The Dynamics of Laziness and Indolence - Victory for Some, Defeat for Some

I don't know what to think the sweeping verdict of the electorate in the recent state elections on Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Assam. I am in Kerala now and the mood is upbeat. The chief minister who lost - V.S.Achuthanandan - says that the UDF's is a marginal victory with a marginal majority. That sounds like sour grapes. The fox is cunning too. He will come back as the wily politician in V.S. knows. Oommen Chandy looks to be the next chief minister. So, Kerala is going to have the second Christian chief minister after A.K.Antony. Good. They worked hard. The BJP didn't get any seat. Bad for them.

I am at my brother's home in Kochi. On the way here as the hills dipped into valleys and waterlogged plains converted into rice fields I thought of the changes brought about since my childhood. They tell me rice cultivation is at a standstill because labour rates have gone up to Rs 400 (around $ 10) a day (high by Indian standards). So the common farmer can't afford to cultivate his land. Therefore fertile land is wasting away, encroached by water hyacinth and wild tubers. Labourers, besides, get rice at Rs 2 from a populist government, so why bother to work for food? I see development turned on its head and laziness being rewarded, people being driven to drinks and dissolution.

"I'd be more frightened by not using whatever abilities I'd been given. I'd be more frightened by procrastination and laziness."

Said by Denzel Washington. He is an actor I admire. He has shown his mettle in "Fallen" and "Courage under Fire." Yes, I am frightened by not using whatever abilities I have been given. The labourers of Kerala who work so hard when they are in the Persian Gulf and in Bombay are lazy bums when it comes to working in their own state. (I am scared these comments would be takens as anti left. No I am not anti- or pro-left. I have taken political sanyas log ago.)

As I was driven here I saw a lot of victory buntings along the way. Then in the night I saw Cochin Tuskers lose to Punjab XI in the Indian Premier League. Bad for Cochin Tuskers. They didn't have any good bowlers and the Punjab XI batsmen had to so easy.