The Comman Man wishes everyone a very Happy Independence Day!

8/11 - A Month Later

9:00 AM at Mahim Station.

Common Man gets down off the train at Mahim and lands in a studio. Television Camera’s all around, last minute hair jobs, quick make-ups, swanky vehicles with satellite dishes arround Mahim…..

Most of the media channels were right there to show the same station we all have seen so many times and tell us… this is were the blasts occurred.

We know that. We all know that.

What common man wants to know is how much has changed over the month. Our hearts still breaks as we read reports about the trauma of those who suffered, those who lost the near and dear ones, of many broken dreams……  Few are still in the hospital, few are still struggling… and few are yet to receive the promised compensation.

What has been done is what Common Man wants to know…. not what has happened.

Happy Birthday to WHO??

Surprised by the topic of this Post? Let Common Man be the first one to highlight the issue.

Happy Birthday to WHO? - This WHO is a prominent politician and the person who is wishing is someone with high ambitions in local politics. Welcome to the new phenomenon of celebrating Political Birthdays.

Go down in interiors of country (particularly Maharashtra) and in small towns you will notice huge hoardings/banners across the road, as if its like some festival - of a politician’s birthday. A huge space occupies the photograph of this politician, little over his head and the pictures of respective national leader - try to tell that he is blessed by them… and the rest of the hoarding will carry another picture of some local (upcoming or new) politician stating his love beyond life for the politician. The rest of the hoarding will have some 25 odd faces - I guess what they call party workers.

The kind of adjectives used for this birthday boy (politician) makes me feel that they are only next to GOD. Some go ahead to the extent that they now wish them through television advertisements - after marathi news on many Marathi channels.

Question remains where does this money come from? Why doesnt the local civic authorities (Municipal Corporations) charge them for littering the town? What about the hazardous plastics which are used and what happens of it after that? And in many cases this birthday boy politician is almost unknown in that town itself.

Why all this fanfare? Irony is that these so called well wishers will not even take so much pains for their own kid’s birthday.

Suicides worth 3750 Crores

Last week 3 more farmers committed suicide in Vidharba region. It sounds like routine news; but now this routine has climbed up and this figure now stands well above 14,000.

Back in school, most textbooks proudly told me that India is an Agricultural country. Then agriculture contributions almost equaled the GDP of the country. After our economy opened up, other sectors started adding up to the growth of India, but it seems that in process of nourishing new opportunities, we forgot the backbone of our economy - Agriculture.

From 2001 to 2006, over 14000 farmers from Maharashtra, Karnatake and Andhra Pradesh have committed suicides. Reason - Debts, High Cost of Seeds, Fertilizers, Power; and in between this all - their inability to take care of their family & responsibilities. Where is this all leading? The cost of farming has become so high that farmers are now giving up agriculture and trying to take up odd jobs.

What is the Government doing to address this? Instead of waiting for PM to come to Vidharbha and announce a relief packet, could they not waive off few Electricity Bills? Provide seeds & fertilizers at cheaper rates? Provide free primary education to farmer’s children? State Government has done their little bit, but that is not enough… knowing that we need a strong Agriculture base for a populous country like India.

But now Prime Minister has announced 3750 crore package for farmers in Vidarbha Region. It should be enough to clear off debts of over 3.75 Lakh farmers in Vidarbha (Assuming an average debt pay of Rs. 75,000 per farmer & possibly farmers gets another Rs. 25,000 for them to continue ahead in their occupation).

Knowing that this will or this should happen is not enough. Common Man wishes to know how and where every rupee of this 37,500,000,000 INR relief package was used.

Shouldn’t the Government to be transparent enough or do we need to seek information each time under the Right to Information Act?

Mr. Prez…  Please Visit All Stations

Fresh colors, New furnitures, Working clocks, New glasses for ticket windows, Illuminated Pillars, New Toilets, New Flooring, New Signboards, Raised Platforms, New Dustbins, Staff continously cleaning the stattion, Additional Security, and the list continues….

The common man is not describing new interiors for someone’s home… but this is what is Mahim Station today!

A new & clean look in flat two days! Railway officials should stop cribbing about inefficiency and lack of resources. If its the President’s visit is all that is required to change the look of Mumbai’s Railways Stations….. Common Man urges our President to please visit few more suburban railway stations in Mumbai.

Wondering why Common Man did not post anything on Mumbai Blasts? I shall do it soon…. but for now like all officials… the common man is ‘still reviewing the situation‘.


I thought to add this to the same post:

Day 2: Next Morning after Prez’s visit

 - Not a single cop on Mahim station today - Security is zero
 - Suddenly, the workers cleaning station have disappeared
 - Littering as usual
 - An TV reporter trying to set her camera and getting ready to show the ‘real picture’, which even she will forget by next week.
 - The new ‘getover’ of Mahim station will lie in dust and no one shall be bothered.
 - Two weeks from now., it will be just another suburban railway station

Indian Kulture on Television


This is an extension to my previous post about Indian Television Culture. Since, it has been said and emphasized many times that these K-Serials give a true picture of Indian 'K'ulture, Common Man has few things to say:

Whenever I hear of any new television starting with the letter 'K', I invariably end up telling myself that this one will never end.

I loud the creative heads and scriptwriters of K-Serials. Kudos to their innovative thinking! They start these K-Serials on most unique themes right from beauty parlour to call centers, family to corporate dramas and end up just being the 'same' story.

The K-Home

• Life expectancy of Indian Citizens has gone up exponentially after K-Serials were introduced. To have five to six generations living in a family is not a new thing. The great-great-great grandmother has few gray hairs. Other than her, everyone has pitch-black hair.
• Any character can be replaced at any give point of time. It also applies for the new characters, they just comes in from nowhere.
• Whenever any new character comes introduced to a serial, his/her motive is to get married, divorce, extra marital affair, murder, accident or losing memory. He or she is forgiven after that and the he or she disappears.
• These characters then disappear quickly, and so drastically that they should be listed in the 'Vanishings' episode of "Unsolved Mysteries". But stop, if he might reappear even after 250+ episodes and announce that ' It feels great to be back home after 5 years in Australia.
• Everyone gets a chance to marry more than once and have more than one affair in his life-time
• K-Families generously believe that guests are like Gods. Almost anyone comes to their home, and they would say ' Why you are staying in hotel? This is your home.  And by 'anyone' I mean anyone! Even if it is ' the Sisters' Cousins' Nephews' Aunts' Mother-In-Law's Neighbors' Friends' Uncle' Sisters' Brother-In-Laws' Cousin

The K-Business & Corporate Life

• ‘K’ Families manage huge huge companies, but no one has any idea what business they actually do.
• They shall talk about 500 crore as if it peanuts. At night they decide to acquire a 2500 crore company, and in morning they buy it out.
• Their archrivals in business can walk in to offices as if there is no reception or security; These rivals come right in between board room meetings, make some big statement about revenge and go off. Same applies for their homes.
• All businesses are family managed businesses, almost anyone can become Chairman, Managing Director or CEO, decisions are taken in K-Homes and not in Boardrooms
• I wonder should SEBI question all these K-Serial companies for flaunting all possible company laws and tell them to stop misguiding people on how corporate world functions.

The K-Shows goes International

• If K-Serials foray into International Television - Upcoming projects will include: ‘Kesparate Kives’, ‘Kex in the Kity’, ‘Kriends’, ‘Kho’s Kine is it Kanyway’, and more

Can someone tell them to make serials that can be in league of Nukkad, Humlog, Buniyaad, Dekh Bhai Dekh, Udaan, and so on…… which reflected to essence of its own time.

Or can they at least be as genuine as few recent television shows like 'Office Office, Khichadi or Sarabhai V/s Sarabhai were

12 minutes commercials + 2 minutes intro song + 3 minutes recap + 10 minutes of Relationship Drama + 3 minutes of what’s coming in next serial = One Indian Television Drama

To my reckoning, that will be the approximate price of Petrol in Mumbai if government decides to roll back all taxes. How much more goes the government need in taxes from a common man?

Petrol is priced at about Rs. 20 in Malaysia or about Rs. 32 in USA. Wonder where are we heading - are we trying to maintain the prices of petrol to the global benchmark or are we trying to fill government’s pockets which huge revenues it earns in taxes or are we trying to keep the PSUs most profitable companies in the country on expense of the common man.

Why is this information not available upfront on the Ministry of Petroleum website irrespective of citizen’s rights to information? Why has media focused on notifying users on price increases and not on the tax structures on petroleum products?

Would any one want to answer to the common man?

All the laws, rules, policies and regulations in India are centered around me, most of them made with an excuse that it will make life better for me - the common man.

Who is this common man anyway? Am I defined in the constitution? I see bills passed and amendments made to make me live happily. Or was it that I was created when few politicians needed me, and now they ask - who are you?

I live in a free country today. Democracy and Freedom are the two pillars of India I have been always proud about. But things have changed. After the Fanaa (Aamir Khan) episode; I feel that today Democracy* and Freedom* are two pillars of India.

Somewhere in fine print it means - *All views of India’s Common Man’s views and opinions are his own and we in no way subscribe to them. We are not responsible or maybe we do not even want to listen to him.

At times it seems that the entire country is bothered about me - without asking me what I am bothered about? Who am I? Who do I represent? Who represents me?

I think that I lost my identity in last 6-8 years, but no one seems to have picked that up.

Common Man was India’s face for many years. Thanks to RK Laxman, he represented every thought a common man would think about. But did he lose his ‘commonness’ in our race to globalization.

We will find out. Welcome to the Common Man’s Blog. Inspired by RK Laxman.