Nothing conveys the failure of Indian governance better than the sight of well-fed politicians (and calorie-conscious administrators) shamelessly glugging packaged drinking water while women and girls wake up at obscene hours to book their spots in queues, or to lug pots and buckets across miles, to wash, cook and bathe.
Here, “the doyen of dalits”, Mallikarjuna Kharge unbashedly slakes his thirst at a Sonia Gandhi rally in Gulbarga on Saturday by sucking a multinational bottle, while (right) a woman in Bangalore steps on the treadmill of drudgery to fetch a few cans, little knowing if those whom she voted have already pledged to privatise supply of the liquid of life.
What are the six differences you can spot in these two pictures?
Photographs: Karnataka Photo News
churumuri 
1. Tricolor relegated to the background by a thirsty politician ?
2. The obvious bottle ; the only fortunate thing is that it’s not an RC early in the morning…
3. ‘Pot Belly’ and ‘Double Chin’ and ……
4. Kharge is small — I don’t mean just the photo is small…
5. Kharge’s photo is just about him; The photo on the right puts rerspective around realities — not only do you see two women hard at work, you also see a city that’s started it’s morning grind and do something productive..
6. Spotless whites of Kharge, which in reality is more soiled than a newborn’s diaper or the entire city’s soiled laundry put together.
I can keep going.., but suffices I guess..
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This is blog activism at its best. I wish there were a Kannada equivalent for Churumuri.
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Going through some other blogs i just found the link to this one. Very impressive. I am still trying to figure out who you (or you all….seeing the frequency of posts) are.
Keep up the good work. Hope to inspired by you.
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1) There is more gas in the deena-dalithara bandhu, than in the tyres of the tricycle carrying the lady and her accomplice….
2) The doyen of the downtrodden is so well endowed that the scrawny lady on the bike should wonder which depot akki he eats.
3) The tricolour works for the deena-dalithara bandhu and his ilk once every five years, while the lady works for the tricolour 24x7x365.
4) The deena-dalithara bandhu and his masters have to be protected from those whom they ostensibly serve, or vice-versa.
5) The lady on the bike and her accomplice on the carrier do not know where and whether their next bottle of water will come from.
6) In spite of all this, the media will have a obituary on the man on the left while the women on the right will go down unsung and unheralded.
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If MK is “the doyen of dalits” then DG is “the doyen of gowdas”.
IMHO, there is no need to bring in the caste angle – obesity & thirst doesn’t know caste.
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i am reading churumuri regularly from last week.
i am one of those guys from the district of kharge i.e Gulbarga.
he is dalit and he stills needs to contest from reserved constituency .he has seven times from reserved seat, isnt shame that he stills need reservation .
they themselves dont allow other backward leaders to rise.kharge and dharam singh havent done anything for their home district forget about state. for example go and see dharam singh’s constistency Jewargi!
sharan
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There is nothing special about it. It has been a common spectacle and bottled waters are used even in meetings held to discuss the rural water supply programmes even at the district level meetings. The water bottles are for the elite and the other one for the common folks. It is long time ago that the politicians and the people at the higher echeleons of administration have lost the sensitivity. Such an incongruity hardly moves them.
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There’s a story narrated about Guru Nanak. When Babaji stopped over one evening at a big town the local lala invited him for dinner. Babaji of course chose to stay with a humble chamar. The businessman was upset and walked over the Babaji’s shelter with a plateful of the choicest delicacies, pleading with him to partake of his food. Babaji took the humble commonman’s coarse bread in one hand and the wealthy man’s rich fried puri in the other and squeezed them both. Lo! milk ran out of the farmer’s bread, while blood issued from the other. MK that poor lady may carry dirty water because that is all she can afford. But that is sweeter than the sweetest Kaveri neeru. That purified mineral water you are chugging from is but blood – the blood of the people, you vampires can never stop drinking from.
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Not to view from caste angle , OK. Those who preach so much from the platform should have minimum concern for them. What have done the for their constituencies? Once they are elected they come and settle down in Bangalore, trying to control everyting from Bangalore and the next time they remember their constituencies is when the elections are announced. At least things have changed after Great Seshan became the Chief EC. In this election we saw the percolating effect of those rules and regulations. We do agree the hunger, thirst, pain have no barriers but how you react in a civilized society is more important!
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Superb juxtaposition.
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I am not sure about six differences but I am willing to bet that the person on the left has more tyres than the tricyle on the right because of all the hard work involved in relentlessly toiling for the masses for seven terms.
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The differences are ( in) Black & White
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I think it is hysterically lame to compare the two photos. If I am pushed to say something it would, “became a neta and drink from a bottle.”
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How many respondents here have thought of all this on a hot afternoon while gulping down a litre of bisleri or aquafina? Its just a picture and a story. Melodramatic as well. Kharge is not god and with all his fallacies (I am mostly sure that most of us don’t know all his unique failures, unique weaknesses and unique shortcomings… its our general hatred towards politicians, especially those who have made use of reservations), he still goes there and participates on platform and performs, under a hot sun in midsummer gulbarga…. if I don’t like it, well, its up to me.. We need to have a more pragmatic understanding of the way politics works… the lopsided vision with which we see politicians then probably works only to stich these melodramatic stories for our entertainment
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There is ONLY one difference. A woman is cycling carrying water .In the other picture Something is drinking something like water directly from a bottle under ‘eechalu mara’ in front of the National Flag.
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Why bring caste into all this:
Some folk mentioned about Kharge’s physique, about his double chin, the tyres filled with gas. Did you know the original leader of the dalits – ambedkar was huge and fat. He had a big pot belly, could not walk properly during his last days and had trouble breathing. Compare him to the Bania Gandhi – thin and impoverished. Now where is your caste system here.
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Differences:
1) Mr. Kharge wearing White cloth, where as the lady on other Photo is colorful.
2) Mr. Kharge drinking multinational bottled water, where as the lady is searching for (Just)water.
3) There is Flag behind him, but lady, not carring any flag.
4) Mr. Kharge is waiting for someone(Cangress Madam), where as lady is searching for something(Water).
5) Mr. Kharge is surrounded by Fence, Lady riding her cycle on Bangalore road.
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Kharge sucks.
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Shantarama!
What do you mean!?
Don’t
harijansDalits have a right to beobesewell covered?LikeLike
Shantaram,
You have brought up a very touchy point. Sadly true. While Ambedkar was beyond any sort of prejudice, and wished well for everyone, and a true humanist, he was not of the lowest of the low. He belonged to a community – the Mahars – that are more aptly termed backward class, than scheduled caste. The discrimination faced by the Mahars was in no way of the order of that faced by the more depressed classes that Gandhi lived, and dined with – what we cruelly, with insensitivity, and malice call the chamars, doms, bhangis, and others. As Tagore said these are the communities that are the most exalted and pure as they keep all of us clean. And that is why despite all the criticism Ambedkar heaped upon Gandhi, never once did he question Gandhi’s sincerity or his love for the untouchables. Ambedkar being modernist belived that education would drive away all prejudice and discrimination. Gandhi being a traditionalist thought otherwise and believed that it is only experience that can change people, not mere learning. Arun Shourie has found that in Maharashtra the Mahars – especially the neo-Buddhists, are not liked by the other scheduled castes, as they have started behaving like overlords themselves. While the Hindu dalits who come from very depressed castes have now increasingly turned towards caste-free parties like the BJP and the Shiv Sena.
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We have a sensex for stock market, We have a sensex for Politician’s illgotten wealth, also we need for pot belly may be called Potbellex.
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The photograph shows ..one thing for sure..We’re all downstream
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MADAM I AM 18 YR. OLD I AM THE SMALLEST KAARYAKARTA OF THE YUVAK CONGRESS AND I WISH TO MEET RAHULJI’S THIS IS THE SMALLEST DREAM OF MY LIFE I PRAY GOD TO GIVE YOUR FAMILY LONG LIFE THANKING YOU
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