Drought related?

I thought it was it's the fallout of normal grid maintenance.

I'm talking about day-long power cuts.

It started at around 6 in the morning and lasted all day long. The power supply resumed at around 6 in the evening.

When we got it in the evening it was in such a low voltage that we had had not the heart to fire up my desktop.

It has been continuing for some days now.

This makes me think that it's somehow connected with the drought we are in.

Most of the big power plants in the NE Region are hydro based. When we have drought there is no enough water to continue producing power. So, all the power plants started cutting down on the production.

Is this the right scenario?

The Chief Minister has opened a new chapter

The Chief Minster had just said it.

It's always true that the unspoken outlooks of the political establishment towards the rebels here is--'Kill them all'.

But it was never publicly spelled out.

Their public posture seen in the rhetoric like--'let's talk','rebels are our beloved brothers-but mislaid' etc etc are just rhetoric. Nothing more , nothing less.

Now, the CM had publicly spelled out in the floor of the State Legislative Assembly that there was no alternative but to kill them all.

Two other points also came out.

1. The rebels are only after money. They have no any other agenda.

2. Talks with them would follow the 'Mizoram example'. The CM himself quoted the number--20,000 of Mizo rebels killed by Indian military. Only after this the rebels are forced into talks.

It's becoming clearer by the day that the rebels are way too keen of easy money. Regarding this point the CM is expressing what's in the mind of the majority of the populace.

But the second point is scary. He seems to be welcoming of the making of another killing field here. Who likes a re-enactment of another killing field of Cambodia? NOBODY.

The CM, by publicly spelling out the political establishment wish list, has opened, wittingly or unwittingly, a new chapter in the history of insurgency here.

Heavy showers and the blue sky.

At around noon, there was a heavy showers. It was just like a good old rainy days of July.

But,by 2 pm, we were again greeted by blue sky. There were only a scatterings of cloud.

It was again quite sunny.

By now, it is quite unmistakable that we are in the midst of a drought.

The cases of vanishing fruits

It's not good to be an alarmist to count little changes in my immediate environment as results of climate Change.

But changes do happen.

Let's take up the cases of vanishing fruits!

In my experience, succulent plums from Mao normally start out at around Rs 30/- a kg. As its season matures the qunatity of the plums available in the market increases. Thus, price tend to climb down to around Rs 10/- a kg.

This time around when it first started its appearance in the market,it takes its normal course when it cost Rs 30/- a kg. I decided to wait for the time when the price would come down to around Rs 10-15 while I continued buying cheaper(at that point of time) fruits like papaya.

But the prices of the plum never did come down from Rs 30/-.

What's alarming is that the plums vanished from the market quickly at that price point.

The same thing happened in case of blueberries. Normally, we can buy blueberries in the market for at least a month(that's because we have no cold chains).

But this time around,it's hardly 1 week when we could buy it in the market.

And, I suspect the trend is discernible in passion fruit right at the moment!

We can only hope that all these changes do occur because of reduced rainfall which can be counted to be normal if we apply the metrics of a drought once a decade.

Socio-political impact of 1000cc autorickshaws

Will there ever be a more or less spontaneous bandh?

While reading the book, 'The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian', there was a little episode which caught my attention.

In that episode, the author was chased down the streets of Calcutta by bandh supporters.

The bandh was called against the British Government. It was called by none other than Mohandas Gandhi.

Then, I asked myself---'Bandh supporters chasing people around in streets even during a bandh called by Gandhi?'

In Manipur's case 'bandh supporters chasing around people' constitutes half the picture. Add to this another important half--'reluctance of bus owners to take the risk of doing business on bandh days'.

These two factors mostly present a semblance of a succesful bandh.

Bus owners appear so meek because of the fact buses are, and will always be, sitting ducks when confronted by bandh supporters or arsonists.

Now, enter the 1000cc diesel autorickshaws. They can carry more 10 people and at the same, can be driven almost like motorbikes. Their owners are not so meek as the bus owners because they can flee when confronted or given chase by bandh supporters. They can flit through the little used lanes and by-lanes avoiding the bandh supporters.When not carrying 10 people they can haul some women vendors with all their merchandise.

So, we have bandh killer in hand. This was widely evident in the just concluded mega bandh(see my post'mega bandh').

In this sense, 1000cc diesel autorickshaws would have their impact in the socio-political framwork of the society.

Woolen cloth in Tamil Nadu-no rain in Manipur!

Another of my chirpy niece phoned me from Coimbatore--'Mamo, it's so cold here-we are pulling out woolen cloths from the closet'.

My heart sank.

People start wearing woolen cloth in mid July,that too in a town in Tamil Nadu. Climate change,isn't it?!

Here, I'm a bit edgy because of the way too wayward monsoon. To make matters worse, now I'm hearing that people start wearing cloth in mid July in Tamil Nadu!

Did I miss something? I've always equate Tamil Nadu with sweltering heat even during winters.

She continued--'Mamo, people here say it's the first time in recent memories when it's so cold in July'. She is new there,just getting her admission.

My heart sank furhter. First time in recent memories? That signifies the onset of the long-predicted climate change!

I hope I was totally wrong in saying all these things.

The 3rd day the truncated mega bandh

I even stepped out of my house this morning! That's after more than 70 hrs of continuous holing inside my house!!

I went out to buy some meat. My regular butcher was in his usual self--bandh or no bandh.

Most of the bigger stores pulled their shutters down. But street vendors were in their businesses.

Even after getting the news that 5 of diesel auto rickshaws were burnt by bandh supporters, many were seen plying in the streets.

The way of making the announcement of forming of a faction of a rebel group(it was done in a press conference on the 14th to appear on the frontpages of the 15th, on which the mega bandh had begun) and the way the bandh was truncated on the day the faction was announced on the frontpages mean that one party was making a retreat. It might be a tactical retreat, though.

It's to be noted that the news of the formation of the faction did not appear on the 15th might mean that the parent rebel group exerted pressures on the media houses not to publish it. On the 16th all paperes failed to hit the newstand presumably because of the wrangle of the two parties.

This round goes to the conspirators.

Will there be another round?

We had heard phrases like quality education, academic atmosphere, wilful targeting of memeber of a minority community etc etc in the aftermath of the assasination of Prof Islamuddin; but this morning's papers cleared all the smokescreens--Prof Islamuddin just happened to a sacrificial lamb.

The poor professor.

2 days into the mega bandh

If you the have the eye for it, you won't have a chance to miss it--Imphal is in the throes of a nail-biting political thriller!

It's most likely that the conspirators(my last post) are not from within the estblishment of Government of Manipur. But they have taken side to toe the line of the conspirators. After initial dismay at the ghastly killing of Prof Islamuddin,the actors of State Government machineries quickly grasped the possibilities thrown up by it to malign the rebel groups operating here.This must be one of the reasons why the chief Minister told the State Legislative Assembly that the time had not yet arrived for disclosing the charges levelled against the students. It must be noted that the students have now been arrested for nearly 60 days and the lone guy who really pulled the trigger in shooting down the Prof was also in the police custody. If they have got 60 days for investigation they should at least tell the State Assembly the charges levelled against the students.

For the ruling class in New Delhi, the conspirators are like the proverbial Manna from the sky.

Manipur has too many rebel groups and too much vigorous competitions amongst them. This fact gives the ruling class in New Delhi the opportunities to capitalize on the potent competiotions and to sow discord amongst the rebel ranks.

Now, the moves to capitalize on the potent competitions have moved on to an impressively subtle level and it turns out that most of the recent such moves are beyond some of the rebel leaders.

Today's ongoing mega bandh is the direct result of such moves and response from the rebel leaders who seem not able to fully grasp the subtelity of the move in the first place.

Viewing from another perspective, the ongoing bandh can also signify the start of a churn within the rebel ranks. This churn may, as the ruling class New Delhi has calculated, either result in the wholesale sinking of all the rebel ranks or, prove to be the proverbial test by fire for some of the more able rebel leaders.

From my personal life, it's a bit scary to come to terms with the fact I had not stepped out of my house for nearly 60 hours now! 50 hours!!

As I gathered from house which is only few feet from a street, life seems to be paralysed for the second straight day. I can do it from the sounds of the street!

At around 1 pm a military turboprop was encircling the Imphal valley. And it continued to do so fro nearly one hour. I could see it from my windows!

Mega bandh

We are facing with a mammoth bandh--120 hrs to be exact!

It all started with the killing of Prof Islamuddin inside the campus of MU itself.

It's TECHNICALLY right for the student body which called this mega bandh to claim that they have nothing to do with the killing and so, their cadres, arrested in connection with the killing, should be released.

But, in politics(or, in students politics) TECHNICALITY does not count.

It's all about LEADERSHIP and MANDATE.

To get an idea how TECHNICALITY does not count, lets' consider the following scenarios:

1. I'm not saying that this particular student body has links with the rebel group which openly claimed to have undertaken the killing of the professor; but, let's club together all the rebel groups with all the 'active' student bodies to label them as the seekers of mandate for 'change'.

Looking from this perspective, they are all 'fellow comrades'.

Most importantly, the 'poor,ignrant mass' understands that they are all 'fellow comrades' and that must be one reasons why the 'demcratic struggles'(for which the mega bandh is supposed to be the grand finale) to demand the release of the students dose not elicit any response from the 'poor, ignorant mass'.

In fact, the students are in jail because of the 'bad decisions' by some of their 'fellow comrades'.

2. On the opposite side, let's club together the State Government, the Government of India and the Gang to label them as the seekers of mandate for the status quo.

The Gang,which is behind the rampant killings of migrant labors,is fast becoming a favorite tool for the Government of India in its counter insurgency operation here.

Would the seekers of the mandate for 'change' have the remote chances of getting it?

The answer---absolutely NO CHANCE, as was demonstrated by the level of leadership thrown up when faced with the crisis leading to the killing of the professor.

In my mind, it's absolutely right when the rebel group,which killed the professor,claimed that it was a conspiracy which egged on the prof to openly defy it.

What they did not spell out is that the conspirators, in egging on the Prof, was actually egging on the particular rebel group to take the extreme step of shooting the Prof in broad day light inside the university campus.

In effect, the conspirators were testing the level of leadership of the particular rebel group when cornered with a conspiracy.

So, what's that level of leadership?

EXTREMELY POOR LEADERSHIP QUALITY.

We can use whatever term we like--be it, the mass, the people etc--but one thing is certain--they are not dumb and WOULD NOT hand over any mandate to that LEVEL of leadership.

So, what shall we say about this mega bandh?

The fact that we are facing with this mega bandh tells us the seekers for the mandate for 'change'are in fact beating about the bush when they should have a collective soul searching regarding that extremely poor leadership quality.

To put it more succinctly, if the current crisis started out with a conspiracy, they need to sit back, start using their brain and devise a game plan to check mate the conspirators.

To be blunt, it's fairly easy to comprehend that calling a '120 hrs bandh' would not constitute any part in the making of such a game plan.

I have a working computer, now!

Two weeks back, I hauled my computer to neighbourhood computer repair shop. My intention was to install a new windows.

But I found out that my hard disk was a complete wreck.

For the last 2 weeks, they were searching for a used 40 gb harddisk.

My old computer does not even support a 80 gb one!

They could get hold one this evening.

Now, I've a working computer!