Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Paradox-03

Geopolitics is changing
And especially so
In Sri-Lankan terms
And its demographic
Activities and outcomes


I fail to understand
Why the so called
Political pundits
Educated only in Sinhala
Especially the journalist and media
Have failed to recognize
The fact of life
Of current politics


Nearly 4 million voters
Have not utilized
The franchise
This time around
Which is nearly 30%
Who have no trust
On the system
Or the system has failed
To recognize
Their need to participate
As living souls


If I break this down
Further
1.5 million
Which is 75%
Of the Tamil vote
Disowned
And turned a blind eye
To their aspirations


That is 15%
Of the total population


Nearly 50%
Of the Muslim community
Which add up to
Half a million
Abstained from voting


In other words
Nearly 20%
Of the ethnic minority
Did not engage
In participatory democracy



Why is this indifference
In our 5 Star democracy?


2 millions
Of the Sinhala majority
Especially the young
And the first time voters
For some reason or the other
Have not participated
In this activity
In spite of the
Freedom gained from
The ruthless conflict
Of violence


Abstained
And no true participation!


When we add
The little over 4 million
Who voted against
The ruling majority
Staggering figure
Of 8 million
Which is almost
60% of the total
Have no leader or leaders


This is an aberration
Which the Professor Edward De Bone
Highlights in his new wisdom book
"Think before it is too late"
Meant for the new millennium
Of geopolitics


A lateral thinking
In true practice


The fact of the matter
Of our democracy is
That the 40%
Of the vociferous extremists
Of the ruling elite
Run the show
Disregarding
The silent majority


My guess is that,
Come the Sinhala and Tamil New Year
Another 1 million
Will not vote
Adding the number
Of disenchanted mass
To over 5 million
Of the total electorate
Which is staggering 40%


In actual fact
Over 6 million (43%)
Twice as much
As my forecast
Did not participate
But doing shopping
For the New Year
Instead of polling

Edited on the 10th of April

Monday, March 29, 2010

Paradox-02

Many moons ago
When we got together
On a social occasion
With spirits high
Both in verbosity
And alcohol content
We had analyzed
("I" eliminated on copyright basis)
The undergraduates
Who would take up
Politics
Instead academic
And intellectual activities

On a case by case basis
In the yesteryear scenario
The analysis
Would emerge like this

There was a guy
Who was not handsome
And unable to get hitched
To to suitable element
Of the opposite
Take respite
On the unthinkable



Another guy
Not so smart in physique
Unable to compete
Or take part
In any sport
Including rugger
Becomes an instant
Socialist


Then there was a guy
Who could not crack a joke
Or enjoy a flash
Of irrelevancy
In good spirit
Or take part in
The Sing Song Band
Or the "Gonpart Army"
Just like the "Barmy Army"
Take up
The Marxist ideology


Then there was a guy
Not eloquent in "Kaduwa"
But had all
The vulgarity
In his mother tongue
Ingrained in his system
And the life style
Paste and posted
All the "Kela Paththara"
On the walls


Then there was
A shadowy guy
Who frequented the
Unauthorized quarters
Especially at night
Lot to hide
But little to show
In character
Was the most vociferous


Unfortunately
These guys
Even though few in number
In our times
Repeatedly
Failed their examinations
And were the unwanted
In their own backyards
Ended up as
"Permanent Gajayas"
Existing on the
Union money
Use politics of the extremes
To regain
Some sort of identity


And there was
No other way
In this democratic society
Of ours
For the these guys
To survive
Other than parasites
In the vague politics
Of little substance
Or relevance


Fortunately
In our times
These guys were
Extremely intelligent
Who did come
On merits
Not on area basis
Realized their fallacious
And out of the fray activity
By the time
They failed the examination
For the third time
Rehabilitated
Out of politics
In good time
And never entered
The august assembly
Or the legislature


But strangely enough
When I analyze
The current situ
And the state of affairs
Of our modern society
There is striking coincidence
That the very same type
Of guys without rehabilitation
End up in our parliament
Who fail in our
Free
School Education System
Some of them
Even as Ministers
Holding important portfolios
Providing instant jokes
To the Media
And the Masses


For them
It is their very
Survival that matters
But not the welfare
Of the voter
Who voted them in
In the day to day
Affairs of our democracy


If that
Is not a wonder
What would be
The paradox
Of our times?

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Paradox-01

In democracy
It is the voter
That matters.

But not so
In our democracy.


It is the elected
That matters.

That also the highest!

The lowest of all
The House of
Not so commoners
Does matter
As mouth pieces
Of democracy
But subservient
To the dictates
Of the party boss