Where do I hide!

When going through my past postings, came across this. Embarrassing to think now that I felt UPA would be the best bet for the country.

http://hcmenon.blogspot.com/2009/05/historic-verdict.html

I did not vote

Yeah, I did not vote. Thought a lot about whom to vote. Could not choose between the lesser evils too. Thought from both a state perspective and local area perspective. Still could not convince myself to favor any person/party. Eventually decided not voting is a better option than voting a wrong guy in.

On a related note, 25% voter (read later that the final number could be close to 49%) turnout in Mumbai! Is it not largely a reflection of consensus view that no one is worth voting from the options given? Sure, textbook answer is find the right person to stand for elections then. My point is how is this different from some funda of voting for no one by filling a form? How does the latter score over the former?

Historic verdict!

Mark this day guys. It is a historic day in the electorate results. As I write this, the government has not been officially sworn in, yet it looks lkely that it will be UPA with SP + RJD. More importantly, without the Left. The Left parties have performed pathetically and has won the least number of seats. In fact, they have lost in West Bengal and Kerala! Wow.. this is almost unbelievable.

Kudos to the Indian voters. Despite low turnout, they have voted for what I believe is the best bet for the national government. Despite strong anti-incumbency factor in Indian politics (same government not being re-elected), UPA has been voted for. And in a manner much better than 2004 elections. The discriminative, regional, negative and extremist politics have been thrown out of the window. The Left, BJP, BSP, etc. have been impacted negatively due to the same reasons. How else do you explain Mayawati faring poorly in UP, her own backyard!

There were concers about a hung parliament, or a coalition government where BSP/Left has a significant say. It is clear that is not going to happen. It is really heartening to know that. I do not have anything against these leaders personally but their ideologies are not forward-looking and inclusive in perspective. Congress was the best in the fore, including having a good second-generation leaders in the form of Rahul Gandhi, Milind Deora, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sachin Pilot, etc. We want to see a younger parliament to represent our aspirations and ambitions. This elections verdict reflects that the Indian voters have voted for what they believe is right for the future.

I am very pleased with what I am seeing on my TV screens. There is no denying the fact that Congress is way different from BJP. The latter, I believe, has got their priorities wrong. This might well look like wisdom in hindsight, still it is true.

End of the day, as a citizen of this country, I am very satisfied that there will be a stable government at power without the anti-reforms partners like the Left. This, I strongly feel, is good for the country and the economy.

Of this and that

Exciting times are coming ahead of us over the next couple of months. Elections 09 and IPL 2.0! Most news these days surrounds the two mega-events. Rightly so. As they say, it cannot get bigger than this perhaps.

Elections 2009 is one of the most closely watched national elections ever. After 26/11, the young, restless, forward-looking India wants change. It is so very evident with the kind of pro-voting stunts that we are witnessing for few weeks now. In Mumbai, going by a recent news report, the voter registrations have touched an all-time high. If not anything, it means there is a desire to see things change for the better. Also, we are seeing an interesting mix of candidates venturing out to stand in the polls. Shashi Tharoor, Capt. Gopinath, Mallika Sarabhai, Meera Sanyal to name a few. Fresh minds, thoughts and ideas are surely welcome. Will they be able to win their respective seats? Not sure. Tharoor might, for he is fighting on a Congress seat. Mallika is up against L K Advani! Brave woman!! Meera Sanyal in the plush South Mumbai against the likes of Deora. Hmm.. tough. On a related note, here's a good piece on the independent candidatures. I quite agree with his thoughts.

Wishing them all the best any way. And kudos for standing up for what is right. True inspirations in many ways.

So who looks good to win the elections? Purely going by the media bytes, UPA. One major factor that could hurt them - anti-incumbency. Can NDA clinch it? Probably. It is not a very unrealistic scenario. Can a widely spoken-about Third-front emerge? Difficult. Very difficult. Whom do I root for? I prefer to choose from the lesser of all evils and that would be UPA.

Just one thought to close on. When we pick stocks to invest in, we consider the management of the company as an extremely important criteria to base our decision on. After all, they run the company in which I invest. Same way, the leaders are extremely crucial, at least the ones who would hold the key portfolios like finance, defence, home, law, trade and ofcourse the prime ministership. We must know the political parties' nominees for each of these portfolios to base our decision on. That way, I know whom am I choosing to be the Finance Minister, Defence Minister, etc. What say?

I cannot wait much for IPL 2.0 to start. There was a lot of noise about shifting it to SA. I care two hoots about it. It does not matter where it is held. What matters is it is being held against all odds. 8 exciting teams. Lively matches. Super show in waiting. Who will win? Can't say. My heart is with Mumbai Indians for the captain being a God named SRT, literally. My mind says Delhi. On form, that is. Rest all depends on the day. Too difficult to pick a winner here. Team with key South African players might have a lot of advantage. Again, in form Duminy is with Mumbai Indians. :)

I am extremely annoyed with the amount of controversies that gets raked up relating to both the two events, especially elections. Most of it is unnecessary gibberish. A lot of it is due to ultra-stupid media reporting. I am sure there are many politicians saying great things at many places and positive speeches and remarks being made in this big country. Yet, what we get is the he-throwed-dirt-on-him and shoe stories. It makes one think whether we are so rotten deep inside! I'm sure we are not but that is not what comes out in the light. Sad.

Ironically, we do not have a lot of movie releases lined up for the coming weeks. I'm not complaining. Too many choices are always confusing.

Irrational... but scary

In one of my earlier posts, I had cited an instance of how the Maharashtrians in Mumbai have started to feel let down and their privacy being diluted by 'outsiders'. The activities of Raj Thackeray's Nav-Nirman Sena over the weekend has added more weight to my views. Hope it is only a one-off and not emergence of a trend.

I always wonder how a layman Maharashtrian feel about all this? Can they relate to the ideologies and views of these extrimists? Is there supposed to be a differentiation between Mumbai and India?

What a day to start!

Incidentally, May 17 is quite an eventful day. Circa May 17, 2004, three events occured:
a. My CA Final examinations started on that day. Was real fun.. not just that day, but the entire CA voyage. Happy to have come out unscathed :)
b. The NDA government got replaced by the current UPA, something that came as a shocker.. and hence..
c. ..the equity markets tanked, handing over the first relatively big loss to me in the markets. And helped me in understanding the concept of 'beta' much better!

On the third anniversary of that eventful day, I still remain with a single degree (ACA), UPA has survived this term without too much of a scare and equity markets remain hunky-dory as ever!

To my mind, and I take a risk of getting myself verified then, three years down the line things would be completely different on all the three above counts.