kayarbee

  Simply speaking , power as well as roll of Democracy is not confined to voters exercising their electoral right to vote .In Democracy the idea of election is to choose a government that allows the citizens to express their dissent, demand accountability and influence public policy. The  recent detailed  investigating  report published in "The Indian Express"  established that two out of three  "Election Commissioners" had complained that they were kept in the dark on most of the crucial decisions taken at the "Election Commission"  They also revealed unprecedented internal fractures and serious administrative disputes within the "Election Commission". They  claimed that they had formally lodged written objections  at least "14" times over "10" months  against unilaterally made decisions by the "Chief Election Commissioner"  Gyanesh Kumar and the ECI's  "IT Division".  Further they revealed that critic...

  The Bhagavad Gita is a living scripture  universally relevant  today as it was 5000 years ago in the battlefield of Kurukshetra. It is a divine conversation that took place in the battlefield of Kurukshetra  between two best  friends, Lord Krishna the Charioteer and Arjuna the warrior.  'Bhagavad Gita' is an integral part of of Indian mythology  I have always believed mythology is not for everyone including me.  So when my friend, the author of the book  "Understanding Bhagavad Gita", gave me a  copy to review , I was not very comfortable.  I like  'Arjuna'  started looking for excuses . However one day not very soon , "The Recipe For A Better Life " the part of the title  hooked me into reading it The author has covered the essence of 'Gita' inside the  160 pages, through   eighteen Chapters.  Every chapter has an "Introduction", a "Summary" and a "Reflection" The simplicity of his writing gives...

The Chief Electoral Officer of India has at last announced the dates for Assembly Elections for Bihar's 243  Assembly seats. The  election will be held in 2 phases,  6th of November (Thursday) and  11th of November (Tuesday)  The outcome of the poll is expected to be announced on 16th, i.e. the following Sunday.  Bihar is one of the four "BIMARU" States of India The other three are UP, Rajasthan and  Madhya Pradesh   These "BIMARU" States are currently running  under "Modi Ki Guarantee".    The two major political Parties that are in this Bihar election fray are  (1) BJP led NDA alliance that includes JDU '.  Nitish Kumar , the sitting CM  belongs to JDU  (2)   The "Mahaghatbandhan"  an alliance of RJD and Congress   .However there is also a third Political Party which  is  "Jan Suraaj".  This is  a newly found  Party led by its founder Prashant Kishore colloqui...

  I am one among 900  million plus    "nuts and bolts" of our  Democracy , who   become "faceless" faces in the crowd after  every 5 years.  Year 2014 election was in every sense historic It was beyond doubt a landslide victory for BJP and the beginning of  the so called "MODI" Raj  In year 2014 my reason and my josh for  casting my vote for  BJP was "Modi". His speeches were "sparkling confidence" that set ablaze the confidence of  the nation that was trying to rise up from the cesspool of corruption   Looking back now after 11 years I realise that year 2014 was also  the beginning of era called   "Political Branding" that would  covert  a "politician" into a larger than life  "Mega Leader" Perhaps that is the reason that today in politics "anti-incumbency" does not matter at all . Here are  in brief  a Common man's  bunch of thoughts on "Modi Story". These ...

Delhiites have turned   indifferent to the " Toxic Air" that they breath  They have stopped bothering about the "smoke screen " that is keeping away   "Sun light"  from giving them the ray of "HOPE"  to keep their lungs "Sun Shined" . Like "AGE"  for them now  even the  AQI (Air Quality Index) has become a sheer number .They have long since stopped reacting to the AQI  shooting up. They have lost their "JOSH"" to protest for their fundamental right to breath. Delhi is the very seat of the duly elected "POWER".  of  World's largest Democracy  The "custodian" of this Democracy reside here  at   "7 LOK KALYAN"  but remain hardly visible in and around the city This  "custodian"  continues to remain the very "Most"  'Frequent Flier' of our Democracy and  the only  'STAR '  campaigner for the political party that he comes from.    Getting re-elected...

    I was the youngest of the 4 siblings and the only son ,but that  never  made me precious and  pampered by the family. My father was in the army. We all  grew up in cantonment environment, hopping almost every 2 years  from one Cantonment to the other  Like from Allahabad’s Draupadi Ghat we came to Calcutta’s Fort William and  then to  Bangalore Cantonment  Bangalore was the only city where we  remained stationed for almost 5 years before getting  shifted to Delhi Cantonment in 1961, 4th of July to be precis It was the year 1959-60 and I was about 10 years old  studying in the 6th form in the Army’s  Regimental school . Around this time my  father decided to put me into “King George Military School” .This  was a ‘day’ Boarding School exclusively for Defence personnels . It is now called “Rashtriya Military School”. There was an aptitude test which I cleared but failed the written test. I was happy, a...

   When you already  know a little about the  book it does create an  interest “Blessed Curse” was just that.  This book is about an  Indian middle class household  that is holding together three generations in generous harmony with all those ifs and buts about the generation gaps  The book undoubtedly is  an inspirational read  especially at a  time when the concept of   “nuclear households", remains a widely spread idea among the Millennials  It recalibrates your mind to question , debate ,accept and  celebrate every generation’s point of view  This book is the story of Jagdamba Prasad & his wife Pushpa Devi living with their son, daughter in law and grandchildren in one of the colonies of East Delhi’. The author in this book takes the reader through good, bad and ugly about each generation. The beauty is, it does not come as a bout of episodes but as “cosy chats” between the members of the family...

  "African Safari" is an intriguing title for a book that nowhere talks of  any expeditions to animal kingdom in the jungles of Africa. This book is about a cigar smoking business tycoon , a multibillion and multinational conglomerate whose business interest goes beyond his inherited empire of liquor and beer industries and spreads across industries  as diverse  as Airlines, Pharma, Paints, textiles to name a few. The media across the globe dub him as "King of good times".  "African Safari " is the story of "Rana Kapoor" the business tycoon and his business ventures in the French speaking regions of Africa, a continent that is fast emerging as world's big time growth market. The book takes us through  intricacies of clinching  business deals.  It talks about how political lobbying and networking with people in high places and bankers collaborate and become a blue print for M&A  stories. The book tells you that stories of business ventures...

I  am returning to this space after 2 years and past 242 posts .It doesn't mean that I have lost my itch  for writing. I have always loved  scribbling words that give voice to the way I look at a situation, or to the way I feel about anything on the ground and under the sky. . My   view  may or may not matter  to the rest. However for me it remains a  mark of my own creativity. My creativity is more about visualizing things that  seldom see the light of the day.   Some call this  “Daydreaming” . I don't mind if people call me  a “wandering mind.” Neither I am bothered about the stigma called  “laziness” attached to it.  I see it as a tonic that energizes me  to think  beyond the realm of possibility For instance no matter how much  ever  I would have   chased my dreams  of becoming a corporate tycoon  I would never have been one simply because I would then lose the privilege and intimacy ...

  We all say we are proud to be Indians,  yet winning any type of  H1 Visas to move  to America remain an all time fascination for every Indian across the peneninsula. Almost every household here today  has  a member or two  migrated to Ameirica from the day we won our freedom from the British rule We may much boast of our educational systems and institutions, yet every Indian youth with brilliant brains aspire io  make it to Harvard or any of the ivy league elite colleges in America. We may claim of best medical facilities yet everyone  of our  politicians and the members of our affluent  elites fly away to America for their medical treatments  Except for Indian movies ,Indian music and indian culinary, we remain fascinated by everything that is America. The Indian settlers in America may not ordinarly talk  and  take pride of their Indian lineage and heritage, but  when it comes to ballot harveting they will ne...

This Bihar election is the first major election since the Covid 19 pandamic disrupted the political calender and prompted sweeping measures for social distencing. The three Phase Bihar Poll for 243 Vidhan Sabha seats was completed on the 7th. The turnout for the poll as per media report was 58%. Today is the vote counting day. By the time the sun sets today , the dawn  of the next political regime in the State will emerge. Will this dawn usher in a new political 'don' or  the "Sarkar Raj" will continue  with  their  "All is Well " narrative for another 4 years. Will PM Modi, the over used "trump card" political campainer for NDA  be able  to push  back JDU- BJP led alliance once again into rulling Bihar for another four year terms or will he   concede defeat without playing and  crying foul.  Well whatever be the outcome of today's polling verdict, the politics of vendetta and vilifying the  poor will continue. The proble...

  This morning in flat 10 minutes BJP got the  2 contrversal "Farmer bills" passed in the Rajaya Sabha through a sham voice voting amidist the panddemonium created by an  urully opposition .Once again our parliamentary democracy witnessed an udemocratic voting  system being  uleashed  No debate. No diascussions , Bill passed.. The two Farmer bills that got passed today were (1) The Farmers' and Produce Trade and Commerce(Promotion and Facilitation) Bill,2020. (2)Farmers(Empwerment and Protection)Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm services Bill,2020. The above bills that now become a statutory law will  take away a major revenue stream of the States. Additionally it will in times to come bring in big Corporate Houses spreading their wings into Agricultural products. Further since the govt will let go its control on minimum support Price assured to farmers(MSP), the farmers specially the margainilzed farmers will become victims of giant Corporate Hous...

The month of MAY.,, It was dead of the night , I was just about to catch my wink of sleep when the  silence of the night was suddenly disturbed by the shrill of the telephone bell ringing in the drawing room. I got up from the bed and like a robot  walked  into the drawing room to  pick up the phone. As I lifted the receiver and brought it to to my ear, I heard a voice from the other side that said...Hi Bala. The voice was very familiar, so I said hi and got  into conversation.  The phone conversation went on something like this: The voice from the other side:   Bala what is this "Corona Virus"?  My Voice:    Hey don't tell me you don't know ...I chuckled The voice from the other side :   You stupid  if I knew that  I won't be asking  My Voice:     How could some one on this damn earth remain so   ignorant...I quizzed The voice from the other side :  ...

"Coronavirruseses" are a group of related viruses that cause diseases in the mammals and birds. Human eating habits obviously cause the spread of this virus in human. In human this virus causes resiperatory track infections that can be mild but can turn leathel very fast if not treated immediatly. Covid-19 is part of the group of  "Coronaviruses".  It is this Covid-19 that has now globally hit us.  Ecnomically crippled the world is fighting the war for  very existence  As per United Nations out of the total 195 countries world over  193 countries are fighting this virus .It has now become a fight for very survival. Covid -19 has turned pendamics. 'Pendamic' is a situation where the outbreak  affect  extensively the population world over. As I write this , Covid -19 has already become an event of alarming distess and disaster .We as a world  are today  in a state of Calamity. Covid-19 poped up in the city of  Wauhan in the ...

It was the landslide victory in the GE of year 2014 that gave BJP the glittering vision of its political future. The Party’s total faith on its political Slogan “Modi hai to Mumkin hai” then became the party “Bible”. Soon thereafter “Modi” became BJP’s very definition of Democracy .For the first time in the political history of India the voters of the world’s largest democracy decided to unconditionally     agree to not disagree with Modi’s political and administrative decisions. For the people in general Modi’s word became a “Satya Vachan” unmindful of his “Mann Ki Baat”.No doubt he has become the pied piper for the masses. The masses that constitute almost 400 million illiterate people plus over 300 million people living in abject poverty. These are the numbers out of the 900 million total eligible voters that we have in the country at the close year 2019. Incidentally the average voter turnout in any GE generally remains below 60% and bulk of which constitute the...

At last the Govt of the Day dared to call off the political bluff of the CONGRESS that kept the State of Jammu and Kashmir perennially  under fear of militancy for past 70 years. Yes, PM Modi and his Govt today scrapped Article 370 and  Article 35A through passing a legislation on the floor of the Parliament. This also scrapes the stand alone Constitution for "Kashmir"   Beginning today the Constitution of India will be equally applicable to all States and Union territories from Kashmir to Kanyakumari.  India thus becomes today a  country of one "Nation" one "Constitution" and that too both in letter and spirit. Kashmir is a State that remained fuming under the tunnel of insurgency and now  gets the opportunity to walk up to the end of the tunnel  and spot  the light of hope. A hope perhaps  moving forward will make all the difference to the people and the State. Scrapping Article 370 and Article 35A is I feel will ...

The Congress and the UPA remain defiantly guilty of betraying people's trust and that probably led to their going off the political  power way back in 2014.. It would be interesting to note  that RTI Bill was passed in the  Parliament during the UPA regime and it was under them that "The Right to Information" Act 2005 became a law  . Ironically one of the major reasons for the Congress led UPA fall in 2014 was RTI . Major scams that came to light through RTI then  were  Adarsh Housing Scam, 2 G Spectrum Scam and Commonwealth Irregularities to name the few.  BJP/Modi led NDA  made maximum use of these Scams to strategize their massive win that year They then  almost  sealed the political fate of the "Congress". The Modi led BJP/NDA has now comeback for a second term on the strength of a massive mandate. We have been witnessing time and again since year 2014 the law of diminishing Democracy taking root and  adversely affecting...

Reading this Novel was interesting absorbing and intriguing all at the same time. It is a pleasure writing a review for this book  This is a Novel which unfolds a story  almost effortlessly through a chain of  dream sequences on board of a late night  Delhi- London flight .This is the author's second book. If his  first book was a collection of 27 short  stories based on his encounters in day to dav  life, this book I can say is all about an Encounter of third kind. The book casually starts off in the Aircraft where  our protagonist  picks up   conversations with few fellow passengers while the aircraft is still on a start mode for a take off. The way the author has presented the ongoing  tete-a-tete and the Air hostess/Flight attendants routine rituals proves  that he has that stuff of  being a keen observer of minute details. He has captured them all beautifully The entire book is on a simple conversational ...