The Monumental Folly of Demonetization

Sahaya Sadhyam Rajatwam Chakram Ekam na Vartate : Chanakya

This was one of the maxims of the great statesman economist of the 3rd Century BC : “The King and the Council are the two wheels of the cart and the cart cannot move on one”

Chanakya was very clear. The king should be extremely diligent in nominating his Amatyas, but having done so, he must resign the governance to them, retaining titular, veto and dispute resolution powers with himself. I believe, this was a very evolved structure which provided autonomy to the permanent executive but at the same time had built in checks and balances.

It is very essential that the King has learned council and that he heeds it. The king must not be surrounded by sycophants or people who are not ideologically soaked into making his monarchy a benevolent state that works for the safety and happiness of his subjects.

People say, one of the advisers of Modi for the demonetization was Ajit Doval. I don't believe this one bit, as why should an IPS officer who spent a large part of his professional life snooping in the IB, be the one to advise Modi on matters of economy. This would mean, there is a drought of economists and thinkers in this country. I don't have high regard for Doval as I believe his handling of Pathankot was highly ham-handed. Besides, any man, who lacks the conviction to own and admit failure in my view is a timorous and weak kneed namby-pamby. And Doval despite he being lionized by the media as the James Bond of India, I would place in that category.

I am sure, a whimsical Modi, had not imagined the scale of disruption and misery that the demonetization would cause. This is the very reason why you need strong council with stalwarts who can stand up to you and decant your disastrous decisions.

I feel, with Rajan as the Governor of RBI, the demonetization would have been implemented with far greater preparedness. The mint, the currency chests, the ATMs the banks, their rural outreach, the cash distribution channels, the cash transporting staff and vans all needed to be in order to make the operation smooth and successful.

The Finance Minister Jaitley and ilk are now shamelessly changing the narrative. The whole narrative of black money is now being morphed into transitioning to a cashless economy. It is child’s logic, that a certain element of cash in the economy is actually healthy for the economy. So the logic of a completely digital economy, and that too without fool proofing security features needed to support such economy being put in place really beats me. 

Regrettably, since the woes and throes of demonetization don't seem to end, and most of the money that used to be in the channel now demonetized is reaching the banks back, the specter of black money is now fading away, and a hapless government with egg in its face is now changing track from black money to a cashless economy, and who better to shamelessly trumpet this than Jaitley himself.

I am Modi supporter and I want him to succeed, but it saddens me no end to say, with such measures he may not.

Aggravated Reality of Modinomics : Arun Jaitely you must answer

Aggravated Reality of Modinomics : Arun Jaitely you must answer

Ministers like Jaitley could be Modi’s undoing. His apathetic comments in a speech has all ingredients for it.

Jaitley people say was instrumental in peddling Modi as BJPs prime ministerial candidate and also unflinchingly standing by him when Vajpeyi condemned him and contemplated his removal in the aftermath of Gujarat riots. Vajpeyi somehow could never comprehend how Gujarat could be retribution for Godhra and condemned Modi for not acting fast enough to quell the violence.

Additionally, Jaitley unknots the Lutyens Delhi’s Machiavellian spoils system, in which he is far senior to Modi who is still a struggling neophyte and relies on the outreach of Jaitley’s tentacles for facilitation - or let us call spade a spade - fixing. There is also a tacit understanding amongst all parties how much of the others’ corruption they have to ignore - chor-chor mausere Bhai.

But it is true, Jaitely’s criticality to this government and the cabinet is more for these softer skills that he brings than his distinction as a legal luminary or a financial wizard, or even a statesman, who harbours some grand vision for India.

In this backdrop, we should not grudge him his failure in triggering growth, his ineptness in handling industry or his reforms, and not being able to fire the imagination of the countries’ youth. As that is clearly not what he is retained for. 

There is no gainsaying the fact, regardless of the good intentions, the drive for demonetisation has been handled in a ham-handed manner. But we should also not grudge Jaitely his uncle Podger like handling. Organisational excellence is not his forte. And permanent bureaucracy has no accountability. 

There is a lot of goodwill riding on brand Modi. A vicious opposition not-withstanding, a large majority of people want Modi to succeed. I too want him to succeed. I think, he is the best that we have. The people are inclined to support any move that he undertakes. It is true, that lots of people are braving serpentine queues and the concomitant trouble of demonetisation smilingly on the promise or greater good of the country. 

But Jaitley apparently is the architect of the demonetisation’s mismanagement. Several of his political polemics and public posturing has also been most cavalier, crass and contemptuous of the hardships that people are facing. Yesterday, he was shown on TV equating demonetisation to the August 15, 1947 freedom and its news paper coverage of the historic moment then. He pitched that if the 1947 period media had the sentiment of the today’s media, instead of euphorically reporting Independence they would have reported the carnage and dance of death that unfolded as an aftermath of Independence.

I have some questions to Jaitely :

1.Can one suffering condone another. If there was misery and suffering at Independence then it does not imply that misery is a rule

2.Do you understand that Independence and Partition are two completely historical events although concurrent

3.The misery of partition mitigated the joy of independence and for that reason Gandhi refused to celebrate an independence so dearly bought. But you are not denying yourself anything.

4.Do you know that Britain was a colonial power and had no reason to be empathetic to the plight of the people. Is your government to be evaluated in the back drop of a exploitationist colonial power.

5.Has anyone from your family queued up for cash? How are you running your household?

I know there are no answers with you. And you get to power anyways, hence even if you had answers, you would not deign to reply to my questions. But never underestimate the electorate. Their anger sometimes survives eons….

A Paroxysm of Petulant Patriotism

After an extremely diffident and dilatory Manmohan SIngh whose allegiance was more to a decadent family than to the country and its constitution, the people foisted to power, Modi, a diametrical opposite. Self assured and unapologetic about his roots, and with no family to fend for, he rose like a phoenix and gave the nation a sense of confidence that it perhaps was longing for. 

While his electoral demagoguery was unabated, a calibrated dispersion of statistical content in his speeches made him stand tall in front of contenders like Rahul Gandhi, who were still using the old guard's - Dig Vijay Singh - rhetoric to connect with a youth that had since moved on.

In stark contrast to a matronly Sonia, whom it took many decades to even accept Indian citizenship, who had made silence a virtue, who scripted a model that divorced accountability from power, Modi was a man who in a presidential style campaign profusely pledged to take back India to its golden era; he would chest beat to showcase the green shoots of his model in his home state of Gujarat.

A savvy politician, who recognised that perception of performance was as critical as performance itself, Modi took extra care of the optics. Prostrating before stairs leading to the Parliament or addressing POTUS with his first name, all went into defining what he was and stood for. He was poised to lead India on the path of economic vitality, political resurgence and international stature.

His message was loud and clear. His ascendancy would mark the end of decades of plundering and looting of the country by either siphoning off the tax payers money, or conceiving convoluted schemes, which although would pass without demur an accountant’s scrutiny, but fail miserably in the test of ethicality - like the land grab of Vadra, or the National Herald Case for the Congress.

And all these promises he made with an air of Hindu resurgence without any overt reference to it. And it is never difficult to make that, as Hinduism is not a dogma and does not ordain its exponents to interfere, regulate or dominate any other religion, faith or school of thought.

In a majoritarian Hindu country, which though partitioned on religious lines, yet chose to stay secular, where it had become fashionable to appear modern at the cost of tradition, and was led by darned apologists, an overnight shift to Modiism was a transition with its own complexities. 

Besides, a perpetually hostile neighbour - Pakistan - upped the ante in Kashmir which further spiked the surging saffron nationalism.

As a consequence of all this, lot of rowdy elements, like advocate Chauhan, till date marginalised under the erstwhile regime of the apologists’ joined what they believed was the ideological mainstream by asserting their nationalism. Prime time TV programs - the contemporary pulpits of society - started streaming a brand of jingoistic nationalism. 

While Ma Bharti convalesced under corruption, poor health of its women, under nourishment of infants and joblessness of its youths, the chant “Bharat Mata ki Jai” became the new litmus test of nationalism to which this rowdy fringe started subjecting others.

There is a growing crop of people who proclaim to be more nationalist that others because they are willing to chant Bharat Mata Ki Jai. A lot of such people are residing abroad and from their comforts of their homes incite passions in India. They upload provocative video and try to pontificate to you on nationalism, when they have themselves left the country for a better life overseas. 

Ma Bharti is venerable, and is the underlying soul of Indianness. Its a call for nationhood from times when the concept of nationhood was not even born in the western world. But the stage at which the country is, it would be better if nationalism would be tested by ones deeds and the contribution that he makes to the nation and opportunity of personal growth that a person forsakes for a social cause.

Despite having acquired the best education, one is still willing go return to his mofussil town or village to impart education

Despite being a great doctor , one is willing to forsake crores to serve teeming million who lack access to primary health care

Despite being a great actor, one does a social cause commercial like Polio eradication or of Dengue or on the girl child free of cost

One declines positions of political importance because he knows there are others who can contribute more than him in that role

One pays his taxes with honesty

One waits at a traffic signal even when there is no cop on the other side to fine him

One stops to clear the litter of person who was walking ahead of him

A bureaucrat forgoes a sight seeing tour during an over seas trip and works over night to make a good presentation about his country at an international forum and brings back a qualification or membership that would hold his country in good stead.

Corporates vie to bring best quality products and work ethos to be called world class in their respective segments

People ask their representatives if they are working in interest of the people

All of the above is a better test of Nationalism than merely chanting Bharat Mata Ki Jai

That there is no gain saying the fact that Vande Mataram or Bharat Mata Ki Jai of course should be a given for any one of us and not a test.

Why give so much cognisance to what a Khan says...??

We are a democracy and as such we are obligated to not stifle any view that is contrarian or conflicting to ours. But at least we can exercise a self imposed restraint on televising views of stupid people. Let us decide on an IQ threshold. Views of people having an IQ below a stipulated level should not be aired. 

If we could do this, at least we would be spared the tyranny of views of Salman Khan, Alia Bhatt, Mahesh Bhatt, Saif Ali, Kangana Ranout........., Robert Vadra.......Rakhi Sawant, Poonam Pan

These guys make a stupid comment and our media scampers to air it. Today it is Salman Khan, tomorrow it would be Rakhi sawant pontificating to the country on what needs to be done...Give us a break.

I can be completely wrong, but my considered belief is, anyone who can emote as directed has a diminutive cerebral capacity. And that is what these actors do, and they do it for money. If you dance on orders to save a life, like Basnati danced to save Viru's life, it is still pardonable. But not in any other situation.

Science has limitations. There is no steroid that can increase the power of the brain. So you can see, tho the body of Salman Khan is bulked up to twice of what he used to be, the size of his brain has remained same.

I feel incensed when these jokers make irresponsible statements. Money I guess gives the rich a misplaced sense of confidence to become social commentators.

Ironically, Baramullah firing is happening while I am scripting my comment.

India Hits Back - Indeed a big Day after decades of political Indecisiveness

As facts stand, and as experts of military history would unhesitatingly corroborate, each time India has gained an upper edge in war (I deliberately refrain from saying "win"), as that was never the stated objective of any of the wars that we waged, Indian army has done it despite the political dispensation, despite the elephantine bureaucracy, despite being poorly equipped, despite not having any back up support and despite the red tape. 

And our politicians and bureaucrats, with support of media have always succeeded in appealing to our misplaced sense of nationalism, the recrudescence of which is seen both in times of a cricket match and war and in that order. The truth is, we sacrifice our soldiers for our lack to integrity, inactivity, inaction and red tape. In 1965, after having walked into Pakistan, Indian Army did not know what it was supposed to do. The objectives of war, which have to be stated before going to war, were not stated till what you can call the end of the war.

We have won wars only because of the personal valour of our soldiers. Sit with an old fauji, and he will fill you up with countless hair-raising tales of personal valour of our soldiers. In 1965, emboldened by the American magnanimity of donating Pakistan the M 47 and M48 Pattons, they misadventured to attack an unprepared India under surrogate leadership of a noble yet tentative politician called Shastri. 

We won, not because we had an equally powerful armoured division that could brave the Pattons. But we won, because our soldiers feeling so helpless against the Pattons and bereft of air support, lay with mines under tanks and blew themselves up. The Pattons - the first generation smart tanks made with light metals for smarter reaction and swifter shoot and scoot capability, while completely outsmarted the Indian Centurion Tank of British Vintage, but could not take the heat of a mine burst below it. We lost soldiers but captured tanks. The battle of Asal Uttar is testimony to this. Pakistan lost 200 tanks to the brave Indian soldier and India commemorated the feat by calling the place Patton Nagar.

I hope, this time was a paradigm shift. I hope this time a departure from the past. A win not due to personal valour, but due to military tactics, warcraft, political expediency, planning, well rigged fighting machine and clearly stated objectives of the strike. 

In our zeal for war jingoism, we must not be unmindful of the lives of our soldiers, and the plight of their families after they martyr themselves for those who create the situation for which they are martyred.

I also feel, in fact I am convinced, perhaps, the only positive aspect of our almost derelict caste system is valour. I feel, the Rajputs primed for valour from childhood, have a point to prove, and the brave Sikhs and hardy Jats will up the Rajputs, and each regiment, so loyal to its caste and so loyal to its tradition of valour, so loyal to its highly embellished regimental pedigree and its icons, misses no opportunity of leaving a legendary legacy.

Pakistan. Failed State true. Shameless State more true.

Response as expected #UnitedAgainstPak pic.twitter.com/jj0N6str5Z

— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) September 19, 2016

Churchill - Who says he had Foresight, Just a keen Opportunist and Risk Taker

Power will go to the hands of rascals, rogues and freebooters. All Indian leaders will be of low caliber and men of straw. They will have sweet tongues and silly hearts. They will fight amongst themselves for power and India will be lost in political squabbles. A day would come when even air and water would be taxed.”

India is merely a geographical expression. It is no more a single country than the equator.

-Winston Churchill

A man who I would, at least in the context above, consider down right stupid, and devoid of foresight - and what can be a more egregious reminder of the tyranny of his ineptitude - in handling India than the foregoing quote. But of course, he is believed in England to be the hero of the War and key in bringing Hitler down. I am also not too sure, if this so called victory over Hitler could have been achieve without the active participation of India on the side of England in the war.

A man who did his utmost in keeping India maimed and minioned for as long as possible is described as the principal proponent of free world by David Cameroon. But positions can be so divergent due to distinctive standpoints that sometimes it is impossible to make sense out of them.

News should not be Oprah Winfrey Show

I like Ravish Kumar's Prime Time. He makes lot more sense than any English news channel, particularly the Barkha Datta type news channels. His panelists are tempered and qualified to comment. He ensures, his panelists have some relevant experience unlike Saba Naqvi and Suhel Seth who sometimes are responding even before the question is tabled. His nasal accent also is a good reprieve from the high pitched anchoring drumming up hysteria on even mundane issues.

But his coverage  tonight on the Dalit Kabaddi issue of Gurgaon was too detailed for national television. There is no society of the world which is not afflicted with racism. Casteism is just a form of racism. And any such episode should be treated like a crime in a manner prescribed by law and justice should be meted out with greater promptness than usual, so that any retaliation restrained and political polarisation preempted. 

But a protracted coverage with gory details is just too fissiparous and is at best avoidable particularly at a time when social equations are fragile. What needs to be laboriously covered is the punishment meted out to the culprits. The justice dispensed..... or the details of the delay.....

Besides news should not become Oprah Winfrey show.

Pathetic Speech by Pranabda

I have one big issue with Indian people. We don't take public jobs seriously. We lack sincerity of purpose. We also treat others casually. A country that can beat any other of the world on accumulated intellectual capital, has a President, a career politician, who is struggling to read from the prompter and nervously fiddling with pencil throughout his eve of Independence Day speech. Why can he not spend a month in memorising a speech and deliver it immaculately to the people of his country? Why does he have to fumble and struggle to read it? Why can he not just keep it simple and speak his mind, rather than parrot a written speech? Why does he not treat the Billion strong peoples seriously and with respect? Because it is not merit that saddles you in such positions - there are multiple extraneous factors - so much of balancing that Pranabda has dextrously done all his life, to be rewarded with this position. Of course, at the route of the malaise is, that we don't treat our right to franchise seriously. If we vote for reasons other than the pure merit of the candidate, Pranabdas, Pratibha Patils and Gianijis shall be the natural outcome.

Make RBI Governor Rajan the Chief of Niti Ayog

I used to always tell my team not to fret on non issues. Wherever you are, build robust systems and processes and get to the next level. If Rajan Guv RBI has done that, there is no need to fret, who will fill the space that he may have to vacate. If he has been able to explain, what a Central Bank needs to facilitate and monitor in an emerging economy even to his direct reports, then he has pretty much achieved what he should have, and who the mercurial Modi government or a whimsical PMO installs in Guv's saddle becomes irrelevant. 

Rajan on the other hand, loves to speak like an archetypical thinker and planner more than a rigorous executor. He might be a virtuous contender for Chief of Neeti Ayog, where the current incumbent Kant, who has to his credit achievements like running of the "Gods own country" campaign, "Incredible India" campaign and of course his own image and perception campaign, can give a run for their money to Piyush Pandey or Prasoon Joshi. Under Kant's leadership, I doubt if any solid work would be done at the Neeti Ayog. And that because, in positions where leadership is thrust from the top, teams tend to align with the leaders attitude, unlike where leadership evolves from the bottom. So today, everyone at the Ayog will be busy planning how best to showcase the work done, and not planning for the future.

Whose Kanhaiya was he Anyways

I have never shied from expressing contrarian views. Then why should today be any different. That Kanhaiya would appeal to me was always a foregone conclusion. I hate jesters and I hate students who dabble in politics and I also hate vehemently playing to the gallery and vending half truths or blending fact with fiction. But in this case it upsets me no end to think that many an educated person is lending ears to Kanhaiya. A glib talker, with a demeanour reminiscent of his mofussil town roots, which seemingly don’t threaten his metro counterparts, he is feeding strong on the errors of commission of the BJP and the ham handed manner in which their  crack teams have handled the situation. BJP acting in concert with its youth wing the ABVP, set out to demonise a relatively unknown student but landed up heroising him.

One thing is clear, JNU is offering an easy to pursue curriculum to it's students else the time they spend in dhaba politics would certainly not be at their disposal. The manner in which they are debating stupid political issues is clearly indicative of a lack of rigor in the curriculum. And also indicative of the fact that they are basking is some pseudo intellectualism which when at its best gets you a seat in the civil service of India, by becoming a part of which, you do what the government has done to JNU, that is charge you with obsolete sections on sedition, usually not maintainable in court of law and perpetuating this vicious cycle of events.

I can never imagine students of premium technical institutions like IITs or IIMs doing what is happening in JNU. In these colleges the curriculum is so rigorous that you cannot think of anything but academics.  The narrative is completely different for humanities where lack of rigour encourages students to play truant, teachers to stay away from teaching and both to dabble in fringe politics. These streams I think all over the country have this reputation. The political parties also are eager to take student leaders under their patronage. And given that politics is one of the most lucrative professions these days - the wealth accumulated by the Gandhis, or Mayawati or Jayalalitha or that amassed by Vadra in such short span is a feat that no business man with even Buffett’s acumen can ever dream of - he who is thick skinned enough, will surely like to join it.

The above not-withstanding, I am not advocating that students should not be politically active or politically conscientious. They are future of the country, and their voice must be heard in moulding the future of the country. But main stream politics with political parties openly supporting student factions on educational campuses is a premature proposition. I think the Lyngdoh Committee also had similar recommendations. The commission was unambiguous in stating in Cl 6.3 : "Dissociation of Student Elections and Student Representation from Political Parties".

Particularly when students as a class are inherently recidivist rebels. Their brand of politics is all about rabble rousing and rowdyism. Their age is such. And this is the innate strain that they take with them when they are catapulted into main stream politics from student activism. And that precisely is the reason for our politicians behaving the way they do. Hence, one way to create a different genre of politics is by banning actual politics in these breeding grounds themselves. But to ensure, that opinion of youth is not stifled and their voices are not muffled, and their participation in the making of the future of the country is not curbed, universities must invent formats of the shadow politics. A genre of clean politics, consensual politics. politics of polite and intelligent debate, of dissent and of decent discourse.

As for Kanhaiya - the Bhumihar from Begusarai - he is savvy enough to keep shifting the goal posts with an adeptness to avoid coming in the direct line of fire. And BJP and it's youth wing ABVP stands in clay footed jeopardy to the 360 degree shoot and scoot by Kanhaiya. In his post bail speech he in a bold and brazen fashion mocked Modi and gave a completely new dimension to the whole debate. The initial issue was simple. It was about anti-India slogans. He turned the whole thing into pro and anti JNU and pro and anti development debate.  Whether he supported sloganeering that encouraged dismemberment of India and whether he memorialised Agzal Guru as martyr were clearly issues he completely skirted. On the other hand he gave a nouveau and poetic twist to Azadi reflecting bourgeois aspirations that resounded well with his audience. Punctuating his diatribe with anecdotal evidence to an audience that continuously cheered him and jeered the establishment.

The Antics of Smriti Irani

Lot of thinking people have been critical about Smriti Irani's speech due to the theatrical content and antics. They may not be wrong. I go a step further. I don't even like rhetoric. I like Just facts which also should be presented shorn of superfluous verbiage with an approach that is brutally rational. But demagoguery has existed world-wide. Hasn't it? Antics also prevail. The US Elections bear such an eloquent testimony to it. Look at Clinton and Trump how they dramatically gesticulate to the gallery and get even with each other. So why condemn Smriti?

The above notwithstanding, no one can say, she was not prepared. She had done her homework. She was thorough with her facts. She had even sequenced them properly. In a country where even the Parliament is rowdy, and rabble rousing is a pass time in which even the fully employed find time to indulge, where facts get morphed with fiction so quickly, such orchestrated rebuttals are the only way to get your point across. 

This time the walk-out was because the opposition was stumped by this sudden volley of facts, temper, emotion and sentimentalism. Kharge to khada hi raha gaya.

The Relevance of Mahabharata

Each passing day as events unfold, I become more and more enamoured by the Mahabharata. How contextual it was then 5,000 years ago, and how so relevant it is even today. If the Mahabharata took place, why has man not learned from it, if its importance is allegorical, how could Vyas so successfully perpetuate the context.

Sonia Gandhi I would imagine is worse than Dhritarashtra. Actually, Dhritrashtrianism is usually a male trait. Women are more sensitised to the limitations of competence of their children. They may love them with their life, but unlike men for whom a child is en extension of personal ego, they are always reluctant to foist them on a platform where they will not fit or worthily justify.

I was once on a flight with RK Pachauri. I think I was traveling to Frankfurt. I was in business class and he was in First Class. I wonder, what is contributes to be able to afford first class. It is quite an irony, that not for profit organisations can always spend more than those for profit.

By qualification, he is an industrial engineer.  Some of them are hoaxes in the name of engineers. He cooked up data.

He has managed weird awards including one from the President of Somaliland. This is called being resourceful in India and you should be able to manage the people who matter. And the people who matter can be managed in India only in one way : late jaao.

I am enamoured by the bold girl who is taking up cudgels against a figure like Pachauri. I pity her for her plight, as Pachauri is one of the ugliest persons I have come across in life. A 74 year old left side hair right side combing man, trying to use his position to force sexual favours.

Men : work hard. Do sport. Build your personalities, build some character, be bold and above all, be men of conviction, and you will have girls falling all over you right from your teens. In India, mothers coax boys to just study, and pass exams or wrangle positions by sycophancy. Then they use these positions to exploit girls. A small percentage of girls is willing to make a compromise in return for a simplified life at work place, most others detest. Some take a stand like this girl did.

But what a pity, she seems to be fighting a lone battle. Women are not supporting her, and shamefully, men are also not supporting her. A man not standing up for a woman's honour is like being a tacit accomplice in the molestation of your daughter, wife or mother. 

It is always an ecosystem that is to blame, but it saddens me nonetheless.

The Judiciary needs to Work more

Since in India, Judiciary is held in high esteem, and there are cultural issues of not questioning why the Judicial system of the country is failing the country, the failure of this arm of governance has far reaching consequences. 

While exoneration of a recklessly driving Khan is widely evident failure, there are many more nuanced ones that we don't see. One example is the NPAs of various banks. Today, particularly the PSU banks are sinking due to NPAs, their plummeting stock prices too have started reflecting this, but if the judicial processes were smarter and swifter and structure of the legal system not meant to protect the defaulter, the NPAs would have been less than half. 

What you treat as NPA to a large extent depends on the judicial / legal system of the country. In our country, it is almost impossible to nail the big defaulters. Then it is upto to the system, which loan it starts to recognise as non performing, and decides to no longer chase. If judicial system was quicker, what the banks recognise as NPA today would be perhaps less than half.

But who hauls up the judiciary. They are still taking 3 months summer vacations like nursery toddlers.

BEATING THE RETREAT : OUR SOLDIERS ROCK

Beating the Retreat : Our Soldiers Rock 

While historically and figuratively, it is the joy of retreating to the barracks after the last bugler sounds his bugle. But literally It is a musical extravaganza that I always treat my senses to. And this years' was a pleasant departure from the past, with stiffened by training soldiers deciding to showcase their own flair for the music more than just playing colonial era martial music. So it was excellent overall, with particularly the BSF's richly caparisoned camels charming me the most. It seems, they are fighting the sun from setting. 

But in public functions, I always wonder, why our politicians who are usually plonked on the front row seats, sit with such sullen expressions on their face. These politicians who don't tire smiling out of sycophancy infront of their bosses don't even twitch much less smile even on occasions like the Republic Day parade or the beating the retreat, where one is filled with pride for valour, training and excellence of our armed forces. 

A cadaverous Pranab Mukherjee barely managed to dismount his vintage carriage and kept his left shoulder drooping in a lousy posture reeking of mental disengagement throughout the function. Modi a media marvel was so overly conscious of his mien under gaze of the cameras that he kept tracking the cameras from the corner of his eyes. The stoic Rajnath Singh stuck to his arms folded posture, with never even a finger moving to acknowledge to the harmony, tonality or timbre of the beautiful music played. The fossilised Kalraj Misra. I don't know who invites him for all functions. He is always there with a constipated expression of when this misery will end. 

But who cares. The day was carried by the soldier who did it with the flourish that is expected of him. And of course the last tune - Saare Jahaan Se Achha - as expected, played together by all bands as the grand finale stole the show.