I haven’t written anything in a long while. Call it lethargy or a total lack of interest in everything around me; I just did not feel inclined to write. The past week saw Indian democracy at its worst. The defining moment of the debate in parliament came when a couple of no-good MPs started waving wads of notes for all and sundry to see. What they claimed is immaterial. What is of more importance is that parliamentary proceedings will never be the same again. They have reached a new nadir and just when we think that things won’t get any worse they do.
I am one of the cynical few who believe that the benefits of democracy have been over-rated. I might be taking the concept of democracy for granted but look at what it has achieved for Indians in the past 50 years. Not much. I don’t know what the alternative is, because I haven’t thought about it and have restricted my thoughts to destructive criticism rather than a constructive assault on the various tenets of the Indian democratic model. The funny thing about the whole confidence motion was that our leaders thought that their holier than thou attitude would be lapped up by the common man. For over fifty years, they have taken us for a ride thinking that we know no better, but the problem is we have no choice. As people, we are trying to make the best of a bad deal. We know that most of the politicians are corrupt and very few if any will think twice about selling the country short. What were the MPs waving the wads of notes trying to improve? Did they think that the audience watching would be shocked! I can go on an on about it, but I wont.
I still don’t like Manmohan Singh. That’s neither here nor there, and if this blog was popular I would have been asked to eat my words. I had called him a weak PM who did not know what he was about. I still think along the same lines, though I do have to give him a pat on the back for winning the confidence motion. What he does with it, will now have to be seen. I love Somnath Chatterjee. Yes, positively love him for his integrity and commitment. These qualities are in such short supply in Indian politics that I have no doubt that all those who follow Indian politics closely, will have absolutely no criticism for Somnath Da. Great Guy! Great Politician! Another politician who I think has some semblance of integrity and oh yes, unbridled charm is Omar Abdullah. His short but impassioned speech was quite good. Hope he does not give it all up to get caught up in the stinking murk of politics, and rises above it. Let’s see. What can we say about Rahul Gandhi and Kalavati. Taking the country for a ride again, are we? Trying to suffuse the debate with a bit of emotional clap trap! Nobody bought it! However, it was free publicity for Kalavati, and she seems to have got that buffalo, finally.
What else, a whole lot, but I guess I will leave that for another post. But wait… a disaster of cataclysmic proportions took place in Colombo. The Indian team was buried in all its glory at the SSC in the Sri Lankan Capital. The geriatric quartet of Messrs Dravid, Ganguly, Tendulkar, and Laxman showed us how not to play spin. It was comedy of errors and the Sri Lankan players were laughing their guts out. I have stopped taking the Indian cricket team seriously a long time ago, but being one of the only keenly contested sports in India, you do want the team to acquit themselves with a shred of respectability.
I end it here, praying for the all those who lost their lives in Ahemdabad and Bangalore.
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