A bit about me!

 A bit about me!

Here is a classic of the subject becoming the object.

My young associate who is assisting me in this endeavour suggested a piece introducing myself to myself and others.

Expectations.

I hail from a laid back town not far from Bangalore, Hosur.

Laid back is the wrong word in the present context because it has grown and grown beyond anybody’s expectations.

Proximity to the city is one of the reasons. Tamilnadu government was quicker than ours in exploiting this fact.

The corrective measures taken by Ramakrishna Hegde preserved the advantages to some extent.

I studied in board high school , Hosur and one of my classmates was H.Nagarajaiah Setty , since deceased , who became a IAS officer.

Going further back, I may lay claim to another distinction. This was the very school where C.Rajagopalachari, former governor general of India studied.

When I was in eighth standard he walked into our school and our classroom and said the very bench I was sitting on was his too when he was a pupil there.

Proxy glory indeed!

After my sslc I moved on to what was then known as Intermediate college. It is still situate opposite Central college though the name has since been changed.

My Finest move in education was my choice of Maharaja’s college, Mysore for my Bachelor of Arts course.

Incidentally it was also the postgraduate centre at that time .

Manasa Gangothri came up later.

When I visited Maharaja’s recently the old lecture halls remain as they were.

The academic atmosphere is subdued but that cannot be helped when the focus is on Manasa Gangothri.

The university library where I spent several hours poring over books and magazines which I may not access now whetted my appetite for knowledge.

I was an indifferent student , shy too, and failed in the final examination for a reason you may not appreciate---- to taste failure for the first time.

I was just out of teens then.

A friend who had close relatives among journalists would speak highly of Frank Moraes who was helming the Indian Express then.

Thus was sown the seed for a journalist job within me.

No, I did not join the journalism course there .

Mine was the royal combination, history, economics and politics.

How I wish I had opted for Politics, Sociology and Psychology.

Psychology, then as now, has fascinated me.

A senior wellwisher would hand over his copies of Psychology Today and I benefited a lot from that in my underemployment days.

#aboutme #myself #blogging #blogginglife #journalism #journalist #freelance 

Just a thought !-Journomurthy

 Just a thought !

 Life after life I have often wondered what brings us here and into particular environment, The family, the connections, occasionally the occupation we are engaged in etc. One does not claim to have deep insights. Perhaps this is the province for greater minds but they have provided us some insights worth sharing. My intention in sharing them is limited, it may make us more responsible for our actions. All of us are familiar with the law, cause and effect. Devotion is perhaps a way out to alleviate the pain of effects, good or bad it does not matter because both are binding. Some scriptures have suggested a solution to get out of this trap of self Creation . A bigger subject which we may take up later. Enough if we accept this fact that what we are today is the resultant of what we were yesterday . what we will be tomorrow is dependent on our thoughts and actions of today. Here yesterday stands for the past, today stands for the present in the usually understood sense and tomorrow again is the so called future. Most of us think of this in the linear fashion. Life, I submit, has the knack of throwing surprises because it is more non-linear than linear. So to preserve our blessings for what they are, a proper lifestyle and proper thinking are necessary. People who enjoy harmony and peace in life are generally a contented lot. Contentment, I hold, is different from satisfaction. Satisfaction is linked to ego , contentment carries with it a sense of gratitude to the higher forces. Yet this too is not enough for our purpose. And what is the purpose of human life ? A bigger question which may need deeper study. As a Curtainriser to this big mystery please ponder over this. Life here is death elsewhere, and death here is life elsewhere. The link between here and hereafter is invisible but real. Invisible because our vision thru the senses is restricted. If only our inner eye gets opened will we see the Splendour beyond. Till then we have to rely on other people’s experiences. Of them they are plenty.

#life #death #karma #

PS: Have a quick peek into my bio and share your thoughts !

My bio

Journomurthy-The Kempegowda and Narendra Modi !

 Modiji visit !

Modiji came. saw and conquered 'Kannadigas' hearts .

Or did he!!

We will wait and see.

He made all the right moves, recognised all the right symbols and reinstalled all the heroes and heroines of Kannada glory land.

Top on the list of course was our Nadaprabhu Kempegowda 

He was no doubt tall but was he the tallest ?

He has been credited with building Bendekalur , later called Bangalore and now rechristened Bengaluru.

The four Towers he erected were , when they were erected, more aspirational than real.

The city has gone way beyond those limits.

He is also credited with building several temples in Basavanagudi.

Legend and fact combine to make him the hero that he is.

Without meaning  to hurt the segment which he represented one feels his contribution is overblown.

Bangalore, the old city , and Bangalore the historic city are two different entities.

The Someswara temple at Ulsoor , they say, dates back to Chola times.

Roman coins were found near Begur , pointing to the truth that the city had trade contracts with the empire.

Yes, he was the overlord of Magadi and did good by the people.

Obavva , whose contribution to the state was resurrected thru a film based on Tarasu's novel , was a housewife turned warrior for the nonce.

My visit to the fort at Chitradurga was a damp squib.

That was years back. 

Yet, Madakari Naika is the stuff of legends.

And so are several heroes whose memorials are scattered throughout the state.

As for the Vande Bharat train, it is a fine ride. i journeyed from Delhi to Benares recently . though the speed limit was higher, we cruised at 130 km per hour.

The service was good and the snacks and food were equally so.

Incidentally I had travelled by Shadabdhi to Mysore a few weeks earlier.

i would say there is not much difference between the two luxury trains.

Perhaps the travel time might get reduced as the track work improves.

The sad fact was that commuters did suffer.

It was reported that kids travelling to schools were inconvenienced. Forget about The Travellers heading towards the airport.

There are Technical devices which obviate these hassles.

Why were they not employed ?

Should populism take the front seat , and at the cost of people's comfort?

Though i am not fond of parties , convention demands that protocol be kept up.

Kumaraswamy says former Prime Minister Devegowda was not invited.

Even if one ignores the high post he adorned , he is also a Rajya Sabha member.

Is he not  entitled to courtesy.

Leaders must lead by example.

Further comment is superfluous. 

#Modiji #kempegowda #Bengaluru #Vandebharath 

Journal-8, The High Command !

 One hears a lot of high command these days. from all parties .

The Congress utters this mantra.

The BJP endorses it at crucial times.

The only exception is the communist party because they have their own vocabulary.

Even the homegrown JD-S flaunts this term.

Please permit me to trace its historicity!.

when Mysore state , now part of the enlarged karnataka, was ruled by a prince, the administration as well as the top leaders would meet the prince.

this was more like one way speech, the Royal personage asks, and the subordinate answers , mostly with a 'yes'.

that translates to "houdappa" , in kannada.

This hierarchical structure would scarce encourage dissent.

So the ones who disagreed had a hard time.

More, the British resident had to be humoured.

In fact Dewan Vivesvaraya refused to attend a durbar when he came to know that he had to be seated on the floor.

Amends were made later.

The presidency, in this case Madras was breathing down the neck of the administration all the time.

the obstacles put up for the present KRS  dam is a case in point.

the issue figured even in the House of Commons but Dr MV had his way.

In other areas , however, the state had a rough ride.

Permission for starting a university came much, much later, with the result areas which formed part of Madras and Bombay presidencies led  out  front in Medical, Legal and Engineering education.

Of course, the territory ruled by Hyderabad nizam fared much worse.

Even  now Kalyana Karnataka languishes in certain respects.

Kodagu , then called Coorg, fared slightly better because its sons  were  valiant and joined the armed forces . .

 It was a given that only Lingayats could adorn the chair of chief minister . That equation was thrown aside when Devaraj Urs helming the Congress-i occupied the chair more than once.

But this comes with a price.

As i said earlier the high command mantra.

Another interesting facet was that the top leaders, even favourites , could not make good on their own when they broke away from the parent.

Janata dal-S did have a chance but i feel its ambition to establish a dynasty of its own put  paid to the game.

There have been any number of lotuses sprouting from the muddy waters in Karnataka .

a discerning voter would know that local leaders do the bidding of the leadership with nary a protest.

Even on issues like language.

We do deserve something better, don't we ?

#Highcommand #Visvesvaraya #Congress #Bjp #Mysore #state #Kannada #Lingayats #Devaraj urs #Janata dal #VV

  

Journal-7, Rise and Fall of Congress

 The rise of congress and its fall eluded my coverage thus far.

For a reason.

Most of my contemporaries would have forgotten that the congress had its all india session in Bangalore in 1960, at Sadasivanagar.

The  posh locality was formed after the session.

As a teenager I had the privilege of seeing Pandit Nehru passing in an open car near corporation.

Years later Queen Elizabeth too went in an open car on M.G.Road . Both of them had elegance , beauty and charm.

From 1960 to 1969 was but a progression of sorts .

But of a different kind.

S.Nijalingappa was the congress president and the AICC met in Lalbagh.

A day before that Indira Gandhi, The Prime Minister, had shared her stray thoughts on economy thru her close associates at the time, the young turks as they styled themselves.

Chandra sekhar and Mohan Dharia were the  names I remember.

Enter the queen the next day and there was some commotion.

It may be relevant to recall the fact that the old guard including Kamaraj were trounced in the 1967 elections.

But the Organisation was in their grip .

It was Indira’s intention to assert her supremacy both in the party and the government.

The parliamentary party was to nominate the candidate for the post of President of India.

Indira’s views were virtually ignored and Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy was chosen.

Minutes before emplaning for Delhi, Indira remarked , this is not how things are done.

The next step was to have a conscience candidate and V.V.Giri entered the scene.

And got elected too.

Thus was effected the great split, the old guard calling themselves Congress (O) and the New Congress (I).

Morarji Desai was eased out of the cabinet, banks were Nationalised, privy purses were abolished.

And Indira in her radical avatar trounced the opposition.

Power corrupts , and perhaps corruption is another face of power.

It all started in Gujarat , when student agitators rose against Chimanbai Patel.

It spread to  Bihar where Jayaprakash Narain hails from.

There were calls to revolt and rebel .  and the government said they had no choice but to impose some restrictions.

When the internal emergency was imposed a few leading  lights of the opposition were in Karnataka.

L.K.Advani certainly, Vajpayee perhaps.

Among the state leaders arrested was Ramakrishna Hegde.

And at the fag end Devegowda.

I mention these details because they formed the base for important developments later.

Like , for instance, the formation of the first non-congress government , a coalition between Janata party and Karnataka Kranti Ranga headed by Bangarappa.

This did not last long .

When Indira was assassinated and Rajiv chose to go for polls, Ramakrishna Hegde also opted for fresh elections.

And against sympathy wave rode to power.

Again internal conflicts surfaced .

Hegde and Devegowda fell out.

And Congress was the gainer.

Still later when Janata dal was formed, they joined hands and had the party installed in power.

One remembers Devegowda keen on projecting Siddaramaiah as chief minister but J.D.Patil who was deputy chief minister got elevated.

This happened during the interrugnum when Devegoda , the chief minister, was to ascend the prime ministerial  gadi.

Hegde had returned to Bangalore from Delhi when he came to know that Devegowd’s elevation was certain.

He had expressed some reservations also .

The first act of Prime Minister Devegowda was to prevail upon the Janata Dal president Laloo Prasad Yadav and expel Hegde from the party.

Hegde’s attempts to regain glory were thwarted but his personal image did endure as the leader who  brought in meaningful changes to state polity. 

Like Panchayat  Raj.

#CONGRESS #DEVEGOWDA #Laloo prasad yadav #AICC #President of india

 Journal-5

National Emergency !!

I was a senior member of the editorial staff in Indian express when internal emergency was imposed.

Express was known for its hostile stand and did suffer a lot.

The pages would be held up and released around dawn.

This naturally led to dip in circulation.

No criticism of government was allowed .

So it was more like propaganda sheets of government.

In karnataka the worst torture was inflicted on George Fernandez family and his family friend Snehalata Reddy.

Poor Snehalata died soon after.

Louis Fernandez was almost incapacitated .

When elections were announced and censorship was removed Express came out with all these excesses.

The results were apparent, the Congress under Indira leadership lost . so did Sanjay.

And the Janata party government took over.

There were inherent contradictions in the team headed by Morarji Desai and it lasted less than a year and half.

Then followed a short spell under Charan Singh, perhaps the only Prime Minister who did not face parliament.

The government lasted less than a month.

In the elections that followed Indira and congress were back.

Indira in the second spell was almost adrift. The Punjab cauldron was allowed to boil and the Operation Bluestar was successful in flushing Sant Bhindranwale out from the golden temple but also bringing forth the wrath of the sikhs.

It is a fact that the Prime Minister was cautioned about the risks in employing sikh bodyguards at her residence but she ignored it.

It is a fact that she met a saint and expressed her apprehensions but he was not helpful.

Quit politics or get shot was the curt response.

When Indira fell to the assassins’  bullets she or what remained of her was removed to All India  Institute of Medical Sciences.

Till Rajiv reached Delhi the death was not announced.

The Delhi riots were a sad chapter when mobs ransacked sikh homes.

This alienated the  sikhs no end .

Rajiv anyway went for a fresh mandate and won by a margin which astounded everyone.

But what happened later ?

He had contempt for the old guard, cultivated the Doon school mates and landed in controversies.

He also faced the Bofors gun controversy .

In the elections that followed the national front headed by V.P.Singh romped home.

Here again , in an effort to retain power V.P.Singh revived a report gathering dust and tried to implement it.

I am referring to Mandal commission.

Thus started Mandal versus mandir which got resolved only recently when Ayodhya was restored to its pristine purity .

Then came on the scene Chandra Sekhar who was promised   help from outside  but was denied it seven months later.

Back to the hustings.

P.V.Narasimha Rao managed to get enough seats to form a government after Rajiv’s assassination at Sriperumbudur  .

but he had to rely on a few outsiders too.

The scandal was that a few members were bought over . the joke was that they were compensated by cheques and they had them deposited in Parliament street branch of a bank.

Asked for his comment at the end of his five years term which saw India released from the thralldom of licence permit Raj, Rao  remarked, I will go down in history as the only Prime Minister from the non-dynasty who completed the full term.

The late 1990s saw a succession of Prime Ministers.

A.B.Vajpayee—13 days

H.D.Devegowda—one year

I.K.Gujral- one year

Vajpayee again- 19 months

and then Vajpayee leading the  NDA.

Followed by the UPA led by the Congress from 2004 to 2014.

The people had enough of this tamasha and Narendra Modi 

Happened.

I have found out that the first term for a party is beneficial. In the second term the direction would change . And depending on our viewpoint we will leave Modi alone for now.

Change is always painful . one hopes the changes made would bring lasting benefits to the Nation.

#Indira Gandhi #NationalEmergency 

#Indianexpress #Modi #Vajpayee 

 Journal-4

Today let me share some exciting facts during the the death of Shastri ji !.and some other exciting facts about 1971 war.

Another first for Express was the airlifting of photographs covering the funeral procession of shastri.

A plane was engaged for the purpose and all the centres were provided them.

If the publishing centre had no airport , the nearest one served the purpose.

It was a feat in the days when radio photo facility was yet to be.

 Another  major event I was associated with was the 1971 war .

I was heading the desk when the pak air attack started.

I was doing the van edition at that time.

The teleprinter would come out with flashes of the attack and I would dutifully include them in the galley.

I am referring to the western sector.

In the eastern sector there were moments of tension when the seventh fleet frigate had dacca in its gun range.

But the deterrent was the accord reached by indira with russia.

Over 90000 prisoners surrendered to india .

This brought about the ceasefire and also resulted in the simla agreement.

Benazir was perhaps a teenager when she accompanied her father on his simla trip.

Had india been more firm there was a possibility that the kashmir problem would have found a lasting solution.leveraging has not been our strong point.

Some asides from 1971 war

There were some strange happenings during the war.

Pakistan had better planes and equipment , yet failed in the western sector.

Later reports suggested the bombings went awry because there was a haze up above.

Indian navy had its finest hour when it encircled the Karachi Harbour and made mincemeat of the Pak ships stationed there.

it is as if the supreme intelligence was aware of india's just cause and backed it to the hilt.