The Mayawati Statue

Oft raised the Mayawati issue finally had reached the Supreme Court with the highest court issuing a show cause notice to the UP government.

Saying anything against Mayawati is the quickest way to brand oneself as elitist ignoring the atrocities inflicted on the downtrodde. One cannot deny the fact that the downtrodden section of our country still is way in darkness and a lot needs to be done for them. Parading oneself as their messiah for one's own petty gains is not the way it is done

That's my grouse with Mayawati. She aint no messiah for the Dalits or for anyone. She is furthering her agenda by way of giving a voice to the Dalit cause. The statue issue is just one of the ways to put herself up using the Dalit cause.

2000 crores in these times to erect statues is horrific. When more than half of the kids under the age of 5 are malnourished, spending that amount of money for erecting statues is crazy. Height of sycophancy whereby she erects her own statues in the lofty company of Dr. Ambedkar. Misusing his legacy to achieve power and govern the state to further ruins.

I still cannot fathom why i have to pay from my pocket for erecting a Maywati statue. If she wants it so much let her have a million of them in her own house paying for them for her own pocket. Why use public money for erecting her own statue.

Offering limp excuses that Kanshi Ram always wanted her by his side wont do. Kanshi Ram's family would have a different story to tell. If his last days were anything to go by it would be difficult to believe what Mayawati often propogates.

Thank god the Supreme Court has intervened and ask the Government to respond. It would be interesting to see what defence the government mounts. It however wont change till the people who vote for her wake up and see whats happening.

It's statues today...something else tomorow. Mayawati will find a way to use and rouse the emotions. Her vote-bank hopefully realised this and asks for better governance than to turn a corner and have Mayawati in stone lookin back at them

Amongst a flurry of emails there usually is one or two that beats the "send it to a million and you'd spawn a million " kinda mail, something that stands out. A mail that one is loathe to delete from the archives.

Just happen to view one such email. Katie Kirkpatrick. Never heard of ever before. Never will forget her ever after.

The ability of Human spirit to rise above pain and achieve what it wants for itself continues to fascinate me. Katie symbolizes the fight inherent in all of us to go beyond issues that stop us. Thats Katie when she was the homecoming queen at Lapeer East High School where she also was a co-valedictorian. the photograph sits on a table in her family's home living room in Metamora.


On Valentine's Day 2002, Katie Kirkpatrick, then a freshman at Rochester College a small Christian college in Rochester Hills, Michigan) was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Undaunted, Katie strove to keep up with her studies, but she suffered another setback in 2003 when she was diagnosed with "an inoperable lung tumor wrapped around her pulmonary artery.

However Katie did not allow that to stop her from celebrating one of the happiest days of her life. She was in love with Nick Godwin since 11th grade. The fact that is that we can rise above adverse circumstances. It always is about how much one gets and what one can make out of it. Katie got what she did but what she did further with it is what makes it all the more special


Katie strode ahead inspite of the severe pain taking morphine and numerous medications to help her. Inspite of suffering from terminal cancer with prolonged medications and multiple organ failures Katie took care of every detail of her wedding.The wedding dress though had to be adjusted a couple of times because of her constant weight loss. Inspite of everything Katie walked down the aisle to marry Nick Godwin, 23, at Church of Christ in Hazel Park on Saturday January 15, 2005.


Five days later, Katie died. She did not let her illness stop her getting what she wanted. She has a wonderful wedding the love of her life by her side. She did not stop living then. She did not stop living now. Incredible that the story has resurfaced again after about 5 years. Her father recently lost his battle against the same illness. However the human spirit or the tales of such live on. All of us have the same human spirit, to look an adverse situation in the eye and strive and attain what we want inspite of our situations. Katie Kirkpatrick is an embodiment of the same human spirit and lives on long after she has gone. I know she will last with me till the time I am. And that i believe is the way that an illness could not stop Katie from attaining love, happiness and share memories with people all over the world.

Cristiano Ronaldo to Madrid

Florentino Perez has done what Ramon Calderon could not. Break the bank and bring not only Kaka but Cristiano Ronaldo the Bernabeu. For the watcher's it was waiting to happen. I did not expect Kaka to move to Madrid but credit to Perez he made it happen. And with David Villa and the Valencia saga that attacking line-up sure looks ominous.

For a United fan the saga was already a long drawn affair with almost all bored of it. Deep down everone knew Ronaldo was on his way with his sights set on Madrid. As a fan of both the teams i find the deal to be the best for Madrid . The two players can lend the strongest midfield that would eclipse the trinity at barcelona. The addition of David Villa would make it a fearsome stike-force at the front. Not sure how the talismanic Raul or RVN would figure in the final line-up however another striker of the same quality as either of the three would mean an extended time on the sidelines for the two. With reports of both sneijder and Robben on the move, the left of the mid-field hopefully will be bolstered by the addition of some new players. I'd be loathe to see Robben go and worse to Liverpool but his injury record is not the greatest.

As a United fan the loss of Ronaldo is big almost impossible to fill but the amount of money on offer was ludicrous. Ronaldo will never have a season of 42 goals ever. Made sense to let go of him when the price was the highest. For the same Price United can have 3 world class players and i am sure the gaffer would have thought of something before letting his star player go.
For me the typical United player is someone like Roy Keane who would absolutely kill himself for the team. Rooney somehow fits in the same act now, selflessly playing out of position and tracking back like hell defending. The present squad at Old trafford may not have the same combative spirit the team did under Keane, but sure have combative stars

I guess thats one of the reason Cristiano could never endear himself to the faithfuls. The fight when things go against the team the amount of effort put in him is what gets appreciated. Even Berbatov too is guilty of the same. On the other hand Carlos Tevez has becomes a darling of the faithfuls with an incredible display of heart even with his future uncertain. No wonder Old trafford crossed the manager with chants to keep him and Carlito was teary-eyed with the support.

I am not sure what reception Ronaldo would get when he returns to the 'Theatre of Dreams'. His loss is immense no doubt but it does not make me sad to see him go. The heart the fight that one associates with the United shirt is what matters.

United have recovered after losing bigger stars. Cantona, Stam, Schmeichel, Beckham, RVN... all legends in their own right and much more to the fans than Ronaldo could. United will come back again.

For his time at the Theatre of Dreams a big thank you to Cristiano and and wishing him lots of luck when he dons the white shirt of the los merengues. Real probably is the biggest club in the world and he hopefully dazzles the world with his skills further