When money and power talk...

That title is an indication of what politics is all about. Summarized and characterized by just 2 very simple but very important words. When money and power talk, anyone, absolutely anyone will have to shut up. That s the pity of it all.

A very well educated person. Probably he/she might have topped the I.A.S (Indian Administrative Services) exam, but that person can do nothing but just advice the stupid minister on what should be done. Of course, even if the person is very well educated, there are always 2 ways to get work done. 1- Money (read as bribe). 2- Power (read as threats).

It was a few days back that I was reading these couple of articles in a newspaper. Something that really proves that one can do absolutely anything with these 2 weapons- Money and Power.

As people who might be reading this blog from my hometown, Chennai, would undoubtedly know that Tamil movies which have their title as a proper Tamil name would be granted a tax exemption by the state of Tamilnadu. 1st of all. What's this rule going to bring? A renaissance of sorts for the Tamil movie industry? or is it going to increase the vocabulary? or is it going make our newsreaders and actors say words such as "pazham, vazhkai" properly? or is it going to bring down the pricing of movie tickets at multiplexes? or is it going to reduce the price of petrol? All that it's going to do is just give the movies a good for nothing tax exemption, even when the movie made is hardly of even the lowest possible standard. There are certain big shots in the movie industry who get the tax exemption despite the movie not having a proper Tamil title. The reason- money and powerful positions and people. Now that's politics.

One other article is one which shows how poor the law and order situation is in Chennai at the moment, is one on eve-teasing. Rowdy elements have always been a part of Chennai, but wreaking havoc on ladies travelling in trains is the height of it. Spitting, commenting on the ladies and making sure that other passengers who try to oppose these rowdies are given a hard time and a piece of their minds makes passengers want to desert the trains forever. The railway police are very efficient in sanitizing the trains of vendors and beggars, but are not so very inclined to ensure the safety of the passengers by any means. How come these rowdy elements have a field day? Political backing and support. Politicians need these rowdies and criminals to do their dirty work and in return they get immunity from arrests. Wonder if politicians and policemen would allow these rowdy elements to even exist if they dared to touch their daughters/sisters/friends.

There have been so many girls who have died due to this menace of eve teasing. This will not end until and unless there are good cops who dare to stand up against such anti social elements, good politicians who do not need rowdies and anti social elements to help them win elections and make money for themselves. In fact, it all begins with us- the people- by voting for the right person. Lets make our city, our state and our country a better place for all of us.

P.S: With all due respect to the Chief Minister of TamilNadu (I know you will not be reading this article sir, but it would be nice if action is taken against such anti social activities).

A tour to the heartland of terror - FINALLY...

I was really excited only on this day. Finally, we were to return to some sort of proper civilization. The train at Jammu was scheduled only for 7 45pm. We had some repacking to do, considering all the stuff that the ladies bought. Poof.

We were taken out for a local sightseeing- which of course, means some more temples. It was peak heat, when we moved out for it. There was this temple, which was about a half hour's drive from the hotel and we landed up there in all that heat.

Just after we finished with that temple and got back to the car, the normally extremely temple fanatic uncles of mine, declared that they couldn't manage any more roaming in this heat. Believe me- Katra was nearly 40+ degrees hot. So we returned to our hotel, had lunch and got a bit of a nap, till about 3 pm. Then the repacking and all continued till about 4 pm, when we finally loaded the luggages in the 2 qualises that had come.

It wasn't long before we reached Jammu and had some tea there. By around 6 pm, we finished shopping and started to the railway station. The train was at 7 45pm. We reached the station by around 6 30 pm.

It was a tough time managing and carrying all those bags and heavy suitcases, which had only increased in number since we landed in Kashmir. We came to Kashmir with 10 pieces of baggage with us, now we were leaving with 19 pieces, which included 3 cricket bats and a baseball bat.
No ramps at the entrance to the railway station. Tough work, but we managed it. Then, our baggages went thru a scanner at the entrance and collecting them and consolidating those baggages took a good part of over 20 minutes.

At last, at around 7 15pm we reached the platform and found out where our compartment would be. A few minutes later, we loaded the stuff in and settled in our seats. I breathed a huge sigh of relief, when the train moved. Atlast- We were going to Delhi.