#(as DMK knows all too well unfortunately)

[veinsfullofstars]

💎 Shenanigans and storytelling! 💎

(ID: More Kirby series fanart of Shadow Kirby interacting with Daroach, with guest cameos by Adeleine, Ribbon, and Dark Meta Knight. Top right - Daroach and SK dashing away towards our left, each carrying a large sack of stolen Point Stars and laughing in mischievous glee. Middle left - Daroach darting forward and performing a Cross Claw attack, his glinting claws leaving white slash trails in an X shape in front of him. He peers up from under the brim of his hat with a cunning look as SK - wearing the Animal gear - deftly leaps up behind him with a playful roar, his own claws shining and raised to attack. Bottom right - the Wave 2 gang and SK all sitting around Daroach as he confidently regales them with tales of his life as a master thief, shown by speech bubbles displaying a rose, a dagger, a jewel, and a mask. On our right, Adeleine, SK, and Ribbon lean in with wide eyes and rapt attention, fully engrossed in the thief’s exciting stories. Meanwhile, sitting just behind him, DMK looks far less captivated, a brow cocked in skepticism behind his mask and a thought bubble with an eye-rolling face over his head, as if he knows just how tall these tales really are. END ID.)

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 (you’re here!) | Compilation

Sketch started btw 12/23 - 06/24, render started 06/08/24, finished 06/24/24, updated fro color correction 11/02/24.

[quanblovk]

All good times are three:

Eggs Benedict meets the GSA

Back during Halcandra's the golden age, he was able to meet them, but it was very similiar to MK's first meeting. They both just waved enthuasiatically and got candy.

But now, as the leader of the famous Egg bandits, their interactions would be VERY spicy!

At first, they'd see them as just this big group of outlaws that steal and kill anyone unfortunate to get in their way. But after knowing his relationship with Meta and the crew's actual goals, they immediately loosen up. Turns out Eggs and co actually target corrupt wealthy people and evil space pirates to rob. They're more like vigilantes instead of bandits, if you think about it.

So here's his relationship with the 4 knights + Galacta Knight:

Falspar:

Just like with Necromancer, Falspar unfortunately cannot meet Eggs. But if he did, he'd totally be down to have a drink with this lad. Eggs is actually very chill to talk to when he isn't swinging his deadly golden whip around. They'd get along very well, even if Eggs somehow gets him mixed up with Dragato.

Dragato:

He's GREAT! Dragato loves Eggs! Defeating space pirates, eating the rich while being a single father? That's his entire style! Sir Dragato has immense respect for Eggs and wishes to join him in a few adventures some time, maybe on Sundays.

These two would often spar as well, he loves the way Ben uses his whip. Its not often that Dragato gets to fight a whip user.

Nonsurat:

Nonsurat's a tad bit hesitate at first because of how rough and inelegant Eggs is, but he quickly finds those traits endearing instead. He often gets a little annoyed whenever Eggs mistakes him for Meta though. But he truly doesn't mind it. Eggs is just the kindest person he's ever met next to Arthur.

Arthur:

Arthur's got the same opinions of everybody else about Eggs. He's just a really chill and down to earth guy who's great to have a drink with! However, he still has to be responsible and cannot turn a blind eye to some of the things Eggs does. He has to make sure Eggs doesn't go too far and causes trouble for himself and his crew. Ben really appreciates this and promises to do smth in return for the GSA one day.

Galacta Knight:

"Blueberry! You're married?!?"

"For the last time, I'M NOT META KNIGHT!!!"

"Calm down Dark!"

Time and time again, Eggs would ALWAYS get DMK mistaken for MK. Because of this, he got to meet with GK a LOT. This happened so often that eventually Gala and Eggs became more closer to each other. That was the start of their friendship.

There's nothing signficant to say so far, he's also got the same opinion as the 4 knights. Ben's relationships are mostly positive!

[kirfluffbon]

Any headcannons bout skirby?

they’re a benevolent local cryptid of sorts among the people of the mirror world. they work hard to protect the labyrinth from anything who’d seek to harm it, but they’re also kind of shy and skittish so they mostly keep to themselves. they’re still fairly well-liked and well-respected, though - and they take kindly to offerings of sweets and apples.

a highly attentive and vigilant guardian, and also a bundle of nerves who’s constantly on edge 24/7. they’re just so frequently wracked with anxiety and have a lot of trouble relaxing tbh. Stressed Out 8 Year Old Looks 12

cowardly lion. they’re far stronger than they initially seem, but really don’t actually like solving problems using violence or blunt force unless it’s a last resort, which is a point where they and dameta kind of butt heads sometimes.

pastel goth. prefers soft, muted colours to bright ones. 

has a really pretty singing voice that lends itself well to soft folksongs and lullabies. they’re hella nervous about singing around other people, though, so they mostly do it when they’re alone.

a chronic insomniac. they hate sleeping. they are, in fact, actively fighting their internal clock 80% of the time. sometimes they’ll get so tired and push themselves too far that they’ll pass out in the midst of guard duty, so dmk/sddd end up picking them up and carrying them back to the castle to their bed.

the mirror world is a gorgeous place no matter where you look and skirb knows all the coolest scenery spots off by heart. most of them are well-kept secrets, so they’ll rarely share ‘em with anyone except for especially close friends.

gets little baby crushes often. unfortunately for them, no matter how many hints they try and drop, p much all of said crushes are denser than bricks.

excellent table manners. eats everything with a knife and fork. even / especially things that should never at all under any circumstances be eaten with a knife and fork.

[vs-stardream]

all right everyone. one more Lore Post. this has been bugging me for a while, and either i am dumb, the wiki is dumb, or we have been misunderstanding the mirror universe this entire time.

this is gonna be long.

so, the dimensional mirror. i was under the impression that the people in the mirror world had kinda always existed, along with the world itself. my perception was that it was just sort of... an alternate version of dreamland! with its own cast of “dark” characters! hey, perhaps some events we see in the games also play out in the mirror world, just in a different way!

i’m... not sure if this is right anymore. but, well, amazing mirror is confusing. let me explain

i went on a wiki binge, and singled out some quotes that always confused me:

“At the beginning of the game's events, Dark Meta Knight was created by the power of the Mirror World, and was made in the likeness of Meta Knight himself.”

“[the mirror] is the gateway between the normal and the Mirror World, and is behind the creation of all of the Mirror World's occupants”

the wiki states this very confidently. at first, when i was reading this, i was just wondering.... where the hell is this backed up in the game / any other reputable lore source?? isn’t the mirror just a gateway?

though this quote from the katam instruction manual does imply the sorts of things that the wiki says there:

“High in the skies above Dream Land floats the Mirror World. In this strange and beautiful land, mirrors have the power to make any wishes reflected in them come true. One day, a sinister presence invaded the Mirror World, and its mirrors could only reflect bad things. When Meta Knight discovered what was happening, he set off to save the Mirror World.”

so... the mirror was corrupted by dark mind, and it started making “dark” versions of everyone. we also know that dark taranza was produced from taranza looking into the black mirror: “When a troubled mage stood before the mirror, Dark Taranza appeared…” if i were writing the wiki, idk if i would state this all so confidently

another VERY confusing aspect of the dimensional mirror is its function as a gateway. it’s a gateway between dreamland and the mirror world... but also has a kind of pocket dimension / liminal space inside of it, where you fight dmk and dark mind?? i think that’s how it works.

extremely confused, i went and watched the katam opening cutscene and tutorial again. that also made me confused. here is what i understand of it:

there’s a big mirror. it floats above dreamland. this mirror is a portal to the mirror world—it takes you from dreamland’s sky, to that place in the mirror world that serves as a hub in katam

someone (dark mind) is causing trouble in the mirror world

meta knight flies up to the mirror to enter the mirror world

dark meta knight enters dreamland. he splits kirby into four, and they follow him up into the sky towards the mirror

the game starts! kirby and his companions trek through the clouds, following dark meta, who they saw at the very beginning.

kirby & co go through the tutorial. it looks like they aren’t actually in the mirror world proper at this point. at the end is a mirror leading to the central hub. so, i guess the dimensional mirror isn’t the only entrance to the mirror world??

before kirby & co get to the hub, there’s a cutscene in which meta and dmk emerge from the dimensional mirror. i suppose dmk must’ve flown from the tutorial area to the actual mirror, catching up with meta.

dmk seals meta within the mirror, shatters the mirror, and disperses the shards. meta is now trapped within the mirror’s pocket dimension. i guess that dmk made extra sure to seal meta INSIDE the mirror, rather than just chucking him through the portal back to dreamland

dmk goes into one of the smaller mirrors. shadow kirby (shirby) falls from the top of the screen, and follows him.

kirby & co fall from the screen too, presumably the same place shirby came from, and the proper game starts!

yall don’t want to know how many times i rewatched those cutscenes to get all this info ok. what new stuff did i get from the cutscenes???? Not All That Much, admittedly.

i went back and forth about this for a while, and concluded that it is indeed possible that the mirrors created dmk and shirby. we just aren’t shown it in the cutscenes. meta knight flies up towards the mirror—it’s possible that him looking into the mirror created dmk, who then goes down, splits kirby into four, then goes back up through the mirror again. the kirbies go through that smaller mirror that leads them to the main hub—soon afterward, shirby emerges from the same spot the kirbies do later. it’s possible that that mirror created shirby, and then shirby went through it just before the kirbies did.

but, unfortunately, just taking the info from the cutscenes, it looks like the answer to the origin of dmk and shirby is ambiguous. could go either way.

let’s look back at the instruction manual quote up there again. does it straight up say the mirror(s) created dmk and shirby based on mk and kirby? no. but we do know that 1. the mirrors can make things reflected in them come to life, and that 2. lately the mirrors have been reflecting “bad things.” what does this mean? bad wishes? reflecting the dark sides of those who stare into the mirrors? making copies of the things reflected, but making those copies evil? it’s so unclear and up to interpretation!!!!

whatever the case, here is my conclusion: this quote does seem to imply that the mirrors created dmk and shirby. i’ve said that like 5 times now but i think it’s a definite possibility. i don’t think the wiki should state its interpretation like fact, but i do think the wiki is onto something, and i’m inclined to believe its interpretation of these events.

(i do wonder about characters like king golem though. is he mirror whispy? when would the mirrors have copied whispy? or is it just a coincidence? is the mirror world naturally a little similar to dream land, and the dark characters are the only ones actively created by the mirrors?)

(this also has implications for sectonia. did the mirror, corrupted by dmk, create a dark counterpart for her when she stared into it? is the sectonia that we know really dark sectonia, and the real sectonia, who wasn’t corrupt, is hidden away somewhere?? but i suppose we know from tkcd that the mirror sometimes just corrupts instead of, well, mirrors, and i guess that’s what happened to her. but taranza also got dark taranza.... hm.....) 

another question is—is dark mind even FROM the mirror world? all the narration in-game makes it kinda ambiguous, but the manual quote says that he “invaded the mirror world.” this would imply that dark mind isn’t the mirror world counterpart of anyone! he’s just a bad dude who wanted to take over the mirror world! how very interesting.

right, so, it’s midnight, and i’ve tangled myself into so many knots writing this post. i sincerely hope it was all understandable!

[applekitty]

WIP Challenge

@radiantseraphina is literally evil for making me write out like 30 or so wip summaries!!!

i’m tagging @roy-my-boy / @captainvul since that’s my only other ao3 mutual other than socially and seraphina already tagged them

Challenge: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous.

fun fact i now keep my wip list public over on my fic page, but here’s the link anyways

anyways, i title everything by fic titles, nothing goes untitled so yeah here we go

Kirby: Back At Ya Again!: a series of 100 chapters, planned to be 700k words long. it regards a sequel to the kirby anime with haltmann instead of nightmare. i, fun fact, was just writing chapter summaries for this before checking to see i got tagged here

Kagami No Kaabii: the all too familiar mirror anime i post art about too much, lol, also planned to be 100 chapters and 700k words long, or maybe even 200 chapters and 1.4 million words long depending on if i want to mirror the above fic as well

Zero Percent Chill: the fic you guys know as ‘the one ching hasnt updated in over a year and for some reason is still her most popular fic’, this fic is the bane of my existence and it’s on hiatus rn

Capricious Support: an au to ^ regarding customer service, due to plot details i cant say much about it

Blue Cat: my mirror magolor fic i haven’t updated in a while either, lol, despite it only being what, 10 chapters long? it’s basically about return to dreamland but mirror world.

True Paradise: true paradise is.. interesting. it’s a fic wherein suddenly, no one can feel negativity. kirby and meta knight and everyone else, no one can feel it. except beings of negativity like gooey, dark matter, negativity based demons like nightmare, etc. things begin to die and necrodeus sees this and goes ‘ah, well, FUCK’ and smacks meta knight, kirby, and tiff and MAYBE tuff and tells them to go fix shit by slapping people into reality. aka you cant be happy all the time, pain is natural and being forced to be happy is wrong

To Hunt A Monster: a fic following some kirby ocs who are monster hunters. they will do anything to kill monsters and to get money off of their skins or get trophies. anything.

Knightmare: a ‘meta knight is nightmare’s kid’ au. essentially, nightmare has a whole family of orbs he keeps in his empire while he’s at war. he keeps them sheltered and happy, making sure none of them hear of his horrific acts. meta knight is one such orb. one day, all the other orbs are taken by the gsa in an act of heroism except meta knight (and his stepbrother jecra) who were ontop of nightmare’s shoulder that day. 

Kirby Destroys Capitalism: sequel to what a lovely nightmare

And The Price Will Be High: sequel to what a horrible dream 

Galactasies Away: sequel to zero percent chill with galacta knight being there

Dadroach: a fic wherein daroach acts as kirby’s father figure rather than meta knight. set in cappytown / the anime since squeak squad acknowledges its existence

Le Monde Est a Nous: susie backstory fic, explores what dmk said in ‘dont worry she’s redeemed’ with  susie unnerving dark mind.

Suit And Tie: cs backstory fic, lots of corporate backstabbing, sexism, betrayal, manipulation, trauma, and office drama. i’ve gotten like.. 4k done on this and it’s going pretty swell

How Unfortunate: this one is being rewritten, it’s basically a fic wherein nightmare’s a wishgranter.. for a price

A Good Guy: taranza is an incel fic

Unlicensed Merchandise: ‘wouldnt it be funny if nme sold bodypillows’ i asked myself before jecs even drew a single line on that yamikage bodypillow

Mischief: marx backstory fic about how marx is bitter about being handicapped, and though he went through his entire life with a good family and good friends he couldn’t help but feel like he’s lesser. 

Hope, I Like Hope: sequel to ‘what do you like’ from nightmare’s perspective, trying to explain why he had such a drastic change of heart.

Hired: a half-venting fic about metasusie wherein susie tortures meta

owo: sequel to uwu

ⵙwⵙ: sequel to owo

Three Years Between Them: an au fic where kirby is an adult and he’s very, very jaded with a warped sense of justice because of how many eldritch horrors he’s fought. he believes that being a hero means he doesn’t have to value anyone else because he knows better than everyone else.

Sleepy Afternoon: a fic wherein nightmare is summoned back into reality post-anime by some cultists

[fullmoonfireball]

Okay so, I remember your mirror Adeleine, but which other characters you have mirror versions of and what they are like? (Also, if you've written on canonical mirrorers such as Shadow Kirby or Dark Taranza, that counts too!)

Oh boy, this is gonna be a long one, so I’m putting it under the cut. 

OCs

Lace: Mirror World Ribbon

Edgy, kind of a jerk, but in that way little kids are.

Goth™

Has never even heard of Shadow Kirby

Not very fleshed out, tbh

Shadeleine: Mirror World Adeleine

Mostly summed up in this post. 

Also I apparently write her with a Texan accent? Oops

Her name was Shado when she was younger, and she hated it

Shadow Marx: Guess Who

Kinda grumpy, but is nice at heart 

A very tired insomniac

Just Let Him Sleep

Dating Mirror Magolor

lots of incomprehensible late-night rambles

Syzzle: Mirror World Gryll

The nerd to Gryll’s jock

Probably owns a library or something

Also not very fleshed out

Theatra: Mirror World Claycia

An actress

Overdramatic, very flamboyant

Has a coloured redesign I still need to post

Overprotective of Shadow Elline, who she loves very much

Shadow Elline: Guess Who (2)

An author. Writes a lot of what Theatra performs

An inkbrush fairy, as opposed to her counterpart being a paintbrush fairy

Much more reserved than her girlfriend or her other world counterpart, doesn’t talk too much

the ‘straight man’ of the duo

Very easily flustered

Mirror Magolor: Guess Who (3)

Mostly summed up here

Myrdinia: Mirror World Drawcia

A robot made by Wiz, meant to be their assistant before Shadeleine took that role. 

Bitter about the disappearance of her little sister Muse (a robotic dancer, MW!Paintra, who is waddledab’s character). Muse was made as a response to Myrdinia’s requests for a sister, and was loved dearly by her.

Even if Muse was kidnapped by some Floralian fuckwad, Myrdi still blames Wiz for what happened

Absolutely has at least five throwing knives on her at all times, even if she never uses them

More or less a magically animated automaton. She needs Wiz to ‘recharge’ her magical energy every now and then. 

Shadow Sectonia: Guess Who (4)

Actually really nice, despite being a parasitic wasp. Hasn’t stolen anyones body

Was friends with Other World Sectonia, unfortunately leading to her corruption

Dead™ 

Shadow Taranza: Guess Who (5)

Nervous as heck

Unhealthily loyal to Shadow Sectonia

Definitely not doing so well after her death

Vivian: Mirror World Cordelia 

Wiz’s (adopted) mom

Specializes in water magic, despite being a simirror

Supports her weird kid’s career wholeheartedly

Tea Person™ 

HeadCANON

Before starting off, here’s some general headcanons

Dark Meta Knight

An edgy jackass

Likes terrorizing people

Doesn’t like SDDD that much but works with him anyways 

More headcanons here. they’re kinda old, though

Shadow Kirby

Nervous lil orb

Trying his best

Needs to hang out with better people

The Mom Friend™ 

Wiz (Mirror World Paint Roller)

Wiz is just their stage name. Their actual name is Shadow Nuru. Most people know them as just Wiz, and they’re fine with that

Physically, they’re just a pair of eyes and invisible hands. The clothes are levitated.

Probably a Madoo? but has no clue what a Madoo is

They do Real™ magic tricks. Their powers could probably be considered reality-bending, but they seem to think it’s “not much”.

Has anxiety issues, but they’re surprisingly good at hiding them… Most of the time.

They’re actually a really bad teacher, being the main reason Shadeleine hasn’t actually learned anything from them. The other reason is that Shaddy has no  magical abilities whatsoever.

They’re surprisingly good with machinery, especially when it comes to clockwork and the like.

Probably sells some of the smaller devices they pull together. If not for their passion for prestidigitation, this could easily be their main job.

Really worried about Myrdinia and how resentful she’s become. They hope she’ll get past this 'bitter’ phase at some point.

Copes with Muse’s kidnapping by trying to pretend she never existed. They’re quite distressed by Myrdinia blaming them for it, as Muse was similarly dear to them.

A complete pushover to authority, no matter how questionable it is. They don’t even like Dark Mind (in fact, they’re quite scared of him), but would follow his rule unquestioningly. This is how they ended up guarding one of the Dimensional Mirror’s shards during KatAM. 

Dark Mind (Mirror World Nightmare + Mirror World 0)

No one knows who put them together, but it wasn’t much before the events of KatAM

Mirror World Nightmare wasn’t even That bad, but most of his personality seems absent from Dark Mind

Despite The existence of a MW!0, no other members of the Dark Matter species seem to have counterparts. Presumably, MW!0 lacks the ability to produce them.

Pretty Dang clearly corrupted, as is usual for shard fusions. This is most apparent in his ego. 

Shadow Dedede

Pretty apathetic 

Not King in any way, shape, or form. 

Would be capable of restraining DMK’s rage, but couldn’t care less

I’m not super sure of what to think of him

Dark Taranza (Shadow Sectonia + Shadow Taranza, only exists in the TKCD universe)

Unstable disaster

Ridiculously bitter

Floralia’s new regnant after Sectonia’s ‘passing’ (though they technically are her)

They’re fair to their subjects, but should anyone else wrong them, they would not hesitate to brutally punish them

Notably bigger than Other World Taranza 

King D-Mind (Shadow Dedede + Dark Mind, only exists in the TKCD universe)

A DDDisaster. Possibly more so than DarTar.

Barely-functional, mentally speaking. Being a three person shard fusion is incredibly difficult. 

Ridiculously corrupted

Not actually a King in any way, shape, or form. DarTar easily outranks them.

I also don’t know what to do with him, either

[vijayanands]

Reading the News this week... Sonia Gandhi is preparing Priyanka Gandhi to take leadership role. Stalin is apparently prepping Udhayanidhi Stalin for a position in the DMK party. The Tatas ... even the Tatas cant seem to give up control, but are back in the helm. And if you thought this was an issue with family businesses, even one that was built by a first generation businessman - N.Murthy, is having the same issues at Infosys. The word is Nepotism. If succession is based on bloodline and not on merit, especially for top positions, we are back where we started 200 years ago. If the vision of India was that this would be a country where all men (and women) are equal, and the opportunities presented would be too, then we are heading in the wrong direction. Since this is #GoT season, an apt analogy is Peter Baelish (aka Little Finger). I know none of us like him, but he is the only outsider there who is trying to make his "own house". In Entrepreneurial terms, he is the first gen entrepreneur. Everyone else is a "great house" simply fighting to keep their lineage going. Unfortunately, it doesn't end well for him either. The equilibrium of the world - be it fantasy, or real life - is that there is inertia. Everyone wants to get to the top and then ensure that the system doesnt allow for anyone else to get there - by treading the same steps they did. That's the ugly side of capitalism. This is the joke in the US as to why some Immigrants voted for Trump - it is to stop more immigrants coming over (even though it was the same liberal policies that gave them a start in the first place) Democracy by default, breeds capitalism. It is to balance it out, that India was designed as a Socialistic Democracy. (Yep, if you are shocked it is time we go read up on that. We are a socialistic country on paper). That's a marriage of two very different "natural" biases though, and hence the reason why it takes conscentious effort to make it work. The effort is lacking though - as individuals, as corporates, in politics and in a policy level as a country.

from Facebook via IFTTT

[vgopalakrishnan]

Kathiramangalam - Facts and Myths

Tamilnadu is caught with yet another protest, in continuity with the series of protests which have been rocking the state, this time in a small village called Kathiramangalam in the Thanjavur district. The reason for the protest - To halt the exploration activities towards extraction of Natural gas from the deposits in and around the village. For the beginners, ONGC has been involved in the Natural gas exploration and Oil exploration across the country right since its inception. And since the year 1958 the exploration activities are going on in the Cauvery basin across various places for various exploration activities, primarily Natural Gas.

And in Kathiramangalam, the epicenter of current controversy, ONGC has been extracting natural oil and gas, not now but since 2000. The bout of protests was triggered when very recently, ONGC as a matter of routine exercise planned to conduct maintenance of the wells between June 2 and 6, 2017 after a period of eight years. When the maintenance work was getting ready to conducted, needless panic seemed to have set in among the villagers only to be fueled and instigated by the outsiders in the name of social activists and fringe political parties thereby putting ONGC’s exploration on the line of fire, for no reason..

The major allegations against the drilling activity of ONGC is that it is causing depletion of ground water levels and creating health hazards to the locals.Firstly, there has been no evidence or proof, which has been given by any agency or the protestors, that the drilling activity has impacted the ground water levels or caused contamination in the water. In fact, ONGC provided a June 2014 investigation report submitted by state PWD to the Tamil Nadu government, which stated that there was "no remarkable change in water level" around ONGC sites in Sirkazhi and Kuthalam taluks.

Geological experts opine that the unprecedented drought which is gripping the whole of TN has been the chief cause for ground water depletion in Kathiramangalam too, and not just here but in the entire vicinity of Cauvery delta. Going by the villagers' and activists' logic, ground water should have been good in the areas outside of ONGC wells. But that has not been the case, with the entire region is grappling with depletion of ground water levels.

Secondly, about the safety hazards - In the last several decades of drilling activity, no mishaps or accidents, not even minor, have ever been reported in the areas adjoining the drilling wells in the Cauvery basin, barring very few minor technical glitches which are common in any such deep drilling activity. In the most recent case, the pipeline which was carrying oil extracted from K-35, which is one of the 49 oil wells in the Kuthalam block (Nagapattinam district) reported a minor leak, and that was intimated to ONGC at 8.30am. In a normal course it could have been fixed in a matter of minutes had the villagers cooperated.

But by denying ONGC officials, the entry into the work area, the villagers made matters worse for themselves. With the huge police protection ONGC officials managed to plug the leak at 6.35pm on June 30. All of ONGC's extraction projects happen at a depth of over 2,000 feet in those drilling areas which cannot cause environmental hazards as falsely claimed by these protestors. Not just in Tamilnadu, no where in India, ONGC's projects have caused mishaps or major accidents during the drilling activities which have been going on for several decades now across various Natural gas and oil deposits in India.

To be on record, ONGC, for that matter, has been deploying outstanding professional drilling techniques when compared with any of the best drilling organizations across the World. And the safety mechanisms have been equally World class, given the fact that no major incidents have ever been reported in any of the drilling fields across the country. ONGC, as an organization has been specializing in deep drilling, not only in India, but across the World. Protestors may not be aware of the capabilities of the organization and putting them on the dock for some silly reasons is unwarranted and uncalled for.

On the health hazards concern too, no major health hazards have been reported in that area, though protestors and people vaguely claim instances of health problems. But the records do not reflect their claims.

Then, what is the root cause for the protests?

The protests are largely political than on environmental concerns and are clearly fueled by the outside elements against the Centre and reasons best known to them. Its also true that many supporters and activists who are directly supporting these protests are innocent and may be driven by pure emotion than the logic. They are being best used by the perpetrators of these organized protests.

Given the fact that this particular area, Kathiramangalam wells have been in operation since 2000 and with not even a single minor mishap getting reported since then, the nature and timing of the protests are highly suspicious. With ONGC clarifying that the work is just of maintenance nature and not fresh drilling, the protestors apparently turned deaf ears. Like in the other protests such as Kudankulam, the vested interests, mostly outsiders have been involving the ignorant and unassuming locals, even small school going kids, in these protests, ostensibly to protest against the Centre.

But why are they protesting now and why did they not protest all these years since the wells have been established and maintained since 2000? What made them protest against the routine duty of ONGC is something very strange and only to be answered by the protesters if they had any logic to these protests.

In any case, if they were worried about any hazards caused by drilling, Ideally the village should have formed a committee involving the locals and discussed all the issues threadbare with ONGC and ONGC was more than willing to clarify the apprehensions, if any.  ONGC, as part of safety and precautionary measures, routinely conducts thorough checks at these places just to avoid even minor glitches in the wells.The fact of the matter is that these wells are almost two decades’ old and came up during the regime of DMK around 2000. ONGC officials, on their part, have repeatedly assured and re-assured the locals and the other protestors on any apprehensions they had during the period of protests. But the decision to continue with the protests definitely point towards external influence who just not want the protests to end and solve the issue.

Clearly the violent protests, fueled by outsiders instigating the locals and the innocent people, are clearly aimed at creating sensationalism against such genuine development works of ONGC which are going on, not only in TN, but all over India in various other states. And these protests are more against the Centre for obvious reasons and the protests have made a theme of making this issue along the lines of Centre vs state, which is most unfortunate. This again makes me question them as why where they quite all these years, only to wake up now and protest against the Centre?

These kind of blind protests without knowing the positive implications of such development works does not augur well for the state on the whole. All the more, the locals in these places have to be very careful of not being 'used' by the outsiders for their vested political interests and to score points against the Centre.

Had these kind of protests taken place then, we would not have got Neyveli and Kalpakkam, which are now the major centres for energy requirements for the people of Tamil Nadu. No responsible Central agency, including ONGC will carry out development works at the cost of our citizens and that should not be forgotten. And these kind of protests happening only in TN is even stranger given the suspicious timing and the target of the protests.

Rational and logical thinking should shape any protests and not just blind thinking will only lead to development disasters, that too at a time when the state is languishing on all parameters..

V GOPALAKRISHNAN