“Something is wrong with you” has been the usual refrain in the house. More charitably, with my brain or my thinking. The worry is, even I have started feeling so. The manifestation of the problem has been there for some time but became more pronounced during the last few months. I don’t want to beat about the bush. It is about my inability to see what is so apparent to the vast majority of learned friends, people whom I hold in awe (that includes politicians , retired bureaucrats, the facebookers, the judiciary) , the print and television media . I shall narrate my shortcomings one by one.
To start with, it was the scams, widely reported and discussed threadbare in all the august forums…..the press, the parliament and the revered courts. My problem…I just can’t believe the size of the scam, be it notional or real. The lady of the house says it’s my inability to comprehend the figure involved, used as I am to not more than the thousand! I tried to write down the figure but gave up half way. I need to do something about my math….
The second was my inability to pronounce that ex- minister Raja’s letter to the Prime Minister was intemperate. The Honorable Judge of the Supreme Court has decreed so. Only I and the Prime Minister seem to think other wise. I read the letter and the related correspondence between the PM and Mr. Raja in full and found nothing offensive. Either I have poor etiquette, thick skin or meager grasp of the language. I can’t, now, do anything about my hide. So I feel I should start afresh at grammar school or be sent to reform school. Not too late, the lady of the house says.
The third charge is I have become insensitive to issues affecting the country or the society. Corruption in public life, Environmental debates, Political mud slinging (Ice cream, golf club etc) no longer affect me. I seem to be more concerned about mundane matters….for example, the cremation ground issue of Aivor Madom. Where is my idealism and social conscientiousness? Why am I not able to see the larger picture? Well, I have no solution to this, except to reverse the time machine and go back to my college days!
The final provocation is the Wikileaks in the Indian Press. As I scribble this, it is the fourth day of the leak in the Hindu. I went through all the reports with a fine comb and didn’t find anything which I don’t know already. Do we need the American word to finally open our eyes to the maladies that we know exist in our system? I know money is spent by politicians to sway votes. What’s wrong? Isn’t it better than doling it out from the public exchequer? A few ‘saries’, a little pocket money?
We all know that President and the Prime Minister need not see eye to eye on all matters, that we can play real politic when it comes to our relations with neighboring countries (Iran, Burma, Sri Lanka) , we conduct secret dialogues with countries (Israel, Pakistan) so on and so forth. It is common knowledge, or so they would want us to believe, that the so called super powers try to arm-twist smaller countries and their Ambassador’s send exaggerated reports and claims back home. Should we consider these pompous reports as Gospel truth and waste our time and news print? In international relations aren’t Ambassador’s expected to liaise, spy and if nothing works at least sex up their reports? In a democratic country like ours is there a secret? Some looks like a cut and paste job, straight from some magazine …..the one about Rahul Gandhi’s vision!
Who doesn’t know of the strong presence of Malayali Civil Servants (Mafia is the most uncharitable remark) in the Capital? Perhaps the Ambassador hasn’t heard of the earlier description of the Malayali presence, more specifically of the Menons who held important positions, euphemistically referred to as “Menongitis”. They wouldn’t be allowed to be pushed; they would rather jump before it came to a shove.
Outrageous, Outrageous! Do I hear? Am I becoming unfashionable when the whole world seems to be hooked on to Assange and his leaked cables! Or am I just a spoil sport?
PS
ReplyDeleteI have some comforting news today. I have company in the form of two dissenting letters in Hindu. (among the many extolling the role of Hindu at the cost of Assange). One says these are gossip and time fillers for the underemployed Embassy staff.
Presumably our Ambassadors 'lying' abroad must also be occassionaly writing 'reports' when they are not escorting wives of politicians or busy stashing away dollars.Has our Ambassador wrote anything on Berlusconi which would have an immediate readership in India? Perhaps with M.O.Mathais everywhere, the whole system must be leaking like a sieve. And possibly the Mathais themselves must be writing the Reports anyway.
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