H R Venkatesh sent updates from his phone, till 5 pm in the evening on Counting Day, Karnataka. Here are excerpts. 4:30 pm: I'm out on Brigade Road to catch a few peoples' reactions, now that the BJP looks like it will rule for 5 years. Roughly half the people I go to shake their heads and say they are not Bangaloreans. A college student says the new government should do something about the city's night life. A mother of three says she will be happy if the new government fulfills even 10 per cent of their poll promises. Most people say something should be done about the traffic. None of them talk of farmers' problems or price rise, but then again, Brigade Road is hardly the place to find such reactions. 3 pm: Still no sign of the CM-to-be at his house. There's a large crowd of BJP party workers in one of the front rooms, all glued to...

As Bangalore votes, H R Venkatesh blogs live on his Blackberry. 8:30 pm: A quick rejoinder to those who questioned, in the comments section, as to whether I should have disclosed who I'd voted for, or if I was flippant in my choice. Is it okay for a journalist to have political leanings? That's an old question and I believe the answer should be no. So I did not want to vote for either the Congress, the BJP or the JD(S). However, I did not want for anyone else to vote in my name - hence my decision to pick an independent candidate. 8 pm: The Chief Election Commissioner reads out the astonishing statistics in a packed conference room at the Election Commission. 60 percent of the registered voters turned up through Old Mysore, Bangalore, Tumkur and Kolar, in some cases, despite the blazing heat. The figure is very high - and seems to indicate that voters have decided to deliver...

Is Mumbai exclusive to Maharashtrians? This should be a no-brainer, but since Raj Thackeray reignited the debate, it's an issue worth exploring, if only to see what turns up. The timing first. What pressed the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena founder to drum up the issue now? That it was the Bachchans laying the foundation stone for a girls' school in U.P. is too convenient an answer and the theory doesn't hold up anyway. He could have turned the pages of any Mumbai daily and picked up a 'reason'. Elections are a year away, so there's a danger of his campaign peaking too early. Perhaps it is simply that he saw an opportunity to settle one issue once and for all - that of succession. Uddhav, Bal Thackeray's son was of course chosen to head the Shiv Sena in 2004, eventually leading to a parting of ways between Raj and the Shiv Sena. But Raj perhaps wants to show to Maharashtrians that he is a...

Like most people I was ambivalent about Twenty20 cricket. Sure, the name was eye-catching (pun unintended) but it seemed like a distraction for a guy who was only beginning to appreciate the finer nuances of test cricket. Yes, I was happy that the format had re-ignited interest in England where cricket was dying a slow death, but if I ever thought about it all in the Indian context, it must have been only in passing. Until a few months ago. Channel-surfing, I happened onto one of those anonymous recordings on a sports channel, a South Africa-Australia game (or was it?), in which something strange was happening on the field. The captain Graeme Smith seemed to be having a running conversation with the commentary box while fielding during the game, discussing tactics. At first I was puzzled; then it dawned on me. This was clearly some fun show, somewhat on the lines of Nokia Football Crazy. The realisation that it was in fact a Twenty20...