MANIPURI DANCE WITH DRUMS

POWER WITH RESPONSIBILITY

Saturday, May 16, 2009
Little Words _ "power with responsibility"

With great power, comes great responsibility, wrote Times of India in its today’s front page edit. From time in memorial, power has been the source of survival. The entire existence on this earth pursued the path of realizing ‘power’. Power meant different things to different people. In our mythology, power to protect was vested in gods, and likewise the demons made penance to grab power from gods to use in destruction of the very creation. The deadly virtues in form of jealousy, greed, lust are the bi products of owing this power.

I spent my day yesterday in front of the TV, watching NDTV 24x7. These guys did a great job of making your drawing room into an extension of their studios. As the sun rose in the east, the lotus started wilting and so did the owners of this flower. The real face of politics will emerge in the days to come, all those masks which covered the ugliness during the pre polls have been pulled down. We the people of this country, I am glad have arrived. We have shown year after year that we are continuously evolving in our nature and attitudes. We proved this time that we no longer are subservient to the whims and fancies of the likes of the saffron brigade, the red brigade and the goonda brigade. All of them are humbled proper and are given the taste of their own tactics.

Did you ever, I repeat ever, imagine Ms. Mayavati as the prime minister of this country? I dared to think of it one day, and all I could see; that people are converted to appear like the statues which were fondly erected allover UP by Ms. Mayavati. By what competence can she even think of the position?

By the way I heard Mr Karat saying in one of his pre poll meetings that the people of this country are living in a fool’s paradise. Indeed, I must say, when we are lead by the fools, certainly we would be living in a fool’s paradise.

Years back I used to think that if there is one State in this country which should not be existing on face this earth was Bihar. If it was so, I would have proved wrong today. Arrogance, another bi-product of holding power brought down many hallowed characters. History is the witness to it. Saddam Hussein, literally had to lick the dust. Beware; any of us can fall in this trap. And so are the great leaders of this State who are apologetic, not because they are humbled, but because they have no other choice. Stripped of the power, they will lick the boots of any one who has that power. Lalu emerged as the fore runner in accepting that he made a mistake. In the neighboring State of UP, the Yadavs and the Singh have over night turned holy, but their arrogance has not left its shade from their hide. They are waiting for a formal invitation from the Congress to help them in forming a stable govt (sic).

I live officially in Ghaziabad, UP, but I enjoy the weather from Delhi. A dirty road separates from the ‘order’. The roads in Vaishali can date back to the pre historic times. Thank to Ms. Mayavati who holds it onto the Yadavs and Singhs.


Finally, we know where we stand and what we deserve. I know for sure that there will be a corporate like order in governance and at least the lunatics are kept at bay. I voted for the continuity and development. I firmly believe that this country will soon be a power to reckon with.

Mr Somnath Chatterjee was so anguished and angered over the behaviour of the so called leaders in the parliament; he cursed them that they will loose in the elections. I don’t know how many of them lost their seats.

I hope the elected will not only behave but use their power with responsibility.

ALL IN THE GAMES

Sunday, May 17, 2009
Delhi before the Games
There is lot of information written on the preparations of the forthcoming commonwealth games being held this year. What does this Games mean to the common man?

What ever is the outcome of the performance of the Indian teams, one thing is very sure; i.e., the blame game has already started and it will virtually take its ugly shape post the games. This has been the trend, going by the attitude of the governance to sports.

Every sports person dreams of achieving a win. They prepare sincerely and give their entire life to the sport they follow. The clamour of being part of the sports administration is another thing. The administration and the sportspersons never come to terms with the goal in sight.

Even before our hardworking athletes take to the coaching camps, the dissolution sets in. The infra structure is an apology and cannot even match the mediocre fecility abroad.

In every aspect of a sports persons life, the administration fails their duty.

I keep reading these days in the papers, about the government's plan to landscape the important roads which lead to the venues keeping in the view of the games. I ask why should they do any good thing only when there is an excuse. Why can't the government plans involve the normal life of the city.

what happens after the games, the maintenance of the feicilities will go back to the condition which they were before?

Thankfully the beautiful bus shelters are in good shape because they are looked after by a private organisation. Leave them to the municipality, and even stray dogs fear to step in them.

I always maintained that coporatisation of the governance is the need of the hour.

Take care.

It was the dream of my wife to start a publication for children. she coined a tag line "Bridging knowledge between school & home". I joioned her in getting her dream fulfilled. Two years back around this time, we printed the dummy edition of Million Words. We liked when the copies appeared on the newsstands. We waited at the stalls to see if people are picking the copies. We were happy to see people started picking up copies and we sold 2000 copies out of 3000 copies printed. Good beginning, we said. Later we brought out Little Words. This title soon became a hit in the market and we started distributing across the country through a network we developed. Soon, the competition started analysing the content and started following the style in many ways. We liked it immensly.

We soon realised that publishing is not for every one. It requires either a strong commitment or strong pockets which can dole out few lacs without even bothering to get it back. We were only committed without the storng pockets.

The content has become a house hold name and parents respond very positively and many are annoyed if the copies do not reach them on time. Schools responded promptly. The reach of these copies is growing in strengths.

The advertisers for some reason fail to recognise the reach of this magazine. I have tried and still hopefully trying to convince few of them.

I look out for working parters who can invest into the magazines and make a killing. There is a great opportunity as children category is wanting good content.

Pure dance forms are and their followers are though in growing numbers, there has been always a great temptation to experiment either by fusing two dance forms or by merely making it abstract.

This one is from the fusion of Indian dance form 'Bharatanatyam' with western ballet. there has been attempts to show the similarities in expressions.

At My Desk

"Never it was this cold", was the SMS I received from my son, who is in London on an official work. Sitting in Delhi, I once agree with him, because Delhi may have seen the worst winters before, but I remember one winter during my visit to Delhi way back in 1973 January. I was living in a camp under tents in a vast open area. Icy winds blowing to make our life miserable. I slept in my uniform, fearing the freeze over night and sleeping under the thick layers of many blankets.

But as I recall that January 1973, I still brace myself to the chill with in the four walls of my home. This is global freezing for you right now.