Love it is .....

When I met her for the first time I wasn't very sure what to take from that very moment. For that matter it was all kind of blank for me. Many have told many things about this situation. But I thought that I would be able to survive without any experience of being in a relation before. Anyway I have been thinking about this very scene for a while and decided to go ahead irrespective of whatever happens. She was standing at some corner in a group of likes and I think she didn't even care to notice me. hmmm .... Like many even I did try to ask myself several times if what I was doing is right. Ya, there were moments i got jittery and flaky in this relationship but there is always a scope for improvement and the question is will I be able to do all this without hurting her?

In the beginning it was all these dopamine and serotonin levels in my head messing with my ability to think rationally. Like every other case time took its own pace and I came to my senses with her in this relationship. I think at times I pissed her off or wasn't able to meet her expectations. People say that love doesn't know borders and doesn't expect anything blah blah ... but that's not the practical situation for anyone. At times I was at the receiving end and sometimes there were others openly trying to flirt with my love while I was just standing there passively with million thoughts going on in my mind. But all of this doesn't matter at this very moment to me. I failed to live up to her expectations and take good care of her. There are rough patches and we have our own ways of getting over these and finally I parted for few days so that she can have her share of time for herself. Today evening I was anxiously waiting for her at this very place we separated and man I couldn't believe my eyes. What I am looking at? Just like the first time she was there standing tall with a bright and shiny smile but this time carrying the image of me in her eyes. I am going bonkers and feel like I am on top of the world. We took the road that was often traveled and this time none of us were afraid of the times that are ahead and "we" can take care of everything together. She smelt good, sounded good and looked good and most of all we looked good together.

Yes, I am back on my Thunderbird after the scheduled service and am really crazy at this very moment looking at this beauty. The night is long and I know that we have to spend some together on some lonesome highway!!

New Sounds

While Apple and Palm are battling it out about “to fake it or not to fake it” I am busy screwing my ears with the data on my iPod. In the last two years I have tried out lot of new music styles and bands with inputs from various friends of mine and so thought that I should publish another playlist. Most of these songs are by relatively not so famous indie rock bands that prefer having a greater control on their music than some corporate houses. Starting with the list …..

Stars and Sons - You Forgot It In People – Broken Social Scene

I like this song so much that I wish I have an infinite loop of this song running in the background in my life. I could go on listening to this entire album for days and days and still find the music very fresh and young the very next day. People joke around saying that one in every 10 Canadians is a member of BSS.

Incinerate – Rather Ripped – Sonic Youth

Original version(Embedding Disabled)
I mentioned about this song Guitar sounds so addictive and vibrant here. At one point of time Nirvana used to fill the slots during the shows of these guys and later on Nirvana proved to be much bigger success.

Cause=Time - You Forgot It In People – Broken Social Scene

Another awesome number from BSS and this has some social element in it this time. Most of the lyrics of BSS songs don’t make much sense for they are so dreamy and abrupt but still they sound relevant at times.

Wild Gardens - Dancing With Daggers – Magneta Lane

This is another Canadian Indie rock band and an all female one. Apart from this I don’t know much about these “guys”. Yeah their music rocks!!

The Sound of Settling – Transatlanticism – Death Cab For Cutie

An indie rock band from U.S of A and one of the commercially successful ones out there. Their music is very melodic and feels good on ears.

I'll Bring The Sun - Idols Of Exile - Jason Collett

This guy also plays for BSS and runs his own group. Music sounds like a mix of pop, country and alternative rock.

Over And Over Again (Lost and Found) - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

Another indie rock from US and their sounds are very innovative and catchy. It’s hard to make out what this guy is singing but it hardly matters when one listens to the song.

Way Out - Show Your Bones - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

I like this song for the singer’s voice. She sounds very energetic and lively. Voices like these make me sing along at times :)

Stuck For The Summer – Isolator (EP) – Two Hours Traffic

One more Canadian Indie rock band and it’s a grey area for me too. I haven’t tried much of their music. In terms of music availability in India it’s all controlled by the major recording labels and it’s extremely difficult to see any of the records that I have mentioned so far in stores.

If You Were For Me – If You Were For Me - Rose Cousins

I think she is the non Jazz version of Norah Jones. Beautiful music and no complaints!!

In The Aeroplane Over The Sea – In The Aeroplane Over The Sea – Neutral Milk Hotel

One of the most successful Indie rock albums of its times and this song is a tribute to Anne Frank.

Apart from these regular songs I came across these mashups (mixture of 2 or more different songs)

Supermassive Mandy - DJ Sunderland – Supermassive Blackhole (Muse) + Oh Mandy (The Spinto Band)

It’s an amazing mixture of two different songs. This song changed my whole outlook towards mashups! Interestingly this song sounds better than the two originals …

I've Told Every Little Pumpkin – Mashed In Plastic - The David Lynch Mashup Album – 1979 (The Smashing Pumpkins) + I’ve Told Every Little Star (Linda Scott)

The Smashing Pumpkins is my all time favorite alternative rock band and not so surprisingly most of their work still sounds relevant or fresh. I am excited to know that they are working on their new album. The second song in this album is li’l known to me before and Lindas voice is simply mesmerizing and hypnotic.

Trip to UmaMaheswaram Temple

Another destination and another trip but with some new people, some old friends and some "special" friends ...As usual I follow the instinct of the dog sticking it's head out of the car’s window and decided to hit the road under the noble guidance of the great Zen master Capt. Rama. Our captain this time has come up with a plan to mix a trek with camping and “star” gazing (my friends say that I don’t sound more “chic” than this!!). Nobody knows the exact route except for the fact that we have to go somewhere on the Srisailam highway.
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My day started at 6:30AM and I went to office to finish some unfinished business from the previous long and sleepless week and headed towards the railway station to receive Anitha. After receiving several threats of various degrees seriousness I made sure that I hit the reservation counter queues early to book a tatkal ticket. But man, in a nation of one billion people no time is early enough for one to ensure anything is easy. There were almost some 200-300 people waiting for their turn in 7 queues. Panic panic… there came my friend SaiNarayanan to the rescue and he booked the ticket online probably cursing me for waking him up early. I made this wise choice of asking Anitha to get down at Secunderabad station instead of Begumpet which costed us some 30 minutes of time which I spent by watching the train announcements on the platform. We quickly reached the house and got ready in 30 mins and headed to the Shamshabad Int’l airport which connects us to Srisailam Highway. Meanwhile Capt. Rama directed the other folks who were waiting from 10AM to the same destination through the busiest section of the city which took them almost an hour or more to reach the airport.

Once I am on the bike I am usually lost in a different world altogether and sometimes ends up missing the potholes and speed breakers which are very frequent. Capt. Rama is well aware of this fact and knows very well what to do. But I realized after sometime that it’s not the captain who is in the back seat now and this special person can very well kill me if I mess up with her. But I was too late and hit couple of road blocks at high speeds and instead hearing the usual “abe saaale marwayega tu or oh teri” I saw Anitha enjoying this with a big smile on her face. I am safe and don’t have to regret the fact that I didn’t insure myself.

We stopped at a small tea shop on the way and had tea and some snacks with Anup and Jayanta and joined by the misguided lot under the noble guidance of Capt. Rama after 30-40 minutes. Anitha and I decided to leave from here and I had to embrace myself for the greatest mysteries of life, earth and the things beyond a.k.a Miss. Anitha is driving. This was part of the deal and I guess it’s one of the strongest reasons for her to be here. Man she can’t reach the ground and can’t even get the bike off the center stand. None of them have a direct relation to driving skills but these don’t help build confidence. This ones gonna be a real adventurous trip I thought.
In the next 10-15 minutes I had to change my opinion about Anitha’s driving. She is good, careful and is a quick learner. It was my turn to enjoy the view now. As a biker it was mostly about the wind, sun, rain and wilderness of traffic or roads that keeps me occupied but having to sit back and to enjoy the view is another part. Meanwhile the driver is hitting the 100 kmph comfortably. We stopped at a small dam and another road side dhaba for food. Anitha drove for sometime but I asked to switch positions as we had catch up with others moving fast in cars. I think she didn’t like this part and I could clearly read her face. We reached the ghat road and I always wanted to drive on such roads and again excused myself from the ever enthusiastic driver in the back seat. On the way we missed a small turn where all the others were waiting for us and my excuse was that since Anitha is driving she is supposed to watch out for all this… while Rama says that I am in the back seat concentrating on the driver.

After reaching the temple we had some more tea and started to trek to the top of the mountain and it started to rain. The path that leads us to the summit is an old broken staircase with no or broken stone steps. Carrying the heavy telescope and other camping equipment to the top was a painstaking part.

Rama and Nagesh immediately got down to business and were setting up the telescope and I was getting irritated as I couldn’t find the antiseptic cream that I bought which I wanted to apply on my hand where an insect crawled and bit me. Most of the ground was wet and folks somehow managed to set a small fire. We played poker with imaginary money for some time. I guess it was around 12 or 1AM and I started getting bored and chose a spot closer to the edge of the mountain and started enjoying the view this place has to offer with some music. Rama and Nagesh were still busy viewing Jupiter and its bands, the pleiadis, and a few nebulas. I would have definitely enjoyed some company but was left all alone to myself and my music. Broken Social Scene is my savior as usual. I decided to push myself and see how long I can stay awake. Shiromi came to the rescue after sometime and we were discussing some random stuff which went on for an hour I guess. Archis and I started or descent and came back again to take some more of the luggage. Miss Anitha just got up then everybody was ready in another 30 mins at the temple. At this point of time I was sleepless for 26 hours and eager to test to physical limits and started the drive with Anitha again. I knew that she wanted to drive but before she could say that I cut her saying that we should reach city ASAP and I will be driving. After some 80KM I was feeling lil tired and asked her to drive and we took a dirt track so that she could experience some of the extreme versions of driving. She was too freaked out for some reason and gave the control to me. By 10:30 we reached Airport and from there started the city traffic. As usual I was irritated to the max by the time I reached home. Took a bath and had some milk shake and a muffin with hookah at a coffee shop and dropped Anitha at her friends place. Later I worked for some 2 hours and was immediately joined by my friends who just dumped in their car for a round of drinks. In the evening I joined Rama and Shiromi for a wedding party and was back home with a horrible headache. I was awake for 40hrs in a row and couldn’t take more of it and hit the bed immediately. What a day, an awesome ride with some beautiful curly hair flying in the wind in the rear-view mirror, a strenuous trek, boring camping part and a sleepless weekend summarized with a blog bringing me back to my usual self.

Trip to Ananthagiri Hills

What would a day with 15 complete unknowns turn into? If I were to answer this before 22nd of this month I would have said something like “Very unlikely to happen. I can’t think of the situations unless we were stranded on an island or taking part in some reality show”. .. well that’s the phunny side of me answering. But my new found roomie “Mr. Rama” made this happen and in a more exciting way than I imagined this to be.

One fine day Rama decided that he should enlighten some of the folks, in this dry land of Hyderabad to whom the idea of a lake is hijacked by the stink hole called Hussain Sagar, with his kayaking skills. So, he started off with a plan to kayak at a faraway place called Ramappa lake which is represented by a small blue dot on google maps representing the fact that water is/was there. But many folks from this group weren’t so upbeat as this takes half a day to travel and many of them had to return the same day because of the festival next day. Finally folks came up with this place called AnanthaGiri Hills which is at some 80Km distance from Hyderabad just some 12-18 hours before the start time. Amazingly lot of people turned up even with such a short notice. So Rama and I decided to carry some biscuits to eat and that’s pretty much the plan for the trip along with clothes.
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We started off at 6:30 in the morning and picked up Danika, Raman “the Organizer” and Preeti on the way. Many a times I faced this question “You sure about that bike? We still have plenty of space in the car? What if it rains? Etc etc”. But only a biker and a dog which sticks its head out of car window knows the answer to this question “why on the bike”? At around 7:30 we met other members of the group at Mehdipatnam and from there it’s just one big straight road (kind of). Initially I was a bit worried that I may not be able to catch up with the cars considering the facts that my bike is still new and I am trying not to cross 90kmph on Indian roads at least. There were 4 cars carrying 3 kayaks and throughout the journey I could find myself trying to keep up with at least one of the cars. I was constantly driving in the band of 80-90kmph and I love the experience.
To my amazement I find this side of the country pretty green. Probably it’s so because it rained just few days ago and imagine driving on a road with almost zero onward traffic and lush green fields on both sides of the road on a cloudy day!! As mentioned earlier the dog and the biker are the “Lucky Ones”. We stopped at Vikarabad for breakfast and I had idly along with coffee. The menu included Idly, dosa, and upma and many backed out of the last one just by looking at the shape that was served. It was some greasy white lump in a plate and the hotel people were selling it as Upma to folks.

Next stop is at our trek point which is just 10kms away from where we had breakfast. The road that leads to this place is also worth mentioning. There were lots of curves along with ups and downs. I like this kind of roads very much. The flyover that takes us from Begumpet to Nagarjuna circle in Hyderabad is one such example. As soon as it that one I try to drive at 80-90 always with 40 sign staring at. This is my first trek experience in and around Hyderabad. The weather was kind of humid but it was manageable. We climbed down from a small hill and reached the top of the next one. Lazed around for some time and came back without realizing that it was the same path that some of us took while climbing up. For a moment we thought that we were lost. I changed to shorts and man was that a mistake? There were lot of these bushes and insects at many places. I had few bruises but nothing bad. I think this Anoop guy had a big infection sort of thing developed because of caterpillar that crawled. Rama stayed back with Danika and Preeti though. On top of the mountain some folks were displaying their inherent skills by climbing trees. Don't bother about the image next to this paragraph. That's supposed to be my creative side explaining the trek.

We went back to visit a temple which is some 5Kms back. From here we travelled to a small lake called Kotapally lake (which Rama claims that is named after him). It’s a small drinking water lake/reservoir sort of thing. Rama, Danika and Milind brought their kayaks and the first two were inflatable. What Milind got is a single seater pro stuff and he got all the gear including the suit to wear. Rama and I set out on a small round where he was explaining about direction control and force etc. I was wearing the life jacket as I can’t swim. Few of the team members were trying to highjack the kayaks in the name of “Pirates of Kotapally Lake” which was funny. Unfortunately I sprained my leg in the trek and to add to the misery I stepped on a glass piece which was inside the water and got a big cut. After some break due to injury I went on the second round of kayaking and this time it’s with Anoop who also can’t swim like me. Both of us were first timers at this. After sailing some 300-400 mts we reached a point where it became unmanageable for us to control the direction of the kayak because of the wind flowing in the opposite direction and I think we took some 40 mins to complete this trip. In the meantime Milind was explaining some pro stuff that he learned to other folks on his kayak. There was this routine called “Wet exit” where a person would try to free himself from the kayak incase it turns upside down. To me it looked like murder/suicide experiment. Tie a guy inside that and tumble the kayak and wait for him to escape. This may not be that important in a lake but in flowing water it would be very important. Anyway I am not the right person to comment about it.
Around five or so we started heading back and stopped at one place for tea. This time Rama accompanied me on my bike. Usually I wouldn’t bother about small potholes unless they are in the range of one feet deep. It’s Rama's turn to keep on cursing me for not slowing down whenever there is one.

That’s pretty much about the trip and I am eagerly looking forward to do anything like this.

Turn The Page

.... enough of this flirting in this big and busy city. I say let's get serious outside? She replied with a bright shiny smile. No one is complaining ever since.

I am talking about my "Thunderbird" Motorcycle by Royal Enfield. Do I like it? Hell, I am in love with it ever since I lay my hands on this beauty. Was eagerly waiting to unleash the raw power of this machine. Hence decided to go on a trip to Srisailam on bike with couple of folks from work. But, everybody ditched in the last minute. I was hell bent on making this trip a solo affair despite of the 250Km distance that I have to cover to reach the place. But thanks to Kiran I changed the destination to Nagarjuna Sagar Hydroelectric Dam which is at some 160Km distance from Hyderabad. Both Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar have a Hydroelectric dam on river Krishna and at one place we have a Hindu temple and at the other we have Buddhist monuments.


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We planned to leave early on Saturday morning to avoid mid days heat. Temperatures reach 40+c easily in this part of the country. Packed my bag with biscuits and some other miscellaneous stuff to eat. Kiran reached my house on Friday night. I woke up at 4AM and got ready in 30 minutes and woke up Kiran. When you get up so early in the morning it takes some time to gain your senses and the best and fastest way to do that is to stand in the shower. Sudden rush of the cold water on your head is one hell of a feeling. We hit the road by 5AM and my usual daily alarm (set to 5AM in my mobile) started by the time we were about some 2KM from my house.

Kiran with the map in his hand is the guide for the day. We needed the direction to get out of the city and it took some 50-70 mins to cross DilsukhNagar and enter the Sagar Highway. There is this crazy road half constructed and with traffic coming ahead of us in the same lane. After some 20Kms or so we reached the actual highway with two lanes and without a divider. There were many of these buses rushing towards the city and those guys don't give a damn about two wheelers and I tried to play bluff sometimes and it worked.

Before entering a small town called Ibrahimpatnam we crossed a small dried up lake, which on the first look I thought was a farm land. Took some couple of snaps and started again. Kiran was getting restless about the speed of the bike. I was driving in the constant band of 55-65 KMPH. My bike is still pretty new and I covered some 1.5K Km so far. We are hungry by the time it was 7AM and we stopped at some roadside tea stall. There was nothing to eat and we settled down with a cup of hot tea and few biscuits that we brought along with us. We saw some temple being constructed on top of a small hill next to the highway and decided to visit that. This was fun because of the mud road that leads us to the top and also happens to be my first experience of this kind. View from the top of the mountain is awesome. Spent couple of minutes there before joining the road again.

We reached Nagarjuna Sagar by 9AM and had some heavy breakfast (applies to me) at the AP tourism restaurant. We found that a small gate behind the restaurant was open and we sneaked in. Climbed down some 1Km distance and we reached the reservoir water bed. This place looked really awesome with all those naturally eroded stones. Climbing all that distance wasn't an easy task and started again to visit the dam. Due to recent terrorist activities dam was off civilian limits. We stopped on the transport bridge which is exactly opposite to the dam and took few snaps.



We thought of joining the boat ride to Nagarjuna Hill where all the Buddhist monuments were placed but missed the boat by 5 minutes. The trips start at 9AM, 10:30AM and 1:30PM. We thought of visiting the nearby waterfalls named "Ethipotala falls" and be back by 1PM. This place is at some 15KM distance from Sagar Dam. By this time I emptied two some bottles of water and had few juices. It was getting really hot. There is some illuminated show during the night near the falls. We climbed down another small hill to reach the base of the falls. As per the local guide water from near by mountains accumulated during the rain forms a small stream and joins the river Krishna and this is alive throughout the year. Water is dirty for some reason and stinking badly. We rested in the stench for some team and again started for Sagar. We reached sagar at around 12:30PM and had few juices and lassi in a restaurant.

The boat ride started at 2PM and it is some 30 mins ride to the mountain. I never realized that Buddhism was so popular and so wide spread in India, especially in Andhra Pradesh. I read about it in books but watching all the monuments found from the excavation made during the reservoir construction is a different experience. It was during Sri Adi SankaraCharya's time Hinduism increased its influence at the expense of Buddhism and Jainism in India. We started from the Nagarjuna Hill (named after a southern Indian Master of Mahayana Buddhism) at around 5PM and it started to drizzle slowly. By the time we were halfway in the reservoir the wind grew stronger and so did the rain. After some point it became difficult for the captain to manage the boat with so much wind blowing. He immediately sailed the boat to the nearby small hill and waited there till the rain stopped. While I was trying to calculate the probability of me drowning to death few kids on the boat were discussing about Titanic movie. Perfect!!

We started from Sagar at around 7PM after one round of lassi at the same restaurant again. After we traveled some 10KM Kiran realized that he dropped the glasses somewhere which were mine. But I was in mood to go back looking for them. Taking small breaks for every 1 hour we reached Hyderabad in roughly 3 hours. From city outskirts it took lot of time for us driving through all the chaotic city traffic. I dropped Kiran at his place and reached my house by 12:30AM.

Covered some 410KMs in a day and it was a nice experience. My bike was full of dirt and I didn't wash it till now. No worries about it. I am sure that we (me and my bike) can come to terms about this.

... and about the title of this blog, it is from the first complete rock album that I've listened to. It's by Metallica from their cover album Garage Inc. Original song is by Bob Seger and talks about the social ups and downs of a rock star on the road. It's the first song that comes to my mind whenever I think of a "The Trip". No post is complete without the companion and here is mine ...

What's happen'in'g

Well, apart from the usual junk TV shows about poll results and prediction pundits giving their gyaan weather is mostly sultry and depressing. For the best of both worlds I filled all my TV channels with non-news related shows with Movies and Music followed by cartoons topping the list. IPL is a big no-no for me. Sharukh Khan comes to my mind when I talk about IPL. Heard that recently he underwent a shoulder surgery. Of course why wouldn't he, after all these years of stretching his arms wide open and twisting/tilting his neck in the name of acting. I bet the next thing to go under the knife would be his neck. I believe that this guy is a mistake in Bollywood and Swadesh and Chak-de are few blunders in his career. Otherwise rest everything else fits the junk movie category perfectly. Imagine this fellow doing the role of Luke Kenny in Rock On. In the last concert that Luke plays S.Khan would be spitting out blood on the keyboard and stretching his arms wide open occasionally with eyes filled with water/tears then our heroine or someone would rush to him to wipe off the stains but this guy would be saying "heyeyeyey na-a-a-a-a" in his trademark style.

Our meteorological department announced that monsoon will be hitting AP this year by end of May (1 month earlier).Good and great news for me. I can't wait to run/jog in the rain in the KBR National Park or ride by bullet in the rain. That would be awesome, me thinks. I always wanted to do that but somehow it never worked out. Once I kept on playing in the rain like a mad boy in my school during after hours but my dad came looking for me and found me riding the bicycle in loops in the empty ground in rain. What happened next was a different story.

One advantage from running in the rain is that you can skip the bath and also one can't differentiate your sweat from rain drops. Music would be a good company but I personally prefer not to carry my iPod while running. One reason is that excess baggage is always not preferred and also to hear the music properly I end up increasing the volume there by screwing my ears. Perfect ending to a long jog in the rain would be a Dark chocolate temptation coupled with hot chocolate sauce !!Yummy!!.

Till then I wait for the rain and I strongly advice all readers not to waste their time replying about my SRK comments. I think it's not worth my time or yours ;)

Young India

If not now then when and if not us then who?

Recently I attended a youth interaction meeting organized by one of the political parties in Hyderabad. Unlike the regular ones where truck loads of people will be hoarded in with incentives like Liquor, Food and Money this one was with full of volunteers who are young and energetic. Before I go into details about why I was inclined towards the "dirty politics" lets go through few FACTS.

- 74% of Indian population is under the age of 35-40 years.
- There are 12 MPs in parliament who fall in that age group.
- All of them happened to be the kin and clan of some leader already in politics.
- Two of the MPs are women. One is Priya Dutt as Sanjay Dutt can't contest in polls due to the criminal charges he is facing and Supriya Sule, daughter of Sharad Pawar as she doesn't have any "brothers".

So all this 74% hard working, young and tax paying (some of them) junta is represented only by a humiliating 2.2% MPs in entire parliament. Fantastic!!! The prime ministerial candidates of both leading parties is above 75. Older than the young and independent India they represent.

What is important for a young nation? Job creation, education and health care. In the boom time of economy china has created almost 11crore jobs and lost some 2crore due to recession where as India could create only 2crore jobs which are declining day by day. So what is my hard earned tax money doing? Of course when our main political parties are busy in wooing the voters by giving them anything and everything free how can one expect anything positive from them.

In the previous budget Govt. of India announced farm loan waiver package for most of the drought hit regions which amounts to 60000 crores. It will be a relief to farmers who are in trouble but how is this thing going to help anyone in long term apart from votes? Just by waiving off their loans doesn't ensure that the same condition isn't going to reoccur in future. For a country where almost 60% of the population is employed by agriculture and accounting to only 18% of GDP we have only a couple of agricultural clinics helping farmers on improving the productivity of the crops and on other issues. Compare the number of people working in agricultural areas to that of engineering or Medicine. Still many of the farmers depend on rain fall than the irrigation channels. One direct example is the reaction of the stock market to the monsoon schedule in India. Not only agriculture, just name the field and any man can pinpoint the pitfalls and short comings. But all of us would hesitate be part of any functionaries which have direct impact on all these things.

Just the announcement of election schedule is enough to lift India out of recession considering the amount of black money floating in the market. Some parties are asking for a "fee" of Rs. 5 Crores for a MLA ticket in state assembly and the candidate has to spend again some truck loads of money on liquor, gifts etc schemes to attract voters. This expenditure is treated as an investment which can be recovered from people through various means once he wins. This has become a vicious circle and it becomes extremely difficult and in many cases almost impossible for any one to win without being part of this system.

Here comes the meeting that I attended. It was organized by Loksatta (Peoples Power). This used to be an NGO headed by Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan (ex-IAS) officer which was instrumental in
- Empowering the people with the RTI act
- Key driving factor behind many electoral reforms such as
- Giving 100% tax exemption to funds donated by people
- Making the process of applying for voter id card easy through post-office
..... many others to mention.

For more details please visit:
- wiki: Lok Satta
- Wiki: Jaya Prakash Narayan

Many goals of this party are: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lok_Satta#Goals

With proven track record of Dr. JP as a NGO head and as a functionary of government earlier I couldn't find any other reason not to be part of this movement. Often one is faced by the question such as "Will my vote be of any use to them as there would be very few who would vote for such parties?" etc.

We don't vote for winning parties but we empower some party to lead us. I decided to contribute to the party by donating some money and spending some of my time in party activities in the coming month. Donations can be made here http://www.loksatta.org/Contribute.php