Checkmate

Another day carries another failure,
Beacon of hope turns more fainter.

Like a pawn, I have come too far to turn back,
Standing in front of bigger pieces waiting to be sacrificed.

Knight marched ahead backed by Rook & Bishop,
Only to find the Queen waiting for her turn to take revenge.

The board was heated as the battle turned fierce,
Leaving a mark in blood & bruises on flesh with every tear.

A sudden hole is found and the flood breaks loose,
All the pawns were slaughtered, causing our Queen a bruise.

The King was watching his army get slaughtered,
Standing in his chariot he was weeping in pain.

Knight's had fallen & Bishop's were dead,
Queen took on the mighty with a thunderous flair.

To guard the honor she painted them blood red,
Broken and overwhelmed when her death knell conveyed.

Ahead in No Man's land I watched this in despair,
Started my run to save the King while the Queen embraced a warrior's death.

Kingdom was falling as enemies were now at the gate,
And without noting my presence, they called it CheckMate.



-SR.

Bawarchi च लग्न

Winter was making way for summer. Mercury was on the rise. And my bhidu got the tag of Just Married. The name is Arundhati. Some call her Aru, but I prefer bawarchi. Only because she is in that industry for more than 6-7 years but never treated me with a cuppa.

I don't remember any official date. But if I dig in a bit in the past all I can recall, our dosti is approximately over 7years old. In today's world, though, being friend for this long span is also an achievement. But the only disappointing factor is for more than half of the period she is miles away in the island country of black caps.

We came in contact through a common source. But our bonding was different class. We saw many storms in each of our personal lives. But in those times we always had each others shoulders to cry. One thing about her which I always like was she was an independent confident girl. Matured for her age. I could share anything with her. Most importantly I could be myself when I use to be with her.

There is one vivid memory in my mind about us. When the chips were down in my personal life, she was the only one standing like a Solid Rock behind me against the entire world. She didn't care about other side of the coin or any other point of view. She only cared for our friendship. I am so proud that I have such a friend in my book of life.

She left the country for further studies on her birthday in the year 2010. I remember talking to her when she was en route to the airport for boarding her flight. I recollect saying no matter what happens our friendship will stay intact. Back then it didn't hurt much. May be because I thought she will be back. But today as I am writing this, everytime when I look back into all our memories and here she is packing to leave the country again. But this time I have a weird feeling. As if she is going away to a far distant place. All those chats, the funtime, the parties, laughter all come as a flashback in front of me. And then realization strikes. That she wont be around now like our old days. Miles away, just occasional chats or phone call in months maybe. Wont be able to share, laugh like we use to anymore.

I am, to be very honest, extremely happy for her today. It's just that I am going to miss my best friend makes me sad.

Well now that she is about to leave, I thought why not give her something which she might keep with her as memorabilia of our friendship. Something which might remind her of our friendship of those crazy days. 

When it comes to gift I always prefer to give something which has the givers personal touch. Else it appears as a mere formality. But I being a complete stranger to the field of art or craft, so creativity doesn't share much of good relation with me.

The first thought which stuck me was folding greeting card. The biggest problem is that we don't have a single pic together. Only one sketch. So my plan was to write something on every fold and then when it's completely open you will have the big picture inside.But then that group is no more now and also the sketch was not with me. So had to explore something else.

While I was searching for any tutorial or pictures resembling my above plan I came across Tea Light Greeting cards. It was something new. You prepare a small box on one the side of a cardstock. And then use the remaining part as card for writing some stuff. I felt it was something new and innovative. So why not give it a try. I just had two days to complete it.

So at first I downloaded it's tutorial video and noted the ingredients (bawarchi pana) which will be required for the same. The main item was cardstock. And unfortunately it was not available anywhere. It's basically thicker than a normal chart paper but thinner than a card board. In one store I found a piece which was not exactly card stock but neither it was thin as chart paper nor thick as card board. Some where in the middle, but when compared to the one in tutorial it was a bit on thick side.

Well I said to myself somethings better than nothing. And hence I started the process.

This was all I could manage after sitting for hours together in just 2 days. A big thank you to Aadi for helping me out by filling in with suggestions in creative part.

There is much more inside but that's only for my buddy. With this small gift I just want to wish you a very happy married life bhidu. May you get all the love, smile, joy, fun, laughter, excitement, adventure and happiness which you truly deserve. But please stay just like you are, always. That innocent smile, apni taporigiri, craziness keep it intact even when you will become a mummy of 10-11 kids. Be the same carefree arundhati whom I know for so many years.

Godspeed in your new adventure. Stay in touch buddy. Lots of love.




-SR.

AAP ki Dilli - Paanch Saal Kejriwal

February The Tenth, 2015 has carved its place in history in golden words. A day when the unexpected happened. The unfathomable became reality. It again changed the definitions of politics in the country. David had defeated Goliath. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal has brought back his party, almost like a phoenix, after the last year disastrous Lok Sabha elections. AAP got a landslide victory in Delhi Assembly Election with 67 seats out of the total 70. BJP can adjust themselves in a Auto Rickshaw with 3 whereas Congress was asked not to take any efforts of coming to the assembly. With such a stupendous, enormous result few things which comes to ones mind is How did they do it?, What type of politics they represented to score such a huge victory? What happened to the Modi Tsunami? and last but no the least When will the Congress stop chanting 'Gandhi-gandhi' in the face of defeats after defeats together? But before we start searching answers to these core questions, we need to go back a bit in the year of 2011 from the days of India Against Corruption Movement led by Team Anna in order to understand the backdrop of these historic elections.

AAP was formed after breaking away from the India Against Corruption Movement spearheaded by anti graft crusader Kisan Baburao 'Anna' Hazare in 2011. The movement was primarily against the then UPA governments corruption scandals which were coming out almost every alternate month with figures going into lakhs of crores, huge loss to the exchequer. It attracted massive support from all sections of the society. With increasing number of crowds in the Ramlila Maidan the populairty of movement slowly started spreading from Delhi to other parts of the country. Some paper promises where made by the UPA, inorder to break the fast of Anna Hazare and the entire team who were on fast unto death for JanLokpal. After the strike was withdrawn, Team Anna then started deciding future course of action. Anna Hazare never wanted to come in politics. Whereas a group led by Arvind Kejriwal wanted to foray in the field, as they were of the belief that to solve the problems pertaining to existing system we have to be part of the system.By the end of 2012, differences in Team Anna were out in the open. Hence AAP was formed in October 2012.

The formation itself invited lot of criticism from the media. But people supported them as it was a faction of a peoples movement where the poeple themselves had participated in order to bring the change in establishment. Hence people imposed faith in Arvind Kejriwal and the same was visible in the December 2013 assembly election results. AAP won 29 seats, only second to BJP who won 31. During the campaign, Kejriwal gave an open challenge to 15year CM of  Congress Sheila Dixit that he will fight on the same seat which she will select for herself. Kejriwal did score this moral victory by defeating the CM but final outcome however was a clear hung assembly.

LS elections were round the corner. Hence BJP was not interested in forging any alliance with a party which is alien to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Therefore they refrained from forming the government and opted for sitting in the opposition. BJP considered to be traditional Congress rival. Hence they coming together was deemed impossible by all sections of the media.The pressure was now on AAP as Congress had given unconditional support to them. Basically the Congress was trying to come in good books of people in the backdrop of the massive campaign launched by Modi led BJP.

In such a dilemma, Kejriwal again went to the people. He decided to undertake a referendum on whether AAP should take Congress support and form the government or should they sit in opposition. People gave them a positive signal and hence Arvind Kejriwal became the CM of Delhi. The partys main promise was to introduce strong Lokpal in Delhi. However it lost the vote in the assembly as the Congress and BJP did not support the legislation, for reasons well known to all, Kejriwal resigned from the post of CM thus putting the assembly in suspended animation. The 49 days government had taken many steps like introducing a corruption helpline, inspecting public schools, undertaking audit of electricity companies for charging higher tariff, providing drinking water etc. But the main intention to resign from the state government was to capitalize the massive support it received in Delhi and replicate it in other parts of the country. Hence AAP decided to fight 434 out of the 543 Parliamentary seats in the Lok Sabha (LS) election and like the face to face battle with Sheila Dixit, Kejriwal decided to contest from Varanasi, constituency of BJP PM candidate Narendra Modi.

In the Narendra Modi led juggernaut, BJP won a landslide victory with 282 seats bringing back the single party government tradition in Parliament after 30 years. Modi also defeated Kejriwal conveniently to take charge of South Block with a massive mandate of 336 to the NDA thus disqualifying all others from the Leader of Opposition Post in the lower house, also after 30 years. AAP lost majority of it's candidates deposits. But a blessing in disguise was they won 4 seats in Punjab thus getting recognition as state party in another state after Delhi. There was another positive factor for them in this election in the state of Maharashtra. Raj Thackeray led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, a recognized state party and a giant killer in 2009 LS and Vidhan Sabha elections, had commented about AAP fielding candidate in the state saying, 'We don't need AAP, here we are Baap.' But in the final outcome, AAP had more percentage of vote share then MNS. After this defeat the AAP machinery woke up from the dream.

BJP was not ready to hold elections in Delhi as it had four other state to concentrate it's machinery, Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand, Jammu & Kashmir. Hence they were trying their best to horse trade some of the MLAs from the AAP and Congress to switch over to attain the magic figure of 36. One AAP MLA, Vinod Binny, did left the party and joined BJP. But still the magic figure could not be achieved and hence BJP kept the state in suspended animation as it concentrated on other states while PM Modi was concentrating on foreign trips. Arivind Kejriwal and AAP MLAs made repeated request to the Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung about BJP delaying the electoral process and about the horse trading of MLAs. However it all fell in deaf years. Finally the Supreme Court had to intervene and the dates of election were declared of the first week of February.

After victories in three states and respectable performance in J & K, BJP was finally ready for polls in Delhi. As the Supreme Court order came, Election Commission announced the dates and then began the highly intensified campaigns by all the parties. For BJP, Delhi was a matter of prestige, thought the end result meant a complete rout of the party in the state. The figures were so massive that AAP was marginally away from getting 100% seats in the assembly. Where earlier they were dependent on a hypocrite, opportunist party like the Congress to run the government. After this result they will call the shots in the state for the next five years just like BJP can in the Lok Sabha. So this bring us now to our core questions.

HOW DID THEY DO IT?
A step backwards is two steps ahead. That's how Arvind Kejriwal began his election campaign for the 2015 Assembly Elections. Even before going to the people for asking votes he apologized for quitting the previous government. The opposition and the media had taken this and made it a huge election debate during the Lok Sabha. The BJP giving Kejriwal names like bhagora, AK-49 etc. Therefore in order to shatter that negative image created around AAP, he admitted his mistake humbly of going national and said that the party will now concentrate first on the state of Delhi. Here it seems most of the battle was won by the AAP, as the others in the race had their campaign arsenal full with arrogance, money power, muscle power, threatening voters, horse trading etc.

After the new government was sworn in the centre, it was expected to announce Delhi state election along the other state polls in the period of October - December. However Centre's delay came as a blessing for Kejriwal. In that period, people forgot the resignation stunt of Kejriwal and started concentrating on promises made by BJP during the LS elections. Therefore with an army of dedicated volunteers and a massive social media push, AAP had set out to change the entire political landscape in Delhi. People voted for AAP because they had not let the voter out of sight and done intensive groundwork - from meeting voters door-to-door to assuring them that they have their act together this time. Kejriwal and Co. did endure many criticism from their own supporters over resigning in haste and yet they kept in touch with underprivileged communities, helping to rebuild slums, and offering a range of services including legal advocacy through its stream of volunteers.

AAP was criticized to much extent by the BJP. Hence they decided to play as the much abused victim with elan. Just like, 'Abki Baar Modi Sarkar' worked for BJP during the LS elections. 'Paanch Saal Kejriwal' was well timed and has worked pretty much well for AAP. It summed up the entire campaign of the party. Arvind Kejriwal, like last time, will be the CM candidate of the party. The party will not resign like before, hence creating a vacuum in the establishment halting all work in the state. The party will be less in agitation mode and will concentrate more on governance.

Unlike PM Narendra Modi who rarely brings himself up to be asked two back to back questions in a press conference, Kejriwal answers questions to news anchors with utmost simplicity and fluency. No anchor gives Kejriwal or any other AAP leader an easy time during interviews. But the sheer determination of AAP leaders provoked huge admiration in all spectrum of voters. Instead of being rhetoric or getting angry while replying questions Kejriwal answers them with an assurance that borders on rudeness which has worked as an asset to him as well as the party.

Instead of using the communalism - secularism card in the poll campaign, Arvind Kejriwal preferred to use the bijli-paani playbook. Rejecting the support given by Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid Bhukari, separated them from BJP-Congress. BJP tried to polarise this subject while Congress campaign contained only secularism rhetorics. This separated AAP from these two principal challengers as they were talking about the basic needs of the people.

AAP leaders always interact in language which is easily understood by the people and which they find comfortable to interact with them. Instead of giving orders or sending messages through close door press meets, AAP prefers to be within the crowd. They are easily accessible to answer questions of the people through the Jan Sabhas.

Another strong point the AAP had was their extensive research about the demography of the entire state. The party was always ready with required relevant data and hence they were in a position to give convincing answers to every question asked. This also helped them into better decision making and also created an impression of being someone who knows what he is talking about.

Compared to other parties, AAP kept a check on arrogant behavior of leaders. Even after winning such a massive mandate, Kejriwal urged his party worker not to become complacent or lose touch with the voters. Else people will give us the same verdict which BJP and Congress have received today.

These were few, among others, factors that helped AAP to bounce with a 95% majority in the assembly and halt the Modi juggernaut. They proved the fact the Narendra Modi is not invincible and he can be defeated.

What type of politics they represented to score such a huge victory?
AAP represents politics of anti-politics. Since inception AAP was never into religion, caste politics. None of their campaign ever represented this type of politics. The members joining the party are from working class population, professionals, post graduates who had preferred to quit their careers to play a part in making India a better place. I remember a quote of Arvind Kejriwal made during the 2013 election campaign, 'We are first class citizens, governed by third class politicians.' The party always talked about the basic necessities of people. And in achieving these things, religion, caste never has helped any one till date. The party made the people aware of the practical situations instead of living in hypothetical world created by politicians to make them a vote bank. In their previous tenure AAP tried to remove the VIP culture thus reducing the gap of elected representative and voters. Transparency was brought in party funding thus creating confidence among the people. Rejecting corporate funding was one of the big step taken by AAP. Kejriwal always said, that such corporate funding gave rise to crony capitalism. The party also did not allow two people from the same family to hold any post in the party. This kept the single family politics out of scope. They defied all the rules of traditional politics in the country hence paving way for dawn of new era in Indian Politics.

What happened to the Modi Tsunami?
This a biggest question of introspection to the BJP who is in power currently in the Centre. The same Modi wave which gave BJP a landslide victory in LS last year suddenly has come to a jolting halt. Modi charishma also helped in Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Haryana and J & K thus turning it into a Modi tsunami. Every election won by BJP, post LS, was credited to this Modi wave. But when it comes to todays defeat, BJP not interested in blaming the Modi wave. Why not bringing his name when the party is routed completely in the state? Even after deploying lakhs of swayamsevaks, pracharaks from RSS, 120 MPs, entire top brass of BJP, CMs of BJP ruled state, huge amount of expenditutre and all they got in the end is 3 seats, which seems perfect as they can travel to the assembly sessions in a single auto rickshaw. So what went wrong?

Delhi was never a BJP stronghold in the first place, with the 2013 elections leading BJP to victory on an anti-Congress vote, rather than a pro-BJP. Immediately after that the party won all the seven seats in Delhi during the LS and took charge of the Central Government. However the party seems to have lost touch from their voters at ground level. It was proved when their CM candidate, Kiran Bedi, herself said in the post result interview that Krishna Nagar (her constituency) is so dirty that it would have taken her two months to clean it. It shows the incompetence of the elected BJP MP from that area. After back to back victories in other states post LS, the party was clearly complacent and was of the belief that Modi's speeches are enough to bring back the voters. Plus BJP always seems to be on election mode and writing speeches after speech either in country or during the foreign visits. This took the party away from it's core voters who elected them to power in May last year.

BJP, since LS election has set a trend of declaring their PM candidate or CM candidate before the elections. But this time they delayed the process. During 2013, BJP had earlier potrayed Vijay Goel as their leader. However when AAP declared Kejriwal as their official CM candidate, a clean face, BJP was forced to back out and introduced Dr. Harshavardhan as their leader. This time after bypassing all the views of the workers and other leaders the top brass of BJP brought in Kiran Bedi in the final days of January and was straight away named as the CM candidate. This step had angered many workers in the hierarchy and brought the morale of party cadre down. The leaders who have been working for years were sidlelined and a new unknown face was given the command. Many were upset and the internal disputes were clear in the open. In the initial days many said this was the masterstroke by BJP. However this itself turned out to be the blunder which later turned into a disaster. Even Kiran Bedi after losing her seat in Krishna Nagar, a stronghold of BJP, said it's not my defeat but BJPs. She also said she did not had to pay a single amount to be declared as the CM candidate, which clearly implies that the states in which the candidates didn't mention this had some quid pro quo.

The 10 lakh suit of PM Modi during the visit of USA President was a completed disaster. Modi took pride in calling himself PradhanSevak of the country. And suddenly this Pradhansevak became a rockstar. His speeches outside the country might have attracted crowds but has done little to fill the stomachs of the hungry back in our home. If at any one benefited from all this was the rich business class who always accompanied him on these foreign tours.

Every political party must understand one simple fact. The urban voter is very much restless. If you miss your targets you are surely going to be rejected the next time. The states in which BJP scored victories had higher amount of rural voters. Hence it was easy to polarise them in the names of caste, religion or by taking names old icons of different castes. But it was not possible in Delhi. The BJP after result tried to hide under the cloak by saying what was mass opinion during 2013 polls that People in Delhi wanted Modi as PM and Kejriwal as CM. If that is the case then this was 14 months back. And then BJP had won 32 seats, if not the majority. But the sudden drop from 32 to 3 cannot be explained in that one popular year old belief. The result clearly speaks that people have out rightly rejected all the parties and have given a full mandate to AAP.

Immediately after the BJP came to power the Sangh parivar outfits began their action in full swing. It was as if development agenda used by Modi during the campaign was just a cloak to cover the actual Hindutva agenda. The comments made by BJP MP Yogi Adityanath of installing Ganesh Idols in mosques or invoking Ramzada vs Haramzada comments by Union Minister of State Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti. Sakshi Maharaj appealing the Hindus to give birth to four children in each household to tackle the Muslim population or the Ghar Wapsi campaign started by the RSS was all visible in the broad day light. What was more visible was PM Modi not being apologetic and not able to curb them inorder to carry out development agenda as promised to the voters. Recently the attacks on churches in Delhi was also a point taken in consideration while the debate started by the Hindu Mahasabha to declare Nathuram Godse as a martyr and build temples in his names. All these, unfortunately, went unnoticed in Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand as well as J&K. But Delhi gave them a staunt reply. Mostly because the voting demographic of Delhi and other states are vastly different. Delhi is more cosmopolitan with a fair share of urban voters. It can be safely assumed that a large chunk of Delhi's voters are bound to be offended by the offensive Hindutav rhetoric which seems to be on a popularity curve following the BJP's ascension to power. They are also the kind of voter to analyze the promises made by Modi as opposed to the ones delivered in the past months he has been in power.

The politics of rhetoric might be successful in other states but not in Delhi. The Delhi voter is not the same as the average voter in a West Bengal or Bihar or UP. The political alternative to BJP in these states are all in the same kettle, practicing the same old divisive politics and accusing each other. Take for example in Bengal, Mamta Banerjee cannot stop pandering the Muslim vote bank. So the other parties in other states. They practice the same old school caste, religion specific politics. This was rejected in Delhi. People mandate clearly speaks we are not interested in caste, religion, or any ghar wapsi. Give us our basic neccisties to survive and employment to earn our living. Rest is irrelevant in this century. Modi needs to be clear that development agenda and right wing politics cannot go hand in hand.

BJP leaders arrogance also played a vital role in tilting the balance towards AAP. The walkout of their leader from the news debates when questioned about the states infrastructure. The mockery of Swach Bharat Abhiyan by Shazi Ilimi. The personal jibes and attack made by BJP leaders on Kejriwal and Co. Many called him bhagora even naxalite. The Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Nirmala Sitharaman calling Kejriwal chor. All these made BJP lose ground and also tarnished their image in the eyes of voters who were given a massive mandate in May last year.

The current BJP Chief Amit Shah and PM Narendra Modi are seen practising and implementing on ly two types of politics. Former is an ardent follower of using the polarisation card while latter represents identity politics. What they fail accept that Indian voter has now risen above these petty areas. They have a simple question in their minds, 'Main tumhe vote dunga tum mujhe kya doge.' People demand answer. Hope this result halts their honeymoon period and brings them out of limbo to start working instead of just campaigining. Else it wont be far when BJP will also be told to sit at home.

When will the Congress stop chanting 'Gandhi-gandhi' in the face of defeats after defeats together? 
Sometimes I wonder whether is it relevant to even given them space here in my blog. Such an irrelevant party it is that inspite of ruling the state for 15 years all they could retain in the end was a big Zero. A family business run by Mother Son duo. Sitting comfortaly in their houses in the face of defeat after defeats. After every election one scene is common, workers standing with placards, Priyanka lao Congree bachao. No matter what ever happens and no matter how may more defeat they face in future nothing will ever change in the grand old party.

When we sum up the election result, it is indeed historic. Even the media couldn't predict such a massive rout of BJP. Though Exit polls gave full majority to AAP still these figure were beyond anyones imgination including AAP. But I will still be skeptical about the future. There is very thin line between Democracy and Autocracy. With such huge mandate also comes huge responsibilities. Modi critics will be having a gala on his defeat but the result can offer little comfort to Arvind Kejriwal as he will soon begin to feel the brunt of impatience of the voters.



-SR.

Mango Fans in Banana Republic

If you are born in America, the first sports kit you get as a child is baseball. In Europe you will get a football. And here in Bharat you get Bat-Ball (Gully name for the game cricket). Hence I was no exception for it. It's as if it is in our blood. And if you are born in Mumbai, hardly any guy you may find who hasn't played this game, even for once, in his life.

I still remember my childhood days as if it was just yesterday. Back in our school days, the most awaited day of the year was 10th of April. Last day of exams, which marks the beginning of 2 months long summer vacation. That feeling when you leave the exam hall after the last paper, the adrenaline rush which you experience within. You get license to break all the rules. The time table for vacation was simple. Eat-Play Cricket-Sleep. After having my breakfast, I used to go to my balcony at 930am. Ek Ishara and everyone will be in the ground in 5minutes. And the game begins. Either in numerical order, where first one begins the batting and last one kicks off bowling. Or if the crowd is above 10-15 then split in two teams for over arm or under arm match.

While playing the game, there was never anything at stake. You win or lose any match there is never any prize distribution ceremony. Still we played as if our lives depended on it. I remember vividly one such game. We were playing under arm 6 overs match with 6-7 players on each side. Our's was on the weak side and hence our batting order collapsed for mere 4 runs. Everyone from the other team was laughing and mocking us. Ofcourse this banter was just for fun. But I used to get very much pissed, as I never wanted to be on the losing side. Looking at our pitiful situation I asked my captain to declare them as winners and start another game to avoid further insult. But he said, 'We still can win this game'. I was not in a position to argue, so we began. To everyone's surprise, we dismissed them for 3 runs and won the game. That celebration was surely bigger than anything I may have celebrated in my life. Yelling, shouting, beating our fist, powerful high fives, hugging, running and now being our turn mocking the other team, laughing at them, dancing and what not. Captain came to me and said the I told you so line. This was the game for us. We weren't any champions nor we won any cups or medals. All was for the love of the game. We use to sweat out the whole vacation playing such matches daily in the sun. The energy which we showed in field was also their when we supported our team, India.

I started watching the game some where between 1993-94. I used to watch the game only because the guys in the screen had the same kit which we used while playing in our building complex. I didn't understand all the technicalities then. I remember once when I was watching the game, my Aaee asked me from the kitchen, 'Whats the score?' I didn't knew what was that so I told her, they have not announced anything related to that. Like me many of my friends, we all grew up watching this game. The game was so much popular that it came to be known as religion and Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar was termed it's God.

The memories of me and Team India are so much that it deserves a separate post. The name of this post clearly suggest that there should have been something negative in it's content from the start. Though everything uptill now has been good memories. But all these memories were scarred between 2012-2014 when the IPL scam surfaced. Many players were caught in the fixing while the owners of two clubs were named as the protagonist of all this corruption scandal.

The owner of India Cements Company, which also owned a club in IPL, was the president of both bccI and ICC. Narayanswami Srinivasan (NS) is the person who tainted our religion to such extent that it has come as a slap on every hardcore cricket fan.

When the scam came to light, two clubs each from Chennai and Rajasthan were accused of being involved in match fixing. The prime accused were players but they were just the pawns. The real culprits were Gurunath Meiyppan and MS Dhoni of Chennai and Raj Kundra of Rajasthan. The matter immediately got media glare. And it was the highly debated topic in prime time. Hence NS appointed his own committee and acquitted his son in law from the charges of fixing. He did everything, used all the resource at his disposal to save his family member. But finally Supreme Court decided to interfere in all this to clear the mess in the game. When the court said for the first time that his son in law is protagonist, NS immediately kept himself away from him. Then a full year was in hibernate mode as the committee appointed by Supreme Court under Justice Mudgal began it's work. The captain of our team first said that Gurunath Meiyapan was not involved in the clubs affairs. But later when it was proved that he was the face of the club captain was caught on the back foot, lying, and cheating the fans of the game which made him what he is today. Later it came to light that MSD is also an employee in the India Cements company along with few others in the Chennai club. No wonder he was trying to protect his boss. So what if he showed the middle finger to the game or it's true fans.

There was a time when Mumbai (Bombay) dominated this game in the country. The record 40 times Ranji Trophy (Domestic trophy) winners (with 15 consecutive time in the 70s), had a famous saying in their name 'what Mumbai (Bombay) did today India did tomorrow. It was only when Jagmohan Dalmiya was at the helm of bccI affairs that none from Mumbai, except one, were given fair chance to prove their worth. Today the politics remains same. Only the rulers have changed. The gateway to International team now opens from the yard of Chennai club owned by NS. Earlier a cricketers worth was assessed on the basis of his performance in domestic cricket. Now the qualities one needs to posses to be in the International team has changed. One should be able to follow orders of India Cements employees and employers. And one should play for the Chennai club in IPL. That's why the captain of this International Team runs away from responsibilities in the middle of defeated series as he cannot perform in Test cricket which is the true and rich format of the game. Even after the apex court coming heavily on the administration on charges of conflict of interests, everytime board tried to save their owner from all possible ways. I remember reading in a newspaper when the court had asked the board to appoint a committee for some purpose. The names which propped up in the meeting were of some bollywood actresses. Because they all knew, whoever is in the committee he/she has to acquit the people of board.

What the board of cricket is not able to understand is that they are merely custodians of the game. Only in March last year the same Srinivasan had tabled a position paper in ICC and has taken control of the organisation along with England and Australia. All this was done not by mutual talks but threat. Threat that if the position paper is not accepted then bccI will withdraw from the ICC. And with such massive viewership, the revenue and popularity of the game will go down if India won't play any part. Also bccI lured pakistan by promising them bilateral series, a country which is always at war with us and uses terrorism as a tool to murder our people, in order to vote in favor of the position paper. All this was done by taking the fans, their love, passion and respect towards the game for granted. Hence when it came to clean the game which was dirtied by the scams and fixing issues the same people started tainting us, lying to us.

Since day one of the IPL scam, everyone from the bccI has be evading all questions from the media. The mockery of fans in every moment during the trial was to such extent that they themselves accepted that this a private company and not answerable to any outsiders or in NS language Cricket Enthusiasts. In the one of the arguments made by the counsel of bccI, the board said, 'We do not select any TEAM INDIA but we select TEAM BCCI. We are a private body and not answerable to any one.' And on this very day they killed the game, my religion.

When all this was happening, the best display of hypocrisy was given by the retired players. SILENT. Not a word from them. If at all anyone replied, it was only one thing. The matter is sub judicial. This silence was hurting us more than the noises of main culprits. I felt more cheated that all of them now prefer money over game. Money has become so much important that the real spirit of game now seems a distant past. When our country was called to play the Asian Games in 2014, the board preferred the cash rich champions league over this prestigious competition. It could have easily sent the second rung players who would have manged to get silver, if not gold. But the board didn't feel so. It clearly shows that the game is not at all important if it's not going to generate cash flows.

Today the Supreme Court has finally halted the Srivasan juggernaut. In it's order the apex court has appointed a committee to decide about the punishment for the Chennai & Rajasthan clubs and its owners, IPL COO and also for Srinivasan in the conflict of interest charge. Court has given the committee a period of 6 months to submit its report. It has made clear that bccI will be amenable to writ jurisdiction, i.e. answerable to the people about it's internal matters. Court also barred Srinivasan from contesting the bccI presdential elections, which are to be held in 6 weeks, until he gives up the stake in Chennai club or the submission of report by the 3 member committee, whichever is later. So technically its clear that Srinivasan cannot stand for the upcoming elections, unless he uses his clout and ploughs his way by using Saam Daam Dand Bhed.

When all this was happening, I always wondered why doesn't the government asks them not to use the National Flag while playing games, if they consider themselves a private body. It has turned me so much against the game that right now I am wishing a white wash in the upcoming world cup. The legacy of Srinivasan is every match, every result is taken with a pinch of salt. If we lose people say it was clearly fixed. If we win, that victory doesn't taste sweet. There was a time when our team never won much trophies. But the pride which we had for our team even for that one SIX or one Wicket was beyond imagination. We loved the game not the result. The success which this team has seen since 2007 has made them so much vulnerable that they just can't handle it. They have completely forgotten the fans, the true owners of the game. We are today literally the mango fans in this banana crickets' republic.



-SR


PS: The b, c, and c in the acronym bccI have been purposely written in lower case because of lost of interst in the game which once was beyond any religion. Though I haven't lost hope completely.

Food Trip

Being a Mumbaikar there is nothing better way to spend a weekend exploring the city. And when it's food trip with your best buddies, one can't ask for more.

The first long weekend of 2015 had just arrived. Already our year end plans (which was to take place on 1st weekend of 2015) was cancelled by each and everyone step by step. It was like after proposing a plan and everyone (which was a surprise in itself) giving their consent and later everyone calling one by one to give back the normal replies. So after a gap of 3 weeks after that tragedy, we planned to meet up on the Republic Day. Only change in this was, no one was to be intimidated as enough of group culture. So plan was to be executed on the lines of the famous Marathi saying, 'हाजिर तो वजीर.'

Pravin was stressing for this day as everyone will be available, being a long weekend. So we finalised and only 3 people were in. Vinay was 3rd. There wasn't anything specific on the ToDo list. Everytime we meet up and the menu, irrespective of day and restaurant,  consist of only chicken and daaru or it's substitutes. So I suggested a new trick. We decided to visit only iconic food restaurants throughout the day before returning home for dinner. By that, one get an oppurtunity to be part of some decades old structures which has seen this city transition. Plus being old, quality is assured. And prices are less which beneficial for me being the officially unemployed guy in the toli. Plan was to meet at 11am to make our way towards CST, so we can be their in a restaurant by around lunch time. But with friends, plans are never meant to be executed on time.

Pravin reached Ghatkopar station at around 1330. From their we boarded the local and asked vinay to come directly at CST. Enroute we were having our typical discussions. He was discussing about his MBA class examples for different business houses from Tata's and Ambanis'. Ocassionally switching over to football. We reached at CST station at around 1415. Now we have to wait for Vinay. I was already starving and thanks to Pravin (as usual) being late and Vinay (surprisingly) being super late, every minute was just multiplying the hunger by 100times. Though we said we will be going to old well known restaurants but we hadn't made any chronology or list of the same. I, though, had a couple of few on my list. First was Aram near Capitol, just outside CST station on the west end. It's around 80 years old pure Maharashtrian resaturant (which is rare these days). Another was a TeaCentre at Resham Bhavan near Churchgate station. 57 years old and has almost all types of tea which are served in our country. Being a teaholic, ye visit to banta hai. And last but not the least was Badshah Falooda Centre at Masjid Bandar near Crawford Market.

Finally Vinay arrived at 1440 and we decided to walk our way towards Churchgate via Azad Maidan to catch some food at Khau Galli which is located just behind Fashion Street (FS). Now this was my usual route, walking through the Deutsche Bank building and then through the small walkway between Bombay Gymkhana and Azad maidan which had its end at FS and then some 2minutes walk behind FS, being my work location 3years ago for atleast 4years. But the extra genius Pravin suggested some different route. So now we were heading by the Cama Hospital lane. I looked at the CST station building from a distance, from Canon Pav Bhaji Centre to be exact. And I remembered the images from social media which showed the lights which are put up to make the buiding resemble like one big Tiranga. I was hoping to capture that moment live in the evening instead of sharing from others'.

As we were heading to Cama lane, just at the turning I saw a memorial for Shaheed jawans and a plaque. I just couldn't resist myself to capture the same. Though I confess, I am just an amateur user of camera. But I feel you don't need to be a professional to capture memories.

Amar Jawan Tumhe Vijay Salam

As we were heading towards the shortcut, there were some people who were sitting on dharna protesting against some basic rights. It's a popular sight in Azad Maidan. So we thought that this might not be the route and hence our search of pravin's shortcut eventually landed us at Metro. Now from there it was like No man's land towards Azad maidan. Suddenly a rare thing happened. Pravin gave us a sensible option. Kyani & Co. an Irani Restaurant was there somewhere near Metro. We were now standing at the same junction but didn't had any clue about the exact location. In Mumbai, the best guide on road are two people; Panwalla & Policewala. You can be sure to get the directions in most of the cases. So we did the same. But before the conversation could be completed Vinay spotted the place which was left to where we were standing. Finally I could see some fuel for my starving stomach. We stepped in and first we said to ourselves. No matter how much hungry we are, we have to eat in installments else we won't be able to visit other places.

I liked it in. Simple. Quiet. No idiotic formalities or eating like wearing an invisible of cloak of some stupid etiquette. Being an Irani restaurant my eyes were on the tea menu first. But had to eat something so we started our day with Kheema Pav.

Kheema Pav

Vinay had a clause that he was going to have only Vegetarian food. So he was going to be mere spectator to this classic item. He ordered a sandwich for himself to keep his mouth busy.

Veg Sandwich

I haven't had much of Kheema so I can't comment on this one. But the difference between my past experience was that this had a fair amount of gravy which further added to the taste. Extra pav was surely in order. Further we ordered a cheese omelet and raspberry juice. It was popular in this restaurant.

Rasphberry

Cheese Omelet

Later my most awaited Irani Tea and bun muska pav. My 1st Irani Chai experience was at the Charminar in Hyderabad some 4years ago and till date it has kept me spell binded. I still can't forget the taste of the same. So this was the most awaited item on the list. I was expecting, atleast, this meets my previous expectations if not exceeding expectation. But turned out to be the worst tea I ever had and one can expect under that brand name. First they served me a cuppa with a small hair floating on it. That itself killed the mood of everything. I asked him to change and bring a fresh one. After it was replaced I lifted the cup and the distance between the table and lips being merely 30cm was feeling like an eternity. My hand felt the weight of the cup because of the all the history I had with it, the waiting I did for these many years to taste another Irani tea. And suddenly the sound of huge glass cracking into pieces came in my ears. Only difference was it happened within me, and the glass of expectation and image I had created of the brand was shattered into pieces. Seriously, tapri tea is more better. I somehow assured myself this is not end of the world and that Tea Centre might help to compensate for it.

Kyani & Co wasn't that good, but not bad too. Except the tea, rest food was good. So after paying the bill we came out only to get inside a hall for shopping. We wasted some our precious time of the day as Pravin wanted to purchase something from a sale of some XYZ brand. I was getting bored so went out to have some fresh air. When I was scrolling the surrounding area, I came across some old structures. These are termed today as dilapidated structures. Some of them might be a century old from the British Raj. Standing there they have witnessed history of generations born and grow together. I could manage only to capture a glimpse in my lens.

Old Structure which will be facing axe in recent future

Finally the shopping ended and we kept our next stop as Khau Galli as our vegetarian friends lunch was pending. Passing through the FS, we finally reached the spot were Vinay had a Pav Bhaji. Ofcourse, we were not just spectators. We too joined him but gave him the majority share. Clock was at 1600 hours now. So I suggested any which ways it's tea time, and I also wanted to comeover from the horror show of tea few hours ago, so why not visit the Tea Centre. Pravin had Bachelor's in his list as he wanted to try the new Chilli ice cream. But it was situated at Marine Lines. Hence majority won as Tea centre was near than the icecream parlour. As we were heading towards the closed shop, we came across the HQ of Western Railways outside Churchgate station.

WR Headquarters

I wasn't having any intention to capture this picture. It was just a co-incidence. We were suppose to have this small trip on bike, each of Vinay and Pravins'. However at the 11th hour Vinays' bike was not available so most of the time we had to walk. To take a break we halted at this spot to ask another cop the way towards Resham Bhavan. Unfortunately he was newly posted their so had no clue. So we said lets go to our favorite ice cream parlour, K. Rustomjee. Both of them crossed the road and went on the other side whereas I stayed because I wanted to take a picture of plaque which is kept outside the Churchgate station in the memory of the victims who died on 11/7 in the Western Railway blast. Unfortunately it was too long to fit in my small screen and I couldn't go back to give it more screen space since it was on the busiest road. Hence I moved on and was walking parallel to them. From the other side they asked someone about Resham Bhavan and the man showed them its location. Both of them pointed towards a buiding which was a few feet on my right. I was excited when I read the name, but it died immediately. The Tea Centre was shut down, too. So I told the guys to come at Rustomjee. Since there was partition on the road I had to go till the end of the road and cross from the Pizza by the Bay junction and come back.

After a long walk and then talking a U turn I came back to another vintage place. Instead of going to Baskin & Robbins kind of stuff where you find less cream and empty cone at sky high prices, this is a no nonsense place. Wrapped in tissue paper is a brick of cream nestled between two waffers at even half the price of the over hyped branded ones. One visit can never be enough at this place. The biggest dilemma is to choose one of the all, as I have always wanted something of everything. So instead of going through the menu I decided to order the special one for the day. Helped us save some time. We agreed for 3 different flavours so we may have some variety on the table. I went for Pan masala, Pravin opted for Chocolate mint whereas Vinay ordered Anjir. The first two where the special for the day. I don't need to explain the taste as the name itself is enough to define it's quality.

(Top to Bottom): Anjir, Chocolate Mint & Pan Masala

Finally after chilling our body, we decided to relax a bit on the queens necklace. Merwan was on the list being another Irani restarant. Bachelors too was their to try the new chilli flavour icecream. And then Badshah, on which I was firm as all the ones which were their in my list were closed. We have been walking all the way since 1430 for around 3 hours. So this break toh banta tha. Sitting their we realised that we have been capturing all other things except our own pictures. So this was the spare time for some selfies.

Selfie Time at Marine Drive

The sun was taking toll on us. So now we had to cut short certain places. Merwan was rejected outright. As such I had enough of Irani at Kyani and Co. so I was Ok with it. Next up was Bachelor's. Just for chilli we had to walk all the way on the queens necklace. And from their we won't be able to go anywhere. So that was then rejected too. Now we had only one option left i.e. Badshah I was surely not going to give up on it. But we first thought of having something to eat. So nearby was another old restaurant near Churchgate station, Standard. After a break of around 30minutes, soaking in the sun near the waters of Arabian we set for Standard. When we reached the Pizza by the Bay turn I saw the classic vintage car on the other side of the road. Couldn't guess which was it as we had only few seconds till the signal turned green.

A Vintage Car

As the car moved away we also headed to out destination. While passing from the Ambasaddor hotel we saw a board on the next building with an arrow pointing left, inside the building. It was pointing at the location of Bachelors Icecream Parlour. So among the list of rejected, one was available. We went in and got the chilli icecream. It's surely innovative. You might get the feel of chilli as you take small scoop. But if you take a large scoop, only then you can you realize the actual chilli effect down in your throat. It's not the spicy part but the chilli essence is added in it during the making. It was good to be tried atleast once, not something which you might crave to have it again.

Chilli Icecream

The only item on Pravins list was fulfilled. After two blocks was the Standard Restaturant. We went in and Pravin first ordered a Bread Pudding. The taste was good but Pravin said it should more soft on the top. So ou guesses is it might have prepared some hours ago.

Pudding

One thing was surely not going to be enough. So we went on to get their famous pick. A cup cake, i forgot its name though. A caramel custard and bunmaska chai.

Cup cake, Caramel Custard and BunMuska

 Again, the tea wasn't that great. But rest was fine. I was trying to be low as I needed to keep place for the big item that's the falooda, ofcourse only if it's open as everything in my list has been closed. After closing on Standard, we took a cab to Crawford Market. Vinay didn't had any wishlist which now left us with Badshah Falooda. We reached their in around 10minutes. And finally something which was in my list was open.

Last time I visited there was a queue outside the restaurant just for entry as it was houseful. But this time, though there was rush, we didn't had to stand in any queue and also got a table immediately. The waiter offered water and the menu card. I instantly jumped on the Falooda section and ordered a Royal Falooda. I also faced the same dilemma here like in Rustomjee. Just couldn't select one of the many. So went for neutral one. Pravin had given up. Whereas Vinay ordered ButterScotch falooda.

(L-R): Royal & Butterscotch

It was truely awesome. Taking the intial sip and a small scoop of icecream. Later mixing all the colours together and making it Red, in Vinay's case yellow. The last time I visited here with a friend we had 5 between the both of us. But today I didn't had such powerful company as both (athletic skeleton body) seemed to be exhausted. So had to settle down on the above couple and make our way out.

That's it for the day of eating. Pravin did mentioned Bagdadi but then himself gave up and also Vinay didn't wanted to go so we finally started our walk towards CST to home. It was around 1830 and sky had become dark thus paving way for man made lights. So it meant I will be getting to capture the CR Headquarters and MCGM building in lights. Politics dominated our talks in the walk till CST. When we reached the station, Pravin and Vinay went to purchase their tickets. There was a train announced which was fast local and halting at both Ghatkopar and Bhandup. But I ignored it since you don't get to see such scenes daily. I ran outside the station. When I looked behind these guys were no where to be seen. So I thought to first capture the images of the buildings and then buzz them to ask their location.

BMC Headquarters

CR Headquarters

So this was suppose to be the official end of our first city road trip. We also got a fast train in the end which was a regular one for me during my office days. Like we say, If ends well then all well. I may have missed a few restaurants from my list but the ending was chilling sweet in faloda and then watching these towering structures, one of which is adorned in our National Flag is just priceless.

Thank You fellas. Hoping this was one of the many. Cheers.



-SR.