Remember those golden days of DD serials

Kyaa din they woh.....I get nostalgic thinking of those days.... DD was the only channel and it had some really really nice serials.... I loved Sigma, I remember one of the characters from outer space having some kind of circuit on his face with a lid to open it. And a serial abt a love story of a Delhi girl (dont remember the name although she was really cute, one of the South Indian actress Sonia Agarwal looks like her) and a guy who was very poor but intelligent and lived in their garage, Neelima Azim(Shahid Kapur's mom) was also their as her friend. And then there was Surabhi, Bharat Ek Khoj, Parliament Quiz of Siddharth Basu. And who can forget that title song which caused Indian streets deserted...... Mahendra Kapoor's great voice ".....Atha Shri MahaBharat Kathaa". Here's a link to one really really nice blog.....Get back to the golden olden days Golden Olden Days

Gandhi Vs Savarkar

The single most important political debate deciding the post independence destiny of India. Who should be hailed as the father – the torchbearer of the nation. Whose face should be splashed all over the currency notes, whose statues installed in parks and squares and as an unwritten rule as the name of the central street in towns. And most importantly whose path, whose “….ism”, whose basic philosophy be inscribed permanently in the Constitution never to be changed.

Its not just a clash of two individuals, but two diametrically opposite “isms”, of two thoughts. Its not G Vs S, its actually Team G Vs Team S.

Who has won who has lost then. Savarkar died a hopeless death. With all his great oratory(better than Gandhi), intelligence(better than Gandhi), sacrifice(more than Gandhi), logic(??...this is a forever debate) and literature(better than Gandhi) he could not even win a municipality election during his lifetime and saw Gandhi (and his legacy, his thoughts, his party)taking over the nation(parliament), virtually every state(assembly), every town(municipality), every village(panchayat)in India (and the main road, park and square too). Has Savarkar lost then.
To be very frank its just not a one off fight. No one loses “finally” here. Because there really is no final match here. The finals come again and again and again after every 5 years. This match never ends. It will go on until either or both become totally irrelevant. Gandhi won for most of the first 60 years. Actually its 54-6 now. What about the future. Will it be this one-sided throughout. Which side of the scoreboard will the Indians add to in the future.
Because a nation (which is nothing but its people) also change their views over a period of time.


But then can anyone of them be so crushed, so defeated of hoping of no chances of winning ever? Will there be a permanent loser. The answer is probably “no”. Although it may seem that Team S is out of people’s favour its only “for now”. If it gets a super national leader - a great orator(Vajpayee), clean(again Vajpayee), non-arrogant(only attribute missing with Mahajan), nationally acceptable( doesn’t mean acceptable to the nation, but to the state satraps whom the people vote for even in a so called national election), intelligent(probably Vajpayee scores a lil' low here), extremely shrewd(Advani, again Vajpayee scores low here) they may again bounce back. And they may not even have to wait for this if the UPA works the way its working.
But then a win for NDA is it really a win for Savarkar. To be very frank a win for NDA isn’t even a win for BJP, leave alone RSS, VHP and lastly Savarkar. But yes power begets power in the long run. They surely can consolidate their long term position, pursue further towards their long term goals (before they lose again to anti incumbency factor only to win again courtesy the same). The hawks would certainly work (slowly and lowly without embarrassing the slightly secular partners in NDA) towards adding some more of that saffron flavor to establishments, syllabuses and to everything that defines India. (Yes I said “school syllabus”, yes and that does define India, It defines what future India learns and thinks……I didn’t knew who Savarkar was until I got out of college and read him, textbooks by successive Congress govts when I was in school didn’t allow me to know about him). Beneficiaries during these rule are sure to join Team S for their life times, just as my father- a govt employee, is a life time member of Team G to which he thinks he is indebted for his job (which took his perennially poor farmer family out of poverty and his class to lower, lower middle, middle and now upper middle(by town standards) ) and subsequent hikes and promotions without doing anything substantial.