I AM A STATE; Times of India, August 5, 2013

Times of India, August 5, 2013


ONLINE COMMENTS:

M G (Mumbai)
Never thought, "the right to live one's life with peace" could be expressed in such simple language. The philosophy content of this piece, perhaps is much more than what the writer would have had in mind when penning this article. Someone said, "a poem is best appreciated by one, when the poet writes it in a way that the reader would have written, if s/he had the talent to write the poem. I am enjoying that sot of a satisfaction after reading this. If everyone understood the inner meaning of this narration, the world will change for the better. The effort started with some scripture which said "Uddharedatmanaatmanam......" Immensely pleased to find that someone carries the message in simple language which can be followed by modern mind. Gr8
M G WARRIER


Read the article by Raghu Krishnan:

 

I am a state

Raghu Krishnan | Aug 5, 2013, 12.00 AM IST
The other morning, i realised i had been singularly remiss in not demanding separate statehood for myself. Looking into the mirror and shaving — which offers me the time and space for reflection — i realised that my long-neglected individual aspirations would never be fulfilled unless i shook off my lethargy and agitated for my just demands. It was high time, i told myself, that i took control of my own destiny instead of apathetically leaving it to those who might not have my best interests at heart. 

Outsiders, who knew nothing about me, were passing comments on the dreadful state i was in. The only way out of the mess was to take control of my own state and fulfil my long-suppressed aspirations. There would, i realised, always be something lacking in my state as long as i left it to a host of intermediaries to govern me. In a one-man state, i would have the sole, full and final authority to do justice to myself. The spin-offs would not just be material. 

For instance, i had long wondered how it would feel to take the salute on those ceremonial days when there was a march-past. I did not want to waste the rest of my life indulging in wishful thinking like James Thurber`s fictional character Walter Mitty who fantasised that he was everything from a surgeon performing a very complicated operation to a World War II Royal Air Force pilot volunteering for a secret and dangerous mission. A one-man state would, at the least, give me the opportunity to make my march-past dream come true — by standing in front of a mirror and saluting myself while a CD played the appropriate background music on my sound system. 

From the neck above, i would be the head of my state while my hand was raised in solemn salute. I would then address myself not in generalities like the leaders i had seen on television but in specific terms on those issues which most concerned me in my immediate state. There would be no need for any sleazy compromises in my own state since i could rule from the head or the heart, as i wished. All portfolios would be held by me from that of the CM and the FM to the HM, education, transport, panchayati raj, sports and minority affairs. 

The biggest advantage of a one-man state would be that there would be no dilution or delay in thefeedback on my government`s performance. I would not have to waste time and money in commissioning an outside agency to undertake a televised survey on the level of satisfaction with my government Both the response and the follow-up would be immediate, without having to go through the modalities of preparing an ATR (action-taken report). 

In a one-man state, i would not have to bribe myself to get my work done. I would not even have to offer myself inducements like quotas, cash transfers and the like to vote for me. Ergo, no one, not even my opposition to myself, would be able to accuse me of playing vote-bank politics. 

In my own state, i would even be able to pass the Jan Lokpal Bill without Anna Hazare having to fast over and over again. Baba Ramdev's concerns on black money would also be immediately addressed. There would be no need for me to buy even cinema tickets on the black since the latest movies would be showcased to me — or so my DTH claimed. 

Any dispute on the sharing of river or tank or borewell water would be sorted out immediately, amicably and directly between me and my neighbouring one-man or one-woman states, without the elaborate setting up of time-consuming entities like the Cauvery Tribunal, the Cauvery River Authority or the Cauvery Monitoring Committee. No one would, therefore, be able to accuse my neighbour and me of being two states divided by a common borewell.

ONLINE COMMENTS:

M G (Mumbai)
Never thought, "the right to live one's life with peace" could be expressed in such simple language. The philosophy content of this piece, perhaps is much more than what the writer would have had in mind when penning this article. Someone said, "a poem is best appreciated by one, when the poet writes it in a way that the reader would have written, if s/he had the talent to write the poem. I am enjoying that sot of a satisfaction after reading this. If everyone understood the inner meaning of this narration, the world will change for the better. The effort started with some scripture which said "Uddharedatmanaatmanam......" Immensely pleased to find that someone carries the message in simple language which can be followed by modern mind. Gr8
M G WARRIER



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