Taslima Nasreen gets to stay back in India but at what price!

Narendra Modi's biggest asset is his vote bank balance!

Narendra Modi declared his assets,

which surprisingly is at around 40 lakh!

Being the powerful CM of an affluent state like Gujarat,

this amount looks meagre.

But, may be the people of Gujarat are not surprised at all.

I was speaking to Midday's political editor, Deepak Lokhande

and he came up with some interesting things.

He says the biggest asset of Narendra Modi is his clean image.

Any attempt to dethrone him would not succeed unless it involves corruption.

Modi has been maintaining a clean image and

they prefer to ignore his anti-muslim stance.

Coach selection shocks the Indian cricket team!

Why the media is so obsessed with BCCI?

Because BCCI never disappoints the media.

Whatever they do, they blunder and make headlines.

After staying away from the coach selection issue for sometime,

they surprised all of us with a secret coach selection interview.

But the sad part is even the players were kept in dark.

To go by the reports, BCCI managed to shock the Indian cricket team

with the surprise selection of Garry Kirsten!

If politicians start doing SRK at cricket matches!

What will happen if the statues come to life suddenly?

An Illustration done for Bhejafry column.

The columnist was wondering, what will happen

when the statues in Mumbai come to life suddenly!

What makes Taslima so different from MF Hussain, for BJP?

There's no reason for BJP to offer Taslima Indian citizenship
or stop MF Hussain from entering his own country,
except the vote bank politics!
Both will help BJP gain some more votes.
But that's what matters to political parties!
That's the reason why leftists, so called secularists,
bundled Taslima out of Kolkatta.
They feared a backlash from Muslim votebank!
This is the way issues are going to be handled in this country.
This is the way the nation is going to be managed in this country!
Which votebank do you belong to?

Why don't the politicians spare Mumbai?

Mayawati nurtures PM dreams, there's no doubt.
Unless she reaches the national platform in a big way,
that dream won't take off.
One destination which can support her dream is
Maharashtra, with a sizeable dalit population.
And she was in Mumbai trying to fill the famous Shivaji Park, with her supporters.
Though, she failed to fill the park, still managed to make a strong statement.

But what bothers me is the way political parties use Mumbai for rallies
and hold the Mumbaikars to ransom. BSP party supporters threw the city out of gear causing so much damage everywhere. They have defaced the city's flyovers, bridges, walls, stations and literally every inch of the city, with posters, wall writings etc.
Isn't it time to spare this city from such ordeals?
Mumbai being the commercial capital of the nation, doesn't deserve to be treated like this

Mayawati's Jumboorie in Mumbai

Had great fun doing this imaging for Sundday Midday cover.

The story was about how Maywati is using every political

party's trick of filling Shivaji Park to make an emphatic statement.

The tale of two WRITERS!

Was that protest in Kolkatta, against Taslima or Nandigram!

Are you in 'protesting' mood?
Come out of your home armed with some
household weapons (to protest peacefully!).
But what you're protesting against?
The chance is that you'll find plenty of issues
to protest against, on the streets, like it happened in Kolkatta!
People came to streets to protest against Taslima's stay in India,
but some thought they were protesting Nandigram!
Finally nobody knows what was that protest for!
Nobody bothers too, except for the people who
were victimised in the violence on the streets

Deepavali cartoons

Here are some of the cartoons done
for Udayavani Deepavali special issue.
I still remember the days when Deepavali issue
used to be filled with loads of cartoons.
This year sadly, there were no cartoons except for my cartoons.
I wonder, what is the reason. As far as I know
there are many talented cartoonists in Karnataka
who deserve better than what they are getting now.
Hope things will change for better

"Shall I supply some 'human bombs'?"

Deepavali cartoons

"Even T20 son-in-law is here, dear..."

Deepavali cartoons

"Instead of 'T20 bomb' that I asked for,
you brought this useless 'Oneday cracker', daddy"

Deepavali cartoons

"Give me one 'Rakhee Sawant Item bomb' uncle!"

Who let Shah Rukh Khan speak on the cricket field?

'C' in BCCI stands for CONTROL

The BCCI honchos have taken the CONTROL factor seriously

and hell bent on controlling everthing related to cricket in this country.

They have silenced the cricketers, they have gagged selectors and

now they want to restrict filmstars from attending the cricket matches.

Shah Rukh Khan is blamed for using the cricket platform to promote his latest movie, Om Shanti Om. I do agree that SRK tried to promote his movie whenever he got a chance to speak. But WHO gave him the chance to speak on TV? Why invite him to the field and interview him. Neo Sports, where the matches are being telecast is BCCI channel. They can control what they telecast. If he's treated just like any other filmstars who come to watch matches, then there's no question of anybody promoting their movies. BCCI honchos themselves use King Khan to gain some mileage.

And what disturbs more is the number of voices within the BCCI about this issue. Before Prof Ratnakar Shetty finished requesting a debate on the issue, Rajeev Shukla came out to support King Khan. BCCI should have discussed the issue among themselves before making any statement. But as we know BCCI is a CONTROL-freak body, which has lost CONTROL over it's own officials

Deve Gowda is looking for alliance partner!

The Humble Farmer is camping in Delhi,

looking for alliance partner, after ditching BJP again!

Not surprisingly Congress party is not ready to take a chance especially with the kind of back-stabbing reputation Gowda has earned. But the more serious trouble for Gowda is at home.

His son Kumaraswamy who played into the hands of his dad during the power transfer phase, is contemplating to float a new party. If that happens, Gowda will get the first lesson for his power-greed. And more lessons will follow as Karnataka goes to poll!

GOWDAS do it again and they're proud of it!

GOWDAS did it again!

And they're proud of it!

The power-hungry Gowda family knows the power of power.

Neither Congress nor BJP managed to resist the temptation to fall prey to GOWDAS' power bait. I'm sure this is not the last time GOWDAS will be dictating terms in Karnataka politics.

I won't be shocked if GOWDAS still manage to win sizeable number of seats in the coming election. Our voters need to be educated in the political games GOWDAS play.

Do the leftists' want the UPA govt to turn blind eye to Nandigram?

Politics is all about shocking turnabouts.
Congress party's alliance with the leftist had been termed as a 'compromise'
And we have seen enough drama, all these years of UPA's governace, NUKE DEAL being the most hyped one. Everytime we thought this govt will collapse the Congress party's political dealers managed to strike a deal which prolonged the life of UPA Govt.
When all the political pundits started writing an obituary for the Nuke deal, surprise and surprise again! The deal is not dead yet! UPA managed to get leftists' permission to go ahead to approach IAEA. Now I wonder what's the deal that made leftists soften their tough-nut stand on the Nuke deal!

Dilip Vengsarkar gagged by the BCCI!

This caricature is done for a sports column by

Midday's Khalid Ansari, where he talks about

how BCCI is trying to gag the selection

committee chairman, Dilip Vengsarkar!

Killer-cops in our backyard!

This illustration was done for a column in Midday,

which was about India's killer-cops.

The look of the cop did scare me a bit!

India-Pakistan cricket, so borrrrrrrrrringgggggggggggg!

Musharraf to shed his army uniform!

Leftists left with no support at Nandigram!

Nandigram doesn't look like a village in India!

India, which is the largest democracy in the World.

Even in the crudest form of autocracy, Nandigram would have been a better place. The leftist cadres are in this village to recapture people's land. They have been assaulting the villagers, molesting the females and killing the innocents. This land-grabbing by the state would put any local goonda to shame!

Happy children's day!

Every grown up has a kid inside.

But why some kids have to take the role of a grown up...

-toiling beyond his age to earn his bread

-work in a hazardous industry which can completely shatter his childhood

-fall prey to the grown up people's sadist desires and lust

Why? We are in such a tremendous economic growth.

The World is looking at us!

But we can't protect our kids' childhood!

Happy children's day!

BJP's lotus blooms in South India, but how!

Vidhanasoudhadalli Kamala aralide!

(Lotus blooms in Vidhanasoudha!)

BJP finally gets it's first CM in South India.

There's so much euphoria! And some alarm raised by so called secular parties.The way Yediyurappa reached this chair, is nothing to be proud of. And the number of days in the power, is uncertain.

But it's an incredible achievement for the saffron party.

Unlike in other southern states like TN, AP or Kerala, in Karnataka BJP has been playing a little but vital roles over the years. During the last 5-10 years BJP has come up as a major political force by eating into Congress and JD vote bank.

When I look at closer my home, coastal South Canara used to be a strong Congress fort, which is now completely taken over by the saffron party. The failure of so called secular parties is a major reason for the rise of BJP. In the name of secular politics, Congress and Janata Dal resorted to appeasement of the minorities. And they have failed to stand up to the real concerns of the minority communities. On the other hand, BJP is shedding a bit of it's staunch hindu fundamental colour.

It's a long way before BJP can take over Vidhana Soudha on it's own. But the journey is already halfway

Stop-gap captaincy in Indian cricket!

We never managed to understand the strategies adopted by BCCI.

And Anil Kumble's appointment as a captain for three Tests is not an exception! Sachin was supposed to be the sole contender for this job. When the little master backed out, Dhoni seemed to be the natural choice. But the media threw in Kumble as a contender!

Believe it or not, the selectors did name Kumble as Test captain, but only for three Tests! Selectors thought Dhoni is not yet ready for the big job.

If you want to test someone of Kumble's calibre as a captain, test him over a longer period, may be two more series. If India lose the three Test series against Pakistan, will the captaincy go back to Dhoni?

Does that mean, in three Tests Dhoni will mature enough to take on the mantle of Test captaincy?

Finally Saawariya & Om Shanti Om are in theatres! Phew!

This Deepawali, we were promised Double Dhamaka.
Saawariya and Om Shanti Om!
Three big names(SRK, Sanjay Bhansali and Farah),
Three fresh faces(Ranbir, Deepika and Sonam) and one International producer, SONY and another biggest star/producer of Bollywood, SRK!

Both the teams went on a PR spree to promote their movie.
SRK went out of his starry way to reach more people and cover more area! And the victim, US! We had to suffer the labour pain of these two film makers! There was so much of promos of these movies that we got tired of it. Here, there and everywhere! As if the survival of Bollywood this Diwali, depended on the success of these two movies.

Finally, both the movies are in theatres (Thank God!)!
Now the movies are in the right place, people's court

We'll decide which movie was worth all the hype!

Sachin refuses to be a captain

Who's my ally, Musharraf or Pakistan? Bush's dilemma!

There are little things, which we take for granted.

We Indians don't really value the small privileges that freedom bring in.

Small things like speaking out our mind, writing our opinions or criticising our govt. Sadly with a neighbour like Pakistan, by now we should have learnt to respect the freedom we have.

Emergency haven't changed Pakistani citizen's life much, as they have been used to live in a supressed state for long. Zia or Pervez, nobody cared for the people.

Now, USA is in a major dilemma. The dilemma is whether to treat Musharraf as their ally or Pakistan, the nation. All along Bush's war on terror, Mushrraf made dictatorial decisions to side with Bush. But now, USA need to prepare themselves for a Pakistan without Musharraf!

And that's not as easy as dealing with Musharraf the General!

Musharraf is the LAW in Pakistan

Shah Rukh KHAN at Midday

KING KHAN rules!

They don't call him King Khan just for nothing!

He rules the bollywood and he rules with style.

I still remember the hyperactive young guy who

acted in a small role in one of the episodes of Wagle Ki Duniya.

He was impressive in that little role. And we started hearing about him, eversince. He loves talking now and likes to listen also.

He has won crores of fans over the decades and he won few more fans at Midday recently. He was at Midday as guest editor on the occasion of his birthday. He's charming when he starts talking and he plays little tricks to keep females engrossed in him.

He talked endlessly on Shoaib in particular and sports in general.

I used the occasion to get his signature on his caricature. I'm not a die-hard fan of this Khan, but his performance in Chakde did impress me a lot. And the attitude this sports film carried with it was commendable. Shah Rukh showed the right intention by putting his best in that movie.

We could see that now SRK realises that his kids should watch his movies , learn a bit and may be gather the right attitude towards life.

He can do a lot for bollywood and to the society.

Being an intelligent superstar it will surely help him to channelise his efforts in the right direction. LONG LIVE KING KHAN!

King Khan at Midday edit meet

SRK was at our daily edit meet at Midday.

The edit meet is where the day's stories are

discussed AND lead for the day is selected on the

merit of the story. Everyone thought SRK would attend

the meet just as a formality. But he pleasantly surprised

us by discussing the stories and showing

keen interest in some stories.

Khan's talkative and he talked sense!

He talked on any subject that came up, fluently and sensibly too.

He showed keen interest and ardent following in sports stories.

For once, I realised his passion for sports is not a PR brand excercise

This encounter, I'm going to remember for sometime.

Not because we could interact with a larger than life star,

but because a glossy superstar bared his brain and surprised us pleasantly!

Shoaib Akhter is back on the field and off too!

Sudha Murthy could have been an editor!

Midday's Bengaluru edition had a special guest yesterday, Mrs Sudha Murthy. Calling her just as Narayana Murthy's wife is not right as she has her own identity in this cash-crazy society. I admire her a lot for her simplicity and the eagerness to, return to the society a bit of her success!

And when the Bengaluru edit team asked me to do a caricature of the lady to present her, I was thrilled.

I finally ended up doing a younger version of Mrs Sudha Murthy as I could only get an old pic of hers! But I heard she liked the caricature and complimented. And she agreed to keep that framed caricature in Infosys foundation office! I can't ask for more than that, though I would have been happier to get an autographed copy from her, personally.

We've had another celebrity in our Mumbai office. More on that tomorrow!

BCCI's bunch of wise men!