indian politicians take the sms and web site routes

In the last 3 weeks, I have received smses from BJP, Congress, JD(S), and today from Captain Gopinath!!! Election time!! And, what a way to campaign.

The political parties are going the IT way. BJP was the first to send such smses. A week later the Congress followed. Last week JD(S) started their sms campaign. And today, i got 7 smses from captain Gopinath. (He started late and 7 smses are his attempt to catch up with the other parties.)

BJP’s sms: Laptop to 1 crore students, 1.2 crore new IT jobs, Internet in every school, e-banking for all. Student loans at 4%. Vote Ananthkumar. Vote BJP. www.ananth.org

So, BJP plans to provide 1 crore laptops with open source software. Sounds very far-fetched, but if they can pull this off, then nothing like it. Would be worthwhile if these laptops are given to poor students. Of course, they need to first educate people and make them capable of using laptops. 

BJP’s laptop campaign is in stark contrast to SP’s “ban english, ban computers” campaign!!

Congress sms urges people to vote for Krishnabyregowda – their South Bangalore candidate. No mention of any agenda.

I don’t remember the JD(S) sms. I deleted it even before reading it. That too must have had something to do with voting for their south Bangalore candidate. (Okay, by now you must have guessed I live in south Bangalore. )

captain Gopinath’s sms: BJP can be defeated captain Gopinath is winning. (poor english!!)

Doesn’t this sms mean that Gopinath is contesting the elections only to defeat BJP? Is that his election manifesto?? I had great regards for this man (like I have for all entrepreneurs). But the sms really put me off. I expected a more mature and sensible sms from this man – something regarding the upliftment of the society, our economy, creating jobs et al. But “defeating BJP” – I can’t vote a person whose goal is to defeat someone else!!!

Speaking of the IT way, these parties have their own Web sites too!! I checked only 3 sites.

The CP(I)M site is very boring with too much text and too many unorganized links.

The Congress site is colorful and better organized. Of course, they too have quite a few links to click through. However, they have made the site interactive with provision to “Connect with Congress” by providing your name, email id and contact number. You can also download their manifesto in different formats – PDF, Word, HTML, and Flash. You can view their site in english, hindi, or urdu. The site is also linked to their monthly journal and other congress sites.

The BJP site too is colorful and well organized. In fact, it’s the most colorful one with lots of pictures. And, it has less links, which makes it less boring. They too are interactive in that you can provide your email id to receive their newsletters. You can download their manifesto in english or hindi. They have also added a “Search” feature in the site, which is cool.

What does the Web sites and the sms campaign indicate?  That the parties are now trying to woo the educated and the IT brigade too. Their focus have shifted to the cities too?? Well, whatever it is, just wish that they live up to their promises – the promises to do good for the people, and not promises to “ban english and computers”.

youtube is down

Looks like youtube is down. So, I am not able to view the ads that I posted today – Old ads … old memories and the limca video here.

bad luck!! wanted to watch the ads … and relive the memories …

Old ads … old memories

Remember those old ads on Indian television (Doordarshan)? bajaj bulbs, hajmola, rasna et al. The small kid saying “hajmola sir”, the old man singing “jab main cchota baccha tha”, or the rasna girl saying “i love u rasna” and so on. Those were the 1980s. The days I was growing up in school and loved advertisments. There weren’t many programmes on TV for primary and mid-school students, so had to make do watching these ads. I would run to the sitting room whenever I heard any of the ads playing. 

Those who haven’t lived the 80s may find these interesting, and I am sure you will appreciate those evergreen and everlasting jingles.

And, those who have lived the 80s will definitely love to relive those memories.

Here are some of those ads. I hope you enjoy this journey of jingles and ads.

(I couldn’t find the “Hamdard ka tonic Cinkara” ad. If anyone has the video or link, please let me know.)

Hajmola ad:

Lijjat Papad ad:

Rasna ad:

Bajaj scooter ad:

Bajaj bulbs n tubes ad:

Luna ad:

Vicks 500 ad:

Vicks again …

Vicco Vajradanti:

Garden Sarees (this jingle was composed by A.R Rehman):

Liril (1985):

bangalore from 23rd floor

The 23rd floor of a building (don’t know the name of the building) on Residency road, Bangalore, houses the Railway Reservation office. Last evevning I went to this 23rd floor not to get a train ticket, but to get a view of Bangalore. And here’s what I saw … 

That’s the Ulsoor lake viewed from the 23rd floor.

                north of bangalore

central bangalore

far north again

far east of  bangalore

 

Thatz all I could click before my phone battery got discharged.

But, the experience was good. The city looked beautiful from the top. I specially liked the way MG road and residency road winds and merges. Next time I’ll click many more pictures (of south bangalore too).

If anyone has been to that building, do let me know how you found the view. And, of course share any pics you have.