Khushwant Singh

A couple of days back I finished reading Khushwant Singh's book of essays- Why I supported the Emergency and other essays - the simplicity of the language used is so powerful.The articles are all anecdotal in nature and filled with humuor . At 93 years this great mind is sharp as ever !!

The day I saw Rajiv Gandhi

One of the early VIP's I saw in my life was Rajiv Gandhi. I remember it very clearly - I was probably 6 years old or so and we stood outside our apartment complex. Traffic was held up and the roads were cleared for the calvacade to pass.And lo the fleet of ambassador cars whizzed by and there was Mr Rajiv Gandhi with his entire head out of the window waving to us.The crowd cheered and roared and for my impressionable mind the whole thing has just clung on.
A couple of years later Mr Rajiv Gandhi was assasinated .Those days we did not have 24 hour news channels and the morning edition of Statesman never came on time.We were cursing the news agent and when it came ,we read in bold headlines about the tragedy.Apparently a human bomb had blown herself up.It was gory .It was for the first time that such a weapon was used ( previous assassinations were through the bullet- Mahatma Gandhi and Indira).I never understood the political compulsions behind the killing - for me the person whom I had seen so upclose had gone and it was upsetting for me. Rajiv's face represented his entire legacy- the hairline of Nehru and the jaw of his mother Indira could be seen.

I am watching Big Fight on NDTV and the supporters of LTTE say that because Rajiv sent the IPKF to Sri Lanka, they blew him up.Who gave them the right to decide such things is my question ?

Being sick

I think i had a premonition of falling sick - somehow I was calculating the  number of sick leaves i had earned in the last year and how I could actually take them as lavishly I wanted. And then suddenly I was sick with viral fever from last Saturday. I hesitated going to the doctor for I was apprehensive about going into the hospital. The last time I had gone ( and for the first time in my life ) for typhoid was for three days and boy , it was so boring plus expensive.A steady stream of visitors had me humored but the experience was not pleasant.

So finally,this Tuesday I went to my doctor - a general practitioner ( always go to a GP first come what may ) amd he cheered me up when he did not mention of any tests or hospitals.The very relief made my sickness come down a notch and has put me onto road of recovery faster.(the happiness gene really works I guess ) 

I I just want to get back to my routinue- I have nissed my gym and the good food and I cant stand it longer.

Sundays

I live by my Sundays. The only day I get to do something which I have not done in the entire week is on a Sunday. Wish people around me felt the same way and not slept till late in the morning.

Indian Political League 2009 - 2

Its reaching the crescendo - honestly not much has changed in the parties and in the candidiates running for the elections. I will try my best to bundle what I am aware of whats happening .

1) NDA announces Advani as PM candidate .
2) UPA - the incumbent alliance has differences amongst themselves - Congress finds itself being marginalised in states where they are not dominant .
3) Advani appeals to youth -opens a facebook profile, goes to the gym ( a major PR campaign) to reach to the youth voters ( honestly this is very amusing to me ).
4) Third Front appears - a bunch of regional parties whom the BJP nor the Congress are willing to give weightage to but has to woo post elections.
5) BSP's Mayawati appears to be a strong kingmaker ( as I write this I am also watching an entire episode on her rise ) .
6) The actual campaign colours begin with the Varun Gandhi hate speech.
7) BJP and its allies attacks PM Manmohan Singh.
8) PM Manmohan suddenly bares his fangs - says he refuses to get into a TV debate with L K Advani for that would legitimise the latter's claim to being the next PM ( I loved his retorts ) .
9)The Samajwadi Party launched its election manifesto - and man its hilarious - ban computers ( what would friends Anil Ambani do with his Reliance Infocomm and Amitabh Bachchan with his blog !!)
10) The mood in electorate is somewhat like this - If Congress comes to power , I am ok with it.if its BJP then I would leave the country and if BSP's Mayawati becomes the PM - I would settle in Congo !!
11)Eventually everybody is moving in such a way that - 'you are my enemy, I dont like you ,I hate you and I cant stand the sight of you - but yes wait in case we are in a good position to form the govt post elections I am willing to sit with you and talk !!!!

All in all - wish I could vote online from here without going to my hometown .Its a huge excerise and needs to be carefully thought through, maybe someday it will happen...

Doing my "ings" correct

Recently my friend called me up and asked me how I was doing .I replied I was doing the usual - doing my "ings" correctly.

"Meaning ?"
"Oh , working,reading,watching TV,gymmimg,eating,sleeping and all such things "

Life after all seems to fall in that routine now where nothing would seem to go wrong