Ah Populism!

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I am sure P Chidambaram didn't fret much when it came to deciding that Rs 60,000 crore loan waiver for the farmers. For anyone who understands the dynamics of rural vote bank in this country of ours this would have been the easiest decision to make, especially if there is a Lok Sabha election next year. And here's a short story that explains my possible enlightenment in this front. While covering the electioneering in Tripura in northeastern India, I happened to meet Rakhal Das, farmer, in a rally of Congress President Sonia Gandhi. As I got chitchatting with Das, he confided that he was a former commie. He had been a staunch leftist till the Indo-Bangladesh border fence crisscrossed his tiny piece of land on the border. And almost half of his farm stuck on the other side of the fence rendering it almost useless for him.....

Inside The Glass Palace!

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The Present ----------------- The first thought that possibly confronts any journalist looking to do stories from Myanmar is the question of getting inside. The ruling regime of Myanmar has effectively converted the nation into one of the world's most isolated places, where everyone is watched including visiting journalists. So when trouble began in Myanmar in September this year, the first thing that the military regime did was curb the outflow of information. I watched keenly the international coverage that happened in those days in networks like CNN, Al Jazeera and the BBC. All that ever came out was running footage of Yangon streets and monks parading by the monasteries. Not enough to convey the real story but good enough to tell the world outside that there were many stories waiting to be told from that land.... Now back safely from there, I have only but....

Alive and punching in the land of Bahadurs! Reloaded

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I had written this post almost two years. And I felt that in the midst of the Prashant Tamang -RJ Nitin controversy this one finds some relevance again. But this one's less controversial for I have written about my friends who can take humour (unlike Tamang's fans! And do not stereotype people (unlike the RJ). I write this piece with much apprehension. If Prashant Pakhrin happens to see the title of this blog he will want to punch me. Two things that make him want to punch people is the 'bahadur' tag and any comment that remotely relates to physical attributes. He is almost 5 feet 1 inch tall. He would squint every time he laughed. (Most of 'us' are small time sadists, count me in). I met Prashant in Delhi again last year. I could see that he had pushed himself hard. He rode a....

Prachanda's Little War!

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Around the same time a year ago I was in Nepal. The idea was to get a first hand insight into the mind of Nepal's Maoist ideologue, the then 'enigmatic' Pushpa Kamal Dahal or Prachanda. In Nepalese 'Prachanda' means the 'extreme; The adjective that Dahal took to drive a decade long armed struggle that his supporters saw as a means to end the schism that had existed in the Nepalese society for centuries. They wanted fair existence. And I could absolutely relate to this. Nepal's rich were the richest and its poor the poorest. Most of rural Nepal still qualifies as one of the poorest places on earth. But capital Katmandu was something I had never seen. Casinos, imported cars, a burgeoning yuppy crowd that fed on burgers and pizzas. But some distance away farmers toiled in mountain soil to make ends meet. Young boys made way to....

The Presidential Circus

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Must admit that I have never spent much thought on the Presidential elections ever! Having read in class eight civics text books that in the Indian democracy the role of the President is only but ceremonial it never occurred that the choice of a presidential candidate could create such hoopla. Must say that like many others I too was left wondering 'Pratibha Patil' who? Surely, she isn't one of the most well known politicians of our times. But I guess we live in interesting times... and Pratibha Patil is destined to be the President of India. And without going into the intricacies and reasons of her being chosen one (Because she is low key.... that she is a woman? ) what followed thereafter is ceaselessly amusing. Parties like the Shiv Sena have thought it opportune to exploit and espouse the Marathi sentiment thus paving way for petty regionalism....

Caught in crossfire

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Right now my thoughts are controlled by a visit to Mrs Saha's home in downtown Guwahati. A two room dingy apartment enjoined to the busy streets by narrow filthy lanes. Inside, Mrs. Saha wails inconsolably. Ask her neighbors and they tell you that she has been like this for the past two weeks since Partho died. Partho was her 27- year old son. Mrs Saha isn't well off. Partho would teach neighborhood kids and make sure that modest family wants were taken care of. We saw Partho on TV screens the day he died. His stomach ripped open by shrapnel... his entrails out on the streets.... Working in the Northeast I invariably half-expect a grenade to whiz past my ear every time I go out on the streets. In the month of May alone there've been nine bomb blasts.... Many are dead. But Guwahati lives on.....

Hazaron Khawaishen Kaisi ???

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Meeting Kanu Sanyal of the erstwhile Naxalbari movement can be a revelation for some. Especially in the times….. When much of the education on revolution is derived from secondary sources and mannerisms are aped sooner than the philosophy itself *. * [Che Guevara memorabilia has a tendency to surface in rather queer places rendering it as a rather successful example of capitalist brand building process… which I am sure will cause much consternation to dead Che’s soul] Like others the urge to kill a corrupt minister who has wronged a defense deal is almost instant in me… especially after a ‘movie’ night professing the efficacy of such an action…. Or at least to be part of a candle lit procession of jeans clad protestors…..but Kanu Sanyal humbles … Here is man who was among those who started it all and followed it up with a life....

Memories of Bright Posteriors

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If you are in Car Nicobar I suggest you listen to the sea at night. May be count the waves as you lay waiting for sleep. Each wave defined by a distinct roar. It was a nice thing to do when back in school I would spend most of my summer vacations in Car Nicobar's Lapathy area. Quite a nice place actually given the things you could do. Play pirate atop a discarded rusting Second World War Japanese canon....or just laze around counting the bright posteriors of lonesome Nicobaris (as the natives are known there) typically draped in bright boxer shorts.... as they made way to the sea. The sea was reassuring. Nicobaris are expert swimmers....and their slim canoes (called Hodis)... with extended bamboo beams.... did the fine balancing act. The Hodis do not sink and a Nicobari doesn't drown.... we heard. It changed two years ago.....

Beyond The Vertical Limits

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Finally on celluloid... something that has fascinated me for long; the story of George Mallory and Andrew Irvine and their 'Everest' expeditions. They disappeared close to the Everest summit in 1924 but the mystery and debate hasn't rested. Did the duo finally make it to the top before falling to their deaths? They were last seen making a final dash for the summit by a fellow climber. A good portion of the movie will be shot in Darjeeling; the place from it all began. Will reserve comments on the yet to be made movie (Newspapers say, its being produced by Paul Heller of 'Enter the Dragon' fame)....but for now the choice of subject itself is touching. With their deaths comes to life the whole mystery of Everest that it was in the 1920's... when mountain tourism had not arrived and mountaineering in true sense was 'exploration'. ....

The Battle of Aberdeen

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Sitting by the stairs of Port Blair's Cellular jail many thoughts cross your mind... what kind of men were they who left their lands and spent their lives in those tiny cells... behind bars.. locked for life... But there is a story of man that goes beyond the times of the Cellular jail...the story of Dudhnath Tewari. And history has been indecisive about judging him.... whether he was a savior.. a patriot... or a traitor who led a whole race to its annihilation.. Dudhnath.... convict number 286 was transported for life to the penal settlement of Andamans in 1857 on charges of mutiny during the First war of Indian Independence. In 1858.. Dudhnath along with 90 fellow prisoners escaped from Port Blair.... with hopes of crossing over to Burma... oblivious of the fact that Andamans was a island group with no land connectivity to Burma... The short-lived freedom....