A hectic and tedious week came to a screeching halt this weekend. I planned to have a blast: lunch with friends on Saturday; ‘Carol Sunday’ at church and socializing with relatives on Sunday.After a lazy morning and crisp Dosa’s for breakfast, I was all set to leave home. Stopped by the petrol bunk and fuelled my car with 10 litres of petrol and was set to head for IMAX. All hell broke loose when my mom called and asked me to return home ASAP.
“It’s the TRS again causing some disturbance in ameerpet and panjagutta”. I heeded to her advice and was driving past the Liberty Circle, Himayat nagar lane. The Bandh backdrop in the city came alive again – Malls, Restaurants, Factory outlets shutters closed to a half; a wee bit of panic across people’s faces; media photographers taking pix of traffic jams; bikes and scooters carrying Telangana supporters shouting “Jai Telangana” slogans. This sounds so much like the Vandemataram and Quit India movement I read in my history books.
The freedom movements in history made sense. Today, the world has progressed in leaps and bounds. Countries are not only free but are also embracing globalization, diverse and cosmopolitan culture where you allow every culture to exist and evolve while accepting and appreciating it. To put it succinctly, asking for a separate Telangana appears to be an anomaly in today’s post modern world. I’m a pucca Telangana but I don’t want a separate Telangana! It made sense in 1960’s & 70’s when people from Telangana region were averse to Andhraites migrating to the city, buying lands and depriving them of job opportunities. Andhra Pradesh state was newly formed and these were some of the teething issues plaguing the Telangana folks then. I have no clue what good it holds in today’s modern context. And what is worse is resorting to violence – pelting stones at common man, breaking window panes of private cars and spawning commotion for no good reason.
Its just heights of madness and lunacy I say. If they don’t have better things to do, we do have! And the culmination of this drama is immolating oneself. Need I say more?
11 comments:
Hey, I respect your thoughts, and I used to think just like you. But the problem here is not about you and me who have settled into our city life with a 5 day work week followed by the desperation to wrap up with a great and relaxing weekend. We form the smaller minority!
For a person who wants to get into a government job, or for a person who wants to irrigate his lands, or for a person wants to work close to his home in a remote village - for all these people the issue is very different!
It will be selfish on our part to overlook all that and just crib about a lost weekend.
I have never been in favour of a separate state in general, but when I think about people in general I feel that there are more people who actually want it desperately, and with a valid reason, so I shouldn't come in their way.
The only complaint I have had is that my Telangana dialect is not accepted by anyone around me, and as for the film industry they have come to brand it as a rogue dialect which saddens me. So, if you take care of implementing the 6 point formula (hope you know about it), if you stop the social discrimination (including in the films) I have no problems in opposing the movement. And yeah, if you want some insight here's a post by me on this issue on Dec 1st - http://kartikthum.wordpress.com/2009/12/01/who-ignited-it/
Karthik,
How long do we need crutches like reservation to progress in life? Can we not get it through hard work and our own merit. If you have the will, anything is possible!
I understand the problems of the less-privileged. But today better opportunities are available even in some remote places.
Its not about a weekend gone awry, it just does not make sense. If you want to bring about a change and make the government wake-up to your problems, you can do it through peaceful means rather than resorting to violence and harming the innocent.
And change can also be brought in without cleaving Andhra Pradesh into Andhra & Telangana.
Hi Carol,
I don't believe in reservation based on caste etc.. And definitely not based on region too! But the problem here is about capable people not getting what they deserve due to hectic lobbying by certain people!
In the private sector, talent does rule in most cases, but in the govt sector it's not like that, regionalism and caste favourism are still prevalent. Don't you see how YSR (I know you adore him) has made sure he has his people around him in top positions? So, yeah, in theory we don't need reservation, but practically it's different - because people in power have kinda forgotten that "with great power comes great responsibility"
Ok, and one other thing - I hate to resort to violence! But, what would those protesters do? In the last one week, even the national media did not care to cover the peaceful part of the strike, so will the govt come anywhere close to consider the seriousness? This does not mean I support violence in anyway - I am completely against any sort of violence!
I will be more than happy if we can achieve what we couldn't in the last 60 years, without having to separate the state.
And, what do you think about the cultural oppression? What do you think of the name of our state - what was the need to name it specific to a region within?
Carol,
"How long do we need crutches like reservation to progress in life? Can we not get it through hard work and our own merit. If you have the will, anything is possible!"
I personally know people who have no reservations, have advanced degrees and have no jobs because because they lack enough lobbying power as compared to their counterparts from Andhra.
Do you have any idea as to how many positions in the secretariat have been occupied by people from Andhra not because of their skills but because of their lobbying capabilities?!
"If you want to bring about a change and make the government wake-up to your problems, you can do it through peaceful means rather than resorting to violence and harming the innocent"
What's with all the talk about violence? Looks like you have been watching just one channel, that has been emphasizing rioting. How can you justify what the government has done? There has been blatant disregard to every human right in the book. They have been caning everyone at will. And no am not talking about caning rioters, what about about all the JAC members who were lathicharged without reason? Is this a democracy or what?
"I understand the problems of the less-privileged. But today better opportunities are available even in some remote places."
Sorry to say, but I don't think you have an inkling as to what the problems of the less-privileged are.
Have you ever been to the remote parts of Telangana? They don't even have access to proper drinking water inspite the fact that south India's 2 largest rivers flow through the region. Have you ever witnessed poverty in those places(trust me, its heart rending)?And do you know why those places are in such abject poverty?
I have a lot of friends from Andhra, who actually agree that this region has gotten a raw deal because they have seen things from ground zero which am afraid, you have not.
Folks
Every sector has its challenges. Do you think private sector is devoid of lobbying and politics? It is not! You just have to be strong and survive sans compromising your respect, values and dignity. If you cannot you are not fit for it! Its as simple as that.
Golden - Every other channel from Times Now, NDTV, CNN IBN to our local channels : TV9, ETV 2, Sakshi are showcasing the same thing and thats reality - whether you like it or not.
I think these OU students should channelise their energy in fighting for youth issues like Aids, Eve-Teasing, Saving the Environment, mentally challenged citizens etc rather than mindless issues like this.
Separating a state is not a solution because law of the land in India states crystal clearly that " a person has the right to reside anywhere and seek employement across the length and breadth of India's frontiers".
I'm a Telugu and I have the right to go and reside in Kashmir and seek employement there if I want to and Kashmir localites cannot ask me to leave. Its a right my country gives me. Its as simple as that!
At the end of the day, we are all Indians.
You just don't seem to understand the problem, do you?! Smaller states lead to better administration. In all your wisdom and knowledge you can't deny that. A separate state is going to ensure the administration remains in the hands of the local people. The Telangana movement says nothing about not allowing outsiders to seek jobs and settle here. All the movement is asking for is a proper implementation of the GO's that have been promised always. The anguish is because the whole system has been abused over the years and the only way out of it is a separate state whether you like it or not.
"I think these OU students should channelise their energy in fighting for youth issues like Aids, Eve-Teasing, Saving the Environment, mentally challenged citizens etc rather than mindless issues like this."
When food and shelter are hard to come by, what else could be a more pressing issue? You just seem to be ranting with your eyes and ears closed!
And as for your TV channels, the national channels have NO CLUE as to what is happening here. It's plain obvious that they are completely biased. The news report on this problem from people like Arnab Ghosh sounds nothing more than a mindless babble because he is just talking about one side of the picture. TV9 and sakshi kept playing OU caning incident again and again. Why are you silent about that? Oh! btw, the DCP responsible for the lathicharge is being transferred. Why is that?
Hmm.. looks like the TV channels forgot to do the other half of their job. So, mayb its time to watch other channels too.
Ah yes, in the end we are all Indians.
Golden - I have seen the Lathicharge. The government needs to control such unbridled behaviour and hooligan outfits.
If smaller state makes for better administration, I sure will not like it. I love AP the way it is -
I don't show any bias against the Andhraites, Rayalseema folks and Telangana people. I have grown up with all of them around me and I like it the way it is. Touchwood!
I DONT WANT TELANGANA ,BECOZ WE R LIVIVNG HAPPILY TOGETHER NOW WHY THIS PEOPLE WANT SEPARATE TELANGANA
what the cpm other parties doing with the core workers . only this parties takeing the money from gov .they r not helping the workers.
ok all saying their own ways of thinking about separate telangana or samikandra, but here i have to say something new to all of you. actually telangana was under rulling of the nizams for a long time before formation of the andhra pradesh and in their rule we were just treated as a slaves and we were in the position of what the India was under during the reign of british. so we were not provided with infrastructure or oppurtunities to develop ourself under reign of nizams. whereas the andhra side was ruled by the british and they developed that area by using the huge resources which are commonly available for a coastal region. as such before the formation of andhra pradesh it is that already telangana was under developed and whereas the andhra region was already developed. so after the formation of andhra pradesh if you take the statistics into consideration i.e. from 1956 the telangana region was more developed than the andhra region. i feeling that no one is raising this point of attack. it is that most o the andhra people are well educated from the begining and most of the people are developed that is why the reason the andhra people are settling in their life very fast and whereas the telanagan people cannot as they were educated. i have many more reasons to state for samaikandra but for the time it is this.
i am born and brought up in telanagana and i am a hard core telanagan fan. However i dont want a seperate state for telanagana.
i hate the rougue politicians who are only creating trouble for telenagana citizens with foolish bandh's and raastha roko, rail roko campaigns. i believe that a seperate state would never ever solve problems, but rather complicate certain issues even further. Britishers left India by dividing it. Few Assholes in Telengana are using the same tactic to divide people. we should all rebel them and stop them by not supporting those idiots.
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