Mumbaikar Vs. Chennaiette
*It was not long time ago that Mumbai city was reeling under flood situation and was under water for almost one week. The Municipal administration did not come out well either before or during or after the floods. There were reported epidemic situation in Mumbai soon after the Floods. There were no large-scale damages to national resources (should I call infrastructures) like lakes, reservoirs Roads and Bridges as it was witnessed not only in Chennai but also all along the North Tamilnadu. Also remember this is the third devastation in about two months time.
The winner of the Mumbai was the Mumbaikar, as acclaimed by no less a person than Dr Manmohan Singh the Mr. Clean or Mr. above politics Politician in India. ( However blame Sonia Gandhi if Manmohan takes sides on Goa, Jharkand or Bihar, or congressmen like Satish Sharma, Bhuta singh and his likes or Natwar Singh). However, poor Chennaiettes have not had the benefits of Manmohan’ s blessing. (I hear a voice somewhere that Dr. Ramadoss, the self self proclaimed leader of Tamils criticising Jaya that she did not invite Dr. Sigh. Where were the 40 MPs and the party Supremes like Karunanidhi, or Vaiko, or Ramadoss in making Manmohan to visit Tamilnadu. Is it their feeling that Manmohan will not heed to their voices as he had already obliged them by ministerial berths to their kith and Kin, that they lave no locus standi in inviting him. Or do they accept that Manmohan would listen only to Jaya and not to these Tamil Protectors)
The Indian politician’s English is so good that they understand the direct and literary meaning of the word Opposition Party, and not the intended meaning of Dr. Ambedkar, Alladi and other founding fathers of our constitution. Opposition means Opposite Party only and not the intended meaning of a group who act as Checks, or Balances. Is it because the Tamilnadu politicians like P Chidambaram, TR Baalu, or other 40 and odd MPs think that their party interests are above the state interest or have they attained total Nirvana that they are above the state and worry only about National issues. If this were to be, is not Chennai or Tamilnadu a part of the country. Erstwhile Congress men like Kamaraj, Subramanian, Bakhthavatsalam, however good administrators they were, kept the Congress party as paramount in comparison to the state, and because of this attitude of the leaders, the Party is almost wiped out of Tamilnadu Politics and the Dravidian Parties are ruling the roost. In contrast persons like Jagjivan Ram, Laloo Prasad are primarily a Bihari then only a Congressman or RJDman, that they were always respected/ Feared by fellow politicians.
During the Mumbai floods all the politicians irrespective of their party colour stood as one and talked of one agenda-plight of Mumbaikar. Tamilnadu who is more powerful than Bihar or Maharashtra in numbers in parliament, does not come together to raise the issue of Chennaiettes or the Tamils. Please do not blame, as Ramadoss is preoccupied with saving the ministerial post of his son Dr. Anbumani, while Karunanidhi is interested in his grand son Dayanidhi Maran or Vaiko in his new found status of National leader plus LTTE guardian, that they do not have time to think of petty issues like Chennai floods.
A true politician, the state should be proud of Mr. P Chidambaram. Knowing well that the Government doled out petty and Paltry sum,one should applaud him, criticing the satete government on the whereabouts of 6000 crores of Tsunami funds. If he is playing to the tunes of his party bosses, he will once more lose his identity as was prior 2003. It is again a big tamasha that people get their title by the Dhotis they wear. Chidambaram is always spic and span wearing only white Dhotis, and hence is believed to be Mr.Clean. The mystery of Harshad Mehta, Indian and MCC bank issues and the Karpagambal mills are no concern to the country, as long as Chidambaram wears white Dhoti.
DMK and Congress party started a very praiseworthy and philanthropic program of organising “Kanji Thotti” for the poor and suffering Weavers of Tamil Nadu. Where is such sincerity now, when millions of Tamilians lost everything and waiting for the Government agencies to feed them ? I can understand that, DMK which collects a minimum of one crore out of District conferences and has collected 60 crores in the very recent past is not capable of supporting the poor, as this money is not sufficient even for Tea expenses of the party. Congress that has been a maintaining a true non-aligned outlook (Nehru’s pet Topic), by collecting both from CIA and KGB and also from Saddam Hussein as to the revealed sources (Mitrokin/Volcker or Bofors), would definitely have taken a more philanthropic outlook. . They were prohibited by a subterfuge by the Mother of Miss Antonio Mien, that of Annai Sonia Gandhi was born 10 days late. Had she were to be born on 1st or 2nd December, Mr GK Vasan would definitely have organised relief camps, as he is planning to do on December 9.
Thus a Mumbaikar is unlucky that the Marathi politicians consider their respective party come a poor second compared to people welfare, while Chennaiettes is blessed with Karunanidhis, Vaikos, Ramadosses who do not care for both the party and the people welfare while their personal interests are paromount to them. These Leaders forget that their own party men also are among the millions of suffering public
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December 7th, 2005 at 1:22 pm
Excellent posting
Mr P.Chidambaram,when he is not in Mumbai ,hobnobbing with Corporate Head Honchos as part of several glitzy biz awards functions or when he is not in Delhi, marshalling the might of ED to silence the whistle blowers in the Volcker Controversy, suddenly surfaces in Chennai ,usually clad in spotless dhoti and makes unfounded and deliberately misleading statements about the State government .And this does with such intellucall snobbery and condescending attitude which doesn’t befit a person holding that position
That despite of having 40 MP’S and 14 ministers, its so obvious that UPA cannot effectively highlight the problem of the state.All that they revel is in mud -slinging against the TN CM who has done a outstanding job in disaster relief management ,inspite of overwhelming odds
One would not surprised if Karunanidhi comes up another version of his favorite caseteist conspiracy theories in explaining the dismal failure of UPA allies in flood relief.
By the way I am G.K Vasan and his ilk are now all decked up to celebrate their supreme leader Sonia Gndhi this week despite the fllod havoc in the state
December 7th, 2005 at 8:01 pm
Blog-hopping. Nice spread here. Must drop in sometime again.
P.S.: Those three days in July. Difficult to put by and wipe the horror stories from memory.
December 8th, 2005 at 11:22 am
Waiting for some CC copy to come thru!
December 9th, 2005 at 12:02 am
Hi,
Agreed that the floods in Chennai are not looked upon in the same manner as that of the Mumbai flood. But why blame people like Chidambaram or anyone for that matter. You were not in Chennai during the rains. I would sight an example of our law minister Jayakumar, when he visited the badly battered Kotturpuram area was sitting on the boat wondering what to do. The moment he got the news that Madam JJ is coming to the spot, both himself and Shailendra Babu jumped into the waters, started swimming and immediately caught the attention of Madam JJ. You call this publicity stunt or whatever, the State government is equally responsible for the flood reliefs. I wouldnt state the relief measures were bad. But nothing can really be done against the nature’s fury.
And you seem to be bothered only about the money you get from the centre. If Mumbai gets Rs.100 crores then Chennai must get Rs.1500 crores. If the floods in Mumbai are covered for 45 mins on NDTV, then Chennai floods must be covered on the same channel for 1 hour. What do you think, Chennai needs publicity or sympathy. Water the hell, is some sort of competition going on or what. Make one thing clear, Chennai needs no sympathy. It knows how to protect itself. The water-loggingon the roads of the city was not the rain water, but water released from various dams and lakes like Chembarambakkam lake, Porur lake etc that were opened for their own safety. The rain water harvesting is doing a wonderful job in Chennai. It drains out the water on the streets in quick time. As regards the low-lying areas, water was immediately pumped out using electric pumps and fire engines.
So, I feel you have to change the perception regarding this. I know you love Chennai more than anyone else, but still I feel I had to make this point.
December 9th, 2005 at 9:53 am
@Karthik: I agree partially with you. But first, I didn’t write this post. it was my father, (I stopped blogging here a while back…) And my father was in Madras all during the recent floods. And you know what, so was I. Also, what my father is saying is not about sympathy. it’s about the media and centre’s obsession with the glamour cities of Bombay and Bangalore. It is not about asking for more relief fund or more air time. it is just trying to draw a comparison between the two disasters and which one of them gets more media attention
C
December 9th, 2005 at 1:12 pm
Karthik/Chandrachoodan,
My main Concern is the dirty games the politicians Play, and trying to politicise everything, including calamities-manmade or natural, like Kumbakonam, Tsunami and the recent floods. The underline is- the politicians of Tamilnadu care the least for Tamilnadu. Cauvery Issue- All party members of Karnataka represent their case: while here all parties blame the Government and more nausiating is there use of the controlled media to instigate the people. Simillarly in the case of Veerappan they Political parties of Tamilnadu play dirty and sinister games to idolise him and make his wife a political victim and there by a new leader for their short term gains. The contract Labourers in Electricity Board had been there for last 20 years, but the parties make it as an issue of only the ruling party. Please understand, that I am neither a member or sympathiser of Jayalalitha, but as an educated middle class man, appreciate some of the actions taken by her. I do not have to answer about Chidambaram as Mr Prasanna himself has commented on the issue. I am, primarily against a false propaganda resorted to by the political parties to gain political mileage on any issue, whether calamity or Kushbu. The other facet, that had made me to abhor DMK,PMK and other lesser parties is their shameless and chameleon like attitude. What Khusbu or Suhasini uttered had been twisted out of proportions and once there is a public outcry against such self proclaimed leaders, none of them have the courage to own their original attitude. Asan erstwhile sympathiser of Congress party I am pained to see the bafoonery of periodic and meaningless statements of GK Vasan now, and earlier by Elangovan.. They are using the same horse to ride and keep their post in Tamilnadu. The horse, unfortunately is not from the stable of Congress but Mr. Karunanidhi himself. The issue is not floods in Tamilnadu, but the total negligence of of the state’s interest by the political parties. They are united only with one agenda- hold on to power, bargain central positions by exhibiting their numeric strength. As an Indian, can you accept if somebody says that Congress has taken money from CIA and also KGB., and thsi entire issue is being swept under the carpet as Communists do not want a dialogue as they are also involved. I will write more….
December 9th, 2005 at 11:28 pm
Chandrachoodan, it also helps that Mumbai is the centre of the media world in India. Naturally news channels will have more coverage of Mumbai than most other cities.
December 10th, 2005 at 11:28 pm
natural disasters=mudslinging time.victims in the two famous channels.
jaya tv—mazhai vanthuthu.kaaichal vanthuthu.anaa nivaranam kuduthaanga.koodavae nivaran 90-um kuduthaanga.amma vaazhga!
sun tv—tanni tengiyirukku.pipe-la thanni varalae.kakkoos poga mudiyila.arasangam idhukku nadavadikkai eduthaaganum.
December 10th, 2005 at 11:38 pm
Small correction CC - Chennai”vasi” instead of Chennai”ite” since if you say Mumbai”kar” it captures the essence of the Marathi language whereas Chennai”ite” anglicizes the same in this part. Just semantics, no doubt
December 18th, 2005 at 10:57 pm
I seriously believe that politics have been the “evergreen career option” for some youngsters, all for wrong reasons.
I recollect hearing from my parents about political debates during past two decades. It was always about mud-slinging and NO action TAKEN. If I’m not wrong, most development in TN took place because of favourable business conditions (the political parties were too busy fighting amongst themselves that they forgot to interfere with the businesses). Eventually, there is a persistent fight among the parties as who initated the developments.
And the only reason the candidates get elected is because the educated people have no time to understand which party is less troublesome; whereas the uneducated don’t understand who belongs to which party….That’s how politics sustain…....
If this is the state you are talking about…..then very little positive can be expected.
Pray for the ChannaiVasis.
December 22nd, 2005 at 12:27 pm
In Mumbai it affected everyone equally. In Chennai, it is the poor who are suffering. And the privileged in Chennai consider it as Amma’s problem. Moreover, in Mumbai, the people tend to disregard the government and prefered to take things in their own hands. in TN they expect the Govt. to do something.
August 19th, 2006 at 4:07 am
August 19th, 2006 at 4:07 am
Your website is beautiful, informative and Excellant.
Article by M.P. Bhattathiri, Retired Chief Technical Examiner , to The Govt. of Kerala. Humble request that it may be published in your website and magazine after editing if necessary.
Bhagavad Gita and management
World Management Lessons from India
M.P. Bhattathiri
Retired Chief Technical Examiner
Govt. of Kerala
India
————————————————————————————————————————
Table of Contents
Abstract
Introduction
Management guidelines from the Bhagavad Gita
Old truths in a new context
The source of the problem
Utilisation of available resources
Work commitment
Motivation – self and self-transcendence
Work culture
Work results
Manager’s mental health
Management needs those who practice what they preach
In conclusion
A note on the word “yoga”.
August 19th, 2006 at 4:08 am
Your website is beautiful, informative and Excellant.
Article by M.P. Bhattathiri, Retired Chief Technical Examiner , to The Govt. of Kerala. Humble request that it may be published in your website and magazine after editing if necessary.
Bhagavad Gita and management
May 25th, 2007 at 11:20 am
Sarvopanishado gaavaha dogdha gopaala nandanaha
paartho vatsaha sudheerbhokta dugdham geethamrutam mahat.
“All the upanishads took the form of cow. The cowherd is Sri Krishna HIMSELF. Arjuna represents the calf. We, the knowledge seekers are the one to enjoy the milk ie the necter called Srimad Bhagavad Gita.”