Games, More Games and Some Light on Home State Elections

I had certainly played games the entire 2023 and aptly written one on cricket as the last post of the past year circling off an intense gamified year. Games for food, dangerous games and more games. Well, as promised I would like to put my views here on the home state election games or at least the settled home which took place on November 30th and the results declared on 3rd December. As mentioned, I was closely following the final phases of campaign for 1-2 weeks earlier to the D-day and the results which came a few days later. I am watching the speeches on the campaign trail which ever pops up on my timeline but not out of intention. So, without my choice, I spent significant time following these elections out of interest or attraction or as a good time invested, following these power games as a little distraction after playing my own game.  

If cricket team can move India, elections can move the states, my game and the team can move much more than these. The beauty of my game is that such games can never be felt, such games can never be played, and such players will never emerge. Such is the essence of the game which took me to U.S. from India, revolutionized U.S. and left everyone gaping in wonder. I had already written on these ‘soft games’ or the IT field 18 months back, which is my domain that left India stirred up before coming to U.S. The severity has only grown in these 18 months and I am yet to take stock of the rise which happened now. If you remember, I had written two posts with title – ‘Rise of IT and Rise of U.S.A/India’ back in august 2022 after getting drowned by the rise of IT and the stir it has caused in the societies around us back then itself. After an extremely intense time period of 18 months after that, I am submerged completely and lying on the ocean floor bed, unable to comprehend what is going on and how it is going. Simply, my little mind couldn’t imagine the thought itself and preview or capture the picture completely. We need to zoom out, scale back in size or reduce the severity to get back the senses and see it clearly. Just simply, the amount of analysis I had done and the processing my intel brain chips have taken through dwarfs everyone’s brainstorming around the world – be it the most important decision-making power centers of the world, be it the intense battle zones, be it the collective thoughts of 100-member meeting room driving nations, world or be it the leader of a world responsible for balancing its dynamics. I am yet to get over this simple truth without any exaggeration and my ‘I don’t know’ expression will speak more than words. I had waded through this intense, internal battle experience day-in and day-out for over 2 years, not for 1 or 2 days, all in the open for everyone to see without any pain or shame, just like Ukrainians or Palestinians are battling it out in their combat zones when the rest of the world watches and ‘prepares’ for more battles without empathy. When the defensive land at receiving end cannot recoil or the offensive soldier is overcooked and exhausted, the battles initiated by policy makers don’t hit any larger goals other than self-goals. I have also written on the importance of this peace without internal or external wars umpteen times. Simply, peace and order should be the order of the day around the world and let war be upon the perpetrators of wars itself. I had a feeling this internal war within me was because of me and the karma. 

Coming back, it might be a little wonder that I have been able to write about the internal turmoil with all the senses, stability and orientation intact. Such are the demands of these games and the unimaginable reach or the areas which can have an influence upon. Maybe we can have another post to talk about what these games are up to or get a gauge of its spell on the earth if I can rise from the ocean bed to comprehend any other ongoing rise. As a quick example to gauge the spell on earth in permeating the internet services which is part of the ‘gamification’, spacex launched 98 rockets placing 1937 starlink internet satellites in lower orbit in 1 year in 2023. To put in perspective, India accounted for a mere 7 rocket launches with 9 satellites in the same year. The importance given by SpaceX in launching rockets to provide internet services to remote locations around the world has it inject 5000 small satellites as of January 2024 with many thousands further required. The number of subscribers stood at just over 2 million. But the point is the internet is food and water for these ‘remote’ people or it is their ‘birthright’ in this day and age which propels these companies to launch thousands of satellites with hundreds of tons of payload. The U.S. business to remain in business is to shoot hundreds of rockets and provide a vital component to ‘link’ people around the world with internet. Even if we dig a mountain to catch a rat, the rat is more important. This is not a joke and definitely a laudable effort from this great nation to provide internet services to countries like Ukraine etc. where it is needed the most. The point is with the option to get internet anywhere in the world, the world is truly marching towards being a digital playground with everyone getting involved in being a player. 

I mentioned the quintessential game played over some time by me, the internal turmoil which went into its making and an example of an emerging landscape. I cannot talk about any external topic by pretending everything internal is fine. First things first and the umpteen issues need to be ironed out for me to opine about anything else with a level head. Hence the calling out and hope someone is listening and will take care. 

Coming to the elections played out in home state in India, I can say -as these Americans call- these are elections in a ‘battleground’, ‘swing’ state which can have a say on the larger outcome at a national level. The folks in U.S. calls every other state as battleground state which I feel they are intending some pun as if there are tanks on the ground dueling it out. Just to carry their ‘unique’ take, this has true meaning back in India. Such can be the intensity, ferocity, hard work and determination which went into its making and outcome. The key takeaways from this election as I can see are – 1. To have a single-minded dedication to work towards the goal and become the chief minister to serve the people, 2. Give your 100% to the task without any slack and you can lift a wave of people along with you who can put people’s welfare at the center. 3. Power can sometimes over-power you and by snatching away, you are setting free and preventing an earlier ship from drowning. 

An elaboration on these three points will be a good learning from watching this spectacle in addition to many other viewpoints. India is a land of diversity with many languages, cultures, religions and differences. The topmost position to aspire for a Telugu speaking person from the land can be to become the chief minister of Andhra or Telangana. The same applies to every other state of the country. There is no denying the fact that becoming chief minister is the ultimate respect and echelon which one can earn and the most difficult position to aspire for any common man. The leader of the country ruling from a faraway capital can be secondary as well where a state is concerned. In other words, there is tremendous importance to this position at the ground level of a region. For example, day-in and day-out, a Telugu language daily will carry headlines on the front page regarding the ruling government of the state presided over by CM. The news doesn’t bother about what is being done by an employee in a corporate company or what a most righteous, ideal person is doing in an irrelevant, insignificant job. Claiming a CM chair can be equivalent to cracking the most difficult IIT-JEE or Medical exam or a civils exam with a single seat getting to first ranker out of lakhs of aspirants. Imagining that all the right people with the right aptitude take this test, in addition to many right people who neglect or disregard, the ultimate winner presides over the structurally top-most echelon in a state. Rest all of us are working or watching from the sidelines while leaving the main story centered on one news maker. The common man will only have access to this news and there are crores of us. You cannot question or change this spotlight or structural importance unless you grab the spotlight or the chair by working methodically eliciting a clear consensus in every step. The step begins at the lowest level of ladder of politics and reaching the top is akin to playing the game in a final when crores are watching over. To emerge victorious reflects all the hard work and some good virtues - even if not all - practiced along the way. 

I am more occupied with the politics of the home state and ruminate over them because in this proxy world, proxy CMs rule over the state while the actual aura is created by few others from sidelines. We cannot deny the hard-hitting reality of the times. Nothing to take away from the individual brilliance of these politicians and the individuals from both sides, my frequency locked with ruling class of home state for the natural reasons of affinity towards political class for their accountability of common man welfare. The common man includes me who can sometimes become the biggest and a most challenging common man to take care of. I stay with these set of people and unless we see a genuine welfare and good future for the common man, the governments might not be elected – when the words spoken genuinely don’t usher in a true welfare on the ground. Giving hope for a common man with a dark vision can be challenging sometimes. Since the capital city of Hyderabad is extremely progressive, keeping a check on welfare and aiming for progress while maintaining the already high status quo can truly compound the challenges. The new government needs to be extremely meticulous and efficient to meet these daunting demands and requires all our wishes, support and teamwork to be there, do that and make a difference. 

Coming to another side, I used to watch the extremely impressive speeches given by the leaders from both parties in the battle for a long time. It is also timely for me who is also learning to articulate better and there is no better medium to learn than a heated battle ground. The clarity in diction of 4 to 5 leaders while addressing a gathering tops even its sister state of Andhra Pradesh. This is an impressive moment of arrival and a period of heightened practice where these speeches are given day-in and day-out. If only it makes us think if any common man can give one of a kind of speech in front of a good 100 people for even 5 minutes, the efforts from the tiring voices of political class will not be in vain. These are some of the great reels to watch which happens rarely in the confluence of giant killers emerging to take on the giants ruling for the last 10 years. I hope the master articulator germinated within me after watching these and will take over me to improve a little bit in this foreign land. 

To tell about the gist of the story, the ruling BRS party has been at the helm of Telangana since its formation ten years back. There is no visible opposition challenging the government which covered all the bases from welfare to progress and made significant strides in the overall status of the new state. I had written a post on the progress of the state few months back in an India round up. As I followed the 9 PM news for most of the days for 5 years back in India, there is a new development or investment every other day in Hyderabad or Telangana. I think I am inspiring, but this work of the govt. used to outpace and inspire me even more on a regular basis. The city and the state have been a hot melting pot of very good activity for good period of time. Rome was never built overnight and through laying brick by brick, making little progress every day, a good overall growth can be achieved through this continuous activity. The groundwork has been laid and a daunting groundwork at that and the time is to build on that foundation which is definitely tough to sustain that momentum.  

To trounce a party with this impeccable track record asks for the emergence of another giant equivalent. This has been in the making for the past several years and I crisscrossed with the present CM from congress a few years back. Nothing personal or one-to-one but I am a part of a gathering of around 100-200 members whom he addressed. This kind of real-life experience helps shape the opinions and when the person goes on to become the CM it makes the story all the more attractive. The experience is more relatable because I am attending an annual community event of our caste, and this person is the chief guest. Not that I am giving any importance to a caste but as some event to get involved. So, the elders of our creed have brought him and the aura surrounding that entree, appearance and speech was nothing short of marking him as the person of eminence, importance. In the speech, he struck a chord saying “kamma vari manasu amma lantidi”(the heart of your people is like a mother) which even I don’t know belonging to them. The speech was short, and it had an effect. But otherwise, I follow most other leaders in social media and other medium but hardly through direct gathering. Anyway, I rooted for his victory for other reasons and there is no disappointment akin to Indian cricket team. It can be the most arduous effort to reach this pinnacle in the final battle. 

The city made strides, the state travelled the distance and has inspired the nation and the world. This electioneering has engineered a people’s man from the field, ground level to achieve top honors to inspire the battleground state, nation and the world. The city of Hyderabad and the telugu state need to really buckle up on the back of these important milestones after the tumultuous journey and become world class or become a breeding ground contributing to the nation and the world.