Satpal Singh Chhabda: Yaar hamara tha woh, kahan gaya use dhundho

Tussi kithe chale gaye, Satpal?

 Really bad and shocking morning, in fact day. I was getting ready to go to hospital where my mother in law is admitted for pacemaker operation of heart in Shelby Hospital (Ahmedabad) and got messages that our beloved friend, cartoonist and artist Satpal singh Chhabda is no more!
Can't believe. So young, energetic, enthusiastic, charming and full of great sense of humour. He was Punjabi but if you talk with him you will believe he is pure Gujarati. I was lucky to work with him for four and half years. He could capture moods very well. Suppose he has to draw Ramdev Baba he will draw his teeth, left eye ... He had drawn Gujarati column artists (such as Chandrakant Baxi, Vinod Bhatt, Taarak Mehta, Suresh Dalal , Jagdish Trivedi) caricatures.

Kahani mein twist column, Kalash Purti, Divya Bhaskar

Apne pe hans ke jag ko hasaya. He drew his own cartoon with Vinay Dave's.

Great columnist and writers of Gujarati print media- Chandrakant Baxi and Taarak Mehta (Taarak Mehta Ka Oolta Chasmah fame writer)

One of the great illustration. No other can imagine and draw like this.

Shock is also deeper  as he was very young and practicing yog.  We used to discuss on yog, pranayam...for hours and hours. We also used to talk on reality shows, television programmes, our common interest, specially about singing reality shows, Saregama, Indian Idol. His Kahani Mein Twist (published in Kalash Supplement of Divya Bhaskar) with writer and lyricist Vinay Dave was very much popular in which he had also showed his and Vinaybhai's cartoon images. I personally liked his creation/illustrations for cover pages of 'Bal Bhaskar' supplement of Divya Bhaskar very much. He could imagine animals, children, forest things so well. We had also partied at his home for farewell of one of our colleagues. If he was working with national/international media, he might have gotten many awards. Really a great loss to media industry.
Pray vahe guru to bless him peace and give courage to his family to pass through this difficult time.
We will miss you, Satpaljee!

Reasons why AAP perfromed dramatically in Delhi Elections 2013?

(1) It was born out of anti corruption movement. Arvind Kejriwal was arrested during movement. He exposed so much scams. He dared to expose Robert Vadra, son in law of Sonia Gandhi. He dared to expose scam of Nitin Gadkari. That's why he became hero.
(2) Use of social media extensively. Infact, they used social media as tool from day one and response to Jan Lokpal movement was big due to socia media.
(3) Connected youth. Its founders are all youth, be it Arvind Kejriwal or Manish Sisodia or charming Shazia Ilmi. They appealed to youth. They attracted new age bollywood people like Vishal Dadlani and MTv host Rajeev Laxman.
(4) Founder is with mission. Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia left lucrative jobs like IRS and journalist to fight against corruption. They became ideals. While in other parties, no persons are there who can become ideals. In Congress and BJP, there were such leaders like Lal Bahadur Shastri and Kushabhau Thakre, but at present there is no one.
(5) They raised those issues which no other parties cared about. Congress and BJP both had match fixing like situation in Delhi and at center. Price rise, high power bill, water scarcity were the main issues, but Congress didn't care to solve it. BJP didn't oppose effectivley. Had it not declared Dr. Harshwardhan as CM candidate, BJP could not have become single largest party.
(6) Selection of candidates. They choose candidate having common man background. Like Jarneil Singh who threw shoe at P. Chidambaram. Journalistd Jarnail Singh asked Chidambaram how Jagdish Tytler got clean chit from CBI in 1984 anti sikh riots, after Chidambaram didn't give satisfactory answer, he threw shoe at him. Voters elected him. This shows how much anger is there in public. AAP also selected commando who got injured in 26 November attack on Mumbai. 

Virat Kohli : Aaj Kuchh Tufani Karte Hain!

As Virat Kohli smashed ball all around the corner yesterday against Australia ODI to hit 100 not out (Although credit also should go to Rohit Sharma for his 141 not out, but we love just Virat for his aggressive and fast batting), now he is sure to get advertisement contracts. And why not? He deserves them. Look yoursefl.
1. Pepsi : Yehi hain Right Choice Baby, Abhi ke Abhi, Ye dil mange More
Virat Kohli has proved him self that he is Right Choice for Bhartiya Cricket team. After Sachin Tendulkar, he will be a good player upon whom Bharat cricket team can rely. We can say to him: Ye dil mange more!

2. Thums Up : Taste The Thunder
Virat Kohli showed yesterday what is thunder. In light vein, it can be said that before entering into field, Virat might have drunk Thums up and said : Chalo aaj kuchh tufani karte hain

3. Surf : Daag Achchhe hain
Virat Kohli is said to be one of the best fielder of Bharatiya Cricket team. For this his shirt may get dirty so we can say, Daag achchhe hain.

4. Tata Safari : Reclaim Your Life
Virat Kohli brings life into match. So this ad suits him.

5. Cinthol
In Cinthol Ad, Virat says Alive is awesome. But Virat is awesome too.

6. Rasna : I love you Rasna
Advertisement director may take Virat Kohli in Rasna ad and in the end, Virat can say : I love you Rasna and fans of him who are present around him can say : We love you Kohli!

7. Raymond's : The Complete Man
Virat has proved him to be a complete cricket player by batting, fielding, captaining. This ad also suits to him very much.

8. Bajaj Pulsar : Definitely Male
Virat is victorious. Under his captaincy Bharat won one day series against Zimbabwe. So this ad also befits to Virat.

9.Bingo : No Confusion, Great Combination
Now in this ad, director may take trio who created history against Australia in ODI- Virat, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan.

10.Havelles RCB : Shock Laga Kya
In this ad, director can show clippings of yesterday match and then in the end, Virat asks question to Australian cricketers : Shock Laga Kya! Then director can show Australian cricket's de-glam and unhappy faces.

Black acts in Bharat : Are we living under Black British rulers?

It is high time that some movement like opposition of black acts should start. In Amdavad, there is new rule (or atleast it came to my knowledge now) that for new vehicles, owners will have to buy number plate only from RTO approved agency and that also in RTO premises. As all know, Amdavad RTO is located on boundary of Amdavad so most of people have to travel a long distance. They stand in queue for their turn beginning from 8 am and may get turn at end of the day! This is ridiculous! Why do you make compulsory to buy number plate only from Amdavad RTO? And if you have good logic behind it, can't you open centers in various areas? 
Second such rule is that for filling petrol/diesel one must have weared helmet, he/she must have license, PUC, and RC (vehical registration certificate). 
Another such rule is filling up KYC form every year. Agreed that there is rise in bank related crime, but why customer need to fill up form? Can't bank this do when they can go home of customer for opening a/c or to avail them such facilities?
Toll tax is another wrongly imposed tax. Agreed that it is collected for good road but it should be one time tax and govt should assure that roads are in good state. There are so many such black acts which make citizens' lives miserable. 
There are so many direct and indirect taxes imposed upon citizens but in return what they get? It is known that nowadays govt has very much limited responsibilities/liabilities. They have privatised most of services. (Now there is also talk about privatization of Air India also.) Then why so huge taxes? Who will regulate private companies/firms from increasing prices frequently? And after collecting hefty taxes, we only get poor services from govt. Roads are in bad state even in Narendra Modi's Gujarat (one can come and see in Amdavad).There is extremely bad water management in Saurastra where even after heavy rain, citizens are not getting water everyday. Education expenditure is so high. And in Gujarat, semister system in schools is made from 7th standard only to benefit textbook printers/guide/Swadhyay pothi/practise book publishers. 
Amul increases prices autocratically by citing hike in diesel prices almost two months. For increasing petrol or diesel prices, oil companies always cite weakening rupee (but conviniently forget low international oil price) or cite high international price of oil (but conviniently forgets strengthening of rupee). 
Our representatives -MPs/MLAS do not attend parliament/assembly sessions. Or if they attend, they create ruckus/chaos and houses adjournment is each and everyday phenomenon. (In Gujarat, Narendra Modi succeded to call assembly sessions only for two or three days because of weak opposition from Congress). If employee does not attend duty his/her salary will be cut but our mps/mlas salaries are not cut. Govt employees have to agitate for salary rise and private employees have to jump another company to get significant rise in salary but our mps/mlas conviniently forget their enimity and increase their salary by a good percentage. In addition they also get cheap food in assembly/parliament canteen. But common man gets food at much prises thanks to frequently increasing milk prices/satta on essential commodities. There is no control over medicine price also. Electricity and cooking gas are becoming costlier day by day. Purchasing house has become only dream of common man as there is nexus between builders and politicians. 
It is going to be totally failure if system. Without bribing small work is not done. 
Politicians irrespective of parties behaving like Zamindar/Zagirdar who used to block road when they had to pass from road and lived luxuriously. 
Situation is similar to time of British rule. In today's Kalash supplement of Divya Bhasker, Ajay Nayak has written about Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's speach before commencing Dandi March and Sardar spoke : There is nothing on which tax not applied. Only air is not taxed. We are not getting food. It is high time for Dharma Yuddh against this British government. 
I think we live under Black British government rule and there is no basic difference between political parties when it comes to taxing, rising mps/mlas salaries, security of ministers/mps/mlas. Politicians organize their sons/daughter marriage in lavish manner and we mutely watch.
If our politicians will not take cognizance of highly intolerable situation, one day they will invite bloody revolution like Arab spring or Russia revolution.

Did Congress miss the bus by not fielding Priyanka Gandhi against Modi?

It could be considered as Congress's master stroke. Yesterday all prime news channels of Bharat telecasted news that Congress will field Priyanka Gandhi in campaign all over Bharat. However, after hours long discussion on what would happen after Priyanka's entry at national level politics, Congress dismissed reports and counter blamed that it was BJP which spread this news to cover its failure in handling Madhya Pradesh temple stampede. Questions are:
(1) Who spread this news?

(2) Why did someone spread this news?

(3) Why did Congress backtrack?

If Congress would have decided to field Priyanka Gandhi at national level against Narendra Modi, it
would be difficult for Narendra Modi to face Priyanka because Modi could be unable to speak against Priyanka as he uses to speak against Rahul as it would be Woman respect case and if Modi speaks against Priyanka in disgracefull manner, Modi could loose his popularity in women voters.
And also from preliminary impression, it seems Priyanka is more intelligent than Rahul Gandhi. She is cute. She has good Hindi speaking skills unlike her mother Sonia. And BJP would not be able to oppose Priyanka becoming prime minister as it did against Sonia Gandhi citing her foreign roots.
It is tregedy of Bhartiya people that they decide to vote on basis of Charismatic personality and not on basis of issues. It implies to even Narendra Modi whose image is like Rajinikanth of Bhartiya politics who can do everything to save people. So chances are high that people can go for Priyanka as she has fair skin, cute smiley face and beautiful figure like indian actresses.
People have tried and tasted Rahul Gandhi who sometimed does immature acts like tearing Samajwadi Party manifesto in Uttar Pradesh assembly election and terming ordinance to save convicted MPs-MLAs from disqualification as NONSENSE. While Priyanka is yet to pass such tests. She has campaigned just in Amethi and Raibareli. She is not given by congress responsiblity to win full state elections/loksabha elections like Rahul. Her views are not known. Rahul uses to be silent on important issues. It will have to be seen what type of attitude Priyanka adopts on important issues. She was also silent on women sensitive issues such as Delhi Gang rape. So there are many pros and cons for Priyanka Gandhi's success.
Considering above facts, Priyanka Gandhi could have been proven Trump Card for Congress, then why it backtracked. Was it mischief of BJP to test reactions of political parties, public and media what if Congress plays its trump card? Was game plan of Congress leaked at earlier stage? Did Congress miss the bus by not endorsing news reports about fielding Priyanka against Modi?There are lot of questions that need to be answered.

Be a teacher, respect teacher

Teaching and learning are integrated parts of life. You can always be teacher and student simultaneously. I am always teacher and student by heart. In college days I used to give tutions students at their homes personally. One such student's case is interesting. His family was by caste and occupation jeweller. So it was sure that my student boy will join his father's occupation. Because of this his parents did not care and force much for study. It was sufficient for them they had a tutor and left studing on me. I started tution from "Dashera". He was in 7th std and had got only 7 marks in Mathematics in first term exam (what we called chha-6 masik pareeksha). I found him brilliant but he used to study only when I tought him. In preliminary (9 masik) he had 35 marks in Mathematics. One of my student was very older than me. He was having factory and wanted diploma certificate. So I  was teaching a man having grey hair!
My sisters also used to give tutions. We found that we got involved too much. Teaching requires lot of efforts. Teachers must be strict. They have to keep discipline. At the same time they must be sift and have patience while teaching. They can not discriminate on basis of student's fairness, richness or brilliance.
But today parents have  become over caring about their children.  They cant tolerate punishment given by teachers. They dont want to work hard for their children's study. They want to leave it upon their teacher/tutor. They just care about result.
Teachers in these days (specifically) in Gujarat are not paid high. Their jobs are not even secured. This is not in good health of society. I firmly believe that teachers and police must be paid highest salary so that they perform their duties very well.
One more thing. Teacher is not that who teaches in school. You can be also a teacher. You can also educate people surrounding  you. In your profession or in job or in family, you can educate, train and teach new generation. It is everybody's duty to pass their skills and good traditions to new generation. So be a teacher and respect teacher.

Journey of news

I completed two years successfully as News Editor in Gujarat Samachar on this 16th August. It was like dream came true as working in newspaper which I have been reading since teenage. It was 16th august when I joined Gujarat Samachar. Though I had short experience as incharge of front page in Saurastra Samachar it was really big responsibility given by Shree Sreyansh Shah as looking after front page and other national-international news pages of Numero Uno newspaper. From day one my test begun and test paper was hard as Anna Hazare movement was beginning on that day.
Two years were full of events such as -withdrawing support by Trinamool congress, Ramdev’s agitation in Ramlila maidan, sensational exposures by Kejriwal, president election of Bharat/USA, bomb blasts in Delhi/hyderabad, voting on FDI, Gujarat/UP/Himachal/Karnataka election, scams such as coal gate/telecom/railway bribery/alleged army revolt after Makar Sankranti, conflict between army head V K Singh and defence minister A K Antony, Mumbai blasts 1993 case order by supreme court, execution of death penalty to Kasab/Afzal Guru, China incursion, Pakistan army aggression, autonomy of CBI (famous observation of supreme court- caged parrot), conflict between supreme and parliament on disqualification of convicted legislators, fight between Gujarat govt and governor on appointment of lokayukta, emergence of Narendra Modi/Rahul Gandhi as superior leader in BJP/Congress, fall of indian rupee, Europe economic crisis (Greece,  Cyprus, Britain), Higgs Boson particle confirmation, Rover Mars mission, disasters such as Sandy in US, Uttarakhand floods, earthquake in Sikkim…and so on.
Witnessed demises of Steve Jobs, Dev Anand (I got byline for article on Dev which is rare in Gujarat Samachar) , Yash Chopra, Rajesh Khanna, Jagjit Singh, Dara Singh, Pt. Ravishankar, Pran.
It was most momerable movement for me when I got pet on back by Shree Sreyansh Shah for special pages sp. for Higgs Boson page and Pran.
I feel very much happy when Gujarat Samachar exclusively made lead story of Pranav Mukherjee declaring as president candidate (even when Congress was thinking over Hamid Ansari) and decision of announcement of Telangana as separate state.
There were ofcourse underestimates by me. At first instance,  I could not imagine Kingfisher airlines crisis and Uttarakhand flood would blow out of proportion.
Journey of great learning and  satisfaction is still on. Very much happy for contributing like squirrel in Gujarat Samachar’s success.