India’s Elections – Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

Politics is strange, and eveyone knows that. Backstabbing, disgracing opponents and inflating self-achievement is common. Therefore, it is the drama of elections that brings out the creative genius of politicians worldwide. As seen in the recent US elections, media around the world simply loved how McCain and Palin dug their grave and Obama came out fluttering like the long-awaited minority hero. But what could you expect after 8 years of the legendary George W. ??

Now, looking eastward we see the drama of the Indian elections unfold. Described as the ‘age of coalitions‘ where no single party dominates the electoral college, multiple parties connive. If abbreviations like U.P.A. and N.D.A. were not enough, this year marks the glorious entry of the ‘Third Front‘ and I hear something about a ‘Fourth Front‘ as well. Something makes me feel that this could turn out to be a good script for a Bollywood thriller – who knows?

Some sanity to the Indian political battlefield was provided by the entry of United Nations veteran Shashi Tharoor. Campaigning from Kerala, Mr. Tharoor’s opponents could simply not control those creative instincts and spat out a gallore of illogical and baseless remarks.

Now comes the best part of this drama. The party in power, or actually the one that has control of the current alliance, the Congress party, decided that its achievements of the past few years may not be enough to win the upcoming elections. So how do they woo the masses? Show them ‘The Economist’ ! What else did you think? Gift giving is not cool, ok? So, what you do, is pick up a publication printed outside India which has an article that talks about all the follies of your political system, but if even a remote line claims you did your job well, voila, there you go – the magic persuassion formula!

Dumbass Congress – the article says, “For this reason, The Economist, if it had a vote, would plump for Mr Singh’s Congress.” Above it, in bold, it says “Better than the alternative” which as a sixth grader would explain, means that you aren’t the best! You’re just the better of the two evils!

Ok, I still support the Congress. Despite their latest persuasive strategy, their achiements cannot be ignored. Ideally Narendra Modi would be my choice PM, but he brings the baggage of the BJP. Which of course is the most disillusioned fanatical yet legal outfit.

Let see if there are any more twists and turns in this drama before we reach the climax.

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Other events coded whiskey-tango-foxtrot:

a) Sarah Palin ‘knows’ Russia because she’s from Alaska, and as everyone knows, Alaska is ‘close to Russia’. Take that for foreign policy experience! [link]

b) Mc Cain’s paranoid agenda which included an ambitious call for a ‘League of Democracies.’ Bet hey, we’ll exclude Russia and China from the league, ok? [link 2]

c) The fear that Mayawati may be next Indian Prime Miniter. Then, extortion will be legalized!

d) The ultra-rich independent candidate from Mumbai. (Worth Rs. 622 crore or Rs 6.22 billion)

e) A fascination to see how Obama has fared in ‘the first 100 days.’

f) Arlen Specter jumps from the Republican party to the Democratic party. So what if he was committed to the Republican ideology for the last 30 years? The rationale is, that Democrats have a higher chance of winning state elections. Howzzat?

g) Shoegate. Encore. Yet again.

h) Varun Gandhi

Enough for now.

Let me look under your hood

Another comic strip from Fly You Fools, which accurately describes security-checks of cars as they enter building compounds in India.

Ok, its not so bad, but you get the point that most ’security-checks’ are a joke right?

A new hope for the genitally challenged

This is the most hilarious comic strip at Fly You Fools – just have a look. The bit that follows will definitely leave you with a smile!

Interesting eh?

World’s Gloomiest Countires

There’s a long list, but I am stuck here:

No. 28 : Singapore

Source: Business Week

Al-Qaeda Hails Financial Crisis

Al-Qaeda is watching the U.S. stock market’s downward slide with something akin to jubilation, with its leaders hailing the financial crisis as a vindication of its strategy for crippling America’s economy through endless, costly foreign wars against Islamic insurgents.

How interesting…. read here.

Some cartoons..

How Can She SLAP??

This is probably the most hilarious video I’ve seen recently! Its quite a viral piece and has spread through the web space at an incredible speed.

Turn up the volume and enjoy!!

Impossible is Nothing

Now, the tag line used by Adidas has another meaning. Watch the video below.

We are like that only!!

Paralyzed

I’m back home in India for a couple of weeks and there are two disturbing facts to think about.

Firstly, despite being a metropolitan, my city does not offer a substantial internet connection. Speaking to my friends who live in my area, I learned that the fastest ‘broadband’ connection I could get was 96Kbps. A thought bubble above my head compared this speed to the 100Mbps connection I use in my university, and it only made me feel a little challenged.

That brings me to my second point. My dependency on the web. No, I’m not a techie or a related functionary. But I depend heavily on the web for news and knowledge. Google and Wikipedia are my lifelines. News from across the globe is inaccessible without the web.

(I don’t really trust news channels – especially some Indian broadcasters who find time to air comic shows rather than informing people about the impeachment procedures in Pakistan’s National Assembly, or Russia’s invasion of Georgia, or that India finally won an individual gold at the Olympics.)

Such dependency on the web is something I need to think about.

I hope Musharraf got whip lashed! Darn the net.

PS: I’ve succumbed to using a cyber cafe.

Interesting Signboards

   See here!

   Its great that Bin Laden is courteous!

 

 

 

Roger Federer should learn from Bejan Daruwalla

Another brilliant entry for the WTF category!

According to Mr Bejan Daruwalla:

“He should come more often to the net, because he has the reach, the agility, and the dexterity to volley for an outright winner, or to make a strong opening for it, and with the next volley, finish it. The Sun and versatile Mercury in Leo, is the key to it.”

WTF ???

Powering Up

This is my second attempt at blogging. My previous blog, which I published using Blogger, didn’t really come off as expected.

So here I start again.

Its well past midnight. I have work tomorrow. And so I think I should hit the sack for now. Hopefully, this second coming will be closer to what I want my blog to be. Keeping my fingers crossed!