Karnataka's Political Cry Baby...

Karnataka Chief Minister Yeddyurappa resigns


Scene 1: A bunch of kids playing cricket in a residential complex... The boy at the crease is bowled out. The umpire rules him out... all players vouch for the verdict. But the boy refuses to move from the crease. Or let anyone else take the bat. Reason? He owns the bat and the ball they are playing with... and his Papa is the secretary of the housing society they live in.

If they wont let him bat on, he will walk off with the cricket gear - ensuring no more play happens. And also make sure his papa-dear forbids any play in the vicinity for good.

Cry baby... spoil-sport...? would you say...?


Scene2: Karnataka political scene since Sept 2007...

First, HDK did not want to let go the post of Chief minister... then very reluctantly he let go after crying a lot over it, but wouldn't let the other party form the govt. Then after realizing that he could not form it himself either, reluctantly let BJP form the govt. only to pull the plug on day one.

All the while, Papa King Gowda is playing the king maker... taking care of his family interests. After all, how can he let his kingdom Karnataka be ruled by someone else other than one of his sons.


HD Kumaraswamy and his ilk, led by his grumbling father have made a complete mockery of the state.



One can not help feel amused and baffled by the politics in India... Karnataka taking the cake lately...

What baffles me - what the hell was BJP thinking? How could they trust Deve Gowda at all? DG is very well known for his self-serving politics. He became the Prime Minister by fluke - a stroke of luck which will never happen to him again. Unfortunately, having been PM once - he can not step onto the CMs chair anymore... He is practically forced into a political vanvaas... except for play the political Godfather from background.

Were they hoping for some mis-trust luck? Remember the 13 day govt they formed in New Delhi - only to return for a longer tenure. Height of superstition, if its so...

Good Samaritan!!!

I should have posted this earlier… but better late than never.

This is just to acknowledge and thank an unknown ‘Good Samaritan’ who came to our rescue at an odd hour – even though we were pre-condition to suspect him.

On our way back from a friends place, we ended up with a flat tyre while driving on the Outer Ring Road stretch between KR Puram and Marathali in Bangalore. It was past 10pm and as anyone who has read through the crime reports in TOI Bangalore would know the track record of such unlit wide stretches in Bangalore. Stranded midway between Bhagini and Marathali Bridge at an almost deserted point, there was no way to either go back to the nearest landmark or leave the vehicle there. Called up the mobile puncture service guy I had on my phonebook – only to find the cell phone switched off. Called up my friend whose place we had just visited to solicit help. Groping through the darkness, managed to retrieve the wrench and jack – all the while keeping a keen watch on the vehicles approaching us. Each biker slowing down near us was a cause for alarm and a suspect. Having heard and read of several stories of techie getting mugged, kidnapped and murdered in such spots, there was no room for easiness. My wife took off whatever gold she had on her and tucked it inside the car.

In some time, my friend arrived – and together we tried our hand at getting the jack into the right spot to change the tyre, under the light of a small hand torch. No wonder, the ‘keyboard junkie techies’ that all of us are – we struggled with getting it right for a while.

It took us some time to figure out the right approach – and by that we were already wary of the success we could achieve. While we were still bent down looking under the car and struggling with the jack, a man in late 20’s walked up behind us from no where and asked “Do you need help?”. All three of us looked at him with reasonable hope but also a lot of suspicion. Where did he suddenly come from…? From his looks we mentally graded him as a ruffian and conversed amongst ourselves in our native language – that we should be careful. My friend assured that he had his cricket bat handy in his car boot to ward off a threat – should a need arise. I was glad that I was holding the iron rod/wrench used to raise the jack. But we did need help… so after scanning the surroundings for any hidden accomplices, we reluctantly handed him the wrench…and he instantly got onto the job. And he did indeed know how to change a tyre…unlike three of us “engineering degrees” holders.

10 minutes into the job, tyre was changed and car in shape to run again. By now we were ashamed of our suspicion for the guy and thanking our stars that we didn’t let him know of our suspicion about him. Otherwise it would have been hurtful of a genuine person. Even as we were trying to figure out how to thank him – and what monetary reward we should offer him – he instantly and briskly walked off towards a tempo standing at some distance. Our requests not withstanding, he refused to wait or accept any money. He was actually the driver of that tempo/goods carrier, and having seen us stranded stopped at a distance, just to help us. And here we were all ready to brand him a suspect…

While our suspicion wasn’t altogether unjustified under the current times we live in, we did feel a sense of shame on ourselves (- and also for not being good enough even to change your own tyre).

This post is just a “Thank you” note to the good intentions of every such Indian...

Bangalore Woes - II

Sounds and looks funny... but this is true. You probably saw this picture already on the front page of Times of India (Bangalore) on Dec11th 2006.

It isn't off place to find a new big swanky car worth more than a cool million rupees... negotiate a foot deep pothole on the left side and a heap on the right... resulting in a tilt which almost gives an impression of the driver and the passenger being in two different floors.

An amusement of witnessing these wobbly drives aside - Bangalore roads are in a league of their own. As the classic joke goes - in US they drive on right side of road, in UK on the left side of the road, in Bangalore - on what’s left of the road.

Bangalore may soon be the first city to have a full WiMax network... its the silicon plateau of India, its the jewel of brand India,... but its still going to take an hour for a 5km drive in Bangalore any day. And it doesn't look like it will change anytime soon.

The irony is – that techie’s (I hate the term techie as a classification for anyone working in IT industry… but anyway, it’s the one that sticks) are ridiculed and criticized if they complain about lack of infrastructure in the city. Politicians of all kinds want to have a pro-rural image – especially after the debacle of pro-Industry CM’s like Chandrababu Naidu and SM Krishna. So, raising the infrastructure concerns of the people is a vote-bank killer.

Which brings me to the moot point – why is it so? Bangalore city has a few LS constituencies. And the city according to different estimates has anywhere between 7-10 lakh such techies living here, paying the highest of taxes for the worst of services. But I can safely bet than not more than 5% of these techies would have bothered to register themselves as voters.

Election-day is just a holiday to be optimized for most of us (yeah, I am a so-called techie too). If polling is scheduled on a Monday or a Friday, its all the more fantastic – a long weekend is a treat. Yeah, the compensatory work we need to do some other Saturday for this unscheduled day-off is fine too. But no one really considers the prospect of actually participating.

So if we don’t decide the people who rule and represent us, we have no control over the results we get. No point complaining then… A 7-10 lakh vote bank will make any politician worth his salt jump out of his couch… A fraction of this can swing results in any election. Yet, we don’t care to assert ourselves. Standing in queues on those election days is a thing to be done by my maid and the watchman. I am too cool to be seen standing in a queue for casting my vote. Not until Election commission comes up with Online Voting – where, as a keyboard enthusiast that each one of us is – we will mark a 110% poll (Indian keyboard junkism is illustrated in all online polls – whether it’s electing Amitabh Bachhan as the Man of century or Sachin as best batsmen in the world, or getting Taj into the list of new Seven Wonders…)

So, till Election commission does an technology upgrade… our roads will remain the same.

Bangalore Woes...

We all are aware and frustated of the traffic situation in Bangalore - peak hours or not. Roads remain choked with bumper to bumper traffic and we keep blaming the govt delayed flyovers, expressways and metro.
BUT, do we really care. I work in Bagmane Tech Park - and each morning and evening there is pandemonium for hours when 100+ shuttles, buses of all sizes run by IT companies go in and out. There are about 20 IT companies in this TechPark - each runs its own network of buses - most at less than 30% occupancy. If banks can join to share ATM networks, Telcom providers can share voice and data networks or even towers etc, marketing companies can leverage Post office network, why don't IT companies join hands to share their transportation resources - thereby reducing the load on the roads, creating shorter commute routes and lesser fuel wastage as well.

We need to stop expecting the govt to solve all over problems - and be smarter with our solutions.