Hey! It’s simple to get your wishes, how ridiculous they are, granted for the Congress government has become quite generous.

All you have to do is to declare your wish and threaten to begin fast unto death if it is not fulfilled immediately by the government. Please make sure you have sufficient followers or hooligans with some experience in creating violence in prime pockets of the city. Also choose a public healthcare centre at the heart of the city and get yourself admitted there. Let the technology keep you alive even though you don't consume food. Don't forget to release a few clippings of your hospital life to the media.

The central government will deliberate with the state government and will come to you with the news that they will initiate the process to fulfill your wish. The whole process might take about 10-15 days in all, which is a bit tiring but not impossible.

Sounds simple, isn’t? Thanks to TRS’ big enchilada K. Chandrashekar Rao aka KCR for showing us the simplest way to securing what we want. I consider him far greater than the first man who landed on the moon or the person who invented the wheel.

We should also be grateful to the Sonia government err the Congress government for its benevolence. Nobody expected the government to succumb to KCR’s blackjacking in a jiffy. It was a hasty and infantile decision which caused furor across Andhra Pradesh.

It’s a big disgrace to the great Potti Sriramulu and others who laid down their lives for a separate Andhra Pradesh during 1950s.

Simple calculations point to the opinion of the common public in Telangana. Just look at the number of votes TRS managed to register since 2001 in various state and district level elections in this region. The number has been coming down drastically, and in the recent assembly elections, the party was almost routed. Chaos prevailed after the elections and KCR stepped down as the president. Of course! he came back to power in a dramatic fashion.

Everyone in the state knew KCR was enacting the drama only to gain his lost glory. But how could the Congress ignore this? Or is there any other strong hidden reason which has motivated the party to take such a poor decision on Telangana?

However, the whole episode boomeranged on KCR and Congress in particular. With MLAs and MPs belonging to Andhra and Rayalaseema areas, irrespective of their political league, taking a U-turn, the whole issue is now back to square one.

The Congress has indeed opened the Pandora's box, allowing other dormant statehood movements across the country slowly regain momentum.

Is there any rationale behind the Telangana movement and the anger shown on people from others parts of Andhra Pradesh, especially from Andhra?

Can we really call KCR's a hunger strike? Is he anyway comparable to Potti Sriramulu - the great man (from the Andhra region) who undertook fast-unto-death for a separate state for Telugus, and in the process died.

KCR is being treated in one of the finest hospitals in Hyderabad. Doctors of the highest designation in the hospital attend to KCR and continuously monitor his health to ensure that he is alive. Outside, we see innocent people creating mindless violence and terror in the name of movement, and some dying without a reason or purpose.

TRS has turned into another Maharashtra Navanirman Sena (MNS), but with a difference. While MNS campaigns for Maharastrians, TRS hates its own state members. What a pity!

The movement is based on the premise or should I say the belief that a separate state will allow the people of Telangana to prosper better and create better opportunities which are being robbed by people from Andhra.

This thinking would have been fair twenty years ago when government jobs were worth more than a sack of gold. With a huge U-turn in the state of affairs post globalization, where plenty of opportunities are available irrespective of region, religion and caste in private sector, and new sectors opening up, the movement seems to be nothing but a high level political drama created by a few vested interests.

There is also this debate of Andhra and coastal regions snatching away irrigation projects on the Krishna and Godavari rivers that flow through Telangana. It's a big story and will deal with it in a separate post.

Moving away from individual benefits, a separate state, if granted, will definitely bear the brunt of the current crop of greedy Telangana leaders who will go berserk and ransack the newly formed state.

KCR has already amassed property to the tune of hundreds of crores in the name of Telangana. A separate state will make him undisputed leader in the region and provide him and his team, and a lot of peanut politicians waiting in the wings, with an opportunity to quickly double their assets.

PS: I am born and brought up in Hyderabad, but my ancestors are from Andhra. So who am I? Telanganite or Andhraite. I would love to be called a Telugu or a Hyderabadi.

The whole episode was akin to a reality show where producers try to project scripted shows as real.

It started with huge hype and hoopla that would preceed any reality show, followed by a few unexpected turns and twists to keep the audience hooked, and finally ended on predicted lines.

I am referring to the drama enacted by TRS supremo K. Chandrashekhar Rao in the name of indefinite hunger strike for separate Telangana state.

He started his drama with huge publicity as though he was testing a nuclear bomb. On the D-Day, he smartly relocated himself to a jail, while his supporters, mostly students in University campuses in Telangana districts, bore the brunt of police lathicharge. Of course, the policemen used force only after the students resorted to some mindless violence.

More drama followed as the already depleted KCR adamantly refused saline infusion and pushed the doctors around away. He, however, allowed the doctors to give saline after a brief parody, and later took some fruit juice, officially terminating his 24-hour drama. His party termed this as an act of repression by the state government.

What followed was really heartning. The same students who even went on to burn themselves began lamblasting KCR after he called off his fast unto death act, just after 24 hours.

They all, at least now, have realized that KCR and Telangana movement are two separate issues.

Namaste Raj Thackrey,

How r u? I am fine and I am seeing you daily in TV and reading about u in newspapers. What happened to you? Why did you beat so many examination candidates from North India? That severe beating is not good at all and is very painful. See now what happened to you. There is God in sky and he will not leave you.

In 1960's, some Bombay people were against South Indians and now you are against North Indians. We are not saying anything to your Maharashtra people who are living in other country parts and even in our locality. Then why are you doing bad things to us? We all are Indians and Gandhiji told us that we can live in any part of this country. You are also talking bad against big star Amitabh Bachchan. Please change your behavior and become a good man.

There is another fellow with same mind called K Chandrasekhar Rao in Andhra Pradesh. He is also telling the same thing to people who are not born in Telangana. He is against people from Andhra area and is asking a separate State. I don't like him also. If you meet him tell him that I told him all these. We are already having lot of problems from outsiders like Pakistan is sending terrorists, America is falling, etc. If we create more internal problems like this, they will easily win against us.

So please don't get angry and be happy. If you are good then good will happen to you.Wish you happy Deepawali.

Thank you

Yours faithfully,

Shanthi Swaroop
from Mumbai slum area
(original home in Uttar Pradesh)