Polls In Karnataka - A Quick Note

As someone who follows Indian politics very closely, it is a tad disappointing that I haven't been able to follow the build-up to the elections in Karnataka as closely as I'd have liked. But still an opinion or two, or perhaps a couple more. Contrary to what these people have to say, the Congress will not get a majority. In my opinion, no party will. The Congress used the revision of electoral rolls as as an intelligent tactic to delay the elections, and this will definitely not help the BJP ride the sympathy wave. Nevertheless, the sympathy is still there and the BJP will gain from it. According to me, the tally will more or less remain the same as in the previous election. The BJP and the Congress will get a few more seats at the expense of JD(S) and others like JD(U), SP and the BSP will just be making a guest appearance in the analysis of the experts sitting in their air-conditioned studios. Good luck to you guys, hope you get higher TRPs and have more people believe that what you say is actually true. Just a small note, Karnataka is not just Bangalore. There are other regions which are part of Karnataka and people living there are also part of Karnataka.

More as the elections progress.

The Best Band Name Ever

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin.

Yes, that's the name of the band. Well guys, you love Boris Yeltsin and we love your naming abilities. Though SSLYBY comes very close to beating !Xobile as the most ingenious name, !Xobile still takes the cake, or the click rather.



From Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin's Wikipedia page -

Will Knauer and Philip Dickey were mutual high school friends, growing up in Springfield. Phil and Will were in different bands that both "tried to sound like Nirvana."[1] After Will and Phil's high school bands broke up (Wharf and Thinking Vision, respectively), the two started playing together on Weller Street and Phil came up with the new name.[2]

The new songs needed a new band name, so we chose something really dumb, because we were only practicing in Will's attic. There were 2 girls who would watch us practice and I wanted to make them laugh...and I wanted the guys in Wharf to laugh...so that's when I came up with Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. Boris Yeltsin recently resigned and I was 17.

Check out SSLYBY on

MySpace
Last.fm


Won't it be fun to have band names on Indian politicians? Here are a few -

I have a crush on you Mayawati. [NO, not me]
We're are in awe of your pause Atalji. [Yawn, rather]
More as they come.

Earth Day Barkings

And one was under the impression that today is Tuesday. With each day being gobbled up for such causes, one wonders if 365 days are enough. So while Google does very dull logo change, the message is gotten across by our good friend Hutch. Such a gentleman he is. Tough, and very hard for him to resist it must be in a place like Bangkok. Every possible pun intended, in a very earthly way. His status message on GTalk -

Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realise we cannot eat money.
~Cree Indian Proverb
Happy Earth Day!!!

Well done, my boy. But that's not enough. One needs a more powerful message from an even more powerful messenger, our Boss. No wonder he has the veto power, the power to say yes while everyone else is in opposition and the result is still in his favour. Such is his power and that of his veto. Power, by the way happens to be another creature who doesn't have anything to say on this. Here's Boss's message on World Earth Day through his GTalk addressing system-

♫

today is earth day lets piss on the plants and shit in the fields...give back to mother earth

Short, actionable and powerful. Your words are our orders, Boss. Come, let's hit the fields right away.

Bliss - Dil Indeed Dance Maare Re

It has always been my dream to make a song like this. Write it, get someone to put the song to music and shoot it. But I'm glad one among Piyush Mishra, Vishal Dadlani, Anvita Dutt Guptan or Kausar Munir(from what I gather, Vishal it is) wrote a masterpiece like this and Vishal-Shekhar gave such wonderful desi music. And Uditji, your rendition of even the word sasura is amazing indeed. Thank you Yashji and Adi for letting Vijay Krishna Acharya do this.

My favourite lines -

Rose Ke Jaisan Pink Pink Hamare Gaal Gulaabi
Sky Ke Jaisan Blue Blue Yeh Tohra Nain Saraabi
Bhola Chehra Jaise Moon, Kaali Julfe Jaise Cloud
Abb Na Aur Chhupaaya Jaaye, dhadkan Ho Gayi bhery loud

Now to the masterpiece -



PS. What if someone achieved my dream? I can always do better!

Learning For The Day - Rukmini Devi Arundale

Till today, in fact a few hours before this post, I was unaware of the existence of Rukmini Devi Arundale.

Funny earlier and it's a life fact now that, as one discovers and comes across more things unknown, it appears one knows a lot lesser than what was thought earlier. That's the joy of discovery and learning.

Came across her profile in the India Today's special issue of 60 Greatest Indians. An interesting fact - she was offered the Presidency by Morarji Desai which she declined. Would've been good to have a danseuse as our President. Unlike the present one, who doesn't quite do justice to her more illustrious lineage . Hope there's no dent to the President's honourable chair during this term. So far so good, Smt. Patil-Shekhawat has been. No action is also good action. And as the elections draw close, I feel India is terribly missing Mr. Pramod Mahajan. That will be another post, but Mr. Mahajan, India needed you and one moment of insanity took us away from you. You were the best Prime Minister our nation never had. Rest In Peace, Pramodji.

Photos From The North East Trip

As Partha correctly points out here, it was not exactly the North East that we know as. Nevertheless, it was originally planned as a North East trip and hence the name shall remain. A picture is worth a thousand words they say and all the photos from the put together would be close to a million words. You can find all the photos from the trip here, but the traveler suggests that you wait for the blog posts about the trip coming up over the weekend. That's the plan at least.

Meanwhile, have a look at the albums. Sets rather, as flickr calls it. It is a really neat service and totally worth the $25 I paid for a yearly paid account.

Bhutan	Nepal	Gangtok
Changu Lake	Kolkata	Siliguri
Tiger Hill	Darjeeling	Kurseong

Back

The subject is back after the trip. Photos and the post will be up soon.