Did you know that there is a system in our constitution, as per the 1969 act, in section ” 49-O” that a person can go to the polling booth, confirm his identity, get his finger marked and convey the presiding election officer that he doesn’t want to vote anyone!

Yes such a feature is available, but obviously these leaders have never disclosed it.This is called “49-O”.

Why should you go and say ” I VOTE NOBODY”... because, in a ward, if a candidate wins, say by 123 votes, and that particular ward has received “49-O” votes more than 123, then that polling will be canceled and will have to be re-polled.

Not only that, but the candidature of the contestants will be removed and they cannot contest the re-polling, since people had already expressed their decision on them.

This would bring fear into parties and hence look for genuine candidates for their parties for election. This would change the way of our whole political system...it is seemingly surprising why the election commission has not revealed such a feature to the public...

Seems to be a wonderful weapon against corrupt parties in India... show your power, expressing your desire not to vote for anybody, is even more powerful than voting... so don’t miss your chance. So either vote, or vote not to vote (vote 49-O).

Hopefully this would help in enriching the quality of political class in this country

Am sure many of you’ll have got lots of messages of hope and what we can do. I on my part, am waiting for page 3, Bollywood, politicians, etc to strike back; they been off the front pages and breaking news for too long so I expect this anytime now.
1. songs by Baba Sehgal/Anu Mallik and their type on Mumbai and how its heart has been ripped out.
2. paintings by MF Hussein, Bose k, Chintan U, and other painters on Taj and Mumbai
3. movie by a lead film maker on how the love story between an NSG commando and terrorist and how one got the other in this hour of crisis
4. Candle light marches by huge groups of people going nowhere
5. fifty five special groups of bureaucrats and task forces that have lots of tea and biscuits in official sounding names and addresses
6. bailout plan for Tata’s and Oberoi’s.
7. actors, page 3 who either just ate, at the Taj or Oberoi or know someone who was killed. if you add the numbers it will be in line with RR Patils 5000
8. posters and front pages on our slain martyrs and rose petals strewn on them by politicians, who wouldn’t know their names a week from now.
9. Politicians holding hands of the poor rich who couldn’t make it 10. Indian cricketers playing a match with Pakistan, in a diplomatic gesture.
11. A collection drive for those affected, all these trucks with celebrities will pass down Lalbaug, Chinchpokli, Dadar etc. where poor guys will be conned into paying
12. Rakhi Sawant performing live on a new TV show.
13. All our lead actors etc dancing live at a concert that’s run on TV channels.
14. Manmohan Singh pleading with Amrika to shout at Pakistan.
15. Sharad Pawar, Lalit Modi etc trying to secure TV rights and stadiums and figuring a way to play the IPL under NSG protection. 16. and Pooja Bedi making a public proclamation how, she is thumbing her nose at terrorists by doing an all night pub hopping, disco visiting spree!

Dear Mr. Raj Thackeray,

Where are you sir? We have been trying to reach you for the past 2 days ever since Mumbai has been attacked. I think it is the mobile network or your cable connection that must not be working. We miss you sir? We know how you love Mumbai and its people especially the Marathi Manoos.You must be collecting your brave Sena to come and help us. Like all the brave Marathi people who laid down their lives fighting this terror. I am sure you must be mourning the loss of brave Marathi policemen like Hemant Karkare, Vijay Salaskar, Ashok Kamte and various others, who risked their lives, so that you and I can sleep peacefully in this city.

Also sir, let me tell you the 200 Commandos, that have been sent in the last 2 days to fight terrorists are not Maharastrians. They could not find a unit which had 80% reservation for Maharastrians. Actually, they are a mix of people from all over India i.e.north, south, east and west. Infact one of them has lost his life fighting the terrorists. And he was a south Indian, I think.

I think the admirable courage that you and your Sena showed in fighting the poor immigrants from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh will hopefully stand in good stead if and when you decide to fight these terrorists. Also I found many people from different communities coming together in JJ Hospital and GT Hospital to donate blood for the vitims of this attack. And funnily they never asked if the blood is for Marathi Manoos or for everyone. I did not see anyone from your Sena though. Maybe they are busy somewhere else with more important work.

Sir you please take care as we need brave leaders like you to lead Maharastra, as we enter this new age of terror

Best Regards

Some are born as princes; some are born to families who plot their way up to power. However there are others who are born in the dark alleys of poverty and have to struggle their way, assiduously to power and glory. This insatiable quest to glory often leads them to perform extraordinary feats that any ordinary human will not dream of. That is the power of a single human mind.

Though the victory of Barack Obama is a significant event in history and real triumph of human spirit, it also raises pertinent questions about the times we live in. Democracy as they say is the rule of the people, the rule of consensus. But never before in a democratic process, has a nation and the world in general, placed so much faith in one individual to pull them out of serious economic quagmire than we have got ourselves into.

Many a nation in the past has placed their bets on a single individual to bail them out from economic and military crises. Some have risen to the challenge; some have misused the power, while some have just been unable to shoulder the responsibility and have withered away.

While there are many examples in the past, but in recent memory, Germany is the prime example of a nation battered economically post World War –I by the draconian Marseilles treaty, placing their entire faith in one man and his ideology.

The first few years of Adolf Hitler’s rule was remarkable, as Germany made rapid progress to reclaim its position as an economic and military super power. However, after Hitler started the First World War, the German people realized the enormity of the situation. Germany soon realized with disastrous consequences that a powerful orator or a charismatic personality does not necessary make a good leader. It took a few more charismatic, but astute leaders like Winston Churchill and Stalin to foil the rampaging German dictator from conquering the world.

Our own Mahatma Gandhi is another individual, who not only took India towards independence, but showed a shining new path which formed the cornerstone of modern human ideology

There are other recent examples in democratic setups like, Indira Gandhi, George Bush Jr & Sr, Fujimori, Robert Mugabe, Vladimir Putin, to name a few, who smartly subverted the democratic process and set up quasi dictatorship governments. They still commanded huge respect from the people whom they represent because of their clever mix of populism and authoritarianism and this ensured their longevity.

Mankind is prone to invoke and deify a single individual to pull it out of many crises. Gautama Buddha, Jesus Christ, Prophet Mohammad actually epitomized the power of a single human mind, it’s myriad and unending power to think, mobilize and change the course of history and thus mankind. In a democratic setup too, this human trait is all pervading and even now, people do expect individuals to weave the magic wand and pull them out of misery.

Barrack Obama has a monumental challenge ahead of him to do exactly this in the 21st Century. And that would be another test of the Power of ONE human mind.

The foundation of the current economical order was to ensure or coax people to buy and buy and buy. And more so, it empowered people with irrational tools to do so. The genesis of this crisis is that many people, corporations, and governments have been living beyond their means through debt financing like credit cards, valuations of the unknown and untested, creating bizarre ideas like Derivatives, to make more money and accumulate irrational wealth.

The concept of paper money acquired such gigantic proportions that we started to believe in its infallibility. It’s like the classical case of illusion being mistaken for reality. But this illusion is shattering many innocent lives and not the least the perpetrators of this illusion. We heard so often that ‘life is not fair’…but this adage has acquired new meaning and tends to make even the hardcore optimist sit up and take notice.

Capitalism was a great dream that the Americans exported to the world and we in other countries lapped it up with such fervor. However, this dream which was to celebrate individual enterprise is being reduced to a macabre show of a few self serving nations and individuals who subverted the entire financial system by creating paper wealth.

Not before in the history of mankind we have had a case, where we are unable to identify the enemy amongst us. When an enemy is identified, we see him in flesh and blood and we can devise ways and means to tackle him. But here, everyone is a victim and an offender at the same time but in different simultaneous situations.

This kind of moral decline has been the single most reason for every civilization’s demise in the past. Every institution however small or big today, is suffering from this disease of moral depravity and selfishness. Self serving individualism at the expense of brotherhood and community living, has placed us at the edge of a precipice.

However every crisis is an opportunity to change, and change for the better. This current economic instability like every crisis in history, can in fact lead to a new world order based on societies which support each other during such crises and create a new economic paradigm. While the economic crisis may be the worst in human history, it could be paradoxically the greatest impetus to spiritual renewal and awakening of humanity to finally build a society that works for all—starting in each of our communities. We can create a new world order where we are able to balance the cerebral, spiritual and the material needs to live in complete harmony with nature

This is a time to break down the barriers that we ourselves have erected that only serve those who would divide us and keep us from seeing the fundamental truth right in front of us and within us - we are one interconnected family. Now is the time to demonstrate what has never happened in the whole history of the human race - to consciously choose to build a new society from within the old that does not reproduce the ignorance of the past.

Using god as a tool for political power, was religion’s dirty little secret, which has lost its covert quality by now. Most of us who pray, want God to make us more affluent, successful, and influential. However the fundamental premise of religion was to achieve liberation from these very worldly pleasures. Yet this elementary premise along with compassion, selflessness, forgiveness has been violated over the ages and we have seen new theories floating around, which change the original essence of most of the religions.

Every religion was institutionalized to bring fairness in society. However, every religion that exists today has failed to bring cheer to the lower strata of society, who believe and worship the faith the most. More so in many cases, religion has persecuted them without them realizing it.

When you see politicians and famous personalities making a trip to the nearest temple/mosque/church to pray in full media glare, for their continued success, you do feel that it is the most effective advertisement of religion and god. Even Sarah Palin asked God to back her run for office in Alaska.

All this footage, gives hope to the millions of people struggling in their everyday life for a better tomorrow. This reinforces their belief, that religion and god does show the true path towards prosperity. The element of fear that abandoning the faith will invite the wrath of God keeps them committed to their religion.

Religion also meant empowerment of a different kind - personal empowerment. Here too religion has had a very dubious record, and has failed to achieve any meaningful results. This makes you wonder if religion has been able to achieve anything positive at all.

However there is a new awakening in the spiritual space outside the realm of organized religion which provides hope for the younger generation.

This quest of mankind to connect with god through the medium of religion is being challenged by the younger generation. The need to connect with oneself is gaining ground and their lies the true emancipation of mankind.

While most blogs and newspapers across the country are berating and reviling Raj Thackeray and his Maharastra Navnirman Sena, most Maharastrians (Marathi speaking that is) have quietly placed their bets on his ‘sons of the soil’ agenda. In cities like Mumbai. Pune, Nashik ,Thane, even the most affluent Maharastrians in the coziness of their homes have applauded Raj Thackeray for taking up the so called cause of Marathi manoos.

Raj has struck a chord with Maharastrains and that’s the reason the government is soft peddling his arrest and subsequent action against him. The following reason can be attributed to his growing influence

1. Mumbai, the state capital of Maharstara is reduced to a city of the migrants as very few Maharastrians can afford to stay within the city limits and are pushed to far away suburbs like Kalyan, Dombivli, Virar, Thane etc.They have to endure more than 3-4 hours of train journey to reach their work place in the city.

2. Except a few affluent, most Maharastrians in the city stay in chawls and work as maids or drivers to the city’s affluent class. Hence when even the so called government posts are being usurped by other state people, most Maharastrians prefer to support Raj Thackeray and his vandals. In other states like Tamil Nadu or Kerala, non-tamilians or non-keralites getting any kind of local jobs is unheard of.

3. Unlike other lingusitic communities like Gujrathis, Punjabis, South Indians, the migrant class from UP and Bihar in Mumbai,have tried to organize themselves into a strong political force with active support from Mayawati, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad Yadav. This trend is also unprecedented and is not seen or herad in any other lingusitic states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka or West Bengal

4. With depleting resources and crumbling infrastructure, Maharastrians have come to blame the people from UP and Bihar for their everyday ills due to their sheer numbers. Raj Thackeray has used this opportunity to exploit the discontent and establish his fledging party and its agenda

5. Even a stray incident like gunning down of a 23 year old youth, brandishing a revolver in a crowded bus in Mumbai and firing indiscriminately, has provided fodder for political khichdi cooked by leaders from Bihar. They have made reckless statements as if the Mumbai police killed the youth because of his linguistic background. The primary duty of the police is to protect the lives of the innocent and not sweet talk to a gun trotting ruffian.This kind of opportunism emboldens politicians like Raj Thackeray to fire fresh salvos at the north Indian community.

The need of the hour is for the north Indian community to organize themselves to a political force and give a distinct local identity to protect themselves from their so called own leaders.

A few weeks ago readers woke up on a lazy Saturday morning to read a review of the ghastly film Harry Puttar getting 4 star reviews in the premier English newspaper of the country, The Times of India. Equally pathetic is the attempt of the leading Indian film portal Bollywood Hungama, to paint the latest oddity of a movie Karzzz as a mass masala film. Also a well known film journalist, who keeps running down the Bachchans for not getting invited to a wedding in the family, has become a laughing stock in the media circles.

The fundamental duty of a media vehicle should be its unbiased reportage. However in this age, most media vehicles get intoxicated in their supposed power to influence public opinion. This leads them to believe that they could push substandard products/people and ideology as genuine quality on the back of its hype, which they generate at any cost.

Sadly Journalists and people in the media get inebriated in the power the media entrusts them with and cross the thin line between opinion and propaganda. Some do it without realizing it while some blatantly thrive on it.

It’s a very difficult in today times to maintain a neutral and objective position vis-à-vis the current happenings in the society. However, media is a beacon, which has kept the institution of democracy alive in our society.

Political parties are known to reward their favorite journalists, post their retirement with plum Rajya Sabha posts. Many favorable journalists are known to be gifted plots of land for their propaganda services, by their political masters.

This trend is inimical to the very concept of media as a watchdog in a democratic society and the faster it gets curbed better for all of us.