People's Power- What Trump's triumph means to the world.

People have done it and done it again.

Be it Brexit, or be it this US elections or even 2014 Loksbha elections, people have really showed the power or you can say misuse (depending on which side you are) of democracy..
The fact that a bigot, a racist, a misogynist has won it in USA so convincingly is a vindication of the fact that people are tired of the rhetoric, of the same diplomacies being followed since time immemorial, of the fake liberal and pseudo secular garments that politicians wear in public for fear of losing their votebanks.
Yes, people are tired and afraid of the terror in the name of religion and are ready to elect anyone who dares to call a spade a spade which is the need of the hour.
An honest face, however evil, will stand a good chance in this Kalyug..

This I believe, is the real victory as well as the testing times for the democracy..
And a clear shift of power to centre-right from the extreme left and the rise of nation-centric politics

A tough time to be a pseudo-secular intellectual liberal anywhere in the world..

On a lighter note, in one of his pre election speeches Modi had snidely remarked in a moment of hyper nationalism that a day will come when the Western citizens, Americans in particular, will come rushing and wait outside Ahmedabad airport for Visa..

If Trump follows the Kejriwalian route, I see that day coming..

Cheers..

LET'S MAKE INDIA GREAT AGAIN.

- Devashish Palkar

RANT OF THE TAX-PAYING MIDDLE CLASS

#RANTOFTHETAXPAYINGMIDDLECLASS

Over the last 24 hours, I have overheard many people discuss, "Yeh sab bolne ke liye hai. Sab ke paas black money hai iss desh mein!"

I would politely like to inform such self-proclaimed detectives that my mom is a government servant and my dad works in corporate. Their salaries get deposited in bank accounts directly and taxes are directly deducted.
And believe me, families like us, the salaried class, who don't own businesses/ industries also form a very significant (though vulnerable/ taken for granted) portion of India..
Most of the schemes of government are sponsored out of our taxes..
So to answer you bluntly,
"India mein sab ke paas kala dhan nahi hota!"
If you have black money please declare it. It's your last/only chance.
(Please don't make a bonfire of valuable Indian currency notes as many WhatsApp forwards might be suggesting you to do. )
Till how long will country run on our taxes alone?

"LET'S MAKE INDIA GREAT AGAIN.."
#IndiaFightsBlackMoney

~ Devashish Palkar

Satire~ "Liberals declare end of intolerance as Arnab resigns!"

"Liberals declare end of intolerance as Arnab resigns!"

In an unprecedented news that dropped like an atom bomb on Tuesday evening, Arnab Goswami put his resignation at Times Now headquarters in Mumbai. The nation went in a state of collective frenzy as Arnab fans, mostly the right wing expressed shock and disappointment with the resignation while the left let out an Arnabesque euphoric roar.
Rajdeep Sardesai and Hafeez Saeed who were at Barkha's house celebriting Bhai duj were ecstatic when the news of Arnab's resignation. Rajdeep gave Barkha a bear hugand then reported, "This is a historic moment for Indian media. This will change India like 2014- The elections which changed India!" And jubiliantly threw copies of his book at our reporter.

Barkha was equally happy with the news. She reported to us, "All credit goes to my brother, Hafeez Saeed. It's due to his death threats to Arnab that he has decided to resign. Proud of you my bro" saying so she kissed Hafeez Saeed on the cheek.

Hafeez Saeed's joy knew no bounds as he immediately telephoned all his militant friends in Kashmir and asked them to start the revolts afresh. Hafeez said, "Today nobody will shout at your face out loud. No news channel will show you in bad light, comrades. From today onwards, entire nation will watch my sister at the prime time slot!" He was interrupted by Rajdeep's sudden bout of coughing.

In other parts of the country, Nayantra Sehgal, who had started the Award Wapsi campaign spoke exclusively to us and reported, "The intolerance has finally ended with Arnab's resignation. I am taking back my award which I had returned!"
As if on cue, 50 other intellectuals also lined up and decided to hold press conference asking the government to return their awards.
Aamir Khan declared, "Finally now I can proudly say, Kiran and I feel safe at home in India. There is no Arnab Goswami barking at us in our drawing room.! The nation has all of a sudden become tolerant.!"

People across the border in Pakistan also celebrated this news by firing crackers instead of bullets at the border as LOC witnessed a rare ceasefire. Politicians across the length and breadth of the country also rejoiced as they would no longer be answerable to the nation.
Supreme court judges were however sad with this news as one of the judges reoorted, "It was so easy for us when he was on Newhour. He would gauge the mood of the nation and pronounce the judgements himself. So nobody paid attention to whatever decision we took. But now with Arnab gone, our decisions will be scrutinized minutelt. Please come back soon, Arnab." The judge who wanted to stay anonymous almost broke down in front of our reporter.
Ashutosh, the senior AAP leader was excited with this news. He remarked, "Wow. This is great news. Arnab is retiring from media. Wow. I am planning to restart my 2nd innings in media now. As such, Times Now will be needing anyone with good quantity Englis for there Prime time sow. I am ready for the job. I will question Modi on the show and I will see how the Modi answers now!"

~ Devashish Palkar

Movie review- THE QUEEN OF KATWE

Movie review- THE QUEEN OF KATWE

Tried typing Mira Nair but my text predictor converted the word to 'Miracle'..
And I guess that's what she is as a director.
She knows her pieces well and makes perfect moves on this chessboard called cinema.
Its amazing how world is full of stories and this one comes from a place that you won't expect - straight from  an African hinterland.  The Queen of Katwe is a heartwarming rags to riches story of a girl named Phiona Mutesi, the daughter of a  widowed mother born in Katwe, which can be best compared to any of Mumbai's slums like Dharavi(except it has no Mukesh Ambani's Antilla overlooking it!). But it's not just a simple biopic. It's as much a story of her coach Robert Katande who is himself at best struggling to make two ends meet. He takes great measures to arrange funds for Phiona and ensures that she gets to participate in chess championships where only city boys are allowed.

But it is a movie to be enjoyed in the moments and pauses. The joy in the eyes of a mother, the celebration of starry eyed little kids as well as the palpable nervousness when faced with challenges. But above all its a vivacious movie about the never say die attitude and the will to overcome all odds. The slogan on the  rear glass window of the motorcar carrying Phiano to her first national school championship aptly captures the essence of the story- ''Challenges are not curse!''
And that's why we must never undervalue ourselves..
 In this season of biopics which has already seen Sushant playing MSD, if there is another movie you have to watch then choose this one. You will definitely fall in love with it.

- Devashish Palkar

THE WORLD THROUGH HIS EYES..

THE WORLD THROUGH HIS EYES

Medical internship is at once the most exciting and yet the most frustrating thing in the life of a young doctor- exciting, because there is this positive feeling of already having become a doctor and frustrating, because it is far from rewarding. But here comes the catch- it’s not a job, it’s internship! There are days when just a simple dressing helps heal a patient’s wound and the intern feels satisfied. However, there are testing times as well when you want to do so much more and find yourself helpless since there are not many opportunities available as you are the junior most in the hierarchy of medical practitioners.
One of the most worthwhile experiences of internship is the peripheral posting which gives you an opportunity for field work and provides a reason to be of service to the community. While the seniors are too busy in the hospitals, it’s the interns and the junior resident doctors who are entrusted the job of conducting camps and identifying patients in need of medical care!
As a part of my internship rotation in ophthalmology, I got an opportunity to be a part of a health check up camp this October. A school was selected in one of the nearby villages and my job was to test for visual acuity- or to assess if any child had any refractive errors and ask him/her to come to our hospital for follow up if so needed. We were provided with an English version of Snellen’s chart(the one ophthalmologists use for testing vision by asking you to read out what is written on the chart which is usually placed at a distance of 6 metres. It consists of a sequence of letters or numbers or figures depending on the patient’s intellectual level and language preferences). The chart worked quite well for the first 4 days. But on the fifth day, something much unexpected happened. To my utter surprise, the school which had been selected for the fifth day was a special school- a school for the differently abled.
An autustic kid came up and my friend and I had to assess his vision. Since we only had the letter based Snellen's chart (that too an English one!), we couldn't diagnose if he had any refractive errors. Numbers and letters didn't make much sense to him.
I felt irritated since the management team delegated with the work of conducting such camps could have been more painstaking in their approach and could have at least informed us what sort of a school it was going to be so that we could have brought some other charts and equipments which might have helped us a bit in assessing these kids’ visual acuity.
Unsure of what we should do, my friend and I however decided to continue with the task at hand using a bit of ‘jugaad’. We devised a makeshift Snellen’s chart with circles of varying sizes instead of letters and asked them to count the number of circles. It must be said that it was a totally ‘kaam-chalau’ technique. We were even able to diagnose a few kids with refractive errors with this technique. For the majority though, even figures made no sense or rather their imaginations were all too powerful to just laugh at our ‘jugaad’.
As we were returning, my mind went back to that autistic kid-
What use would it be to diagnose him with a refractive error- just because he can't read what we, the so-called ‘normal’ beings read? Yes, as a doctor, I can change his vision but not his imagination. He sees the numbers differently. He sees the world differently. And, guess what? It's so much better.
In his world, there is no discrimination whatsoever.
In his world, there are no soldiers and no terrorists..
In his world, India and Pakistan don't exist let alone fight.
 In his world there is only happiness and no sorrow, no worries for what is going to happen tomorrow. Wasn’t it how we were supposed to live?
 The world through his eyes is actually normal and beautiful and yet we have labeled him abnormal.
He sees the world differently...
And maybe that's what we envy..
If only we all could see the world though his eyes, it would be a better place..
Through his eyes, maybe we all suffer from refractive errors and it's high time we correct it.

-  Dr. Devashish Palkar

AB De Villiers autobiography: A fan review

In more ways than one, AB de Villiers would come closest to be described as cricket's very own Lionel Messi- extremely talented as an individual and yet the dream of winning honours playing for his country remains elusive for some strange reasons.
Yet, the journey is nothing but inspirational. And it's always the journey that's most beautiful, isn't it?

It's a journey of an eleven year old kid who wears the famous Jonty Rhodes' cap and drops a catch while playing with his two elder brothers only to have his cap removed and thrown in the dust by his brothers and friends. A humiliated AB then continues to bat and bat to seek redemption for dropping the catch. And yes it's the same youngster a decade later who is now taking some spectacular catches in the field in national colours who forces Jonty himself to say- ''He's my boy!''

It's a journey of a prodigious youngster who is floundering his way out of indiscipline and mediocrity and then all of a sudden wakes up one fine day and decides he wants to be the best in the world. How many people would say they want to be the best and then eventually go on to become the best?
Very few.
AB is one such rare player.
A once in a lifetime player.
A player so talented at various sports like rugby, tennis and cricket that even in his high school he is not sure which sport he is going to pursue.
Thank god, he chose cricket.

Speaking of god,  AB describes how he is a firm believer in god and that on couple of occasions he has even heard god speak to him, to his inner self and it continues to motivate him, to appreciate the little joys in life, to stay grounded and to acknowledge how privileged he has been to pursue a sport which he would play even without money for fun as a profession which now gets him to travel all across the globe.

AB also makes it clear that such a journey would not have been possible without the great friendships he has developed on the field. He writes at length how he cherishes his friendship with Faf Du Plessis who was his best friend and captain at school and about a fast and furious bowler who made his domestic and test debuts alongside him and had an almost similar journey to become the world's best, albeit with the ball, Dale Steyn.

From not being able to defend properly to playing one of the slowest innings in the history of test cricket to ensure a draw, he talks about the sheer exhilaration of batting with Faf Du Plessis on that eventful day at Adelaide when the high school friends who were once suspended for lack of discipline decided to grind it out in a battle of sheer attrition.

He writes about the team bonding and the willingness to take up any job for the team and setting example as a senior player now. He writes in detail the importance of having great seniors and mentors in the team and he particularly writes about the big three- Smith, Kallis and Boucher and how Kallis was the person who actually made him understand the importance of playing defensive cricket.

There was a time when his career appeared at crossroads. Then the fateful tour to India happened. Ahmedabad test happened. A transformed and more disciplined AB took centrestage as a brilliant double hundred helped South Africa defeat India at home and the juggernaut rolled on from there- a journey of dizzying personal highs and demoralising lows as a team while representing at world cups. He acknowledges how India and IPL in particular has played a pivotal role in the making of this beautiful journey. He writes how humbling it has been for him to receive so much love and adulation from Indian crowds even when he is playing against them and that the cheer: ''A..B.. D..'' from the stands will continue to reverberate in his memory forever.

There is also a dream that AB talks about which keeps waking him up every so often- that of him affecting a run out to win South Africa a world cup and how he desperately wants it to come true some day before he hangs his boots.

Don't expect AB to be like Kevin Pietersen. There are no startling revelations. No conspiracies. It's a honest account of an equally honest boy from Bela-Bela who has now made Bengaluru his second home.
Those who have watched AB only on highlights or only in last few years or only in IPL seem to have an opinion that AB was a born genius, a player cut from some different cloth. However, AB puts all such flattering notions to rest as he describes the process of how a player who averaged a mediocre 37 in tests in 2008 goes on to become the best batsman across all formats by staggeringly improving his stats. But, AB clearly mentions very early into the book that cricket is a game beyond just stats and that stats don't always do justice. AB writes about the emotional aspect of playing the game, of the grit to fight it out in 46 degrees heat of Chennai or the chilling cold of Wellington which adds so much flavour to cricket as a sport.

All in all, the autobiography brings out the human side of a batsman who has been described by cricket fans as a superhuman for his genius. Read the book and fall in love with this genius and if you love him already, read it and love him more. Get inspired because that is the underlying message- anyone can become the best in their field, all it takes is just a proper method and dedication.

Happy reading.

On FEAR and TRUST

ON FEAR AND TRUST..

At some level, we have all been broken- at some point in life.

Broken by swords.
Broken by words..
Broken by TRUST.

Not all wounds have a visible dressing, not all fractures have a plaster.

But, we are broken.

Broken by the demons in the outer world...
Broken by the demons our mind conjures up every night..

And in the process we have lost small fragments of us..
We have become the pieces of jigsaw puzzles on a chess board..
It's really complicated..
We want to find other pieces that we can fit with to make a complete picture but we are afraid since we are always treading on a chessboard, unsure and also sceptical of someone's next move, unsure whether to embrace or to checkmate.
We have lost the art of identifying people!
Oh but nobody possessed that art!
 Even history is a witness- a witness to friends turning their backs on each other, of strangers shaking hands for a cause, of benevolent sacrifices, of malicious conquests, of cold non-alliances..

We have maligned the meaning of that word-
TRUST..

Patients don't TRUST their doctors.
Citizens don't TRUST the government.
Neighbouring countries don't TRUST each other.

We live each day in each other's fear..
In the shadows of the nuclear bombs that we all secretly possess..
We know we can hurt someone.  But we also we know we can be hurt ourselves..
But we still play with the fire.
And the fear.
Because FEAR is a great thing..
A force stronger than TRUST itself..
A force so strong that can unite us or divide us..
So, we cling on to those who we think can protect us or can share with us- our FEARS!!
So, smaller fish will form a school, the cattle will form a herd, and men will form a crowd.. We are united by FEAR..

But our FEAR looms nonchalantly alone-
The Shark, the lion and another man with something beneath his shirt!
Often they will come alone and yet break us down. Because we are United by FEAR and not by TRUST..

We are together and yet we are FEARFUL..

The men came together and formed civilizations in the FEAR of wild animals, ghosts, demons and  natural calamities..
And then when there was no FEAR to be FEARED, we started to FEAR each other.. Because too much power, too much acquaintance only makes us more vulnerable.

Yet, we are pieces of jigsaw puzzles on a chess board- wanting and yet FEARING each other..

But, as my college professor Dr. Somashekhar Nimbalkar sir said when I WhatsApped him the draft of this blog- ''Be Abhih! Be fearless!''

After all, as it has been mentioned in one of our Sanskirt verses-
''Abhayam mitrad-abhayam-amitrad abhyam-jnatad abhayam paroksat*
*Abhayam naktam-abhayam diva nah sarva asa mama mitram bhavantu*''
Atharvaveda 19.15.6

Meaning:
 May we be fearless from my friends and from those who are not my friends. (Gyatat abhyam) may we be fearless from known persons and (yah puraha abhyam) and from those who are in front of me ( Naha naktam abhyam) may we be fearless from night (Diva abhyam) as well as in day (Mama sarvaha ashaha) all our desires and all the four directions (Mitram bhavantu) may become our friends.


- Devashish Palkar