Loksatta experiences - 1

From here on, I would try to put in the blog all my experiences with, related to Loksatta Party. To start with, let me share those experiences with Loksatta that I had so far, that I remember.

* There is a website akhilandra.com which publishes news and different articles majorly related to Andhra politics and movies. Once in a while its conventional for the website to put some thing against Loksatta, makes sense or not with evidence or not. There was a news link 'Loksattta bhootakama - 2' and clicking that would show us an article written by some one against loksatta in his own perception and terms. I was fed up with work in an evening and opened the site and that news heading grabbed my interest towards it. I was expecting a low class article inside but surprisingly clicking that news link took me to http://loksattaanswers.blogspot.com :) Surprising !! Some techi loksatta supporter spent some time on it, used his skills and made this happen. I guess that it is done using a hacking technique 'Script injection'. I think he/she wrote some javascripting and html code in the comments section some where which made this happen :) Kudos to that personality. Using technology at right time, for right thing !!

* Got a chance to meet JP second time, on his visit to Bangalore. I took my colleague Guru Chetan along with me. I asked him to list out the work that he is gonna do for Kukatpally. He took time, interest and explained me in detail. As per him, most of the work will be visible in an year or so. Thanks to Anand for informing about this JP's visit.

* I had a conf. call with the folks in USA regarding 'Call MLA' programm for gathering support for, bringing awareness on Anti Corruption Bill to be submitted by JP in assembly soon. Call went disorganized. And not to mention, I got a bunch of phone numbers but never called any one so far no matter what the reason is. Let me see if I can do today :)

In the name of GOD

After half a dozen of phone calls between different pairs among the taxi guy, office security, Ajit, Vinayak and me, I booked a cab and was waiting at the National Travels, KR Market. My colleague Vinayak was arriving to Bangalore with a whole bunch of luggage and his wife and asked my help to ship the same (just the luggage :P) to his newly rented house. It was a pleasant early morning with a wonderful breeze hitting my drowsy face which was right out of the office doing night shift, with every one just getting settled to get into work, with buses arriving, auto rickshaws dropping and picking up passengers. Every thing was so pleasant except a heavy noise/sound coming out of a set of cheap quality electrical speakers tied to a tree near by. I felt it as noise but generally its called devotional songs, Suprabatham or what ever. The intensity was so high that it literally was disturbing every passenger around there. I don't know how many school students with exams, old people with health problems were getting distributed by it behind. I strongly guess that the temple management responsible for the noice didn't took any kind of permission from the relevant authority for the same. Also guess if any police around or any one getting distributed by it even thought of asking the temple management to stop it. I guess they all were habituated to it years down the line just like the people at the shores of dirty Moosi river in Hyderabad.

I came back to home and read in the front page of my favorite news paper Eenadu that an MP from Karnataka named Gali Janardhan Reddy donated a diamond stuffed crown to the god Tirupathi Venkateshwara Swami which is of worth rupees 40 crores. In the same news paper in 7th or 8th page, I read a news article where Loksatta Party president JayaPrakash Narayan saying that if their party had 40 crores of funds, they could have made a significant difference in the passed by Assembly/Loksabha elections. While one was taking pride in donating a crown to a statue of god, other was feeling bad in failing to 'serve the human which in turn is serving the god'. Not sure if thats how it is or if thats how the G O D wants it to be.

There was a scene in a Tamil/Telugu movie Kakka kaka (Gharshana) where a road side fella tries to escape from a policeman (while caught teasing a collage girl) by showing the (Ayyappa) Mala !! There are some organizations which catch the couple found in parks, roads etc. on every Feb. 14th and try to make them brother and sisters !! There are cricketers of exceptional records, there are politicians in the best positions who bow at a man in Andhra Pradesh who is considered to be a god !! Every thing... In the name of god !!!

One makes money in the name of god, one dumps money in rivers in the same name. One finds mind piece in the name of god, one makes the surroundings dirty in the same name. One creates races in the name of god, one divides races in the same name. One stops touching meat in the name of god, one takes lives of sheep in the same name. One feeds a hungry stomach in the name of god, one wastes milk, honey and ghee by dirtying statues in the same name. Good or bad, it keeps on happening in the name of god, an unknown, unseen, abstract G O D.

A man who could stand on his words and spend more than a decade of life in forest is a god. A man who could bare the pain of cross for the sake of good is a god. Its not necessarily be a Rama or Jesus, it could even be you or me. Who knows, Bagat Singh, a man who fought for freedom and gave his life at the age of 23 and Vivekananda a man who inspired millions of young people with his speeches and sayings may turn out to be gods in the temple for future generations.

Smell of a beautiful flower, skin of a beautiful fish, smile of a young baby, human brain, sex, emotions... I don't think are the out comes of chemical and physical reactions over millions of years. There certainly is a super power behind it and is Almighty to me but not the god. God is in you, god is in me, in every pure and every selfless action.

MJJ

The one who inspired me big time, the one who touched me with his music, dance, and above all with the wonderful messages in his songs may it be about love or about racism or some thing else, the one who is larger than life, the one who proved that beauty is nothing in front of confidence, the king of pop, the one who invented Break Dance....

First time I watched 'They don't really care about us' Prison version, I just had no words for a while. It might be Andhra Pradesh, any other part of India or any where in the world.... Its the same. The problems are same, the ultimate purpose of the art is the same.

He is shy in interviews, but he speaks wide open with his work. He is ugly in looks, but is the most handsome, most beautiful, most attractive in his work. He is the true global STAR.

He may be was address for certain controversy, but always inspired me with what ever I took from his life, work. Tributes !!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvWMLAWrEjU

The good and the bad...

Success is considered as good, failure is considered bad. Winning as good, losing as bad, making money as good, losing money as bad, making a relation as good, breaking a relation as bad... This is how the general consideration is. But in a bit lower level isn't there more to it ?

A CEO who offers special bonus every DASARA is good or even great. A CEO who cares a lot about your health and offers you one of the best yoga trainers in the city is awesome. The same good, great and awesome CEO may turn out to be bad, ugly when he sacks you from the job ? or just when he denies an increment? The CEO is good until he has money, until he can afford it. Its the same CEO with same height, same weight and same look !! Who is really bad ? The CEO or you or the money or the affordability ? We help friends. We help poor. We help those in need. But only what we can afford. Then why we feel ourselves as great ? When it can afford, Australia is a heaven. When it cannot, its a racist country !!

A film star who could gather 8 lakh people for his party inaugural meeting is a hero. The same film star who loses against a woman is a zero. A music composer is nothing for an international magazine until a so called great entity recognizes his talent. He is top 100 this, top 10 that over night for his decades of efforts just because he was recognized. A cricket team captain deserves a temple when his team is winning. The same captain deserves abusive criticism when his team is losing.

A great entrepreneur with excellent achievements over decades may turn out to be a cheat for some thing that was a result of happenings of few months. A best friend may turn out to be bad when his/her priorities are changed. A winner may turn out to be a loser suddenly, an interesting thing may turn out to be boring suddenly.

When the behaviour, result of some thing (or some one) is directly dependent on external factors which are partly or completely not under its control like money, affordability, recognition by an external entity, a team effort etc. , how can it be good or bad ? great or waste ?

Then why hate individuals than incidents ?

The Jack Theory

On a very boring Monday morning at office, we were talking about the movie that we watched on Friday. As we went on, the topic went into the 'length of movies' and eventually to the movie the 'Titanic'. I shared an interesting observation related to Titanic that was lying in my mind for a long time as that looked like the right time.

In the movie, when the poor young boy Jack was playing gambling, if he wins he is gonna make it into the Cruise and if he loses, gonna lose all his money. Finally, he wins and feels very very happy for being able to make it to the Titanic. Losing would have made his days tough as he would be left with no money, made his foreign dreams ruin. But at the end he dies and winning makes him lose the ultimate asset of life, the 'life'.

We consider Winning as good and losing as bad. We consider getting a seat in the best Business School in the city as good, not getting as bad. We feel losing in an interview for a job in an MNC as bad, missing the train with a few minutes gap, meeting accident in seconds gap, losing in exams, not getting the first crush as life partner, getting sacked from the well paying job, not getting the expected promotion at office, not finding the fav. dish in the restaurant, and the list goes on. But it isn't the case always, might be with Mr. Jack in Titanic, or with you or with me or with any one, any thing else in the world. For instance, three years ago I lost in the final round of interview with 'Accenture' for the job of 'Pre trained Junior Software Engineer' and the one and only chap who made to it out of around 120 of us looked like a Super hero to us. But to me after three yrs it looks like it did a lot good for me for different reasons. I believe that stopping to worry about the result of some thing thats not fully under our control, and keeping to go on no matter what it is would surely pay at some point of the journey.

Something that looks good mayn't be good as it looks like, something that looks bad mayn't be bad as it looks like.... There you go and thats the 'Jack Theory' :)

Just to add, one more thing that I observed from the universally accepted love story is that the so called 'LOVE' isn't only with one in life and is not some thing unforgotten in life time as fantasised by many.

A still from titanic, that shows the tension in the eyes of Jack while playing cards to win money :)

Jayaprakash Narayan

I don't know much about Loknaik Jayaprakash Narayan but I say this man Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan, Lok Satta Party president is for sure the best human being of my time I saw so far. When I say best its the most sensible, most clean, most visionary, most selfless, above all most 'true'.

We see many top rankers of different entrance exams including IAS who gives advices like preparing for 10 hrs. per day, joining good institutes, and so on when asked about success in the exams. When JP was asked about his preparation for IAS (He stood all India 2nd in 1984 IAS exams in a very first attempt which is still an unbroken record) he said that he never prepared for the exam. I was the most informed youth of my time, any thing significant happening in any part of the world would be informed to me via BBC, or news papers or through some other channel, he added. The purpose of a written exam is to estimate an individual's capabilities on the subject, and if one prepares extra just for the sake of exams the whole purpose of it is spoiled. This is something that always used to revolve in my mind and JP was the only top ranker whose take on it is connected with that of mine. Every one when asked about their take on 'Separate Telangana state', they either say yes, no, or say that they will put a bill on loksabha, or will bring if people give 95% of seats, there is no Telangana sentiment, or some thing else like that. When JP was asked the same, he said we have to be clear on if its a path (to the betterment of the land) or is a destiny (its needed for self respect, or cultural, or for any such reason). If we think its a path, thats not true, still low level district governments would do and players has to change not the play ground, if its a destiny its always possible with our Constitution and there is no harm in separating in development wise... This was the explanation. I can give 10 more examples like this to say that he is the most sensible.


Manmohan Singh was the man behind the economic reforms of the previous decade which was one of the biggest reasons for increase of employment in India now. But today he is helpless when UPA government sent APJ Abdul Kalam home for asking it to re think about the office of profits. A B Vajpay was a man with flawless political career but his govt. was no less corrupted than any other. Arun Shouri was one of the best journalists of the nation but is part of a religion based corrupted party now. NTR was Icon of Telugu identity but again was not the cleanest. PV Narasimha Rao was a leader to know speaking 14 Indian languages, was a person who could translate a book into Hindi within a few hours of train journey but ended his life with a bunch of scams. Every great political personality at some or the other time was corrupted, compromised. If you take JP's case, when he was invited by NTR to join TDP he refused, when he was invited to join PRP he refused (if my source of information is true), never considered joining a party just to become an MLA or Minister. No money distribution, no liquor distribution, no criminal back grounded people in the party, no joining hands with any party which doesn't follow any of these, all just because he could't compromise. This is why I say he is the most clean.

In the early days of party establishment, I used to see news like 'Loksatta Internal constitution released', 'Loksatta, the first party to announce ombudsman', 'internal elections to elect party cader and contestants ', '50 irrevocable guarantees' and so on. I used to wonder why is this guy doing all this instead of moving close to the public with road shows, jumbo meetings etc. Lets take 'Internal elections to elect party candidate'.. There was some one in Karimnagar I guess, came to media saying that LSP is corrupted and gave ticket to the candidate who gave huge sums of money to JP. None of his allegations were published in news because there was an internal election conducted and the person complaining was defeated in the elections !! We saw another new party which spoiled its image because of ticket selling allegations. If JP wasn't visionary he wouldn't have spent time in building the roots in the early days of the party establishment which are working for the party now. Just to add, most of LSP candidates are of no previous political background with a history of changing couple of parties, most of them are true professionals like Advocates, Doctors, Educationalists, most of them have social service background being members of Lions club, Red Cross etc. I could not understand where he got time to find out candidates with such a credible background and convince them to contest in elections.

We see many of the top rankers of IAS, IPS, EAMCET, CAT and so on saying that they use their qualifications and education to serve the nation but disappearing just few years. Many politicians who joined politics get compramised years down the line no matter what the reason is. But this man, is all different. For some one like me MBBS is a great achievement. He left that to become IAS in the frustration on the Indira's govt. at the time of emergency. After 16 yrs of service as IAS at different levels, resigned his services only because of the reason that he felt that he couldn't serve better. Formed a political party despite of all the criticism only because he felt that there is no alternative to mainstream politics in democracy. Such a selfless human who doesnt care any thing to serve better and still say serving the land is my duty !!

There are few allegations on him related to caste, money, relation with Ramoji Rao etc. etc. but most of them complaining know the truth. When I told one of my friends that I donated few bucks to the party, her question was why ? you could have donated to an orphanage instead ? If the statement 'A committed MLA can do better service to a constituency than a social service organization with 10 crore rupees of funds', my little donations and the little work that i'm doing for LSP makes sense. This was my answer.

In a couple of hours the 2009 election results are to be announced. While thousands of people like me are awaiting for the election results, JP in an interview today was talking about an article 'Maoism in Jarkhand' published in a foreign news paper !! This results may turn his journey a big way (positive or negative) but could never stop him....

Bringing the Culture

Sulochan, Saroj and Kishore..... my friends, whom I found because of the institute in Bangalore where I learnt Java. Met them after a long time, at our favourite juice shop near HAL. I shared my USA experiences on demand. I told that they (Americans) give chance to the other person to go first out of the elevator, say sorry for even small things like touching unexpectedly etc., appreciate people for even smaller things like opening the doors etc. ., don’t mind in the airports to sit on the floor if the floor is clean, don’t rush and punch on your face if you ditch their vehicle with yours, Instead, ask you if you are ok ?, need any help ?? (Of course, they are gonna claim the damage expenses later on and that’s a different thing all together) and so on. I also said, we Indians can not even imagine that we can lead such a quality, ego less and disciplined life here. Sulochan was angry and asked me why don’t I bring that culture instead of just commenting. Point !!!. I said I'm doing that.We entered a local Volvo bus to reach Garuda Maal near MG Road. The bus conductor told me that she will offer us a nice deal. She has a torn ticket which is of worth 80 Rs., which she will give us and that costs us only 80 rupees instead of 120 or so for the ride. As usual I was confused because of the language gap, hesitated by nature and said ok for the deal. But that’s a nice deal too. After all I’m gonna save 40 rupees just like that !!!. As soon as he understood the situation, Sulochan said, ‘Try bringing the culture!!’. Pay 120 bucks and get new tickets !!!!' .I was speech less. This is what is the difference between 'Just talking and Doing'.