Death by the dozen:
A mass tragedy anywhere raises all the usual questions about safety standards and official negligence. A mass tragedy at a place of worship particularly raises even more damning questions – about God’s standards and His unofficial schemes. The common denominator, however, is that the ways of both the mortal authority and the higher Almighty are equally inscrutable.
But let God be. Are there answers to all the usual questions? The Kerala HC has joined the rest of us in wanting to know, among other things, how the Sabarimala stampede could have happened despite its own and other obvious warnings. As usual, the stampede of questions and the speedy blame game have trampled on all answers. And only questions remain: Could the tragedy have been averted if those warnings were heeded? Could the body count have been mitigated by timely official intervention? What and who triggered the sudden scramble? How did the ubiquitous vehicle pliers and hawkers, who blocked critical space, vanish in a jiffy post-stampede? Were ordinary human lives extinguished to show divine light to VIPs, some of whom were from rational TN? And more … But trust truth to be the ultimate casualty.
And, trust this tragedy too to be forgotten fast, and any lessons from it, faster! The stampede of breaking-news has already pushed this deeper into the mud that our memory is. A fresh stampede is only fresh news breaking. Such insensitivity is only natural in a country wherein the only GDP that remains constanly bullish is the Gross Domestic Population and, therefore, the march of mass death is an inevitable divine corrective, amply aided by mortal apathy. That calls for a question or two of God on the tragedy in His own country: Does not such ghastly and ironic death of devotees and faithful mean death of devotion and faith too in many? How is it that the fates of so many are destined to end at a single place and time? Expect no answers here too! At least, none that can convince the bereaved!
The Swiss connection:
It is natural to expect a comic respite from tragedy. If stampedes are a recurring tragedy, Swiss bank accounts are an enduring comedy. So, the Swiss money is back …. back in national news, I mean, not in the nation’s kitty. This Swiss soap has been running for several decades now. Six of those years were under LKA’s NDA rule. It remained a slippery soap during that time too. But that had not stopped the once all-powerful Deputy PM, who could have easily unravelled the mystery, from raking it up now. And with the familiar Wikileak chipping in with its promised exposure of those clandestine accounts in one such bank, the matter is prime time entertainment again.
So let’s add our bit to the charade. Forget Indian loot stashed away in foreign lands. That anyway calls for tiresome legal processes that include tackling secrecy laws there and sacred cows here. How about first recovering all the local loot languishing in local cupboards, suitcases, sacks etc? While the ‘patrons’ of foreign banks are quite obvious, if only gun deals of the past are any clue, identifying ‘localists’ too is no big deal, given their liberal presence in media as top notch scamsters. And then there is this possibility. Since the Swiss booty has been in currency for quite some time, what is the guarantee that the loot has not changed nationality, say, to Dubai or any one of those infamous havens? Actually, speculation is rife that much of that Swiss loot is already in India, through reverse hawala, but with the respectable tag of FDI, foreign gifts and sundry other very legitimate nomenclatures. After all, the families and political playgrounds of the looters are here in homeland and it makes sense for that money to answer the call of patriotism.
The reshuffle kerfuffle:
Let’s quit the futile search for Swiss skeletons in Indian political cupboards. The Cabinet beckons. And this holds not skeletons but plump possibilities, as we learnt from very secret tapes on prime time. And with the familiar femme fatale fixers out of circulation currently, MSingh must have had quite a free hand, that is, as much as that higher foreign, albeit, female Hand allowed him. After all, while constitutionally the PM and his colleagues hold office at the pleasure of the President, all of them including the President in reality hold office at the pleasure of the Cong President!
Frankly I wanted Raja back in telecom. (no, no, my name is not Radia or any mozhi). If Sibal’s political arithmatic that Rs 1.76 lakh crs = 0 is right, then the nation has wronged Raja, warranting a return to his rightful lair, pardon, chair. Quite an ‘active’ minister he was, considering that many who secure berths actually go to sleep for most of the governance journey. Through spectrum he showed that one can make money out of thin air and then make that money vanish in the same thin air. And we miss Baalu too. This great sethu-buster would have, however, built strong bridges in Delhi for his party and of course, himself, at this critical juncture.
Otherwise, UPA-2’s first ministerial shuffle is a wholly Cong affair. Kalmadi’s omission does hurt. Innocent men are being unfairly ignored these days. I would have made Sibal FM for that sterling piece of math on spectrum. Home should have gone to Digvijay for his intricate and inside knowledge of Hindu terror. Thanks to him, jihadis are now laughing all the way to paradise. Pranab must have got Phoren for his wonderful English speaking skills. India would have been granted the UN security council seat for eternity just as a trade off for his silence. And good that Rahul kept out: The owner should not be in the closet, only keep his dirty linen there.
And then …:
As crude turned cruel, petrol spiked, making cash evaporate faster than that fuel. Vegetables continued to wink in the company of twinkling stars, up above the world so high, beyond reach. But our netas remain immune because the Parliament canteen has bucked the inflation trend. No fresh terror strikes and no noteworthy scams either. Memories of old ones, however, perished in bhogi fires lit by a forgetful nation. This being polltime in TN, bargain-hunting has begun in right earnest. Allies and voters alike are scenting doles. Now, what could be free this time? I would prefer a bag of onions. That would be a real rational tribute to the Dravidian patriarch who popularised that vegetable. In any case, onions, not rationalism, is the pressing need of the hour.
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