By Sidharth Mishra

"Jiye to apne bageeche mein gulmohar ke tale; Mare to gair ke galion mein gulmohar ke liye." – Dushyant

The early onset of summer has made the Gulmohars bloom. It's not yet Baisakhi, the day we did annual shopping for pitcher and water pots for birds, but the heat is already on us. Delhi is known for its scorching summers, but I love the season for hotter the city, greater the bloom on the Gulmohar trees, which line the avenues. The red flowers of Gulmohar trees in the national Capital are complemented by yellowish florae from Amaltas trees.

There are several, however, in the national Capital who miss out on the riot of colours in the city. My friends ask me, where are Gulmohar trees in this city? I keep telling them,

By Sidharth Mishra

"Lucknow Fida Hum Par Aur Ham Fidaye Lucknow, Kya Hasiyat Aasman Ki Jo Chhuraye Lucknow" – From the wall of MB Club.

 

This week's Notebook may well be rechristened as Lucknow Diary. Travelling to the capital of India's politically most significant state after the dust had fairly settled down on the stir which was created following the head monk from a saffron order being appointed the head of government, reiterated one thing for sure that the national media especially digital media continues to be in a state of denial. That the media has lost connect with ground level realities is on its way to become a cliché to define it's functioning. When in Lucknow, it's difficult to find what people would call 'tell-tale' signs of a 'fascist' having taken over except for the huge congratulatory hoardings commemorating rise of the five-time Member of Parliament from Gorakhpur Yogi Adityanath as the Chief Minister of the state. Albeit Raju, the veritable guide (remember RK Narayan's 'Guide', later made into a magnum opus by Dev Anand), my driver for two days looked happy at the discipline having returned, or rather seen by him for the first time, on roads of Lucknow.

By Sidharth Mishra

Gurdwara Rakabganj Road is a quiet wooded street in Lutyens' Delhi. Albeit this avenue is home to several 'sarkari' bungalows, fascinatingly remodeled in keeping with the reputation of their allottee. There is a corner bungalow, which till last Saturday evening stood unsung, uncelebrated. An entry into the bungalow welcomed one to the Spartan lifestyle of its occupant – Yogi Adityanath. As the head of one of the richest order of monks, Adityanath as five-time Member of Parliament from Gorakhpur could have definitely afforded much beyond the basic amenities which the government bungalow provided. Adityanath is a monk, a Sadhu, who inherits lineage from his spiritual father Mahanth Avaidyanath, the late head of the Gorakhnath Math order. In the appointment of Yogi Adityanath, the BJP leadership has maintained the trend of handing over the leadership of the state to the non-elite within its own party.

By Sidharth Mishra

Mahatma Gandhi survives as the icon of Indian aspirations in most adverse situations. This is largely because his thoughts continue to have a universal appeal despite some of it having been delivered nearly over 100 years ago. Mahatma had a detailed opinion on the functioning of the Indian media too. At one point he said, "…There is no doubt that newspapers have done great service. Their defects are therefore overlooked. But, to my mind, they have done no less harm. ...On the whole, it would seem that the existence of newspapers promotes good and evil in equal measure." Mahatma's observations have been the starting point of my recent interaction with the officers of Defence Services that happened in batches on different occasions over the past six months. The purpose of interaction was to acquaint them on how to deal with the ever-changing media scenario. The talks largely focused on how to deal with the media in conflict situations. In military parlance, conflict situation exists when you are engaged in a war or with the subversive elements generally with the reference to the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and parts of North-East. However, the past week presented a situation where a Lance Naik committed suicide after a video carrying a surreptitiously conducted interview on the poor soldier went viral.

By Sidharth Mishra

The title of today's Notebook is of course inspired by Charles Dickens' 1859 novel, "A Tale of Two Cities." One of the underlying themes of the novel was that be it Paris or London, the two cities in question, though divided by different languages, cultures, and sea, they remained similar in many ways. My inspiration from the novel is limited to finding a suitable headline as I do not see many similarities between University of Delhi and Jawaharlal Nehru University, rather wish to expound on the differences between the two institutions. The newspapers are full of headlines and social media is more violently stirred with the fact that "Delhi University is on the boil." I think that's an overstatement. I wonder if it would be alright to say that just the main campus of Delhi University is on the boil. My friends tell me that even this would be an overstatement. What would be the most appropriate description of the "tension prevailing" on the campus? According to my friends, who are also residents of the campus, there is "no prevailing tension"; it visits between 11 am to 2 pm on a working day. At best, the "tension" could prevail for another two hours in the evening before the bells toll for dinner in most of the hostels. This nature of protest describes adequately how different Delhi University is (the main campus of which is located in the northern party of the city) from its southern counterpart – Jawaharlal Nehru University. 

By Sidharth Mishra

Politics in our country has the ubiquitous quality of drawing everything in its hue and flavor. Therefore, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi's then poll strategist Prashant Kishor, ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, started "Chai Par Charcha", to discuss politics over a cup of tea, the aroma of the leaf from the gardens turned saffron, and the slurp from a steaming hot cup of tea was drowned in the noise of technology televising the discussion over the satellite, digital antenna, etc. Those who have practiced politics and those who have covered politics would agree that before Narendra Modi deciding to Christian himself as 'Chaiwala', the omnipresent tea seller was the best political seismographer who had a fair idea about the direction of the wind. Having brought him into the limelight, Modi ensured that he lose his innocence and did not remain as earthy as one would have liked him to be. He started to carry a lot of air around him. Let me add a disclaimer that I am no left-winger, who would blame the BJP and Narendra Modi for all the ills; nor am I upholder of the saffron flag, who would see great virtues even in the tea served at Keshav Kunj in Jhadewalan with glucose biscuits.

By Sidharth Mishra

The first round of polls in Uttar Pradesh covering 73 of 403 Assembly constituencies is over. The worst fears of the BJP mandarins are coming true; if the poll percentage is any indication. The turnout was estimated at around 64 per cent till the close of polling. Though the first phase witnessed a three per cent rise in voter turnout, as in the same phase in 2012, covering these Assembly constituencies, it was 61 per cent, its district-level break-up which is throwing the real picture. According to Election Commission records, Etah recorded 73 per cent turnout, Muzaffarnagar 65 per cent, Bulandshahr 64 per cent, Noida 60 per cent, and Ghaziabad 57 per cent. Taking the analysis to more micro-level, a case study shows that in the upmarket Kaushambi locality of Sahibabad seat on Delhi-UP border barely managed to cross 50 per cent mark, wherein minority and low-income group dominated booths of Pasonda village and Khora locality in the same constituency the turnout was huge. The Sahibabad seat overall recorded a turnout of mere 51 per cent. In the neighbouring Ghaziabad seat, it was worse touching just 50 per cent. The district-wise percentage of Ghaziabad managed a somewhat better show, thanks to the performance in the rural seats like Muradnagar. The EC figures clearly indicate that Etah, a Samajwadi Party stronghold, has witnessed eight per cent higher polling at 73 per cent compared to communally polarised district of Muzzafarnagar at 65 per cent