Wake up call for all Tamilians

With the announcement of the New Seven Wonders of the World, every Indian has a reason to smile. Our Taj Mahal has fought a tough 'competition' and has been elected as one of the New Seven Wonders. One thing I have been wondering about is what makes something a wonder. Is it the sheer architectural brilliance or the popularity among the voters? Take the Christ Redeemer as an example. It neither has the 'beauty of the Taj' (Which every Indian swears to or atleast that is what the media says. Moreover, I am sure that half the Indians who had voted for the Taj had never seen been to it.) nor is it as long as the Great Wall of China (its length overshadowed probably only by the number of nominations it would have received from the Word's most populated nation). If the Christ Redeemer could be a finalist, then I am sure we can nominate many more from India that can match it stone-by-stone, unless otherwise the event organizers had a rule that there has to be only one entry from each nation.

India, I am sure, can offer few more architectural wonders than the stereotyped image of the Mausoleum named the Taj Mahal (RSS might beg to differ though, especially with a section of the society claiming that the Taj Mahal was not built by Shah Jahan but rather acquired by him from a Hindu King Jai Singh, and that the Taj originally was a Vedic temple). For example, take the majestic Thiruvalluvar statue at Kanyakumari. I wonder in what way this statue is inferior compared to the Christ Redeemer. In fact, it matches up to it in many ways and even overshadows it in many aspects.

	Christ Redeemer	Thiruvalluvar Statue
Statue Height	30m	29m (95 ft)
Pedestal Height	8m	11.5 m(38 ft)
Total Height	38m	40.5 m (133 ft)
Weight	700 tonnes	7000 tonnes
Cost	$250,000 (in the year 1931)	$1,519,097 (INR 6.14 crores)

The Thiruvalluvar statue is 2 meters taller, weighs ten times more and considering the inflation over 70 years from the time the Christ Redeemer was constructed, it has costed us less. I am not sure what are the ideologies the Redeemer stands for (if that ever is a reason for being nominated as a World Wonder), but our Thiruvalluvar statue stands for a lot as one gathers from this article.

I visited Kanyakumari last September and I was awestruck by the Thriuvalluvar statue (No, I am not kiddding here). I admit that I was not poignantly moved by the statue per se. But the location was breath taking. The point where it stands is probably one of the roughest seas you will encounter in life. One can get to see beautiful sunsets with the statue in the foreground. And the winds are so strong that one has to be careful so as not to be blown away. After all this structure had withstood the monstrosity of the Tsunami in 2004.

I am sure not many are aware of the fact that our very own Madurai Meenakshi Temple was nominated in the preliminary rounds. Had every Tamilian voted atleast twice for Madurai Meenakshi Temple, we would have easily got more than 14 crore votes for it and we would be having it in the final list now.
So it stands to conclude that we Tamils have lost out due to our inaction. The Champion of the Tamil Classes Dr.Kalaignar has to take up the cause of Tamils and ensure that Tamils do not lose out on this parade of pride on the Global front. Such assertations of Tamilian superiority can only facilitate the declaration of Tamil not only as a national language but also as a Global Language.

Disclaimers:
1. The author has nothing personally against the Christ Redeemer or the Taj Mahal. He belongs to the group of people who have never been to any of the Wonders.
2. The author does not claim to be a Tamil partisan and disassociates himself from any hardcore groups.
3. The author refuses to have the honour of giving the 'Champions of Tamilians' title to our beloved Chief Minister. The media has already done that and deserves full praise for it.

A day of lies, deceit and sycophancy

The celebrations were a two day affair.So my coverage does not end with my previous post. At the Island grounds you saw the UPA in full strength eulogising MK. But what startled me was the extent to which the speakers went to praise MK. Agreed, it was a function to felicitate MK and you can not expect them to lash out at him. But some remarks bordered on shameless flattery.

A few gems:

"....Mr. Karunanidhi was a man who had completely rejected casteism in his personal and political life ...." - I.K Gujral. This is tantamount to praisng Hitler as a statesman.

The DMK thrives in casteism. MK does not even spare his family memners when he chooses to play the caste card. When the opposition charges him for being anti- dalit, he retorts by saying that his daughter-in-law is from that community.

If Subramanya Swamy/Mani Shankar Aiyar/ JJ (or any Brahmin owned Newspaper for that matter) attacks him politically, he dismisses them by terming their allegations "Awaal Budhi".His anti-Brahminism needs no elaboration, he has described his Government as "of non upper castes for non upper castes by non upper castes" in a poem written by him on 2 July 2006 in 'Dinakaran'.

When someone has him on the mat, he uses his Brahmastra.His typical reply will be.. " Just because I am from a backward community, the parties are targetting me"

Recently when anarchy ruled the roost during local body elections, the State Election
Commissioner , Mr Naresh Gupta, came under fire. MK sprang to his support by saying ." Other than the fact that he is an OBC, he has not done any wrong"

These are some of the most recent instances. It might take years for me to compile the complete list of his slurs and I have better business than doing that.

.."Mr. Karat said, he was also a champion of federalism.." .

MK is someone who maintains that the reasons for demanding a separate Dravida Nadu are valid even today. And a person who makes no bones about his separationist ideology is praised as a champion of federalism.

Its intersting to note the reaction of the opposition to this golden jubilee. AIADMK has termed it fake (Jaya TV terms this Poli Ponvizha..). They have a point. MK was elected to the assembly for the first time in 1957. But his tenure has not been continuous. . A look at the DMK website that chronicles his stints as MLA will show that from 1984-89 he was not a member of the legislative Assembly( from 84-86,he was a memebr of the now defunct Legislative council, a state eqivalent of the Rajya Sabha) .He resigned as MLA in 1991 when AIADMK swept to power. He did not attend a single assembly session from 2001-06.I still am at a loss to understand how they arrived at 50 years.

The DMK had invited the president to preside over the function. But JJ raised these points and appealed to the president not to come. When , during her last tenure, JJ invited president Kalam to the assembly, MK strongly objected saying the president should not come and praise the anti-people, anti-democratic JJ government. This government is not any different from its predecessor when it comes to being anti-democratic or anti-people. So it was an opportunity for JJ to take revenge.

President Kalam, after it became apparant that he is not getting a second term , has been remarkably bold. He first returned the Office of Profit bill(that primarily was a Save Sonia bill) , and fearing that he may not give a Bihar- style assent, the Congress refrained from dismissing the UP govt. Continuing that trend, he declined the DMK's invitation to attend the celebrations citing "foreign engagements".

The tamasha did not stop there.In a move that must have sure given Mr Kalam some qualms, JJ mischievously issued a statemnt thanking him for 'entertaining her appeal and declining MK's invitation'. There is never a dull moment when it comes to a spat between JJ and MK.

So in effect, the very fact that he has completed 50 years has been called to question. It is only fitting that a person who has relied on deceit, lies and misinformation for decades to keep him in power has chosen the same to splurge with public money.

Golden Jubilee Gift

The function to mark the 50 th anniversary of Mk's tenure in the legislative assembly passed off peacefully, much to the relief of Chennai. The city was under siege with thousands of buses swarming the city from early afternoon and gridlocking OMR(Old mahabalipuram Rd), ECR and GST road. I had to visit a friend in Thiruvanmiyur and was bracing myself for the worst.

All the IT companies thought they were smart in asking their employess to leave by 3 since the function was to begin at 6. But, the real problem started with them as thier buses combined with those carrying the DMK men in throwing traffic completely out of gear. The trip from Sholiganallur to Thiruvanmiyur depot that normally takes 20 mins took me an hour and a half. Imagine the plight of those who had to reach Parrys.. You had the DMK buses lined all along from the LB road junction till Uthandi on ECR. Their men were atop buses( when the seats inside were empty) hooting and howling. The drivers had contempt for traffic rules and were just honking their way. Well, that could be attributed to cadre enthusiasm and would'nt have been any different had it been a function to felicitate JJ. But, this does not justify their unruly behaviour.

I stayed put at my friend's place till the function started and started at 7.30 wanting to beat the return traffic. But the traffic was no better in the Thiruvanmiyur area. It was still overflowing with buses. It was a nightmare till SardarPatel road. But once past SP road, the traffic was very smooth and well regulated. That motorists and IT company buses chose not to ply at this time greatly contributed. This was the story on the ECR side. But I am told things were much worse on the GST road side with VVIP convoy movement. With the grade separator work in progress at Kathipara, the last thing motorists wanted was a VVIP convoy movement during the evening peak hour. I am told Wallajah Road was closed to traffic. Thank god, I was not anywhere near Kamaraj Salai Or Anna Salai.

There was also a report in The Hindu that the DMK men had a brawl with the owners of an Adyar restaurant and ransacked it(the restaurant was not named).Long Live Democracy.

Really?

What nonsense!?!
The state's exchequer being plundered to the dismay of the taxpayers to honour this guy who has already been honoured enough in the past with golden pen, etc,.
The Hindu is proud it seems. Absolute sycophancy!! And for no apparent reason too.
And as usual major traffic diversions.
Whenever any of my friends in US say they hate India and US is lot better, I argue with them to the hilt. But at times like these, I wonder....

First Salvo Part 2

The law providig 69% reservation in TN , over and above the 50% ceiling that the SC has repetedly emphasised, was mischieveously included in the 9 th schedule by JJ. Laws under 9 th schedule are beyond judicial scrutiny. It was envisaged my Nehru for initating land reforms but soon became a tool in the hands of the politicians who incuded as many as 274 laws under it !!!! The SC has questioned the legality of enacting laws at will and including it in the ninth schedule and this is giving sleeps nights to the likes of MK.

When MK resorts to political stunts, you can rest assured that all is not well.He fears that the quota law in TN might be struck down. He is pre empting the SC by upping the ante against it. A mouth watering confrontation with the judiciary is on the cards. Will keep you guys posted.

Tail Piece: The latest on 27% OBC quota...IIMs have been asked to withhold their admission list till April 21. The HRD ministry is bending over backwards to get the stay vacated. The IIMs meanwhile have announced that if there is no communication from the centre even after 21 st, it will go ahead with the admissions without the additional 27% reservations and without increasing the intake

First Salvo

The reservation rage is back.The 2 judge bench of the Supreme Court consisting of Justices Arijit Pasayat and Lokeshwar Singh Panta, in a stinging verdict, has stayed the quota coteries' plans to push through the 27% reservation this academic year.In a particularly embarrassing observation, the court said "Nowhere else in the world is there competition to assert backwardness and then to claim we are more backward than you."It went on to add "Differentiation or classifications for special preference must not be unduly unfair to the persons left out of the favoured groups".

The court did not stop with that. It said "Though it is submitted that the number of seats available for the general category is not affected, that is really no answer to the broader issue. If there is possibility of increase in seats in the absence of reservation, it could have gone to the general category"

Now, cut to Chennai. March 29,2007. TN CM is in Mahindra City inaugurating the new BMW factory. Hearing the stay order, he dashes off to Anna Arivalayam , gets into a huddle with his allies, expresses 'shock' over the verdict and calls for a TN banch on Mar 31 (Sat).

Mar 31, Chennai. Typical bandh rituals Sun TV declares it a massive success and proudly announces that TN was completely shut down. Jaya TV meanwhile reports the difficulties of stranded passengers and flays MK for causing 'inconvenience' to the people (Ironically, JJ is against the SC verdict, but blames the stay on the inefficient handling of the case . ADMK boycotted the bandh accusing the TN govt of 'indifference' towards protecting 'Social justice'.
I had a nice time watching these channels as their news bulletins were more comical than any comedy show on air.Taking a cue, AP shut down on April 4. And Gemini TV and ETV took over from Sun and Jaya.

Back in Delhi, parties flay the SC order. Close followers of Indian politics will be hardly surprised that the very parties that extensively quote the SC judgements when it comes to Ayodhya or the Gujarat riots,unashamedly question its authority. Indian politics thrives in double speak and hypocricy. The better you are at it, the farther you go. And our 'netas' know that well.

Barely had the Arcot veerasamy vs madras High court spat ( where he compared the courts to a 'Katta Panchayathu' and demanded that the judges be shown their place. Google search for details:)-) died down , the TN govt(which is synonymous with the DMK) has , by calling the bandh,mounted pressure on the SC. MK, the master demagogue, conveniently (mis)interpreted the people's unwillingness to take on the DMK hooligans as a public endorsement of his stand and gave himself a pat on his back.

But ever wondered why MK is so unnerved? I'll answer that next week....