Now I did not see this coming. Rahul Dravid speaking for Suryanamaskar at a Golwalkar centenary celebration organized by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. (RSS)
Or maybe I should have. After all with Sourav Ganguly attending CPM functions in Bengal and with gossip-minded fans convinced that Dravid and Sourav are not really in a Jai-Veeru “yeh dosti” relationship of late, Rahul’s probable shift to the saffron end of the spectrum may well have been foretold by greater, more demented minds.
And before we get into the ‘But oh Dravid was attending a simple Yoga camp and not a party political’ argument, let me point out that celebrity endorsements of political parties/ideologies usually begin like this —-in a seemingly apolitical forum organized by people having a singularly consistent political hue. This charade is for the benefit of both parties— the celebrity as well as the political organization so that a plausible denial of association may be issued while at the same time the message is gotten across to those with the properly-tuned antennae.
As an example, Sourav does not attend CPM rallies (as of yet) and is on the surface politically neutral but his alliances and sympathies are fairly evident from the company he keeps in public.[ Of course whether Sourav is truly a committed Communist or whether it is politically expedient to be in bed with the Reds in Bengal is open to conjecture (like how in Mumbai everyone has to seek the blessings of the Balasaheb for any and everything)]
Similarly Amitabh Bachchan’s close relationship with the Samajwadi Party originally began with a series of high-profile, supposedly apolitical public appearances for promoting Uttar Pradesh as an investment hub, organized by one Amar Singh. At that time, the Big B kept on denying his close relationship with the Samajwadi Party by citing his appearance in Samajwadi party functions as something he was doing simply as a concerned citizen of Uttar Pradesh.
Now of course, Amar Singh has replaced Jaya Bachchan in the typical happy-family car photo and Jaya Bachchan has become a SP-supported Rajya Sabha member.
Coming back to Rahul Dravid, he very well might have been ambushed into attending this function, unaware of the political affiliation of these Suryanamaskaris. Though that cannot be discounted, it is unlikely that our image-conscious stars with professional agencies managing their appearances would speak at a place without being aware of the nature of the platform. If they do, then it would be enormously naive of them in today’s politically surcharged atmosphere.
Of course not that there is anything wrong with Dravid being a RSS sympathizer (if indeed he is one —- this being just a one-of-appearance it would be unfair to label him so quickly). As a private citizen (albeit holding one of the most public jobs in the country) he is entitled to be politically active and if he wants to throw in his cap into the ring of the RSS (as opposed to the more mainstream Congress, BJP or even the CPM), well that should be of nobody’s concern.
In theory.
However in practice even his indirect association (if it continues—which we have no reason as of now to believe will happen), while being the head of a multi-religious sporting team, with a group that can mildly be said to have rather extreme views on the assimilation of all religious identities inside the Hindutva ideal, has the potential of introducing needless complications and divisions into the already heated cricketing cauldron.
The Greatbong Blog & Podcast 
Dear GB, u seem to be hell bent on criticizing Rahul Dravid at every possible opportunity. Cool down yaar, RD has no role in removing Ganguly from captaincy. Also, why being prone to RSS causes any problems ? Why RSS needs to be put in place ? I blame muslims and pseudo-secular socialites and politicians for branding RSS as extremists. RSS is needed for India in today’s time. It is our only answer for Islamic extremist (of course, they have yet to develop that mindless attitude of killing people of other religions).
@Kishor: I hope your ill-omen-time has passed π Because here’s one more bit of information for you: I have no beef with Rahul Dravid because of the SG issue. Try to prevent yourself from seeing subtexts in everything I write unless it helps you with getting loans. [For those readers who do not understand where the “getting loans” came from, kindly refer to the comment thread of my previous post: State of the Papad]
As to the rest of your comment about blaming Muslims and other assorted villains for branding RSSs as extremists…ho hum…heard that so many times before. And oh the answer to Islamist extremism is a bit more nuanced than having another radical party that speaks the same language but of opposite polarity. While I have been no fan of minority appeasement and “understanding/sparing terrorists” and the “blame India for everything” line of thinking championed by many wise men, I have always had a distaste for the extremist Hindu ideology as advocated by the saffron brigade. Yes this has been my stance even before SG lost his captaincy (since that’s the only prism through which you see my posts)
Hi GB, agreed, RSS people contribute their part by always posing with swords in hand and verbal aggression, but as someone said “India has grown in spite of its government”. All these Infosys, Reliance, Wipro, etc. are powered and managed by private people who create thousands of jobs and make India prominent on the world map, but still get harassed by tax people and political parties. No role of govt in this private sector except giving them padmasrees and other BS awards. So, I would like to apply the same idea for internal security also. Islamic fundamentalists are extending their network down into South India and even the interior parts and are associating with Andhra naxalites and Maosts. So, rather depending on our stupid goverment and police for security, why don’t people like RSS associate with Indians and form our own security ?
Kishor – interesting point. How do you think that RSS has helped national security in a way that police and government has not? (Sorry GB for potential hijack)
GB – you are off-mark on big B. His affiliation with Amar Singh was very public in 2004 when he recorded those promote UP campaigns. In fact, it was very public before Mulayam became the CM (after BJP’s reign in Lucknow).
Can’t blame Kishor for pointing out your lack of affection for anyone who is not Saurav Ganguly in the Indian cricket team. This of course should be a non-issue since we are voluntarily reading a demented mind’s random thoughts.
Kishore: Your thoughts on Islamic fundamentalism being responsible for (at least if you stretch your argument) for the internal tensions within the country is superificial at best and has no basis in real quantifiable facts.
The saffron brigade has been as much responsible for a lot of ills that plague todays India, especially with ‘moral policing’ being the garb used to protect ‘our culture’ and ‘identity’.
Also by mentioning only the major Pvt Sector industries you are ignoring the contributions of all those major and minor PSU’s that have done very well within its sector and done more in tangible sense to develop the country than the likes of Infosys and Wipros.
Lastly…Dravid was complicit in sacking Ganguly from the team, by silence and not saying a word during the imbroglio. Rememeber, how Dravuid was drafted into the team as a wicket keeper, when he had no other way to be in the team and how Ganguly sppke for him.
And it becomes easy for people like you to blame the government and its politicians, remember that the government was elected by you. What have you done Kishore, to find some answers to the problems that face our country, except sit in the confines of our air conditioned comforts and rant. Some one said that good people deserve the bad government they get, if the good people dont involve themselves…or something to that effect.
Anyways, sorry for this long rant..which maybe not in line with posting…but felt compelled to write.
Rahul
Rahul, what PSUs u r talking about? I don’t see any PSU which is known internationally for its standards. Yes, i don’t appreciate shiv sainiks harassing people celebrating valentine’s day. But what about police who took TV camera crew to a park and exposed all the couples there and beat up a girl who refused to reveal her face ? One more thing is nobody is thinking what would happen in 10 or 15 years if this islamic fundamentalism is growing like this. India would become another Iraq where there would be daily car bomb blasts and massacre. Only ray of hope is Middle East’s oil reserves will be over in maximum 15 to 20 years and they would not be able to fund terroris as they are now. I repeat it, India has grown in spite of government. And it should take care of its own internal security by taking government not into much conern.
GB,
I like RSS. I also learnt Suryanamaskar as a kid and loved when the young girls in the row before me in the local park yoga club used to do it. Actually this relationship between cricketers and political parties is a symbiotic one. Rahul Dravid attending an RSS party meeting or Saurav being present in CPM gatherings is a quid pro quo arrangement. The party benefits from the celebrity image while the celebrity gets facilities and amenities from the incumbent party. Take Saurav’s case for example. CPM needs a young hero to attract young voters and who better a candidate for that than SG himself. The state government in return gives him great security, has provided him with land for a cricket coaching clinic and a piece of real estate on posh Park Street to build a restaurant. Similarly Rahul, whatever his political inclinations may be can ill afford incurring the wrath of RSS by refusing an invitation.
But I think what you are trying to say is that if RD attends a function organized by say RSS, SIMI or even say a random organization like “Girls who hate wearing panties” headed by Shamita Shetty, the media and the umpteen cricket followers on various bulletin boards on WWW acknowledge this as a normal quid pro quo arrangement. However, Saurav attending a CPM meeting often encourages soundbytes like “Evil meets evil. Evil SG who is responsible for Team India’s each and every loss and the sinister CPM collude….woh sala Ganguly…aur woh sala CPM.” It also provides enough fodder for pseudo liberals who say that the sole reason that India is not progressing at 15% a year is due to the WB govt and also subscribe to the theory that Ganguly is the root of all evil in Indian cricket. Look at Rahul, those people will say, hes such a good boy…he does suryanamaskar facing the sun of Indian cricket (Chappell) each morning.
The funny thing is….if you point this out, people will say that you are doing this as you are anti-Rahul, which is ironic as the leitmotif of this post has to do with anything but Rahul, but similar actions of different individuals provoking starkly different reactions, which in turn is a by-product of malice and propaganda.
If Rahul does not ‘worship’ the sun, who will?
This set of men-in-blue are playing almost 356 days a year (maybe feb 29th is the only holiday allowed by the ICC). This is leading to
1. Monopolization of TV by cricket fanatic of a worse half. Note- have to earn more in order to buy second tv and watch horror shows. But husband says India loses so often that I can watch his kind of a horror show often enough.
2. No Indian cricketer is getting to advertise Fair-and-Lovely. They are way too tanned.
3. As Dravid, Dada, et al have grown so sunned and tanned and resistant to heat strokes, NASA is planning a sun landing using their services. Tha rocket is ready, the launch window is open but I am given to understand that BCCI wants them to play a match there. Unfortunately, no other board is willing to have their players sizzled
Nice find, GB. And thanks for mentioning Ganguly’s bedmates the CPM too. It makes you an equal opportunity accuser, which poor Kishor doesn’t seem to appreciate.
And Kishor, to pick up on Rahul’s point about PSUs, check out last year’s Forbes 1000 list. Of the 33 Indian companies featured in there, 17 are government owned, including ONGC, which tops the Indian contingent – http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1473051.cms.
I totally ‘agree’ with you that letting RSS take over security as a free agent of our aam aadmi will prevent India from becoming another Iraq. Were you the one who whispered strategy to Rumsfield’s ears?
To get back to the original post, I wonder if there is another sinister aspect to Dravid’s partiality to suryanamaskar. Is he another Karan/Karna? Can someone go through statsguru on Wisden & find out if his batting record in day is better than that under lights?
Dear Tipu, still i don’t agree with u. Only what i said is correct.
@Kishor: Looks like your kala nazar still hasn’t gone away. But where are your different avatars? How will the good times return without them?
@Arnab: I agree with your point that as the captain of a team with people from different religions should keep a distance from distance from SIMI or RSS or any organisation which believes in a monolithic society. Especially when the BCCI big man is in the other camp.
But does he have a choice, really? When top level politicos invite you to a function, it takes an exceptionally brave man to take a stand and say no. Something Rahul Dravid has never shown himself to be (during the SG episode).
OK. Few people in the limelight can afford to be brave. How many filmstars dared to say no to attending Dawood’s bashes? Are politicians any less dangerous?
Of course I’ve assumed that Rahul Dravid does not have right wing sympathies. But till we get further evidence, maybe we can give him the benefit of doubt?
Hi Sayon, I am sending this message from the same IP as that of Kishor, but i am not Kishor. I would like to tell u the truth. Kishor is a genius. U all follow him.
@Gnan: Wishing you freedom from kala nazar as well. Of course we know you are not Kishor, without the E, as in Thomson, but the kala nazar freedom wish can come in handy for anyone, what?
@Arnab: This is one of the many reasons I just love visiting your blog! In the meantime, onward HR 300!
I hate “moral policing” from the bottom of my heart. I JUST ABHOR IT( I have lived in eastern UP and I know how UGLY it can become).
But inspite of that I find BJP-RSS combo a lesser evil. First let me point out,in India no government machinery is devoid of moral policing. I have lived in four different states in four parts of India ( WB, UP, HP and Mumbai) where the police under the control of 6 different parties in different point of times, and moral policing was evident by the police/ general population ( under the garb of some local club or any other thing) in each of those states. If Pramod Navalkar (SS)/ RR Patil (NCP) declared moral policing officiallly, CPM has also been very liberal in controlling “Oposonskriti”. About UP under Samajwadi Party, less said is better.
So, with all those info and the casteist/secular politics being played by the politicians, I do think BJP is lesser evil than the others.
Now for tipu and Rahul: PSUs??? Are you kidding me? You are giving example of ONGC…lolzz.. what they are dealing with..in Oils and Gases…and when they started? when no pvt player was allowed in petrolium resources in India…any company dealing with petrolium and seating with SOOOOO MUUUCH of gas reserves would do that….they started in a govt-enforced monopoly mkt…for their product to sell they dont even need to advertise ( yeah, yeah, i know right now things are a bit changing)… forget about sustaining in a competitive market.
For every ONGC/SBI/SAIL, I will show you Coal India Limited, National Textile Corporation, Scores of PSU banks,Bridge and Roof, Jessops, MMC…list just goes on
Hmm, don’t forget that RSS is part of Dravid’s heritage. As my RSS-sympathising friend said, “He is a nice Maharashtrian boy who will lead India to the World Cup.” The fact is that his wife is from Nagpur, the bastion of RSS and right wing extremism in India. She must have influenced Dravid to attend the ceremony and Dravid being Dravid, he preferred doing that to a domestic dispute! π
And before people point out that he is not Maharashtrian but Kannadiga, let me clarify that his family considers itself Maharashtrian, being from the disputed border, and that they speak Marathi at home. How do I know? I used to teach his brother Vijay once upon a time.
The suryanamaskar and other appeasement strategies of the Gods might actually be a good idea, since the sun seems to be setting on his captaincy, with Sachin waiting to take over post World Cup. Unless, of course, we win it.
Hmmm, since everyone seems to think here that RD was somehow responsible for SG’s departure and he should have ‘spoken out’ or something like that otherwise he is also part of the ”conspiracy’, lets’s examine SG’s role in Nayan Mongia’s departure. Remember him? Th guy was dropped one fine day and never taken back-no explanations were ever given. And what was SG’s role?
http://www.hinduonnet.com/2001/10/25/stories/07250282.htm
Sorry, the quote I wanted to give was somehow missed. From the link I gave above.
”Well, Mongia may now be thinking on those lines as the National selectors once again ignored his valid claim. He might as well put away his kit bag and throw his keeping gloves into the attic.
The message from the selectors is loud and clear: Nayan Mongia may be the best wicketkeeper in the country but there is no place for him in the Indian team.
Why is there no place for Mongia? Because the selectors have to promote a young Deep Das Gupta and find a place for veteran Samir Dighe, who, everyone agrees, is not the best wicketkeeper in the country.
Why is the selection committee unwilling to come out with the truth in Mongia’s case? Is there a directive from the top boss in the Board not to pick Mongia? Is the team as a whole uncomfortable with the thought of Mongia in the dressing room? Does the captain have the authority to decide the fate of a cricketer according to his likes and dislikes?
“No one has told me anything. I’ve asked the captain and the selectors but none is willing to tell me what really is my fault,” said a shattered Mongia.
To find the truth for himself, Mongia had reportedly travelled to Bangalore where the probables were attending a camp before the tour of Zimbabwe. The skipper was not willing to give Mongia an audience. Mongia had, in fact, informed one of the selectors about his visit in advance. But nothing came out of the attempt even though Mongia remained optimistic of his return to international cricket. He had gone out of the team on account of injury, and not form, when he was ruled out on the morning of the Test against Australia in Chennai.
That Ganguly was not in favour of Mongia was well established when he refused to meet him in Bangalore.”
Shan and Confused, thanks to u. My subconscious has been saying that i am not wrong.
Oh sorry, Thanks actually for dodo and confused. Shan, plz give back my thanks. Dodo, sorry for getting confused and mentioned shan and confused. I really thank dodo for providing vital info.
@Kishor: Interesting idea. Private citizen armies doling out justice on the streets. Total anarchy. The state has withered away. Do you think we are even close to that ?
@Manu: Again the prism of looking at my Bengali-ness for each and everything (talk about parochialism). Sigh. As regards to Amar Singh, I dont see what point you are trying to make. Yes he has been an AB “family friend” and opinion is divided between whether the B’s turned to him after being rebuffed by the Gandhis or whether the Gandhis became enemies after the B’s association with Amar Singh. In any case, AB kept denying any links with SP through his friendship and through his apperance on SP platforms. Its only now that he has kind of stopped denying his SP affiliation….perhaps because wife is an SP nominee for Rajya Sabha. I fail to see where I am “off mark” here.
@Yourfan2: My point is this.
A is a known CPM supporter. A is also captain of Indian cricket team. Player B loses his place in the side under unclear circumstances. The chance of there being a whisper campaign that he was dropped because he did not read Das Kapital is slender.
A is a known RSS supporter. A is also captain of Indian cricket team. Player B, a Muslim, loses his place in the side under unclear circumstances. The chance of there being a whisper campaign that he was dropped because of his religion is more than slender.
The thing is that there are enough suggestions of linguistic differences in the team and Bengal Bombay Bangalore lobbies. Do we really need another axis of dischord?
@Swati: Yuvi is fair and lovely. No?
@Tipu: Yes not many people seem to see the equal opportunities thing. Thanks
@Sayon: I would like to draw a distinction between Dawood/Shiv Sena and the RSS. The RSS, despite its many faults, is not an organization that is known to make phone-calls with an “or-else” rider —-if they were then a lot more people would be forced to be on the RSS platform. I doubt if this was Dravid attending out of fear.
@Gnan/Kishor: Yes you are a genius. Only what you said is correct. And please in the future, when you try to be two different persons from the same machine, try to avoid the auto-fill of the email. You see both Gnan and Kishor gave the same email address….
@Dodo: Ahem far from topic arent we? But yes I agree with your contention that the majority of the PSUs have proven to be emm dodos.
@Shan: “And before people point out that he is not Maharashtrian but Kannadiga, let me clarify that his family considers itself Maharashtrian, being from the disputed border, and that they speak Marathi at home. How do I know? I used to teach his brother Vijay once upon a time.”
Sensational bit of information. Imagine how much parochial Bengalis like me would be stunned to find out that Dada considers himself to be a non-Bengali and speaks Hindi at home.
@Confused: Surprising how every discussion on cricket and politics ends up in a “Ganguly is evil” comment. I do not know if you are aware of the “match fixing” antecedents of the great Nayan Mongia and his infamous slog-over crawl with Prabhakar, a shameful 10 overs of Indian cricketing history when the batsman at the crease acted as brokers of the bookies. Along with Nikhil Chopra, Nayan Mongia had come out of the betting scandal with a huge question mark over their loyalties and even though he played, he was always a marked man. And I do not blame Dada for not wanting to associate with a match-fixer (yes not proven but common knowledge) and for not wanting him back into the dressing room.
Of course we all know how unbiasedl the Hindu is But FYI would like to add that Dada preferred Patel over Dasgupta, never forwarded the claims of Laxmi Ratan Sukla or Ranadeb Bose. Though I understand it wont change anyone’s impression how fair and unparochial Dada is, by and large.
Again the topic of discussion was hardly this but celebrity endorsements of political parties.
“A is a known RSS supporter. A is also captain of Indian cricket team. Player B, a Muslim, loses his place in the side under unclear circumstances. The chance of there being a whisper campaign that he was dropped because of his religion is more than slender.”
And the thought of C being a blogger who I thought is immune to such baseless whisper campaigns is a blunder.
GreatBong,
I have never made the point that Ganguly is evil-not at all. Second, I have held, not only on this blog but also on mine that Ganguly should be remembered for being perhaps the most non-parochial captain India ever had. Just to clarify things, I wasn’t accusing Ganguly of promoting Das Gupta because of parochial considerations.
Now let’s come to the main issue: I remember very well the match you are talking about: however when did that happen? The allegations against Mongia were just that-allegations. Even if we accept that such people should be kept out of the team; shouldn’t Ganguly have at least met the man and told him so? By no means, such a meeting with a former teammate with whom he was playing just a week back could be construed as an association.
Finally, I am not blaming Ganguly for Mongia’;s exclusion: I was merely pointing out that guilty by silence charges have their own limits which should be appreciated in the case of Rahul Dravid too.
@OS: Whether a single person (say C or D) is immune to such baseless whisper campaigns isnt really relevant to the point…is it? Its what the common perception may be that is. The thing is: do we really need another axis of division that so long mercifully has not existed? I also did not understand where I said I would be part of a whisper campaign . Consequently, I take offense to your insinuation targetted at me.
@Confused: Ahem. Why should Sourav meet Mongia? Proceedurally, it is the selectors who select the team—if Mongia felt he deserved answers then the “process” says he should approach the selectors. Now of course there may be a personal equation between the dropped player and the captain for which the dropped player may expect an explanation for the captain. In this case, Sourav refused to have any personal equation with Mongia (a well-known match fixer) and that is his prerogative. In other words, Sourav was not duty-bound as captain to talk to Mongia in any way. Mind you, the Dravid-guilty-by-association angle is not something that is remotely relevant to the post.
@OS: Pardon my stupidity, but where did you find Arnab falling victim to a whisper campaign? My limited knowledge of English makes me think that what was said was that Rahul Dravid would make himself a more vulnerable target to such a whisper campaign by associating himself with the RSS. Which the captain of the Indian team could well avoid.
@Arnab: Well, the RSS may not be prone to such tactics, but there are some people among the right wing parties who would (Same as in many other political parties). I would hardly trust any political party to be more restrained than, say, Dawood.
Say, if Dravid snubbed the RSS. A Shiv Sena member hears this when meeting his RSS buddy, and the word goes to the cadres to help persuade Rahul Dravid… and so on.
Of course, Shan could be correct and Rahul (or his better half) may be a RSS sympathiser in the first place… In which case, my apologies to RD, in insinuating that he went because he was scared…
@GB -like we have footballnath, cant we have cricketeshwar who will guide our cricketers to the promised land (West Indies ), cutting across oceans ( Indan and Atlantic) and deliver the golden cup also his/her commandment will include “Captain and Ex Captains should love each other”; “Thou shall not attend RSS/CPM gatherings”; “Coach shall not show his middle finger in a explicit way” etc….
”Hmm, donΓ’β¬β’t forget that RSS is part of DravidΓ’β¬β’s heritage. As my RSS-sympathising friend said, Γ’β¬ΕHe is a nice Maharashtrian boy who will lead India to the World Cup.Γ’β¬Β The fact is that his wife is from Nagpur, the bastion of RSS and right wing extremism in India. She must have influenced Dravid to attend the ceremony and Dravid being Dravid, he preferred doing that to a domestic dispute! :)”
Shan, Are you a Communist? I mean like Lenin/Marx worshipping?
Accusing South Indians of anythig is wrong. Because south india only can provide solutions to India’s problems. Who gave India the much needed IT break ? Karnataka and Andhra. So many North INdians ruled India, but it is only South Indian P.V. Narasimhar Rao who liberated Indian economy and is the sole reason for millions of jobs that have been created. Who stopped Australia’s winning streak and brought back India into match from follow-on ? VVS Laxman ? So, we better stop bashing Dravid and give our full support to him. Only he can bring World cup to India.
Kishor,
That is a preposterous argument. As wrong as blaming South India for India’s ills. Can w get over these parochial considerations or is that something which your astrologer has advised you against too?
@Kishor: Wow! Your intellect is so illuminating that I’ve had to start wearing shades while reading your comments! So, because of PV Narasimha Rao’s pragmatism, VVS laxman’s brilliant knock and Bangalore’s IT industry, all South Indians get the equivalent of a papal infallibility decree?
Hell, man, we shouldn’t have shot down Veerappan – he was a South Indian. We shouldn’t criticise Abdul Karim Telgi – he was South Indian (born in Belgaum). You cannot even criticise the CPI(M) Kerala leaders, because, even though they are Communist (your bugbear), they are after all, South Indians!
I’ve heard several stupid defences of Rahul Dravid, but this takes the cake. The man deserves better support for all the great matches he’s played for India.
@Kishor: Brilliant ! You forgot 2 more relevant South Indians:
1. Harbhajan Singh who took all those wickets in 2001.
2. Manmohan Singh who actually took the steps that led to India’s economic liberation.
Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar are also South Indians. Actually geographically Maharashtra comes into South India only. But those Marathi buggers prefer it to be associated with North India.
@Kishor:
“But those Marathi buggers prefer it to be associated with North India. ”
Tell that to Bal Thackeray! π
Actually, I’d have put Maharashtra in West-India, along with Rajastan and Gujarat.
But please solve your loan related problems quickly – it hurts to see such blatant insults to any community.
Sorry if I hurt anybody, but bugger is a common word and hope Bal Thackery won’t take any insult in it, otherwise my kala nazar will be the aakhri nazar. But u observe this fact, this Maharashtra shares border with Andhra. So, it shud be taken as South India.
Shan: “And before people point out that he is not Maharashtrian but Kannadiga, let me clarify that his family considers itself Maharashtrian, being from the disputed border, and that they speak Marathi at home.”
His family is not from the disputed border area, but his mother is a Maharashtrian from Indore and that’s where Rahul was born. And ofcourse his wife is a Marathi from Nagpur. I don’t know if they speak Marathi at home but he is not very fluent in Kannada for sure. But then, that’s true of most Bangalore-bred kids, whether kannadigas or not, especially from those up-market areas like Indiranagar, Koramangala etc.
Kishor,
Jammu and Kashmir shares border with Pakistan. So?
Γ’β¬ΕBut those Marathi buggers prefer it to be associated with North India. Γ’β¬Β
IP Address kay re tujha.. BenJoe apne peeche kayko lagtay. Stick to topic na.
lol
“However in practice even his indirect association (if it continuesΓ’β¬βwhich we have no reason as of now to believe will happen), while being the head of a multi-religious sporting team, with a group that can mildly be said to have rather extreme views on the assimilation of all religious identities inside the Hindutva ideal, has the potential of introducing needless complications and divisions into the already heated cricketing cauldron.”
Indian cricket has remained without much religious bias till now. Apart from Azhar’s remarks in public that he might not have been selected because he was muslim (which was cringeworthy), we have not had religious under tones in cricket since the Pentangular was abolished decades ago (the Pentangular of course had it’s benefits and so I am not making a statement on the Pentangular itself here).
Cricket of course has had so much political under tone. We have Sharad Pawar and we have all political parties having or at least wanting to have their fingers deep in the cricket pie. Wherever money comes in, people who would not have entered would enter the sport. Players have a life beyond cricket too as the sporting career is short and so they will want to esnure their secure a position with the men who matter when they can as well. Of course this cannot be true in all cases but the possibilities of it cannot be denied and isn’t some thing extra ordinary.
In all this, sport suffers. The danger of religion coming into the equation can be a natural following with more MSM politics in cricket. It hasn’t till now because the cricket watching public can see results instantly in the forms of wins and losses and the sporting field can leave a sportsman not worth his salt terribly bare. But the possibility of some radical saying all Indian players in the XI should only be hindus because he would get mileage from it is real and concerning.
@Confused
I laughed long and loud at your question. Actually even though my political affiliations are not germane to the discussion, let me clarify that I am definitely not a Marxist sympathizer. The CPI(M) has caused my family more problems (not political, but practical and economic) than anyone else has so far.
I really don’t have any political affiliations, but I detest all extremist parties, especially religious ones. Does that make me a Marxist automatically? If life binary in nature? No. π
Shan,
Glad you laughed, because I had a good laugh at your previous comment when you concluded that just because Rahul’s wife comes from Nagpur, she must be a RSS sympathizer. And that’s why I asked; since, according to you, regional locations decide one’s political affiliations, I was curious if i would be right if i concluded that just because you are Bong, you are a Communist too.
I have no interest in your political affiliations; I was just making my point. Which hopefully is clear enough to you.
And Shilpa Shetty has been invited to join the BJP
@Confused
You have lived up to your moniker, and confused yourself because my comment was tongue in cheek. I have no clue whether Rahul’s wife is RSS or not. It was an extreme, and therefore, exaggerated extrapolation. But you seem to have taken it rather personally. Are you a Maharashtrian right wing, Govalkar loving, Gandhi hating bigot? π
I hope my tenor and therefore point, is clear to you now.
P.S. – The fact still remains, though, that Rahul Dravid attended an extreme religious right wing organization organized function.
Shan,
Ahem. Well if you claim that it was an exaggerated extrapolation then I would believe so. No, I don’t take it personally, I won’t tell you if I am ‘right wing, Govalkar loving, Gandhi hating bigot’ but I am not Maharashtrian. But curious, but if I was any of those things why would I object to Dravid’s wife being called a RSS sympathizer? Of course, you can also claim that this comment was tongue in cheek.
Aha, since you have already clarified, I won;t ask you if you are Bong left wing, Marx loving, India hating mass murderer. π
HI GB,
i have seen many times your blogs attracting wild accusations and many times comments section taking a unintended direction.
this one certainly TOPs the list.
and seriously i had a great time reading comments rather than your blog (not that ur blog was not interesting) π
sometimes i wonder, this world is full of people with strange thinking and the worst part is that they event don’t give a damn before spitting it out!
good work GB!
Its really Disturbing to see how the Mud Slinging never seems to stop. HowGraves are dug and ghosts are explored out of cupboards….
@ all those who glorify ‘Nayan Mongia’ as one of our selectors.
I am sure experience at actually playing World Class cricket at World Class standards is as relevant (to be the selector of a World Class Team) as Chewing Bubble gum to solve difficult Algebric Equations.
Why otherwise would we be proud of the compromise inlcusion in our team for quite a few years now being the selector of our team. (In case you are lost .. recall the compromise between A Wicket Keeper Specialist Vs. A Wicket-Keeper Batsman Combo Pack).
Nayan Mongia was at best a compromise candidate, always!
Moreover, Deep Dasgupta was brought in due to the ‘BONG’ connection. Are the folks who drew him in even aware for which state he used to play? What about Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, … the list goes on. In case you want to evaluate the performance of anyone please take off your colored Glasses (Green, brown, black, crimson … and what not) so as to atleast pretend to do an unbiased analysis. Otherwise..please don’t even bother!
Ganguly, with all his ‘Zillions of Defeciencies’ (as some people would have you believe!) was probably the only Captain (Other than Kapil Dev) who built ‘Team India’ and in doing so won immense respect of all his subordiates & competitors alike. He had the uncanny ability to bolster the confidence of any of his junies who just took a beating or who was facing public ire.
Talk of Team Building, Leadership, Motivation … He had it all. He was a Quintessence of a Leader. Rahul on the other hand is a ‘Manager’. You can understand the difference either by doing an MBA or a course on leadership or you may pick up some books to read and find the difference. Unfortunately enough, there are no shortcuts.
Cheetos,
Did you address the comment to me? Please clarify, so I can respond.
As a Γ’β¬Λright wing, Govalkar loving, ambiguous on Gandhi bigotΓ’β¬β’ I am happy Rahul Dravid attended RSS meeting.
RSS might be sob, but atleast they are Indians, as opposed to grovelling bunch of dhimmis which our socialist/communist creed breeds.
Hi.
As you can see on my blog, I have been a swayamsewak (a person who attends shakha of RSS). I totally agree with everyone that Hindu extremists have taken our country no where. Being moral police is the last thing you want in a free country. That does not make the RSS bad.
RSS is suffering the Congress like disease. It was formed for a different purpose and its ideology is being hijacked by some people who “claim” they understand it. Isn’t it same with Congress? Is INC running on the same principals that Gandhiji founded it for? I am not justifying Godhra, Gujrat Riots or anything. But RSS is a solution to some bigger problems, which could be solved probably by a good educational and social system.
Coming to RD & SG. I think we are solving the wrong problem. Is RD or SG wrong in supporting an ideology they find closest to their’s? Or are the rumour mongers wrong in linking their personal values/beliefs with their professional life? Yes there will be controversies. Because there are people who like controversies. They will make fuss about someone kissing, pissing, missing …anything. If India is to be a country with personal freedom, people need to stop bothering and respect other people’s culture, religion and/or personal life.
Thought leaders like GB could play a major role in this new era of a free India.
GB – ero kom kikore bolte paro? Prism of bengaliness don’t come into it. You could be a Chilean barmaid or a Congolese militia leader for all I know. The prism I and most others will use is the prism that we have gained from reading your blog. This is not parochial. It is the most obvious way of looking at things. OTOH, your bringing the state of bengal in this mess has a ‘chor ki daadhi mein tinka’ element to it.
WRT Amar Singh/AB baby – they have been thick buddies openly and publicly for a long time. Well before, 2004. You implied that there was a slow revelation of their relationship / closeness, where there was none. That was my beef w/ your post.
Why does every blog with the mention of any cricketer even once turn into an ugly North India vs South India or Bengal vs Mumbai or some part of India vs Some part of India Bashing fest.
I agree that as long as SG is playing and GB shows even a hint of supporting him this will happen but please…I think GB has made it clear that the post had nothing to do with SG…so please no more regional crap…
@GB: Deny it you may..but there is a tinge of anti-Dravid arguments in the post….that will always be …that is probably what makes it interesting…
@nemo, lets take Kishor in a ‘kopchi’ and remove all his Kala Nazar. Gheyun Tak π
@GB, great post as usual. Its very thought provoking. This is not only true of RD / SG but any leader in the public domain. If you openly show your association with certain groups / ideologies, then you make it open for your detractors to attack you with that angle.
@Confused, just to caution you, Shan is “Street Hawk” with a LML Scooty…….take care and run for cover π
@Laukik: In an ideal world, it doesn’t matter a damn whether SG or RD support RSS, CPI(M) or National-Party-for Legalization-of-Necrophilia. In an ideal world, India would beat all other teams, and its cricketers would be one big happy family.
Unfortunately, we live in a world where Indian cricketers have ego issues with each other, support their favourite team-mates, and make subtle gestures which make the powers that be happy with them. We also live in a world where the Indian team loses matches fairly often, which gives rise to criticism of the selectors and captains.
In such an environment, it would have been wise of Rahul Dravid to avoid giving more opportunities to detractors to criticise him in the event (say) a Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan or Kaif is dropped (for whatever legitimate reasons) in favour of Hindu players.
A small article I read on Cricinfo today….not the most appropriate forum to post it on, but still related to everything cricket.
Taken from : http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/columns/content/story/278903.html
—
I once read that a batsman was given out in Australia after the ball hit a bird mid-pitch. Do you know when this was? asked Hang Zhang from Australia
I think the incident you’re referring to occurred in a Sheffield Shield match between South Australia and Western Australia at Adelaide in 1969-70. WA’s John Inverarity was facing the bowling of Greg Chappell when he was bemused to be bowled by a ball which changed direction alarmingly in mid-air. “Invers” walked off, with a duck to his name, then found a different kind of bird has been responsible: the fielders discovered the body of a swallow behind the wicket, stone-dead after being hit by the ball. The umpires called dead ball, and Inverarity was recalled to the crease, and made 89.
π
OK…may be I am still living in a fantasy land or probably dreaming that India will soon be one.
I simply think that its high time we talk about people’s performance (or the lack of it) as a cause for ‘matches lost fairly often’ rather than talking about things that don’t win or lose a cricket game. We could talk gaps in strategy, selection criteria, physical strength, technique or anything that can have a major impact on a game. ( I don’t deny religion will not remotely impact game..it probably will…but not worth talking about. For that matter even a ill fitting undergarment will in some way remotely impact the game…oops i think thats the topic of GB’s next post? π ).
Just a passing thought…Cricket is supposed to the “religion” that binds this great nation together…I am too stupid to see the obvious gelling here I guess.
GB you are a wicked man and for all the souls you kill with laughter you will surely rot in hell. That was one hell of a write up mate.
Living in Britain these past few weeks has become intolerable with the squeaky voice of Shilpa Shetty giving me nightmares. Well Ive always thot Dravid was in that league ( never mind he is a classy batsman and she is a trashy actress) – slightly superficial, emotionally detached and awfully dangerous- well thats my bit and then the mitigating factor is both are good looking and both have gorgeous / sexy lips !!?
GB, but look at the brighter side – he will probably be ultra-aggressive when playing against Pakistan (people used to complain that Azhar is too friendly with Pakistani players, that’s why we don’t win against them etc).
But seriously, it is disturbing. Not because of team unity etc reasons, I wouldn’t worry about it. If bcci thinks it is a serious issue, they will remove him from captaincy. But just that a nice, educated, successful, city boy like him should be an RSS sympathiser (if he is indeed one) is scary.
I love this place….
Your post was a gem….
Its like “sone pe suhaga” while reading the comments….
Still… laughing like Boycott after shilpa’s win @ BigBrother…
Thanks a lot for this…
Tarzan
Mohan wrote: But just that a nice, educated, successful, city boy like him should be an RSS sympathiser (if he is indeed one) is scary
@Mohan: Have been watching this discussion with curiosity.
Find your remark (mentioned above) very interesting.
You will be surprised how any “nice”, “educated”, “success-fool” people are RSS sympathizers.
Once a “educated”, “nice”, “successful” Muslim friend of mine narrated to me how his opinion about RSS changed from that of an organization of khaki wearing, lathi wielding, bloody eyed hatemongers (a Swadeshi version of the schutzstaffel (NAZI SS), as potrayed by the media.
He was my classmate and used to live in Old Bhopal and he experienced first hand the days after the Union Carbide Gas disaster in the winter of 1984.
For the next one month, when the entire city was rotting with corpses, RSS volunteers in their khakis were working night and day to give every survivor and every dead the respect they deserved. Although more than half of the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy were Muslims, the RSS volunteers made sure that every HUMAN was given the best that could be given.
Many RSS volunteers lost their lives from Cholera and dysentry.
That was my Muslim classmates experience.
try visiting a orphanage for terror victims in Jammu.
try visiting a Tsunami relief camp in Port Blair…or cyclone victims in Orissa.
try asking a retired Indian soldier, what RSS for the army during the 1948 and 1962 wars…
But then again you may be right…why would a nice, educated, successful, city boy want to know about these…
@rishi: yes, have heard a lot about the good things RSS does. one of my close friend’s dad was a shakha pramukh in Bangalore and he is one of the nicest men I have met. But still, I don’t agree with their ideology and it continues to disturb me if young people continue to join their ranks.
Mohan…true. Its every individuals choice to agree or disagree… and an idealism as propounded by the RSS will certainly find its detractors. I was just trying to put forth another side of the RSS, which only victims of calamities and terror get to see and is conveniently overlooked by the media.
I know that I have stirred a hornets nest by bringing forth that view.
Personally my view of the RSS changed when I read about the impossible (and ofcourse suicidal) endevour of their unarmed volunteers on the seige of Poonch and Rajouri in the winter of 1948, in stalling the eminent fall of the chicken’s neck between Kashmir and Punjab in Northern India. Unfortunately, like Subhash Bose’s flag raising at Port Blair or Midnapur’s rebellion against British rule, some incidents in history just get lost in translation.
@Rishi: There’s a disturbing aspect of RSS’s good work. A read of how the fascists In Italy rose to power (A phenomenon discussed by Gramsci), will tell how the fascists started gaining public support by doing social work, slowly consolidating their support base and then after their support base had gained a critical mass, revealing their true colours.
Of course we all know that the rabid right does hold the Italian fascists as role models, but closer at home, the Communists in Bengal gained power in the villages the same way. Even the fundamentalist groups in Pakistan gained a large support base for their social work in the aftermaths of the Kashmir quake.
Gramsci believed that in a civil society, it was no longer possible to gain power through a revolution (In this way he differed significantly from his Russian comrades). He thought that the only way to come to power was by the road adopted by the fascists – win the hearts of those they helped and once a critical mass was obtained, convince a willing support base into supporting their political agenda. This was the roadmap he advocated for Italian Communists.
So when a group of people, with a political view I distrust, begins to help people in distress, I get a bit cynical. I can admire the charity work of non-political organisations like the Arya Samaj, or the Ramkrishna Mission, primarily because I do not worry about their long-term intensions. The RSS I cannot.
Incidentally, if you don’t wish to go through Gramsci’s works (only a part of his Prison Notebooks have been translated into English), you could do as I did – read Eijaz Ahmed’s extremely lucid Reading Gramsci in the Days of Hindutva. Even if you do not subscribe to his views, you would find it quite fascinating.
@Sayon
Thanks for telling me about – Eijaz AhmedΓ’β¬β’s Reading Gramsci in the Days of Hindutva. I will certainly try to read it.
If you get the opportunity, please read
The Brotherhood in Saffron: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Hindu Revivalism
It is authored by Walter K. Andersen and Shridhar D. Damle.
I would also urge you to read
Memorial of Mistakes: Converted Kashmir by Narender Sehgal
http://www.kashmir-information.com/ConvertedKashmir/index.html
It might be a little “bourgeois” for your liking going by your posts in this blog.
so long
@Rishi
I agree about the RSS’ charity. The Lashkar-e-Tayyaba did the same thing after the earthquake in Kashmir, both in the Indian and Pakistani areas. And that at a time when the government was struggling to even get to the affected places. They saved a lot of lives, gave succour to many, and gained a lot of gratitude and affection of the common people.
Similarly the Northeastern insurgents provide food and shelter to many poor people in the Churachandpur area of Manipur, where the government is non-existent, as do the Naxals in AP and the NSCN (I-V) in Nagaland.
Should our views about these organizations change just because they do charity work also?
The fact is that these are done with an agenda. I agree with Sayon when he contrasts these acts of charity with those done by non-parochial organizations.
Hope you can see the difference as well.
@Asterix
Did you just demean my erstwhile 150cc Streek Hawk ride by calling it a scooty?!!? It was a full-fledged scooter. Now I will have to hunt you down and take my revenge!
@ Sayon:
Thanks for the reference you gave me. I will certainly try to read them.
If you get a chance do read
The Brotherhood in Saffron: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Hindu Revivalism
It is authored by Walter K. Andersen and Shridhar D. Damle.
@ Shan
I would leave it to you and the readers to decide if RSS is comparable to NSCN or Lashkar-e-taiyyaba.
My point in my previous two posts was to show that RSS work on the ground is not bound by religious discrimination as it is potrayed.
I will not stir a hornet’s nest. Is RSS that bad an organization? True they promote a rabid brand of Hindutva which many people(includeing me) do not like. But does anyone here really think that the activities of RSS are limited to this. They do social sevice(yes real service like running orphnages and schools for poor children) which none of our empowered intellectual brethren do.
Eeeks. Didnt check the previos comments.
@ Sayon
Since you tried to put RSS on one hand and Lashkar e Taiyyaba and Naxals on the other hand in the same basket-
I will tell u a interesting story narrated by a RSS sanghchalak friend from North Bengal.
When he went to a newly started RSS school, he was asked to sit on a “special” chair. He was baffled at the symbolism attached by the local villagers to that chair and could not stop but ask why the chair was so important and why he was asked to sit on it?
He was told something on these lines “This chair was once sat upon by Charu Mazumdar (the great Naxalite patriarch).
He told us to fight for our rights and gave us the gun in our hands.
When you came here, you said the same thing, except that you took the gun away and gave us the Pen”.
The RSS Sanghchalak, who is based in Kolkata, was astonished at the idealism of the poor villages. Ofcourse he was overjoyed to feel the honest admiration of the villagers and his eyes light up every time he narrates the story to me and my friends.
Did Lashkar support any Non Muslim earthquake victim (on either side of the border) in Kashmir?
Does NSCN feed any tribal in North East without getting an assurance that they would not celebrate Durga Puja.
In contrast,
Did RSS need to go out respectfully bury the rotting Muslim dead at the Charkhi Daadri plane disaster (the plane was full fo Hajj pilgrims)
RSS volunteers died by the dozens to save Muslims, Christians and Hindus alike in the Bhopal Gas tragedy.
I wish the educated intellectuals of India were a bit more educated.
sorry Sayon..the previous response was for Shan…MY BAD
GB if you dont take any action I would imagine that this would be the plight of all your write ups. The detractions in the commentary following the main peice is all the more troubling beacuse the main piece itself is sparkling and then what follows tends to meander into sentimental rot.
Now take this peice- you start off with a brilliant and wicked assault on what everyone sees as the epitome of middle class secular values- Mr RD and then his silly perorations on something he barely understands- the classic case of the celebrity trying to be the authority- almost like Jade Goody taliking of courtesy – satire almost worthy of a James Thurber and then – oh gosh and then, what ensues 30 or so comments later is sentimental crap about how good the RSS are- how their heart bleeds in the face of all kinds of pain and suffering – frankly who gives a fuck about the RSS at all.
Pity if you didnt do something GB, for all humour is worth saving from these bloody sentimantalists- as the great man himself said- Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit – please keep it that way.
@Kishore : priceless! Γ’β¬ΕBut those Marathi buggers prefer it to be associated with North India. Γ’β¬Β
@greatbong : you have to admit that Kishore stole your thunder this time. I couldn’t stop laughing in my cube. Even my boss scowling at me wouldnt stop it!
@ Sashi
alas the damage has been done…Sorry didnt mean to be a spoilsport…continue with your “reasoned fun”….while I find some other place to sings odes to the RSS.
Aaah well yes. We have again gone into the “Is RSS good or bad?” discussion. Sure RSS has a sterling record of social work for all .At the same time, it is also true that many of RSS’s political ideals are extreme and divisive. BTW RSS workers should be distinguished from the cadres of the Lashkar who not just dole out aid to only Muslims, but do so only in areas (Kashmir) where they feel it can be used as a political instrument to curry favour with the population.
However the point of the post was not that. It was simply whether it is worth fishing in the troubled waters of fringe organizations for a national figure in charge of an entity, that has way too many controversies and groups as is.
And as for Kishor and his assorted personalities, yes he(they) keep(s) on stealing my thunder. Sigh !
thanks GB
— “Accusing South Indians of anythig is wrong. Because south india only can provide solutions to IndiaΓ’β¬β’s problems. Who gave India the much needed IT break ? Karnataka and Andhra. So many North INdians ruled India, but it is only South Indian P.V. Narasimhar Rao who liberated Indian economy and is the sole reason for millions of jobs that have been created. Who stopped AustraliaΓ’β¬β’s winning streak and brought back India into match from follow-on ? VVS Laxman ? So, we better stop bashing Dravid and give our full support to him. Only he can bring World cup to India.”
“But those Marathi buggers prefer it to be associated with North India.” —
Wow. In the dark recesses of my mind, I knew I made the right decision when I migrated from Pune to Bangalore and started eating idli-sambar everyday. @kishor, buddy, you are simple awesome ! Such clarity in thoughts and such a simple solution to all problems.
Even funnier is everybody else trying to argue with Kishor. Sorry GB, I know I might get banned from commenting on your blog (not that I have given any noteworthy contributions), but I have to say this – “Do not wrestle with a pig. You get muddy and the pig likes it”.
@GB .. Are you pretending to be Kishor so that “we, the people” can get more laughs. If not, I repeat my request again – please dedicate a blog to Kishor. The man is priceless.
Another request from me .. since you can see “Kishor”s IP address (and the person keeps on changing names), please highlight his comments with a special colour.
All I want to read is your blog and his comments first – after having satisfied my laughter pangs, I can read the rest.
“It was simply whether it is worth fishing in the troubled waters of fringe organizations for a national figure in charge of an entity, that has way too many controversies and groups as is.”
But that is for the national figure in question to decide, isn’t it?
@ Turrtle… that would be howlarious….
pls do that GB… Pls bless us poor, mindless souls with some Kishore highlights so we can see the light in the darkness of this miserable world…
Tarzan
@GB:
You haven’t stated your opinion explicitly on whether Dravid (or for that matter any player) should hide his political/religious affiliations (if any) because it has the potential to cause ‘needless complications’. What in your opinion should he do if he actually has such affiliations?
Especially if it’s just idle gossip in the media and the player knows he hasn’t shown any partiality, why should he have to keep tabs on his beliefs?
My apologies, if I am repeating a question that was asked earlier…didn’t go through all the comments…
GB, how did I miss this blog for last few days. This is another great post, your thought process is really really excellant. How should I say, you just added a pinch of “RSS salt” in to “Rahul Dravid Masala” and made it so hot and spicy. Keep up the good work and please write a blog on Kishore, with color coding or whatever ;-).
@Raishi: Superb points Rishi and I completely agree with you.
“I wish the educated intellectuals of India were a bit more educated.”
“I would leave it to you and the readers to decide if RSS is comparable to NSCN or Lashkar-e-taiyyaba.”
Exactly mate. The traits of a modern educated intellectual of India is to make a vituperative attack on RSS, keep bashing Modi and Thackery from time to time and just keep fucking mum on Islamic extremism and Islamic religious groups or terrorist groups like LeT to the point of even straying the focus away from the act of atrocity. A classic example of such a faux and shallow intellectualism:
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/amit_varma/2006/07/the_significance_of_the_mumbai.html
I pity u poor Indians. U people are calling Kishor a pig. I know people, torutured geniuses like Christ and Aristotle. Kishor falls into same category. Pity on India and Indians. (I am not Kishor, IP address is same just by chance).
Dear Richie, plz forgive us Indians. Our Indians have grown up on twin brother moviies and believe them and make them huge hits, but would never believe that there can be identical IP addresses existing. Such a pity on us. (I am also not Kishor, IP address is same by chance).
Hi, this is a cerified letter from NASA. We used our most modern and sophisticated technology and found out that Maharashtra falls into South India. Kishor is correct. Dear GB, don’t bother about this IP address, we traced KIshor’s IP address by using satellite technology and using his IP in this message so that our IP won’t be revealed.
@ Bengali Boy
thanks for your response…appreciate that.
I knew I would run into rough weather with many people for trying to bring out a positive vignette of RSS.
For someone who reads and writes English (with its fair share of errors), to openly admit to supporting certain aspects of RSS is almost unheard of π
Fortunately, I have had the opportunity of looking at the RSS across the cross section, from having dinner with SarSanghachalak Sri Sudarshanji to sharing the bahgwa Dhwaj with the potbellied khakhi clad swayamsevak at the mohallah shakha.
I ended up running my polished bamboo Panzerfaust, up Shashi ji’s wrong end I guess. After his fiery “who gives a fuck about RSS” response though, I decided to carry my knickered back in a goosestep down Fuhrer alley.
On a serious note, GB deserves kudos for being a fair and balanced blogowner with a almost perfect sense of timing, not to mention his much appreciated sense of humor.
GB tomar opore shroddha aaro bere gelo.
@kishor- you got serious problems, my man. See a shrink ASAP.
I am not able to understand why a blogger like GB should write about such a non-issue.
Even when he was our prime minister, Vajpayee attended RSS guru seva meeting. What big deal if Rahul attends a fitness camp? If vajapayee could lead the whole country, why will Rahul become unfit for cricket team captaincy?
will SG become an atheist by his association with CPI(M) and there by hate all religious team mates?
GB, Not commenting on this issue. If Rahul indeed is displaying his hidden preference for a Hindutva State by appearing in RSS functions, I agree that it doesnt augur well for Indian Cricket as long as he is captain. We might read new messages into Kaif’s omission now – and the singling out of Irfan Pathan for ‘gaining Ranji practice’ from the SA tour. At that point, Wasim Jaffer, and even Sehwag seemed better candidates for that Ranji apprenticeship – but then, ofcourse, Jaffer pours wine into Raj Singh’s glasses – i guess it might be difficult to displace him.
However, I find it amazing that for a man of the level of meticulousness with which you research and present your articles, your continuing insistence that “Rahul Dravid DOES (Without an iota of doubt) present special quotes to Cricinfo and the latter scractch Rahul’s back for that reason: – all you have is your own conjecture based on
your interpretations of Cricinfo articles. Somehow, I see a bias towards Saurav here – mind, I am a saurav fan myself and was one of the few in several forums to defend him when he was oput of favour with Indian cricket establishment and a kind-of-anti-Ganguly posts were the norm everywhere.I think Saurav is a better captain than Rahul but on this issue, I believe both are not any different from each other. Like you, I can scour ABP and other Calcuttan newspapers and present evidence that they eat from the hands of ganguly and scratch his back – but that is pointless – if Krish Srikkanth were the manager(God forbid!), The Hindu would do the same, too. It is not unrelated to the demographics of their core readership as you say. But that is immaterial – Rahul is guilty, if, of the same crimes Saurav committed and no doubt, Azhar, Sachin and Sunil did as well. Only person exempt to this is Bishen paaji, because our genial sardar was a loose cannon and was only interested in his views being known – never mind who he says it to.
@Arnab: Yes, I agree – we do need a post on Kishor-babu. But please do not identify his various avatars – it will prevent his kala nazar from getting fooled into going away.
But seriously, the issue of RSS vs the LeT/JeM is not exactly being treated fairly – sure the Let/JeM are far, far, far worse than the RSS, but some strategies they use are similar. Just like the fact that the Italian Fascists and Italian Communists were on opposite ends of the spectrum, but Gramsci advocated using the same tactics as the fascists to gain power.
@Rishi & Bengali Boy: Sorry mates, but disagreeing with the world-view of the RSS does not make us supporters of the left or of Islamic fundamentalists. Read my comment, and you’ll find me labelling the CPI(M) and Pakistani ‘do-gooders’ equally suspect. In fact, the two organisations I have praised are out-and-out Hindu organisations (I do not praise the Christian missionaries, as I am not terribly sure of their intensions; I am not aware of purely philanthropic Muslim organisations either, though I may be wrong). And just as the sterling work done by Christian missionaries (what the hell, I studied in a Jesuit school -and reaped the benefit of education imparted by Christians) is suspect because of their attempts at conversion, so also the sterling work of the RSS becomes suspect because of their extreme and divisive ideology.
Don’t slam the English speaking elite just because their worldview does not match yours. Have you ever considered that there could be another point of view, which might be correct?
Incidentally, have you read Dr. Ashok Mitra’s new book, A PrattlerΓ’β¬β’s Tale: Bengal, Marxism and Governance (Samya, Rs 595)? Apparantly he was respected Golwalkar as “extraordinarily intelligent, modest in manner, soft-spoken. (He was) fluent in all the fifteen languages recognised by the Constitution, and made it a point to converse with me in the most chaste Bengali. It was the Jagatguru who was single-handedly capable of driving us to desperation”
Interesting! Arnab, what do you think about that?
I will certainly read the books Rishi has refered to, but from the title, does it in any way change the validity of Gramsci?
@Rishi, I would like to remind you of a person called Sudheendra Kulkarni. If you can recall his Bhopal Papers, you might be able to perceive the ills that are associated with RSS
I am very much dissatisfied with the comments. I don’t know why I have become a laughing stock. Is spekaing my heart out a sin ? Somebody call me pig, somebody fun. No yaar, they r the utterances from my heart. Plz take me seriously.
reading your blog for quite a some time..
and a great fan of yours
but somehow couldn’t understand the logic of this post
could have been easily avoided.. it is making a non issue into a issue.. similar to what the political parties do..i hope u r not joining one
@gb
It is not kishor who is wonky.
It is his IP that has got multiple personality disorder.
If it aquires too many personalities, Ranjan Chakraborty will be tempted to list them, just like he did for that Himesh post.
Please gb, let me add my voice to janata-speak “We-demand-a-post-on-kishor”
Then, in the comment section, we can all trot out the stories about the eccentric people we personally know.
Why u people need a post one me? To make mockery of my opinions ? I know u people can’t argue with me and are trying to brand me a mad dog. I express my opinions, which I believe in strongly. U reason with me, but why u need a post ? Just to make me a laughing stock ?
@Shan, don’t forget even I was Street Hawk in my time π
@Shan, Sayon & Rishi
I guess you are bringing in valid points regarding the RSS. But I have to agree with Rishi, RSS may not be as bad as it is made out to be. Probably what they need is better PR management just like the Congress.
@Asterix: And the Congress is not suspect? The Defender-of-Minority-Rights which couldn’t say a word in protest after the Gujarat Riots? The party which created the Anti-Sikh pogrom after Indira Gandhi’s assasination? The party which was responsible to the Shah Bano case? The party which is claims to defend every minority group and succeeded in alienating all of them. The party which is incapable of wiping out the pseudo-secular canard flung at it by the Sangh parivar?
Yes, they have better PR than the RSS, but even if the RSS took a leaf from the Congress book, they would be equally suspect in my eyes.
@Kishor: No, no my dear chap! Carry on the good work! Your comments, under various guises, is one of the attractions of this wonderful blog. We’d miss you if you went away!
Hey, the rest of you not sharing the same IP address as Kishor – support me on this, please!
Hey hey hold your guns- when I say who gives a fuck for the RSS I meant it in a different sense.
Lemme provide an analogy- when you go to see a Chaplin movie one wouldnt rather have a Sanjay Leela Bhansali type of thing later- now do we. The post GB had on was ostensibly about celebrities blundering into situations which they had no measure of and fraught with all sorts of potential consequences. Just a nice satirical note on the shenanigans of those in the public eye- well even the most rabid fans of SG would agree that outside the feild he is a pompous ass and now RD who seemed like a nice & mild feller ( never mind all that cloak and dagger stuff attributed to him in the downfall of King SG) joining that crowd.
It then turns out to be a slanging match about RSS vs LeT et al and later on a tear jerker (worthy of a Ghai or Ekata Kapoor)about how good the RSS is- dont get me wrong we all do give a huge fuck for the RSS – an organisation that is such a big pain in the ass- but all in its proper place- I just wouldnt want to give it a rats ass when I’ve just read something really hilarious like the post GB has written up- altho they might start getting better press if they could somehow get their name to start with a K a la Balaji telefilms.
Shashi, ur language is obscene, ur grammar is poor, and ur writing is very bad. U first learn basic english, grammar, and how to write. U r a kid.
@Kishor: I’m really sorry to see that your kala nazar hasn’t gone away. Better luck next time!
@Sayon
“And the Congress is not suspect?”
Exactly my point. Why have all this RSS bashing when the so called Secular party (Congress) is the most un-secular (according to me) of all. Where Congress wins wrt BJP or any other party is the ‘perception’ it has amongst Indians. And how has it acheived that? By good PR. There is an article floating around in the internet for long about how the Surname Gandhi was retained even though the so-called Gandhi family is no where near it. Thats good PR and playing with emotions of people.
http://www.unitedpunjab.co.uk/f81/must-must-read-other-side-nehru-gandhi-family-11920/
I am not sure about its authenticity, but if you google on the keywords you will find a host of sites with this info. I would be obliged if someone could just tell me how much truth is in it.
Every time you hear that India won its Independence by non-violent means just have a thought of the millions of people who died in the freedom struggle.
In summary, I don’t think RSS is worse than Congress or any of the other National political parties.
yeah, Sayon i am back with vengeance.
@Shashi: You are right, in a way. But don’t deprive us of the right to a free-association adda, so beloved of the lesser bongs like us. If the discussion gets as structured like a campus interview GD, I for one will be sorely upset.
Of course it’s GB’s blog – so he gets the last word on this…
@ Sayon:
I respect your worldview…lets make an effort to understand each others view more (and maybe work together)…will be good for us all and maybe for India too.
After comparing our RSS Sturmtruppen to Naxals and Lashkar…you ask us to take lessons from the Congress….
gosh…that was a DOWNGRADE, and the MOST hurtful.
π
@ Asterix:
Thanks for a favourable note on RSS.
@Sashi -ji
Thanks for the clarification.
Good you finally figured out the inter-relation, ie, between rats, asses and Ekta Kapoor and everything in between.
My polished bamboo Panzerfaust can be all yours now.
Asterix: OK, we agree that all political parties are the same. My only point is that as an alternative to the pseudo secular parties, don’t look at the Hindu parties as a worthwhile replacement. Sometimes the cure is worse than the disease, as those who voted in Mussolini and Hitler realised too late.
When the BJP came to power, I for one applauded, because I was sick of the Congress. Unfortunately, they turned out to be the party with not too much of a difference, with the baggage of the loony right to bear as well.
So who would I vote for? Gu-er epith-opith – forgive my vernacular – two sides of the same pile of shit, I’m afraid. And the RSS volunteers serving the nation/ drumming up a support base won’t make the leadership any less venal than the Congress netas.
@Rishi: Advise the RSS to follow the Congress? Not me, that was Asterix. The only thing I’d do for the Congress, if I could, is to respectfully bury it six feet under. π
@Sayon. Thanks π
I agree with your point too. Similar feelings when BJP came to power. Thought they would get rid of the ills only to realise its better to have the Congress where atleast work gets done if you bribe.
@rishi, I guess we should thank you for being brave enough to show the positive side of RSS.
But hold on, I will not convert, either to the CPM, Congress or RSS.
@All, we all know how politics is and we all want something good for India. If you treat this like a project and knowing our scope & making assumptions, whats the best way forward?
For progress, making a South Indian prime minister again is the only way. Only South Indians can take India into next century.
@Kishor, what !!! you mean our dear leader Rahul Gandhi is no good?????
Please clarify whom you want to make the PM. Votes are not a problem. Anything for you mate.
@Asterix
Even though many of my RSS Shakha Kamerad might have invited you to a Shakha to see “first hand” how we match up to people’s expectations…I am not that type π
@Kishor: Yes mate. Let’s pick the South Indian of your choice, build a temple to his/ her/ its name, create a Tamarind army and storm our way to Delhi and annoint your choice to the gaddi! Jai Hind!
Let me state this upfront – I don’t like Dravid. I don’t like his pretty boy face, his goodie-goodie persona, his little scheming mind, his unholy alliance with Chappell, and his dislike for Dada. But I like his batting, even if his crawl gets under my skin at times. Overall, I am not quite an objective observer when it comes to cutie Rahul.
I read today he is in Cal. The last time he was there was memorable as far as I am concerned because it showed up a Dravid-led, Chappel-inspired cabal as a gutless lot who ran like rats when the going got hot. Chappell ducked into the team bus after showing the crowd the finger. And Dravid didn’t have the liver to do even this. He took the first flight out to Bombay and addressed a press conference. Like a king slime, he didn’t criticise the Cal crowd (altho his bladder must have been bursting to pee out all the abuses) and instead heaped praise on the Bombay crowd: how sporting it is, how it understands cricket and how it always supports Team India. Support it even when the team caves in to a 10-wicket walloping from the opposition, I guess.
Sorry, I am not objective like you about Dravid, GB. I shudder to think how can chut like him can lead any team to success.
rajnikanth is my choice of prime minister.
@Kishor: Oh, oh! Not on this blog, you don’t. This blog is reserved for Mithun and Himeshbhai.
Oi sleckers – where ur you? Himesh 300! Onward!
@Kishor: Please come visit the Himess blog and believe me we will all agree with you whatever you say. Himess 300!
@Ranjan: Sorry Ranjan – small correction to your comment above. It should have been:
“@Kishor: All of you, please come and…”
Now if every one of his avatars posts a comment on the thread, we’ll easily reach 300. Then we can shut down this thread and have Rajnikant as the PM, as you promised. After all, with Rajni around, what chance does mere kala nazar have?
@kishor
What a ungrateful soul you are. Knowing fully well that Rajnikanth is a Maharashtrian (Marathi??). You slimy little b*&*&st%$^rd. I would have hoped you to put forward the name of Rajkumar (so what if hes not alive, his memories are with us aint it).
PS : Arre bhai mere abhi toh bolo kala nazar hatha ki nahi nahi toh do char aur gali deta hoon :d
@rani
“….I shudder to think how can chut like him can lead any team to success. ”
Are you a guy or gal. Just curious nothing more π
Okay, I am proposing chiranjeeevi, a fellow telugu, as the next prime minister.
@Kishor: OK, Chiranjeeeeeeeeeeeevi for PM, as long as all of you post on the HR thread. Quid pro quo. Right, Ranjan?
It is deeply disturbing to see some comments here talking about SIMI and RSS in the same vein. While SIMI members have actually been convicted by our courts and killed in combat by our security forces, there has never ever been even one member of RSS who has been convicted of such heinous crimes. Why are you guys so oblivious to the exemplary mass social work carried out by RSS in Gujrat during floods and Maharashtra during the Killari earthquake as well as the several projects that it is carrying out across the country.
@Vinay:
“…there has never ever been even one member of RSS who has been convicted of such heinous crimes”
After the Gujarat riots, more’s the pity.
@Vinay
Thanks.
If you read my previous posts, I wrote many responses reflecting similar view as yours. Lets leave it at that.
My khakhi knickers are already frayed at their ends…and I donated my polished bamboo Panzerfaust to Shashi-ji.
Lets discuss more about this outside this forum.
You can write to me at rishi_khujur@rediffmail dot com
@Sayon:
Will reserve my response to your RSS/Gujarat riot comments for a more appropriate time.
Will need a exhaustive thread on that.
“I am very much dissatisfied with the comments. I donΓ’β¬β’t know why I have become a laughing stock. Is spekaing my heart out a sin ? Somebody call me pig, somebody fun. No yaar, they r the utterances from my heart. Plz take me seriously.”
@Kishor – Seriously, my apologies. Let me clarify – I did not call you a pig, but did give an analogy. That it translated into an “anal-orgy” (Sorry @GB, couldnt resist it) for you was not my fault. But, please do accept my apologies.
“Shashi, ur language is obscene, ur grammar is poor, and ur writing is very bad. U first learn basic english, grammar, and how to write. U r a kid. ”
@Shashi – Please take classes from Kishor. Hey ! Did you hear me ?
“For progress, making a South Indian prime minister again is the only way. Only South Indians can take India into next century.”
“Rajnikanth is my choice of prime minister.”
“Okay, I am proposing chiranjeeevi, a fellow telugu, as the next prime minister. ”
@Kishor – Genius. Just pure genius.
Life is amazing- one guy calls me a kid (knew goats and yanks had kids not humans – anyway that is neither here and there) and another persons insists on adding a ji to my name- wow.
While on the topic of PM s from south india I would have loved to have Veerappan nominated but since we have only his peaceful memories can we have the eloquent Deve Gowda again.
Could someone please guide me as to where I could get good english lessons in South India ( living for close to three decades in bangalore hasnt helped but that isnt South India).
I really dont mind the free association discussions only sometimes its like getting snatches of Himesh while listening to Bappida.
Cheers
I don’t know why u people laugh at Veerappan. In my opinion, he is just an extension of Dhirubai Ambani. Both fought against the system. Society is not willing to give anything to them and they took it forcefully from the society. Veerappan just went some more steps ahead in illegal ways because he was an uneducated. Veerappan’s actions are thus really justified. One more thing, who owns mother nature man ? It is everybody’s property. Veerppan’s also.
Rahul is perfectly within his rights to endorse any party. But initially, I was quite surprised, by his political inclinations.
Kishor wrote:
One more thing, who owns mother nature man ? It is everybodyΓ’β¬β’s property. VeerppanΓ’β¬β’s also.
@Kishor,..ah… mastaaru Kishor
Wish the hundreds of elephants Verappan butchered for their ivory could agree with you more my friend.
It is the law of jungle Rishi. Weaker ones get killed. Survival of the fittest. No paap. No punya.
@Kishor
guess u have a point..
Verappan’s handlebars were too much a task for the tuskers
My SINCERE apologies for my earlier attitued towards convoluted approaches in the comments- this is truly fun.
Veerappan and for that matter Mr Ambani were really brothers (Wow that is a story for GB to develop later . Whats that thing by Kipling- The Colonels wife and Judy O’Grady are sisters under the skin- but I would imagine they twisted the system rather than fighting it- but I guess we have all kinds of twisted meanings for everything. Actually wasnt Ambani way ahead in twisting the law and isnt that how he was way wealthier
Well dont all sensible people agree that noone actually owns Mother Nature – least of all mankind. But I’d also like a second vote on PM from South India and nominate Mr Telgi- a fighter, lives in a prison like a king- what better choice huh?
One more great thing about Veerappan is he had built a businesss empire around the sandal tries, which are lying there useless in deep jungles. He created wealth and employment from them and he did that by not working in AC chambers like us but by working in jungles fighting cold, rain, and cruel animals. Isn’t it great ?
Dravid may or may not be an RSS sympathiser, but he should be free to choose the people and organizations he associates with as long as they are legal.
You are right to say that there might be more controversies in store for the Indian cricket team if its captain is seen as an RSS sympathiser, but these controversies and the people who create these should not be allowed to usurp this fundamental right of ‘free association’ from Rahul Dravid.
I work in a regular 9-5 job and have the right to associate with whomever I want as long as I follow the law of the land, the same right should be accorded to Rahul Dravid.
@Shashi
The ditty goes: “The Colonel’s lady, and Judy O’Grady; sisters under the skin…” and it’s not, as far as I can tell, by Kipling. It was an old saying among the lower classes, given the easy nature of upper class women. For all their outward refinement, they wanted it as bad as the common woman. Example: Lady Chatterley.
As far as the PM goes, I would have liked the good boy Rahul Dravid, youth icon et al to be the next PM, but alas, his Kannadiga antecedents are in doubt, just like Rajni. But I like the Telgi option. Telgi’s a good alternative/replacement for Dravid.
@Kishor/Gnan/Whatever
Good tactic man! Now that Arnab’s exposed you as a single-IP-multiple-identity (SIMI) flamer, you have changed tack and started playing to the gallery, trying to save some dignity. That’s cool. You will realize that this is indeed more fun than just putting up “This blog sucks” or “This post wasn’t good” type of irrelevant comments.
Welcome to the rational world.
Sashi wrote:
My SINCERE apologies for my earlier attitued towards convoluted approaches in the comments- this is truly fun.
@Sashi
I take back RSS issued polished bamboo panzerfaust and the honorable “ji” I showered u with.
Wah! Shashi Rishi bhai bhai. Where’s Raj? π
@ shan
bhai why u stay away…aa gale lag jaa
magar kal shakha jaroor aa
@Rishi
Hamare jadey mazboot hain; shakhao ke sahare ki zaroorat nahin. π
@shan
jadon ki ajeevan tandurusti ke liye shakha-on ki avashyakta hoti hai.
@Greatbong wrote
[i]
2. Manmohan Singh who actually took the steps that led to IndiaΓ’β¬β’s economic liberation. [/i]
Wrong. We need to thank USA for India’s economic liberation. More here –
http://www.mjakbar.org/mjblog.asp
———–
Dr Mitra has a startling revelation about the surprise appointment of Dr Manmohan Singh as P.V. Narasimha RaoΓ’β¬β’s finance minister in 1991. This is his narrative: Foreign exchange reserves had shrunk to a point where they could cover only a fortnightΓ’β¬β’s imports. India was Γ’β¬Εfast approaching bankruptcyΓ’β¬Β. The US administration, in coordination with the IMF and World Bank, sent a Γ’β¬Εcategorical messageΓ’β¬Β to Delhi through Γ’β¬Εsecret talksΓ’β¬Β that began as soon as the Lok Sabha results were known: obey and save yourselves, or object and go hang. Delhi agreed to obey. But wary of similar assurances that had been belied in Latin america, Washington sought an implicit guarantee. It was decided that Γ’β¬Εthe IMF and the World Bank would nominate the finance minister of the country after consultations with the US authoritiesΓ’β¬Β. It is an astonishing assertion: in the words of the author, Γ’β¬Εthe prerogative of naming the new finance minister was also transferred to WashingtonΓ’β¬Β. This is followed by a second bombshell.
Γ’β¬ΕThe first person whose name was proposed by Washington DC, thought things over and declined the invitation to be the finance minister.Γ’β¬Β Who was this person? We are not told. This is a serious gap in information, because the credibility of such a damaging revelation dwells at least partly on the name of this first offer-and-decline. We all know who the second choice was; today he is Prime Minister of India. Dr Mitra describes this as an Γ’β¬Εignominious surrenderΓ’β¬Β and asserts the Γ’β¬Εhigh noon of that state of affairs continuesΓ’β¬Β.
————————–
heh heh, I wonder if Dr. Mitra’s assertions are any more credible than the ‘balanced budgets’ he used to present as West Bengal’s Finance Minister. I think he was the first choice as FM – he being an ex-World Bank man too !!
However it is true – India’s initial liberalisation initiative was one of compulsion rather than conviction.
Can we have USA as the next Finance minister of India? π
So What if Rahul is an RSS sympathiser.
I have been one too for the last so many years.
And in the Shakas/meetings ,There never has been a direct reference against any particular community.
There are only mentions of taking India to greater heights…..
But generally GB,This is a storm in a teacup,
Let us leave it at that
wonder how the Shiv Sainiks would react if Zaheer Khan appeared in some (legal) Muslim organisation’s ceremony. Would they dig up pitches?
@ Kinjal
depends on whether the “Legal” organization believes that Zaheer’s allegiance to the Ummah worlwide overrides his duties as a Indian citizen.
Either way digging the pitch is not the most appropriate answer, albeit it might be the most effective.
jabs at Dravid`s surya-namaskar
Check this out…
From the link:
“The Left was on the frontfoot on Tuesday, saying what Dravid “played in Nagpur that day was not cricket”. CPI(M) and CPI raised eyebrows on the issue for the skipper endorsing an event for an organisation that spreads “sectarian politics” and is “fascist in nature.”
Left party people who said that should be slapped tightly. Would they have said the same thing if Rahul attended an iftar party with the shahi imam, with SIMI volunteers serving Phirni and Biryani? No, then it would be a sign of communal brotherhood. After all he is a Hindu. Such is the state of affairs nowadays that if you patronize something not related your religion, then you are good, else you are a bigot. Plus, whose functions should Rahul Dravid attend then? CPM meetings at Alimuddin Street? Also as he clearly says, it was not patronizing the RSS but the presence of schoolchildren that had attracted him to the event.
“I was asked to go to a function where a lot of schoolchildren were coming to talk on the benefits of yoga. I have no political leanings. Yoga is something which even the Indian cricket team practises. I had no idea that this could be used for political purposes,” Rahul Dravid told a Delhi newspaper from Kolkata, where the Indian team is currently based.”
@yourfan2, the left doesn’t know what’s right!!
@Asterix- π
@kishor
man, u have some bad luck… ur nazar has not only wiped ur fortunes but ur common sense and brains as well. Calling marathis buggers (sorry i was not in town so caught up with prabhuji a little late) and proclaiming them to be south indians takes the cake. One of my good marathi friends who was around took ur comments a little too strongly and had to be implored to keep calm. u and ur avatars really need a break. try to con out more home loans or whatever. At least u will be occupied in something more useful other than making inane comments.
Maaf kar do dravid ko. Kitni maaroge uski. Suryanamaskaar karna bhi paap hai kya..
http://www.theuniversalwisdom.org/hinduism/video-on-70000-service-project-by-rss-in-bharat/
for many of the writers who would be interested to know more about RSS
No doubt that Rahul Dravid is the sexiest sportsman in India today. He has those gorgeous lips and marks on his cheeks add to his sexiness. Not only girls but also boys feel him to be sexy. Even I being a boy would like to deeply kiss him.
rahul bhaiya is the best of all in this universe. no matter who says what , i suggest him to do his best . let the whole world be against him i will stand as a strongest wall behind him which will protect him from all dangers. he is my dream brother whom i want to tie rakhi love him very much
I really feel pitty for all those people,who are unaware and invigilant,they like illiterates believe wt mass media presents to them,folks hv u ever attended any meetings of RSS..? In INDIA the mass media is d most corrupt and biased,its due to RSS and its philosophy dt INDIA is still away from d effect of Taliban, otherwise d communal people like all congressmen n lalu,mulayam,arjun singh,mahesh bhatt etc.. wd hav invited these fanatics to rule INDIA again like thr ancestors did for over 1000 yrs..! U people feel too cool chattin online ” we are modes,,! ha we are hip hop! crap!! Atleast take lessons from USA..! have u ever disscused abt ne national issues like KASHMIRI PANDITS?,PEOPLE WITHIN INDIA ,WHO PROVIDED SUPPORT TO TERRORISTS IN MUMBAI ATTACKS? u r d most lethargic and are not learnd abt d facts,, jst follow wt u see on tv,read in newspapers, dnt jst get impressed by anyone first analyze thn give ur bloody opinions.!
SO called seculars..!GO know d dictionary meaning of d word Secular thn use ds word! and m not RSS member bt m proud of sangh! SANGH ROX!
@abhijit: Your spelling ROX too! That is the mode, hip hop way 2 go,,, Kudos! π
Kudos to Rahul Drvaid. It great to see him attending RSS functions while most of our intellectual class under there prejudice fueld by misconceptions shy away from them.
Rahul as usual showed courage to beat the fashion of the day.
thats really great…………………..
if rahul dravid really join rsss
Soorya namaskar is a part of our culture,the RSS is protecting our cultural symbols and heritages. so Rahul u r great…….
think in absence of rss or some political parties what could be the fate of india,country can’t be left in the hands of so called non secular parties.its not govt. but rss whose fear maintains harmony in country.all those who criticise rss,have fear.maintain it.