[ Sajith M ]

If I were a social-science student trying for a Phd, this would be my thesis:

Elections 2006
Battleground Tamil Nadu
DMK promises free color TVs for all those living below the poverty line.
Result - DMK sweeps Tamil Nadu

Elections 2008
Battleground Karnataka
Congress promises free color TVs for all those living below the poverty line.
Result - Congress manages second place.

Conclusion: Tamils are far more addicted to TV than Kannadigas.

Copied from Deepa Balakrishnan’s blog post.

Posted under: Funny
Tagged with: Congress, DMK, Elections, Kannadigas, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Tamils

The subject was to be introduced to create AIDS awareness, but school-going children are too young to contract the disease. It will unnecessarily affect their tender minds.

This is what the Karnataka Minister for primary and secondary education Basavaraj Horatti had to say about the decision not to introduce sex education. Now, I am left wondering if the minister needs some education (read the emphasized part of the quote) before he opens his mouth in public again.

Posted under: Thoughts/Sex And Sexuality
Tagged with: AIDS, Karnataka, sex education

Great, so today was again a bandh. Life came to a standstill across Karnataka (including Bangalore)

Thanks to this Bandh, we achieved the following:

1. Karunanidhi said that Tamil Nadu will be happy with just 215 TMC ft of Kaveri water, and Karnataka can have 465 TMC ft as it had desired.
2. Union Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz said that his earlier statment that Cauvery verdict will be implemented was taken out of context and clarified that this was never his stand.
3. Productivity of all the industries in Karnataka sky rocketed.
4. The average citizen (or clueless guys like me) became more sympathetic to the cause.

If we did not achieve any of the above by having yet another bandh, will someone enlighten me on what was the whole point of having this forced shutdown?

Btw, Is Bangalore City turning into a Bandh City?

Posted under: City Life/Bangalore/Uncategorized
Tagged with: bandh, Bangalore, Cauvery, forced, Karnataka, Kaveri, shutdown

Thanks to ganu for pointing this out in his post and the pictures.

Karnataka Judge’s car parked in Brigade Road - Bangalore.
If he can park in the no parking area, then y can’t I do..?????????
Looks like law and order don’t apply to the judiciary system…

I personally am of the belief that traffic rules should apply to all vehicles (I am okay with exemptions for ambulances, but not for official cars). And it’s kind of interesting to note that we seem to have a different set of laws for those who wield some power (executive, legislature, judiciary) and another set for the normal folks like you and me…

Thanks to the picture of this car belonging to the Judge of Karnataka High Court parked where you and I can’t, we now know that some people are above traffic laws. Bangalore traffic is a power game where those who interpret the laws are not bound by them.

Posted under: On The Road/Random Observations
Tagged with: Bangalore, Bangalore traffic, Brigade Road, car, Judge, judiciary, Karnataka, Karnataka High Court, no parking, traffic rules

What if the average Bangalorean is least bothered about which state Belgaum belongs to, that sure is no deterrent for Kannada Chaluvali Paksha and Karnataka Rakshna Vedike from calling for a 12 hour strike (6AM to 6PM) to protest against UPA government’s ’step motherly’ treatment in border row with Maharashtra. Ah well…

So we have a daylong strike paralyzing normal life across Bangalore (and perhaps whole Karnataka), thanks to Kannada activists defending the status of Belgaum as an integral part of Karnataka. Btw, if you thought that the near complete shutdown was because people were passionate or seriously concerned about Belgaum issue, then you are mistaken. It was mostly due to the fear psychosis and forced shutdowns.

Thankfully, this time the police was actually present on the streets. This I believe was the reason the bandh went off peacefully, and we did not see a repeat of incidents that took place following Rajkumar’s death.

The traffic was pretty low, and I was able to cover the 22 Kilometers from HSR Layout to HRBR Layout (Kalyan Nagar, Banaswadi) in less than 20 minute while being able to take a few snaps on my way.. I would have loved to put up the photos that I managed to get showing cops doing the rounds (and thanks to them we did not have any untoward incidents today), but none of them came out well.. so here are the ones that I managed.

Posted under: City Life/Bangalore/Uncategorized
Tagged with: bandh, Bangalore, Belgaum, Karnataka, strike