THE DIMWIT SWANSONG

Thank god for the parliamentary democracy that we have. Lal Krishna Advani, stand corrected…we are better off in a parliamentary democracy.

The perils of parliamentary democracies are well documented. It’s the presidential ones that are throwing some new light on the relative safety that we have with a functioning or even a semi-functioning multi-party parliament.

Look at US of A for instance. After 8 years of a disastrous Republican presidency, it now has what some will call a semblance of democratic governance with Democrats in charge. And look at the way they have tied themselves in knots over a very commonsensical health reform.

This is what Gore Vidal says in a recent interview and you have to give him some points for this. He says America is “rotting away at a funereal pace. We’ll have a military dictatorship fairly soon, on the basis that nobody else can hold everything together. Obama would have been better off focusing on educating the American people. His problem is being over-educated. He doesn’t realise how dim-witted and ignorant his audience is. Benjamin Franklin said that the system would fail because of the corruption of the people and that happened under Bush.”

Fine, democracy is mostly a swansong before the “dim-witted”. And here’s how we’re better off. We passed the Nuclear Bill, as opposed to Americans banging their heads against the proverbial dimwit wall for health-care reforms.

At times, you have to thank the Mulayams and Amar Singhs of the world.

MAHATMA-THE “OTHER” GANDHI

Here’s how the largest selling Indian pink paper refers to Mahatama. Editorial dated Oct, 12th, 2009.

“The young Gandhi, by his conscious adoption of the garb of aam aadmi, maybe seeking to make the same statement that another Gandhi made by forsaking his lawyer’s suit in 1921 for the handspun loincloth that symbolized the masses of that time.”

Well, at least in the Newspeak, the Ghandy takeover of Gandhi is complete.

Priya Duryodhini would have applauded.

http://www.rakeshjhunjhunwala.in/

http://www.rakeshjhunjhunwala.in/

FUNNIEST INDIAN BLOG EVER....

It took me a long time to be back here and apologies for that. Been busy with bread and butter issues.

Two recent international events forced me to come back and thanks god for that.

For starters, check out the Sep 17^th TIME magazine cover featuring Glenn Beck, a Fox US show charlatan. Incase you want to know more about Glenn Beck, Google or you tube him and some of your notions about Indian TV being infantile will see a new light. He’s our Sansani guy commenting on politics (US..breathe) and draws more viewers than the other three networks combined. Now we know where from our Editor of the hour (TV) derives his inspiration from.

Secondly, after “12 years in bed with Labour”, Sun, Rupert Murdoch’s largest selling UK tabloid has decided to back Tories, in lieu of James Cameron’s support for clipping BBC’s wings and abolishing Ofcom, the British media TV regulator.

Both Sun and Fox are from Murdoch stable.

James Murdoch, by the way is in India these days and will be meeting out I&B minister soon.

Pray….