The year 2009 has been turbulent beyond measure for the state of AP. By all accounts 2009 has been a golden year for News channels in Andhra Pradesh. The very intensity of dramatic events compelled viewers to stay glued to TVs. Never before the channels had the opportunity to cover such breathtaking events & never before were audiences more eager and anxious to absorb more . The clear victor in the universal mess are news channels.
I bet in 90s or 80s, occurence of similar incidents wouldn't be excited so much hype nor had been extrapolated beyond their worth. Telugu audiences have atleast 14 news channels & till now it appeared that audiences weren't sufficiently interested in so many news channels. But 2009 came to their rescue. Now, people were getting more news-hungry and craving for indepth analysis of news. The change is perhaps coincidental for the issues which cropped up were damn interesting. It began with unveiling of Satyam scandal to more clarity & ends up at a situation wherein 2010 might also see the last of what we presently know as Andhra Pradesh.
1. Satyam scandal. Even by the currupt standards of India Corp this was gigantic and most unexpected. Satyam had earned a high reputation & was blue boy of AP Inc and politicians were quick to distance themselves from them as soon as it occured. The news has lost its sting now, but back then it was shocking by even the deplorable Indian standards.
2. Megastar Chiranjeevi's lacklustre performance is another . By all accounts Brand Chiru is sensational hit irrespective of the fate of his films. Even flops usually recover back most of the money invested. Yet, he has realized (so have his fans) that politics is a different ballgame and unlike his premediated victory over villains in movies, he has no power to score similar successes in real life.The reel-to-real transition has proved fatal. Whats worser is that, he split the votes that effectively cut through TDP's & literally prevented Chandrababu Naidu from putting a much better performance. So he screwed Babu & that became YSR's gain.
3. The untimely death of our beloved CM YSR certainly was a matter of deepest regret to many people & especially among poor. That his helicopter went missing & it took nearly a day for finding about the whereabouts & fate is a stark irony on the supremacy of man & technology (or is it really?). Indeed, the timing of his death when he was near invincible appeared like a conspiracy of nature to showcase its supremacy. A Chinese proverb says "Disaster seldom strikes alone". And this incident was the beginning of it all.
4. Floods in Kurnool & other districts was most unfortunate. As if in answer to our pleadings, the state which received rainfall far below the requirement had now to face an excess. This resulted in severe loss of property & questioned our readiness to face calamities.
5. The ultimate weapon of Mahatma Gandhiji namely fast-unto-death unleashed in a new form that instantly paved way for a relatively lesser known political figure KCR climb to new heights of popularity in whole India that even he might not have dreamt of. The timing was perfect. The political vacuum left in AP due to untimely demise of YSR (who thrashed KCR in his own basion, thus silencing him), gave him the killer-idea to use the political uncertainty to his advantage to gain fabulous results. This resulted in domino effect spiraling other demands for new-states thus creating even more problems for Centre.
6. If Telangana movement was tense enough, Samaikyandhra movement was equally so. The exchange of war-of-words by leaders from each camp was most entertaining. And for the first time, cutting across party-lines both sides saw MPs and MLAs split into Telangana & Samaikyandhra Camps. For a change, parties were united within a region on a single-point agenda. The arguments used were for the most part emotive and consistently lacked any merit.
7. The call for bandhs was an on-off affair resulting in a mutually exclusive solution. If one is satisfied, the other calls for bandhs. The Centre's contribution to add chaos in this matter was significant and half of this would have been solved had Centre shown more restraint & discretion in acting. 2009 as I see, it result in one the last chapters of United AP with peace & harmony. Even if the state continues to be united, several frictions would be inevitable due to the hatred generated by the political parties for mileage. The damage is done.
8. Finally some good things that 2009 will be recalled for. Magadheera (the movie) broke all the previous records of AP slashing ahead of Pokiri. Indeed, a remarkable achievement by someone just into his 2nd film. It saw movies breaking the traditional molds and evolving to come of age. New Marketing techniques are being employed in the industry making it more profitable. And maybe Magadheera's record might never be broken for grounds might shift next year. Telugu film industry will be the worst sufferer of split state as far as I can see.
9. Atleast in India, 2009 oversaw the revival of economy and from the cold winter of anxiety we finally saw the summer of hope. But if AP's industry was affected by Satyam scandal during the start of year, by the end it suffers from loosing the Brand Hyderabad's value. Over years, Hyderabad has grown into a big city & had shown promising development soon to compete with the much established Banglore and Chennai. This year-end, due to continuous bandhs the city which was once known to be exceptionally calm and peaceful has now become investor's hell.. No doubt this is the major point of contention for the Telangana issue & why this problem defied solution so far.
9 reasons are enough to make us feel tensed? Isn't this futile? Isn't this undesirable? I don't think so.
Half of the fear we possess is due to the unknowability of changed circumstances. We resist change because "known devil is better than unknown angel". For all that we know, the evolution might take us to more insightful understanding of the desirability of having even all-round development.
Thesis, Antithesis and Synthesis constitute the mystery of all evolution.( click here for more details). Everywhere we see strife. But beyond the strife we can also see the joy, laughter and friendly behaviour. The evolution might take us for better things which would be more suitable to face the complex situations of the present. From chaos comes discipline. From confusion comes clarity.(Provided one attempts to learn from them though) There are no shortcuts to truths. I think strife is quite necessary for evolution. We should face the new year and who knows the opposite ideas might be reconciled to become a unified force. That merging the the two polar ideas might lead to an emergence of more worthy political solutions.
I bet in 90s or 80s, occurence of similar incidents wouldn't be excited so much hype nor had been extrapolated beyond their worth. Telugu audiences have atleast 14 news channels & till now it appeared that audiences weren't sufficiently interested in so many news channels. But 2009 came to their rescue. Now, people were getting more news-hungry and craving for indepth analysis of news. The change is perhaps coincidental for the issues which cropped up were damn interesting. It began with unveiling of Satyam scandal to more clarity & ends up at a situation wherein 2010 might also see the last of what we presently know as Andhra Pradesh.
1. Satyam scandal. Even by the currupt standards of India Corp this was gigantic and most unexpected. Satyam had earned a high reputation & was blue boy of AP Inc and politicians were quick to distance themselves from them as soon as it occured. The news has lost its sting now, but back then it was shocking by even the deplorable Indian standards.
2. Megastar Chiranjeevi's lacklustre performance is another . By all accounts Brand Chiru is sensational hit irrespective of the fate of his films. Even flops usually recover back most of the money invested. Yet, he has realized (so have his fans) that politics is a different ballgame and unlike his premediated victory over villains in movies, he has no power to score similar successes in real life.The reel-to-real transition has proved fatal. Whats worser is that, he split the votes that effectively cut through TDP's & literally prevented Chandrababu Naidu from putting a much better performance. So he screwed Babu & that became YSR's gain.
3. The untimely death of our beloved CM YSR certainly was a matter of deepest regret to many people & especially among poor. That his helicopter went missing & it took nearly a day for finding about the whereabouts & fate is a stark irony on the supremacy of man & technology (or is it really?). Indeed, the timing of his death when he was near invincible appeared like a conspiracy of nature to showcase its supremacy. A Chinese proverb says "Disaster seldom strikes alone". And this incident was the beginning of it all.
4. Floods in Kurnool & other districts was most unfortunate. As if in answer to our pleadings, the state which received rainfall far below the requirement had now to face an excess. This resulted in severe loss of property & questioned our readiness to face calamities.
5. The ultimate weapon of Mahatma Gandhiji namely fast-unto-death unleashed in a new form that instantly paved way for a relatively lesser known political figure KCR climb to new heights of popularity in whole India that even he might not have dreamt of. The timing was perfect. The political vacuum left in AP due to untimely demise of YSR (who thrashed KCR in his own basion, thus silencing him), gave him the killer-idea to use the political uncertainty to his advantage to gain fabulous results. This resulted in domino effect spiraling other demands for new-states thus creating even more problems for Centre.
6. If Telangana movement was tense enough, Samaikyandhra movement was equally so. The exchange of war-of-words by leaders from each camp was most entertaining. And for the first time, cutting across party-lines both sides saw MPs and MLAs split into Telangana & Samaikyandhra Camps. For a change, parties were united within a region on a single-point agenda. The arguments used were for the most part emotive and consistently lacked any merit.
7. The call for bandhs was an on-off affair resulting in a mutually exclusive solution. If one is satisfied, the other calls for bandhs. The Centre's contribution to add chaos in this matter was significant and half of this would have been solved had Centre shown more restraint & discretion in acting. 2009 as I see, it result in one the last chapters of United AP with peace & harmony. Even if the state continues to be united, several frictions would be inevitable due to the hatred generated by the political parties for mileage. The damage is done.
8. Finally some good things that 2009 will be recalled for. Magadheera (the movie) broke all the previous records of AP slashing ahead of Pokiri. Indeed, a remarkable achievement by someone just into his 2nd film. It saw movies breaking the traditional molds and evolving to come of age. New Marketing techniques are being employed in the industry making it more profitable. And maybe Magadheera's record might never be broken for grounds might shift next year. Telugu film industry will be the worst sufferer of split state as far as I can see.
9. Atleast in India, 2009 oversaw the revival of economy and from the cold winter of anxiety we finally saw the summer of hope. But if AP's industry was affected by Satyam scandal during the start of year, by the end it suffers from loosing the Brand Hyderabad's value. Over years, Hyderabad has grown into a big city & had shown promising development soon to compete with the much established Banglore and Chennai. This year-end, due to continuous bandhs the city which was once known to be exceptionally calm and peaceful has now become investor's hell.. No doubt this is the major point of contention for the Telangana issue & why this problem defied solution so far.
9 reasons are enough to make us feel tensed? Isn't this futile? Isn't this undesirable? I don't think so.
Half of the fear we possess is due to the unknowability of changed circumstances. We resist change because "known devil is better than unknown angel". For all that we know, the evolution might take us to more insightful understanding of the desirability of having even all-round development.
Thesis, Antithesis and Synthesis constitute the mystery of all evolution.( click here for more details). Everywhere we see strife. But beyond the strife we can also see the joy, laughter and friendly behaviour. The evolution might take us for better things which would be more suitable to face the complex situations of the present. From chaos comes discipline. From confusion comes clarity.(Provided one attempts to learn from them though) There are no shortcuts to truths. I think strife is quite necessary for evolution. We should face the new year and who knows the opposite ideas might be reconciled to become a unified force. That merging the the two polar ideas might lead to an emergence of more worthy political solutions.
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