A YEAR GOES BY..

Cerebral promises

A year worked on

And a life dedicated

Thoughtful commitment

The quest and its statement

An inner urge to go beyond

It’s been a year worked on

An enlightened journey upslope

A pledge to go for the kill

A sentient resolve to respond

Cerebral periodicals

A year worked on

The seminal dissent

And a call taken in

Outwitting the inimical  

INDIAN POLITICS: GOOD TO SEE THAT INDIAN DEMOCRACY IS EXPERIMENTING AGAIN

Politics is a social science and in a country like India, the science of politics affects the social weaving in a major way – negative as well as positive.

Unfortunately, in India, the political scenario has been mostly negative with its ill-effects of corruption, apathy and elitism.

Family rule, nepotism, dynasties and unbroken chain of tenures have created fiefdoms of politicians, that slowly and gradually, in collusion with the spirit of the ‘political camaraderie*’ (as eulogized by a senior politician), have coalesced to form a parallel kingdom of many ‘princely’ states with politicians and their families ruling with ever-spreading tentacles.

The Kings, the Princes, the Princelings, and the Acolytes, and their Hegemony – and their Rule!

WHOM THE DEATH SUSTAINS - LOGGED WITH LOGS

A PHOTOGRAPHY SERIES ON CREMATION WORKERS OF VARANASI

WHOM THE DEATH SUSTAINS- LOGGED WITH LOGS 

CREMATION WORKERS OF VARANASI

 Get interactive with Banaras Calling’s Facebook extension at:

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©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/

AAP GOVERNMENT SWORN-IN: SYMBOLISM OF SYMBOLISMS

This was the obvious comparison to be drawn and it was drawn by many. High on symbolism, Arvind Kejriwal took the Delhi Metro to the venue of his swearing-in ceremony, the Ramlila Ground. There were placards showing the movie ‘Nayak’ poster with Anil Kapoor, the protagonist, an unwilling political reformer and the transcendental chief minister of Maharashtra and Amrish Puri, the anti- to the protagonist, symbolizing everything bad in Indian politics.

Elevation of the Aam Aadmi Party and Arvind Kejriwal into the mainstream of Indian politics is being compared with many symbolisms and let’s don’t think long term, let’s don’t’ analyse the ‘ifs and buts’, let’s just enjoy the high point of these symbolisms only.

Yes, let’s enjoy the high points of these symbolisms as reflective of the misery of the incumbent political lot, the so-called mainstream political parties and politicians who have become synonymous with everything negative in the method of the sociopolitical science; who have become the fountainheads of corruption in the Indian society.

I liked the movie Nayak, for its strong anti-establishment symbolism, leading to the radically fundamental ways the politics being practiced was changed.

Crushed by the atrocities of the dominating political lot, most of the Indians are a frustrated lot who think about but don’t see solutions reaching out to them, to the society, and such imagination of imagery, as portrayed in the movie, appeals to the senses, to the suppressed sensitivities from the oppression of the political lot.

So, it was good to see someone defying them, slapping them in the face.

क्यूँ ढूँढता है जो नहीं है..

क्यूँ ढूँढता है जो नहीं है

क्यूँ ढूँढता नहीं जो यहीं कहीं है

क्यूँ सोचता रहता है उन लम्हों को

क्यूँ जीना चाहता है फिर से उन पलों को

जहाँ तू क़त्ल हुआ करता था कभी

जिन लम्हों में तेरा मैं मरता था कभी

क्यूँ ढूँढता है जो नहीं है

क्यूँ ढूँढता नहीं जो यहीं कहीं है

WHOM THE DEATH SUSTAINS - THE DARK & THE LIGHT

A PHOTOGRAPHY SERIES ON CREMATION WORKERS OF VARANASI

WHOM THE DEATH SUSTAINS- THE DARK & THE LIGHT 

CREMATION WORKERS OF VARANASI

 Get interactive with Banaras Calling’s Facebook extension at:

http://www.facebook.com/BanarasCalling 

Email at: interact@banarascalling.com 

©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/

TAKING ON LIFE..

My reflections on life – in quotes (LXV)

"Live. Achieve. Die. You're Liberated."

©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/

SNOOPGATE PROBE VS ROBERT VADRA LAND DEALS: THE GAME BEGINS

It’s going to happen and we are going to have this funneled interest more hooked up ticking (tickling) our funny bone every now and then.

They say the Congress dirty tricks department has been activated. Who they? Obviously the BJP folks! By whom? Don’t be dumb enough to ask this!

They say why they are running away from the probe if there is no wrong on their part, a political counter-reaction used so repeatedly in the Indian politics of the day that even the terms ‘cliché’ would feel ashamed when used for it. By the way, who this they? Naturally, the BJP people!

The wisdom that has been illuminating the Sonia Gandhi-Rahul Gandhi led Congress party and the Manmohan Singh led United Progressive Alliance government, more so after the opportunity to learn lessons of the profound political wisdom given by the ‘decorated’ humiliation in the assembly elections in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana, has taken another step to target its political rival, in fact the most potent manifestation of its political rival in the prevailing circumstances, Narendra Modi.

CHRISTMAS: SIMILAR TUNE, DIFFERENT RHYME

Devoted to the millions of street-children and underage workers who might have heard the word 'Christmas' but cannot experience it..

Let's pray the Hope of Christmas prevails and the smile spreads..

Merry Christmas to all :) 

Dashing through the streets

Pushed by the forced speed

Day or night, we need to go

Summer or winter, we flow

Surviving odds all the way

Persisting for that good day

When life will be lit bright

Oh so great it will be a sight

A good day for every night

A good night to sing it right

ADARSH SCAM REPORT REJECTED: RAHUL GANDHI JUST MISSED YET ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY

Symbolically shambolic or shambolically symbolic! - “Biggest issue is corruption, it is an unacceptable burden on our people. We must fight corruption”

Rahul Gandhi, was, again, delivering a speech remixing the verbal elements of his speechmaking which we have become so familiar with. He was discussing the problems of India with corporate leaders. And he again spoke on corruption, in his usual style, talking big, when the acts of the many of the Congress leaders directly defy his words. In fact, if we go by the need to set the precedent, even his family needs to come clean on corruption allegations on Robert Vadra, his brother-in-law.

Anyway, that is the regular, usual stuff, keeps on happening, and keeps on defying Rahul’s words.

This time, the push for writing this came from a coincidental turn of events involving Rahul Gandhi, Congress, a speech on corruption and an act of corruption cover-up.

On December 20, the Adarsh Housing Society scam report was tabled in the Maharashtra assembly and summarily rejected by the state government. The chief minister of Maharashtra, Prithviraj Chavan, considered relatively clean on corruption, didn’t give any reason.

The report was prepared by a two-member commission (Adarsh Commission) headed by a retired Justice of the Bombay High Court, JA Patil, to look into the allegations of corruption and irregularities in the construction of Adarsh Housing Cooperative Society in Mumbai.

The report indicted four farmer Maharashtra chief ministers and Congress politicians including Sushilkumar Shinde, the Union Home Minister now, and Ashok Chavan and Vilasrao Deshmukh, former chief ministers of Maharashtra. With many bureaucrats, the report also indicted two influential NCP politicians who are ministers in the Maharashtra cabinet.

This happened on December 20, Friday.

SUPPORT TO AAP: YET ANOTHER POLITICAL BLUNDER BY CONGRESS

It seems, the consistent electoral debacles, the deepening ill-fame of the Manmohan Singh led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, and the recent poll humiliations in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Delhi have drained the grand old party of India totally, squeezing and diluting its grey-matter.

Had it not been so, the party would not have decided to take this risk. It is beyond the rational political thinking of the day that what pushed the Congress strategists to go with it. But let’s give it a try.

The strategists might have thought that AAP would not be able to run the government effectively and would fail miserably in fulfilling the promises it had made to the electorate. They might have thought an inexperienced government burdened with extremely demanding expectations would give more than enough calls to look good while pulling out the support and bringing down the government.

Suppose that happens. What would happen then?

AN AAP GOVERNMENT IN DELHI: HOPE THIS POLITICAL EXPERIMENT WORKS OUT

What could be the silver-lining, the biggest catch, in having an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi?

It will be the clinical trial of one of the most significant political experiments in India where the public, the Aam Aadmi, the voter, has been in the driving seat.

For ages, in the independent India, we have been discussing the need of fundamental changes in the Indian politics. But apart from the JP wave and the failed Janata Party government in the 70s, we do not have much to talk about.

India has had a political lineage of similarly oriented (skewed) politicians, irrespective of the party affiliations because ideology has always been compromised or co-opted by the elitism of the political corruption of the mainstream political parties.

LIFE & YOU

My reflections on life – in quotes (LXIV)

LIFE & YOU,

“It’s up to you to remain a mute spectator in the name of destiny or so,

living and leading a subservient lifestyle, or taking on it head on, with a vengeance,

with your emotional fury, with unwavering confidence of Being You,

 to tell life that let's settle scores,

to become contemporaries with mutual respect for each other.”

©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/

LOKPAL: THE ‘COMPROMISED’ BILL IS LOGICAL ENOUGH TO BEGIN WITH

We are always free to demand for more and we will..

There have been debates and there will be debates on effectiveness of the just passed Lokpal Bill, to create an anti-corruption ombudsman. Some would dismiss. Some would extol. Some would remain skeptical and would prefer to wait and watch.

What was being demanded by the civil society was not a practical one. What was being given by the government was not an acceptable one.

But, the Bill passed ‘finally’ by the Indian Parliament on December 18, can be seen, more or less as an acceptable one to begin with. Broadly, it paves the way for an ombudsman that if implemented in time, with proper infrastructure and with supportive legislations like the Citizen Charter Bill, the Judicial Accountability Bill and the Whistleblowers Protection Bill can prove really effective in spite of the reservations over many of its provisions.

The need is to develop a good ecosystem with all these constituents. Yes, we all know it’s easier said than done. And given the prevalence of political opportunism in India, we know it’s not going to be easy.

But, at least, we have a point to begin now.

The fight has been a long and circuitous one and this outcome should not be seen as a washout and should not be rejected outright. The Bill was to be passed and was to be enacted if we had to move ahead, from planning to implementations stage.

And if it could happen so, finally, after 45 or 50 years, any which way we want to look at it, it owes much to the hugely successful anti-corruption movement of 2011, especially its April and August legs that bolsters the feeling the Indians are learning to express their displeasure more and more expressively, more and more aggressively.

And that is a point to reflect on, to hope positively that an anti-corruption ecology around the Lokpal, with some other corresponding laws, can be created.

LOKPAL BILL PASSED: IN 10 DAYS FLAT!

The Lok Sabha passed the Lokpal Bill yesterday paving the way for its implementation. Implementation – that is the big, another complicated battle lying next.

Passage of a ‘compromised’ bill with some good and some ‘can and to be manipulated’ features is just half the battle won.

And the day comes after 45 years if we begin with 1968 when a related legislation was tried for the first time in the Indian Parliament or it may be after 50 years if we take the first discussion on an anti-corruption ombudsman in 1963 in the Indian Parliament as the point to begin.

And see the brazenness of the political class who kept delaying it for so long, for five decades, is now singing paeans of its efforts, of being the anti-corruption champions.

Now who is going to tell them again that we are not fools? Okay, we, as electors, have acted and act erratically and foolishly every now and then, but many of us are not fools.

Yes, we didn’t have options. All in the political lot were similar. So many of us didn’t vote or if voted, we went for the best of the available, even if we were not satisfied.

LOKPAL, LALU AND CONGRESS-RJD ALLIANCE: THE POLITICAL CACOPHONY CONTINUES

On one side, there is going to be this rat-race to take credit on who got the Lokpal loaded finally into the enactment line of the legislative procedure, with a rush to loot the ‘certificate’ of being the anti-corruption harbinger in a country where corruption has been at alarming levels and where it is has just found the status of being the central poll plank to become the dominant factor in the Indian elections with Aam Aadmi Party’s stunning debut in Delhi, ironically, the events happening concurrently, once again confirm, on the same day, the duplicitous nature of these claimants and their make-shift honest intentions.

Though, there is an amicable atmosphere prevailing right now in sharing the mileage from the outcome, it is bound to get stinky as the Lok Sabha polls approach near.  And the ones in the ruling coalition, who will be crying over the top in taking the credit - their acts, on the day itself, were defying their very intent.

IT’S A CLEAR LETDOWN MR. KEJRIWAL!

Is it a game of any sort?

Okay, it may be said to be a politically smart move to push the ball again in the public’s court on forming the next government in Delhi, but the way things have moved so far, this move, too, sounds as yet another sham of the political theatre of the absurd.

We will take support. We will not take support. The theatrics – pre-poll and post-poll – continue – players remain the same – equations have changed.

Talking of taking a stand – they all talked so – pre-poll and post-poll. Okay, remaining firm on the stand taken - it was never to be expected from Congress and BJP but AAP was not expected to backtrack, because it signified the basic weaving of the new political outfit’s poll plank – anti-Congress, anti-BJP, in fact anti-establishment for the system of governance being practiced by the mainstream political parties.  

But, no one including AAP took any stand it can be said now. AAP did not have to do it. It should have said a clear no to forming the government on December 8 itself. It did say ‘no’ many times post the assembly election results but there was always an implicit willingness to keep the possibility alive.

And now it is clear, out in the open. AAP took a stand that could not stand on its own.

ONE YEAR OF DECEMBER 16 GANGRAPE: UNDERCURRENTS REMAIN IN REALM OF GREY!

Though it was coloured in black and white, it was not black and white. One year after the December 16 gangrape in Delhi was a point to stop and look back on what all has changed.

Have there been changes? And when we talk about ‘changes’, what do we mean by ‘change’?

It was so brutal and animal that it stirred not India only, but pulled the attention of the global community.

The two weeks of protests that followed the December 16 horror slapped the Indian psyche, laid it threadbare, thrashed the Indian administration, made the world worried about women safety in India (their women as well as the Indian women) and thus gave India the tag of the rape capital of the world.

And if we see the developments leading to the ‘desired’ ‘changes’ in this context, we can say nothing ‘much’ has moved.

MR. KEJRIWAL: PLEASE STOP THIS ‘SUPPORT’ PASTIME

It is good to see Aam Aadmi Party dictating the terms in the post-poll scenario in Delhi. But it is good only as long as it doesn’t become the theatre of the absurd.

And it is becoming the one now.

Whatever be the reason, ideological or circumstantial, behind AAP’s unwillingness in forming the government in Delhi with the ‘unconditional’ support from the Congress party, the issue is being dragged now too long to be seen in the realm of value-based politics.

It is neither ideological, nor circumstantial.

Oaky, when we talk of value-based politics, something no one expects from BJP and Congress, it was certainly expected from AAP to maintain the discipline in the formative years of its polity, even if the AAP people have some other plans or even if they are co-opted by the prevailing political System of the country in a not so distant political future.

RAHUL GANDHI: FROM WORDS OF DECEMBER 8 TO WORDS OF DECEMBER 14 – WHERE IS THE CHANGE?

Some five days ago, on December 8 evening, after much cry, after much of the hoarse jugglery, after much humiliation of the miserable of the lot that day, the Congress spokespersons, Rahul Gandhi came forward, flanked and supported by his mother and the Congress party numero uno, Sonia Gandhi, and he said (smiling but in his familiar aggressive style, though without the gestures of his moving hands) it in a way like making a grand proclamation.

And he said (quoting the Wall Street Journal*): Through these elections, the people have delivered a message. That message has been taken by me and our party not just with our minds, but with our hearts. The Congress party has the ability to transform itself, to stand up to the expectations of the people of this country and the Congress party is going to do that.

I am going to put all my efforts in transforming the organization of the Congress party and…give you an organization that you can be proud of and has your voice embedded inside it.

I think the Aam Aadmi Party has involved a lot of people who the traditional parties did not involve. We are going to learn from that and we are going to do a better job than anyone else in the country in ways that you cannot imagine right now.

And for aggression, another media report (the Indian Express**) said:  Rahul said he would work aggressively to make the organisational changes that are needed.

Talking big, enumerating the grand, it would have been so good for Indian politics but for the many let-downs after the ‘Kalawati’ speech delivered by Rahul Gandhi in the Parliament in 2008.

And today was yet another.

OPEN UP AND LIVE EVERY EMOTION

My reflections on life – in quotes (LXIII)

“Bliss, Joy, Love, Curse, Hate, Gloom- 

-Open up and live every emotion.

It makes you a better human being.

It also bewares you of the masks.”

©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/

DEV DEEPAWALI 2013 THROUGH THE LENS (10) - THE PEOPLE

PHOTOGRAPHY

DEV DEEPAWALI 2013

GANGA, GHATS AND VARANASI 

Though spreading to some other Ganga cities, Dev Deepawali is unique to Varanasi. It has achieved a grand scale in the last decade to become synonymous with the fabled Ganga ghats of Varanasi.

Millions of diyas (earthen lamps) spread the message that darkness has to be defeated. Legend says diyas are lit to welcome the gods who descend on Earth on this particular day – Kartik Poornima, 15th day from Deepawali. The day coincides with Guru Nanak’s birth anniversary (Gurpurab) and Jain lighting festival.

©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/ 

MODI-FACTOR VS MODI-WAVE

Personality wave in electoral battles basically follows personality cult. To be a personality cult there, there need to be a large scale uniform acceptability across a large geographical and sociological cross section of the poll-bound area.

If we follow this simple logic of common sense, we can easily say there was no Modi-wave in the recently concluded assembly polls in Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

Better than expected results in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh help the proponents of the Modi-wave theories but then Chhattisgarh and Delhi results, where BJP could hardly win in one and could emerge as the largest party but short of majority in other, defy their every logic.

It is true Narendra Modi did positively add to the BJP vote-share in these assembly polls but it was not a wave, it was the Modi-factor in play.

And there is a clear and visible distance, from Modi-factor to Modi-wave, to be travelled.

377 CRIMINALISED AGAIN: STRANGELY, THE GAY-SEX IS ANTI-SOCIAL AGAIN, AFTER 4 YEARS!

Straight, twisted, simple, complex, thinking, senseless, reverent, ignorant, mindful, thankless – whatever one is – one cannot be denied the right to live his the way he/she wants if it is not affecting the other lives.

It is basically about his/her human rights, universally defined by the United Nations as: Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status. We are all equally entitled to our human rights without discrimination. These rights are all interrelated, interdependent and indivisible.

..equally entitled without discrimination..these rights are all interrelated, interdependent and indivisible..RIGHT TO EQUALITY..some estimates say there are 100 million of them in India..excluded..made outcasts again..when they are just like you and me..yes, with a different view of life..that is their individual choice that doesn't interfere in other lives..and their right to live the life the way feel has to be respected.. 

It was a strange decision by the Supreme Court of India this morning to wash its hands off on approving a norm that a High Court had paved the way for in 2009 to become social norm. The Delhi High Court, in its landmark ruling in July 2009, had decriminalised the Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code that made the gay-sex a criminal act.

Though the Supreme Court didn’t make any negative comment on the LGBT community rights, it pushed the ball to be rolled by the government thus delaying the whole issue and in doing so, it has again, made 377 a tool to criminalise the gay-sex and so to victimize the LGBT community.

Like faith, relations and sexual orientations are very private aspects of an individual’s life and no one should interfere in such decisions, not even courts and governments.

ANNA HAZARE’S RENEWED CALL FOR LOKPAL

Anna Hazare began his fast yesterday, again, to demand the enactment of the Jan Lokpal Bill. Though it made for peripheral headlines, and it didn’t mobilize the crowds to be there at his fast venue in his village Ralegan Siddhi in great numbers, and so it didn’t make for the lenses of the media already overworked with the deadlock on the government formation in Delhi after a hung-assembly verdict on December 8.

But the effect of AAP’s stunning victory in Delhi was clearly visible in the responses by the main political parties, Congress and BJP.

The Congress-led UPA government was guarded in its response after the drubbing it had in the recently held assembly polls in Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. PMO Minister V Narayansamy said on the day-1 of Anna Hazare’s fast that the government had written to the Rajya Sabha chairman for tabling of the Lokpal Bill.

AAP BEYOND DELHI

Though just a regional party at the moment with just one electoral performance in Delhi in its bag, it has stirred the established notions of the current political establishment in India; it has made the members of the existing political class to accept the demand for political change in India.

Barring few, almost everyone was dismissive of the new outfit until the results came on December 8. They are now expressing their desire to learn from ‘how AAP did it’; they are talking of restructuring their outfits, their ways of doing politics.

And yes, what a surprisingly pleasant entry it has been. A voice to the suppressed and expressed desire of political change in India! An echo to the demand that was always there!

The symbolism in AAP’s victory has to be read.

AAP: TREND-SETTING TAKEAWAYS FOR 2014 GENERAL ELECTIONS CAMPAIGN FROM FOUR-STATE POLL RESULTS ON DECEMBER 8

What are the trend-setting takeaways for the 2014 General Elections campaign from the outcome of the four assembly elections held this November-December the results of which were announced on December 8 (Mizoram, being one Lok Sabha seat only, doesn’t matter for the mainstream political parties when it comes to the electoral equations and thus the political calculations to devise strategies and design campaigns).

Delhi or no Delhi – Aam Aadmi Party needs to play it down to play it longer:

Yes, AAP now needs a special mention here. Though just a regional party at the moment with just one electoral performance in Delhi in its bag, it has stirred the established notions of the current political establishment in India. Barring few, almost everyone was dismissive of the new outfit until the results came on December 8. They are now expressing their desire to learn from ‘how AAP did it’.

And yes, what a surprisingly pleasant entry it has been. A voice to the suppressed and expressed desire of political change in India!

Delhi may not have a government for the next six months with President Rule in place after the hung-assembly verdict. As the Lok Sabha polls are scheduled by April-May, holding another assembly election in Delhi should not be an issue. In fact, it should be seen as a welcome opportunity.

CONGRESS: TREND-SETTING TAKEAWAYS FOR 2014 GENERAL ELECTIONS CAMPAIGN FROM FOUR-STATE POLL RESULTS ON DECEMBER 8

What are the trend-setting takeaways for the 2014 General Elections campaign from the outcome of the four assembly elections held this November-December the results of which were announced on December 8 (Mizoram, being one Lok Sabha seat only, doesn’t matter for the mainstream political parties when it comes to the electoral equations and thus the political calculations to devise strategies and design campaigns).

Look beyond Rahul Gandhi – Look inside – Though complete redemption impossible in the time available but, at least, some ground can be saved, some humiliation can be averted:

It was ignorance and arrogance both that led the Congress party, the grand old party of India, to bite the dust, to go down so miserably.

Arrogance has been trademark of Congress rule and whenever they continue in government for more than one term, we see its convoluted form on display. First, the Manmohan Singh led UPA government messed up with the economy during the first three years of its second term. Then, in order to win the elections riding on easy money, they pushed schemes to pump easy money into the lives of millions of its targeted voters (at the cost of others who have been mostly silent till now – the middle-class bearing the brunt of everyday corruption and price rise – that was until now).

BJP: TREND-SETTING TAKEAWAYS FOR 2014 GENERAL ELECTIONS CAMPAIGN FROM FOUR-STATE POLL RESULTS ON DECEMBER 8

What are the trend-setting takeaways for the 2014 General Elections campaign from the outcome of the four assembly elections held this November-December the results of which were announced on December 8 (Mizoram, being one Lok Sabha seat only, doesn’t matter for the mainstream political parties when it comes to the electoral equations and thus the political calculations to devise strategies and design campaigns).

BJP’s Modi-wave rant is going to be under the impending influence of the reality: The reality is imminent and the BJP strategists should read it rather than trying tagging along to getting aligned with the all powerful prime ministerial nominee of BJP and NDA. They need to read the writing on the wall carefully because there are in-built elements of confusion.

Confusions that will lead to complacency and hence to the possibilities of debacle in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls!  

ANOTHER DELHI ASSEMBLY ELECTION IN NEXT SIX MONTHS: WOULD POLITICS OF VALUES FINALLY BE AT PLAY IN INDIA?

If taking a stand still matters in Indian politics, then, ideally, Delhi ‘must’ see another assembly election in the next six months.

BJP has won 32 seats, AAP 28 and Congress 8. Now, BJP needs 3 seats to reach to the half-way mark in the 70-seat Delhi Assembly to form the government while AAP needs 7 seats to be able to do so.

Now, for ‘politics of value’ or for the sake of the stand taken by the three outfits, ‘poaching’ or ‘horse-trading’ should be (has to be) ruled out. And independents, being just two in number, cannot be an option to explore either.

FIVE STATE ASSEMBLY POLLS: THE COUNTING DAY TAKEAWAYS

THE COUNTING DAY - it’s the D-Day of the last round of the electoral politics in India before the political slugfest for the grand theatre of the Indian electoral panorama, the General Elections of 2014, begins.

And it is coming on the expected calculations. (Counting for Mizoram is tomorrow.) 

 It is just matter of time to say if it is 4-0 for BJP or 2-0 for BJP (taking Delhi and Rajasthan from Congress) or 3-0 for BJP (let’s save the comment for final figures on Chhattisgarh) and vice versa - 0-2 or 0-1 for Congress.

And as expected, the debate on Narendra Modi Vs Rahul Gandhi is on, relentlessly.

DEV DEEPAWALI 2013 THROUGH THE LENS (9) - THE PEOPLE

PHOTOGRAPHY

DEV DEEPAWALI 2013

GANGA, GHATS AND VARANASI 

Though spreading to some other Ganga cities, Dev Deepawali is unique to Varanasi. It has achieved a grand scale in the last decade to become synonymous with the fabled Ganga ghats of Varanasi.

Millions of diyas (earthen lamps) spread the message that darkness has to be defeated. Legend says diyas are lit to welcome the gods who descend on Earth on this particular day – Kartik Poornima, 15th day from Deepawali. The day coincides with Guru Nanak’s birth anniversary (Gurpurab) and Jain lighting festival.

©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/ 

..OR YOU BEING THE PERSON YOU THINK TO BE..

My reflections on life – in quotes (LXII)

“The illusion - the Illusionist,

The delusional Methodist,

The Hallucinatory thinker,

 The Dreaming Realist,

Life the Way it is,

Or,

You being the Person You think to be,

The Identity Idealist,

The Existential Realist,

The Diehard Individualist-

-BE YOU”

©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/