Friday, March 22, 2024

A Diabolical Conspiracy

The strong man Modi is scared of Arvind Kejriwal. So he made a plan to take him out of the campaign trail. Just after the election dates are announced, Kejriwal is arrested in a three year old corruption case. The ED seems to be the most active department in Modi’s government.

The timing tells it all. He had to be arrested just one month before the election so that there is no chance of getting a bail and it is guaranteed that he will be out of the AAP campaign.

Now I am not discussing the merits and demerits of the case. Every party needs to fight election and hence needs money. So AAP may as well have collected illegal money and Kejri may as well have taken a cut. I am discussing Modi’s actions, not Kejriwal’s. I do not like Kejriwal at all.

But I think Modi miscalculated this one. Kejri in jail is a better campaign prospect for AAP and the opposition than Kejri on a podium.

Even after subverting all the institutions, after using all the government machineries to cripple the opposition, after spending thousands of crores of public money on self-promotion, after completely eliminating the free press, he is petrified to face the public wrath.

For him only Modi matters, country, party, society can go to hell.

Do you want this insecure, self-centred, vengeful, mean person to be your next PM?

Please think and vote.

Sunday, March 17, 2024

Pisir Chora

Thik duppur bela
Pisike dilo ke thela
Pisi ulte pare
Kapal gelo chore
Samne asche vote
Pisir kapale chot
Pisir kato na rango
Dekhbe e pora Bango
Khema dao pisi ebar
Shasti diecho dedar
Bange ebar dhando
Pisir dokan bando

Bangalore Development

Bangalore Development

2004-14 2014-24
Bangalore Aiport Terminal 1 - 4 years Bangalore Aiport Terminal 2 - 12 years
Bangalore Metro Purple Line - 4 years Bangalore Metro Purple Line Extension - 11 years
Nice Road Bangalore Mysore Highway
Bangalore Metro Green Line Empty Promise
Aiport Expressway Corruption
Electronic City Elevated Expressway Contractor Extortion
Tumkur Elevated Expressway Sell Electoral Bonds
Old Madras Road Topple Elected Government
Signal Free Outer Ring Road Hijab Controversy

Some Notes:

  1. Most of 2014-24 Bangalore had triple engine sarkar, albeit illegitimate.
  2. Bangalore Aiport Terminal 2 - Most work including land acquisition were already done by 2008.
  3. Bangalore Metro Purple Line Extension - Most work including land acquisition were already done by 20011.
  4. Bangalore Mysore Highway - Nicely Done.

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Five Years in Tejas

Five years passed in a flash. Did I enjoy those five years? Mostly yes, except for the fucking pandemic.
This is the first time I learned how to work from remote. I still struggle to manage team from remote. But I have no choice.
Job was fun. Great people, no politics. Only engineering.
We did some solid work. For us, for Tejas for the country.
Pay was decent.
The best part is, for the first time, I loved my team members. That’s because I have become very old. But still it feels good.
Overall it was a good decision to join Tejas.
Let me hope that the future is also good 🙂

Thursday, February 15, 2024

Glorious 75 years

Our self-proclaimed uneducated Prime Minister (He uses this title as a badge of honour when it suits him. But arrests others who call him uneducated) keeps reminding us how India has suffered due to the slave mentality of our leaders in the last 75 years. He primarily attacks Nehru and his family and Congress and its associates in general. I guess he accuses them of not being Hindu fascists and not standing up to the Muslims, Pakistan and our erstwhile colonial rulers.
Nehru and the Congress under his leadership have indeed rejected Hindu fascism and they did want to maintain a good relationship with the British. But let us analyse this claim that they did not stand up against Islamic aggression from Pakistan or discrimination by our colonial rulers.
  • First, Congress took on the mightiest empire in human history single-handedly with no arms and no violence. Nobody supported them, not the Muslim league, not the Communists, and for sure not the RSS. The only thing they had on their side was their sense of justice and their courage of conviction. They suffered enormously but never gave up. Nehru spent 14 years in British jail. All the Sanghis put together did not spend 14 days in jail. Finally, they not only kicked the British out of India but decolonised half the world.
  • Then Nehru whipped the Indian kings to join the Indian Union. To the hell with their treaties and promises by the British. The kings bowed in front of Nehru and were forced to join India against their wishes.
  • Then he gave an ultimatum to the Portuguese. “Get the fuck out of India or else…” Now the Portuguese were a part of NATO. So they thought no one would dare to touch us. And they were right, in the history of NATO, no country dared to attack a NATO country due to the Article 5 guarantee. Not even the Chinese dared to take back Macao or Hong Kong by force. Only Nehru did. When the fucking Portuguese did not listen to him, he attacked them, killed 3000 of them and kicked them out of India. No fucking body lifted one finger against India. Not only that but just after that, when Nehru asked for help from Kennedy during the China war, he bent over backwards to help India. Such was Nehru’s charisma. India was a very poor country back then, with no lucrative defence deals to offer, and no market for Tesla.
  • In 1971 when Pakistan was carrying out the genocide in Bangladesh, with active help from America and England, Indira ordered them to stop. Nixon warned Indira that if India intervened to stop the genocide America and China would attack India. Then he sent a carrier group to the Bay of Bengal to carry out his threat. Indira was completely isolated. Countries like Jordan, and Turkey were sending planes and tanks to Pakistan. Indira told Nixoin to go fuck himself, cut Pakistan in half and gave birth to Bangladesh. Imagine ChaWalla doing this! He would have made 1,000,000 of his statues and installed them in every square.
  • India withstood western pressure and refused to sign NPT because it was discriminatory. 1974, Indira again gave the middle finger to the West and blasted an atomic bomb on their face.
  • In 1984 Rajiv sent armies to the highest mountain in the world and kicked the Pakis out of Siachen.
What is the track record of the Sanghis? They collaborated with the British and betrayed the freedom fighters. Never sacrificed anything for the country. Never went to jail, not one of them died for the country. They took over a country that was rebuilt and made prosperous by so many years of hard work with pure lies and propaganda. And now they are only attacking the Congress. Even now, they do not dare to stand up to Pakistan or the West. They only take on the Congress. Because they know that Congress will not hurt them.
If they were such nationalists, why didn’t they assassinate Jinnah, or Mountbatten in 1946? If they are so Hindu lovers, why didn’t they protect the Hindus during partition or during the Bangladesh war?
Have they ever done anything good for India? I can't recall any.

Monday, November 20, 2023

Ramayana

I went on a trip to England and Doha last week. I visited many museums, libraries and churches. I saw more beautiful books in the last week than I hope to see in a lifetime. From Guttenberg's Bible to Flemish masters to original Shakespeare to Leonardo's manuscripts.

But the best one I saw on the last day of my trip. It is a richly illuminated Farsi translation of the Ramayana. Look at all the details in the picture. On the top right panel, you can see through the arch a horseman with his dog riding up the road. Parrots on the roof of the building. In the second panel, you can see a perfume stand and pan holder. The richly decorated mosaic, and colourful garments. The monk with the beads has central Asian features. The princes all look like Mughal princes.
Where did I see this manuscript? In the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, an unlikely place to find a Ramayana.

This lavishly illustrated manuscript of the Ramayana was commissioned by the Mughal queen Hamida Banu Begum (1527-1604 CE), wife of the second Mughal emperor, Humayun. Hamida Banu, and later Mughal queens and princes were great patrons of art, literature and architecture. Notables are Nur Jahan, Jahanara, Mumtaj Mahal. Many were also accomplished poets and fashion designers. Some of them took active participation in court politics, hunting and even wars.

We celebrate the life of Madame de Pompadour, and rightly so, for her patronage of art and literature, particularly for her help with the publication of the first-ever Encyclopedia. But we do not remember Hamida Banu. We Indians have a general amnesia for our history. In a way it is good. We tend to forget the past and focus on the future.

Hamida Banu was 16 years old when Humayun first saw her and fell in love. He wanted to marry her even though she was a Shia Muslim. But she flatly refused saying that she did not want to marry someone whom she had to salute every time she saw him. She wants to marry a commoner whose hand she can hold. Humayun immediately decreed a Farman that henceforth Hamida need not salute the emperor. These were not normal things in those days of strict obedience to the Emperor. Hamida also wanted to have a big dowry, because her father was not wealthy. Humayun at that time had lost his kingdom and was on the run. He did not have any money to furnish the dowry. The king of Multan loaned Humayun one lakh rupee to raise an army and recover his kingdom. Humayun used the money as Hamida’s dowry and married her. On the night of his marriage, Humayun, who was also an accomplished poet, wanted to read his new poem to his bride. He asked Hamida to listen to the reciting. Hamid said she was tired. She turned to the other side and slept. Poor Humayun read the poem to his sleeping wife. When he was done reading, Hamida turned back and told Humayun “You are a weak king but a strong poet.”

Humayun eventually recovered his kingdom. Till the end, he was devoted to Hamida. Their son Akbar became one of the greatest emperors of Hindustan, uniting the country and ushering in an era of unprecedented prosperity. When Humayun died, grief-stricken Hamida commissioned a magnificent tomb for her beloved husband. Do visit Humayun’s tomb in Delhi if you get a chance.

Thursday, October 26, 2023

Oppression is my enemy

I have this book for some time. When I turn these pages, my eyes fill with tears, thinking about the suffering of a helpless nation under the most brutal oppressor.

These days, after seeing the absolute brutality of the Netanyahu government against the helpless Palestinians, I once had an impulse to burn this book and post the video on the Internet. Then good senses prevailed. I realized that I am not against Israel.

I AM AGAINST OPPRESSION.

  • I am against the Nazis when they oppressed the Jews.
  • I am against the British when they oppressed us, Indians.
  • I am against Americans when they oppressed the Vietnamese.
  • I am against the white South Africans when they oppressed the Black Africans.
  • I am against Pakistani Muslims when they oppress their Hindu minority.
  • I am against the Bramhins when they oppress the Dalits.
  • I am against Israel when they oppress the Palestinians.
I know that the Government of Israel does not worry at the moment because the big brother America has their back.

But all oppressors think that way, and eventually, all crumble.