triumph. I can't hear of anything good about a party that perpetrates Godhra on a people. Police was penetrated by the saffron rage....little children on the run, atrocity on a scale that is mind boggling. Dynastic politics aside, I can not take the argument that it is okay to lie with the communal devil because it allows some brooms in to sweep. These are the Republicans in feel, taste and style....religion and weapons everywhere.

Felt a bit unsafe after seeing the movie - can see Karnataka going the Gujarat way and compound walls don't feel as high any more. Wonder at the world we are building for our kids! What irresponsible parents we are. Compare to our parents and we are almost negligent in the society we have built for them - despite all the corporal punishment in our days, we had funner, safer, more social childhoods. Our kids are smarter, they see more and can do more but also deal with way much more in terms of deterioration.

Recommend the movie for a thinking, discussion rich aftermath. Wipe the tears away first and keep any firearms out of reach until the intense reaction period is done.

G'night!

Captain Gopinath's campaign

The ultimate new age campaign. I get alerts on facebook, emails from friends of friends, micro posters at auto stands from volunteers.....targeted. Bangalore South is the part where the majority of the software companies are. New businesses and apartments to house these new business employees. His is a known name and it is totally possible that he will win, if he gets his name out to the non-apartment dweller, poor people (domestic workers and lower middle class), etc.

My maid and her large family now know about Captain Gopinath. And I plan on talking more about him in any of my circles. When you get into the details, you find that a 'delimitation' exercise has happened - meaning constituencies have been redrawn all over India. Am sure this is an off-shoot of vote bank politics that has benefited some and disadvantaged others. Heard talk that Deve Gowda's vote bank was reduced in his constituency.....will he actually have to work this time to keep a seat? Wouldn't that be super cool?! After all the machinations and behind the scenes political gaming, it will be poetic justice for him to lose in the elections!

I am clear on my destiny in this elections....thanks to my in-laws starting the process for us before we returned to India, we were some of the very few returning NRIs who got a voter ID within a month of landing here. And we have used it so far....to vote and as photo id. More as photo id, but that is the nature of the game.

Thanks to that, we actually vote in Bangalore South. I found out that a lot of geographical Bangalore South is actually Bangalore Rural for voting purposes. April 23rd is the V day - anyone interested in DOing better be voting...otherwise, our other national pastime of complaining is called 'whining'! :-D

The year of the Independent!

Looks like this is the year of the independent in India's political history. I am thrilled to see some intelligent candidates standing up and talking as independents. One is Meera Sanyal, an executive of a leading bank who has thrown her hat into the ring as an independent candidate from Mumbai. The other is a Captain Gopinath from Bangalore. I am sure these candidates have their weaknesses, but they can talk, they have acted to do something by just standing for election and they can't do worse than the corrupt jokers in power. At least they have made their money! Yes, that is how cynical I have become.

I have decided in line with what seems to be popular opinion in my circle that the only option is to split the vote. Both the main parties are full of crap. I used to be a congress voter because it seemed like a better option than communalism. Now, I see Jagdish Tytler given a ticket after managing the massacre of sikhs in Delhi - not just a ticket but a clean chit and a ticket. The congress is also the party of inaction, talking independence some 60 years later, ensuring that THEIR sons and daughters are taken care of and so on. The BJP was never my cup of anything....I love my tea, so can't use that expression here.....and even if I were to tend right, Babri Masjid, Godhra, Mangalore and now Varun Gandhi would have cured me forever of that disease.

My vote has the chance to count as never before. Independents (the right ones!) can make the difference. And I want for the major parties to see and take the feedback that it is only by listening and actually doing something about people's outrage will they get into power. So many years of coalition politics only seems to have made them all efficient wheelers and dealers. So everyone, please vote and consider my suggestion of going the independent way.

Republic Day musing!

It was an eventful day yesterday. Began with the flag hoisting and the regular quota of patriotic songs. The flag went up and it was so beautiful to sing the anthem along with the crowd. The power of one song is self-evident....songs have electrified protests, strengthened independence movements and unite with meaning. I always tear up when hearing it and singing along....yes, total weirdo!

After a trip out to the real world, got back to campus and watched a movie, watched the NDTV Indian of the Year program in parts. The heros of 26/11 were honored, posthumously. Loved it when Aamir Khan asked politicians to field candidates deserving of our vote. Advani said it was their job to do so....obvious failure there! Which other job has the same amazing power and sheer opportunity to make a DIFFERENCE (it is a shout out loud word)? But no, what does it end up being? An opportunity all right, to play political blame games, one-upmanship and some amazing money making!

In the spirit of equality with my kids ( I ask them to list out 5 things they are thankful for before complaining), I came up with
- a vibrant, warm and alive society
- examples of people who make a difference or at least try daily
- location, location, location in Asia
- the famous billion people
- open with the freedom to express opinions (even if you are the Sri Ram Sena!)

Lots to fix but a pretty great foundation to work with! I love my India!