Oh my great state what has become of thou!
Thy politicians are fighting o’er pohe and pav.

To each it’s the food of the soil
Yet it’s all a clever political foil

Oh my great state what has become of thou!
Thy politicians are fighting o’er pohe and pav.

They beef up their security
While our lives are full of anxiety

Oh my great state what has become of thou!
Thy politicians are fighting o’er pohe and pav.

In all the carnage that happened down south
Thy politicians just put their foot in the mouth

Oh my great state what has become of thou!
Thy politicians are fighting o’er pohe and pav.

When time came for hard decisions
Their parties quickly took away their positions

Oh my great state what has become of thou!
Thy politicians are fighting o’er pohe and pav.

I have new found power in that one vote
Get the change that the world will note

Oh my great state what will become of thou?
Will thy politicians ever stop fighting o’er pohe and pav?

Loved the new look WordPress…will not say much…better get blogging….

Someone took moral responsibility

Someone listened to his conscience

Someone was put under pressure

They all quit

I wonder who will clean up the mess – or will that person quit too?

It’s finally over.

Nearly 60 hours of an ordeal that will go down in the history of our country as one of the most trying. A monument left in shambles, more than 160 casualties, close to 400 injured, souls scarred.

As I watched the last encounter taking place glued to my television mixed emotions prevailed, happiness that it was over, sadness to the ones who died and the loss to their loved ones, apprehension about the future, loss of faith in the establishment, and above all pride that we still have brave men defending this country and its people.

May the souls of all who died rest in peace and may god bless all the brave men who fought for us. Thank you NSG, RAF, Mumbai Police, Ambulance agencies, Hospitals, Doctors, Nurses, and all Good Samaritans.

As the encounters now turn to investigation I wonder what next? It’s probably time for the citizen movement to begin to decide what we need as a country and a people and who is equipped with the will to get us there. As someone said on one of the channels yesterday unless you are a vote bank in this country things don’t get done. It’s probably time to create that vote bank that rises above regions, religions, and castes. It’s time to uproot the perpetrators of region based, religion based, and caste based politics.

That’s probably when change will happen. Maybe that’s what is next.

While our state politicians were busy fighting over pohe and pav, vociferously defending the terror attacks in Malegaon and blaming the ATS (Anti Terrorist Squad) as partisan, they gave a red carpet welcome to approx. 26 militants to hold the financial capital to ransom. And this time it was not some coward militants who planted bombs and walked away from the destruction, this was a declaration of open war in the financial hub of the country. Walking around with automatic weapons and grenades, making easy targets of civilians, tourists and policemen having outdated weapons.

Who do you blame for this, the security agencies, the intelligence agencies, the central and state governments, the opposition parties, the common man or the news hungry media.

So where are those people who are so concerned about the sons of the soil that they haven’t been able to protect either the sons or the soil. Where are those people who are bothered about the health and morality of citizens but have no clue what to do when it comes to the safety of the citizens.

Mr. PM, sir, did the happenings not wrangle your being that you required a teleprompter to address a nation.
Mr. Leader of the Opposition, sir, did you need to use this as a means of advocating your election agenda for the coming general elections. We’d be happy to make you PM for a day if that’s your agenda.

Mr. Home Minister, sir, managing the home ministry is not like managing a bunch of loudmouthed and unruly members of parliament, it needs much more prompt reactions and actions. 5 hours to make a decision is a wee bit long don’t you think.
Mr. Finance Minister, sir, do we not pay enough taxes as a city for us to afford a NSG unit in our city, I’m sure if not we will be more that happy if you tax us even more if it ensures safety for our city.
Mr. Defence Minister, sir, I hope we take some serious action to our neighbours who have a free hand in taking our country for granted.

Mr. CM, sir, if you had spent some more time concentrating on the state than your seat we would have a better city.
Mr. State Home Minister, sir, if you think honest and brave police officers can be sacrificed and be gorified as martyrs, we would much rather have them alive. They are no use to us being dead.

Dear Free Media – If you do not understand the difference between a terrorist attack and the slog overs of a 20-20 cricket match you are better off doing something else. We do not need your running commentary and sensationalism.

Dear NSG – I do hope sincerely that you do not have north indians in your ranks that you sent to protect my city as they will take away the jobs of the sons of the soil.

And finally to the Terrorists, you may have dented the spirit of this city but you have not killed it. It will take much more than your audacity. May your souls rest in peace as may have been promised to you.

As fresh reports talk of various sources as the planners of this siege including the Pak army, ISI, Laskar-e-toiba, Mumbai Underworld, and some obscure Deccan Mujahideen, it remains to be seen when we see an end to this 40+ hour ordeal.

It’s time for the Indian Polity to unite above petty regionalism and sectarian politics and work in unison for a stronger and safer India.

Thank you Indian Army, National Security Group, Rapid Action Force, Anti Terrorism Squad and Mumbai Police for taking the bullet for us.

An economy in doldrums or hope for a better future!

It’s more than a month and a half since my last post. I’m at a loss of mutterings. Actually not – there have been many mutterings that came and went – unfortunately never got pressed as words. Sad!

Keeping a blog alive needs more than just mutterings – it needs the willingness to spend that quality time with your blog or b’logged (sic). I hope not to wait for those silly new year resolutions to keep it alive. The time is right now.

Welcome back Jolvin – hopefully for a more consistent while.

Dear Honorable Mr. AR

I’m so stressed the minute I leave the comforts of my home these days. I’m sure I’ll have a nervous breakdown soon as I find people staring at me as though I’m some alien or criminal that people have been wanting to nail down. I don’t know what’s the cash award on my head but it surely makes me feel squeamish when I’m walking on the road. Mind you this is my own country, my own city, and my own street. I’m looking around to see if there are other ‘criminals’ like me around to give me a sense of security – a sense of a fraternity but I don’t see many of them.

Is there someone else with that 84mm thing who is feeling secure at this moment. Lighting up is more a stress inducer than a stress reliever now.

But I like this government, they are making sure the coffers are still full. They will make money from taxation anyways from the producers, manufacturers, wholesales, retailers and people like me at the fag end of the food chain.

I like how they are concerned about my health – an honest taxpayer

- who has to work hard for his present and future
- who spends 40 minutes for a 12km distance
- who doesn’t need to go on a mission to the moon because he has experienced craters here itself
- who believes his country will be a superpower but doesn’t see it anywhere in comparison to the others he has seen
- who hopes his country will not have poverty and hopes that beggars don’t hound him
- who wonders how does his country figures in the top 20 most corrupt countries in the world
- who hopes minorities are not treated like second class citizens

but then who cares about all of that – right now they are busy concerned about my health.

Thank you sire…hope you do get reelected when the polls come in next year. And hope you get a ministry that can do well with your diligence, dedication, and single mindedness.

Yours Sincerely

JR

Best Practices are for Copy Cats

Next Practices are by Visionaries…

Not always does Mutterings that Matter get an award…and I think sometimes those who say awards don’t matter to them are really lying through their teeth. Awards are required to know how accepted you are – much like feedback, except that one that a token to take home, while the latter basically has a thought to take back. Nevertheless was happy when Det-Res awarded MTM for being witty and way with words etc. It was kind of her to do that. Thank you Det-Res.

The Brilliant Weblog Award’s is given to sites and blogs that are smart and brilliant both in their content and their design. The purpose of the prize is to promote as many blogs as possible in the blogsphere.

The rules to be followed are:

1. When you receive the prize you must write a post showing it, together with the name of who has given it to you, and link back to them.
2. Choose a minimum of 7 blogs (or even more) that you find brilliant in content or design.
3. Show their names and links and leave them a comment informing them that they have been awarded with the ‘Brilliant Weblog’ award.
4. Show a picture of those who awarded you and those you give the prize to (optional) .

I did think hard as to which seven odd blogs I need to mention, and finally settled on none. Not because no one fitted the bill but because everyone was good in their own right. Some I liked because of the content they wrote, some because of discussions they bore, some because of the banter they had in the comments, some because they wrote so lucidly it became envious sometimes, some because they are just blogs of friends.

So the bottomline – everyone who is one my blog roll are there because I visit them once in a while, some of them more regularly than others.

Here’s to you continuing to write and also to some sleepy one to wake up. Cheers!