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Why no Padmasri for me ?

Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by Manjureddy, Feb 1, 2007.

  1. Manjureddy

    Manjureddy Gold IL'ite

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    Hi All
    Guys,I am verrrrry angry today, furious,enraged,mad.
    Girls from the vocabulary -building thread ,supply me more synonyms please, I can use a cartload. Grrrrrrrrr.

    I got to see the full list of Padma awardees( Sri,Bhushan and Vibhushan)only last night. I am mightily miffed that the Government of my beloved country decided to decorate everybody except me. Thats unfair !

    Time was when the selection committee took real interest in nominating eminent personalities who made notable contributions to society and culture . A Padma awardee was much respected and admired.
    Slowly the successive governments started getting jolly and fancied the concept of Santa Claus,a benevolent distributor of largesse, spraying goodies right, left and centre. Year by year, the list has grown monstrously. This time the list occupies a whole broadsheet page and mind you, the font is only a grade larger than the fine print on a scrip.

    Scrolling down the list , one is bewildered : Hullo, who in heavens is this ?And what does the person do? The Committee has its answers, alright. He has acted for 30 years, she has danced for 25 years, he has written 15 books, she has made 45 dresses,he fiddles, she sings, she paints, he wicket-keeps,he clicks, she cooks.
    Get real, Sirs ! Each of them has chosen a profession/vocation and is persuing it for livelihood. They are not acting,dancing,writing, whatever , for free, out of charity ,for the sole pleasure of the unwashed masses. Well, I have chosen to be a homemaker and have been making home for 13 years. Why no Padmasri for me? If its only because they have had their 15 second of fame in pop. media, then, may I submit that my name too has appeared , along with 11 bhajanai mamis,in the 2-page " Athipatti Times". So there !

    When there are category-wise awards like Sahitya Akademi and Jnanapith ( writing), Kalidas Samman ( performing Arts), Arjuna ( sports) Swarna Kamal etc ( Cinema), why waste precious Padmas on the same candidates again , Unless they have done something really exceptional ?
    Thank goodness,The Bharath Ratna has been put on hold, without succumbing to string pulling and favouritism. Some decency left, after all.

    Still fuming:evil:
    Manjula
     
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  2. Vidya24

    Vidya24 Gold IL'ite

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    Dear Manju et all,

    Moi aussi, no Padmashri. A notable omission, now that I have completed 1000 posts in IL!

    Anyway, till I get one myself, I will subscribe to the view that the Padma awards are lots of hype. They are not endorsed by the Indian constitution.In fact,Morarji Deasi (yup, the exPM who drank 'you know what') could be better remembered for the fact that he suspended the awards when he was PM.

    Here is some Padma trivia for us,just to show how shallow these awards can be. I will not use real names since I don't want to get sued. There was this former President of India, close to post Independence days. A very noble patriot who fought for our freedom.May His soul rest in peace.Anyway, he was down with a serious illness and a devoted nurse from his home state nursed him in the Rashtrapathi Bhavan.

    When he was fully cured, the President decided to acknowledge her services by conferring Padmashri. He instructed his office to contact the state government (since they have to make the nomination) and get his nurse to be named.Sadly, the President just gave the second name of the nurse.

    The diligent Head of Staff passed this surname to the state govt.It so happened there was an eminent medical practitioner in that state, with the same surname, who had done much academic work and social service.The state government was thrilled and imm nominated him for the Padmashri. It was carried ahead and approved.

    When the President heard of this, he told his staff that a mistake had been made.He had been referring to his nurse. So, the Head of staff went back and this time, the 'right person'-the nurse was nominated and approved.But since the holy doctor had already been approved and informed,they could not take it back.

    So,in that year, there were two Padmashri awardees of the same name from the same state.Maybe they both deserved it.But the way they were chosen tells us a lot abt the way our leaders rule us. And reward us!!!!

    JaiHind!

    regards
    Vidya
     
    Last edited: Feb 1, 2007
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  3. varudhini

    varudhini Bronze IL'ite

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    Hi Vidya and Manju

    It is very true of the fate of our once most honored Padma awards. Better not to say anything on them now. Really it is heartburning to see the names of award winners and I pity who really deserve and didn't get because of no lobbying powers at state or central level. As Manju says now-a-days the list is getting larger in size year by year without quality.

    May god save our Bharat Ratna from the clutches of our politicians.

    Varudhini
     
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  4. sathya

    sathya Gold IL'ite

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    hello

    nobel parisu thamizhukku kodukkavendumenru
    bharathi sonnanam
    varuthathudan..
    ramanujathai killi erindanam
    vayathu muthirvadarku munbe
    (kanakku velai paarka mele avanukku
    thevaiyo ennavo)
    indru jan 23 il
    nethajiyai ninaithu yaarum
    oru vizha edukka vendaam
    oru chinna patti manramavadu
    nadathi irukkalam

    thaguthi ullavargalai vittu vittu
    cola vukkum koteeswaranukkum
    koduppadu dane pattam?

    sathya
     
    Last edited: Feb 1, 2007
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  5. Oviya

    Oviya Silver IL'ite

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    Manjuuuuu....

    Where are you? I want to convey this to you...

    What a sense of humor associated with brilliance!
     
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  6. Haasinii

    Haasinii Bronze IL'ite

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    Yes its pity that our country is in such state favouritisms or uncontrolled violence still no answers from anyone who has authority over all this..might be we have to change the way we elect our leaders..
     
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  7. geevee68

    geevee68 Platinum IL'ite

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    Hi Manjureddy,Vidya,
    I share the same sentiments with you both. These Padma awards have become such a joke. You shake your "booty",show your midriff etc in a couple of films & you are honoured with a Padmasree! What a sorry state of affairs:rotfl
    Where are the so called defenders hidden?

    Let me tell u,the whole system has gone to donkeys,i mean they are donkeys sitting,judging & giving away these so called titles mindlessly.For all you know,they might be getting something in return!!!who knows???:idea
     
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  8. ojaantrik

    ojaantrik IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Manjureddy,


    In my own state, they have stretched the Vushan and Vibhushan list with a vivacity that would have put God to shame, even at his creative best. Of course, to add to variety, they have sound-engineered the Padma into a vibrant Banga. If you cannot pronounce Padma as Banga, that's your problem. A Bong pronounces Padma as Padda without batting an eylid and s/he has been doing this ever since s/he has been doing it and that means really ever as in ever. And Padda, even if it doesn't flow through Bongland as in WB, it does still dance and ripple in Bongland as in BD. So, Padda does appear to be a slight variation of Banga, won't you say? And before you protest, let me remind you that Bongs pronounce rashmi (as in rays) as rosh-shi. There you are. Don't contradict.


    But this has little bearing on the issue at hand, which is that like you, I too have been ignored. I appear to be the only one I was able to discover who has failed to be an awardee, leaving out other dispensable objects standing in the way of civilized existence, such as spilling garbage cans or crisscrossing cables dangling noose-like in front of your nose as competing TV service providers battle it out among themselves for the cause of a suffering service starved humanity.


    But I don't grrrr over the matter. Age has its limitations you know. Memory being one of them. I tend to forget individual elements in the stream of sorrows that have a tendency to populate my days with a determination no less dogged than my unwillingness to give up my pretence of living.


    This is not an unmixed blessing of course. For some of these wounds open up once in a while without prior notice. One such, I just recalled (unfortunately prompted by your post) had been inflicted on me when they announced a Prof. V.K.R.V. Rao prize for the best Indian economist below the age of 40 (probably). And I received a letter from the powers that be that I was being shortlisted. I was elated and that for two reasons. First, I found unmistakable evidence that I was still on the right side of forty. And second, for the obvious reason that I enjoyed being recognized as a member of elite society. The barber who gave me a haircut would now have to view me as a customer deserving deferential treatment. He failed in this task miserably though, never having heard of the great V.K.R.V. or, for that matter, prizes being awarded to people who added meaning to V.K.R.V's greatness. Somewhat in the spirit of Ramakrishna Paramhamsa building a throne for seating God himself.


    And I sprinted off to an economist friend of my mine to educate him about my enviable achievement. Upon which he simply shuddered. "Have you sent them your C.V.?" he asked in horror. "Why yes," said I somewhat demoralized. "How on earth could you act such a fool?" he went on to say. "Don't you know that they sent this letter to you precisely because they have decided that they will not offer you the prize?" "How do you mean," I still asked, completely confused, but suppressing nonetheless the palpitation in my heart as best as I could. "What an idiot you are!" he exclaimed. "Don't you know that they have already fixed the recipient? But they cannot make it look like a prize unless they have a list of people who lost the race?"


    As it turned out, my well-wisher was not wrong and, as far as I know, I was the only other person in the list of two people from which the winner was selected. Well I am gullible, others are not. Best to admit one's stupidity before others find out by themselves.


    When sorrows begin to silt the drying river of your questionable life, they do so in battalions. With youthful reverberance that is, inside a bashed up shell of old age. So I remember now about yet another prize, a Bong prize from top to bottom, or front to back perhaps, offered by an organization called the Bengal Economic Association. To my utter embarrassment I realized on a fateful morning, or evening perhaps, which is no matter, that I was the only person in the Economics Department I worked for at the Indian Statistical Institute, who had failed to be awarded the prize, leaving out of course Aslam, the person who had been employed by the Institute to run small errands for the faculty, not excluding the duty of making tea for us around 3 PM in the afternoon. Tea that tasted like hemlock, though I cannot declare this under oath. I never tasted hemlock.


    Amongst my other faults, one, I was told, was the unenviable fact that this time I was on the wrong side of 40. The other fault being that, when on the right side, I was located in Delhi. Traitor I had been to the cause of the native land. So, I was punished in a way that really drove home the point. They awarded it to someone above 40, but who had lived in Bong-land during the time I was away, though he went on to live in Bengaluru soon after. Perhaps Bengal-uru sounded like Bengal to the judges as they ululated merrily to celebrate my discomfiture.

    Later on of course, I was compensated somewhat by an invitation by the same organization to deliver a Memorial Lecture and I cannot resist the temptation of sharing with you my introductory lines. These were:


    Sigh, sigh, sigh!! But no grrrr ...though life is grrrrrruelling I admit!!


    Stay on the right side of 40 at least to be Padma-fied sooner or later. And I do not care what your official age is. In my land of imagination, which you have granted me permission to inhabit without interference of any sort whatsoever, you will always continue to be 25.


    Best regards.


    ojaantrik


    P.S. And here is a request. Please don't address me as ojaantrik Sir. Unless you wish me to address you as Manjureddy Sir.
     
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  9. Kamalji

    Kamalji IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Manjula,

    i agree with u totally, they are working formoney, they are doing no favours top anyone, so why the award, they have received rewards instead in terms of money.

    HAHA

    Superb post Manjula, i agree with u all thje way.
     
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  10. Mindian

    Mindian IL Hall of Fame

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    [FONT=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]Hi Manju,[/FONT]

    [FONT=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]now just you wait ! I promise to use ALL my influence and get you that award . I shall appeal with an attachment of that [/FONT]Naidu Hall[FONT=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif] post. Now if that doesn't deserve one, I conclude that all these awards are bogus.:)[/FONT]

    [FONT=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]If its only because they have had their 15 second of fame in pop. media, then, may I submit that my name too has appeared , along with 11 bhajanai mamis,in the 2-page " Athipatti Times". So there !

    [/FONT]
    [FONT=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]Yesss and a copy of that might help too.[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]..[/FONT]:wink: :cheers[FONT=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]
    [/FONT]
     
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