Ghosts Of Errors Past

Much like Macbeth on seeing Banquo’s ghost, Indians - prominent and ordinary - were shocked by the return of issues they had thought were buried and done with.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram was among those hit hard. He had just completed giving a budget during which he patted his back so hard he dislocated a shoulder. “It was one of the dullest speeches I ever heard. He went on and on when a simple apology was all that was required,” said one analyst.

Much like Townshend and Daltrey, PC has been replacing Rahul Gandhi as the Congress frontman. And in that role he had had a sharp exchange with BJP chief Narendra Modi, who had said that country needed “hard working people not Harvard educated.”

PC’s counter came out totally wrong, when he said “We don’t need hard working or hard hearted people.” He had to recall his mother’s name and encouragement in his bid to escape censure.

Modi too was affected. Not content with having made his point he picked on that harp once too often. Why is he making fools out of you, he asked which lost something in translation reading: “Why is he calling you owls?” Offended owls glared mournfully and asked: Who, us?

Even as the nation was witnessing the tumultuous birth of its 29^th state, a thoroughly miffed Arvind Kejriwal tried to regain the spotlight. Fresh details emerged on AK 49, as he is known now after starring in a 49 day drama that was so off Broadway that it was in Delhi.

Purported to be a champion of the Right to Information Act, AK 49 stonewalled requests for information on several key decisions he had taken. Requests for information on cabinet decisions were forwarded to the fire service, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board.

Then came the disclosure that his party AAP would take support from khaps for the upcoming elections. Khaps, in case you didn’t know, are local councils and have been in the news for a couple of horror stories regarding ‘sanctioned” rape and brutality.

AK’s partner on stage ex-Delhi Law Minister Somnath Bharti's past caught up with him as well. One journalist revealed that Bharti was one of the world's worst spammers as well as being associated with a company involved in selling pornographic domain names.

Such revelations may have had a hand in seeing contributions to AAP declining with its NRI appeal most significantly hit.

A major shock was waiting for civil servants who had been expecting to join political parties in keeping with the trend set by former superiors and colleagues. The government is now dusting off the once rejected idea of imposing a compulsory ‘cooling-off’ period for bureaucrats joining politics.

Only recently a similar move to stop babus’ flow into corporate houses had been thwarted, thus leaving the retirees at least one way open to garner fame and fortunes.

This could be quite hard on CBI boss Ranjit Sinha, who seemed to have been preparing for a change in the country's rulers. Recently, he had just come out against the Centre over the notorious Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case. He may now have to reconsider his retirement options.

However, the most distressing (or welcome) return was that of the public sector and quite possibly the Communist doctrine. The Tamil Nadu Government has recently increased its involvement in fields other than … well governance.

Involvement in sales of liquor, mining, restaurants, public transport has now been enhanced. Amma theatres may soon join the Amma buses, hotels and may even go to an Amma hospital. Chennai saw a building constructed for the Legislative Assembly being turned into a super speciality hospital.

Possibly the only time in world history where bureaucracy has been transformed into a tangible asset.

Sports, meanwhile, has been seeing the strange involvement of the NBA’s bid to garner hoopsters here. Though the average Indian’s height has increased, pickings will be pretty slim, considering the growth has been from 5'3" to 5'6".