AFter a month long wait the election results are in ....Didi effectively tramped out the left in Bengal and the going was neck to neck in nearby Kerala and faraway Assam also voted on largely expected lines .What surprised many ,mostly national observers and psephologists was the results in Tamilnadu .While many had predicted that Amma definitely had the edge against DMK ,nobody could have really guessed the magnitude of this victory .Amma after effectively completing her hibernation in Kodanadu hardly a few months back, woke up in the Chief Minister's seat on Friday the 13th of May .
After lying low for months ,she made but few rare appearances in the Assembly ,a few more in public and flew back to Kodanadu ,only visiting Chennai now and then.Some said it was astrology ,some said that was Vastu ,others quoted health reasons but no one was on the know of what she did there all these long years ...Of course we did hear her various statements to the press which appeared with preprogrammed regularity ..(All that they needed to do to fill Jaya TV news was to read these statements .)Even from her Kodanadu estate she gave that one bombshell of an interview which sent the 2G cases accelerating ...which was but one memorable event in these five long years ....
These five years sans power, many of her old colleagues have deserted her for more lucrative DMK quarters .Those who chose to remain (how happy they must be now ) were busy carrying out her orders which were passed on mostly through the media .True they kept making quite some noise in the name of protest demonstrations here and there and also kept walking out of the Assembly when they were not forcibly evicted ..AND then the meeting in Kovai happened ...And from there it has been history or should we say HERstory ....
And then it was enter the Captain and exit Vaiko and many hiccoughs later the alliance was in place ..She did tour the state (in a campaign vehicle which must be the envy of many a politician ) making rather uninteresting monotonous speeches which might not have excited even her die hard loyalists .The campaign completed ,polling over ,she went back to Kodanadu in complete abandon as only she can .She descended into hot and happening Chennai only a few days back and what a welcome it has been .
As I drove to work this morning, all down the road Amma was beaming at me from all the newsmagazine stands and why shoudn't she ?
17.2.11
The Prime Minister speaks ..
Finally , the honourable Prime Minister chose to break his silence .We do not know why this particular timing was chosen , maybe ahead of the budget session in parliament he decided that it might be better that not to add one more charge of silence to the already overloaded charge wagon behind him .Or maybe it was the S band deal that happened right under the PMO's nose (but mind you the PM knew nothing about it ,as with so many other things that have happened around him )?Well the answer to this we might never know .
Going to the interview itself ,the Congress claimed that the PM was forthright and upfront ,NDTV said he was OK on some issues like economics (but isn't he a renowned economist ?!) but smarted (ha ha -good one that Prannoy ) other issues ,Times now was going out all guns (with Arnab's histrionic talents in full display ) especially about the way he compared the low price of the spectrum with subsidies -to this Mr.Sitaram Yechury had a nice reply -"to this government whatever concession you give to the poor is subsidy and whatever you give to the rich is incentive ".Besides each channel showed the interview interspersed with shots of their own editors looking or musing pensively .
The interview of the PM was much like a boring classroom lecture .He explained even the most controversial issues in such a monotonous voice that you did not want to listen.The only thing that made you watch it was the fact that ,this is the leader, at the helm, in this era of scams ,possibly trying to clear some doubts .But like a good politician he dispersed the blame without actually pointing fingers ,created some more confusion and thereby enabled some more discussions in the media .
I asked Raja to address issues ,I said that ,I am not talking to anybody in the backroom ,I am not and so many I ams and I am nots throughout the interview .
The crowning moments of the interview were when he declared that he was not a lame duck PM and that he intended to complete his term .Then there was this time when Arnab intervened with a query on the CWG scam and the media advisor to the PM shot it down almost arrogantly that it was not a cross examination of the PM .And why should it not be ?The Prime minister chooses silence over issues almost all of the time and whenever he chooses to speak (which is once in a bluemoon ) he expects the media to sit still like school students and take notes ?
The Prime minister apparently believes that he can absolve himself of all responsibility of the not so glamorous happenings that have plagued his government .While handing over the share of blame ,he seems to conveniently forget that as PM ,he is responsible for what the ministers do under the able guidance of their respective bureaucrats .He is totally unmindful of something all Indian citizens are expected to have learnt in school ,something called collective responsibility .
If at the end of the day ,the honourable Prime Minister wanted to wipe off the mud on his face ,he only ended up dirtying his sleeves...
Poongulali
Going to the interview itself ,the Congress claimed that the PM was forthright and upfront ,NDTV said he was OK on some issues like economics (but isn't he a renowned economist ?!) but smarted (ha ha -good one that Prannoy ) other issues ,Times now was going out all guns (with Arnab's histrionic talents in full display ) especially about the way he compared the low price of the spectrum with subsidies -to this Mr.Sitaram Yechury had a nice reply -"to this government whatever concession you give to the poor is subsidy and whatever you give to the rich is incentive ".Besides each channel showed the interview interspersed with shots of their own editors looking or musing pensively .
The interview of the PM was much like a boring classroom lecture .He explained even the most controversial issues in such a monotonous voice that you did not want to listen.The only thing that made you watch it was the fact that ,this is the leader, at the helm, in this era of scams ,possibly trying to clear some doubts .But like a good politician he dispersed the blame without actually pointing fingers ,created some more confusion and thereby enabled some more discussions in the media .
I asked Raja to address issues ,I said that ,I am not talking to anybody in the backroom ,I am not and so many I ams and I am nots throughout the interview .
The crowning moments of the interview were when he declared that he was not a lame duck PM and that he intended to complete his term .Then there was this time when Arnab intervened with a query on the CWG scam and the media advisor to the PM shot it down almost arrogantly that it was not a cross examination of the PM .And why should it not be ?The Prime minister chooses silence over issues almost all of the time and whenever he chooses to speak (which is once in a bluemoon ) he expects the media to sit still like school students and take notes ?
The Prime minister apparently believes that he can absolve himself of all responsibility of the not so glamorous happenings that have plagued his government .While handing over the share of blame ,he seems to conveniently forget that as PM ,he is responsible for what the ministers do under the able guidance of their respective bureaucrats .He is totally unmindful of something all Indian citizens are expected to have learnt in school ,something called collective responsibility .
If at the end of the day ,the honourable Prime Minister wanted to wipe off the mud on his face ,he only ended up dirtying his sleeves...
Poongulali
12.2.11
Shock treatment
Young woman married to a not so young man ,getting pregnant and then getting tested for HIV during the course of the pregancy is a common scenario in the clinic .Women who test positive for HIV are referred to our prevention of mother to child tranmission programme .They do regularly and sincerely follow the obstetrician's instructions and deliver healthy HIV negative babies .
What is intriguing is the fact that the husbands who usually accompany these women (and are infected too ) never bother about their medical care .They play the role of a sincere hubby rather very effectively but when you ask them to see the doctor ,it is always next time .There is not much of a problem until serious illnesses intervene .We had a handful ,who ,when the wife was progressing through the pregnancy progressed to very serious illnesses and death .
Then there was this woman ,whose husband was refusing to get any treatment inspite of our repeated counsel .Though we offered all help ,he stubbornly refused to take the necessary tests .We patiently waited for a few weeks and then decided it was time to do something .
One fine morning he walked in with his wife ,with the same old story of next time ."Well then ,"I said ,"you seemed to be decided against taking any treatment .In that case ,your health might deteriorate at any point of time .This will affect your wife and the baby who are entirely dependent on you . Who is going to take care of them after you ? I will wait for just one more week ...if you do not report to the hospital for treatment by then ,I will get your wife remarried to more suitable man who can take of her and himself."
Surely enough, the husband has come in for treatment .
Poongulali
What is intriguing is the fact that the husbands who usually accompany these women (and are infected too ) never bother about their medical care .They play the role of a sincere hubby rather very effectively but when you ask them to see the doctor ,it is always next time .There is not much of a problem until serious illnesses intervene .We had a handful ,who ,when the wife was progressing through the pregnancy progressed to very serious illnesses and death .
Then there was this woman ,whose husband was refusing to get any treatment inspite of our repeated counsel .Though we offered all help ,he stubbornly refused to take the necessary tests .We patiently waited for a few weeks and then decided it was time to do something .
One fine morning he walked in with his wife ,with the same old story of next time ."Well then ,"I said ,"you seemed to be decided against taking any treatment .In that case ,your health might deteriorate at any point of time .This will affect your wife and the baby who are entirely dependent on you . Who is going to take care of them after you ? I will wait for just one more week ...if you do not report to the hospital for treatment by then ,I will get your wife remarried to more suitable man who can take of her and himself."
Surely enough, the husband has come in for treatment .
Poongulali
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