Tuesday, October 16, 2018

Mysuru Dasara : An Ode to Vijayanagara


Another year and Mysuru is bracing up for a spectacular show of traditional parade, pageant, expo and extravaganza. A celebration rightly dubbed as “Naada Habba” across the state of Karnataka during the 10 days of Mahanavami and Vijayadashami. People throng from across different parts of the world to witness this traditional exhibition of Mysuru’s pomp and glory. 



The word Mysuru is not just the name of a place but rather an identity for many a folks and folklores especially for a few southern states of India. Mysuru Dasara is not just a festival but rather an illustrious manifestation of an empire that stood rock solid as a protector against the marauding Invaders

Bend some time and time-travel back to the early 16th century during the days of Mahanavami. Bend some space too, and find yourself in front of Hazararama Temple of Hampi. In the chronology of time, you are at a place what was once the capital city of the glorious Vijayanagara Empire and rightfully so, your King was Sri Krishnadevaraya.



Make no mistake, at this precise time and place, you are certainly an audience to what we proudly call Mysuru Dasara today. True, today’s Dasara is erstwhile Mahanavami and Vijayadashami celebrations of Vijayanagara Empire. To this day, the Mahanavami Dibba or The Mahanavami Platform in Hampi is a living testimony to the roots of Mysuru Dasara festival. The festival since then is celebrated in all its pomp and grandeur of traditions. The deity of Goddess Chamundeshwari being at the centre of it all. The Hazararama temple in Hampi is decorated with many a walls that display  sculptures depicting various festivities of arts and celebrations during the festival. A beautiful sight to behold. Events for singing, dancing, literature and guest hosting were the prime attractions for ten days. Vijayadashami celebrations also commemorated the lives of those who laid down to protect the good against the evil forces of invaders. 

After the tragic fall of Vijayanagara in the late 16th century, its vassal state of the Wodeyars of Mysuru voluntarily carried the baton of Mahanavami or Dasara and left no stone unturned to keep its continuity to this day. The first such celebrations took place in Srirangapatna near Mysuru under the Kingship of Raja Wodeyar I. Four centuries on, today the millennials are witnessing the same with much more enthusiasm. 

Thus, Mysuru Dasara is in many ways a festival of an identity of people whose ancestors were once proud citizens of a glorious Empire. 
Thus, Mysuru Dasara is a “Naada Habba” in all its true essence. 
Thus, Mysuru Dasara is an Ode to Vijayanagara.

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Kaveri Dispute - Need Water or Conservation?


Just when all the cricket fans across India and the world over are bracing for another festive cricketing season of IPL, there were shallow calls and protests on Kaveri river water sharing issue during first home game for CSK. The protest turned so ugly that shoes were hurled at players. A South African player even took to Twitter and pleaded with folded hands. This, by all means, is a political hijack of layman's perception before he even ponders over a meak issue. A demand to setup water sharing board that will soon grow its thick skin of corruption in the name of a holy river that feeds millions living across three states of India - Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. 

The agony of Indians is that an agenda is always setup by opportunist politicians without the grossest knowledge of the issues whatsoever. This soon transcends into a show of strength on streets with protests by people for and against the issues. Memes and jokes get circulated over whatsapp, Facebook and Twitter. The reach is completed. People start falling for perceptions. Media fuels it by brazen and repeated loud shouts. The objective of the issue is nowhere to be seen and it will sadly rest in peace. Tragedy strikes once again on those poor souls who otherwise could have earned their daily bread only by the end of a hard-toiled day unlike the white and day scholars who anyway get a pay check on the month ends. Thus, the hijack is complete.

Thankfully but shamelessly, BCCI is so powerful and rich that it hardly gives two hoots to such hyped up melodrama. At Godspeed it even managed to shift all CSK matches to Pune and clearly asserting BCCI is the Boss. 

What then is the issue? 
Answer - Setting up of a Central Board for sharing Kaveri River Water. A board the objectives of which even the protesters won't know about for sure. It is a board to amicably share river's water across the states she runs through and that too when enough committees are already munching tax payers money. 

It has been a tragedy before, a tragedy now and continues to be so for nobody cares to ask where is the water to share?
What have the state governments done to conserve and sustain the river water?

Running up to Higher courts during a water crises is a big time fool thuggery practiced by either of the state governments. None of them cared for the river until then. The travesty of it all is such that they even engineered riots on their very own people on either side of the states. I just wish that karma serves them up the coldest. 

And yet much can still be done before things span out of control and war of the waters descend upon the innocents. There are few practical approaches that can be adopted and realised. 

First, the hard one, an unbiased data sharing of water resources to the tune of need and not greed. Meanwhile, all the states can take numerous river rejuvenation steps like afforestation along the river and rivulet catchment areas. Strict urbanisation controls along the river.

Second, the harder one, Interlinking of rivers, although scientifically well researched this one needs a boldest leaders across the states to implement. This too like many other shallow issues is hijacked by lobbying groups and agenda setting activists with their all "profitable" NGOs.

Third, the hardest one, Desalination units along the coastal lines. All southern states have lengthy coastlines. Desalination is yet the easiest of the earlier two solutions. All that each state can do is "give up" the money that that loot in one scan and seriously use it to set up these ambitious desalination units along the coastlines. The tech that comes up is no doubt alarmingly advanced but at the same time expensive plus the maintenance. But there is lot of money, much more money with states that they can definitely invest on one such good cause project. 


Sooner the realisation better the future. Hope the good virtues will dawn on our politicians. 

Saturday, February 3, 2018

Budget and The Curious Case of The Salaried Class



I keenly followed the Budget Speech by our Finance Minister Sri Arun Jaitley on Feb 01, 2017 for two things.  Firstly, as an honest tax payer, it is my right to know how the government is spending the money it collected as tax on my income.  Secondly, it is also my right to know what benefits are in store from the Government’s Budget as a citizen, in particular as a middle class tax payer. The Budget is a broader term as far as the Nation is concerned. Expectations from her citizens relatively run high during every budget in a country as large and as diverse as India, which for most of the decades after her independence remained economically oppressed by divisive and dynastic politics.

Since the end of the Budget Day Speech my cell phone is buzzing with WhatsApp forwards and SMSs  most of which were insensible jokes on Budget with insensible numbers and illogical judgements. This has certainly made me dig further about the claims that floating in the social like “Government fools middle class”, “middle class pays tax but gets nothing in the budget”. It is understandable that some sections of the society will never be happy with this budget but seriously it is my own feeling that this is a landmark budget that the Government has ever made.

But then it does not yet answer my two expectations. Let me take a look at the second question first because I belong to that middle class paying tax ‘honestly’.

In a nutshell, the expectations of middle and salaried class from any budget are lesser tax on their income.

Has ‘this Government’ addressed it?
Well, I will not believe in and go by the rhetoric, so I’ll try to consolidate the data points “because that is how salaried class appraisals are also evaluated”. So let us recap and do the due diligence on budgets since 2014. Here is a quick summary before I put the details



Year 2014-15, the first budget of ‘this government’
  1. The basic exemption slab raised to 2.5 lakhs. This was 1.8 lakhs up until 2014.
  2.  Section 80C limit raised to 1 Lakh. This was 1 Lakh up until 2014.
  3.  Home Loan Deduction Limit raised to 2 Lakhs.

Year 2015-16,
  1. Additional Deduction of up to 50,000 for investments in NPS schemes. This was 0 up until 2015.
  2. Wealth Tax removed. Have you heard any government removing a tax such as this?
  3. Medical Insurance Premium deduction raised to 60,000. This was 40,000.
  4. The ‘rich’ who earned above 1 Crores had to pay a surcharge of up to 12 %. You see now the rich have to pay more tax (sit tight you are still middle class).

Year 2016-17,
  1. Not much was there in this budget for salaried class except that rebate hiked to 5000 for a salaried class earning up to 5 lakhs; which is nothing but the government would pay back in case you have paid more tax.
  2. Again the ‘rich’ who earned above 1 Crores had to pay a surcharge of up to 15%. This was 12% previous year. So more tax paid by the ‘rich’ (Remember, you are middle class still).

Year 2017-18,
  1. New slabs introduced 5% 20% and 30%. Most of the people who come in the career span of 3-4 years squarely fall in the 5 % bracket.

Year 2018-19,
  1.  Standard deduction of 40,000 introduced and no more medical bills to claim medical expenses which many salaried classes claimed with fake bills. No offense to those who produced genuine bills.
  2. Education Cess increased from 3 to 4 %. This will be applied on the taxable income after all exemptions and investments.

So when I think of all these budget points for salaried class since 2014, I saved more by investing to avail the budget provisions meant for exemption and paid less in tax. Is it not curious enough to ponder why the salaried class should term this year’s budget as “bad” while enjoying the benefits year over year including this year.  Doing the math should be easy provided now you have all the data points at your disposal. Did you save more money or did you pay more tax?

Now coming to my first expectation, what is the government doing with the money I paid in the form of tax whether it is direct or indirect?

If one hears out the budget in summary, the government has diligently touched upon every section of the society with no trace of appeasement or populism in whatever form unlike yester years regimes. The government has stuck to basics and allocated the money for the betterment of poor and the weaker sections of India which are largely deprived of necessities even as basic as sanitation, education and healthcare. It is both unfortunate and tragic to hear the slogans such as “Gareebi Hatao” and various “Bhagyas” did nothing up until this budget which has attempted to practically address such sloganeering. The National Health Care Scheme is a remarkable announcement for the poor who had little or no access to basic health care.


So the answer to my expectation is that my bucks are safe and they are empowering the poor in terms of their quality of life, education and healthcare.