NDTV ( Narayan Dutt Tiwari's Vulgarity)

India is truly making its presence felt on the global scene, be it in industrialisation, development, education, sports and now SEX. If the US had a Bill Clinton, Italy had a Silvio Berlusconi, India's answer is Narayan Dutt Tiwari, an 85 year-old funster whose escapades have made headlines and rung the deathknell for his political career too. Wonder what he could have done at this age with 3 young girls! Well, the videos/picturs aired by the Telugu channel ABN shows an old man ( who looks like NDT) lying as if in a daze and the girls 'working' on him.

This indiscretion has cost him his gubernatorial post and seals the end of a long political career as the Chief Minister of 2 states--Uttar Pradesh & Uttaranchal. a Central Minister who handled External Affairs & Finance, the President of the All-India Youth Congress (when he was younger) and finally as Governor of AP. While being President of the Youth Congress, he is said to have had an affair with Ujwala Sharma and sired a son, who 29 years later rose like a phoenix and sought a paternity test.Quite bizarre! After his wife's demise in the early nineties, NDT must certainly have felt lonely in the sprawling Raj Bhavan in Hyderabad.

A staunch follower of Indira Gandhi & Sanjay Gandhi, opposition leaders ridiculed him during the Emergency days with this poem:

" Na nar hoon, na naari hoon

Indira ki pujari hoon

Sanjay ka sawaari hoon

Main Narayan Dutt Tiwari hoon'

How wrong the opposition leaders were! NDT has certainly proved that he is a 'nar' at this ripe age and done India proud in the global 'political sleaze' scene.

The Week that was....

Global warming was the theme and how to combat it was the aim, as political leaders from 192 countries gathered at Copenhagen, Denmark. Discussions were more heated than the global atmosphere itself and the talks were on the verge of breakdown. The poorer countries felt that the developed ones were giving them a raw deal and insisted that any agreement reached should be in line with the Kyoto Protocol of 1997. The main concepts of the Kyoto Protocol were:

• Commitment to reduce greenhouse gases
• Implementation of the same by way of policies & measures
• Accounting, inspecting & review of the progress made
• Setting up of a Compliance Committee
• Minimising the impact on developingcoutries by setting up an Adaptation Fund fpr climate change.

It was the last item which was a major sore point at Copenhagen. The African nations mainly, felt that the developed countries' commitments on financial incentives for controlling emissions were rather sketchy. African countries were pushing for a less than 1.5 degrees rise in global temperature while the final draft pegged this at 2 degrees. Countries like Brazil, India, China & South Africa found themselves neither here nor there and had to ultimately concede ground to the developed countries headed by the USA.Amounts promised to developing countries range between US $ 30 billion & US $ 100 billion in the 2012-2020 period.

COMMENTS: More responsibility on developing countries with the developed ones sidestepping issues neatly. On the verge of total failure, what transpired in the sidelines is not clear, whether it was arm-twisting by the US or a sense of burn-out by the BASIC countries--the final outcome was that the developing countries again bore the brunt. Ultimatey, as it played out, greenbacks were deemed more important than a green world.

While Copenhagen was grappling with the politics of global warming, the same message of conserving the world and its environs was spread across the globe by James Cameron through his much-awaited film, Avatar. Written, directed and produced by James Cameron, the film said to cost half-a-billion dollars opened to packed houses all over. A 3-D science fiction film, its technology is stated to be way ahead of its time. A planet called Pandora has humanoid inhabitants called NaVi who are tall and blue-skinned. The most striking feature is that they live in total harmony with the natural world around them. The language of the NaVi has been created by the Director for this film. Jake Sully, the protagonist visits Pandora on a mission and when humans with their greed for the natural wealth of Pandora attack it, Jake sides with the natives.

COMMENTS: A film which will do much more for enlightening the world on conserving natural resources than all the political big-wigs could do at Copenhagen. As for the language of the NaVi, the way many of our actors and actresses speak English, Hindi, etc, it is indecipherable any way.

The Bharatiya Janata Party went in for a major revamp. Nitin Gadkari took over a party President from Rajnath Singh. L.K.Advani resigned as leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, his place being taken by Sushma Swaraj. Advani, it is stated will head the BJP parliamentary party.It was a real paradox that Advani who joined the RSS way back in 1942 and was the biggest propounder of 'Hindutva' finally had to bow down to the RSS diktat. Mohan Bhagwat, the RSS Chief had clearly mentioned that new blood was called for. Adavni, was perhaps the man most touted to be the Prime Minster but who could never reach that coveted position. He will be remembered for his numerous 'Rath yatras' and his fanning of the Hindutva flames through the Ram Janmabhoomi issue which culminated in the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Nitin Gadkari, a relative lightweight from Mharashtra would possibly have never got this opportunity had Pramod Mahajan been around.

COMMENTS: Majority of the educated Hindu populace did not agree with Advani's ideology that a Ram Temple should be built on the site where the Babri Masjid was, as it was supposedly the birthplace of Ram. They felt that there were more pressing national issues and building of a temple was not demed very important. However, in a teenie-weenie corner of their hearts, these very people at times felt, if as a Hindu I cannot build a temple for my deity in India (where Hindus are a majority), can I do it in Pakistan or Saudi Arabia?. Secularism is fine but curbing the majority in the name of secularism, was what Advani termed 'pseudo secularism'.

Talking about religion, can cricket be left out? It is said in India cricket is a religion and Tendulkar is God. In the 1st ODI at Rajkot, India after scoring 414 was scared stiff as Sri Lanka chased and chased and finally fell short by a mere 3 runs. If Sehwag blazed away for his 146, Dilshan's reply was a brilliant 160, which in the end was just not enough. MSD must have heaved a huge sigh of relief as his bowlers bowled like billionaires and the fielders couldn't even catch the common cold. If India were lucky to get away in the 1st ODI, they were not so lucky in the second one at Nagpur, despite a 300 plus score. Dhoni's century was in vain as Dilshan dished out 123 and Angelo Mathews held his nerve in the end as Sri Lanka triumphed by 3 wickets.

COMMENTS: As if to add insult to ijury, MSD was suspended for 2 ODIs due to India' s slow over rate at Nagpur. With so much time being taken for overs, one would think great attention was being paid to thoughful bowling strategies and precise fielding positions. Neither was happening and to top it all slow over rates? Any remedies?

Guess who bowled the best googly ? Do not think of any leg-spinner for it was Ajmal Kasab, the captured terrorist from 26/11. After admitting to his guilt as early as in July and having been identified by scores of witnesses, suddenly he bowled his googly---it was not me but my lookalike.I have never handled an AK-47. Mumbai police had picked me up even before 26/11 and are trying to frame me.

COMMENTS: What audacity ! What on earth are we doing in the name of ' righteousness', 'judicial processes' and the necessity to project ourselves internationally as great upholder of human rights? We are already spending a fortune on the maintenance of this proven terrorist. Should he not be publicly hanged or shot? What are we treying to achieve by prolonging the trial? Even the 'so-called' upholder of democracy and human rights, the United States of America did not spend too much time on the trial of Saddam Hussein after his capture and hanged him.Why does India dilly-dally so much? Any answer guys ?

The week that was..........."T" week

The week that went by certainly can be christened 'The T week'.
Yes, newspapers,television news, blogs and SMS centred around the T words, the most important and dangerous among which was TELENGANA. The fast unto death by K.Chandrashekar Rao, the TRS leader followed by the knee-jerk reaction of the Central Government in announcing a separate state of Telengana to be carved out of Andhra Pradesh has plunged the entire state into a major political crisis manifested by unruly mob behaviour. Losses to public property and loss of business amount to crores of rupees so far and the agitations are intensifying.
What is Telengana? One needs to go back to history. The erstwhile Nizam ruled state of Hyderabad comprising the present districts of Khammam, Warangal, Adilabad, Medak, Nizamabad,Karimnagar, Mahbubnagar, Rangareddy & Nalgonda apart from Hyderabad were never ever under British rule. This region is called Telengana.After India's independence from the British, the Nizam of Hyderabad reluctantly agreed to cede his territory to the Indian Union following Operation Polo in 1948. Another fast unto death, by Potti Sreeramulu resulted in the state of Andhra being carved out of the Madras Presidency on 1st October, 1953 comprising the coastal Andhra region and Rayalaseemawith Kurnool as its capital. On 1st November 1956, Telengana merged with Andhra and the state of Andhra Pradesh came into being with Hyderabad as its capital.
Now 53 years later, due to the blinkered approach of the Central Government which panicked when Chandrashekhar Rao went on a fast unto death and decided to give statehood to Telengana, Andhra Pradesh is up in flames protesting this decision.MLAs and MPs cutting across party lines have resigned and the Congress Government in the state is in danger of falling what with many misters tendering their resignations in protest.
The Centre has painted itself into a corner. Was it an Intelligence failure that led the Centre to think that Chandrashekhar Rao's fast if allowed to continue longer could create major law and order problems in the state? Now the Centre's foolish and rash decision to confer statehood on Telengana has let to a larger law and order problem in the state, so m uch so that the Centre is now trying to find some escape route out of the mess it has landed itself in.The Pandora's box being opened, the opportunist Mayawati immediately demanded formtion of 3 new states out of Uttar Pradesh viz. Bundelkhand, Pashimanchal & Poorvanchal. Can Gorkhaland, Cooch Behar, etc be far behind. Only another T i.e TIME will tell how the events play out.

A more entertaining 'T" was T-20 cricket.The two-match series between India and Sri Lanka ended in atie with both the teams winning a match apiece. If Sri Lanka massacred India by 29 runs at Nagpur, India trounced the Lankans by 6 wickets at Mohali.Batsmen from both sides dominated the matches--if it was Sangakkara both at Nagpur & Mohali, it was Sehwag and birthday boy Yuvraj all the way at Mohali. Towering sixes, blistering fours and sharp running between the wickets were the order of the day in both matches.At Mohali, India created a world record in international T20 by chasing down the highest target--206 runs. Bowlers from both sides sufferedand all but cried out inconsolably. Fielders from both sides provoded comic relief, spilling the easiest of catches and muffing the simplest of runouts. M.S.Dhoni said that there was something 'funny and fishy' happening, maybe it was the lights, the crowd or the weather--- or did he send out a hidden message that possibly some sort of 'match-fixing' was suspected ? Your guess is as good as mine!

The third 'T' of the week was a shocker. Tiger Woods appeared to link everything to an 18-hole golfcourse. The number of women who claimed to have had affairs with him rose steadily to reach 11. Not sure how many more women will come out openly to destroy the camouflage of Tiger. A break from golf was necessary to save his marriage thought Tiger as he went deep into the woods in hiding.Some say he is headed for some obscure island near Sweden with his wife Elin Nordegren, the gorgeous blonde former Swedish model. Why do sportsmen stray ? Well, they have the opportunities as women throw themselves at them. The loneliness on tours away from families and friends and the constant pressure of peak performance (what with millions of dollars in endorsements riding on them) and above all the pumping adrenalin and burst of testosterone do need some channelising. Can Tiger be forgiven is a call only Elin can take, but remember tiger is a carnivore and cannot stay away from flesh.

A minor 'T' was the 'Tremors' in Maharashtra including parts of Mumbai. Fortunately no loss of life or damage to property was reported. The major good news was that there was no activity from the dreaded "T" namely Terrorists. Pray that it remains that way all through the remaining fragments of 2009 and all through 2010.
Amen.