The Political Circus of a Strike!

The Mumbai Motormen Strike made national headlines today--stalling even the Parliament.

As usual, the motormen of Mumbai local trains wanted more pay and more facilities. They gave an ultimatum four days ago and that news was also carried by media. And as usual, no serious thoughts were given to it. So they struck work on the afternoon of May 3, 2010 and Mumbai, with its lifelines halted, came to a standstill. 

Thousands got stranded in different local railway stations, eager to go home and agitated at not being able to do so. Extra buses were provided, but that only led to massive traffic snarls. Thousands spent the night either in stations or offices or streets.

The political parties initially supported the motormen, because they cannot afford to hurt potential voters. But when they saw millions suffering, they turned turtle. The opposition parties disrupted the Parliament sessions announcing that till trains start running in Mumbai, Parliament must not run on. Regional parties started withdrawing support to the motormen and started appealing demanding warning or intimidating the motormen to come back to work. The ruling party, caught in the crossfire, suddenly thought of taking resort to a draconian law  which put the supporting or opposing opposition in a dilemma. What to do? Which action would give them better mileage?

Then an assurance was given which could have been given anytime last four days or even before that and the strike was called off, after about 30 excruciating hours. A mere internal matter of better pay to employees became a crippling national problem.

If we doubt the final match of the Modified IPL T20 as a fixed one, then what do we do about this immensely avoidable strike? Prefixed?

Finally, all seem to be happy except millions of voters who have no option but to fill in the always overcrowded local trains of Mumbai--for work and mere living.

Do You Believe In Ghosts? 2

My grandfather, Indreswar Chakravarty, was a very learned man, though he had the opportunity to study only up to matriculation level. He was a scholar in Sanskrit language and always gave time to interpret and analyze ancient Sanskrit scriptures. He wrote articles regularly and published one book too in late years.

He had a perfect sense of reasoning and a logical mind. He used to tell me that he had had numerous paranormal experiences and he tried to explain or justify or negate everyone of them. But, some of them remained as they were. Here is one of them.

One fine morning my grandfather was reading a book in the sitting room. On being called by his name he looked up towards the doorway. A very well dressed strikingly handsome young man was standing there and asking for a glass of water. Failing to recognize him Grandpa requested him to sit and turned to the sideways table to pour a glass of water. In a moment he faced the young man with the glass ready.

The young man had vanished. He was not just there, not anywhere. It was absolutely physically impossible for him to disappear in that short time period. Just to make certain Grandpa checked the frontal lane and the backyard. No, dissolved into thin air!

He never saw the young man again in his life and could never trace him to any event.

More to come...!

The IPL Scandal Cry!

Everybody, the media in particular, has been crying hoarse over the IPL controversy in relation to the formation of a new franchise, Kochi (a city of Southern India).

Why, when you deal in such huge huge money disputes quarrels controversies scandals and so on are bound to happen. Maybe things were under wraps so far and since this time a minister was involved it blew the lid. Again, India is not the only country where favoritism nepotism corruption and unholy nexus are held in high esteem.

Two new teams, Kochi and Pune, were auctioned recently for astronomical prices, even higher than the IPL Commissioner expected! There might be a time soon when every billionaire of the world would want to buy an IPL team or to have stakes in it. The money game is all set to accelerate further. With formation of new and newer teams the tournament duration will have to be increased from current 2 months to 3-6 months or maybe for a full year and it will fast become a deadly war of Business Vs Loyalty. Rivalries and scandals will be the order of the day. The esteemed values mentioned above will have added dimensions.

How much cricket is likely to be retained by IPL only time can tell. Meantime, get set to enjoy more and more of scandals with  some toppings of cricket thrown in!