Mani's Ramayana

"Has Maniratnam lost his marbles?" asked a friend, after watching his latest Raavan, in Hindi, starring Abhishek, Aishwarya and Vikram.
For the first time after watching a Maniratnam film, have I felt so ambivalent. The story, as the name suggests, is loosely based on the Ramayana. As one popular version of the legend goes, Ravana kidnaps Sita to avenge the humiliation suffered by his sister Shoorpanaka, by Rama's brother Lakshmana. Then Rama, with the help of all good forces, launches a battle against the demon king, good triumphs over evil. And...wait...before he accepts Sita back, she goes through an Agni Pariksha to prove her chastisty. End of story. This is the Ramayana we all know.

Now replace Rama with Dev, a cop played by Vikram, Aishwarya plays his wife, Ragini. And then, there is Bira played by Abhishek, who is the anti-god, the antagonist Raavana, who kidnaps Raagini, and falls in love with her. Bira, is a tribal leader, who the State is after. His sister is dragged out of her wedding by cops and ends up being a victim of custodial rape. This explains Bira's motivation to kidnap Ragini. So it is a pretty simple straightforward story, which you could argue, Mani does not attempt explaining in great detail. But then, why should he? The Ramayana, is pretty much part of our collective conscious. There is no needless banter to even an attempt to create a context or build character.

Instead, Mani employs the visual medium as the narrative. Many of his earlier films such as Roja or even Kannthil, had beautiful imagery or interesting frames as tools to create the intangible flavour of a Mani film. In Ravana, the medium is the message. The visual is the screenplay.
The breathtaking locales and the Santosh Sivan's brilliance leave you spellbound. The cinema of Raavana is so powerful that you cannot be a part of its cast and not get noticed . C'mon, how can you be a Ravana or even a Hanuman in anyone's Ramayana and not get noticed.

This treatment of Ramayana needed the actors to perform as if they were on stage, or maybe in a musical or a pantomime. The challenge, therfore, was to match the visual brilliance with the power of performance. No room for subtlety....you had to be loud. Which brings me to Bira and Abhishek Bacchan. What I felt the most about Ravan was that I did not feel anything for Bira. I was neither angry with him nor did I feel pity. Abhishek does very little to explain why the anti-hero deserves to be loved. The problem with Abhishek has been his inability to understand Ravana's pain or dilemma. His facial expressions make an attempt to reveal Ravana's neurosis and his self-destructive jealousy, but his body language is too much of lanky city-bred hip-hopper, whose pedicured nails, are out of sync with the anger that his eyes try to convey. The physical challenge that Abhishek, Vikram and Aishwarya have had to go through as Bira, Dev and Raagini is what makes this film, Mani's Ramayana. Abhishek unfortunately makes a feeble attempt at Bira. Vikram, on the other hand, is compelling, and makes me want to watch the Tamil version of the film where he plays Ravanan. Aishwarya is beautiful and refreshingly not affected.

This Ramayana needs to understood in many layers. It is a state versus renegade battle - so topical as the Govt of India is currently trying to crush the naxal movement across many parts of the country. It also reminds me in parts of the story of the forest brigand Veerapan. Perhaps why, the antagonist was named Bira.

So, in the final analysis, I dont think Mani has lost his marbles at all. This baby from Madras Talkies is different. Very different from what we have seen so far from his stable. To me, it is sheer poetry in celluloid. Watch it without comparing it to his previous works. The only point of reference is Valmiki's Ramayana.

Why Men are colour blind!

I am sure you have been in this situation. So, you are shopping with a woman (wife, girlfriend, cousin whoever). The scene at some obscenely expensive and overrated fashion store with a pretentious name and the conversation goes like this:

Shop girl: Ma'am, have you seen our winter collection?
Lady: "I am looking for a....perhaps that burgundy top ...over there...."
Shop Girl: "May be you can mix and match with that Mauve scarf..."
Lady: " Or...give me that one with a bit of Fuschia thrown in...it looks fab"

If parts of this conversation went 'beep' in your head, please continue reading. And for others, who understood it all, (mostly ladies I presume) please bear with me as I present a some honest confessions about men.
We Men are colour blind!
Well...not entirely, we understand basic colours like red, blue, black, white, green, yellow etc. And I'll tell you why. Some of these colours we can easily associate with. Brown - Chocolate, Maroon - My favourite, Grey - Jacket, Black - the only colour we wear on saturday night, Red or Green - the house we represented in school and so on. And, after the light experiment in the physics lab in Class 8, we successfully learnt the VIBGYOR. Well.....not entirely (Quick note for boys: Violet - No it is not purple. It is the other one. Indigo - Not Tata. This was out of CBSE syllabus.) But beyond this spectrum is an optical blur for us and it becomes a test of intelligence that we do not possess. Teal, I am told is a colour.
Here's a list of colours that we men have no clue about but we ought to know. Guys, I don't know them myself, so I am giving you broad hints on what they look like....figure it out yourself:
Mauve - Pronounced as pretentiously as possible. Approximately like your faded NCC uniform
Burgundy - Like an Old Monk bottle! I think...
Fuschia - Is a colour. Is not f*** you in French. Belongs to the red family. Near a tomato.
Peach - Like peach snapps...or may be not. Go figure it out
Tuscany - Is not a colour you dickhead!
Lilac - Sorry dude! no idea!
Olive - Some strain of green
So, guys, incase you have other colours that I need to learn. Please add and enlighten me.
PS: The colour status that women posted on FB, I am told, is the colour of the bra they are wearing ...because of some breastcancer awareness campaign. So now go quickly go and check out...who posted "burgundy", "peach" or NONE!!!

2010 - Aaal Izz Well!

I have been reading quite a bit over the weekend. Newspapers, magazines, news channels are full of people predicting the future. Astrologers crystal gazing what the new year beholds, experts propounding if and how the global economy is going to turnaround. Frankly, I am quite exhausted at the end of year. Exhausted by the avalanche of events that took place and tired of listening to zillions of bright men and women who thought they knew how stock markets, economies and politics around the world are going to unfold in 2009. Not one, got it right. Not one was even close to getting it right. Let me offer you five events that happened in 2009, that you had no clue about in 2008:
- Did you know Barack Obama would become President? Ok fine, you knew he was in the running by late 2008.
- Did you know Satyam was one big lie? Did anyone even remotely hint at the possibility that Ramalinga Raju could be a scamster?
- Did you know that the Indian automobile sector posted its best ever year in a year of global "slowdown"?
- Did you know that the Indian cricket team was going to become the best test team in the world?
- Did you know Tiger Woods would stop playing golf because he would be caught in a another ball game with his pants down?
So I am unable to trust the fellows who offer me an opinion about the future.
I dont know about you, but I am signing off 2009 by borrowing a powerful thought from that wonderful movie, 3 idiots. Aaal Izz Well, my friend, Aaal Izz Well! 2010 here I come!

YSR - 1949-2009

If you have watched Maniratnam's classic Nayakan, you'd remember the famous dialogue, when don Velu Naicker's (played by Kamal Hassan) grandson asks him "Are you a good man or a bad man?"
Somehow, as I watched the funeral procession of YS Rajasekhara Reddy, I felt like asking him the same question. I studied in Hyderabad where several of my classmates were sons of TDP or Congress MLAs or had some political affiliation. I remember in the late 80s. political murders were rampant and some parts of Andhra were notorious for settling scores by brutal killings.
My early impression of YSR was that he was invincible in Cuddapah and that he spared no one who messed with his followers. I heard tales about how he had a factory that made country bombs, about how a marriage party of a former TDP MLA was blown to smithereens by YSR's men and so on. So that image of YSR stuck in my head.
Years later, I watched the embarrasing phase of the Congress in Andhra. A peculiar leadership crisis because there were one too many leaders. Chenna Reddy, Kotla Vijayabhaskar Reddy, Janardhan Reddy - all CMs at one point were in the race to power. Somehow YSR was not yet in this league. Well, he was much younger and if I remember right, he had become a parliamentarian by then. It was during this time that YSR's old pal, Chandrababu emerged from the ashes of NTR's death to take over the reins of the TDP and went on to rule the state for the next 10 years.
As Naidu was busy making powerpoint presentations and shmoozing with Bill Gates, YSR quietly took over the reins of the Congress, got together different factions, played his rural card to the hilt and recaptured the seat of power.
As Chief Minister, again, I heard several things about YSR. Stories of real estate scams, large-scale corruption all under his watchful eye, so I was told. Then Satyam happened, and one heard how YSR was shielding Ramalinga Raju. Publicly, he would argue that Raju was Naidu's pal but in Court his Govt's lawyers bungled (and some say deliberately) in nailing Raju. So was YSR keeping Raju in jail to save him? Some swore by this theory.
In the Nagarajuna Finance scam, YSR went after Nimesh Kampani, a former independent director who had quit years before the scandal happened. Why you ask? the real story in Hyderabad was how Kampani was paying a price for helping Ramoji Rao, the media baron, raise billions from the market. That Ramoji Rao was close to Naidu, YSR's bete noire was public knowledge.
So in the final analysis, YSR was a quintessential politician. He had a past. He had his friends and he had his foes. He made his money and he gave some away. He lived his life on the edge, he won a few battles and lost many. He managed his image of a champion of the rural masses yet ensured that he kept Banjara Hills happy. In his death, Andhra has lost a mass leader, someone who in the latter part of his political career had reached demi-god status.

But it is perhaps the circumstances of his death, that have made YSR leapfrog from being a demi-god politician to god. Last I heard, a temple is being built at Pulivendula, his village!

Why risk a drought?

Earlier this weeek, I was talking to a few experts on Risk Management and how companies need to make risk management practices a part of their daily operations. Ravi Narain, the head of the National Stock Exchange told me that taking risks may be a necessary part of growth but that does not mean that one should not have a contigency plan in place, just in case things go wrong. But he believes that risk and growth are not in conflict with each other.
Somehow that thought stuck in my head.
Now through the week, I have been reading and analysing the drought situation that seems to be worsening. As I write, 264 districts in India have been declared as drought affected. That's nearly half the country that we are talking about. Yesterday, the finance Minister says there is a need for a contingency plan to be put in place.
This is what I dont get.
So the Govt wants to put in place a plan after the crisis has happened. Much the same way, Mmbai spoke about the need for crisis management team after the terror attacks
Why is it when things are all hunky dory, no one speaks of the potential risks? When the country was growing at 8 per cent clip, not once did we speak about potential pitfalls. My question is
Why doesnt the Govt of India have its risk management practice in place?

Business News Channel Viewership - The Verdict

The latest viewership data from TAM reveals that on Budget day, CNBC TV18 was the most watched English news channel in India. Slice through the numbers across categories (age groups or time bands) and you will find that the dominance of CNBC TV18 is undisputed. Don't get me wrong, I am not writing this to thump my chest screaming victory or snigger with arrogance. Not at all.
I am not a big believer in the ratings game, largely because I do not think the existing method of measuring viewership is comprehensive or foolproof. For instance, the existing method does not capture viewership at offices at all (called Out-of-home audience). If you include this chunk, I believe, CNBCTV18's numbers would be much bigger than what it is now. But that's not the point.
What I want to talk about is the crisis of imagination that the industry is suffering from.
In the past four years, there have been three new players who have entered this market. All promising something new and something exciting. But they have ended up doing exactly the same as the market leader. And these viewership numbers, even if they are for one day, prove that their fare has not been accepted by viewer, for whatever reason. And here's the worst part (or the good part, depending on how you see it) - there is no one wanting to find out that reason. No one, including us, really knows what "works" on air. What is it that the viewer wants to see? In most news channels, content strategy is often defined by collective and subjective editorial opinions (read gut feel) and not at all backed by data. Compare this to say the FMCG industry, does an ITC launch a product without knowing what the consumer wants? Will HUL experiment with a variant of Surf without adequate qualitative research? If news channels were products, (I hate this comparison, though that's the reality of the marketplace) why does the consumer not feature in the equation at all?
To me, it is important for CNBCTV18 to retain its dominance but it is equally important to see that the playing field grows bigger. And that growth in the market will happen only if the industry attempts to know, understand, reach-out and serve the customer better. But, for now, I have no reason to complain, cos I am on the winning team!

Let The Games Begin!

After a long gap, I am back to writing about Dravidian politics! Much has changed in the last one year in the political landscape of Tamil Nadu, however, the basic premise that the political pendulum will swing one way or the other still remains. So say observers. But will it...really?

Here's what is at stake

40 seats. Tamil Nadu will send 39 members to the 15th Lok Sabha. Add one more from Pondicherry. As has been in the past two elections, the DMK or the AIADMK led coalition is expected to swing the popular vote its way entirely. In 2004, the DMK Supermo Muthuvel Karunanidhi engineered a rainbow coalition of 15 parties and knocked-out the Jaya-BJP combine 40-0. The control over these 40 seats gave Karunanidhi the clout to get whatever he wanted from the UPA Government. For starters, he got all the ministries he wanted. He got ministers changed - A.Raja took Dayanidhi's place as IT & Telecom Minister, when the latter fell out of favour with the DMK leadership. He almost got the Sethusamudram Project cleared - with a very vocal TR Balu fighting in Parliament. Had it not been for the Govt's lawyers mucking up in Supreme Court even that would have been reality.

Bone of Contention - The Tamil EalemIssue

What has become a political rallying point is the UPA's handling of the Tamil Ealam issue. Karunanidhi has been pushing for greater intervention by the Govt of India in the battle between the LTTE and Sri Lanka, and rescue the Tamils caught in the crossfire. While Pranab Mukherjee visited Colombo at Karunanidhi's insistence, it was perceived merely as an act of symbolism and did not result in any material outcome. This was enough fodder for the disgruntled elements with the DMK led coalition partners to call it quits. Vaiko, the firebrand leader of the MDMK who has made no bones of his support of the Ealem cause, quit the DMK alliance before the assembly elections in 2006. Now, the eternal cat on the wall, Dr Ramadoss cited Karunanidhi's failure over the Tamil Ealem issue, among several others, as a reason to switch sides. He arrived at a seat sharing deal with Jayalalithaa recently.

Here's how it looks now

So you have the DMK + Congress and a few minor parties such as the Dalit Panthers led by Thol Thirumavalavan on one hand. The AIADMK + PMK + MDMK + Left on the other. Amma notched up a clever alliance with the left parties, who control 1 or 2 seats in the State.

There are two important players left - the BJP and DMDK led by Actor Vijaykanth. BJP is not a strong force in the State, but it is inevitable for one of the State coalitions to ally with NDA at the centre, if it comes close to forming the next government. But the real spoiler in this elections is going to be Vijaykanth and his DMDK. In the last assembly elections, DMDK debuted with a commendable 8 per cent vote share. While Vijaykanth has ruled out allying with both the coalitions, his strategy post the elections may be critical in deciding which electoral alliance from Tamil Nadu will call the shots at the centre.

Does history matter?

Lance Klusener. Caught Sathish. Bowled Vignesh.

To me, this scorecard entry was even more painful than my stomach flu that had forced me to stay home on a weekday and watch the bastardised version of the oneday game. While the game was thoroughly entertaining, what I was upset about was my realisation, that even gods of my past have feet of clay. Lance Klusener, to me and many admirers of South African cricketer, was the god of slog cricket. Zulu, or the African warrior, as he was nicknamed demolished every reputed bowler of that era, particulary during the World Cup.

That World Cup final, which South Africa should have won, was singularly shouldered by the mighty Zulu. With His jayasuriya like forearms, broad shoulders, jaw dropping strokeplay, Zulu was invincible. Despite his swashbuckling style, Zulu, off the field, was an enigma. One hardly got to know of his personality otherwise. But that didnt matter. Zulu was good at what he did. A nimble footed fielder and runner between the wickets and he killed and ravaged bowlers in style.

But today, Lance Klusener was not the Zulu I knew. He looked emaciated. Old. Tired. His bat pathetically swishing across the offstump to miss pedestrian deliveries off an unknown bowler. Then came an apology of a lofted cover drive straight to the point. I wonder if either the fielder or the bowler, or even the pretty looking model turned commentator knew about the Zulu of yore. Did they even bother about the history of this man. Coming to think of it, do history matter anymore? ....more on this

This farce called decoupling

In the past few months, there have been several theories floating to justify why the Indian stock markets were defying gravity. Among them was a popular notion called 'decoupling'. Armchair analysts and self annointed experts spewed wisdom to say there is decoupling at work. Don't you worry if the Dow or the Nasdaq were crashing, look at the sensex that's where the real story is, they said. If you bought that theory, you'd believe you are living in paradise, where the economy is unstoppable and sensex could continue defy gravity and we'll are all bound to be billionaires. Nothing wrong with this optimism, it is only the dubious basis of the theory that they were peddling that I had a problem with.

For starts, decoupling assumed that the Indian markets were insulated from the mood swings of the US Markets. They argued that Indian markets had matured enough to chart a course of its own. Some sectors, they said, like IT would be affected in the near term, but the broader markets were high and rocking. And then, they threw the cliche, the India growth story is intact, the Indian economic fundamentals are sound and this was stretched to prove that even if the world's largest economy slowed down, it would have negligible impact on India - its economy and its markets. To add credence to this theory, the markets skyrocketed early this year although the US markets made no headway since Jan 1.

And then came Terrible Tuesday!

This theory fell flat on its face on Terrible Tuesday Jan 22,2008. Global markets crashed hand in hand with the US and the facts were there for everyone to see. The moral of the story was the world has started accepting the reality of a US economic slowdown. The Fed chief testified to the Congress that the economy is slowing but he does not see a recession. That was pure semantics. Few days later, President Bush announced a fiscal revival package and Ben followed that up with an unprecendented emergency rate cut, to stem the slide more so in falling sentiment that in stocks. Now, if global markets were reacting, they were not decoupled were they? If the Indian markets tanked 2000 points, it was very much coupled...wasn't it? I am not trying prove a coupling theory which is equally facile.
Now, let's assume the sensex chooses to flirt with higher levels for a week or so when the US markets is tanking. Does that meaning the "coupling" theory is wrong? The point is this day to day corelation does not work and is not a reliable theory to base one's forecast on.

It's the economy stupid

Macroeconomy 101 and Manmohan Singh post-91 have made us understand how interlinked the Indian economy has become. The retail sales figures of Walmart is causing ripples in Tirupur. Poltical instabilty in Mexico is making Mittal postpones his greenfield investment in India. These are hard facts and this is how economies work. Because economies are run by people, who are, even in their dogged pursuits of profits, are swayed by emotion which define their judgements. To believe that economies are impervious to each other, most of all to the biggest, is being naive. To propound it, is foolhardy.

Twenty20

I was among those who had given up on cricket after a series of events broke my trust in the honesty of the game. Then, our humiliating first round defeat in the World Cup convinced me that the game had come to an end, atleast for me. But then arrived Twenty20.

India beats Pakistan
And what a match it was last night! A nail-biting India-Pakistan encounter reminiscent of the famous battles between the two countries at Sharjah in the late '80s. And this was even better. In the 20-over a side, three-hour blitzkrieg, the match was clearly not over, as the cliche goes, until the last ball was bowled. 141 was hardly a target to protect, one thought. But as Pakistan struggled to keep its wickets, you sensed victory in sight. But the Pakistani middle order had other plans in mind. With some swashbuckling batting they brought down the asking target to just 12 runs in the last over. Two boundaries and three later, they dashed India's hopes and had to score just 1 run to scream victory off the last ball. Sreesanth ran in to deliver, with hope in his mind and his heart on his sleeve, the batsman found the fielder and the fielder found the stumps. Run-out. Tie. The first ever in a Twenty20 Indo-Pak match. Then began the bowl out. 5 bowlers from each side take turns to hit the unguarded stumps. India cruised through with all its 3 bowlers - Sehwag, Uthappa and Harbhajan bang on target. Pakistan's respected seamers failed to knock the stumps down even once.

So India won. But has cricket lost?
At first glance, I , like many of my friends, cringed at the idea of Twenty20 cricket. Many purists filled up newspaper columns to defend the purity of the gentleman's game being besmirched by a format for street-urchins. But then, this is tailor-made for television. Think about it. When was the last time you sat through an entire one-day match? This is just 3 hours. It's fast paced, exciting and puts purists' arguments of pitch, weather and wind and the typically Brit pre-match commentary irrelevant. So will ODI die? Of course not. Did Test cricket die because of the ODI? Frankly, we have seen some magnificent test matches quite recently in England. Net net, the game of cricket has evolved. The format may take away its gentle charm as we know it, but it infuses a fresh bubbly energy that is too good to resist. Cricket is back. Atleast for me!

(Picture Courtesy: The Hindu)

DMK - Split Wide Open

There is never a dull moment in Dravidian politics and this time cracks have appeared in the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. What triggered this political crisis was a seemingly innocuous opinion poll published by Tamil daily Dinakaran, owned by the Maran fold. The poll found that over 70 per cent of Tamil Nadu preferred MK Stalin as the successor to Karunanidhi, while elder brother MK Azhagiri had an embarrassing 2 per cent support. Enraged by the poll, thugs from the Azhagiri camp ransacked and set the Madurai office of Dinakaran on fire killing three innocent employees. In a swift turn of events, Karunanidhi summoned over a 100 party functionaries for an emergency meeting and decided to strip Dayanidhi off his ministerial badge. Even before the show cause notice reached him, Dayanidhi faxed his resignation to the PMO, phoned Manmohan and Sonia and hurriedly called a press conference to declare his allegiance to his "Thailavar Kalaignar" (Leader Karunanidhi). "I am born DMK man and I will die a DMK man, " he thundered.

Dayanidhi's meteoric rise

I remember, in early 2004, just after the DMK had walked out of the NDA and before UPA was born, Dr Manmohan Singh had come to meet Karunanidhi at his Chennai residence to forge an alliance between the DMK and Congress. Standing next to Karunanidhi, clutching his hands was a shy translator - Dayanidhi Maran. His rise since then within the party has been nothing short of spectacular. Dayanidhi smoothly slid into the space vacated by his late father Murasoli Maran, Karunanidhi’s nephew. Though lesser in age and stature, it was on Dayanidhi's shoulder that the old Kalaignar depended on during public meetings. It was Dayanidhi who was chosen as a candidate in DMK's bastion, Central Madras constituency during the Parliamentary elections and it was Dayanidhi who was rewarded with a ministerial berth at the Centre, overlooking many seniors. Karunanidhi had made it clear that Daya was his favourite grandnephew.
Dayanidhi meteoric rise raised many eyebrows within the party and outside but no one dared to question his position. After all, he was part of the family and the inner coterie of Kalaignar. Those who did, like Sharat Kumar, actor and former MP, were thwarted and thrown out. You could not take on the Maran brothers especially when the DMK was in power. Or it seemed.

The real question - Stalin Vs Azhagiri

This is a question that Karunanidhi has warded off for many years. But it is clear that MK Stalin is heir apparent to the throne. Though he does not match his father in terms of charisma, stature or popularity, Stalin is the emperor in waiting. Stalin does not see eye to eye with his elder brother Azhagiri, who has always been the problem child in the family. Azhagiri runs a parallel government in Madurai irrespective of whichever party is in power. Much to Karunanidhi’s chagrin in the past, Azhagiri even engineered the defeat of DMK candidates in the local elections if they were not of his choice. He even has a criminal case against him for the murder of DMK leader T.Kirutinan. So the best Karunanidhi could do was the buy peace with him. Though Azhagiri does not hold a post in the party, all decisions about Madurai has his blessings. For several years, this peace treaty has worked for Karunanidhi. Now that the uncomfortable question that Kalaignar has hitherto kept under wraps is out in the open, will the Azhagiri-Stalin war resume again? Therefore, the fallout of the opinion poll does more damage to Karunanidhi than it does to the Marans or Azhagiri.

Where does it leave the Marans?

For anyone tracking Tamil Nadu politics, this is the missing piece in the puzzle. The Marans had it all going for themselves. Dayanidhi was basking in the glory of bringing investments to Tamil Nadu as the Telecom Minister. Kalanidhi’s media empire was growing at a furious pace. His Sun TV had gone public; he had expanded his grip from television to radio to the print medium. Why, the newspaper in question, Dinakaran, was acquired recently by Kalanidhi. It was relaunched at rock bottom price and was the fastest growing daily in the state. So why would they upset the applecart? There in lies the mystery of this case.

(Picture courtesy: The Hindu)

Not so special economic zone!

The Govt of India has decided to cap the maximum size of a Special Economic Zone at 5000 hectares. This would mean that larger SEZ projects - such as Reliance's Navi Mumbai project would not be approved. There's more, State Governments can bring down the cap on the maximum size on their whim. This clearly defeats the purpose of SEZs being large standalone islands with state of the art infrastructure. If they are not large, then what's the point? Can't states just be content with IT parks or Industrial townships rebranded as SEZs?

What's so special now about SEZs?

But the real dispute is not about size, It's about land. And, here's the latest - State Governments have been told to stay away from "compulsory" land acquisition. That means, corporates would transact land deals with farmers directly. The Commerce Secretary argues that the process of land acquisition is a "commercial" transaction between a buyer and a seller. Therefore, States will have no role to play in the deal. Let's for a moment buy the Govt's argument that it is just a commercial transaction. If that be the case, why should the Govt bother to cap the size of an SEZ. If there is a willing buyer and a willing seller, why not leave it to them?

Lessons from Nandigram

The Nandigram genocide clearly displayed that land acquisition is anything but commercial. It is not just about finding a right price for a piece of land and ensuring that the cheque reaches the farmer. It is also about rebuilding the farmer's life when he has been uprooted from his home and his industry taken away. And, it is also about generating alternative employment for those hundreds of landless labourers who work on these farm lands on daily wages. Tell me, can the Govt afford to adopt such a hands-off approach and leave it to market forces?

Facts prove that the Bengal Govt bungled on Nandigram. So does this strengthen the case for greater and more effective State intervention or weaken it? Shouldn't it be the responsibilty of the Govt to regulate land acquisition not just in the case of SEZ but also in non-SEZ projects where large scale acquition is involved? Instead of greater regulation and intervention, this Govt has clearly washed its hands off any issue arising out of SEZs. The political backlash of another Nandigram seems too heavy a price to pay for the UPA Government. But wait a minute, wasn't it the same Government that swore about a putting a comprehensive rehabilitation policy in place before approving SEZs?

Exclusive!

We journos love the word 'exclusive' in the context of an exclusive story. It gives us a sense of achievement and euphoria of having information that no one else has. But let me talk about 'inclusive'. You know, it's now fashionable to use the word 'inclusive' in the context of inclusive growth and this whole spiel about bridging the divide between haves and have-nots. On Budget Day, Chidambaram sprinkled the i-word generously in his budget speech, my Editor picked it up for his edit, TV discussions repeated it ad nauseum and all the pink papers included 'inclusive growth' in their post-budget op-eds. In fact, recently, I also read an interesting piece titled The All Important Inclusion .... do check it out.

Now having heard/read all that's been said/written about the importance of inclusive growth, I just have one question: On one hand, this Government claims that it wants inclusive growth. Says it is committed to creating equitable distribution of opportunities. On the other hand, it allows Special Economic Zones that are elitist, well-endowed, tax-less, lawless privileged enclaves of excellence.

Tell me, do you really buy this inclusive story?

The Left's Not So Right Anymore!

It made riveting television. An event that left the left red faced. The debate in Parliament was on shifting a Maritime University from Kolkata to Chennai. The left accused the Government of trying to clandestinely shift the university (beats me how one can secretly move a darn college!) and "damaaje the intarest of Waste Bengaul." So, tempers flared, voices raised and before an adjournment could be called, our beloved comrades rushed to the well of the house and almost came to blows with their own allies - MPs from the DMK!

Mind you, this is the same political grouping that traditionally takes a moral high ground on everything including 'parliamentary' behaviour. Much to Somnathda's chagrin, Members of Parliament from the left behaved like hooligans that afternoon. While most left leaders have scant respect for TV etiquette, (except Karat and Yechury, but if you have ever seen D.Raja and Dipankar Mukherjee on air, you'll know what I mean) watching them stoop to fisticuffs was a new low. Gurudas Dasgupta was at a loss of words, and that doesn't happen too often to him especially in front of a TV camera, justifying such lumpen behaviour. I just wish a few punches landed on TR Balu. It would've been grand fun! Wonder how Lok Sabha TV does in the ratings game.

(Picture courtesy: ibnlive.com)

help! i cant post ...blogger's conked

This English Yaar!

“Where are you putting up?” asked this petite acquaintance from Delhi. Putting up what? I almost asked. Ah! she meant to ask where was I staying. Dinner table courtesy restricted me from poking fun at her inadvertent faux pas. Starters arrived but the lady refused to stop. After I told where I was “putting” up, she attacked, “So how is the job ‘opPORtunities’ in Mumbai?” I thought of mentioning that if she wasn’t pretty, my old English professor would have used this ‘opportunity’ to skin her alive.

You know …what’s with these Delhi-ites? They are fashionable, I mean they are great when it comes to dressing up well to shop at M-block but their urge to butcher the Queen’s language is much more than their lust for butter chicken. But hang on, there was more murder that evening.

To be fair, she was a well-educated, confident, young woman, an expert in retail banking but had scant respect for pronunciation. “So what do you ‘hair’ in Mumbai? (Read - ’here’) . If she said that in Tamil, she’d be jailed for unparliamentary language. (Tamil abuses and their English skills can be saved for another blog). So, I said, I am splitting hairs over my job ‘here’ in Mumbai.

At main course, it was homicide. “I have to return back to Dhelli imme-jiately. I am taking today evening flight.” The city, my love, is called Delhi with a hard D. Don’t even get me started on “immediately” – that word has been a victim of national torture.
After all this, I was in no mood for dessert. And as we tipped the waiter, came her piece de resistance, “Give me your ‘cuntact.”

My case rests.

Sun rises on Fort St George

82-year old Muthuvel Karunanidhi is set to become the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu once again. He will be anointed for the fifth time as the head of the State, but for the first time ever in the history of Tamil Nadu politics, the DMK will lead a minority government, supported by the Congress, the PMK and the left parties. It has been a decisive victory for the DMK-led Democratic Progressive Alliance that has romped home with 162 seats, leaving Amma way behind with 70 seats.

Lessons learnt

But what’s more interesting are the many twists and turns that we have seen in Elections 2006. In the run-up to the polls, the DPA hoped to repeat the spectacular success that it tasted during Lok Sabha 2004, when it knocked the AIADMK, 40 to none. But it received its first jolt when Vaiko’s MDMK walked out of the alliance and joined hands with Amma. The elections results this time, however, have cut Vaiko down to size. His MDMK has managed to win only 7 seats proving that he is still only a fringe player in Tamil Nadu. Thol Thriumavalavan also has some soul searching to do. His Dalit Panthers have hardly made an impact on the electorate, winning just two seats despite its presence in the State for the past one decade. Even Dr Ramadoss needs to introspect on his party’s performance. Hitherto, he has been cleverly jumping onto winning alliances, but somewhere, his grip on the Vanniar community seems to slip and the need to reach out to larger votebase seems imminent.

Captain Vijaykanth

The big story of victory is that of actor Vijaykanth and his DMDK. Although he has managed to win only one seat (Vridachalam where he contested), the party has made a huge dent on the winning margins across the State. DMDK has made significant inroads in North Tamil Nadu, PMK’s bastion and more importantly, it has eaten into vote shares of parties across the board. For instance, K Anbazhagan, treasurer of the DMK, won his homeground Harbour constituency by an embarrassing 400-odd votes. A DMDK candidate managed to eat into both the DMK’s and the ADMK’s share. In all, an 8.33% voteshare across the State for a first timer is truly commendable.

Moral of the story

Much has been said about the “arithmetic versus chemistry” that titled the voter in favour of one alliance. Also, there has been considerable analysis of the populist promises of rice and colour TVs that both Karunanidhi and Jaya offered. But for me, it’s not the rice, the colour TV or the poll alliance that ticked. The big winner, for me, was clearly the voter of Tamil Nadu. The state had a 70% voter turnout – a clear affirmation of the belief in democracy and in the process of adult franchise. Amma’s ouster is also a loud announcement that people prefer change irrespective of performance of the Government. Change, it seems, is a constant need among the electorate of Tamil Nadu.

Pramod Mahajan - Triumph of Spirit

As I write this, Pramod Mahajan is fighting his last battle for survival at the Hinduja Hospital in Mumbai. The story of Pramod Mahajan, to me, is a tale of confidence, self-belief and perseverance in the dirty world of politics. I recall it was in the early 1990s that I first heard about Mahajan from a classmate, who himself was a staunch VHP supporter. He told me how Pramod was a swayamsevak and a rising star in the BJP. A few days later, I read an article on the BJP-RSS adroitly written by Swapan Dasgupta in India Today. Then sometime, later, I saw him on Star News (the earlier NDTV avatar). Pramod Mahajan came across as a confident, articulate and moderate voice of the BJP. He handled the discussion with élan, bounced off criticism with seasoned repartee and managed to win the confidence of both the audience in the studio who responded to his remarks with thunderous applause and millions of middle-class viewers across the country. Mahajan was the middle-class hook of the BJP. His suave, polished countenance coupled with his Hindutva belief was the right recipe to serve the middle-classes during those times. Mind you, I am talking of a period after Babri and before Godhra, when there was unabashed support for Hindutva politics and growing anticipation of the BJP as the Government-in-waiting. Mahajan ascendance can be attributed to being the right man in the right party and at the right time. He embraced modern world thinking, networked with corporate India and was often troubleshooter for the party. But Pramod Mahajan was no saint. He had his fair share of controversies – accusations of corruption, scandal and murder.
The next decade saw Mahajan grow in stature and occupy an enviable position of a master strategist for BJP’s election campaigns. Mahajan was made Defence Minister in Vajpayee’s 13-day Government. He later held the IT, Telecom, Parliamentary Affairs portfolios. But Mahajan’s fall from the power zone was as quick as his rise. He was believed to be the key architect of the India Shining campaign that bombed during the Lok Sabha Elections 2004. Mahajan, unlike other politicians, accepted defeat and took responsibility for it. I still remember in a TV interview, he candidly admitted, “If I’d won, I’d been made a hero, now that we have lost, I take responsibility and look at future challenges.” This was quintessential Mahajan. An eternal optimist and a fighter. For someone, who came from a village called Ambejogai in Maharashtra, it is this die-hard spirit that came to his aid in his moment of crisis. It’s only a matter of time before we hear the worst from the Hinduja Hospital. But Pramod Mahajan will always be remembered as a man – who was candid about his views, someone who fought hard, and never failed to his accept his mistakes. A rare quality in a politician.

Rice Politics and a nervous Amma

The political protagonists of Tamil Nadu never cease to surprise their voters with their histrionics. And the people too, have never failed to surprise their leaders with their pattern of voting. The pendulum of public support in Tamil Nadu has always swung in favour of one of the two major Dravidian parties. Which side the pendulum swings may be a subject of speculation, but that there will be a landslide is a foregone conclusion.

Not this time, though. Somehow, somewhere, everyone – politicians, voters, armchair critics and even my grandmother seem to acknowledge that times have changed. Why even, Karunanidhi, recently made, a veiled reference to accepting a coalition regime to oust the “anti-people jaya regime”. Coalition, until recently, was a bad word for the DMK. And even the voter’s expectations have undergone a transformation. The fruits of economic growth have indeed trickled down (not maybe entirely) to the grassroots and therefore aspirations of the common man have taken a quantum leap. Take a peek at what voters in Krishnagiri want from the next Government: Revival of small-scale units and investments in Industry. Also topping their list of demands is more colleges and an IT park! When was the last time you heard such a wish-list from a rural district in India.

This is a new reality that even Jayalalithaa acknowledges. For the first time in Battle 2006, she has displayed a sense of nervousness. Two of her actions expose her apprehensions – her decision to cancel her campaign in Kerala (the AIADMK, for the first time ever, has ambitiously fielded candidates in Kerala) and spend more time in smaller hamlets in Tamil Nadu. Kerala is irrelevant in the current scheme of things for Jaya and her party. But that she has chosen to campaign in the same areas in Tamil Nadu once again is significant. Secondly, she has responded to Karunanidhi’s offer of “Rice at Rs 2 per kg” with a counter offer of “Rice at Rs 3.50 for 10 kg”. (I still don’t understand the economic rationale of how this is a better deal!) This knee-jerk response is uncharacteristic of Amma. Her decision to get into a game of one-upmanship in poll promises displays a sense of fear that people will buy Karunanidhi’s story. This is reminiscent of what happened in Andhra Pradesh in the 80s when NTR was voted back to power. He started his campaign with a Rs 2 per kg of rice promise. The ruling Congress Party, desperate and clueless in the last lap of the campaign, chose to offer rice at Rs 1.50. This move boomeranged and the party was wiped out from the state for the next decade. Two questions: Are these populist promises in sync with the aspirations of the times? If they are and if they prevail, will Jaya face a similar embarrassment? Let’s wait and watch…

The Art Of The Impossible

If Vaiko jumping sides was a surprise, eat this: Sarath Kumar, Actor and sitting Member of Parliament from the DMK has decided joined the AIADMK. That's not all, his wife, Radhikaa, who runs, Radaan Media, one of the largest and, arguably the most successful, TV production companies in South India, has thrown in her lot as well. Sarath Kumar's entry in the AIADMK fold is a sure shot in the arm for the electoral prospects of Amma's alliance. Sarath Kumar, is a influential and vocal member of the Nadar community, which was a Congress votebank once upon a time. After Kamaraj, himself a Nadar, the community not seen a leader rise from within. Over the years, the void of a seasoned mass Nadar leader coupled with the arrival of a charismatic Nadar in Sarath Kumar, paved the way for the DMK to snatch this votebank away from the Congress. But, the Nadars, for various reasons, were never too comfortable with the DMK. They were never as cosy with Karunanidhi as, say the Thevars were (and are) with Jayalalithaa. The community's internal divisions - Nadar Hindus and Nadar Christians has only split their political clout along regional and religious considerations.
The real reasons for Sarath's exit are still not clear. The community, one hears, is peeved because very few Nadars have been given tickets in Karunanidhi's DPA. Added to this is Sarath's frustration of being sidelined within the party. Sarath's entry to the AIADMK would mean that the Nadar vote would be in favour of Amma's alliance, atleast the Nadar Hindus. And, Sarath is also an effective campaigner and crowd puller, something that would be useful in - what is turning out a close contest - where every seat seems to count and every vote seems to matter.