You are currently browsing the monthly archive for October 2007.
US based Indian Bobby, aka Piyush, Jindal was elected the Governor of Louisiana, after a sweeping victory. The news has sent his nation of origin into frenzy. In Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and most major cities (except the Communist Kolkota) in India, there were jubilant celebrations. In Mahrashtra state, in particular, people came on the streets, on Sunday, after the news hit the media. They distributed leaves of trees, to celebrate the “growing” success of Indians in America. Lot of homes also prepared sweets, to celebrate the occasion.
A visibly emotional Piyush Jindal talked (exclusively) to a prestigious Indian news channel. When told about the celebrations back home by the reporter, our own Piyush had this to say:
“Thank you…thank you…thank you India. Folks…I’ve got an idea…Let’s give our homeland…a fresh start!
I stand here tonight very humbled by your support. It’s hard to describe, but I really feel a heavy sense of not only gratitude for all of you, but also of responsibility. More than anything, I stand here tonight tremendously excited and exceedingly optimistic about the opportunity to make real change and to turn our state around”
“Which state, do you mean?”, the reporter asked him. But the question was lost in the huge explosion of cheers from the media persons in the studio, who are the happiest about the news.
“We have to defeat cynicism, we have to stop saying– “politics is always corrupt, there is nothing we can do about the mess in Baton Rouge.” continued Piyush.
As the reporter wondered what the hell “Baton Rouge” was, Piyus stated categorically that, “The time for partisan politics is behind us. This is not my victory tonight. This is our victory. There has never been a clearer mandate for change. This is our time. Our motivation is pride in our homeland”
Meanwhile, back home, there was also a cynical response to the news, coming from the strong Indian blogging community, in particular. A blogger, who blogs at SindhuUnity.hind said that after an Italian remote-control-Prime-minister, we might soon see an American prime-minister, too. But, he was sharply criticized by other liberal bloggers. “Of course it is a great news for India”, sweety_81 said, “Soon we’ll have Indians leading all the major nations, including Pakistan, which will be so exciting!”. That took the discussion into a tangent about how Pakistan is already led by an Indian.
A senior right-wing leader expressed happiness about the news. He praised Jindal as a model citizen of his country. “If all the minorities in India just accepted Hinduism as a True Indian religion, just as Mr. Jindal has accepted Christianity as the True US religion, then India will be as progressive as America”, he said.
A senior left leader has accused Jindal of selling to the majoritarian politics, and had strong words of criticism for his right-wing social policies. Accusing Congress and VHP of clandestinely supporting Mr. Jindal, he said: “This is a ploy to push the Nuclear Deal in the US Senate”. The left, he said, is contemplating to withdraw the support to central government unless Congress apologize to the whole nation, and stops the clandestine support to Mr. Jindal.
In an unrelated development, scientists have observed a 29.76% increase in the happiness index of the global primate population since Jan 2001. The euphoria in primates is observed all over the globe, along with an elevated sense of pride. The scientists are puzzled over the phenomenon.
Indian Star actor Sanjay Dutt, aka Sunju Baba, received the prestigious Nobel Prize for peace, for his re-vitalizing of the philosophy of peace, better known as Gandhism. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who never received this award, has always been considered the biggest embarrassment for the prestigious global award. Sources say that this award, to Dutt, is to compensate for that oversight.
The actor, who was jubilant after receiving this award said that he believed his parents, and not he, really deserved the prize.
Meanwhile, the opinion was divided back home. While a lot of fans cheered the news, there were a few detractors who felt that this was money power of Bollywood which has resulted in this award, and they felt that it is a conspiracy to pressurize the Indian courts to dismiss cases against him. Dutt, 48, is contesting a TADA (a special democratic law in India) court’s six year sentence, for illegal possession of willful destruction of arms. One famous blogger from Indian blogosphere made comment that: “destruction of arms” is the greatest contribution anyone can do to world peace”.
Senior Gandhian leaders celebrated the news, citing it as a vindication of Mahatma’s philosophy of non-violence. However some express cynicism at the commercialization of the philosophy in its new avtaar: gandhigiri.
Meanwhile, US president, George W. Bush, has vehemently criticized the Nobel committee for trivialization of peace prize by giving it to a “mere actor”.
“After all, what is the real contribution of Mr. Dutt, to world peace? I am a great admirer of Gandhi’s philosophy of non-alignment. Gandhi was a great person. He fought for world-peace just like me and my father. He fought for peace in Sri-Lanka, and died for the cause. His brother, this Sanjay, has not done anything to deserve a peace prize, on the other hand”, he said, addressing a press-conference. Sources reveal, that this just after Al Gore’s peace prize, has angered and hurt the President, who said this about the other award: “We will shift the headquarters of Nobel to Florida next year”.
When reminded that it is Sanjay Dutt, not Sanjay Gandhi, who’s been chosen for the award, the President remarked in his charismatic style: “Oh well, what’s the difference, they’re both bloddy injuns”
The actor will be visiting the Siddhivinayak temple in Mumbai, to thank God for this kindness.
India’s batting maestro, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, has been dropped from the India’s ODI team, for the rest of the Australian series and upcoming series against Pakistan. The shocking announcement happened after India’s crushing defeat against Australia in the fifth ODI. Tendulkar, aged 34, was the highest scorer in Indian innings in which only four batsmen reached double figures. Tendulkar scored 47 in what could possibly be his last ODI on Indian soil.
Talking to a group of reporters, in a press conference, Dilip Vengsarkar, the Cheif selector for BCCI, cited Sachin’s consistency as the reason for his exclusion from the team.
“When Sachin plays, no other player performs. Look at Twenty-Twenty tournament. There was no Sachin, and Indians batted brilliantly. Everyone need to take responsibility in Cricket, as it is a team game. With Sachin in the team, however, other players think that they do not need to perform”
Indian team’s manager Lalchand Rajput later reacted to Vengsarkar’s announcement, saying that it is unfair on the other senior players. He felt that even Ganguly and Dravid should be dropped by the same logic.
“I think it’s a wrong decision to single out Sachin as consistent performer, when we have Ganguly performing equally consistently, and Dravid has been excellent in England, too”
Sachin Tendulkar, when questioned, replied that he respects the selector’s decision.
“I’ve always had a great respect for Vengsarkar Saar”, he said, “And I’m sure he knows what works for the team. After all, this is not an individual game like Tennis or Golf”
Inside sources say that he was quite relived, that he will not have to cut down on his ads because of the string of ODIs in next few months. A close friend, on the condition of anonymity, said that the feeling in Sachin’s camp was that this unceremonious exit will actually help him get a lot of public sympathy, and help expand his advertisement portfolio.
Meanwhile, highly trusted sources revealed that Ganguly and Dravid are planning to take BCCI to court for ruining their reputation.
“It’s like, it doesn’t matter whether we’re in team or not! At least, with Sachin, people expect us to lose. But no one seems to expect anything out of us!”, Ganguly supposedly told a close friend.
Australia leads the series 3-1, after the win — a position from which they cannot lose the series. When asked for comments, Ponting said that he is impressed by the BCCI’s actions, and that they will have to really think hard about their team composition, now that Sachin is not playing. He is really upset that after spending hours and hours studying the maestro’s batting in slow motion, it’s disappointing that they won’t be playing against him after all.
“But it’s a challenge that our team is prepared for”, he said, “We’re not a number one team in both the adult forms of the game for no reason”.
Recent Comments