The day that would live in infamy

It would have stumped Gandhi,
Nehru would have wept silly,
Patel would have hung his head in shame,
Bose...I wonder what Bose would have done...

It was the day when M.F.Hussein renounced his Indian citizenship and became a citizen of Qatar. I'm not sure that if any or all of the aforementioned gentlemen would have been fans of his art. But what I am sure of is that this is not the India that they had fought for, two of them had died for.

Hundreds of Sikhs were burnt in '84 but we tread on. Thousands of Muslims have been plundered and massacred many times since Independence, but somehow we still went on. Hindus themselves, have killed each other more than a thousand times in the name of caste since independence, yet we were able to go on. We have managed to carve out a political constituency and ideology on all sides of these tragedies. And our country has flourished under a veneer of democracy that we flaunt as a trophy at our lesser democratic neighbours. Flawed as this is, it only takes a cursory peek at our neighbours to realize how blessed we are.

Yet there is no solace for this 96 yr old man. There is no constituency that he could provide, that might interest anyone. Once upon a time, he was an interesting man to hate and whose art could be trashed with great media publicity. But now, that art of trashing has lost its media mileage.

Now he is just a sorry testament to what sometimes looks to be an oxymoron "WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:

JUSTICE, social, economic and political;
LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;
EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;
and to promote among them all
FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation;"

One man we fail and its a slap on my Indian face that he chose to find freedom elsewhere. Lets be upfront about this. Indian art is not going to die because MF Hussein decided to be a Qatari. Its not even a drop in the ocean that is India. Nothing died, except even if only by a little bit, the idea of India.

Innocence Lost

Been to any self-service food joint off late? McDonald's / Subway / Nirula's ? Paid the money and got the bill before the order was placed? Waited for a table to get free? Waited for your order no. to flash on those electronic boards?

There is a place in India, where they would give you the food first and then the token, then you go pay the bill. Where you will never get a full table for yourself, and usually you go and share the place vacant in the next available table. The guy who took your bill, will bring precisely what you ordered to your table. They serve arguably the best breakfast you might get anywhere in India.

I have been to this place only once. It was recommended by a lot of friends. I loved that place and would recommend it too. When you go to Pune next, go to the German Bakery. Somebody bombed it today. 8 people died and 30+ injured.

They will probably frisk you silly before you enter that place again. But you should go. I will go too. This bomb shouldn't change us.


He lives in the street next to German bakery. I hope you meet him. He lives under the table of one of those shops that sell footwear on the lane leading to Osho ashram. He has a limp and is fond of marking his territory. I wonder what he made of that big bang noise. I wonder if he would change. Tell him he shouldn't. He is a smart dog. He would understand.

A Master Class in Ripostes

This is not a political article, but an attempt to highlight, how you don't have to roll in the mud with your opponent to prove a point or win the argument.

This was what Rahul Gandhi showed the Shiv Sena last week. The Thackerays had been throwing expletives aplenty at Rahul. These included gaalis on his sexual drive and his mother. (Generally these kinds of gaalis are the preserve of the North Indians that the Thackerays swear to hate! I guess the gaalis have migrated and assimilated better than their creators!)

Such provocation, would have got most men to react violently.What we saw from Rahul Gandhi ended up showing the Thackerays as barking dogs who have to send their lackeys to bite err.. hold black flags. It showed maturity on the Cong G-Sec's part. Letting the Police arrest the Thackerays would have given them undeserved hero status, but ignoring them and doing as he wished, he put them in their place.



The politics of this aside, the learning is people might provoke you to say or do things. If u get provoked, they win. Hold your game and keep your eyes on the prize. You will win in style.