Sonia Gandhi-- A Farce called sacrifice

Sonia Gandhi is reelected to the Lok Sabha. That she would be reelected was certain the day she filed her nomination papers. The curiosity was just about the margin. Now we know that she won a landslide with a record margin.

So, where is the sacrifice that the Congress harped so much about? Would it be fair to call 2 months absence from the LS a sacrifice? You resign in the budget session and be back for the winter session and call it a sacrifice? Maybe the Congress feels so. I would rather call it a holiday. As a refresher, let me remind you people that Sonia Gandhi resigned from her LS seat over the office of profit controversy. She was the chair person of the national advisory commitee then. This post was viewed as an office of profit (I am tempted to use the short form OOP, though many of my readers are technical people and will instantly conclude it as Object Oriented Programming :D).

Back then Sonia had become a symbol of sacrifice one more time. The Congress media managers hyped up the issue to take political mileage. They are all well aware of one thing. Public memory is pretty short. It didnt matter that Sonia was filing the nominations barely a month after she resigned. She had successfully proved that she is not a person who runs behind power.

However, there are people like me who are not particularly impressed. Firstly, there is no sacrifice. After all, she stayed away for just 2 months. That too when the parliament was not in session. If she had regretted for holding an OOP, she must have stayed away for the entire term. Just resigning from both posts and immidiately getting one of them back cant be termed as a sacrifice, how much ever you project it to be one. It is nothing but a farce. The ultimate loser here is the state which had to bear the reelection expenses.

How much ever I may dislike Sonia and her politics, I must admit that I am a big votary of her PR skills. The way she ends up projecting herself as the wronged one everytime, is just awesome. One incident fresh in everyone's mind is of course her dramatic refusal of the PM's post. After the BJP lost badly in the 2004 elections, they had nothing to fight about except the issue of Sonia's foreign origin. They kept on harping. Sonia refused the post promptly, leaving the BJP gasping for breath. Had they anticipated this move, they could have countered it effectively. Sonia Gandhi scored a double there. She won over millions of hearts and at the same time made sure that major policy decisions of the government were taken at 10, Janpath, her residence.

This time too, she has managed to pull off a spectacular win. The BJP is again caught on the wrong foot. Along with her own win, the party's success in Assam and TN have confirmed that Sonia reigns supreme in Indian politics, at least for the time being.

Well, as an after thought, I feel like adding one more thing. The person who had the required capability to counter Sonia is sadly no more. Mr Pramod Mahajan will be badly missed by the BJP.

Hennu, Honnu and Mannu.

Strange title, eh? Well, could not think of anything better! Anyways, without wasting much time, will get down to what I intend to tell.

Last week, my best friend was in Bangalore. As usual, I went to meet him. His grand parents had also come down to visit them. As ours is a long standing friendship, we both know almost everyone in each other's family.

His grandfather is a very jovial and a kind hearted person. He always leaves me amazed in the way he treats both adults and youngsters with equal respect.

That day, my friend's grandfather was in a rather pensive mood and was churning out many advises. Many of which directly related to our lives. I thought of writing about one particular advise which instantly struck chord with me.

In his usual style, my friend's grandfather commented-- "Hennu, Honnu, Mannu ella namma runa idhange maga. Sikkidre jaasti santosa nu padbaardu, sikkdidre dukha nu padbaardu".

Translated to english, it means-- "We getting the things we want so badly, cheifly the girl, money or land, is wholly and solely determined by our fate. Therefore, we must not be excessivily happy when we get it or be depressed when we dont".

The more I thought about these words, the more I realised how true they were. I instantly dismissed the last two. Honnu and Mannu (Money and Land). They were related to his age. In the present IT/BT age, making money is more and more in our hands than in fate's. A strong will coupled with hard work makes fate redundant in these cases. I felt worried about the only remaining item on the list. Hennu- Girl.

On this point, I found that my friend's grandfather was dead right. How much ever we desire or deserve someone, how much ever we try to attain our goal, the result ultimately is not in our hands. The external factors, often negatve, are innumerable. I am sure everyone knows about the factors. I prefer not to elaborate on those here.

I told my friend's grandfather that I fully agreed with him on this point. He gave a satisfied smile. My friend sighed and murmured "Ella sari, dukha padbardu andre hege? Ashtu kashta pattu sigdidre dukha aagallva?"(What do you mean, dont feel bad? Its quite natural to feel bad). I looked at my friend in surprise. Why was he asking that question? That was the first thing I asked him when we were alone. He clarified that he was talking on behalf of one more freind who was struggling to come to terms with the harsh reality of this adage.

The wise old man patted his grandson. Obviously he had seen and faced it all. "Dukha aguthe maga... Aadre dukha na nungi nagta irovne manushya. Yaava vastu nu namage sigo tanaka namdu annkobaardu. Adhe secrtettu", he smiled at his kanglish. Roughly he meant that we must make a conscious effort to forget our worries and keep smiling.

Though it was a valuable lesson, I feel strongly that its time we shunt out the last remaining item in that adage out of fate's reach. Our society took centuries to achieve the eradication of first two. Wonder how long the third will take!

Farewell, Mr Mahajan.

Last week, India lost one more of its most promising sons. Pramod Mahajan passed away after fighting his best against an inevitable death.

Mr.Mahajan was one of the very few dynamic, hardworking, creative, assertive, frank politicians in the country. Being a very prominent GenNext face of the BJP, he definitely had lots more to offer.

Another bud stubbed out much before it blossomed fully. May his soul rest in peace. That is all we can ask for.

Making a mistake is not a mistake at all. Not learning from it is!
-- Abhi