The Flight attendant draped in a bright red silk saree courteously did the ‘Namaste’ and politely asked the young lady in jeans with the Dolce and Gabbana top ..”If it would be economy or business ? ”

‘ We fly Business ‘ came the curt reply as she brushed aside the attendant and marched to the VIP check in counter followed by her entourage . A attendant in khadi whites scampered from behind with a bunch of passports .

‘Sorry Maam’ the 737 flies this route and we do not have so many seats in the business class and in any case these are upgrades , maam ” said the lady at the counter .

What ! shot back the Dolce and Gabbana and was instantly on the mobile animatedly speaking to some one ….

Within a few minutes there was a scurry of activity and a suited fellow who appeared to be a senior officer of the airlines was at the scene . ” Extremely sorry maam , Sorry for the rude behaviour of these good for nothing girls , please forgive us ”

‘We are changing the air craft , we are getting a 747 ..all the guests shall be accommodated in business .. you are all our VIP’s ”

Avni on the mobile ….’Thank you , Papa ‘ …

and narrating this ..Bingo got up and I could hear him mutter .” .how nice ..AI is truly a family airlines ..so caring ..they really go out of the way to offer service … “

In many an Indian language ‘ Anna’ is the elder brother and so it has been with you, to whom we look up to as an younger brother would . Not that we had not heard of you before Jantar mantar happened .You were a known anti corruption crusader in Maharashtra and one had always heard about your fasts , your protests and your dare devilry as you confronted the powerful ministers and their sycophants . However you never were an house hold name as you are today , nor did we know as much about Ralegaon Siddhi as we know today .
Until Jantar Mantar happened we had heard only of the Arab Spring and had never imagined that we would have an Indian Summer so soon . You stirred the nation from the slumber and you galvanized the youth all across the country in to action . There were mass movements which were spontaneous and which believed in the cause which you were fighting for . It was your integrity that was most appealing ; You selflessness that was most inspiring ..you had no hidden agenda , you were not aspiring for any position of power , you were not into politics and you were Mr. Clean to the core . The nation loved this ..for you were a rare sighting in a land which was inundated with the corrupt and greedy . 2011 was the year when so many scams were unearthed that we hated the system even more , we were sick and tired of all this dirt around and again it was the politician who was at the centre of it all . so most of the anger was directed at the politicians and this was also another reason why your movement was more appealing for there were no political parties involved . The cause was just and your team was able to articulate it well ..we understood the significance of the Lok Pal and although we were not sure about its effectiveness we knew that there had to a body which monitored the politician and the babus and which with out fear or favour would be able to prosecute the corrupt . You made the government wake up when they saw the mass backing that your protest had got and in it they saw the erosion of their vote bank ..this was people power at its democratic best . The initial fumble from the government did help you and your arrest was also helpful in generating a lot of sympathy in your favour .

Initially we followed the movement from the confines of our drawing room as the urban middle class is always known to ; As the vibrant and fiercely competing media brought the images home , we , discussed about it a little with family and friends and then let it pass . But every passing day the movement started gathering more strength and then there were candle marches , there were people who were crowding Jantar mantar and there were the icons such as Kiran Bedi and Arvind Kejriwal whom one admired and respected for their integrity and their uprightness . We heard them on TV and we were stirred and we agreed with what they said . And then one evening I heard a few hundred people shouting slogans and marching in front of our society gate . My spontaneous reaction was to join them to show my support to the cause ; the same was the reaction from my teenaged daughter ..she too wanted to join in . Soon we both were part of the marchers shouting slogans and going along were the group went . Some body came and gave us candles and we were proud to hold them and move on . We had never done this before and I do not remember having joined a gathering like this , not even when the emergency was declared and not even when the Jayprakashji’s andolan was launched . You had truly created peoples power !

You had secured a major victory and forced the parliament to debate the bill . It was good going until then ..but then probably you too became a victim of power ..you and your team felt that you were invincible that what ever you said and did would be accepted by the masses who were following you .. was this not dictatorship and dominance ..how was it different from the High Command which you despise so much ? Why were you not open to debate and discussion and instead adopted the path of my way or highway ?

Your first mistake was to take part in the election campaign in Hissar and to canvass against the congress candidate ..that made you political and that was not acceptable to many of us . Your second mistake was that you kept opposing all that the government did or did not do with the Lok pal ; you should have been more reasonable . Yet another was your attack on Sonia and Rahul on a personal level which amounted to taking sides .. by singling them out were you trying to say that the Advanis and Yachuris were right and the problem lay only at the congress’s feet ? Many amongst us did not agree with that as we felt the problem was with the whole political establishment . Finally your team kept talking in different voices and that added to the confusion .

What had appealed to us was to have a voice which was outside of politics , a voice which would debate and discuss policies and put pressure on the law makers to ensure that good governance would prevail . we still need this voice ; We are convinced that democracy is the best thing that has happened to India and we are proud that we have been able to sustain it for the past 60 + years .However now we want to make democracy work for the betterment of the lives of our people . We have seen over the years how democracy has failed to deliver as per our expectations and how a few people have been able to take advantage of the system for their personal gain . We need to correct this situation ; In today’s global scenario the world is looking up to India as one of the potential leaders of tomorrow and as one of the large developed economies in the decades to come . We cannot miss this grand opportunity that has come our way , we should grab it to ensure that our people progress . We are ready to sacrifice our time and put in those extra efforts to bring about this change . As of today we may not be ready to join a political set up but eventually even that will happen ; it will happen once we start having faith in the system , once we know that laws prevail here and that the corrupt and the lawless are punished . Even now nothing has been lost . what needs to be done is to make the movement stronger . organize the groups at the mohalla levels and bring in more transparency on what you do . The initial agenda has to be a movement which brings in peoples participation in the democratic process . At the municipal level , at the state level and at the centre level we need to ensure that peoples voice and aspirations are heard and that the peoples representatives are made accountable .We appeal to you to introspect and to change track a bit ….we need a leader like you as we saw you in the early days of the agitation ..we hope to see that leader soon ..

The Gang of four they met

the Australians would have called them mates

But for them they were pals

And for the public just lok pals !

The netas got the shivers when they heard about the Lok Pals

Sonia gone , chidu thundered ‘ Put them behind bars ‘ ..

The media converged , tihar was lit , annaji toasted primetime

The nation saw the new mahatma emerge

which gave the whole lok pal movement the surge !

The congress catapulted , the netas met

And the sense of the house was set

Manu spearheaded the committee for whom the time was freezed

Winter came and the bill was tabled on which they all laboured

Arun said it was a game , mamta said she did not like the name

They talked , debated and amended and finally dumped the bill in the far away lane !

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 !

Of human aggression forms are many

It could be a blow , a punch or a kick , that would leave you sick ..

but the most humiliating of them all , without much doubt ,

Is the grand old thapad !!

Its not lethal although a well delivered one would cause you much hurt

It not only gives you pain but also a crimson face , depending upon the pace

A Gandhian could offer the other cheek ,so to speak

But not that for a true politician whose tribe feels no pain

As evolution has guaranteed it a thick skin which knows how to win

Without being blamed for the sin !