November Double Tragedy Hits Assam!

 The first to dissolve into eternity was the

legendary singer-poet-lyricist-writer-journalist-filmmaker 

Dr. Bhupen Hazarika  who passed away at a Mumbai Hospital on November 5, 2011. And now, the celebrated author-social reformer-academician Prof. Indira Goswami, better known by her pen name Mamoni Raisom Goswami, passed away at a Guwahati hospital on November 29, 2011.

Two noted personalities of Assam who have been rooted to the soil and totally committed to the people and the land they belonged to. They have been the torchbearers for Assam carrying themselves with numerous awards and recognitions at the national and international levels. Assam has been identified with their laurels and as their home state. While one got the Dada Saheb Phalke Award, the highest honor in Cinema in India, the other got the Jnanpith Award, the highest literary honor of the country. One is dearest ‘Da’ (elder brother) and the other is beloved ‘Baideo’ (elder sister) for all of the Assamese people. Losing them both now is proving to be one of the most painful moments of history for Assam.

Indira Goswami’s novels always focus on the downtrodden and women in particular. She delves deep into the problems society creates for them and rants out her thoughts through most powerful words that ushered in a new chapter in literature of Assam. Her novel on the conditions of widows has been acclaimed as an all time classic. Mamoni Baideo had herself suffered in her life—fighting with depression and suicidal tendencies since her childhood days and then fighting with life losing her husband after just 18 months of marriage. But she never accepted defeat and fought on to reach the peak of success.

Indira Goswami, with her tremendous love for her motherland, tried to structure a society based on peace by becoming a mediator between the extremists of the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA—people in Assam pronounce it as ‘Aalfa’) and the Government of India. Thanks to her efforts a peace committee had been formed, but she preferred to call herself an observer rather than a mediator.

Mamoni Baideo’s last rites have been performed in Guwahati today with full state honors. A sense of tremendous pride can only be some consolation in this hour of grief and pain for the Assamese.  

India-West Indies One-Day Cricket Series: Start With A Thriller!

 The first match of the One-Day Cricket Series between India and West Indies at Cuttack today proved to be a genuine thriller with ups and downs for both the sides. It was a classic low-scoring match on a supposedly flat hatting pitch. Both sides lost nine wickets each and India finally managing win by 1 wicket with 7 balls to spare! 

India won the toss and elected to field first. No surprise considering the dew factor that influences results in matches played this season in India. Team India was without the services of Dhoni, Tendulkar, and Yuvraj Singh with Pravin Kumar too left out due to a last minute injury. 

Indian pacers Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron and Vinay Kumar kept the visitors on a tight leash not giving runs easily and taking wickets at regular intervals. The spinners also contributed with part-timer Suresh Raina taking the vital wicket of Darren Bravo who top scored with 60 for the West Indies. The visitors were finally restricted to 211 for 9 and the target of 212 seemed an easy one for India. 

But the chase was not at all easy. Though off to brisk start India lost five quick wickets for just 22 runs between 37 to 59. Roach and Russel chipped in with 3 and 2 wickets respectively for West Indies to make the World Champions nearly bite the dust. Only Rohit Sharma took full charge from then onward and first evolved a fruitful partnerships with Jadeja who was the sixth out at 142.  At 159 for 7 the match headed for a nail biting finish and could have gone either way. 


The thriller went down the wire to the last man standing. Just when Team India seemed to be on safer ground needing just 11 runs to win Rohit Sharma, top scorer at 72, got out at 201 for 8. His partner Vinay Kumar at 18 got out too at the same score making it 201 for 9. With the two newbie pacers Umesh and  Varun left now to see through it was the edge of the seat classic suspense thriller till they notched up the required 11 runs with 7 balls remaining. Rohit was deservedly declared the man of the match. 

In hindsight it could be a case of overconfidence for the World Champions who found the target too easy and aimed to blaze away to victory. 

One day cricket has brought the crowds back and the very first match was a treat for the thousands of fans. Team India continues to assert its supremacy in this format of the game. After 5-0 victory over England Team India lead the five match series against West Indies 1-0.

Retail Politics!

Article first published as Retail Politics! on Technorati.

 The Indian parliament began its winter session on November 22, 2011 and so far it could not function even for one day. That is say the supreme constitutional body was not allowed to function by the opposition political parties.

First was the issue of the continuous price rise despite the fact the inflation rate had been showing a declining trend for the last three weeks. Then there were issues of bringing back the black money deposited in foreign banks and other regional tangles.

The first week was guillotined on these issues. Before the second week started the Indian Government announced a 51% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) package thus opening up the very attractive multi-brand Indian retail market for international players like Wal-Mart and others. The opposition parties including coalition allies of the government got another sought-after excuse to go on disrupting the Parliament.

The opposition political parties always brand themselves as the eternal service providers of the masses or the common people and in everything they do they do mention this underlying justification.
Problem is they never want to engage in a fruitful debate. It is very clear that they know little of economics and less FDI related angles. They are ably supported by the equally ignorant masses on such issues. Learned opposition is blissfully absent in this country.

While announcing the FDI initiative the government described how this was going to help the small consumers and farmers; how this was going to create more employment opportunities; and that the interest of the local small retailers was also being taken into proper consideration.
Of course, there could be defects in the policy that might hurt the country’s interest badly. For this a healthy debate is necessary and definitely not the politics.

The so-called mass leaders are only focused on getting more and more votes to finally defeat the ruling party in the next general elections. Knowing fully well that crucial Bills have to be passed in the current session they still block the way. They support Team Anna on its fight against corruption, but do nothing to help Parliament pass it its Bill. Their political strategy is clear—block all the Bills including the anti-corruption one from being passed, extend support to Team Anna’s next agitation since the Bill will not be passed and target the government continuously cornering it from all possible sides.
The political leaders take on the ‘retail’ naturally because they always seem to miss the ‘whole’.

The Prime Minister of India chairs an all party meeting today to find a way out of the logjam. The opposition parties are adamant on total roll back.