Monday, November 16, 2009

The way the Communist Cookie Crumbles- Kerala


 A picture of a house which was allegedly the Communist Party Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan's home, and  which appeared in the internet, has resulted in a controversy with the Party claiming that this a Trichur businessman's house and not his own. However, a lot of  people in Kerala believed otherwise, given the multi crore Lavlin scam case in which Pinarayi is the accused. The matter is now sub judice and therefore not being discussed here.
( Post writing this blog, we have been given photos of the said house, which indicate clearly that is  not Pinarayi Vijayan's. It is in fact, used for shooting tele-serials.)

However, the fact remains that such opulence would have been unthinkable decades ago, when the party that preached "to each according to his need, would wealth be distributed", came to power.This fact, was apparently raised by the rank and file of the Party in its internal sessions, as part of the "corrective measures", or "thetthu thiruthal nadapadi".

The Communist Party has a heritage, that is quite different from what its current leaders espouse. Men like AKG, EMS, Atchuta Menon, N.E. Balaram, KR Gowri had grown the movement in the teeth of oppression and in spite of a virtual witch hunt for them. They were genuine and made an example of their lives by practicing what they preached. Simple living, high thinking was the credo and they did a lot to reduce the polarity in the economy. Popular support too came their way. In fact, many rate the late Atchuta Menon's Government as one of the finest the land has seen, but for a black mark brought on by the  atrocities committed by the Police when  K Karunakaran, the Congress leader  was the Home Minister in the Cabinet .(A coalition partner).

All that seems to be history now. The Communist Party is getting drubbed in  election after election, their Ministers are seen as having an opulent lifestyle which matches those of film stars, their children's names crop up in sex scandals covered by media albeit in an oblique fashion, Mafia killings and the botched up investigations thereafter also seem to have some Minister's son having a possible connection with the accused , Universities and College Campuses report organised and institutionalised arm twisting that stifles any political activity  that opposes the SFI, most householders and shop owners seem to be paying protection money to party goons at every street corner in the guise of "attimari kooli" or "noku koolie"...(unloading charges for goods and household items and when any kind of work is done in one's property involving outside labour).. the list goes on.

Governance is absent.Health care, which maintained high standards has been mismanaged and now the common man cannot visit doctors because of a  draconian rule preventing private practice at home. Without adequate infrastructure and medicos, public hospitals  are witnessing near riots with too many patients and too little space. The winner seems to be expensive cut throat private hospitals! Strange, when private enterprise is officially seen as undesirable and the stated political stand is for public ownership of enterprises. Asianet News exposed a racket where scans were being ordered by a doctor for a commission and this was a multi-million rupee scam involving privately owned labs and doctors. The handling of various epidemics in the State has also left a lot to be desired, not to mention the standard of medical service provided and the fingers are pointing to a complete lack of ability on the part of the leadership, particularly the Health Minister.

The Police seems demoralised with convicts being released by party workers from police stations with scant regard for the law, if one were to go by media reports. The Asianet expose on how the Police tried to get a dagger made through a blacksmith and plant it in the house of a person to build a case against him,even though he allegedly was  totally unconnected with the killing of the Muthhoot scion, left many in the establishment red faced. The matter is now sub-judice.
What added fuel to the fire and made it an election issue, was that the actual culprits were dreaded mafia goons, some of who were CPM party members previously and allegedly had close ties with the Home Minister's son, though this was denied by both the Home Minister and his son.

The RSS was seen as a saviour during the excesses of the Left Governments in the past and was possibly the only organisation which stood up to the muscle of the Left Mafia. The killing fields of Tellicherry and Trivandrum as well as elsewhere seem to evidence that. It also explains their popularity and clout in the Northern and Southern parts of the State where the Left has its strongholds. However, their political wing,  the BJP, is completely clueless and seems to be a bunch of inept self seekers and opportunists who were ejected from motley political parties. Till date; they have shown no political acumen, nor a sense of clear cut policy, nor ethical standards, which would indicate that they are any different from the rest.

The Congress is another bunch of self seekers, goons, clowns and the usual suspects with criminal records and does not seem to offer a credible alternative.The one MP from Trivandrum is another "twit"  whose main hobby is to tweet with his foot in his mouth and who seems to be interested only in following cricket, particularly Indo- Pak cricket, and writing books about it rather than do something worthwhile. like getting a High Court Bench in Trivandrum which was the main election demand.

Caste based organisations like the SNDP, the  NSS and groups affiliated to the various Diocese and the Muslim Leagues, seem to be increasing their hold over the population and seem to be dictating voting patterns. It is a well known fact that privatised education is a cash cow for these organisations. While things are not as bad as it is elsewhere, in a State where literacy is near 100% education needs to be accessible to all and standards need to be better maintained to avoid the exodus to other States and Australia. It is also the only saving grace for a State which has educated, intelligent human resources as its main export item and revenue generator.

In fact, the Left seems to be actively encouraging religious organisations with suspected links to terrorist activities as evidenced  in the case of the  PDP  leader Madani. It is to be noted that within the front itself many had opposed this and spoken against communal organisations. In spite of this, it  had actively supported his case  and got him to Kerala, after he was imprisoned in the Coimbatore Bomb Blasts case. The political logic was possibly that PDP would do an "MNS" on the Muslim League the way it was played out on the ShivSena  in Maharashtra. 
However this seems to have backfired badly. Recently, an accused in one of the bomb blasts was reported in the media to have been Madani's close aide. Media reports on TV and print, mention the Vagamon forests being used to train terrorists and links have been reported with terrorists in Kashmir coming from this State. Many in the Left Front  including the CPI and the Chief Minister had avoided sharing a dais with them during the Parliamentary elections.  Many believe that the loss of BJP vote share and the Congress vote gain was the Hindu voters response to ensure the loss of the Left candidates and a phobia of the PDP gaining ground.

The corruption charges recently leveled in the Lavlin case against Pinarayi Vijayan  has resulted in cases being filed against Pinarayi for corruption with the blessings of the Chief Minister himself. However, the Communist Marxist Party prevailed on him and sacked him from the Polit Bureau and demoted him. No, not the accused Party Secretary,  but the honourable Chief Minister himself who brought in the charges. LOL!!!

It is now the Devil's own Country and survives on NRI remittances and the Devil alone knows for how long.!

Adobe: Creating Experiences. Brilliant Use of OOH

Sunday, November 15, 2009

WHY MEN ARE NOT INVITED TO WRITE ADVICE COLUMS



The Reason Men Don't Write Advice Columns 
 Dear Malcolm,
I hope you can help me here. The other day, I set off for work leaving my husband in the house watching the TV asusual. I hadn't driven more than a mile down the road when the engine conked out and the car shuddered to a halt. Iwalked back home to get my husband's help.

When I got home I couldn't believe my eyes. He was in our bedroom with our neighbor. I am 41, my husband is 44, and our neighbor is divorced and in her early thirties.  She is very attractive. 
We have been married for ten years.  When I confronted him, he broke down and admitted that they had been having anaffair for the past six months. I told him to stop or I would leave him. 
He was let go from his job six months ago and he says he has been feeling increasingly depressed and worthless.  I love him very much, but ever since I gave him the ultimatum, he has become increasingly distant.  He won't go to counseling and I'm afraid I can't get through to him anymore.

Can you please help?

Sincerely,
Wendy
------------------------------------------------------------

Dear:


A car stalling after being driven a short distance can be caused by a variety of faults with the engine.  Start bychecking that there is no debris in the fuel line. If it is clear, check the vacuum pipes and hoses on the intakemanifold and also check all grounding wires. If none of these approaches solves the problem, it could be that thefuel pump itself is faulty, causing low delivery pressure to the injectors. 

I hope this helps, 
Malcolm

 
Source: Email forward
Author : Unknown