Why Mayawati is bad for Indian polity

I hear a lot about Mayawati and how she has an outside chance to even become the next PM. I’ve seen her consolidate her base in UP and make inroads into neighboring states like Haryana and MP. Her initial strategy is to establish her base and split the vote banks of the ruling parties, mostly the Congress but also the BJP. Then she moves in and plays caste politics of the worst kind to make her own vote bank and gain further ground.
To many it might sound like politics as usual, after all the INC has relied on the muslim vote in many areas for ages, the BJP considers the urban middle class as its own, Laloo holds the Muslim-Yadav vote in Bihar and so on. But I feel Mayawati takes this a step too far. While other politicians have cultivated their constituencies, she has a more direct approach. She only looks at how much clout a particular group has in a specific area. If your group can sway the elections, make your demands and they shall be met with. Look at the way she is accepting Brahmins into her fold after castigating them for so many years. Doing so gives her the influential Brahmin vote in UP, so why let something small like her own word stand in the way? And this is what is happening in some way or the other over large tracts of India.
Last week, voting took place in Laloo’s constituency, and the Indian Express reported a Yadav voter from there agreeing to the fact that Nitish Kumar had brought roads and development into the area, but he was still voting for Laloo because voting was a matter of community pride. I thought voting was a matter of development and issues concerning the same. I always used to wonder why MPs never bothered to develop their constituencies when doing so would ensure their re-election. Now I know. Why make the effort when your voters are still going to vote based on which caste or group or religion you belong to? If these narrow benchmarks are to define our votes, then God help India. And this very group mentality is what Mayawati seeks to exploit, to a greater extent and more vigorously and more shamelessly than any politician previously. I guess, every caste, religion, etc would form their own vote bank and demand concessions for themselves based on how large their group was. Jats wanting reservations in Rajasthan and vociferously opposing the same for others in Haryana, Sikhs wanting minority status in a state where they comprise 70% of the population…. Where does this end? And what of India in the meantime, while we are figuring out which community gets how big a piece of the pie?

I HEAR THE MOUNTAINS CALL ……

Some go to harbours on the main,
Some like the endless grassy plain;
But me, I to the mountains go-
When I hear the mountains call again.
                   I hear the mountains call again,
                  With winter, biting wind and rain,
                  With hail, and sleet, and blinding mists,
                  I hear the mountains call again.
The springs fall down in rainbow spray-
“Come rest awhile”, they seem to say.
I will ascend the wooded slopes,
For I hear the mountains call again.
                Brooks rush down their cobbled way,
                Half hidden in the flowing vapoured grey.
                My heart is filled with yearning strong,
                As I hear the mountains call again.
Pine trees all dotted with pine cones,
Small palaces built with mud and stones,
What b’ful sights a fond heart brings,
When it hears the mountains call again.
               In a crowded city, I stand alone,
              Where thought is sad, and grey, and worn.
              With a love for life, the mountains call,
              I hear the mountains call again.
A cold north wind blows over me,
I stand in the open and face’t with glee-
A moss stone come to life once more,
As I hear the mountains call again.
            I’ll go to where the snow falls deep,
            To live till I sleep the eternal sleep,
            Away from this twisted, grabbing world,
            Yes, I hear the mountains call again.
Whatever lives are left as mine,
I wish they in the mountains lie,
Again my soul shall rise, again,
When it hears the mountains call again.

The Indian Tamasha pt. 1

A five stage election and it just seems to be getting bigger every time! As India goes to the polls over the next couple of months, a few things strike me, apart form the obvious ones that there is no morality in politics anymore and that politicians are the most fickle bunch of people in the world and their word cannot be trusted.
But what I find most disconcerting about this occasion is that the major national parties are becoming more and more redundant with the passage of time. The media has already highlighted the fact that the vote and seat share of both the Congress and the BJP has declined considerably, while that of regional parties has increased in the same measure. Some people point to the numerous scam taints of the 90s to explain this shift away from the national parties. I feel that may be one of the reasons. A corruption tired public might have started opting for local politicians and parties who they might have felt more answerable. Also, with the death of Rajiv Gandhi, there was a dearth of leaders with a charisma of their own. Then too, many regional politicians who were playing second fiddle to Rajiv stepped out from under the Gandhi shadow and formed their own little outfits (many with only one leader worthy of the name), marking out their own little territories and regions where they held sway while being unknowns elsewhere. There has been such a profusion of such satraps, that the political field has become like one of those Royal Rumbles in WWF! 
While some might feel happy at this development, I think there’s some cause for worry. The decline of national parties has also meant a decline in a national outlook. Most of the regional leaders have as circumscribed a view of policy and events as their respective ‘realms’. If you hear them speak, they don’t have any concerns outside of their domains. “mumbai for marathis”, “assam for assamese”, “tamil nation”, these and their more strident variants are the voices you hear everyday. And sometimes, they get beyond mere words, as we saw in Mumbai last year. And these are the people who’re getting an increased share of the votes and seats!
I wonder who in this confused babble of voices in talking about India. Where are the leaders who look at the big picture? Where indeed!

The Mango blooms

Spring is in the air! We have a mango tree in the courtyard of this house we're renting and it is in full bloom these days. I'd almost forgotten that the mango also blooms. So much in life we tend to overlook or just pass by. At my primary school, we had over a dozen mango trees, and when they burst out with flowers, we knew winters were finally behind us and we could throw away the pullovers and blazers and look forward to playing outside a bit longer. The mango blossoms give out a faint sweetish odour, another thing I'd almost forgotten. It's said that the sense of smell is the most primitive and therefore the most evocative. Think about it. How often you smell something and remember some days long gone by. Coffee and cigarettes might remind you of those lazy sundays in the hostel, frying pakoras might remind you of monsoon and your mom's kitchen, so many wonderful memories often come flooding back with just a smell, a whiff of old times!

For me, the mango blooms bring back happy childhood memories. Rushing to school, playing with friends, the warm-cool weather, the soft, velvetty moss on the school wall that we loved to touch and run our cheeks against, the lantana clusters with their own sharp, almost minty odour, the huge peepal giving out new leaves, all this from just a plain old tree in the backyard that has come into bloom!

Why does he do it?

Why does he indeed? Why does Saurav continue to play cricket? After all the indignities heaped upon him and unfairly, I might add, why does he not leave in disgust? This last humiliation should have been the proverbial final straw. Four captains in one team? There was never a bigger farce in the game. Why stop at four? Why not make every player his own captain and let it go at that? Mind you this is the guy who brought up Indian Cricket to the level it currently enjoys. He brought courage, determination, self-belief and a certain brashness in our men. And we repayed him by kicking him out when there were 3 more deserving players to be removed from the team. He proved his worth with a century in his last series, cocking a snook at the powers that be in the BCCI. But to be co-captain with three other players for a 20-20 series? Please Saurav, for your fans' sake, just tear that KKR jersey apart!

The IPL is being moved out of India. I think it's a shameful thing to do. The Indian elections are the biggest excercize of its type in the world. Not to talk about how important they are both as elections and as a symbol of our freedom and democracy. And given the security environment in which we live today, it is only fitting that the elections get the highest priority. I am as big a fan of cricket as the next guy, but our sense of nationhood ought to take precedence over the game. Cribbing about the Govts. inability to provide adequate security for some matches is totally unworthy of any patriot. But I guess, when millions of rupees are at stake, all else goes out the window. I know a lot of people would have lost a lot of money if the IPL was cancelled, but I don't think it would have made a dent in the pockets of people like SRK or Mallya. I mean the whole country is being mobilised for a momentous occasion and all Lalit Modi can think about is how he can salvage his competition. Now they're looking at other venues and studying how they can maximize their profits. Money is very important I know, but there has to be a limit! Would he be happier if his matches were provided enough security in Delhi or Chennai and people lost lives at bomb blasts at polling booths. What is the greater necessity? I haven't discussed this with anyone, but I feel I might be a minority in feeling thus, though I hope I'm not!

It was brought to my notice that people might be confused by the title for my blog, so I thought I'd clarify that. mlcw stand for 'My Little Corner of the World', which is what I intend this blog to be. As does everyone else I suppose. In this world that is ' too much with us, late and soon', I've found the most difficult commodity to come by is a little space to call your own. How often I think to myself,"Oh for a few days away from it all!" But that's not happening anytime soon. Hence this little nook. Too much of my life has been spent in crowds. In younger times, I would withdraw into my room/shell every so often, just to unload my mind, recharge my batteries, but as I got older, I found less and less time for that. Now I find myself with a stranger when I'm alone. So in a way, this is an effort to reacquaint  myself with myself, with my thoughts, my dreams.

I wonder what dreams, which wishes are actually mine now. All I seem to want from life today, is that what I really, truly want? Or is it something I've learnt to wish for, not even considering the why of it all? Difficult to say. In this close pressing world of ours, little of us remains truly ours. And rediscovering that bit is one way to happiness, I'm sure.