Bingo had followed the lokpal debate all through and just like in the past few days today too he was glued to the TV well past midnight . Now it is one thing for the rich boys like Manu and Arun to debate the bill and to spend hours preparing for the debate but for a commoner like Bingo spending time in front of the idiot box ..Well , anyway you cant say much to Dogs , for finally they will have their way and in any case i was curious .. so I checked with him ..how did it go ?

He said they almost passed the bill …

Wow ..did they pass it then .. finally after those 40 odd years gone by when lokpal was first introduced ..

Bingo ..”No they almost did and that was the most worrying part ..”

But then ‘what was worrying about it ..you should have been thrilled and happy that it was finally happening .

No No it is not about me , said Bingo , it is about the guys and gals sitting there in the Rajya sabha ..that while they dozed the bill almost got passed !.Which would have been disastrous after all the efforts that had been put in ….. and particularly by the Tirnamool team which had borne the brunt of the Mata mamta rage ..and after the great efforts that Arun had taken to score all those brownie points ..

But then the ‘sense of the house’ was all in favour of the bill was it not .. may be they had some genuine issues ..

Bingo seemed frustrated that i was not able to understand and so he thought it was no point in beating about the bush .. he said ..you don’t get it .. nobody wanted to pass the bill ..they all had come prepared with excuses , excuses in the form of solid 180 + amendments ..which would help pass on the blame and yet not be blamed for not passing the bill !! Now that was quite ingenious and these are the lessons that the followers of the Arab spring could learn from this great democracy of ours ..

and so continued Bingo … It was finally left to Lalu the Jokpal ..who said it all clearly . ..yeh to hamare gale pe faasi ka fanda hai !!

It would have been much better to call the 26th of December the ‘Boxes Day’ instead of the ‘Boxing Day’ complained Bingo . Now what difference did it make for Bingo i could not understand for never had i seen Bingo going to church or celebrating Christmas . My curiosity aroused i decided to probe deeper and asked Bingo how did it matter to him ..

Well , Said Bingo its really not ‘ What’s in a name ‘ but its about ‘All in a name ” , just thinking about how people have interpreted the name ‘ Boxing Day’ was a matter of concern ; For many ( according to him ) the boxers day had something to do with boxing , that barbaric sport where people cheered and jeered as one of the competitors was brutalized and bled . Now that being as far from the truth as it could be.. for what the real “Boxers Day” was all about… the day that people offered boxes filled with gifts as charity to the poor and that day was the day after Christmas . So this was not the day when one would have send congratulatory messages to Vijendra Singh , India’s first ever Olympic medallist , nor was it the day when Diggi raja would have don the boxing gloves and spared with annaji .

Yes but it was the day when our cricketing heroes who are down under would be boxing their way to create cricketing history as they take on the Aussies . Then Bingo mused that this was also the day when it was an officially declared public holiday in the UK and Canada and Australia and for few here the unofficial hangover induced holiday . It was also the day when the shops offered great discounts and people queued up from the early hours to pick up the best bargains ..but then our Bayanis and Ambanis were not too excited with that prospect ..not until the flood gates of FDI opened and they could pass on their liabilities elsewhere ..

…until then our neighbourhood Kirana would make the most of it ..boxing day or not !

Bingo (our pet dog )breathed a sigh of relief as he read the headlines ..the Mumbai high court had refused any discount to Team Anna for the occupation of MMRDA grounds . Those were tense moments for Bingo until the verdict came …just thinking about the embarrassment of relieving in public on those BKC boulevards ! Not withstanding the honour and privilege of using the most expensive loo in India, being flanked on one side by the great American ambani school and now even the US consulate ..

But then that was Bingo speak and I surely was not relieved to hear the court verdict ..just thinking about being denied the pleasure of assembling at the grand MMRDA grounds along with young India and enjoying “channa sing’ with a hot cup of cutting chai ..watching Kiran Bedi waving the tri colour and mimicking some of our great netas while annaji stoically sat behind , his body crying for a morsel of food .But then thinking about the morsel it would soon be a thing of the past for every Indian in any remote corner as nobody would have to sleep hungry ..thanks to sonia ammas food security bill ,although jaya amma is not too pleased with it and nor is maya behn ..

Bingo is updating me with the latest breaking news that manmohanji is visiting jayaland and would surely meet old pal karunaji but is not sure about shaking hands with ammaji .Now that would be a bit too rude that the PM of this great nation of ours will not be welcomed by the local host ..surely the food security bill not withstanding a single plate of dosai idlli would not create a deficit in the states budget ! But a glass of ‘tanni’ could be an issue with the future of mullaperiyar dam at stake ..
Be that as it may ..it is time to start preparing for the gala new years eve party hosted by team anna and surely am not going to miss any of it ..bingo not withstanding !

The rupee has depreciated by more than 18% in a period of 3 months , inflation is raging and the RBI has not been able to reign it in , interest rates have soared so high that they are dwarfing growth ; infact the growth forecast has been revised from 9% to less than 7.5% ; the sensex continues to record 2 year and 3 year lows as corporate India reports dismal half yearly earnings . So is the lumbering elephant screeching to a halt … and this while the dragon continues to huff and puff and the Asian tigers take their leaps .

For sure the +6% growth in the past decade and the 8% + in the past couple of years have immensely helped in improving the standard of living of millions .However more needs to be done and done soon, so that the majority who still continue to sleep on an empty stomach , do not need to . Experts say poor infrastructure is hampering growth and so are the reforms which are increasingly becoming the victim of partisan politics . For the past two decades we had coalition governments at the centre and no single political party having a majority which has resulted in the so called coalition dharma taking its toll on development . Fortunately for India the past decade ( but for the last two years) was one of global growth which has also helped India . However now the times have changed , globally prosperity has given way to gloom and the likely hood of large economies slipping back into recession are real . This global gloom is casting its dark shadow on the Indian economy too .

During such difficult times why should more pain be inflicted on us due to petty politics . Why cannot the political parties of all hues come to gather and work through a National unity government . The time is now for the true leaders who have the country at heart to stand up and work towards a unity government ..this is the way forward or else we will find our lumbering elephant unable to free itself from the shackles of partisanship .Its time the youth got into the mahouts seat ..

Say what you like , Say when you like , Say to whom you like ..this is the mandate provided by the various social media sites , the blogs and chats that the internet has provided . With such a powerful weapon in your possession the potential for damage is immense . The only one who carries the nuclear button is YOU .

Now that the tiger has been let loose ..the BIG question is how do you control it ? Or should we just leave it to self regulation and hope things would work out . But in the jungle that the internet is today how sure are we that this cat is domesticated and that it would behave . So what are our options ? Do we cage the tiger ? Do we whip it when we hear it growl ? Or simply and desperately kill it . The first option does not seem to be feasible as our tigers amorphous form could never be caged ..they tried it in China and they tried it in Saudi and none of them have been successful . Then probably we could whip it and make it behave . Our governments could become the ring masters cracking the whip and making the animal jump . But then that would make the scared animal behave like a robot jumping from one stool to another and that would literally snap its natural spring and we would have a tiger which would meow more than it would roar ! That leaves us with the final and the most dreaded option of putting the animal to sleep . This we should never do .

We all love this animal which has changed the way we live and for all our worth we need to preserve this species and may that be at the risk of being attacked and mauled once in a while and when that happens we need to use the tranquiliser ..that is the only way .

East India company came to India as traders and eventually ruled India . Multinationals are marauders who loot developing countries . How many times have you heard this . There is no doubt that the world has changed many times over since the 19th century when the East India company landed on the shores of Bengal ..but the mindset of many in India does not seem to have .

Many amongst us mortally fear the dreaded monster called “FDI” . Not that all the fears are ill founded and surely certain precautions and monitoring is needed with regard to the inflow of foreign funds in to the country . We need to ensure that the money comes where it is needed most and that it does not go in to sectors which would compromise our security or would adversely harm the local industry . However being paranoid about FDI and placing obstacles in its path would only result in less FDI coming in and that would be detrimental to the country’s growth . Why does India need FDI ? India is a developing country which needs to develop basic infrastructure such as roads , airports and ports . We need to built up our energy sources may they be thermal or nuclear ; we need to strengthen our rural economy and thereby help bring millions out of poverty . All this would require tons of funds and domestically we are not in a position to generate so much from our savings . Apart from the government we need the private sector to invest in this development and the domestic private sector can only do so much and they too need access to foreign funds . Today due to globalisation money is freely flowing from one destination to another and seeks greener pastures . High growth and better returns are possible only in a few regions of the world , India enviously being one amongst them . The foreign investor would be willing to invest if the environment is right : 1) Safety of the capital invested 2) Good corporate laws which make it possible to do your business by fair means . 3) Better returns which can be repatriated .

Why not then take benefit of this situation and create an environment where we both win .. the recipient country and the foreign investor !