A confused stand on Tharoor

I know everyone and everything in Kerala is now talking or writing or tweeting or social networking about Tharoor. I thought I will blog my bit.

My stance on the issue – that’s the problem. I am confused. Used to like him as a writer long back. When he planned to enter politics, just like many others, I too thought an educated and experienced man could make a difference. But somewhere along the line – during campaign and afterwards – I felt this hypocrisy. A smiling pleasant face which was somehow not genuine enough – the smile or the pleasance I mean.

I am politically quite ignorant and I have no knowledge to make any comments about his political career or the controversies he ended up in – the cattle class or the Nehru stuff or even the IPL franchise. I hear the story and then a hundred thousand remarks and still stay baffled, with all of it going right above my head. My feeling comes only – too naïve to say this – but it is only a gut feeling. The way he looks at everyone, the way he sits fiddling with his mobile (tweeting?) for most press conferences when someone else is making a speech, the way he expresses, smiles – just all of it gives the impression of someone doing a job he doesn’t really like. It is a whole air of artificiality that I smell.

I am not here to do positive or negative campaigning. Cause like I say I simply don’t know enough. I wasn’t happy or sad when he lost the seat. When I hear all my friends saying how sad it was, when I see some others saying he deserves it – I stand without an opinion. It is good to have educated people to govern us, it is good to have experienced people to lead us, it is good to have well-read articulate leaders to guide us. But all I look for in people – in politics or in any other job, in persons I get to meet and those who are my friends – is genuineness. I just want them to be real, in all senses.

Now my gut feeling is trivial. You don’t judge a political controversy by gut feelings! So I stay silent. So why did I have to blog? Just to make my stand clear to myself – that I have the right to stay confused just like others have the right to have a clear head!

Sad, part 2 of Orissa post

My Orissa post was one of the loudest entries I made in the blog. And Srijith had actually asked me to quit writing humor and switch to politcal issues. I dont have any plans for that. But news in dailies are not changing and every other day things are taking a worse turn. Steadfast towards the wrong direction. Today I read in KT’s blog her concern and then a friend gave the link to a well-worded article from huffingtonpost of Shashi Tharoor. I was quite happy to see someone like him take the initiative to talk about it cause it matters a lot when a person who knew about the world enough to get a lot of respect from among the masses, to whom people were willing to listen to, came out to the forefront and took things up in hands. Added to that I was listening to heal the world a few times and somehow it carried a lot more meaning – today, now. For the children of this world, who knew not where or what they were growing up to.

Link for the video 

 
Lyrics: as taken from this site

spoken:
Think about the generations and to say we want to make it a better
world for our children and our children’s children. So that they know
it’s a better world for them; and think if they can make it a better
place.

There’s a place in your heart
And I know that it is love
And this place could be much
Brighter than tomorrow.
And if you really try
You’ll find there’s no need to cry
In this place you’ll feel
There’s no hurt or sorrow.
There are ways to get there
If you care enough for the living
Make a little space, make a better place.

Chorus:
Heal the world
Make it a better place
For you and for me and the entire human race
There are people dying
If you care enough for the living
Make a better place for
You and for me.

If you want to know why
There’s a love that cannot lie
Love is strong
It only cares for joyful giving.
If we try we shall see
In this bliss we cannot feel
Fear or dread
We stop existing and start living
Then it feels that always
Love’s enough for us growing
Make a better world, make a better world.

Chorus:
Heal the world
Make it a better place
For you and for me and the entire human race.
There are people dying
If you care enough for the living
Make a better place for
You and for me.

Bridge:
And the dream we would conceived in
Will reveal a joyful face
And the world we once believed in
Will shine again in grace
Then why do we keep strangling life
Wound this earth, crucify it’s soul
Though it’s plain to see, this world is heavenly
Be God’s glow.

We could fly so high
Let our spirits never die
In my heart I feel
You are all my brothers
Create a world with no fear
Together we’ll cry happy tears
See the nations turn
Their swords into plowshares
We could really get there
If you cared enough for the living
Make a little space to make a better place.

Chorus:
Heal the world
Make it a better place
For you and for me and the entire human race
There are people dying
If you care enough for the living
Make a better place for
You and for me.

Refrain (2x)

There are people dying if you care enough for the living
Make a better place for you and for me.
There are people dying if you care enough for the living
Make a better place for you and for me.

You and for me / Make a better place
You and for me / Make a better place
You and for me / Make a better place
You and for me / Heal the world we live in
You and for me / Save it for our children
You and for me / Heal the world we live in
You and for me / Save it for our children
You and for me / Heal the world we live in
You and for me / Save it for our children
You and for me / Heal the world we live in
You and for me / Save it for our children

Manmohan’s speech against Advani, amazing

I am not political. Infact am the exact opposite and know too very little to stand on anyone’s side. But happened to see the speech scroll on NDTV today morning that Manmohan lashed out against Advani. And I couldnt help applauding.
Some parts of it were

“Before levelling charges of incompetence on others, Advani should do some introspection. Can our nation forgive a Home Minister who slept when the terrorists were knocking at the doors of our Parliament?”

“single handedly provided the inspiration for the destruction of the Babri Masjid with all the terrible consequences that followed”.

“at least three attempts to topple the government to fulfill his ambitions, the Prime Minister said, “but on each occasion his (Advani’s) astrologers have misled him”

“At his ripe old age, I do not expect Advani to change his thinking. But for his sake and India’s sake, I urge him to change his astrologers so that he gets more accurate predictions of things to come” — my personal favorite

“Can a nation approve the conduct of a Home Minister who was sleeping while Gujarat was burning leading to the loss of thousands of innocent lives?”

And against Left – “Our friends in the Left Front should ponder over the company they are forced to keep because of miscalculations by their general secretary.”