Any alternative to the 'blessed with a baby' phrase?

Every time a colleague becomes a father or mother, the only phrase that I hear is "I/we am/are blessed with a baby boy/girl". Why is it that everyone uses the same phrase? This is the only phrase that I hear, without any changes, from everybody. Isn't it strange? Isn't there an alternative phrase to convey the same thing in English?

My take on the Women's Reservation Bill

Everyone of you would have heard of the Women's Reservation Bill proposed by successive Indian governments. Every government since 1996 tried but failed to pass this bill in the Parliament. It means there is considerable opposition to the bill among the Indian lawmakers(MPs) even though every political party, except two or three, publicly expressed their support for the bill time and again.

This bill proposes to reserve one third (33.3%) of all the seats in the Parliament and state assemblies for women. Every one seems to have an opinion on the bill, most of them thinking it is a good proposal. I too have an opinion. I oppose it in the present form. You would have guessed the author is a man, and also a chauvinist :). I don't blame you. Popular media of our country (newspapers, magazines, news channels...) overwhelmingly and unanimously supported the bill. I think no other bill has ever received so much of media support in the recent past. Media is the biggest factor influencing public opinion in any society. Media so heavily polarized public opinion on this bill to the extent that any one opposing it is seen as a male chauvinist. Only few politicians like Lalu and Mulayam have the temerity to publicly oppose it (albeit for the wrong reasons).

I feel this bill is not really put up for discussion in the public domain. Ordinary people like you and I never discussed the pros and cons of the bill. Everyone would have heard or read many good things of the bill. Let use also see the bad things of the bill. Consider the question, why only one third of the seats for women, why not half the seats when half (little less) of the population are women? What is the basis for this 33.3%? Also imagine what would happen if this bill becomes a law. Close to 25% of the seats in Parliament are already reserved for SCs and STs. If 33.3% of remaining are reserved for women, only 50% of the total seats would be open for anyone. It means only 272 seats will be unreserved, open for all. Of these, one is reserved for Rahul Gandhi, one for Sonia Gandhi, one for Varun Gandhi, one for the Scindhia boy, one for the Pilot boy, one for Farooq Abdullah or Omar Abdullah, one for the Owaisi boy.. the list goes on and on. Where is the chance for a common man who has no reservation? Let us take the case of Andhra Pradesh. Of 42 MP seats, 10 ( 7 SC + 3 ST) are already reserved. If 11 of the remaining are reserved for women, only 21 seats would be open for all. Of these 21, one would be for YSR family, one would be for NTR family, one would be for Chiranjeevi's family, one for the Owaisi family....... The bill, in the name of increasing the representation of women, is taking away the opportunities of common men. There would be no big benefit to Common women ( equivalent of common men) either. Many of these newly reserved seats would go to the wives, daughters, sisters, even darlings.... of the great Indian political families. Above all, reservation is never a good policy. There is no end to it. So, my fellow common men and women, let us oppose the bill.

In that case, what should be done to increase the representation of women in the Parliament and state assemblies? I have a different proposal. Consider doubling the size of the Parliament and state assemblies. Every constituency would elect one man MP and one woman MP, one man MLA and one woman MLA. Everything else remains as it is now. Half of the MPs and MLAs in this country would then be women. Isn't this better than one third? Common men and women also get more opportunities to contest and get elected to the legislative bodies. As a side effect, this would also reduce the clout of the political families. It is said that there is only one solution to the ills of democracy, that is more democracy.

Movie Review - Magadheera

         I watched the much touted Telugu movie "Magadheera" on Saturday, after suffering, though briefly, the ignominy of having not watched the latest masterpiece of Telugu cinema. I am so disappointed that the movie is not even half of what it is hyped to be. I am even more surprised that not a single voice came out and said that the movie was not so good. May be the overwhelming numbers of Chiranjeevi fans(devotees) swamped and muted the few criticizing voices. Another demonstration of the power of Chiranjeevi fans. May be the advertising blitzkrieg unleashed by the money power and marketing power of Allu Aravind ( producer, also the brother-in-law of Chiranjeevi) had its effect on the moviegoers.
         The movie is below par, except the occasional blips of brilliance. Lacklustre first half doesn't amuse anybody except those hardcore Chiranjeevi fans. The second half doesn't live up to the hype generated in the first half. We can clearly see the scenes inspired by(copied from..) movies like Troy, Alexander and Jodha Akbar. In most of the scenes, the graphic work was discernible to the naked eye ( which should not be). The plot of the movie itself is not as gripping.
         Charan (hero of the movie) doesn't have that stunning look to become an instant hit. Audiences need more of getting used to him, I mean more movies from him before he starts to make an impression. This being his only second movie, he is not really at ease. His dialogue delivery doesn't fit the role and leaves much to be desired. But Charan gets full marks for the stunts he did, the hard work he put in.
         Rajamouli (director of the movie) just gets the pass marks, not the distinction as claimed by the media. The movie is not entertaining as comedy is given a complete miss.
         Kajal (heroine of the movie) looks beautiful as is the norm with today's heroines.
         In the end, Allu Aravind gets the distinction for making lot of money out of an 'also ran' movie.

Can we expect reforms from the new Government?

      There is a lot of hype in the media, especially the English media, that the new central government lead by Mr.Manmohan Singh will actively implement economic reforms as it is no longer dependent on the support of the Left parties. The popular perception also seems to be in line with the hype as the Indian stock indices shot up by 15% on the very next trading day after the election results were announced.
      I think the hype is just that, only hype. The Congress party under the leadership of Mrs. Sonia Gandhi knows very well that it is populism more than anything else that won the election for them. It is not just the recently held LokSabha election, but also almost all the state assembly elections held in the last 10 years. Here go some such instances since Mrs Sonia Gandhi took over as the president of Congress party in 1998.

1. Congress significantly improved its tally in the Andhra Pradesh assembly in 1999 election with the promise of free power to farmers.
2. Congress won the 2002 assembly election of Punjab with the promise of free power to farmers.
3. Congress won the 2004 Andhra Pradesh assembly elections with the promise of free power to farmers and low usage households.
4. Congress and its allies won the 2004 Maharashtra assembly elections with the promise of free power.
5. Congress and its allies won the 2006 Tamilnadu assembly election with the promise of free power and free color television sets.
6. Congress lost the 2007 Gujarat assembly election even after promising free power to farmers.
7. Congress lost the 2008 Karnataka assembly election even after promising free power and free color television sets.
8. The union government headed by Congress launches nationwide the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, which I would call "National Vote Buying Scheme" in 2005.
9. The union government headed by Congress approved pay hikes more than what were recommended by the Sixth Pay Commission, with out any rider to improve accountability in 2008.
10. The same government writes off all outstanding farm loans in 2008.
11. The Congress party manifesto for the 2009 general election promises food grains at 3 rupees a kilo to the Below Poverty Line families.

      It is also rumoured that Congress bought the support of trade unions and employee unions in the 2004 general election with the promise of halting the disinvestment of public sector undertakings. Looking at the voting patterns in the 2004 general election and halted disinvestment in the last five years, I believe it is a fact. I don't say these populist schemes alone won the elections for Congress, but everyone has to agree that these schemes have played their part in Congress victories. They also tell us that the current leadership of Congress party is heavily banking on populism.
      The English media of the country fervently reminds us of the achievements of the Congress government led by Mr P V Narasimha Rao with the present prime minister as his finance minister and foretells a similar achievement by the current government. But the present leadership of Congress party long forgotten PV, never publicly gave any credit to him. In fact, it never hesitated to show its disrespect for the late prime minister. We can't expect anything on the front of reforms from Mr. Manmohan Singh either as he is a remote-controlled puppet. His track record of the last five years speaks louder than the words of Mr.Advani.
      All the other political parties also seem to have learnt a lesson or two from this. These days, every state government is offering rice and wheat at over-subsidized prices, 2 or 3 rupees a kilo. Almost all the state governments are offering free, but limited and poor quality, power to farmers.
      The real problem with populist policies is that political parties are afraid to discontinue them anytime in the future and it takes quite a few years to correct them. Populism is the anti-thesis of reforms(both economic and governance). I think we will see a decade or two more of populist politics and little reform in this country. All the current optimism is unfounded and will fizzle out sooner than later.

Double standards of Indian Liberals

All of you might be aware of the recent incident at a pub in Bangalore. Some self-proclaimed protectors of Indian culture raided a pub and allegedly molested some women. The whole English media in the country vehemently condemned the incident and ran so many special stories and interviews from so called freedom loving citizens(only urban, of course) of the country. People denounced the moral policing and called it a violation of the fundamental rights of citizens. More importantly, linked it to the BJP and Hindutva. I don't understand how this is linked to the BJP. There are probably a thousand other issues in the country, like the Navin Chawla one, that deserve more attention.

Where were these liberals when the government banned smoking in public places? Where were these liberals when some states imposed a blanket ban on alcohol? Where were these liberals when two-wheeler riders were forced to wear helmets? Not wearing a helmet can only harm the rider. Drunken driving at night ( most probably returning from a pub) can harm many others.

I wonder why these so called liberals (English news channels included) react only to issues that can be linked to the BJP and Hindutva.

Telugu News Channels

Everyday when I go home in the evening, there are many Telugu news channels(( I know five of them) on TV, all showing the same news. News is OK but the news readers are pathetic. I learn from my friends in the media that the only qualifications needed to be a news reader on one of these channels are presentable looks and above average diction. Where has journalism gone? These men and women just sit before the camera and read out from prepared text. These people lack basic awareness of current affairs. The way they present business news and sports news is nothing less than blasphemy.

All of you might be aware of the Satyam saga going on. The stock exchanges, in reality, had decided to remove the Satyam stock from their indexes. But these news readers reported that the Satyam stock is delisted from the exchanges. I guess the people of AP deserve more. Any media company listening?

Linguistics - Pongal is not English

Many andhrites use the phrase "Wish you a happy Pongal" to wish a happy Sankranthi to each other. There is nothing wrong with it as such. But many people, including some school teachers, think Pongal is the English name for Sankranthi and teach the same to others. The truth is that there is no English name for Sankranthi. Pongal is the Tamil name for the same festival celebrated in Tamilnadu. It is perfectly OK to say "Wish you a happy Sankranthi".

AP Politics - Hail Pavan Kalyan

Addressing a protest rally two days ago, PRP leadar Pavan Kalyan spewed venom on Congress leaders. Though experts see his language as too harsh to be politically correct, I think he did exactly what is just needed now. Every allegation he made is true. It is very well known that Shabbir Ali ( minister for power in the state cabinet) has links with suspected ISI agents. Of late, he is the only politician to show the guts to call a spade a spade. It is a pity that Congress leaders, in response, bring up his personal life rather than coming out clean on the allegations. The state badly needs a politican like Pavan Kalyan. Keep it up, PowerStar.