Election Flaws

It seems there was less than 48% of the public voted this time in the BBMP Elections (see link). There could be a plenty of reasons:

• People lost trust in the politics and politicians


• They do not know who is their candidate


• They do not know who is their right candidate


• Voters names are not listed and they returned empty handed. 


• Last time voters who did not find their names, would not have returned this time


• This is summer vacation - Most of the schools are closed and already several families are out of station


• This is summer time - People do not bother to stand in the queue


• None of the candidates are familiar to the localites


• Most of the candidates are uneducated and they promised heaven even without knowing what is implementable and what is not


• Anger that nothing (good) has been done to their area


• People travelling to other places and abroad cannot vote


• And just laziness and irresponsible attitude towards society - what else it could be?

I have a valid voter id issued in 2005. I had to walk to three different stalls to get the 'slip' and 'reference id'. Nobody knew which school was their polling booth. My photo was not in their list even though its 'computerized'.

Think of a well organized IPL (by the way, I am not against IPL - its a current trend; and its always easy to relate both good and bad) that has so many composite teams, various venues, TV - youtube telecast and sponsorship and above all 'team ownership'.  Every fan find his way either to watch the match in person and or on internet or his TV.  

The BBMP polls were delayed were for long. We had enough time to update the list. 

Most of the Bangalore residents have mobile connections, bank accounts, cars, and  a DTH connection. All these connections went through a systemic procedure and the public felt the need for it. On the other side, nobody mandated an electoral card.  

If only we had brought penalty or additional taxing system for non-voters, we would have seen 100% voting.   Everybody will get their electoral cards. 

And how about technology? Why cannot I vote through internet? 

And for the candidates, what do they intend to do if they win? and what do they intend to do if they lose?  You tried all sort of innovations to sell yourself - briyani, money, SMS ad, MMS ad, a seal on the newspaper, pamphlets, music on the road, and every possible way to show the public that 'you are there'. Question is 'where were you?'.

We cant get enough of Goundamani

For some reason, Tamil Cinema's one of the best comedians Goundamani has not been recognized well by our governments. Its the same set of heroes and heroines that were winning Filmfare and National awards those days.  Nothing can match his dialgoue delivery, body language, his slang, and punch. He was very 'loud', and he made us laugh, and he makes us laugh even now.



I dont think comedians go through film institute trainings. Goundamani also challenged false beliefs and attacked everyone equally.



Recently he was in the news for a surgery or so; but he is back home hale and healthy. Our friends gang were talking about him today and recalling his various movie dialogues and scenes. A sample scene is here.  In this scene he as a barber wins 15 lakhs rupees and his body language completely changes. The shaving kit on which his family runs is thrown to the river as its rendered useless for the new millionaire. He plans to  buy the road, town, and have AC house and so on. Then his wife gives the ultimate shock that the lottery ticket is kept in the shaving kit. A six minute sequence but timeless comedy. Hope you would enjoy!

Dark side of Earth Hour

I very well agree that concepts like Earth Hour make sense; but that does not really help. People rather wait for that one hour to get over and do not really think what to do constructively without light.  Anyway, in Bangalore, we had enough Earth Hours thanks to poor planning of the Karnataka Power Ministry.

But on the other side, I also wanted to always ask. Why does Vidhana Soudha shine? Is it solar equipped?  Why dont IPL matches play in day light?  See the stadium lights. There is nothing green about IPL (except for the grass and some team's uniform)

Visit Earth Hour website for its initiatives in India

Who needs Airtel's IPhone 3GS?

False excitement is in the air(tel) as Airtel launches iPhone 3GS in India.  The ad says "The fastest, most powerful iPhone yet". 



Apple launched (see link) iPhone 3GS last year - almost 9 months back. 



And Apple is already working on iphone 4G (2010 release) and 5G (2011 release).



But Airtel is trying to sell very late and also highly priced.



We have other poor cousins Maxx Moblie, Lava,.... Today I checked on Univercell website: 5MP camera mobile from Maxx costs only 5.5K.  However iPhone 3GS has only 3MP and highly priced (35K...).



If you are really serious about getting 3GS, ask your NRI friend to help you.

BBMP Elections 2010

The much awaited BBMP Elections 2010 is here. Once the candidates areMr. known, we hope several pending projects will see good progress, atleast for the parties to be in good books of the citizens.



The campaign was going strong last week that even the MLA 'walked' on the road seeking support.  And every other candidate visited areas like slum, crowded by localities, who shouted slogans.  When I called the MLA's secretary last Sunday to convey that a pending civic work by the government has to be completed, all that he said was "sorry sir...we all are busy with elections..even the officers will not atted any civil work(!)".  But they would be gettign their salaries, right?



Entire public knows that even rowdies are the candidates.  Times of India publicized (see link) enough HD Kumarasamy's comment that "criminals should be a given chance because they make become good". Mr.HDK, if that was your attitude towards public, why not you start from home?  Why not you employ criminals as servants, drivers, and spouses for the to-be-married.  Give them a chance.



Some of the security guys said the parties approached them with 'goodies' to vote for their candidates. They would get Rs.250 or so. 



Our family went for casting our vote. But to get the reference slips, we had to approach 2 or 3 stalls that surround the polling booth.  Prior to that, I surfed the net for polling details, and came across this link. The Asklaila number was continously busy.



My prediction is BJP will take the lead. Lets see.

My Friends are not intelligent

The Spiritual Researcher

Its really a mockery of what the saints do to spirituality.  Swami Nithyananda has given an interview that he is a 'spiritual researcher'. While his recent interviews are hilarious, the comments that netizens are heights.

The dinamalar news link is here: http://www.dinamalar.com/fpnnewsdetail.asp?news_id=6913&ncat=&archive=1&showfrom=3/16/2010

Here are some samples. 

டேய் நித்யானந்தா, இருந்தாலும் உனக்கு சரியான தைரியம் தாண்டா. மக்களை பற்றி நன்றாக அறிந்த ஒரே பண்ணி வாயன் நீதாண்டா. எப்படிடா அது , ' 

கவலை படாதிங்க தமிழ் மக்களே உங்களோட சந்தேகங்களை எல்லாம் நிவர்த்தி பண்ண வந்து விட்டார் ஒரு புதிய மாத்ருபூதம் என்ன ஒரு ஆராய்ச்சியாளன் தெரியும்மா எல்லாமமே ஆராய்ச்சி பண்ணி தன் சொல்லுவாரு

 செத்து போனா என்ன ஆகும் என்று தெரியலை யாருக்கும். ரொம்ப சந்தேகமா இருக்கு. சாமி நீங்க செத்து போய் என்ன ஆச்சு என்று ஆராய்ச்சி பண்ணி சொல்லுவீங்கள? ஏன்டா ஊர்ல இருக்கறவன் எல்லாம் கேனையன்னு நினைச்சிய..

ஆக நீ இன்னும் திருந்தல......

 Dear readers '' Saami irrukkunu solluravana nambalaam, Saami illainu sollaravanaium nambalaam, Aana naan thaan saami nu solluravana mattum namba kudathu''. 

IPL on YouTube

I thought IPL (http://www.iplt20.com/) this year will be boring and monotonous. If not fever, I did watch most of the matches. Showers of sixes in all the matches and it was nice to see the rivals otherwise play as a team. I am wondering what do they discuss when they plan against other teams. Do they reveal the way they think when plan their strategies? One way its healthy and another aspect is too much money.



I tried watching IPL on youtube. Technology!  Recently I had changed my Airtel broadband speed from 2 Mbps to 512Kbps. The speed was good. There was 3-5 minutes delay when I compared it with the live match.



Forgot to mention, got to see a lots of new faces, youngsters getting opportunity to play with, against international players. Its time the old players reduce their participation in the international matches and leave opportunity to the youth.



The IPL team color uniforms are really appealing; look nice on even a bad looking guys.

ஏமாற்றுபவனும் ஏமாறுபவனும்

சுவாமி நித்யானந்தம் தொடர்பான செய்திகள் என்னை உண்மையில் பாதிக்கவில்லை. செவ்வாய் இரவு இதை சன் டிவியில் பார்த்தாலும், இதை யாரிடமும் விவாதிக்க வேண்டாம் என்று தீர்மானமாக இருந்தேன். ஒரு புறம் இது ஒரு தனி நபரின் அந்தரங்கம். அதை சன் டிவி வியாபாரமாக ஆக்கியது மிகவும் தவறு. இதற்க்கு பல அரசியல் பின்னணி தகவல்கள் இருக்கலாம். எந்தவித சென்சார்ஷிப்  இல்லாமல் தொடர்ந்து ஒளிபரப்பு   செய்தது, நடிகை பெயர் சொல்லாமல் கிசு கிசு போன்ற ஆர்வம் தூண்டியது எல்லாமே விரும்பத்தக்கதல்ல.  மறுபுறம் மக்கள் எது ஆன்மிகம் என்று தெரியாமல் காவியின் பின்னால் கதி என்றும் இருப்பது தவறு. மதம் என்ற எல்லையை தாண்டி வெளி வர வேண்டும். இந்த விஷயத்தில் யார் குற்றவாளி என்றாலும் ஏமாறுபவன் நீயும் நானும் தான்.