The Modern Buddha

If you've read today's newspaper, you will have read about the oath-taking ceremony of the WB CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
Having spent a major part of my formative years in the stronghold of the Left parties in India, you can say that I have a certain affinity to issues related to WB; at the very least, I have an opinion on them.
While there, I always cursed the government for the appaling state of affairs in Kolkata. I hated everything Left, and to this day believe that the communist ideology of these parties is at best posturing, and at the worst, hypocrisy. Because I believe that we are all, at heart, capitalists and votaries of the free market. Because we are a poor nation, we are composed of a large size of population who are workers, so we have to espouse their cause by calling ourselves Communists. Recent events seem to support my viewpoint.
Buddha has steered WB towards the mainstream. I believe he has been quoted to have said that WB, being one among 28 other states, cannot be a socialist island, and that we are all capitalists.
To my die-hard communist comrades I would like to say this: the days of idealism-mongering (to coin a phrase) are well and truly over; in the decades before WWII, in the days of Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler, George Orwell and others of their ilk, the world was obsessed with various isms. There were fierce debates on which ideology was best suited for us. Even in the seventies, our communist brethren were still concerning themselves with non-issues like these. My suggestion to them is, do this during spare-time. There is no time and money to spare on idle thought.
A large part of the world is starving; there is injustice, corruption, and decadence. Work to build the nation; forget about ideologies. Posterity will decided which ism you belonged to; history will document the net effect of your actions. Will you allow your descendants to accuse you of inaction?
Buddha has proved that he is a man of action, who believes that his deeds speak better than his words. His is an example to follow; finally Bengal is in the path to development, something in which it has been languishing for decades. Here is the chance to restore it to the pristine glory it once had. Hail Comrade!

MANDAL REVISITED

The whole of northern India is up in flames....it is Mandal 1989-90 revisited....the spectre of MANDAL II....In 1989 it was VP Singh.....the flames engulfed him then, they finished him politically...the villain of the piece now is ARJUN SINGH!This man was considered prime ministerial material at one time....now he is a doddering old fool, stumbling through the corridors of power, dragging his legs with his stick, cynically using the power vested in him by trusting millions, to further the sinister cause of all political parties....VOTES!VOTES!!Votes at any cost, even if it destroys the lives of the youth!!!He had the temerity to stand in LOK SABHA and proclaim that he was not going to back out of this decision....this arrogance and stubborness is because he has won the elections....we would like to know, did the people who voted from him, do they all want him to do things this way ?We thought India had come a long way...away from the divisive politics of the past generations....we believed that a new generation had arisen, new leaders with vision and hope, who wanted all Indians to be equal...Yes, we thought the days of Rahuls and Jyotiradityas and Jindals had dawned and that we would see a new and progressive INDIA!But alas! It seems that we were too credulous, that we have been belied again.For Arjun Singh alone would not have dared to stand against the rising tide of protesters in the country..... not unless he had the backing of all these self-serving politicians...The time has come to change the culture of the country.....to create an atmosphere where such politicians cannot breathe....where corruption, divisiveness, nepotism, cronyism cannot survive...For this we have to carry the poor and the downtrodden with us...we have to convince all those people who vote for these politicians that there are better options. We have to create a climate for nation building...We have to show these cynical politicians that their days are numbered, that the time has come to account for their actions.Now no political decision should be taken with the vote-bank in mind...everything should be pre-decided through fora comprising the intellectuals and progressive minds in the society. Deviations from these policies should be dealt with firmly by the law-enforcement agencies....the power in the hands of these politicians has to be severely curbed, so much so that it no longer remains lucrative to enter politics.Let only those interested n building the nation enter politics; for this, all priveleges should be withdrawn.

MANDAL REVISITED

The whole of northern India is up in flames....it is Mandal 1989-90 revisited....the spectre of MANDAL II....In 1989 it was VP Singh.....the flames engulfed him then, they finished him politically...the villain of the piece now is ARJUN SINGH!This man was considered prime ministerial material at one time....now he is a doddering old fool, stumbling through the corridors of power, dragging his legs with his stick, cynically using the power vested in him by trusting millions, to further the sinister cause of all political parties....VOTES!VOTES!!Votes at any cost, even if it destroys the lives of the youth!!!He had the temerity to stand in LOK SABHA and proclaim that he was not going to back out of this decision....this arrogance and stubborness is because he has won the elections....we would like to know, did the people who voted from him, do they all want him to do things this way ?We thought India had come a long way...away from the divisive politics of the past generations....we believed that a new generation had arisen, new leaders with vision and hope, who wanted all Indians to be equal...Yes, we thought the days of Rahuls and Jyotiradityas and Jindals had dawned and that we would see a new and progressive INDIA!But alas! It seems that we were too credulous, that we have been belied again.For Arjun Singh alone would not have dared to stand against the rising tide of protesters in the country..... not unless he had the backing of all these self-serving politicians...The time has come to change the culture of the country.....to create an atmosphere where such politicians cannot breathe....where corruption, divisiveness, nepotism, cronyism cannot survive...For this we have to carry the poor and the downtrodden with us...we have to convince all those people who vote for these politicians that there are better options. We have to create a climate for nation building...We have to show these cynical politicians that their days are numbered, that the time has come to account for their actions.Now no political decision should be taken with the vote-bank in mind...everything should be pre-decided through fora comprising the intellectuals and progressive minds in the society. Deviations from these policies should be dealt with firmly by the law-enforcement agencies....the power in the hands of these politicians has to be severely curbed, so much so that it no longer remains lucrative to enter politics.Let only those interested n building the nation enter politics; for this, all priveleges should be withdrawn.

NRI Blues

NRIs are flooding the market, and now they are a dime a dozen. Most of them have learnt their spoken English there (having learnt only a bookish-sort of reading English during schooling) and so end up having horribly put-on American twangs that sound as phoney as an ass's singing voice. It'd all appear harmless, as the Hindi-movie caricature of the NRI-bufoon who gets ribbed by the REAL hero, and who always loses in the love-tangle, would suggest, if it were not for a few specimen who really make your blood boil. Most NRIs are enchanted by the land of milk and honey they have seen there, but forget that they can't really expect the same thing here. Most of them probably haven't seen the medical scene there, so they don't realise how difficult it is to walk into a doctor's chamber there, much less start demanding things! They don't realise how defensive they are over there; I have had NRIs praising me for my approachability, for my straight-forwardness, and willingness to explain things.They are simply traits we haven't managed to lose yet!Of course many NRIs are sweet-natured, polite, decent and well-behaved, but of recent one notices that such specimen are few and far in-between!We had an especially obnoxious piece they sent over from the UK (couldn't keep him longer there, I gather); this guy delivers his vicious monologue on sweet-tempered elderly spinsters who believe in turning the other cheek, and makes a quick getaway when he so much as hears a footfall. He should by now be keeping his ears cocked for a heavier footfall or the sound of a club cracking his skull open.