A new dawn

A lot has happened since my last post. The IPL is almost done and we are now at the start of the knock out phase and though I’m a little disappointed that the royals missed out, I am very happy with the final four. The best team, the best balanced team with the coolest captain around and two back markers from last year make for interesting viewing. Though my heart is with the Super Kings, I’m backing the RCB as the spirited underdogs of the campaign. Two days will tell the full story.

I peeled off a small bit of the indelible ink from my fore finger and there in lies a tale. I voted and though my vote was just among another 2000 odd in the final count, I felt happy that this election was one like no other before it. For once the country voted in large numbers and they voted with a head and a heart. For once many well known personalities competed as independents just to show that politics is not a cess pool.We saw a vote for continuity, stability and a vote for performance. I read a text on Facebook that said ”Thank God the UPA won, now the minorities can continue to live in India”, an unfair comment to our secular country but a sign of the times and the campaigns that dominated the political space. Opportunists were dumped en masse and all those fence sitters who thought that they could go with the tide found themselves stranded in some sand bank. One leader in particular is the cause of much merriment today having been blanked out in TN after jumping ship yet again. The list of opportunists and regional chieftains who bit the dust is spectacular and it must be a humbling experience for those who thought that the public was ignorant.

Staying with opportunism, the news media is agog with one geriatric trying to flood the parliament with his progeny and you wonder what would have happened if he had a few more families that what is currently accepted. What irks the discerning public is the obscene clamour for cabinet berths that are publicly known to be money pots. Last term one crook destroyed or put into cold storage one glittering achievement of Mr. Vajpayee that ensured the country will be connected by road in all four directions, sadly the plan got hijacked and almost buried. Now the ministry that made it to the IIM for the most spectacular turn around is being coveted, God help us. I have become a big fan of Rahul Gandhi and some day I may become a card carrying member of his party if he continues in the way he is now. The triumvirate of Mr. Singh is King, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul have shown what it is to be politicians with some spine and desire to walk their talk.

Finally I am happy that Jaago Re, Lead India and all the other similar campaigns that helped to make this election a success. I am glad that I got a chance to do my little campaigning through this blog, Facebook, Orkut, Gmail etc and I sit back delighted it was not a wasted effort.