Clips and unrelated things

Scrounging around the dresser for a quick blip. Not much time left before the day ends here.

I lost about 10 subscribers today. It was rather funny. The reason is, inactive/suspended accounts are not going to add to that number any more. so it might reflect for some blippers.

In more important news, loads of political activity happening in this part of the country. A leader of one the the parties called KCR decided to "fast unto death" until his demand for a new state called Telangana was met. His agitation for almost 9 years gathered sudden momentum after the death of the last chief minister YSR. Much is being read into this "coincidence." Much is also being read into the fact that KCR's party didn't win any seats in the assembly elections recently.

The region called Telangana is arid, and infested with resurgent groups - the Naxalites. The demand is to have Hyderabad and Secunderabad, the most developed parts of the original state of Andhra Pradesh as part of the new state. Which is not good news for us. The rate of development is likely to slow down here, property prices have already dipped at the whiff of change. All this might discourage foreign (even from other parts of India) investors. The suggestion is to create a separate Union Territory from the twin cities to be governed directly by the Central government. Anyway, all these proceedings will take time. The formation of a new state is no mean task. But sitting around criticizing greedy politicians, finding out their ulterior motives and stereotyping them becomes popular small-talk at the workplace.

The same happens when we hear about certain political parties holding extremist views wreaking violence upon the common man, destroying property and creating terror under the pretext of fighting for the rights of people in a particular region, further separating a nation that is already diverse. It is interesting how we fail to learn from India's past where selfishness, fuelled by diversity had been exploited by invaders to the hilt.

But by debating upon mere conjectures and simply criticizing the goons, aren't we only becoming the mindless mob, India's middle-class, pseudo-intellectuals, people who in extreme cases are incapable of taking a clear stand? The last thing I want is a discourse on the motives of politicians and news-makers, for they are nothing but speculation. And discussing people is not only boring, but a sheer waste of time.

Which brings me to an interview I was watching last night. Noted journalist, Mrinal Pande was talking to Nandita Das, a reputed filmaker and social activist. The interview was in Hindi and in one of the regional channels I would normally not even be aware of. And unlikely as it was for more reasons than one, it stirred my interest. The questions, suitable, precise, and even tricky were answered with great equanimity. When asked about how she reconciles her ideology with the atrocities people commit in the name of religion and cultural identity, she pointed out something very simple and obvious without going into any irrelevant specifics. She said, "Me being Gujarati, or Oriya is not something I have achieved or acquired. This is something I was born with and did nothing to have it. Far more important than the identities we acquire as a result of our birth is what we "do" in the course of our lives. Many people fail to realize this simple fact."

At least someone was thinking independently!