Monday, November 29, 2010

FRESH AIR





Arnab was being naïve. Giving us hope. Promising to expose and nail the corrupt. As if on cue, the rivals followed. And we had a CNN exclusive, a Headlines Today expose, and a NDTV exclusive revealing exclusive and incredible documents, sullying credible names. The fact that NDTV got stuck in the muck is another exclusive story. When you play with fire your hands are bound to get burnt. If your job is to fish in the gutter, some muck is bound to stick. Big names hitherto thought sacred and pure are galloping away to infamous glory. Little surprise then that names washed with Nirma ki safedi and Rin ka chamatkar, names of repute and respect, got their share of sticky stains.


As the tide of scams and leaks ebbs we are realizing the fact that several were swimming naked. And the tide hasn’t fully ebbed as yet.And like morons we watched wide eyed, one scam revealing another. The moment one emerged unscathed from the muck, another fell with twice the thump. The word ‘scam’ has become a big joke. And no one is even amused. The scam blizzard is sweeping scribes, socialites and industrialists along with it.


How silly of us to hope. Yes we hoped that the corrupt will be chakki piecing and piecing….How could we forget that the corrupt go to the corridors of Power. In the hallowed precincts of the Parliament. Not in jails.

Why? Because the important files with clinching evidence go missing. How absurd is that? So the corrupt are ‘chakki picing’ only in our vivid imaginations. In reality they are the breaking bread with Mukesh at Antilla or Obama at the Race Course Road.

Worse, more absurdities are in store. The Lavasa designer lake city project might be razed after it is almost ready. The ministry of Environment has served a show cause notice after a decade. Why was the construction allowed to continue on 25,000 acres without the mandatory clearance?
Lofty but tainted Adarsh will also be razed. Will wiping off 31 storeys, wipe off the stains from the face of south Mumbai?

After such absurdities what bliss it was to see the women sprinters win medals for the nation. They gave me goose bumps. From Haryana emerged the story of contrasts. Of golden girls and female infanticide. Of medals and honour killings. Of hookah spewing elders and Nike sporting girls.

Also what bliss it was to welcome a positive message from the people of Bihar. While the Ayodhya verdict gave resounding thumbs down to the politics of religion, the Bihar verdict went a notch higher. It said no to politics of caste. Poor pollies! Now they can’t thump their chests and proclaim, ‘We rule in so many states’. They have to say, ‘We serve in so many states’.


The message is to change the ‘lal batti’ to a sign board proclaiming, ‘Men at Work’.Nitish has done that. Will others follow? They will perhaps take time to learn from their mistakes. Or maybe unlearn what they have been practicing. Playing games with the incendiary mix of religion and caste politics!

A gutsy girl, Ghazal Kalra, working for a multinational, refused full time scholarship at Stanford to join the Congress. She is spearheading the population stabilizing program in Kurukshetra. Another IIM A graduate K. Chepuri joined the BJP. I am hoping that they do not get sucked by the system.

These positive messages emanating from the backdrop of dubious wheeling dealings, give me hope. Despite the scam storm, I can smell fresh air. Do you smell it too?

19 comments:

  1. Sometimes I feel time has a way of balancing itself, of good and bad, of glory and shame... and hope survives..

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  2. Optimism is good. But it pisses you off after a while.

    Nice account. Felt like keeping on reading. (:

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  3. D POSITIVE ACTIONS DOES KEEP ALIVE THE HOPE...N FREE AIR EVEN IN THE POLLUTED SCAMS

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  4. Thats the romanticism of our country ... Like yin-yang , we have +ves tackling negatives in every sector.. As they say, hope floats :)

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  5. well, I have high regards for the students (now politicians) that you were talking about. They have chosen a winding road I hope they reach the destination :)
    Kudos !

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  6. You have truly put common people's thoughts and views so nicely. do really hope nitish, young students, golden girls and beating up of men by women who entered the ladies compartment will bring in the much needed fresh air into our lives.

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  7. We live in a world of make believe- where good triumphs over evil, justice is meted out. And then we open our eyes to reality- it's harsh, corrupt and skewed.

    Nitish Kumar is like a breath of fresh air. Look how Bihar voted for him during the elections. We need more leaders like him.

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  8. I don't know about fresh air, but being optimistic, I see hope. After all it cant get worse now--HOPEFULLY.
    It less than 5%of the population( IN form of politicians) who are the muck and the stink of Indian polity.
    Thanks to the media and the young generation, situation has to change. It will.

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  9. @Harish and MangoMan...Thanks for reading. If the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off! ha..ha

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  10. @Atulsush..Now that you have your account, join the gang. Thanks for reading.Your optimism is infectious!

    @Mayank...We thrive on hope. Well said!

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  11. @Purba...Nitish is a breath of fresh air. While the BJP was bursting crackers on the eve of results , Nitish was looking at files...

    @BK Chowla..True...The young generation has to pitch in.

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  12. I quite agree with what Disgruntled Genius had said...although i wud also like to say that i m sick n tired of scams in India!!

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  13. @Ria...There is some solace...Even the US is struggling with the scams. With the WikiLeaks due to report banking scams, US is nervous...Only thing is, there is an overdose of scams at home.

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  14. Alka,

    Scams come and go as public at large has short memory. It is only some who really care for what happens to our nation. Do I have to name persons? The lid generally comes off only when one of the persons does not get what is his or her share or get less that demand. Bihar verdict shows that people are not getting wise and I sincerely hope this trend continues. Hope Nitish can live upto expectations. We need more persons like Ghazal and Chelpuri.

    Take care

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  15. If we take Indian politics as a topic, we bloggers would have loads of humorous content every single day :)

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  16. @Jack and Aditya.....As I said, scams have become a joke and no one is even amused. Industrialists, journalists, and corporates have also joined the party....

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