Thursday, March 30

Quatrain LXVIII -- NEWS FLESH

When the model’s blouse slipped*
The voyeuristically moral media flipped
And ensured, that the flesh
Was well ‘covered’.

* The media pumped a large dosage of oxygen into the Lakme India Fashion week by elaborately describing how model Carol Gracias' blouse came off on the ramp. Read link for more. Sorry no pictures. http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/7242_1662474,00180007.htm

Quatrain LXVII -- INVISIBLE INK

Once barons humoured kings with armed men
Now we've moved on to subtler climes

You merely pledge the ruler the might of your pen

Like Tehelka has and among others Hindustan Times

Wednesday, March 29

Quatrain LXVI -- "INNER VOICE"* -- A DETAILED HISTORY AND TECHNIQUES OF VENTRILOQUISM BY RAMDHAS PADHYE**

Seated in a well-heeled psychiatrist’s clinic
Sonia sobbed and shrieked in genuine panic
Asked the nervous shrink, “Madam, where is the pain?”

“It’s that voice doctor… My inner voice again.”

* Ramdas Padhye is one of the pioneers of ventriloquism in India. His innovative puppet shows starting with Bolkya bahulya (Talking Puppets) made him a household name in Maharashtra in the 1980s. His book ‘Inner Voice’ was published in 2002. He roped in Sonia Gandhi as brand ambassador after she first heeded her inner voice in 2004. The last sentence is meant to be pun only.

**www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/jul172005/finearts135312005715.asp

Monday, March 27

Quatrain LXV -- FACEPACK JUSTICE*

There is injustice in justice too
Why did Jessica, Meher cases brew?
Does the robe of outrage, suit only the privileged dead
For whom the wheels still move, albeit belated

* It looked good at first. 'Ordinary' people fighting back and all. But now, I would think twice before consider ing Jessica Lal's family 'ordinary'. Jessica's mother was a tutor to both Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi. Meher Bhargava, wife of All India Congress Committee Luv Bhargava fits the same bracket. Their demise is unfortunate, but the struggle is more so of one privileged class which is currently 'out of favour' as in Bhargava's case and in Jessica's case, the case was expedited with Sonia at the helm. Mattoo's case appears different, remains to be seen, if it lasts the distance.

Quatrain LXIV -- PAR LiAMENT

For years now, they are at it without shame
Ravaging the same womb, that begot them
These 800 odd Oedipus' who without lament
Reapetedly mount an ageing Parliament

Sunday, March 26

Quatrain LXIII -- YOU WANT LAW...? SORRY, SHE'S BEING LAID II

When it comes to the last straw
And it's one step from perdition

Parliamentarians can still make up for a broken law

By collectively gang-raping legislation*

* The office of profit controversy.

Friday, March 24

Quatrain LXII -- HALO AND HALLOWEEN

Passing through Meena bazaar's core
I was distracted by a rare, virtuous glow
And saw Ahmad Patel* scurry from a pawn store
Tucked in his armpit was Sonia’s hired halo

* Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary cum spin doctor

Quatrain LXI -- PROFIT AND GLOSS

What’s there to debate about?
SP* versus Sonia, a silly, kiddish bout

It’s always been a politician's penchant, dream

‘An office of profit and a bucket of cream’


* Samajwadi party

Wednesday, March 22

PARVATI OF KAILASH COLONY

You are waiting.

Nobody else at that crowded bus stop knows you are. Everybody here is waiting. You are a part of this teeming, tired mass with glazed eyes, like stale gelatine. You cannot think of yourself in isolation here. For shadows that pass by, for passengers who stare out of their bus window-frames, you are an invisible part of that galaxy of stale-gelatine eyes.

You stop thinking. And start looking. At the man with grey shoes, his laces kissing tar. At a woman with lips beautifully swollen like an almond soaked overnight. Then at a woman with the empty jute bag. The bag’s empty. It’s sagging. Emaciated. You think it could do with a shopping binge. You look at the woman’s forearm, which spills from her saree. You conclude that that Punjabi forearm has either worked-out all its life or has shopped at Lajpat nagar an hour every week. You smile. Now you realise why you are accused you of being a damned regionalist.

You curse softly. You wonder why the bus you wish to board always passes on the opposite side of the road, half empty. You watch it approach and stop for its harvest. Your eyes are glued to it. It moves forward with a lurch. Your eyes, dulled by the day, miss the lurch. They continue to stare at the place where the bus was a second ago.

The bus pushes off. You continue staring at her. Behind her is a wall. Behind the wall a building, which goes up some way. She was dozing from the moment you spotted her as the bus moved. Seated on the pavement. Legs crossed. A blue blouse, covering her to the wrists and a dirty skirt. She is thin. Thin as a noodle. Noodles that Maggi sells so successfully. But her body is too stiff to roll round and round like the Swiss-styled wheat string.

Her left breast is being sucked at by her child. It is too far to see if the child is asleep. Perhaps it is content with the milk it has sucked off her mum. Or perhaps it has learnt to be content with less. It does not move.

The mother does. In fact she sways from one end to the other. Waking up only when she sways so much on one end, that she cannot go further. At this point, her body jerks like a boat that has just struck a bar of sand. She wakes up, lazily stakes stock and sways the other side.

Her right hand is cupped under her child and the left is outstretched begging.

On this side of the universe, my bus has not arrived. You see the flock has changed. The old man with loose, long laces is no longer around. The woman with the almond lips has also left. The hand is still clutching the emaciated jute bag though.

You have been watching the woman for an hour now. She continues to doze while she begs. The kid too is sleeping. You know that for the past one hour, not a coin has been dropped or flung in her direction. You wonder what’d her day’s collection. You’ve heard that beggars earn enough to…

…And then your bus arrives. You board it. The jute bag climbs in through the front door. You rush to stare through the window at the beggar. She is still dozing. If your luck holds, you know you could see her again tomorrow. You know you will find her here again. You gaze at the building above her. It’s Mount Kailash apartments. You decide to call her Parvati.

Quatrain LX - MANTHAN – THE CHURNING

It’s the end of Operation Flood
A quick coup, sans blood
Dr Kurien sullied the repute he built
By crying silly over ‘split’* milk

* Dr Verghese Kurien man who pioneered the White revolution in India and took the cooperative movement to dizzy extremes resigned as chairman of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation following an ugly battle for power with his protégé Amrita Patel. The epic AMUL model assumed such legendary proportions, that it was captured on celluloid by Shyam Benegal in the film Manthan starring Girish Karnad and Smita Patil.

Tuesday, March 21

Quatrain LIX -- KHUL JA MITROKHIN

Italy finds sense in the Mitrokhin papers
KGB’s old Vatican coups and capers

India, she put an ostrich to shame

Excuses, excuses, excuses... lame*

* In case we have already forgotten, Senior KGB archivist Vasili Mitrokhin’s memoirs among other significant issues, also details how the KGB considered Indira Gandhi’s India a ‘model of KGB infiltration of a Third World government’. How V K Krishna Menon’s election campaigns were funded by the KGB after he agreed to purchase Soviet Migs over British Lightenings (both fighter air crafts). How prominent members of the Left and cabinet ministers in Ms Gandhi’s cabinet, the Indian embassy in Moscow were on KGB payroll. The Indian political class (including the BJP, whose protests seemed only theatrical), carefully allowed all these revelations to pass by. An Italian commission set to up to probe Mitrokhin’s claims has found in a lot of sense in his book, including a confirmation of KGB’s plot to kill the Pope in 1981. refer link http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4767652.stm

Sunday, March 19

Quatrin LVIII -- I CAME, I SAW, I CONVERTED

So, how did Gladys Staines* win a Padmashree?
Vajpayee played favourites, so did Sonia Gandhi

Even as foreign missionaries are barred by Indian law

But the Staines’ came and converted, those they oversaw

* The quatrain does not intend to justify Graham Staines’ murder by Dara Singh. But the fact that the missionary couple were actively converting tribals was conveniently ignored by the media and the processes, which grant these awards. Missionaries such as these enter India on tourist visas and conduct their illegal conversion activities. Try and browse through the link. http://arunshourie.voiceofdharma.com/articles/wadhwa.htm

Saturday, March 18

Quatrain LVII -- THE COUTERSAN'S NEW PATRON

For years now, Dalmia has cornered cricket
Sedcued her on a rigged wicket
But when cricket tired of the Marwadi's calculative rigor
She swapped him for Pawar's virile Maratha vigour

Friday, March 17

Quatrain LVI -- RANG DE "BASANTI, IN KUTTON KE SAAMNE MAT NACHNA"

What sells? Advertising patriotism or patriotic advertising
Admen can mutually peddle both, Gandhi and Bhagat Singh
Didn't Prasoon* first sell contaminated^ Coke, patriotism glazed
And then unabshedly unleashed patriotism, Coca Cola** laced?


* Ad man Prasoon Joshi
^ Soft drinks do contain pesticides, declares JPC -- refer link below
http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20040229&filename=news&sec_id=4&sid=27

** Coca-Cola adds fizz to Aamir Khan’s ’Rang de Basanti’:- In yet another first of its kind endeavour, Aamir Khan, Brand Ambassador of Coca-Cola & Rang De Basanti Movie star launched special edition “Coca-Cola Rang de Basanti” 300 ml returnable glass bottles, along with Mr. Vikas Gupta, VP, Marketing, Coca-Cola India, today.
The mega consumer initiative launched for a limited period in Delhi & Mumbai markets includes lots of freebies & prizes to be won including free premiere passes, Coca-Cola Rang De Basanti co-branded CDs & cassettes & a few lucky winners will also get an opportunity to meet Aamir Khan.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Vikas Gupta said, “The launch of the special edition “Coca-Cola-Rang De Basanti” bottles is about making Bollywood history and adding yet another innovation to celebrate the ever-growing popularity of Indian movies. The film Rang De Basanti underlines one’s belief in truth and optimism for success. Such emotions in a way also reflect Coca-Cola’s current theme of “Piyo Sar Utha Ke”.
The initiative will be supported by an integrated marketing communications program involving Print, TV & Radio Channels. -- refer link
(http://www.coca-colaindia.com/media/whats_new_detail.asp?id=110)

Quatrain LV -- 12 KARAT*

Red ideology? Bah, Brinda's bindi's redder
Ready to strike like a stinging adder
Refined, eloquent, stylishly vagrant
But then every red rose, isn't fragrant

* Karat is a unit used to measure purity of gold. 24 karat is as pure as gold can get. 12 karat equals to 50 per cent purity or impurity, whichever way you look at it.

Tuesday, March 14

Quatrain LIV -- IMPROVISATION

Netaon, dharmguruon, policewalon ki bheed nikal gayi
Par do haath gaadi chalenewale gali mein jale pade the
Kisine unhiki gaadi ki lakdi ko sandal bana diya tha
Aur tyre ko... ghee*


* After the politicians, religious leaders and policemen had left
Two hand cart pullers lay charred in the street
Somebody had used the wood from the cart for their pyre
And the tyres as... ghee

Quatrain LIII -- RIOTNAMA

Riots make a lot of sense
Unspoken dislike, becomes incandescence
And deaths, are never a loss
Seed capital for a political boss

Monday, March 13

Quatrain LII -- SECULARISM AND ALL THAT SHIT - II

These secularists are such a sham
The Hindu right is easy to slam
But when minority fundamentalism, raises its head
They lie colder, colder than the Benaras dead

Sunday, March 12

Quatrain LI -- MILI, DON'T BE SILLY

You know her as Mili
Amar Singh's sister, not his filly
Amitabh's already mortgaged his soul to Singh
Now Bhabhiji basks under the vulture's wing

Friday, March 10

Quatrain L -- ANOTHER PARADISE LOST

Now, there is a prized addition
To Goa's legendary sand and sun
Her virgin charm was already long abused
Somewhere along, her soul too was bruised*

* The communal riots in Goa on March 4 are a first in it's young modern history. With a heady combination of an already discredited BJP in search of leverage, a lethargic and pro-minority Congress government, constant covert visits by extremist Muslim preachers and overt campaigns by Togadia-like monsters of the Hindu right... expect more.

Saturday, March 4

INFREQUENT

Hi... travelling... entries maybe irregular until March 10...
Sorry bout that

Thursday, March 2

Quatrain XXXXIX -- TOM’S DEAD… IT’S BUSH, DICK, BOTH HAIRY

Americans don’t fear.

Even when Bush is out here

US isn’t an unguarded ship

Bush leaves behind, Dick*


* Vice president Dick Cheney