The killing fields & The enemy within

Pause for a second from the unstoppable coverage of the IPL masala that is going on. Fix the focus on Dantewada, that killing field where 76 of our young country men were mercilessly gunned down by the maoists. There were only 3 survivors in this gruesome tragedy. They managed to escape only because they acted dead as the maoists walked in the blood pool searching for survivors. And, it required some other officers from their camp to arrive after some hours to rescue them braving the maoist bullets. You might be thinking at this juncture that their ordeal had ended. Far from that, this was just the beginning. What followed this, wounded them more than the bullets that had pierced their body. They were taken to a worn down government hospital where the linen on the bed had stains of the previous patients. It was a hovel with a blocked toilet drain. And, to add to the woes there were no doctors or nurses. And there were no dignitaries too to visit, not one from the state or central govt or from the police. Only 2 CRPF SIs who came on their own kept watch over the wounded men. And, as P.Chidambaram arrived one day later for the photo-ops, there were docs, the linen was clean and the toilet was clean. The docs promptly left after PC left. Read more on this shocking neglect of our paramilitary men in this article from last week's Tehelka(which alas became more famous for a badly researched article). Another point to note was that more than half of these guys came here only 2 weeks back. It was a case of bad strategy all over as these jawans were pushed to the face of death.

Coming to the other side of the story, in another superb essay, Shoma Chaudhary has done a root cause study on what is wrong with the way we are tackling the maoist menace. No, its not of the 'Indian democracy is fake' kind of hollow statements that someone like Arundathi Roy makes. Shoma has given out a clear cut strategy for the future, one that may be slow but sure to yield results. The state has been on a witch hunt as far as fighting maoists are concerned. There's no intiative to study the forest using information from satellites or from the maoists who are captured alive. According to reports, the jawans are asked to just go out and shoot. Their strategy is best exemplified in the popular malayalam saying-"kattavane kittiyillengil, kittiyavane thattuka"(If you don't get the one who stole, kill the one you managed to catch). And as a result young boys were dragged out from their houses and charged with crimes like waging war against the state. At the heights of this operation, a bunch of 70-80 year old women who protested against the illegal arrests were also arrested under such charges. The special police officers(SPOs) known as the Salwa Judum in chattisgarh burnt down villages, raped women and killed the men. In Bengal, villagers were forced to leave their cattle and fields and go to relief camps. Those who refused were gunned down. Not surprising considering the leader of the state's words to these happless villagers- "you are either with us or with them".

The origins of discontent among tribals are in the underdevelopment and neglection on the part of the govt. And what government does in the name of development in these areas are further alienating them. The major problems that the tribals are facing now is from the land mafia, mining mafia and the number of SEZs that have sprung up. The govt and some politicians, in its greed for easy money sign MOUs with big corporations to lease out these tribal lands for the multi crore projects. In order to make these projects a reality, the tribals are driven out from their land. The mineral rich tribal forests are sucked of its resources. The tribals who are original owners of the land are not even given employment. They are given a paltry sum as compensation and dumped in some wasteland. This leads to discontent and its this discontent that the maoists carefully take advantage of. Some tribals fall in this trap and join the maoists and fight the Indian state. To prevent such occurences, Mani Shankar Aiyar advises the Govt to go back to the Indian constitution, specifically to the PESA — (Provisions of the Panchayat [Extension to Scheduled Areas] 1996). Two of the most important points in this provision are as follows-

1-"the Gram Sabha or the Panchayats at the appropriate level shall be consulted before making the acquisition of land in the Scheduled Areas for development projects and before re-setling or rehabilitating persons affected by such projects in the Scheduled Areas; the actual planning and implementation of the projects in the Scheduled Areas shall be coordinated at the State level"

2-"the recommendations of the Gram Sabha or the Panchayats at the appropriate level shall be made mandatory prior to grant of prospecting licence or mining lease for minor minerals in the Scheduled Areas"

With the help of this provision, no MOU can be signed without the approval of the village panchayat. Thus the ownership of the land goes back to the tribal. But, as of now this provision remains mostly in letters as MOUs are signed without ever consulting the villagers. They come to know of it only when they are driven out of their land. This has to change. The PESA has to be implemented strictly on a war footing. And, at the same time the local governments must make sure that the village panchayats are not like the infamous khap panchayats of Haryana which mete out jungle justice. The time is running out for us. Before we send in armies to kill the real enemy, we need to have our own people on our side. We shouldn't allow the terrible tragedy of our army's bullets killing our own people. Its time for simple non-violent steps. Hope voices like this are heard amidst the 'kill them, blast them' rhetoric. And lets not call this voices of reason with the same brand name as we rightfully call such traitors like Arundathi Roy. These deserves to be heard. Because, the idea of India is under question!

image courtesy-thehindu.com, textually.org

your crusader Praveen

The Moral High Ground

Everyone is on a moral high ground these days. Everyone except one Mr.Shashi Tharoor. No, this is not an excercise in justifying Tharoor. This is just a wonder filled gaze at the media and political circus going on for the past one week. And one image just flashes across my mind all the time. A purely imaginary image of a slightly corrupted Alibaba standing at the centre of a circular enclosure and 40(or more) thieves pointing their fingers at the man. They are shouting, they are accusing him of something which they themselves are not clear about. But they dont forget to point their fingers at him every other second. In between they take breaks to congratulate each other, laugh among themselves and celebrate the victory. Sometime later the camera zooms out. It was all happening on TV. Now the anchors continue the blabber and finger pointing. The direction of pointing is unmistakable. They seem to have missed the 40(or more) thieves standing around the enclosure. They point only at Ali Baba. The same cycle of accusations goes on. Zoom out. There sits one of those gentlemen who still believes that newsreaders cant lie. He also points his finger at the man and rejoices at the fact that Indian politics is cleansed.

Now the image changes. Alibaba and the enclosure fades out into the background. The 40(or more) thieves turn towards the camera. They look down from the high pedestal that they have perched upon. The finger pointing excercise begins. This time they are pointing at the naive gentleman, at you, at me. They slam their heads on the ground and laugh at the fools below them. Its the story of the moral high ground now overcrowded with people possessing anything but morality. Agreed, it was not a clean deal, what Tharoor had with regard to the kochi team. But was it so big a mistake so as to warrant the given punishment? What about the scam kings still in the cabinet? A.Raja, minister of communications and IT is the king of them all with a cool Rs.40,000 crore pocketed as part of the 2G spectrum auction sometime back. There was a CBI case against him and there were clear cut proofs. Higher officials of the BSNL came out in the open against him. All of them were transferred and Raja was left untouched. All because he's part of DMK, an ally the UPA can't live without. And with the 3G spectrum auction happening recently, we will have to get new 20 digit calculators to fully display the amounts that this guy and his cronies must've siphoned off.

Then there's Sharad Pawar of the NCP, another coalition partner of the UPA. With the food inflation almost strangling the lower class and part of the middle class, there was a strong case for his removal from the position of agriculture minister. But not even a whimper was heard. It was common knowledge that his ministry's policies were partly to blame for this disaster. And even if you leave that alone, what about all the dealings in the dark by the BCCI headed by this mighty man? No answers expected. There are guys like M.K.Alagiri(Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers), who is in that seat only because his dad found the task of managing him and his brother a hard one. So, the solution was to stop the barking of the elder by giving him a cabinet rank in the central govt. He barely ever attends the parliament, leave alone opening his mouth. He has more enterprising things to do like goondagiri in his hometown. More and more of this ilk are still sitting and laughing at you, me and Alibaba. Not to forget hypocrites like shobha de who dismisses the common man's support for tharoor with a wave of her finger. She finds fault with Tharoor's comments on business women being targeted in India and brands it sexist. So, madam de forgets that she lives and thrives on such sexist remarks she makes on tv and newspapers day in and day out. The hypocrisy of a self proclaimed feminist was on full view yesterday.

And so we are back to square one. The external affairs ministry can now function freely without the headache of a twitter account, the slogan of which was openness. Openness is a disease they say. Secrecy helps in the proper working of the democratic machinery. Afterall, its not anyone's business to know what the khadar and khadarless brigade does in their offices. Vote, close your mouth and watch tv for the next 5 years. Stay away from twitter and to hell with openness. Maybe, if Tharoor was part of one of those allies he might be still tweeting from his MEA office. Anyway, even without him, the moral high ground is certainly over crowded.

photo courtesy-inquisitr.com

EDIT
Shashi Tharoor's speech today in Parliament. A must watch- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBCY4S31MeQ&feature=player_embedded

your crusader Praveen

Head down to my photoblog for the latest updates-Myopic lenses

Tehelka, Leave alone Indian rock!

Tehelka. One magazine that was 'different' from all the others in the Indian market. They spoke truth. They were fearless. They wrote with conviction. Their long well researched articles were a treat to read. They exposed atrocities which few others dared to talk about. They lived up to their slogan of being 'free, fair and fearless'. But, a small mistake in the structure can take down a big castle. And thats exactly what is happening to Tehelka. In the issue dated April 17th, they decided to carry a so called expose on the media's hysterical coverage of the Indian rock scene. Inder Sidhu writes a supposedly path breaking article on how the whole Indian rock scene is a sham and says that everyone is desperately trying to sell a scene that does not even exist.

The introductory lines tell us how 'well researched' the article is. Leave alone 'well researched', I doubt if he ever consulted anything other than his 9th standard geography text book while writing this classic piece. Spiced up with quotes from unheard of bands crying loud on how the Indian scene will never take off, the writer goes on to throw mud on the face of every Indian rocker and rock journalist. Starting with the most outrageous of comments where he says thus about the one and only Indian ocean- "That one of the most original bands in the country has been working within the same musical framework for 30 years is, frankly, shocking." This one sentence shows the thorough lack of knowledge of this 'journalist'. This is like saying Zakir Hussain been playing tabla all his life and never tried anything else. Only an unbelievably naive person can make such a stupid comment. And to say this about one of India's widely respected band which has given us some timeless music, takes much more than the presence of duplicate rubber balls inside one's pants and elephant dung inside one's brains.

"The vocabulary and context for rock criticism does not exist in India"-Thats another main point of the article. And this from a man who has mentioned the Rock Street Journal in the same article. I wonder if has ever read one issue of this magazine or visited any of the 100s of blogs providing in depth analysis on new releases and on the concerts happening around. He says this 'shoddy coverage' is a reflection of the shoddy music. This is exactly where the lack of research shines the most. He must've got his hands on a bootleg CD by some startup college rock band and wrote a whole article thinking that this is what Indian rock is all about. He talks about the lack of depth in lyrics and amateurishness in music, all the while keeping bollywood as a reference for the perfection of all this. He says that the homegrown rock lacks character compared to its original roots in the American 'protest music'. He paints the Indian rock musician as an upper middle class junkie, smoking weed and bankrolled by indulgent parents. Mr. Inder, if you can hear sounds with your seemingly non existent ears, do check out a band called motherjane, one of India's top most bands. Their lyrics have more depth than any music you ever heard till now, their music is truely Indian and truely international at the same time and they are all middle class Indians who stays away from weed and the like. There are many more examples like that including Junkyard groove, Indian Ocean, TAAQ and many more. And these are the guys who rule the scene, the same scene which you says 'does not exist'.

Next comes another blunder. Inder says Indian rock is concentrated in 'A-grade metros' like Delhi and Mumbai. The writer seems to be blind to Bangalore, the rock capital of India. There's only a passing mention of the north eastern states, where rock is there in every home and Bob Dylan is seen in as high esteem as Sachin Tendulkar. And while writing this article sitting in his a/c room in one of those A-grade metros, Inder seems to have also missed the rising rock revolution in small cities like Trivandrum, cochin, manipal etc. The young bands coming out of these places are so utterly creative and will surely carry the torch of Indian rock music forward. With this one article, you have mocked at all the hard work that these bands put to do what they like. You have mocked at the undying spirit and passion of an ever growing fan base. You have mocked at metal gods like iron maiden who have acknowledged the might of the Indian fan base. Just think about it, are these guys that foolish to come to our country 3 times in 2 years if we don't have a big enough fan base. And its not metal oldies alone who are flocking to our country. We had the progressive sensations 'opeth' and 'porcupine tree' coming down here last year. And this year will see one of the bands that defined this past decade in metal, 'Lamb of god' performing in Bangalore. I do wonder if you have ever heard of these names considering your knowledge in rock doesnt go beyond that stupid 'rock on' reality show in MTV.

A humble request to the media- Its ok if you don't cover Indian rock music. This movement has grown even without an iota of support from the mainstream media. And now that you've realised that this has grown much more than you ever thought it will, you are puncing on it so that you can also get a share on the big pie. Yes, even bashing can make the cash registers ring. Rather than writing such mis informed articles, you could spare us and let us live our own way. We were doing fine without you. And we will continue to be fine without you. And just like the title of your article screams-"Don't believe everything you hear". I'll think twice before I believe what 'fools without conviction' blurt out in the name of 'feature on Indian rock music scene'. You and your ilk of half baked heads may get orgasms over your careful wordplay deriding something mighty. But we just don't give a fuck for it. And it can't be said better than what was said by Thermal And A Quarter in that open letter to tehelka with that awesome quote from their own cult song 'Paper puli'- “Rock journalism is people who can’t write interviewing people who can’t talk for people who can’t read.”

PS- Wrote this because I was saddened at this shoddy journalism on the part of one magazine which I care for. If it was any of those trashy yellow mags, I wouldn't have cared a bit. We expect much better from tehelka. Hope they don't carry such crap in the future and live up to their old name. And, I won't stop my subscription just because you let one idiot into your pages!

Recommended reading for Inder Sidhu-Ten commandments of Rock journalism. Am sure you'll get a 0/10.

your crusader Praveen

A Goodbye & A Welcome

It all started on March 14th 2009, the start of my tryst with serious photography. Thats the day when I first laid my hands on the shiny new canon sx10IS. It started in automode considering my previous photography experience in the olympus film camera and sony erricson mobile. It was a dream come true to own that monster with 20x zoom. And on the second day the cam went straight to a concert with motherjane. Again, shooting a rainy concert in automode from the shades of the stage. Quite a few OK clicks and lots of shaky stuff. As I wondered how to get over this, Guru Vivek arrives. Over the next few days, he handed down several tips and lessons over phone and gtalk. And after few weeks, a hands on session at Trivandrum too. I was hooked to the art of photography. Over the one year, the cam travelled quite a few places, watched a hell lot of concerts and clicked close to 15,000 clicks. It has grown to be just an extension of me and it was a hard task to decide letting it go. That was around the time I decided to get more serious with this and buy an SLR.

And thus the big brother arrived after exactly one year, on March 16th 2010. Canon 500D with 18-55 kit lens and an additional 50mm lens. It was time to let go my first real cam. Financial constraints made it necessary that I let it go. And thus, last week I bid goodbye to my first real camera, the reason behind the photoblog myopiclenses. They say, don't get materialistic. But this particular material did have an emotional attachment, an attachment of having travelled together, having wondered at the same sights, having clicked the same shots...as I said earlier, an extension of myself. So, cheers to you my dear cam. Click a lakh more and bring smiles wherever you go :)

A selection of my favorite shots with the cam..(in no specific order)

The blackrider @Veli beach

The mystery man @Sulthan battery beach,Mangalore

Kathakali performance @onam celebrations, Infy Bangalore

Nehru trophy vallom kali @Alappuzha

Looking ahead... @Veli beach

most innocent smile ever @madiwala market

Perfect reflections @end point, Manipal

Ustad and the shishya-Sivamani all admiration for Zakir Hussain @Heartbeats concert,Bangalore

Drops... @lalbagh

Starfish @sulthan battery beach,Mangalore

bhaiyya..woh dekho... @Gateway of India, Bombay

Indian Ocean @octoberfest,Bangalore

Textures @Deccan rock fest,Palace grounds, Bangalore

Chaos @Manipal

Amon Amarth @Deccan rock fest,Palace grounds, Bangalore

Crushed childhood @Broken bridge,Madras

the photoshoot for the amajaniac T shirt...(Yes, though am in the photo. I clicked this:P..thanks to the 10 second timer and the window on which I hung the cam after the shutter speed and aperture settings)

butterfly @palakkad

roadhouse greens @Coorg

single.. @Bangalore DC

And Now to the cams

The old cam- Canon powershot sx10 IS..clicked by new cam:D

The new cam- Canon 500D+Kit lens+50mm /1.8 lens..clicked by old cam :D

Both cams together...clicked by mobile :D

More photography updates happening soon in my photoblog- http://myopiclenses.blogspot.com/

Idlis for Headley

India is trying hard to get 26/11 mastermind David Headley to India. The US doesn't seem to budge from the so called 'agreement' that it made with the terrorist, by which they wouldnt hand him over to India if he confesses to be guilty. And India is in no mood to let go. The officials of the concerned ministry been heating up their heads thinking of ways to extradite the accused. They say the decision of US to not extradite Headley goes against the treaties signed between the two countries. Not surprising, considering the fact that US never had this habit of honouring the treaties that it has signed.

Seeing all this busy action on the Headley front, one major question that comes to mind is, "what will India do withHeadley?" All this urgency to bring him to India makes us think that we are going to cut him into pieces the moment we get our hands on him. Alas! past experiences points in the exact opposite direction. We all know what we did with the one we caught alive. We started the courtroom drama "kyunki terrorist bhi kabhi human tha", which will complete its anniversary soon. Its sure to go on for many more years and may break the record of the longest running K-serials. The hero is given z-category security, chicken biriyani etc. There's a special subscription of cosmopolitan and the banned savita bhabhi comics for his private rocket launching needs. There was a proposal to supply him call gals too. And we even built him a 5 crore worth steel chamber, with the aim of 'protecting' him. We spent 32 crores for him in one year. And, considering all this...Do we really need to spent another 30 crores on protecting yet another terrorist? If the Govt is not planning to cut him into 1000 pieces or burn him alive or torture him to the 10th degree or cut his organs and blind him, Please dont try to bring him here. We don't have the patience to see yet another long drawn court drama. Please don't serve idlis to Headley.

your crusader Praveen

The Green Flag

It was one of those railway stations where very few people came. And where only one of those odd trains stopped. One of those unremarkable stations with broken benches and the worn down office of the station master. For 40 years, I waved the green flag here. It was like a ritual. Looking at the timetable and then strolling out from the office to the platform with the green flag. Its a ritual nobody other than me cared about. Once in a while a curious kid points at me from the second class compartment and says something to his father. At other times, some old man just stares at me from the window, sometimes adjusting his glass to get the focus right. These are the only attention I've got in this lonely job. Sometimes, hapless wanderers do come in from far away places, with thirsty eyes and hungry stomachs. And it has been a part of my duty to give them something to eat and provide them shelter until they are good to wander again.

Now, 30 years since I last waved the flag, as I sit alone here, as an antique piece held up by worn down bones and displaying lines and cracks all over my face, I feel like one of those wanderers whom I gave shelter many years back. Though I could barely see even with my glasses, I could feel the changing colours of wheels inside the weighing machine falling on my eyes. Those olden days when my son Mihir made me take his weight on this machine every other day, came to my mind. There was a field of kans grass close to the station. Mihir used to run from our home through the fields as the trains passed, very much like that classic scene from 'Pather 'panchali'. Satyajit Ray must've been inspired from our little station and Mihir's run while he created that scene. In those days, I never once did have an idea that one day I'll be sitting at this very station like a useless furniture. This very station which once came to life only because of me. I haven't uttered a word in the last many years. I can hardly see. I can move only with other's help. But Mihir didn't seem to know that I had so much of life left in me when he left me here and went to the city with his family. He didn't seem to know that I still had a heart which loved him and his family. He didn't seem to know that my tears don't need anyone else's help to flow down. I could feel some currency that he left in my lap so that someone will take it and help me. If only that money could buy someone to put his hand around me and say, "I love you papa and I shall never leave you".

I could easily show the red flag to my life if I jump into the rails in my white shirt. But, as always I chose to live rather than bring poetic tragedy to this story. I fell asleep with the help of the cold winter winds. I couldn't do anything to stop the trembling and later got used to it. Someone's hand around me woke me up in the morning. I could hardly make out who it was. Still, I felt reassured. I tried feeling the face. The clues were not coming by. I was searching in the dark until he told me about a cold wintery night almost five decades back. One of those rare wanderers made his appearance in the station that day. A kid of about seven years. And as was my habit, I fed him and gave him shelter. He left after staying for few days in the office. It was just one of the many similar incidents in my life. But for him, it was one unforgettable incident. And that few plates of food meant more to him, much more than a lifetime of sacrifices meant for my Mihir. He held me up with his strong hands and led me carefully to the gates. I could hear the thud-thud of a train approaching. I almost raised up my right hand and waved the imaginary green flag.

your crusader Praveen

Year 2125-33% reservation for men!

The Blames of India(BOI) dated 12th March 2125 reports that this is going to be a landmark election in the history of India. For the first time in 50 years, men are allowed to contest in the elections. The last man to contest in the election was Bingo Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi's son-in-law who won by a mammoth margin in the elections of 2076. In that year, India proudly announced to the world that its doing away with caste and religion based reservation thus ushering in a new golden era. Instead, the reservations will be completely based on the gender. The seat reservations in Parliament were as follows.

Women-68%
Eunuchs-18%
[Train based eunuchs-10%
traffic light based eunuchs-5%
street based eunuchs-2%
home based eunuchs-1%]
Gays-5%
lesb-5%
Bi-1%
morphed swamis-2%
men-1%

It all started way back in 2009 with a proposal for 33% reservation for women in Parliament. Infact, the idea was there even before that. But the actions necessary for it to come into force started only in 2009. Although there was a lot of opposition from septugenarian and octogenarian male leaders, the idea of empowerment of women seemed too romantic to resist for most of the parties. It was said that this 33% bill will help the lady fish vendor, the old servant lady and even the happless prostitutes. Stories of how women in every strata of the society will be empowered by this simple 33% reservation in parliament, were doing the rounds. And to grab eyeballs, there were those oft repeated stories of women soaring high, from being an aircraft pilot to thenga ideel(malayalam for felling of coconuts by climbing up the coconut tree, which is usually done by men). And most of the times the second part of the thenga ideel story where the woman falls down along with the coconut, was conveniently forgotten.

The bill was passed with much fanfare. Men waited impatiently for their daughters and wives to become MPs and airhostesses or atleast a thenga ideelukaari. Sadly, the changes were not so visible. The surnames of the women MPs remained the same. The same families exported MPs year after year. Some parties fielded rubber stamp candidates of the ilk of 'Rabri Devi' to fill up their women quota. These women almost always won and most of them used to do a Puja of the icon of uselessness and rubber stampdom, Prathibha Patil, every morning before the Parliament session. The lady fish vendor was still selling fish(Infact her grand daughter is now a famous fish vendor too), the servant lady was still doing her chores and the prostitute taking enough actions and policies for 'customer satisfaction'. And banner headlines on the empowered women routinely came on most dailies.

For more empowerment, the percentage of reservation for women was gradually increased. Also, reservations were brought in for marginalised sections like eunuchs, gays etc. The male MPs gradually began losing their jobs. They came back to their hometowns and started doing work which were usually done by women. This newly arrived male workforce resulted in most of the women(except MPs) losing their jobs. Thus the Indian women was truely empowered. By 2078, men were completely driven out of the Parliament. And more poor women lost their jobs. For the next 40 odd years, there was a clamour from the women of India for 33% reservation for men in Parliament. The moustache sporting women inside Parliament strongly refused. But, when push came to shove, they gave in and thus in the elections of 3025, men are finally making a comeback. The 33% reservation for men is still pending for approval from both houses. Prominent women leaders like Mulayam Devi and Lalooni Prasad are strongly opposing the bill. We can just hope that men will atleast make a comeback to the Parliament which they once ruled and ruined...And also hope that atleast then women of the ilk of 'baalika vadhu' and 'never-been-screwed granny' will be truely empowered.

PS- Am not an MCP. Just that I believe this 33% sham's not gonna make the desired change

PPS- Had a tough time writing the president's name. I had completely forgotten her name and had to think for 3 minutes to get it. Tells a lot about our president

your crusader Praveen

Milking suicides

Its the suicide season yet again. I don't mean those unremarkable suicides which end up as single column news in the obituary page. We are looking at those suicides which get national attention. This time its the Telengana issue. The floodgates were opened when a youth set himself on fire and succumbed to his wounds last monday. Three more people have committed suicide in the next 24 hours allegedly because of the Telengana issue. But a close look at the details of the deceased will reveal that this is a clear case of 'milking an unrelated suicide'. First one in the list is a class 10 student who committed suicide by consuming pesticide. There are enough reasons to believe that this suicide is for reasons other than Telengana. A class 10 student has more things to worry about than dying for such foolish causes. The other two teenagers left suicide notes purpotedly written by them saying that they are ending their life for the Telengana cause.

The reason to doubt the truthfulness of these claims is obviously because of what happened in Andhra after the death of former chief minister YSR. There was a huge wave of sympathy being whipped up about the tragic death of a 'great man'. According to the media, more than 60 people committed suicide because they couldn't bear this loss. But an investigation at that time did reveal that there's more to it than the 'sacrifice story' that we all so easily believed. Apparently, YSR's partymen went around the state in search of houses where suicides had happened around that time. And then they offered the surviving family members money just to paint these suicides as 'YSR related'. Even those who died of heart attack were said to have died because of the shock of YSR's death. The fact that YSR rose to power playing all kind of dirty games and goondaraj was conveniently forgotten as we were presented with a new HERO, for whom the masses took their own lives.

This new wave of suicides seems to be one in this direction. Suicide notes are being drafted in many undisclosed locations. And the hawks are waiting for the next suicide, to claim it as their own. We can only hope that the government wouldn't buckle under such manufactured pressure and cut our delicious cake into yet another piece.

your crusader Praveen

Master,I bow before thee

I've always believed calling a living person as GOD is not acceptable. God is something which can't be seen or touched, its something which can only be felt. But there are moments when even that strong resolve is broken. When you see a heavenly painting by an artist, when you see a brilliant guitarist ripping it apart in a concert arena, when you see men/women with a large heart helping millions of poor, when you hear a gifted musician at his peak, when you see a sportsman at his best...Yesterday was one of those days, which made me break that resolve and call Him GOD of cricket and fall at his feet.

Memories came rushing in as he crossed the 170 mark yesterday. The only source to know the score was the mobile and the 'secret' web page that our company forgot to block. And I was in the laundry after a fight with the security regarding a new idiotic 'policy' from the company. The wait for 200 took me back to school days, specifically to that innings of 186 not out against New zealand. We all crowded together in a house near our school. The drawing room was filled with us with the house owner craning his neck somewhere behind, just to catch a glimpse of that majestic innings. We watched almost the whole innings, bunking period after period and the lovable house owner played happy host. It was a small disappointment when he couldn't break Paki Anwar's record. We all went back hoping for the day when Sachin will score a 200. Almost a decade has passed since then. I can still recollect what all I did on a day when Sachin played majestic innings like this. Such innings of rare brilliance as the 98 against Pakistan in the 2003 world cup, when I rushed back from the maths tuition class to watch it from first ball. Many many days like that when all that mattered was Sachin scoring a century. Such is the influence he has on the life of an average Indian. A sad day at office or a boring day at school turned into an unforgettable day. Unremarkable days made remarkable and memorable for ever just because a man decided to unleash his genius on the cricket ground. Moments when sports ceases to be just that and becomes LIFE.

As he crossed 200, the phone started ringing non stop. Everyone wanted to share their joy with their near and dear ones. Among those calls were, two calls from friends in school whom I haven't talked to in a long time. But with whom I've watched many a matches in that house near school. And together we had waited for many a centuries and walked back dejected. Also have jumped together elated at many of his achievements. And it took Sachin again to take us back to those days, talk to each other and share the joy. Sachin is more than just a sportsman, He is a feeling that unites many a million minds. He united more Indians together, more than any RELIGION could. Somewhere down the line someone may overtake the 200, some may score 250. All those numbers may tumble one day. But, some things will remain unbroken...the feeling of unity that Sachin brings, the sheer batting perfection that he unleashed and that down to earth character. Taking it all in his stride, he marches on unchallenged, India's marathon man. 20 years, we graduated from lollipops to blackberrys...but He remains there, where he truely belonged...at the top...

PS-And all those critics can now shut up, FOREVER!
SO bye bye to Paki Anwar from the record books. Its been a pain seeing his name there on top!! :D

your crusader Praveen

fRock/cock in India:when backstreet boys come to India

A take on the rock scene in India....and why backstreet(gaystreet) boys SUCK bigtime!!!

We thought its a prank. Even after press releases and ADs, we refused to believe it. It sounded more like a prank rather than news. But, now with just one day remaining to the event, our worst fears are coming true. Indeed, now its clear that its not a prank that the mighty backstreet(gaystreet) boys are performing at India's one and only rock fest, 'Rock in India'. The hallowed Palace grounds which was host to some of the gods of rock and metal will be thrown open to a band which has come to be hated unanimously by rock fans all over the world. DNA, the organisers has done a sell out of epic proportions, unprecedented in rock history. Or perhaps, it will remain unmatched in future too.

It all started in the 2nd half of the last decade, the slow but sure rise of Indian rock. Rock bands were around in the country much before that, from the days of woodstock. But it was never known as a 'scene' outside the country. The odd international rock band did make its appearance during the 90s and the first half of this millennium. But there was something missing. There was a sudden explosion in the number of bands in the later half of the decade. It was not an isolated revolution. It was a sweeping one, literally from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. Would you believe that a small city like Trivandrum has more than 10 active bands? Then there are 'rock in the genes' kinda cities in the north east where there are more than 50 bands in each of them. And then there's the epicentre of it all, Bangalore. And with the advent of broadband internet and social networking platforms like myspace and facebook, it just exploded. From playing covers of international bands, Indian bands graduated to playing only original compositions. And the audience too matured with them and stopped screaming for covers. Infact, the crowd began singing along their original compositions at the concerts. Slowly, but surely, Indian rock found its feet.

DNA networks came as a godsend for the rock fans as they brought to India some of the best acts in the business. Back in 2007, when Iron Maiden came to India for the first time, 50,000 crazy fans filled up the arena. Bruce Dickinson and co. were overwhelmed by this response and visited us 2 more times in the next 2 years. In 2008, 'Rock in India' was born, a first of its kind fest in India featuring the legendary 'Megadeth' and 'Machine head' alongwith 9 other Indian bands. And in 2009, 'Iron Maiden' came back again to bless rock in India, though this time the support acts were below par. In between, the IITs brought in popular contemporary bands like 'opeth' and 'porcupine tree'. Then small rock fests began to emerge like the deccan rock fest featuring 'Amon amarth' and 'Textures'. We thought it couldn't get better. And towards the end of last year, DNA sent out a mail asking fans to select the bands which they want to see in 'Rock in India 2010'. It was a mouth watering list to say the least, boasting of bands like 'Slayer', 'judas priest' and 'Lamb of God'. We waited..impatiently..for 2010 to arrive.

Arrive it did, in the worst possible manner. DNA announced backstreet boys as headliners of Rock in India alongwith Richard Marx, a pop singer past 50, still singing songs about teen love. Nobody has a problem with them coming to India. But, why a rock fest?? That too, the only one the country can boast of. Agreed, even I did love their music while I was in school, before I realised how they are fooling us all. Its a band(not worthy to be called a band) which has never written a single line of lyrics on its own or composed its own music. Its all done by professionally hired men, whom you never get to see. All they do is lend their voices, which also is heavily processed to mask their lack of talent. The band was put together by a guy called Lou Pearlman, who wanted to convert his black money. And thus he created this band after a series of auditions and spent lavishly on the band. And, he did reap his benefits. He appointed the lyricists and producers. Yes, its not a typical band that came together because of their similar tastes in music. But a fraud man's brainchild to convert his black money. And all they sang about was love, broken hearts and the likes. All with mannerisms which caused them to be branded as a gay band. On stage, they lip synced. Nobody complained. Girls screamed out loud and their boy friends too screamed with them at the concerts. Its not for nothing its called POP. A corporate gimmick to manipulate popular culture to mint millions. And millions sang along, "I want it that way", the gay way, the lip syncing way, the sell out way. Its not a story of backstreet boys alone, but every other boy band. And most of their fans have grown out of that age and moved away to more mature music. Then, DNA tells India, 'surprise surprise..presenting before you, the backstreet boys live at Rock in India".

The Indian rock fans haven't taken this snub from DNA lightly. Head to any online forum, and you'll see hardcore fans ready to smoke the backstreet boys out of India. The Rock in India website was defaced twice. Renaming it 'Cock in India' and 'fRock in India'. Then there was the legendary Hitler youtube video where hitler comes to know about gayboys coming to the fest and all hell breaking loose. All we are asking for now is to change the name of the fest. Don't play with the self respect of the average Indian rock fan. Rock means much more than just the music. Its an ideology beyond money, religion and such things. Its origins can be traced to the protest music of the 60s. Sometimes its a call for revolution and sometimes its a call to break free. 'Rock in India' conjured up similar images and much more in us. It was a dream for many of us to one day see this fest becoming as big as 'Rock in Rio' or the 'download fest'. With this shameless sellout which the bosses at DNA described as "respecting the long standing demand for more commercial music from various quarters", those dreams lay shattered. And they say, its not a rock fest but a music fest and it will cater to music of all kinds. Then why the fucking hell you name it 'rock in India'? why not 'music in India' or 'pop in India'? Its an open secret that they wanted to popularise this fest among a 'different' kind of audience. But with this decision, they were digging their own grave. The previous times when they brought in pop acts like Enrique and Shakira for some independent fests, the crowd was maximum of about 5000. Whereas all the rock fests have somewhere around 30,000. Businesswise too, this is suicide. Another reason they are giving is that most of the international bands are on tour right now and many of them are also unaffordable. Give me a break guys! There are 1000s of bands available. Don't go for the big ticket acts if you don't have the money. Just give us a fest of Indian bands alone. Or just dont conduct the fest this year. Wait till your financial situation becomes better next year(which I doubt now).

Even more sad is the fact that some Indian bands have actually agreed to open for backstreet boys, which includes 2 bands I admire, 'swarathma' and 'Indigo children'. When I conveyed to 'swarathma' about our displeasure at such a promising band doing a sell out, what I got was a robotic reply saying "we dont care about who plays before or after us...come if you respect us". No band worth their self respect would agree to play at such a fest and here we have these guys talking about us respecting them. SHAME! Frankly, am thinking of destroying their CD though I love the songs. Already, there are talks of protest marches by rock fans at the 2 venues, Delhi and Bangalore. And there are every chances of small riots. And even a chance of some people actually buying the tickets to get in and throw bottles at Backstreet boys. I only pray that they get a really bad reception so that no pop band will ever think of visiting India. And its time the corporate assholes at DNA learned a lesson or two. Never mess with Indian rock fans. And thanks to these widespread protests, the Indian metal fans have come in for appreciation in various international rock forums. Hopefully more bands will be attracted to this wonderful audience here. Rock is not a passing fad, unlike pop. You'll never get to hear a dialogue like, "I used to listen to metallica in college". Once a rock fan is always a rock fan. You dont leave it behind and move on to other music as you leave the teens(which is the case with pop bands). DNA has betrayed such a loyal fan base. Their move is against the very idea for which rock stands for. DNA can better quit event management and go for PIMPING. Even pimps have more self respect. So, rock fans of India...raise your middle fingers in unison to the pimping corporation that is DNA. Let anarchy rule. Let gaystreet boys run for their life...\m/

and for rock in India 2010...the metal symbol becomes /m\ ..picturise it, what it conveys! :)

your crusader Praveen