It is a small, tentative step up a slippery slope. Still it calls for some cautious elation. That the jinxed Lokpal which has been stranded in the streets, entangled in bureaucratic red tape, buried many a time in political quicksands and defied consensus even amidst its champions has ultimately crossed the legislative threshold is itself an achievement.
Browsing: POINTBLANK
Let me take the easy and lazy way out this time by resorting to some cut and paste journalism. I shall reproduce below some sections from this column written during the run up to the formation of AAP. Despite the possible irritations that an ‘I told you so’ smirk evokes, I will still do this because the issues discussed are even more relevant now.
Some suspense always lingers during the time lag between voting and counting. Not so with the recent elections to five State assemblies. Sure, it is never a good idea to deem a future result as a foregone conclusion. But there is one strong reason why not just ‘scientific’ opinion/exit polls but even random guesses could turn out to be, er, approximately accurate: Congress! The disenchantment is so high that none bothered to survey Mizoram where the party might win!
A week of hectic judicial/legal activity has left a trail of victims, not all human. The Aarushi murder case crossed a threshold, the Sankararaman murder case came to a virtual closure and the Tehelka rape case attained critical mass. But acquittals, convictions or charge sheets apart, much collateral damage has been caused to certain other critical facets.
A rash of sex-scandals have turned out to be dicey diversions from the dour financial scams and the dreary poll din that dog our hours. Snoopgate – the alleged surveillance of a young woman by Gujarat authorities with the blessings of the rulers there – and a sexual harassment complaint by a lady lawyer against a Supreme Court judge were already raging
Nothing else really matters today, the 15th of November. There is no significance about the date. It might as well have been the 14th or 16th. All that counted was when Sachin would bat and that date would have automatically become an undeclared national holiday.
Intellect is intact and sanity safe only in physical loneliness. The moment one is in company or before an audience, both faculties exit quietly. Discretion deserts as the gallery gains control; crowd and common sense are mutually exclusive.
All Hindu festivals are multi-layered. The most popular Deepavali at a superficial level, comes at the start of a season when there is extended darkness in the mornings and early ones in the evening. The array of lights and burst of crackers are meant to usher in an early dawn and spread brightness and bonhomie during those dim climes. Suffice to say that solar and lunar influences have been adequately factored in, lending the symbolisms scientific and astronomic credence too.
A survey claims that around 75% of young Indians want to run their own business. This figure is the highest among the emerging economies and way ahead of China. A big bulk of these dreaming dare-devils are first timers with fresh ideas or gen-next adventurists just wanting to be different. It is this raging entrepreneurial spirit that is expected to propel India to the top of the global ladder.