You can take my word as it arises from prevailing experience: sloth is not sinful. Well, it might have been by choice or forced by some physical misfortune, but idling is by no means a vice.
The write way
The ground below started shifting long back. An undeniable and uncomfortable sense of irrelevance and lack of purpose was afflicting the writing community for quite some time. The belated tsunami struck me with full vigour during the recent three-month sabbatical, forced by a fall that stalled me physically, but kickstarted my introspective instincts.
Raids and reads, recycled
As the Dinakaran Touring Talkies rolls cross country, are we really surprised? Nah! And who said the notorious M. Mafia only take and don’t give bribes? Of course they pay. How else you think they lasted this long?
The EC way out
Even by semi-official estimates, the slush cash used to bribe the voters of RK Nagar is around Rs 89 crs. Press freedom, previous experience and priority access to ‘sources that do not want to be identified’ allow us to round that off to Rs 100 crs. Indeed, last Friday was quite auspicious for IT kitty, if not for democracy.
Masters of the game
Thirumangalam, in an ironic defiance of its pleasant sounding name, turned out to be most inauspicious for TN’s already fouled poll politics. The by-election, buy-election rather, held there in Jan ‘09 under the auspices, not of EC, but Alagiri, sparked a decisive plunge to the depths in voter bribery. R K Nagar today, in 2017, is the latest, lethal but not the last milestone in TN’s twisted, treacherous highway to a delusionary destination: Democracy.
A Talk aloud
When there is nothing to write or no inclination to write on anything, best is to write about oneself. Not an autobiography but the prevailing mood placed on auto-pilot. A narcissistic verbal trip is a nice indulgence, if passed off as common musings.
Inauspicious Tidings
It seems to be time for all good, bad and ugly men and women to come to the aid of the party. The provocation for this rising din of unified voices from manifold walks of TN life is the disturbing rise of one of the most hated characters in recent political history. Never has the mood of multitudes been so manifest and of such magnitude against one person: V.K.Sasikala. The very mention or memory of her name evokes a primal revulsion that bursts from the core to the surface in a jiffy.
‘Power of Attorney’ politics
Rational TN can stump lawmen and laymen alike. The happenings here have always been high on absurd theatrics and can easily carry away and confound even the sanest of minds in an emotional sweep. The current scenario is just old wine adulterated by a Midas touch, in fresh disposable plastic crush cups.
Good riddance; great escape
The Supreme Court with just a stroke of the pen has incidentally called off a supreme calamity that was staring TN in the face. The conviction of CM wannabe and udan pirava sahodhari (UPS) of late, lamented J, along with J herself and two of the UPS clan, has saved the State, its people, the treasury, J’s party and possibly, her iconic Poes Garden residence too from near doom! Some dangerous debris is still littered on the landscape, but we hope the clean up will start soon.
‘Kaalai’ Vanakkam
This moment and movement belong to the young who are inhaling the fresh, free air of post-J TN for the first time. No one asked them to; they just did. Conspiracy theories of agent provocateurs are passe; the tsunami that is hitting Marina and beyond is so strong and spontaneous that it has even swept away all the usual suspects who habitually hit the streets at the drop of a, er, dung.