| One of my very few political posts..... |
[May. 13th, 2008|12:34 pm] |
I do not like to post comments about politics or activist activities normally, even though I am involved with some of them and try to do the pitiful little that I can.
But I did go to a political meeting for Citizen Matters, and came away disappointed (and why is *that* not a surprise?)
Here's my view of what happened
It was really sad to see an academician of Dr Manmohan Singh's stature spouting political figures, casting political aspersions, and making political promises (the kind that are normally written on the surface of a pond). Instead of bringing forth leaders whom we can look up to, our political system ensures that even people who are worthy of respect are brought down to the level where the average citizen scorns them.... |
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| I suppose I should go....? |
[May. 8th, 2008|04:50 am] |
As a concerned citizen, and as someone who writes for Citizen Matters , I have been invited to a citizens' meeting which will be addressed by the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh .
I have, in the past, avoided any meetings where political figures..er..figure, like the plague. The reasons are many....I find many politicians an unprincipled, lying lot, not worth the time spent in getting near them.
And the time spent is indeed awesome. No one can ever predict when a pol will arrive to address a meeting; odds are that there will be a huge delay. Today's meeting requirements are that attendees must go some vague house in the vicinity of the hall where the meeting will be held, collect the invitation, and then be in the hall by 11am. To do this reasonably comfortably, I must leave home at 9am. Why can invitations not be given, or attendees' names checked, at the venue? I have no clue, and neither, I think, have the organizers, who must go by the security requirements.
The security requirements....for a wait of several hours (I do not know when we will be allowed to leave after the meeting), one cannot take along one's mobile phone, laptop, or even water (water bottles are the new Evil Thing.) Obviously, no food either, because I might be carrying a Bomb Sandwich. Jokes apart, I must say that we faced far less of difficulties when, in the US, we went to listen to Barack Obama (ok, he is not the President...yet!) There was fairly strict security, but most of it was logical and certainly, mobiles were allowed.
If I can carry my mobile or laptop, I can certainly spend my waiting time quite usefully. But I will have to just sit and twiddle my thumbs, and all the other fingers, for a long while.
Add to this the fact that I am not a professional newshound. Perhaps someone sent from a newspaper would have the "must" factor about this, and would cheerfully resign themselves to half the day being spent in doing nothing much. But I am an Ordinary Citizen...a housewife whose husband has his weekly off today, and with whom I spend less time than I would like to....
So...I think I will finish off the morning chores and decide, in a couple of hours, what I am going to do...
Murphy's Law mandates that if I go, I will feel at the end that it was not worth, and if I don't, I will miss something interesting! After all, how often does a Prime Minister of the country address the Ordinary Citizen directly in a city far away from the capital?
Decision time approaches...I am off to the kitchen to finish the cooking of breakfast and lunch! |
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| Someone has returned home... |
[Oct. 3rd, 2007|05:26 pm] |
I am going to meet an LJ-er face-to-face...
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) shivakumar_l has always been very, very helpful with his photography tips, and today I realized that he is back in Bangalore for good; so looking forward to meeting him. He is, of course, going to be appalled afresh at my camera-ignorance, but I have no pride in such matters! He is also a Canon guy...and is one of those people who don't mind drilling stuff into concrete heads...
We will probably go birding in a day or two... |
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| Our City Officials meet Concerned Citizens... |
[Aug. 24th, 2007|05:54 pm] |
Here's my post about what, hopefully, will be the beginning of a more open attitude by Brihat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, on Metroblogs:
http://bangalore.metblogs.com/archives/2007/08/bbmps_meeting_with_citizens_co.phtml#more
Please note how the Ashoka trees in the courtyard have been trimmed down...doesn't augur too well for the trees of Bengaluru, but let's keep hoping! |
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| NIce meeting... |
[Feb. 24th, 2007|11:30 am] |
I went to Lalbagh and then to MTR (Mavalli Tiffin Room, a Bangalore institution that still serves coffee in silver tumblers!) this morning, to meet other people who are writing for Metroblogs Bangalore...and met anitab and as a totally unexpected bonus, cyberscorpion, whose photography and love for Tamizh culture and language have long fascinated me...I was, I think, the only one there without a camera, the place was bristling with Canons and Nikons and lenses that can work magic....
Feeling very peaceful and content. I do love my city and the fact that we still have such lovely public gardens.
I wonder...how many LJ-ers would I be passing on the sidewalk without knowing who they were? Bangalore surely has a large population of them....LJers, if you meet this woman on a bicycle, or with an expensive camera and lenses that she can't tell you the technical names of...that's ME! |
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| Lovely time in Mystic |
[Dec. 29th, 2006|07:05 pm] |
Amazing how people are the same everywhere...
Visited the Yale campus (NOW I am going to tell everyone, with a casual wave of my hand, "I went to Yale"...)and had pizza at a restaurant(Frank Pepe's in New Haven) nearby, so famous for its "tomato pies" (it dates back to the time before it was referred to as pizza!) that there were 30 people in line before us!
( if you are interest4ed, read more by clicking on this )
Well....that's a long account....but I enjoyed putting it down...
KM has bought one of those new matchbox cameras, so today I will take along the Canon and take pictures...posting will be done only in LA or back in St Louis, I think...but don't worry, I will inflict them on LJ readers without fail! |
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annoyed
hopeful