Catch them young!

One of my close uncles visited my house and I offered to drop him at his place. On the way, he asked me to drive to a different place. And for what? 'To check the photoes of girls for a match!' For a match with a 20-day beard and clothes that would put a street vendor who sells used clothes to shame! I became speechless for a while but couldn't say no for reasons intrinsic and extrinsic! We reached the place and met a person who looked a typical 'poojari'.

He opened his yahoo mail and there comes a page full of young girls! I was moving impatiently for I never believed in this kind of stupidity! Choosing girl(s) on the 'face value'! Worse still rejecting girls on 'face value'! Long back I myself wrote - 'if you are incompetent - no pun intended - you may well become inhuman in due course!'. A serious quote if you think! Never did I think it comes back to me boomeranged! Now, I can neither run around trees ( read Coffee Shops, Lumbini Parks or I MAX halls) nor can I go against what I had been 'preaching' all along from my college days! I am sure there are atleast a few who are sharpening their swords for my head! Never mind.

A mind full of conflicting thoughts! Then came the wife of the person. 'It became a headache searching for girls! It's the time of the girls! They have so many conditions for and expectations of the boys!'. I then came to know that the photoes being shown to me are in fact came for their son! Either rejected or got rejected! Half-dead!! Felt like running away! Then the person clicked on the thumbnail to enlarge it. It was taking all the time in the world to download! Indifferent till that time, I became a little curious! 'Andee andani andame muddu!' Wait wasn't worth!

The person turned to me and asked, 'Do you have any chance of going abroad?'. 'I am not interested!' - said I. Because the next girl stays in US and wants a groom who's settled there! In fact there were two categories of girls - one who want a groom who has no plans of going abroad and the other who want one who intend to abroad! I belong to neither for I never 'wanted' to go abroad, nor do I resist the idea of going! An absolute non-believer in planning!

Some more photoes but the doors of the heart never really opened - even a wee bit! Then came a girl - who looked good even in a thumbnail. But the person wasn't interested! He said the girl is 'chamana chaya' (wheatish colour). 'Is it OK if the girl is chamana chaya?' Felt like hitting my head on to a wall! I said colour is not a problem. He still was not opening it giving some other reason! I looked firm and insistent! He was smart enough to read me! The girl looked fine to me. Details noted down. Then some more photoes browsed but to no effect.

Panchangam was taken out to check the 'compatibility'! A score of 27 on 36! 2 plus 7 is 9. And 9 is a lucky number! Then the person rang to the father of the girl zeroed-in! The girl works for a noted software firm. Was I a bit nervous? I don't know! I was almost evesdropping what the other person was speaking, though. Some details from my side been passed. They cited that that there's a 7 years of gap between us! Heartbreak! I know that was an anachronism for saying no to a person! Sounded familiar - a deja vu! And on top of it the person started saying - 'this boy looks hundred times better than your girl! That's why I am saying, don't mind we rejected your girl but I am compensating with this!' What to say of that exaspearatingly eccentric person! You read the above lines again! But the girl looked fine really! Then came the shock of the day! The girl belong to the same 'gothra'! All the doors opened yet crash-closed in a flash! Back to square one!

The search resumed! I regrouped from the 'setback'! That watermelon they served did help! He asked me again if I really had no chance of going abroad. I said, ' I said I am not interested'. Then he took my palm into his and looked at me as if I were a fool. I was surprised by his looks. He said, 'You will go abroad!'. I was bemused. Not because he said that I will go abroad! I was thinking if he now tries convincing people that I will some day land up in a foreign nation and sets up marriage on that 'post-dated' cheque! I didn't respond. Then stopped at a girl who looked really pretty! I asked what she does. ' Works for a --TV'. 'Then she must be from Andhra' - I said. Then my uncle said that I am an active participant in the Telangana movement and so may not prefer a girl from Andhra! I stopped him midway and corrected him. I said, 'as I take part in the movement that girl may not be interested!' It was the second time I had to say this. Because I have no problem with someone saying 'Jai Samaikyandhra', but I sure will ask for the justification. And I am sure I can convince them on my view! We have been trying to convince people and are open to get convinced! No one really put up a worthwhile argument yet!

It didn't go further! Then suddenly the person jumped out of his seat and asked if 'ashlesha - 4' girl is OK? I got perplexed! Now what was that? Right at the moment my father called me and I directed the question to my father. Then they talked for a while. You should see the ecstacy of the person! My uncle asked what does the girl do. I think he asked it for five times and the man 'on the cloud nine' refuses to heed! 'She is an advocate' - he replied. He for the first time cared to ask me if I were interested in an LLB? I whispered in my uncle's ears - advocate or journalist is in fact great for me, coz they can understand my 'language' better. He jumped out of the seat for a second time! Now he said - 'You stay here in our house today, we'll go to the girl's house tomorrow.' I said, 'my house is nearby, I can as well come tomorrow morning.' He said, 'I don't want to leave you.' Now what does that mean? This guy given slightest of room will even marry me to the girl if that girl expresses interest! Don's ask if he cares about how I feel? I scratched my uncle with my sight, he understood it rightaway! I almost ran out of the house lest the person would catch me again!

All along the 15 minutes drive from there to my house I was laughing all by myself, at times screaming! Went by the memory lane to recollect that gorgeous Soundarya in the movie 'Raja' who tickled manhood in me for the first time! Then Arti Agarwal stayed as a woman of my liking for a few years. And so on... There were some who liked me and some others whom I liked. But the problem has been, I didn't like those who liked me and they didn't like me whom I liked! Sort of a deadlock - for only the God to solve! Beware guys, particularly those who are in their early twenties! It is the time of the Girls. And so the moral of the story is: CATCH THEM YOUNG!!!

'Aa challani samudra garbham' by Dasarathi

ఆ చల్లని సముద్ర గర్భం దాచిన బడబానలమెంతో

ఆ నల్లని ఆకాశంలో కానరాని భాస్కరులెందరో  ||ఆ చల్లని||

భూగోళం పుట్టుక కోసం రాలిన సుర గోళాలెన్నో

ఈ మానవ రూపం కోసం జరిగిన పరిణామాలెన్నో

ఒక రాజుని గెలిపించుటలో ఒరిగిన నర కంఠములెన్నో

కుల మతాల సుడిగుండాలకు బలియైన పవిత్రులెందరో  ||ఆ చల్లని||


మానవ కళ్యాణం కోసం పణమెత్తిన రక్తము ఎంతో

రణరక్కసి కరాళ నృత్యం రాచిన పసి ప్రాణాలెన్నో

కడుపు కోతతో అల్లాడిన కన్నులలో విషాదమెంతో

భూస్వాముల  దౌర్జన్యాలకు

ధనవంతుల దుర్మార్గాలకు

దగ్ధమైన బతుకులు ఎన్నో  ||ఆ చల్లని||


అన్నార్తులు అనాథలుండని ఆ నవయుగమదెంత దూరం

కరువంటూ కాటకమంటూ కనిపించని కాలాలెపుడో

పసిపాపల నిదుర కనులలో ముసిరిన భవితవ్యం ఎంతో

గాయపడిన కవి గుండెలలో రాయబడని కావ్యాలెన్నో ||ఆ చల్లని ||

Dialectical Materialism - Telangana Statehood

Long back in 2008, I was introduced to ‘Dialectic Materialism’ by one of my favourite Professors. I was instantly attracted to it. “The basic idea of dialectical materialism is that every economic order grows to a state of maximum efficiency, while at the same time developing internal contradictions or weaknesses that contribute to its decay”. When the Telangana movement erupted in November 2009, the first thing that came across my mind was this aspect of Marxism albeit in a different perspective.

Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) contested 2009 elections as part of a ‘Grand Alliance’. It received a drubbing from the Telangana voters. However, by that decision, Telangana movement got strengthened almost to a point of no return in the way to achieving Statehood. Many criticized TRS of dillydallying with its partners and some critics even branded its acts as power mongering. TRS, probably, saw the most formidable hurdle in the way to the new State in Late. YSR and the desperate Babu was all ready for an alliance with TRS. Many predicted a landslide victory for ‘Grand Alliance’. Results to the contrary made Late YSR an undisputed leader of AP. The victorious YSR several times belittled TRS legislators - notably Etela Rajender - in the heart of the Assembly. He cleverly twisted his ambiguous stand ‘We are not against Telangana’ to ‘people of Telangana gave the verdict in favour of development than to a separate State’. And the subservient Telangana congress leaders echoed unashamedly. It was the time when Telangana proponents’ confidence reached a new nadir and the chances of Telangana formation looked most bleak! Late YSR, unarguably most anti-Telangana reigned supreme!

He built his empire on economic skullduggery – every sane economist warned that the ‘welfare schemes’ he ‘heroically’ introduced were unsustainable - and on a network of extremely corrupt and coercive forces. It was the time of ‘Give and Take’ – or shall I say ‘Surrender/Submit and Take’. For Telangana it meant ‘surrender Telangana demand at His ‘lotus’ feet and take a contract or two’. It was an order that made even the most optimistic lot of Telangana State proponents resign! The order reached a state of maximum efficiency by 2009.

God knows what turns history would have taken had that unfortunate, untimely death of YSR did not take place! There is little doubt, though, at hindsight, that history did take a favourable turn for Telangana! Even the hardcore ‘Samaikyandhra’ supporter agrees to this, I guess! And the internal contradictions of this seemingly infallible order - both of economic and political - now come to surface! I feel the Congress High Command – which believes in the theory of whole (i.e. itself), is much, much bigger than the constituent parts (state leaders) – probably saw it as God-sent opportunity to reestablish its own order of ‘I will, you follow’.

On the other hand, the economic and political order that was in vogue demanded a leader of the same mold as Mr. YSR. However, the contradictions – extreme corruption, coercion, blasphemous stance towards the High Command, debilitating economy and most importantly the pernicious attitude towards Telangana Statehood demand – by now have become too powerful! The desperation and the extreme greed were all evident inside 24 hours of YSR’s death! It was a tight fix for them to be out of power or at least not being able to wield the same unbridled power as before! And by now, many of the lesser mortals went too far ahead with the builders of this order and it was suicidal for them to take any route other than this!

Then came the Telangana movement’s hour of success! Central government announced that the ‘process of Telangana State formation will be initiated’ after KCR’s brave fast and the subsequent agitation that is unprecedented in the history of the region. Now, the plutocrats of the Seemandhra began doing what they know the best – the lobbying! It’s a long and familiar history of how the December 9th statement got progressively diluted in December 23rd and January 5th, 2010 statements. But, Telangana showed unprecedented maturity and intensity complicating the job of the Centre. At the same time the hide and seek game for the power by the ‘yuva neta’ also continued unabated! Finding itself in a tight spot, the High Command became clueless!

The Centre had to deal with two extremely potent issues at the same time. The open defiance of a ‘shortsighted’ young leader and his hapless followers and the unwavering agitation for Telangana State. The High Command wanted one of these to take a natural death! However, that was not to be! The support for the leader, though not as explicit as in the beginning, still was considerable. And the movement only got stronger by the day. When the young leader decided to take head-on, the High Command had to take a stand. Also Telangana was staring at its face! They bought some time by forming an absolutely comic committee, but to no avail!

But, the High Command today is in a desperate position to take a decision! And that means it should forego, politically, one of the two regions – Telangana or Seemandhra! It was proved before that Seemandhra people do not vehemently oppose Telangana formation; the same could not be said about Telangana people though. So the question boils down to 'how much damage the young leader can inflict on the Congress party in that region'. Today’s by-election could be a pointer to that. If the young leader drubs the Congress, it may go ahead with its proposed State formation thereby checking his influence from spreading to Telangana! The sight of young leader holding ‘Samaikyandhra’ placards with the opposition TDP MPs is still fresh in the memory of Telangana people. And the ‘yuva neta’ did not do enough to come clean on this charge that he is anti-Telangana like his father was. So his influence can be restricted in Telangana if Statehood is granted. Contrarily, and this looks highly unlikely to me, if Congress wins or reduces the winning margin of the ‘yuva neta’, the ‘yuva neta’ may be forced to toe a pro-Telangana stand to further malign the Centre. There were already some indications to this effect. That may mean too many hot potatoes for the Centre to handle! Either way the formation of Telangana State is the only option the Centre will be left with!!

Telangana (not just the demand for a State) suffered the most under YSR’s regime. His specious but pernicious anti-Telangana attitude was evident many a time. He built an order that was draining Telangana resources like never before into the pockets of neo-capitalists! But the same order after his demise began to develop cracks in the form of his own son and his gang of greedy and desperate politicians, a High Command whose ego was hurt beyond repair and most importantly the enraged Telangana region waiting for the first opportunity to throw off the Andhra capitalist yoke. There may be unexpected twists to this story once the result for the Kadapa by-poll is out. But one thing is certain. The son of a leader who is known for his anti-Telangana Statehood stance is forcing the Centre to take a call on this long pending demand. Or I will put it this way – The most ardent opponent of Telangana Statehood had sowed the seeds of greed, opportunism and coercion that are now forcing the Centre to expedite the process of forming Telangana State! That is dialectics as I understood in this entire episode!

Madhav
( PS: I am not a political science student. Whatever I wrote is just a layman's observation of things happening around.)