What does Zapak got to do with politics? Nothing, would be my answer on any other day but looks like they do help political leaders voice their opinion.

Medianama reports of a microsite for MNS in the Zapak site. The microsite brings in interactivity to their campaign which their site doesn’t offer.

Apart from the “Vote for us“ stuff on the site, it offers a flash game and that flash game is what caught my attention. Why? Because the protagonist of the game wasn’t Shivaji Maharaj, but Tipu Sultan. Hmm Something wrong there isn’t it? Why would a party who thrives on Maharashtrian pride have a game with Tipu Sultan, “Tiger of Mysore” on their page?

I think it is just a ploy to appeal to the Muslims in Maharashtra. the banner on top which showcases all their candidates makes it pretty obvious too.

“The youth and manase join forces for secularism & progress” it says. I have nothing against them being secular, but I do have an issue with desperately trying to be secular. Looks like they have abandoned secularism  for the sake of a few votes. Great going. Silently I hope they have abandoned their Maharashtrian chauvinism for good and not just for a few votes!

All that said, the site also shows that our political parties (their web team rather) realise the power and influence interactive games can have on a person. If this game had been developed earlier we could have seen our good ol’ Ad-vani games popping up on zapak and games2win.

That said check out this list of games that can be made around politics, I wrote on my gaming blog.

I see a #fail sign to the west of our border. Why? Let’s look at a few headlines shall we?

Taliban Close In On Islamabad

Taliban captures new areas in NWFP

Punjab militants link with Taliban as Pakistan backs Sharia law

Taliban begin enforcing Islamic law in Bajaur

Mehsud has links with ISI: report

‘Cornered’ Pak gets uppity over ‘intrusive’ US conditions in new AFPAK policy

‘Getting ISI to end support to militants difficult’

‘Terror plotters’ were allowed to stay in UK despite visa breaches

If you thought India was a screwed up country (considering the way our politicians run it.. or don’t run it) look towards the west to feel good. But oh no don’t get too comfy now. Taliban are knocking on our doors.. what do we do? All out war against a bunch of radical idiots is not a solution. They got nuclear weapons dammit and they don’t give two hoots about diplomacy or after-effects. If they want to do something they will.. I am a angry young man these days. Not the Amitabh Bachchan kinda angry, more like hmm I have no one, or nothing to compare myself to. But I can tell you that I am not angry at anyone else but me, I am angry that I can’t think of a logical solution to the whole issue. How can I blame politicians when I myself don’t have any suggestion for them? The only suggestion I thought of involved scooping out the troublesome region and dumping it on Mars. It’s not our problem then, the martians will take care of them.

So is it time to officially declare Pakistan a failed state? Are we being judgmental? Are we generalising Pakistan based on the actions of a few extremists? Is there a solution for Pakistan?

A hypothetical ad which may appear in a classified column in the near future if India continues to be India

A major political party in India is seeking a politicians.

Qualifications:

1. Should be Gandhi (not a Gandhian).

2. If not, should be from a minority community. People from both religious and caste minorities welcome.

3. Should be fit and agile to dodge shoes.

4. Should be flexible enough to change sides if they are offering a seat in the ministry by opposition party.

5. Should know how to bribe voters without being caught on tape.

6. Should be in the age group of 45-50 to apply under youth leader category, to apply under general category should be older than 70.

7. Should have at least 4 criminal cases registered under your name. (bragging rights).

8. Should excel in war-mongering.

9. Should not have studied anything more than a BA and in case you mention PhD or MA or London School of Economics, they better be a lie!

10. Last but the least should be thick-skinned.

Yesteryear film stars may also apply*

*Conditions apply

Women are still being targetted in Bangalore by right wing elements who have totally lost it. Pink chaddi campaign for all its “fun” seems to have backfired! =( The kind of abuse being hurled at them goes beyong shocking. Why they resort to such down trodden act is beyond my understanding. 

I got these three cases as an email forward. Please post this on your blog as well, if possible.

Incident #1

Time, date of Attack: 9:00 p.m, 24th Feb 

My name is Lakshmi. I was attacked on 24^th Feb at around 9:00 pm. I was walking down Vasanthnagar after I’d wrapped up work looking for an auto. At the underbridge I noticed four men walking down the road towards me. I crossed over to the other side, just in case. I continued to walk down towards Kodava Samaj. Suddenly I realised that the four men had crossed the road as well. Once they were close enough they started pushing me and passing comments. I tried to ignore them, stepped around them and continued walking. They turned around and walked back towards me and started pushing me around. I finally lost my temper and turned and told them to leave me alone,  

One of them came really close and started abusing me in Kannada and Hindi. At that point I pushed him away from me. The next thing I know I’m in the middle of a roadside brawl. The guy who spoke to me punched me and the other three started hitting me as well. I fought back and all of us were in a scuffle All through the attack I was abused in Hindi and Kannada for wearing jeans and fighting back. After what seemed like an eternity I heard an auto go by and I shouted out to him. Luckily for me he stopped. For a split second the four men were taken aback and let go off me I pushed them and ran across the road, climbed into the auto and begged him to take me home. The four men followed me to the auto and tried to drag me out. At that point the auto guy started the auto and rode away. The whole attack must have happened in a span of about 5 or 6 minutes.

 

Incident #2

 

     Time, date of Attack: 11:15-11:30 on

My name is Jasmine. I am a Bangalorean. At least I think I am. I fell in love with this city two years ago and shifted base from Mumbai. I was on my way to work at Koramangala at around 11.15-11.30 in the morning when my auto broke down at Ulsoor. As I was hailing another one a white Quallis slowed down next to me and the occupants said something to me in Kannada. I rolled my eyes. That was their provocation.

I do not know if that angered them but the more I dwell on that unforgettable episode in my life, they seemed like predators, on the hunt. Before I knew it four middle-aged men emerged out of the vehicle and began verbally assaulting me.  

First they started hurling obscenities at me in Kannada and then it became physical. They started touching and pulling at my clothes. One of them tugged so brutally at the shrug I was wearing that he scratched my neck. Their goal — to show the collected crowd the top that I was wearing underneath my shrug.

When the shrug didn’t come off with their tugging, the violence of the tugging increased. In self defence I hit out at an offending hand that was trying to disrobe me. The response, he slapped me hard across my ear. Then they began trying to lift my top up while making references to ‘pink chaddi’ – the only words I could understand of their tirade.  

I told them I would call the police and one of them arrogantly proffered me his phone to make the call. The few people who dared to gather and watch were dumbfounded and no one said a thing. Some passing cars even slowed down, but not one stopped to help.

The whole time, the four of them kept up the tireless rant of obscenities, calling me names and trying to humiliate me in front of the gathered crowd. They couldn’t bear that a woman was looking them in the eye, and each time I raised my head to look at the tormentors, they kept pushing my head down, threatening me not to look at them in the face. While they were hitting my head, an army vehicle drove past. They stopped and intervened. Finally the army men helped me into a rickshaw to continue on what I thought was going to be a regular day at work. 

It looked like these guys just wanted to make a spectacle and humiliate someone that day. And I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I don’t want to imagine what would have happened to me if the army men hadn’t put an end to the humiliation. I do not want to talk to the cops as even with hardcore evidence, the police didn’t do anything about the Mangalore episode and those hooligans are out. I do not want to talk to the press and be anyone’s political scapegoat. The whole situation was a nightmare and every time I talk about it, I relive it.

Incident #3

 

Time, Date of Attack: 13:10 to 13:40 | 17.02.2009

 

My name is Geetanjali. At 13:00 I get into my car start driving home. Almost immediately I notice a motorbike with 2 men chasing horning, hooting, and over-taking my car in a dangerous manner.

 

I turn onto 100ft road. The bikers follow me, then while over-taking the driver shouts at me and spits onto the window of my car. I make an angry gesture at this unprovoked action. The bikers then block my car from the front and ride very slowly. Cars behind us are now honking loudly.

 

I arrive at the 100ft Rd and 12th Main junction. I intend to take a right and have my right indicator on. The bikers also take the right turn and then stop their vehicle in such a way as to obstruct my passage.

The driver of the bike proceeds to get off his bike and starts attacking my car. For the next 5-6 minutes he then proceeds to beat on the car and shout obscenities in Kannada. I do not retaliate in anyway. No-one tries to help!

 

The pillion biker looks shocked at his friends actions and begins to roll the bike to the left side of the road. I seize the chance, and try to drive away. While doing so, the front bumper of my car grazes the bumper of the bike. This infuriates the attacker further.

He gets onto his bike and chases me. I realize that I don’t know where the police station is in this locality, and decide to seek refuge in my friends house. With the attacker following me closely, I drive straight into the basement parking area of an apartment in Indiranagar.

 

The attacker parks his bike outside and pursues me into the building. I get out of my car in an attempt to flee, but he corners me against my car and proceeds to shout obscenities while constantly stepping closer and closer to me. This goes on for about 5-10 minutes. I do not retaliate verbally except to shout for help from the security guard.

By now he is less than a foot away from me. I cannot move back as my car is behind me. I slap him on his right cheek. He lunges at me and tries to punch my face, I manage to evade him, however he succeeds in punching my jaw.

 

At this action of his, I start to shout at him loudly in Kannada about his shamelessness at raising his hand on a woman. He is startled and steps back. The security guard now steps in and tries to push him out of the building. I use this opportunity to run towards the staircase.

I have just managed to climb 4 steps up when I realize that the attacker has run outside to the road and has started to come running back in with a large stone in his hand. He is continuously shouting and swearing.

 

I run upstairs and find the resident of the 1st floor apartment rushing out of her house. I caution her about going downstairs. The attacker is still shouting. I hear a crashing sound as he throws the stone at my car.

From the 1st floor apartment window, I can see that the attacker is waiting outside the gate of the building. I ask the owner of the apartment to call the police, but she refuses to do so. I then ask her to call the guard via the intercom and ask him to take down the license plate number of the attackers motorbike. By the time the guard picks up the phone, the attacker rides away.

 

Post-mortem

On questioning the guard, he said that the attacker took down the license plate number of my car and threatened to find and harm/kill me later. None of the neighbors who were watching helped or took down the license plate number of the attackers vehicle!

 

I have never felt like leaving my country for good. Yesterday I felt that. For that day I was homeless and orphaned and helpless in a way like never before. The residual feeling today is one of deep sadness at the frailty of humanity. The end of innocence for having stared at the nobility of the human spirit caving into the heart of darkness.

 

 

 

 

 

I am tired.

The big question.. where did these people prop up from? Out of the blue? Who gives them right to go ahead with such fanatic act? Why isn’t anyone doing anything? They are a disgrace for kannadigas but why aren’t the real Bangaloreans who lived in the city for ages doing nothing about them?

UPDATE: @santoshp says “Did you listen to what Home minsiter of k’nataka says ”do not bring such silly things to my notice” BJP in K’nataka is worse!”

India is the largest democracy in the world. We are also home to the worst set of politicians on earth. Their worst hobby – mudslinging, pocketing tax payers money and preaching.

Now what provoked me to write this post was this audacious remark made by Mr Modi. He decided to give the kiddo treatment to Rahul Gandhi. But instead of patting him on the head and giving him some chocolate he decided to call him a “small aquarium fish”.

Well Congress wasn’t happy with it, don’t know about our Rahul’ji’ aka G, because he did not comment!

Congress spokesman, Manish Tewari, was the first to react. Equally hopeless mind you! “If Rahul is like a fish in the aquarium, then Modi is a piranha who devoured human beings,” he said. Okay sir-G, you win, but don’t piranhas attack in group?

All this pointless verbal duel gives me a super duper idea. Why not put all politicians in a Royal-Rumble match to decide who will be PM. Survival of the fittest and chalu-est.. what say?