Dhimant Chovatia

Cricket they say is a game of great uncertainties. No one would believe this more than people of two nations united by one tournament called the IPL. When it all began on 18^th of April, something told me that Royal Challengers will reach the final with Rajasthan Royals. While I had to get a lot of flack for not supporting according to me ‘hyped team’ of Deccan Chargers, I was sure they did not have the potential even to win this tourney.

Alas! The first sentence of this post proved right! But why did I not have the faith in Chargers? Well strictly personal opinion, but I still don’t see them as “MY HYDERBAD” team. All that aside, from number 8 to number one has been a story that I can put only in one single phrase… DREAM RUN.

From Hyderabad heroes being the champs of ICL 1 to Deccan being the last team of IPL 1, life for a Hyderabad cricket fan went one more full circle. As Gilly and boys prepare come back “home”, there is a buzz around the city. Go Chargers, Go Chargers, Go….go go go… is the new mantra.

To describe what I went through while the final match was on is the term “Khichdi of emotions”. Well mixed is the meaning of khichdi in the context. At one stage when chargers posted 143, it looked game over for them and for me who was sitting in between 500 odd chargers supporters gunning for RCB time to smile. As the rains lashed the city of Hyderabad, chargers in bullring were picking one after other Bangalore batsmen. And when the fourth ball of the 20^th over was bowled there was eruption. A massive one.

Following morning when I look back, I think both the teams did immensely well from being the bottom 2 to the top 2. And credit must be given to those “retired”, “old”, “unfit”, fellows who stamped their authority over the so called young man’s game. In fact if you look at the IPL 2 as a whole you will observe, ‘Young guys can give that energy to the team, but if you want to win you need a matured head’. So true when you see the list of performers this year. Big Matt Hayden, Little (!) Sachin Tendulkar, Jayasuriya, The Wall Dravid, Jumbo Kumble, all of these well past their 35s did fantastic job for their sides.

So what shall I say!! At the end all I can say is the chargers did hear the plea I made in one of my blog and did give us more. Victories that is.. So this time for the chargers…. ONE AND TWO AND THREE AND FOUR. DECCAN CHARGERS GAVE US MORE.

Saat ajubo se badhkar yeh prajatantra hai bhai re!

 – Baba Satya Narayan Mourya

(The cat has taken the dog away and the lion is grazing the cows! Really the Democracy is above the Seven Wonders of the World)

What is the need for someone like me to call Democracy in India a wonder? If you ponder over this heading for a minute or two before reading further, you might get 10 reasons of your own to believe so. I have made an observation which goes a little further than the so called “common man” might want to think sometimes. Imagine the following scenario:

Disclaimer: The following paragraphs feature an imaginary story and therefore bear no resemblance with any situation in real life.

This is a story of Mohammed D’Souza who belongs to a minority community in Warangal town of Andhra. Read in his words.

I am a first time voter and am very enthusiastic about being able to make a contribution to government formation this time around. I have always been a fan of the MIM which operates in Hyderabad, but cant vote for them as they do not have any base in Warangal. So I choose to vote for the TDP (Telugu Desam Party) for their development record, and also for the fact that TDP is not going with BJP (Bharatiya Janta Party) which is a communal party according to me which also has promised the separate state which I am against. My family has always been voting for congress but I choose the TDP. The common fact though is that both me and my family wants to avoid BJP, and it’s easy as well because BJP has practically no base in AP.

As the voting day nears I am in for a shock. TDP has tied up with TRS (Telangana Rashtra Samiti) who wants a separate state, not something that I wanted, and the Left which is believed to be anti development in more than one sense! I gave a lot of thought to the situation and still decided to stay with the TDP because of Mr. Naidu and his development plans.

As the list of candidates is out for Warangal, I am shell-shocked! The TDP is not contesting the Warangal seat at all!! As part of their alliance deal, the seat is left for a candidate of TRS, whom I never liked. Oh and what? Mr. Naidu is in town campaigning for that person. I listened to Mr. Naidu and thought; “Well, by voting for this TRS person I am anyhow going to benefit Mr. Naidu, so let me take his word and do it”.

Come the polling day and I voted for TRS!! Not my original plan though. I satisfied myself thinking that I voted for the Great Chandrababu Naidu! Five more phases to go in India and I was already thinking of Naidu as the CM. But there seems to be no end to surprises. TRS breaks away from the “Grand Alliance” and joins the NDA (National Democratic Front, led by the BJP) at the centre. Oh God! My vote suddenly has been transferred from Mr. Naidu to Mr. Advani. Surprise Surprise!! Mr. KCR convinces Mr. Naidu to support the NDA at the centre! So even the ideology has changed and I am now a supporter of “Communal Forces” that I never wanted to be!!! And yeah, with congress sweeping the polls both at the state and the centre, I have no moral right to expect them to work for me. Lord, the Great Indian Democracy!!!

End of Disclaimer.

I know this is imaginary, but it could happen one day in India. This was just an attempt to bring to your attention the impact of the alliance politics on a common man. The post below has the solution to this grave problem. Yeah you guessed it right, the solution is according to me and I may be wrong. Your comments are always welcome on it.

Impossible!

That was the first word I heard when I presented the idea of a two party presidential form of Democracy to a friend. But when I sit down and think of what is happening in the country with more that 100 parties with those many agendas and 4 coalitions at the centre and countless at the state level, chaos is the only word that comes to mind.

Horse Trading, Conditional Supports, Stalling of development, multiple ideologies working in different directions, money laundering and what not. A coalition government has been and seemed to have been involved in all this and much more. If a government gets elected on its manifesto and forms a coalition, there is no guarantee it will abide the same. Common Minimum Programs are more of vote bank politics and less of development agenda. Everyone should be happy! A good mantra if applied to a common man but a bad shastra if applied to political parties.

Prajatantra me neta janta ka sevak kahelata hai, janata ka man janata ko raja kahkar bahelata hai,

Par chunav ke baad yahan sab kuch ulta ho jata hai, sevak raja ka sab dhan lekar champat ho jata hai,

Sevak ke hai aish desh me raja bhookha soye re!

– Baba Satya Narayan Mourya

Compare this, when a company is formed, the promoters first appoint a CEO and then give him the responsibility to choose his team and give the results they want with accountability on his own shoulders. And this where the promoters choose a team of 100 managers and then ask them to choose their own CEO!! Do you think the managers discharge fair duties when they know that the CEO they chose is their own man? Will the promoter have the same faith in the CEO? Will the CEO be as accountable as in the first case? To my mind such a CEO will more be a union leader and less a Profit Maker.

The promoters are the People of our country, The CEO is the Prime Minister and the team is his cabinet. The system we follow is the second one. And what follows that is seen by this country for over 6 decades now. The prime ministers have been more accountable to their parties, allies, cabinets, corporates etc, and the least accountable to the people of India!

And the fun part is that the so called all powerful voter never gets to choose the CEO (Prime Minister). He merely chooses a manager of his area. Oh forget the idea of declaring the prime ministerial candidates well before the elections!! They change faster than a chameleon.

Now that I have a strong preface in place, let me count the advantages of the other side. The first big thing in a Presidential form of government is that I CHOOSE WHO LEADS THE COUNTRY DIRECTLY. The centre and the state all should go to the elections simultaneously and the party at the centre should also rule ALL THE STATES. This can happen only in a two party system.  Accountability will be the highest in this case with no centre leader blaming the opposing party in the state and vice versa. With only two options in place there will be no hung houses for ever! So goodbye Horse Trading and False promises and Common Minimum Programs. The voter should be allowed to choose from top to bottom that is the PM, the CM, MLA and MP in one single ballot.

Impossible!

Did you just say that? I know it is difficult, but there is nothing which is not possible. And the politicians of our country will not bring about this change because the ATM function is all but lost in this form of government. So the people have to do something about it. I am still trying to find a good way to do the same. Do you have any suggestion to make?

Let’s hope the following lines are never re-written by another poet who is hurt!

Kursi maayi jisne paayi seva ka dekar nara, jhute, chappal, gehun, topeyn, shakkar khayi aur chaara,

Nazar jamao vahin nazar me aajate ghotale hain, ghotalon ki jaanch me usse bhi bhari ghotalen hain,

– Baba Satya Narayan Mourya