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.
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