I came across this week, a survey on the new Aam Aadmi Party's website. 47% of Dilli folks want to give AAP a chance.. Impressive for a new kid on the block.
But the surprise did not long for long. Started reading it through a bit.
Aam Aadmi Party commissioned Cicero Associates(www.ciceroassociates.in),
a New Delhi based consultancy firm, specializing in public opinion
polling and survey research, to carry out the second round of a Delhi
wide survey of a representative sample of Delhi’s voters. The first
wave of the poll was conducted in February 2013, while the data
presented here is from the second wave.
Wait a minute.. we have seen this Cicero name somewhere on Twitter. So it took me to the second step. The website of Cicero Associates. Strangely, they are still "upgrading" the most vital piece of their website, the people who own the company.
That made me more curious, because that survey company claimed that their advice is based on results, and not intentions. If the intention is not important, why is the team page empty? Started searching.
Twitter was abuzz with charges about how AAP is a Congress front because
it chose a company, which has a Congressman as one of the two
directors. In the third phase of
the survey, AAP had given itself a 28% vote share and Kejriwal as popular preference for the post of chief minister.
A
link leading to an article “Proof that Aam Aadmi Party is a front of
Congress, survey is false" on a web-based newswire site claimed that one
of the two partners of Cicero Associates & Consultants is an office bearer of Delhi
Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC). The DPCC website on Wednesday showed
Madhur’s photo and his Badarpur address.
By now it was truly amusing to me.. How can a company seemingly owned by a Congress person (party or fully), can do a survey projecting "massive" opinion in favour of the new kid in political arena, this AAP? The next step was even more better.
For the past few months, we are being bombarded with a survey in
which Aam Aadmi Party has claimed victory in Delhi elections. The survey
was done by Yogendra Yadav, using an unknown agency called Cicero
Associates & Consultants Private Limited. The numbers claimed in the
survey were hard for any agency to achieve. They claimed that the
survey was carried out between September 5 and October 5 among all 70
assembly constituencies, covering 1,750 polling booths and 34,425
respondents.
As a data scientist, I am quite aware that modern market research is a
science and the results cannot differ much from other surveys done by
reliable agencies like AC Neilson. Conducting more than 1,000 surveys in
a day seemed to be a no mean feat.
The website of Cicero Associates, which was registered just on May 30, 2013, lists their address as A-166, First Floor,
Defence Colony, New Delhi, Delhi, 110024. So the company did not have a
public face before May 30, 2013. The snapshot of the page on that day by
Archive.org
lists a freshly hosted domain. I am quite familiar with Delhi and know
that A-block of Defence Colony cannot house so many field agents to
conduct a massive survey. So I decided to investigate.
Registrar of Companies data reveals that the authorised signatories
of Cicero Associates are Sunit Kumar Madhur with the address of GA-34,
Block GA, Pulpeladpur, New Delhi 110 044. The other Director is
Dhananjay Joshi with the address of A-7/3 SFS Flats, Saket, New Delhi
110 017. An authorised signatory is the Karta Dharta of the company. A simple Google Search reveals that A-166 First Floor, Defence Colony
has the office of Langjobs, Interpreters India and other businesses. It
certainly didn’t look like a market research entity.
Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee Sitelists one of the Directors of Cicero, as a General Secretary - Shri
Sunit Madhur, GA-34, Pul Pahladpur, Badarpur, New Delhi-110 044,
9311012007 as a General Secretary. His own twitter profile describes
himself as: “Congress worker. Entrepreneur. Only the people who have to
compromise& be pragmatic in their daily lives know the value of
idealism and romanticism....”
A name and address like that is unique so both are the same set of people. The other Director is a property dealer running a firm called Intouch Associates revealed from his profile at 99acres.com.
For Aam Aadmi Party, which is dead against Congress, it seems quite
strange that it has to choose a dummy market research company, which is
owned by a known Congressman to conduct a survey!
By now I was clear as to what was all this fake survey and worse.. the role of AAP as the B team of Congress as so many people on Twitter say. I initially didn't pay much attention to such theories, but looking at the details here, it was not hard to believe so any more. And this screenshot of research posted on that website, with data from Ministry of Corporate Affairs website confirmed that they had indeed a perfect research done. And you can spot at the left bottom corner of the image, a clear solicitation to get someone to youth or main Congress party. Download and zoom the image if you wish to read thoroughly.
And by the time I got to the twitter account of this Sunit Madhur, Director of this mysterious Cicero Associates, it was probably late. He has no bio there.
Now that you have read till here.. tell me honestly. If you were going to topple Sheila Dikshit's Congress government, why would you get your survey done by a firm owned (partly or fully) by a Congress regional General Secretary? Will you get a survey done by a firm owned by BJP General Secretary (hypothetically), if trying to topple Narendra Modi's government in Gujarat? Will you get a survey done by AIADMK affiliate's company if trying to challenge Jayalalithaa in Tamil Nadu?
Whom are you trying to fool with such "farzi" surveys, Mr. Kejriwal? Worse.. are there still some people who believe that there is no mysterious "hand" behind this sudden hype of a new kid on the block called AAP? :)
Today is Mysuru (Mysore) Dasara. After 9 nights worshiping Goddess Chamundi, the 10th day or the Vijaya Dashami day, Mysuru city in south India, gears itself for the world famous Dasara (Dusshehra) procession.
Here are some tidbits about this procession, that I am lucky to have witnessed many times. Some of the pictures posted are rare, and don't forget to click on them to see the full size spectacle.
The world famous Mysuru Dasara procession is happening continuously for 403 long years! This picture is from 1930s. The Dasara festivities started in 1610 CE.
Image: itslife.in
Here is a rare video footage of Mysuru Dasara 45 years ago, when the Maharajah was at the helm of pooja affairs. Now Maharajah's family's private Dasara is more symbolic, as the state of Karnataka has taken over the dasara celebration as Nada Habba (State Festival). My mother's generation people say that the grand spectacle of 1950s and 1960s is not there anymore, but hey.. life moves on!
For the 9 Navaratri nights plus the finale Dasara procession night, Mysuru palace is lit with 1,00,000 bubs. If you have never been to Mysuru, definitely visit during the next September/October period. It will be very crowded, but the spectacle of a 1 lakh bulb lit palace is worth seeing from all the four sides.
Image: blogspot
To know a bit of history of what is Mysuru Dasara, what are the local practices, an ever green Kannada song "Mysuru Dasara, Eshtondu Sundara" from 1970 will help. The dance is a bit funny , but lyrics are very meaningful.
Elephants are the main attraction of the Mysuru Dasara. The finale is called Jambu Savari (Jambu meaning elephant, Savari meaning Ride). It literally means the Goddess Chamundi's Pratima (idol) is taken for a grand ride on an elephant. During earlier years, the Maharajah or King also would sit on an elephant, but that does not happen anymore. And since is a world famous event with lakhs of people turning up, 14 disciplined elephants are finalized after practice walks in city. The lives of these elephants is great. They are pampered for most part of the year in thick jungles and all they have to do is to behave well and walk elegantly during the all important Navaratri festival.
The mock drills are to ensure that only the elephants with patience and people friendly attitude are picked, as even one elephant going rogue can be very dangerous during Dasara.
Image: newindianexpress
Then one elephant is made the king of the group. For the year 2013, Mysuru Dasara's main elephant carrying the 750KG golden ambaari (howdah) of Devi Chamundi, is Arjuna. He is 45 years old and weighs a massive 5600 KG!
Image: TheHindu
Arjuna is accompanied by two female elephants on either side, to keep him calm and focused. He has to bear the tremendous weight of 750 KG+ for nearly 3 hours, and in the middle of lakhs of humans all around him! That involves tremendous training.
Mysuru Dasara is among the world's longest running traditional processions. From 1610 CE, EVERY single year, on a grand scale! Here is a panoramic view of the elephants marching with Goddess Chamundi, amidst a sea of humans. Remember, each of these elephants weigh 60 to 80 times an average human!
Image: halobackwaters
Mysuru Dasara is like a mini Indian Republic day parade in Dilli. It brings out 100s of rare cultural and folk dances and performances. Here is one snippet.
Image: akamaihd.net
Finally, after an almost full day of fun on Vijaya Dashami day through the streets, Mysuru dasara culminates with a torchlight parade & show at a ground.
Image: TheHindu
If you haven't seen Mysuru Dasara in person, mark your calendar for the next year. This is one spectacle in India, that you should really see. A combination of centuries old culture and tradition, that is rolling year after year entertaining the people. This is how the city glitters during Navaratri nights!!
Beyond his fan club, this is how Rahul is described by Indians today.
Social Media calls him a Pappu – and
it is not for no reason. You will know why after reading this writeup fully.
R Jethmalani frowned at him as a
Disaster – This one speech will prove Ram J 100% right.
Youtube comments term him as a retard –
And that is not longer an insult. You can see it for yourself why.
S Swamy “praises” him as a Buddhu –
He has proved he's way beyond a Buddhu, in this speech.
VS Achuthanandnan laughed at him as an
Amul Baby – This speech's logic will even make kids chuckle.
For now, let's politely call him a
stand up comedian.. an unintended one, but that's OK :)
There are three parts to this writeup. The Video, Serious questions and Humorous comments. Ideally go in that order, but if you are pressed for time, skip the first or even the second section to run to the third section.
Section 1:
Firstly, Watch this video of Rahul Gandhi's
speech at the CII with hilarious scrolling texts, and you will know
why we want to call him a stand up comedian. He turns into a
joke by himself, makes no sense, has no oratory skills and
makes a mockery of himself by going all around with zero meaningful
message delivery.
Rahul Gandhi Epic Fails Marathon at
CII (Chamber of Indian Commerce)
Section 2:
After I made the mistake of listening
to the entire video, a hilarious mistake though, let me ask Rahul
Gandhi some serious questions. I swear to God, I could not make head
or tail of what he was saying, so these are honest questions of a
confused listener. If you have a chance to meet Rahul ever, as he has no presence in the social media directly, please
pass on these questions to him and educate us about his answers.
1) Dear Rahul Gandhi, What is India?
Rahul: “There is a tendency to
look at India as a country. In our everyday life we see India as a
national structure. But if you go back slightly more than that, go
back a hundred, two hundred years, you would find that India is
energy, it is a force. If you go back a thousand years, two thousand
years, you would find that force came from our rivers, Ganga, Yamuna,
Saraswati. We worshiped these rivers and the reason we worshiped
these rivers was because that is where our energy came from, and
everything we had was built on these rivers. Now we have gone way
beyond that. We have built structures that are allowing this energy
to rise, to explode. And it’s an honour for me to be here because
as this energy moves from India and goes abroad, you are the cutting
edge. You are the people on the first line. You are the people who
are our ambassadors. You are the people who tell the world what this
energy is about“
Confusion:
Dear Rahul, if India is not a country, but a national structure,
which was energy 200 years back, also a force 200 years back, was the
energy of rivers we worshiped 2000 years back, and now this energy is
about to explode, and it will move abroad via the cutting edge first
line of business people (the audience), who are also the ambassadors,
what should they tell the world India is?? Can you come again?
2) Did anyone in the world think of
India in 1991?
Rahul: “Over the last couple
of years, you have done a tremendous job. The image of India
has
changed. I went to University in 1991, and I remember, nobody thought
of India.”
Clarification: Rahul, I don't know if you recall properly while
getting into that 'unnamed' university in 1991, but I was old enough
in 1991 to absorb the world views clearly. The world was laughing at
India that went bankrupt by 1990. Yes, the image was not positive, but the world thought of India daily. It as even projected as a country just about to implode into a balkanized Asian region. Between 1990 and 1992, India was
forced by all the major powers of the world, through World Bank and
IMF, to get rid of the socialistic hurdles setup by your grand mother
and great grand father. We call that now as an economic reform, but
it took India a global shame of pawning its gold in London, to make
balance of payments during that period. So dear, the world very much
thought of India, but with lots of pity, thanks to how your family
ruined India's economy by then. And the next phase is happening now
with falling Rupee under your mom's government.
3) Rahul, how do you describe nights
in India?
Rahul: “It was a dark night
some years ago when my team and I got on the Gorakhpur”
Clarification: Dear Rahul, nights
are dark everywhere in the word, keeping aside the artificial light
or moon light :)
4) Rahul, how long does it take to
travel to Mumbai from eastern UP?
Rahul: “from the dust of
Gorakhpur to the glitter of Mumbai. Took us Thirty Six hours. It is
called an Express!”
Question:
Rahul, even in 2012-13 if it takes 36 hours to travel 1650 KM, and
you sarcastically call that an “express”, shouldn't the blame go
to your family that has ruled India for most part of these years
without any significant improvement in the train speed?
5) What is Rahul's idea of the
“spirit” of India?
Rahul: “I spoke to a young
Muslim boy setting out to start his life. He had no idea what work he
was going to do. I asked him, “Boss what happens if you reach
Mumbai and there is nothing for you to do?”
(He said): “If I
reach Mumbai and there is nothing for me to do, I'll get on a train,
I’ll go to
Bangalore.” That is the spirit of this country.
Forward moving; brave. ”
Explanation: Dear Rahul Gandhi, that is not called spirit of
India. First of all a young man leaving home with no destination in
mind, is a shameful state of poverty in Uttar Pradesh from where you
and your mother are MPs. Secondly, what you are describing as
“forward moving and brave” is actually the desperation of the
poor to escape poverty in their small towns and villages, due to
failed economic policies of successive governments in India, and most
of them ruled by your party. Be ashamed!
You would have
understood that young man's desperation only if anyone in your family worked for money in a regular job, during the past 4
generations. I am talking about 10 to 20 years of productive employment, instead of living off tax payers money.
Sorry for being blunt, but you would have understood his poverty if
you worked for even 10 years to earn a living in the fiercely competitive Indian job market.
6) Rahul, how do you describe
monsoon early morning in Mumbai?
Rahul: “4’o clock in the
morning, we walk off in the galis of Bombay, monsoon season, feet
were going into puddles.”
Query:
Sir, if there are puddles even in India's financial capital, can you
imagine how much “Bharat Nirman” has happened in the smaller
towns and cities of India during the past 9 years of your mother's
governance?
7) Rahul, can you tell us about the
most important infrastructure need of India?
Rahul: “We have to provide the
roads on which our dreams are paved. And these roads can’t have
potholes. They can’t breakdown in 6 months. They have to be big
roads, because they are going to carry strong people, they are going
to carry strong forces.”
Comment:
Glad that you talked of roads. Do you know that the first job your
family did after coming to power in 2004, was to slow down the
massive road building project setup by Vajpayee government? Not only
that, they even spent crores to remove his pictures from all those
highways being built. And now you lecture about building roads? Wah!
8) Please tell us more about your
train journey.
Rahul: “people were not the
only things moving in that train. Ideas moved with them.”
Clarification:
Rahul baba.. I don't know if you ever traveled for 36 hours in a
train in your entire life, amidst ordinary people of India. I doubt
you did considering the way you are talking about one train journey.
Yes, trains carry people and trains carry ideas all the time. Ask any
migrant to any big city and they will tell how they came with big
ideas and positive spirit. Maybe you should travel in trains more
often, particularly in the sleeper and general compartments.
9) What's the biggest problem in
India today?
Rahul: “Our problem is not
joblessness, it is lack of training and skills”
Shock:
Dear baba.. do you even understand why people don't get jobs? Don't
tell me you don't know the meaning of the word 'joblessness'!
10) Dear Rahul, describe India's
educational system to a chamber full of business people.
Rahul: “Look at our text
books, open them out. Most of the stuff is not really relevant to
what they are going to do. Who knows what they are going to do. You
know what they are going to do. Why? Because you are going to give
them the jobs. You are the guys who are going to employ them. Do you
have a role in our education curricula? Do they ask you? Do
they? Does someone come to you and say, hey listen, what do you
think? Does it happen? I am asking. Does it happen systemically? Do
you have structures in universities? Not individual relationships. Do
you have structures in universities that allow you to impact what the
IIT is teaching? Do you? It is a question. You don’t. Those are the
type of structures we have to build. Our universities structures are
closed. They are silos. I meet these guys, they are brilliant guys,
absolutely brilliant, but a university today is a network. It’s no
longer a silo; the network has to be
connected to the industry. It
has to take input from industry and it is not happening.”
Confusion:
Rahul baba.. if India's text books are obsolete, if you are not sure
who will give jobs to those studying those text books, if there are
no structures in the universities, if the government does not consult
business owners frequently, then it is whose fault? Your Congress
party which has ruled for nearly all but 10 years since independence,
or someone else? And, we are still scratching our head to make sense
of what you said above.
11) What's Rahul's advice to a group
of top business people of India?
Rahul: “And that is where you
guys come in. You are the people who are going to take the lead for
the creation of jobs”
Comment:
Yes, they will create jobs. But what do you do with lakhs of
crores of public money, being doled out through NREGA and other
employment schemes? Can you tell the nation how many jobs were
created during UPA 2 and contrast with earlier governments? How many
jobs did you create as an MP of Amethi in the past 9 years?
12) Baba, what's that Kennedy speech
excerpt you mentioned?
Rahul: “President Kennedy
famously said that a rising tide raises all boats. I oversee a
women’s self help group movement in my constituency and in Uttar
Pradesh. Chatting to them once, I told them this and said the
President of the United States said a rising tide raises all boats. A
rising tide doesn’t raise people who don’t have a boat. We have
to help build the boat for them”
Comment:
Rahul baba.. even when giving metaphors they must make sense to
the audience and also the people you talk about. Amethi is at least
40 KM from a big river and why do they even need a boat? If you
talked to someone in Mangaluru, Prayag or Kanyakumari this boat
analogy would have made sense to them. Something to think about..
13) Rahul sir, any views on
alienation of communities?
Rahul: “When you play the
politics of alienating communities you stop the flow of movement
of
people and ideas – and when that happens we all suffer.”
Comment:
Aha.. Do you remember your party's “Saffron terror” nonsense?
When such politically and religiously motivated statements are made, without any
supporting facts, will they do anything but alienate communities? Speak to
Shinde, Diggy and Chidu once and also read what Wiki leaks wrote
about your own views on this topic.
14) And baba, what was that comment
about exponential thinking?
Rahul: “As we have moved
forward to meet these challenges we must remember that we have
a
tendency in India to think about solving all our problems
incrementally. This is a
mistake. There are some problems,
which require exponential solutions. Whenever
India has
done well it has done so not by incremental steps but by
radically
transforming its structures. Look at our successes –
from the Green Revolution to
the White Revolution to the IT and
Telecoms Revolution. All those successes were
the result of
exponential thinking.”
Clarification: My head is spinning now. Who taught you about
Green revolution, white revolution, IT and Telecom revolution? I am
from a generation that lived through IT revolution. I can tell
confidently that all the growth happened in steps. India did not jump
from land line to smart phone directly. It went through basic phone
upgrades. Internet for IT did not reach 20Mbps speed overnight. I
used internet 18 years back via a modem when even 56 kbps was a
luxury. There was no guarantee that most of the packets won't be lost in
transmission. India did not get flashy Windows i7 laptops overnight.
It took over 25 years to move from a 32 bit 386 processor to today's i7. India did not jump to cloud computing overnight. It took decades of
computing improvements. Get your basics right Rahul baba..
15) Lastly, Rahul sir, what are the
basic components of business?
Rahul: “The poor are one
component of our country. Business is another component. The
middle-class is the third component. We have to work with all these
components.”
Comment:
Ayyo... have you heard of producer and consumer model at all? Which
college did you go to sir?
Did you have enough? I think I had
enough of these serious remarks.
Section 3:
So, Let's read some hilarious
comments from below the video:
“He should
be honored with the title of 'Sir'
after Ravindra Jadeja.”
“The level
of radiation of dumbness from this guy is orders of magnitude larger
than the radiation of all of the
radioactive materials present on this planet”
“You
forgot to put Rahul baba saying, Rani
ki Jhansi!"
“The New
channel should call him every week and
turn this hour into a weekly comedy show. need a headache medicine
asap now.”
“Share it on your Facebook profile
titled as, ""Most inspiring
Speech"", I bet you will lose all your friends...”
“My
favorite: Your are empowered but your are dis-empowered..
LOL, River, Waves, Boats.. Beehive”
“My
girlfriend's cat has a better IQ than this loser.”
“Watching
this clip was very painful and
frustrating! Leave alone his IQ... I think it is criminal even to
bear him speak. Now just think if ever he becomes PM? What a
terror!”
“My kid in
the ninth standard would do a better
job...what an Idiot”
“He is
uttering retardedness like a tracer bullet..:P”
“My
EARS are bleeding... But i still cant stop laughing !!”
“Has
he ever listened to himself??”
And here is
the best comment: “CII must have fired
the guy who came up with idea of inviting him”
And, this
particular comment sums up Rahul's IQ:
02:40 Poor people= Weak people? 04:34 "They are going to carry strong people". So leave the weak (=poor) people behind? 06:36 "let me go back to the women". (Then searches for the "women") 06:50 lost "it" (women??) 07:32 opposite of incremental is exponential?? (nobody taught that math to me) 09:30 5 crores divided among 700 pradhans. So each gets a "couple of crores". I must be a bad engineer to not know the math behind it 12:14 Definitely not if you are that guy on the horse 14:10 Yoga=Dance?
Long live Rahul baba.... and let 100s
of such #PappuCII speeches flow into the “land of energy” :)
After any terror attack in India, we
can almost predict how the “seculars” (read as anyone not
associated with BJP or Sangh ideology) react. Here are some examples
to prove the point.
Terror attack 1: The 26/11 attack on
India by Pakistani terrorists.
After the dastardly terror attack on Mumbai in 2008, which was nothing but a well planned and funded proxy war waged by Pakistan on Indian civilians through brainwashed Jihadi terrorists, Congress party's General Secretary Digvijaya Singh released a book. RSS ka Shadyantra, 26/11 (RSS conspiracy, 26/11).
Digvijaya Singh, an ex CM of Madhya Pradesh, and the teacher of Rahul Gandhi, even went on to say that the Mumbai ATS chief Hemant Karkare had called him, hours before he was killed in the terror attacks, to tell him about threats he had received for probing Hindu extremists and their terror links.
Image: milligazette
No wonder investigators feel disheartened when the ruling Congress party's top leader openly misleads the nation this way. It was well established right from the start that the terrorists were Pakistanis. Indian and American courts clearly proved the facts in the coming days resulting in convictions and even the execution of Ajmal Kasab, the lone Pakistani Jihadi terrorist caught in the attack.
So it was not RSS, but Pakistani Jihadi Terrorists who did it.
Congress leader and Member of Parliament A H Vishwanath has alleged that Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is behind the bomb explosion in Malleshwaram near the BJP office in Bangalore.
Senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah raised suspicions of BJP’s hand in a bomb blast, that occurred near BJP office in Bangalore on Wednesday. Speaking to press persons on the sidelines of a party workers meet of Krishnaraja constituency, in Mysore, he said that there were chances of BJP colluding with anti-social elements to “plant a bomb” near its office, “for electoral gains”.
Here also, the orgasmic premature verdicts from Congress camp turned out to be totally false. The 2013 Bengaluru blast was linked by the probing police to Al Ummah, a banned Islamic terrorist organization from Tamil Nadu. Nearly 12 terrorists are arrested so far and all of them happened to be Jihadis, who have nothing to do with RSS or BJP.
The Bangalore police have identified the person who probably parked the bomb-laden motorcycle near the BJP office in the city on April 17 as Panna Ismail, a former member of the banned Tamil Nadu terror outfit, Al Ummah. He had jumped bail in mid-March in a terror case in Tamil Nadu. Sixteen people, including 11 policemen, were injured in the blast. In the court documents filed by the police, Ismail, a resident of Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, has been named in the list of 12 persons accused of carrying out the blast. While documents say that Ismail and two other Tamil Nadu men, Bilal Mallick and Fakruddin, are at large, the police have shown the arrests of nine others. Both Mallick and Fakruddin are linked to Al Ummah.
So yet again, Congress supporters and top leaders got foot in the mouth. Worse, no apologies to India for misleading yet another terror attack.
Terror attack 3: The May 2013 terror attack on a Congress election convoy in Chhattisgarh.
This was more bizarre than the earlier ones. Here, within minutes, tweets and messages were floating on how BJP government failed, how Raman Singh the CM must be dismissed and so on. Lots of drama unfolded with Sonia Gandhi even rushing with lot of top leaders, issuing statements and then press giving lot of anti BJP sermons.
And after the initial high drama after this unfortunate incident, completely politicizing the terror attack to blame it on BJP, NIA found top Congress leaders hand-in-glove with terrorists.
The same Congress workers who were holding banners "Raman Singh Sharam Karo" (Shame on him), were no where to be seen when NIA confirmed Congress conspiracy behind Chhattisgarh naxal attack.
So yetanother terror attack, this time by Communist Maoists, back fired on Congress after all the initial shouting against BJP. The attack was established by NIA as a handiwork of Communist Terrorists hand-in-glove with Congress top leaders of Chhattisgarh. Investigation is still going on.
Terror attack 4: The July 2013 attack on Gaya's Buddhist temple.
Even before the NIA investigators are in Patna, already the "secular" nonsense to blame BJP, Modi and Sangh started after this terror attack. See some selected ones (thanks to friend Ajit Gupta for pointers)
It's incredible how many of these "analysis" and "views" match with the Congress ring leader Digvijaya Singh's own RSS and BJP phobia.
He "warned" Nitish Kumar in particular and non-BJP ruled states in general, to be "careful".
If you have carefully observed so far, you won't be surprised if this Bodhgaya attack may also eventually turn out to be some Jihadi terrorist hand, and nothing to do with RSS or BJP.
When will these shameful "seculars" grow up? That too on matters of significant national interest like terror attacks?
My Amma was very fortunate to grow up in the pristine Melenadu (Western Ghats) area of Karnataka, during the 1940s and 1950s. And whenever we had long chats after dinner, she would recollect her childhood. This blog will detail four such memories, organized in 4 putas (pages). I had written these a few years ago, and thought will share with my new online friends here.
Longish post, but written for those who want to enjoy reading about nature, and life in a small south Indian village during India's independence time. It's a good change from the routine politics and current affairs that we overload our brains with. The funny part here was that the folks in these stories had no idea that India gained independence, even by September or October of 1947! Such was their remoteness and disconnect from what was happening in the rest of India.
PuTa 1: Rain Rain.. Please go away!
Our teenage girl had begun her high school stint. In those days post
independence, sending girls to high school was a big No-No in villages
of MalenADu
(ma-le = hilly, nADu = land). After completing 4 years of primary
school and another 4 years of middle school, she was probably the 4th
girl in her entire village to go to high school...better, she was the
first girl in her village to wear slippers.. truly from a rare trend
setting family.
Her village was a typical male-nADu type, about 30 minutes walk from her school in Sringeri small town. Being a famous seat of Hindu religion
associated with Adi Shankara, there was no death of religious/orthodox
people in these hilly regions. Her district board high school was
supposed to close at 4.30, but that day, rains started lashing out
early. As the school got closed early, Seetha headed home holding her
umbrella with girl friend Saroja. Two school boys walked in front as
usual.
These kids were not strangers to rain as it used to rain 4 to 6 months
in these regions of western ghats. But that day was really bad. The
haLLa (small stream) joining Tunga river,
had to be crossed to get to their village. The stream was overflowing
with rapid surge and roaring sound. The only sAra (bridge) to cross the
stream, that is 30 feet in depth had been flooded.
Just to show a tree bridge example. From: avocaproject.org
Their only chance of
getting home was to walk over a baggu-halasu (bent Jack fruit tree) branch,
spanning 12 feet at the narrowest point of the stream. Subbaraya and
Yashwant, the two boys walked over to the other side bravely. But our
girls are afraid. They just couldn't see the roaring, red, stream
below..forget bringing out courage to walk over it in lashing rain. How
could we cross holding school bag made of gunny threads, an umbrella?
How can we do the balancing act of walking over a slippery branch?
Seeing their pathetic plight, Subbaraya climbed back up the branch, gave
his folded umbrella's end and asked Seetha to walk straight towards
him, without looking down. Shivering & with her heart in her mouth,
she walked one step at a time, not looking down at apparent
one-slip-death! Every step was torturous & life threatening. Finally
she made it to the other end, soon followed by her girl friend.. Ufff..
a rainy day to remember for life! Every step brought her memories of
her mom as that could have been the last step :(
Nine years before that, Indian independence
was almost on cards. Our 5 year old girl was admitted to a British
setup government primary school, on the backyard of Shiva PArvati temple
near her village. Those were days when there was no kindergartens or
play homes. They played at home.. literally! Her sister, 4 years elder
to her dragged this reluctant kid to school. But our rANi (queen)
promptly ran back to house within an hour to her mom's cozy lap. It
happened a few days and finally they left hope for that year. One more
year with dear mommy! :)
But the next school year, her luck wasn't that good. She was escorted to
school by not just her elder sister, but sisters' classmates too. Some
days even the village teacher used to take her to school with nice
words. It was a torture for our girl to get away from her comfort zone
at home. Her home was a big one, right on the banks of river Tunga. Her
elder brothers had grown tarkAri (vegetable) right in the backyard for
fresh produce every day. Lots of kinds of flowers & fruits to pluck
from.. 4 big milk cows and a few calves with each having a typical
village female names - BangAri, PuTkALi, MangaLagowri and Lakshmi. Her
favorites were sampige/champak flower and halasu (jack) fruit trees. Her
attige (sister in law) was very caring type. It's understandable that
she had difficulty to go to 'boring' school from such a wonderful homely
setting.. but she had to go. She had no clue about independence or a
drastic change in country's political setup during her 6th year.. for
that matter, most people including her teacher were quite ignorant on
what's happening in rest of this vast, big country. They didn't even
know about the gory bloodshed on India's newly created borders with
millions losing lives. This was even before the first radio came to
their village. Someone told the teacher after a few months since
independence that, they had to stop flying Union Jack. Instead she remembers they started flying Mysore MahArAja's greenish flag in school with anthem praising the MahArAja. Mahatma Gandhi
might have been renowned world over, but in these obscure villages near
Sringeri, he wasn't very popular. They heard more about Gandhi's stay
in TB (Traveller's bunglow) in Sringeri a few years back, where there
was an offer of Rupees 5, a big amount in those days, to anyone who eats
lunch with holayas (dalits/untouchables). Being in an orthodox setup,
villagers were not thrilled hearing this as their village boys went to
collect five free rupees because of Gandhi's stay! Other than that, they
hardly knew anything about 'company sarkAra' (British government) or
Gandhi's massive independence struggle :( Talk about real remoteness.
During her 4th standard, she was taught a famous poem giving hero status
to raitas (farmers). It was written by rAstrakavi (national poet)
Kuvempu. On her way to school each day, she walked along the banks of
Tunga river. On the banks, hard working farmers used to grow paddy
crops. She loved that splendid poem which was made into a movie song
decades afterwards... uLuva yOgiya nODalli (see that cultivating sage)..
Even today, she remembers those best days
of her life with views of farmers, green paddy fields, people crossing
Tunga river on small boats and basically the magnificent scenary of western ghats.
puTa 2: Darshan (Sighting) of huli rAya (majestic Tiger)
Source: pradeepamohan.net
Our heroine must have been 9 or 10 year old... but the memories of this
page are etched in her memory forever. She only wishes today's kids
growing up in concrete jungles had such a 'wild' childhood :)
It all started one day with an invitation to travel to TeethahaLLi for a
shrAdha (death ceremony) of her father's relative. Of course, being the
middle of 20th century still, much before the hustle bustle of city
life in later years, most of the family members could take off a few
days and get to the family event. A bus ride from Sringeri to
TeerthahaLLi and then the rituals of a death ceremony, in a traditional
malenADu way got over.
But they had one other item to their itinerary before heading home. As you can guess, it does get interesting here.
There was another village MuttaLLi (muttu = pearl; haLLi = village),
about 6 miles away, but through very thick *real* MalenADu jungles.
These are real tropical forests with tall thick trees of many kind -
rose wood, teak wood, jackfruit trees, honne, saala and many other giant
types. There were a few precious Sri Gandha (sandal wood) trees also, both black and white varieties. Tremendous variety of flowers. Nightqueen (rAtri rANi)
kind of evergreen shrub flowers, sent out their immensely strong scents
throughout the path. Since they could only leave the originating
village after eating lunch in the afternoon, they decided to leave just
after dark. It's a good 6 to 7 hours of walk through the forest and they
had experience. They had to travel that evening/night since the next
function was early morning at the destination.
So there enters our familiar village setup of those thick tropical
forests... the beloved ettina gADi (bullock cart). Two magnificent, well
fed, blackish brown, tall & muscular ettus (bullocks) were fed
huraLi (beans) through the afternoon.
The group had Seetha and her two sisters, mother and a couple of other
womenfolk riding within the kamAnu (arch) of the gADi. They had a small
cover in the front as well as back. A male driver holding the strings. A
group of male passengers walking in the front with their panjus
(primitive open lanterns) in their right hand, with left hand holding a
container of oil to pour regularly. Another group of males are going to
follow the gADi from the back side, holding torch lights of those days
with big sticks in their hand.
So started the 'memorable' journey at sunset. The only problem other
than the exhuberance & jubilation of piercing through a thick *real*
forest is the *real* wild life! Yes, they had many kinds of hAvus
(snakes) to begin with. Leaving aside others down the chain, their
biggest dreading was of course the king of these jungles.. huli rAya
(king Tiger). Our girl had heard stories of people sighting tigers, but
you can just imagine the goosebumps & elevated adrenaline levels of a
9 or 10 year old when she knows that she will have a *real* chance of
seeing one that night.. that too in wild as they knew nothing about zoos
in those days.
A couple of miles elapsed. There are how-haas being shouted in rhythm by
walking menfolk.. our girls & their elders inside the arch of the
gADi are singing stuff, talking or just listening to the silence of the
forest being pierced by the gejje (ankle chain) of the majestic
bullocks.
Suddenly the driver senses that something is wrong..Can't describe the
nervous panic of our girl just seeing the uneasy driver. His ettus
(bullocks) are behaving strangely. One is panicking left & right
while the other is reluctant to move further. Suddenly the ride becomes
very bumpy. Someone walking in the back figures out due to experience.
Hey.. the bullocks must have smelled tiger!! Oh.. boy. that's not easy
to control. These are massive 500 KG+ bullocks and if they run helter
shelter in panic, one can only imagine what would happen to our heroine
& her co-passengers. They tell the driver to calm the beasts down..
and he does it very well with some help from others. He calls out their
names, feeds them some food, massages them, talks to them and it does
seem to help a bit. But still they are very panicky. Just then, the
front group starts to shout loud & with all sorts of tongue
noises...dbllllll dblllllll dbllllll.. Start waving their panjus
(lanterns) in a pattern. The prior group starts beating the sticks
loudly on the ground creating more *music*.
The reality is that no one knows where the tiger is.. if at all there is
a tiger around. Where would you find out in such a thick forest where
just a bullock cart path is the widest highway available?
Someone did use their brain in such a situation. They asked the back
group to start looking around with their battery powered torches. Then
comes the predicted loud shout.. look left.. allidE.. allidE.. (THERE IT
IS) !! Needless to say, everyone but the driver looked at that
direction, while the driver is busy shielding his massive beasts from
the sight.
Our queen looked with heart in her mouth, tightly holding her sisters
& amma, from the backside of the arch of the vehicle... Giving her a
glimpse of his majestic walking style, was the *real* huli rAya.. our
king of the jungle.
He was out of their sight within seconds, much faster than anyone's
goosebumps subsided! They say tigers can't see bright light as it's too
torturous for them.. so he might have just walked away cursing the men
from spoiling his tasty 'burger' meal catch attempt ;)
No one remembers anything beyond that in clarity. They did reach
MuttaLLi by early morning, ready to tell the whole village about their
adventure.. after all there are not many nights where you walk through a
thick tropical jungle & have a sighting of huli rAya. The amazing
part is that even after nearly 6 decades, the story still gets
circulated as though it was yesterday night... we city bred
'unfortunate' ones will have to just listen. Me wonders.. what are the
odds today for any one of the 6.5 billion humans to sight one of 5000 to
7000 tigers remaining on this planet.. that too in wild.. that too
crossing your path in the middle of night? :(
Who knows? Maybe 2 to 3 generations down in 21st century, these tiger sightings may just be a folkfare.. permanently limited to stories :( She hopes not and me too!
puTa 3: The untold story of the Shankaracharya
Over 5 and half decades later, in Hyderabad, one of her childhood
friend's younger sister comes to meet all the way from Warangal. She
also brings her husband, brother and sister in law. Four of them speak
KannaDa, with the lone professor husband of that Warangal
lady trying to just be in listening/absorbing mode. So I joined them
late in the night, trying to involve that gentleman with a mix of Hindi
& English, so that he can join the conversation. A few minutes into
the discussion of the 1000 pillar temple of Warangal, suddenly I hear
something that I don't recall hearing before. Slowly the setting shifts
to 1950s Sringeri and over the next 30 to 45 minutes details come out,
amidst snacks & fruits that my wife started to bring frequently.
Obviously with my theoretical interest in stuff like Shankaracharyas,
yOga & praANayAma,
I got hooked. My mother has special appreciation to that brother from
Hyderabad & sister from Warangal combo as both have accomplished a
lot today. But she knows that things weren't that good decades back when
their father had lost his father early. She vaguely recalls her mother
telling her about occasionally feeding that shy boy and how things
started unfolding for better later in his family.
It was 1954.. MahAlaya amAvAsya day near Navaratri time. A very auspicious day for a town where the chief attraction is Goddess ShArada/Saraswati. Navaratri, or 9 days of celebration
is the time where thousands turn up in religious & cultural fervor.
But this time things were destined to be different. She must have been
knocking on doors of her teenage. Early morning, the girl comes out as
usual rubbing her eyes, looking for dear mommy. She does sense quickly
that things are not normal. There is no trademark home made filter
coffee aroma. Both her parents as well as scores of others are outside
the home, busy speculating & talking and some even crying. Over the
next few minutes, she finds out that the world around these small
villages have collapsed.. at least figuratively speaking. Their beloved
Shankaracharya Chandrashekara Bharati swamy is no more. All she hears is jala samAdhi (intentional departure via water) at the brahmi muhurtha (4.30 AM).
It takes a little more time for the whole story to sink into her young
brain. It must have been tough for a girl to understand death itself,
but this was a special case of a very popular holy man, that too in an
unusual way. Seems like the swamy in his 60s was losing interest with loukika
(material/physical) world for a few years now. Those close to him, with
her own father included, knew this not-so-secret stuff. Obviously those
around the Swamy were carefully watching him. That day, just like any
other day, he went with his assistant Mahabala BhaTTa to Tunga river for
bath. Water levels & force was still very good even after peak
rainy season. But this particular dip for the Guru was different as he
didn't come up at all. It is said that he left his breath in a prANayAma method
inside the water. Sensing that something is not right, Mahabala
panicked. To make things worse, he wasn't a swimmer. Still, somehow he
dove inside and held his guru's leg.. but couldn't pull the body out for
obvious reasons. Tunga's water has it's own rules. Predictably both him
and his guru were moved by slow floods. He is catching for breath,
screaming 'kApADi.. kApADi' (help.. help), but not leaving his guru's leg. By that time, the water is pulling them near a local RSS shakha
(branch). One of the early morning exercising RSS local chief,
KEshavAchAri jumps into the water. Catching hold of MahAbala he shouts..
leave the soude (wooden log). To his shock, Mahabala is blabbering, not soude, but gurugaLu (his
holyness). After a bit of struggle the RSS folks bring both bodies to
the shore. Mahabala was barely breathing after having gulped lots of
water, while the guru's prANa pakshi (vital breath) had flied
out. Somehow after KEshavAchAri makes guru's disciple speak a bit, he
learns what happened and rushes to the maTha (temple office). Bad
news always wins the race against any good news. Right? It doesn't take
much time for the news to make rounds.
Over the next couple of hours, predictable things happen. The body of
his holiness is brought in. MahAbala survives. The full story unfolds
and he does get a lot of praising for trying so much. The next
ShankarAchArya Shri Abhinava Vidya TIrtha
was already crowned a few years back, but now gets a rough start to his
tenure. Holding his immense grief, he handled the situation well,
personally praising MahAbala BhaTTa's brave efforts. Sringeri's main
chowki (square) held that body of the elder ShankarAchArya for public
darshan (viewing). All temples got closed. Hundreds and then thousands
started coming by the time golden palanquin was taking out the
procession. Nothing surprising about the weather there as rain started
pouring.
By afternoon, the guru's remains were put to samAdhi/full rest with vEda ghosha (chanting).
By the time I absorbed what happened by asking small questions this
elderly group, I had already eaten a couple of plates of bajji (fried
potato snack), sweets, fruit pieces and was surely going to miss my
dinner. But neither my mother nor me would forget that eventful early
morning's story, just before navarAtri, long long time back! I was
like.. why would an 'all knowing' spiritual leader do this? (I don't
have soft corners for suicide)
Maybe he knew the purpose of his life
and he reached that point... but still.. could he? I still can't get
it, but that doesn't change the sadder expression on the faces of these
elderly group, late in the night in a distant Hyderabad.
slowly I accompany everyone to the lift door and it took a lot more
time to call it a night as my mind was doing it's circus trying to piece
the spiritual aspects of what I just heard! The more amazing thing for
me was how these elderly folks still felt sad 55 years later, just like
how they would have felt at that time.. genuine sad expression!
puTa 4: MalenADina mane (A MalnAD house)
I always have this fascination towards village houses, particularly the
ones next to rivers, amidst thick jungles, having plenty of
trees/flowers in the back yard, where a big family lived 'happily ever
after'.. ok.. just 'happily' for the time being. So I asked my Amma..
How big was your house, where did you sleep? what did you eat?
She started recalling & even drawing on the paper to explain me. For
someone like me who grew up in mostly 200 to 300 sq. ft homes in
crowded corners of BengaLUru, with shared toilets with multiple houses,
these massive houses, yards, trees, river etc. sound like fairy tales!
So here goes one.. a real tale, but in a slight hurry.
The house she grew up was a typical Kai henchu (hand made small village
tiles, horse shoe shaped) old house. Something close to the one above,
minus coconut/palm trees. Once you enter from the street, there are 4
steps after the small wooden gate. There was of course a kaDakaTTu
(primitive compound) around the gate. Once you climb the small steps,
you hit a jagali (front altar). For those familiar with village life,
people laze around this altar during evenings.
From then you get the main door with rangOli
(drawn every day) in front on the ground and tOraNa (decoration made
off mango leaves) on top. Once you get past the main door, you will see a
big chowki/inner square, nearly 25' by 30'. This could easily seat
about 60 people for functions. This chowki is surrounding the central
angaLa (aangan/inner court yard) with tuLasi
(basil) plant in a movable container. This was the age of conducting
marriage & other functions inside the home itself. This angaLa has
seen plenty of marriages, naming ceremonies and other festivities. Her
elder sister was destined to be married right there too. Two bedrooms in
that angaLa's corner, but the chowki was basically an area left for
resting, functions, socializing and even sleeping during hot days or for
guests. Her father used to sleep in the corner bedroom while her elder
brother (used to call aNNayya and her sister-in-law used to take up the second bedroom. Note that the
top of angaLa was open, so they even had drainage for rains. One other
corner had uyyale (swing) and a huge khaNaja (barn) to store 1 year's
worth of paddy (rice with skin intact). yeah one year's worth!
Now from angaLa, if you climb up 3 steps back to chowki, you get to
naDumane (main hall) and other rooms from the central door. This whole
area is the next extension of the house. On the left, you see a big hall
(naDumane). Hall was also used by girls as bedroom during night, when
they used to sleep next to each others. On the right side of the
passage, you get a huge main kitchen. This had enough seating for 15
people to eat together, on the floor of course, in lines. They had 2
huge stoves, village style, with burning logs at the bottom. A corner
had a ENi (ladder) to climb up for storage material. They even used that
for drying cloths & storing cattle's food. In these villages, they
didn't have a separate pUja room. They constructed a small devara mane
(pUja room) inside the main Kitchen, fully complete with a small door.
The tradition was that.. close the pUja room door and then eat food. Her mom used to serve all the family members before she started her
food. Unbelievable dedication for her family! No one touched the food
till the head of the household started & said 'kutkolrO' (start). No
chance of criticizing the taste, no 'smart' talk. Just eat & walk
out.:(
Back to the central corridor, on the left side, next to main hall, there
was a small kitchen. Being a traditional orthodox family, they had to
cook in the small kitchen when cooking without maDi (after bath, wearing
clean semi-wet cloths). So when the kids used to go to school in the
morning, their tiffin (breakfast) was cooked in the small kitchen.
Consumption of breakfast was usually in naDumane. There was also a space
in the small kitchen for throwing bALe ele (plantain leaves) that they used to eat food upon.
Then back to main corridor.. proceed 3 steps down to the next extension
of the house. This is another big angaLa (second yard) for utilities.
Washing cloths, vessels etc., that too mostly during rainy season. For
rest of the year, they used to open the backdoor to go to hoLe (river
stream) for washing & cleaning.
Walk out of the back angaLa, they had a huge bathroom on the left side.
It had a hanDe (primitive water boiler) with big space below for putting
wooden logs to burn. Beside the bathroom, they had a big koTTige
(cow shed) where all their favorite cows & calves were stationed.
kALi, sOmi, puTTakALi, Lakshmi, Gowri, Seetha, bangAri were some names
of the cows & calves. The best part she remembers is that the entire
village used to let their cattle to go out for grazing at 8 in the
morning. No human actually accompanied them. Before sunset, they were
actually home, with full stomach, standing right in front of their
koTTige door (external door). Remember, they knew what time tigers start
roaming in their grazing area, so they were home around 5, not to take a
chance. Once let in, they used to stand in their respective gooTa
(space) asking to be tied with rope! Of course, they tied the calves
separately so that there is enough milk in the morning for the family.
The cattle also had a kallu bAni (stone water tank) in front of the
house. Every morning, Seetha & sisters filled 16 bindige (round container) water.. This was free drinking hole for any cow in the village with occasional refills during hot days.
Amazing animal discipline each & every day!
Except one night.. when one particular gabba (pregnant) cow didn't
return. Seetha's mom was worried & asked some villager to go look
for the cow. To their relief, he did return with both the cow & it's
newborn, which was struggling to walk! It was reward time not to
mention for both the household & the villager.
Continuing from the koTTige at the back, climb down 3 steps after
hittala bAgilu (back door), you get a walk way. kanakAmbari/crossandra, mallige/jasmine
flowers on the right, various soppus/greens on the left, various
vegetables like badane kAyi/brinjal, mUlangi/raddish, meNasina
kAyi/chillies, haravE soppu/some kind of green for daily cooking. Then
the main water hole for the house, bAvi/well was present. This was a
shared well for their house and the neighbours. This was one well in the
entire village, where water never ceased to exist, even in the middle
of summer. Sweet water at around 14 ALa (14 human lengths), to be drawn
using rope & rATi (wheel at the top). Seetha, sisters & brothers
used to draw water throughout the day and their mom once in a while
during afternoon. Talk about home-made exercise which helped them grow
taller! Not only for household folks & cattle, the same water was used for plants too, except rainy season.
Walk amidst gulAbi/rose, Walk past the well, you have a big sampige/champak
flower tree. Our heroine used to climb till halfway, but her sister
used to climb all the way to the top. Of course, sister also helped our
girl to climb down after teasing a bit. Next to it was mandAra flower plants. This was meant for God's worship. Next to it a halasu/jack
fruit tree. In fact, one more jack fruit tree before the well too. One
was Seetha's & her akka/elder sister took over the other. The best
part is that they fed water every single day to grow these jack fruit
trees, but in their entire lives, they didn't get to eat a single fruit
from these trees! Nature's laws are sometimes strange :( Even today, villagers eat plenty of those tasty jack fruits, which is
how things should be in my opinion as we all eat something based off
someone else's hard work earlier.
Left to the path, sIbekAyi/guava tree, enough to feed the home with tasty fruits year round. Next to them were spaTika flowers. Then came nEraLe /jambhul
fruit tree, chakkota (similar to grapefruit/mUsambi, but much bigger)
tree which was a unique feature of the village. Walk past them, finally
you get series of curved step way to go to hoLe/river stream. This was
the best memory spot as they used to get there for bathing, washing and
even playing! During rainy season, they were avoiding the steps due to
river overflow.
During heavy rains, the sisters stood near the back door & grazed at
the overflowing river.. Panicking, our girls used to ask mommy.. Amma,
what happens if the river comes into the backyard? Mom was calm as
ever.. Gangamma would go away, if you pray with proper devotion.. no wonder the girls prayed & soon gangamma would
recede! 18 years in this house and every single year was a sweet
memory, which today's urban born generation would have a very tough time
imagining..
Maybe more in the future, if I am in a mood to listen and blog her other stories....
IPL 2013 has been a disaster in terms of credibility. Sreesanth and gang got caught. Now the damage is much deeper for this tournament. Bollywood Guys and Bookies are behind the bar. Even the biggest sharks at BCCI top post level are being suspected and being probed.
Like some great thinker said, Pakistani Terrorism and Indian Corruption can't be cured. So if you can't beat them, join them.
Let's propose some significant changes to the way IPL 2014 will be played, wherein we can legitimate some of these "wrong doings" and "cheating", to have even advantage to all the teams. Also, this will ensure that the spectators don't get any surprise. 100% transparency in spot fixing is my noble aim!
Change Number 1: Designated Bookies
No more surprises. Each IPL team will have the option of picking upto 5 bookies per season. Only two can be based of Pakistan or Dubai. If the location can't be traced, former banned cricketers like Prabhakar, Jadeja, Azaruddin can be consulted for expert opinion on the exact location of the bookies.
Each bookie will be allowed to handle a maximum of Rs.500 crore betting per game and up to 100 phone numbers. Those numbers must be notified to the crime branch and team owner before the start of each game. And, no team can have more than 2 bookies from the same Bhai's gang. And those with murder charge sheet against them or the history of defaulting on betting payments, will need special permission from the BCCI Chairman to apply for bookie auction, after surrendering all their illegal weapons to the nearest encounter specialist.
Change Number 2: Approved List and Quantity of Drugs
What happens in the after match parties is anyone's guess now. So IPL 2014 will have regulated list and quantity mentioned per player. Cocaine, Ganja, injectables will be circulated at the time of the auction of players.
It will be the team's responsibility to sensibly distribute the drugs themselves, thereby disallowing spurious elements contact their players in need, at odd times and odd places. And spot fixing handler girls and bookies must not be allowed to meet the players, after they start drug usage for that night.
Change Number 3: Spotfixing Signals
You must have seen in 2013. Sreesanth used a towel. Ankit Chauhan used a different method and so on. No more confusion. Each team will get a sponsored method (with logo or other display options of the sponsor) of spotfixing signal. It will be either a towel, or a big locket, or a wrist wearing device and so on. The umpire will ask the bowler before each over if he needs to make an announcement to the bookie and the world about a fixed over. Why just bowlers, let's also include some spotfixing options for the poor batsmen. This way we will have a fair level playing field across teams.
Note, only 3 overs max per game to be fixed. If the team pays a designated amount, then the signal will be kept a secret only between the players, umpire and the bookies via special signalling methods. This amount will come from the player auction fund's left over.
Change Number 4: Review of spotfixing and 2 challenges allowed.
Since spotfixing can make or break a team into 100s of crores each season, two challenges per game are allowed for the captains. For example, if the bowling side is opting to spotfix the 12th over, after the signal is made, the opposing team's captain can challenge and disallow the fixing for that particular over.
This is to give the opposing team a chance to pick the right situation and batsman to handle the fixed over, to enable their bookies make the best out of the precious opportunity. No partial over fixing allowed though.
Change Number 5: Only 3 lady escorts per team allowed.
Another important change for 2014 IPL would be that every team will get only 3 lady escorts per game. When the escorts heard that Sreesanth's iPhone had nearly 1500 numbers out of which 400 were air hostesses, there was panic in their industry. They want to give opportunity to more escorts, socialites, handlers, dancers and other lady professions across the metro cities.
So each team has to pick 3 names, with one compulsorily from their home town. These ladies will be given special badges so that they can gain entry into after match parties, special spot fixing rooms and may even be player's rooms, upon special permission from the team management. Any girl found without following the protocol will be ejected from the IPL circuit for 3 full years.All their phone calls will be strictly monitored and recorded.
Change Number 6: You can only fix a player twice in a particular IPL.
With IPL fixing amount becoming so attractive, there has been a special request by the Dubai and Karachi based bookies that they want more options. There is also a tremendous fight among those players who have no international chance anytime in the near future. So accommodate all situations, the proposal is to have a max limit per player from spot fixing perspective.
A given player can opt to get fixed only for 2 matches in a season. This will be decided by a lottery as there are not enough matches to allow everyone to be fixed. Those selected for Indian national team in any format, will be given a lower preference in this list. In the unlikely event that a player declines to get fixed for a match, he can designate via his bookie, the next option. He will get 20% of the fixed amount, for this trading of spot.
These are the major changes. There will also be minor changes like no game to be fixed entirely, all payments in designated 3 currencies only, debarring a player who has fixed but didn't show signal cases, disallowing any fix-specialist player to enter politics for a 3 years period from the year of fixing, among other things. If you have noticed, there is no proposal here on how to make betting easier in various cities of India for a spectator. That is a tricky topic and it will be covered once the fixing rules are accepted by BCCI.
Watch this space for more details when 2014 IPL is closer. For now, let's switch on the TV to see if Srini Mama will lose his job tonight due to yet another Son-In-Law wheeling and dealing problem in India.
