On this Independence Day of my country, I’m glad to have Baba Ramdev’s entertainment as a prelude. Most newspapers today, including my Malayalam one, carried photographs of the Baba sticking his neck out of a bus in which he was carried after his arrest. I must say he has come a long way from the time he tried to escape arrest in the garb of a woman last year: he has the courage to accept arrest now, though he may lack the confidence to carry out his promised indefinite fast.
I love India because of people like Ramdev. They provide entertainment. When my wife wants to watch some serial like Na Kaha Aap ne Kutch, Na Kahi Mein ne Kutch (or something like that) on the TV, I urge her to switch to some news channel which will provide better entertainment. What better entertainment can there be than people like Ramdev and Hazare? When our politicians turned big bores or at best became the President of India, we are blessed with Hazare and Ramdev.
Advani has joined the team of entertainers with the public expressions of his personal frustrations. He is sad that he won’t be the next PM, and, worse, the low caste Modi may grab the post with all the shrewdness he has displayed so far in the Gujarat politics. Even a Yeddyurappa would be better than Modi in that coveted post, in Advani’s version of Hindutva. I’m looking forward to another Rath Yatra from Advani. That will be absolutely entertaining, particularly because Advani is likely to spill too many beans from his heart that has been enduring a lot of imported pesticides and insecticides, Endosulfan included. But he is too senile to undertake another Rath Yatra even in the best of vehicles – and an air-yatra will achieve no political purpose.
Prakash Karat and his wife Brinda Karat will add much to this entertainment. With the collapse of Marxism everywhere including West Bengal, they are trying to keep it alive in Kerala with the help of mafia groups. Actually, they don’t know what’s happening in Kerala except what Pinarayi Vijayan tells them. And when people try to rule with no knowledge of what’s happening around, comedy ensues. There’s a lot of tragedy too because of the killings involved. Too many people are killed in Kerala in order to keep Marxism alive there. Staying far away from that state, I am able to derive a perverse pleasure out of the comedy of politics.
Too many people have been killed in Assam in the recent past. The Northeast is the most entertaining place in India if you were ever unfortunate enough to have lived there. They can fight in the name of anything from the length of your nose to the depth of your patience. They provide us too much entertainment so that we get bored of it.
Entertainment in galore. That’s India. I love it for that. And also for the permission it gives me for speaking about it like this. Long Live India. Happy Independence Day.
An archaeologist dug up the following:
You skipped Maharashtra (the Thackereys), Tamil Nadu (the ...nidhis, ...marans, ...thaas et al), ...
ReplyDeleteRE
Yes, Raghuram, there's so much that can be added. I wrote this blog out of a kind of frustration. I put a mask over my frustration. And put a limit too!
ReplyDeleteLoved this post. Finally, a post that is as well researched as it is nicely written.
ReplyDelete