Moral policing is alive and kicking in Mangalore. Its
sponsors, the ruling party in Karnataka, is gleeful about it. Every time an
incident does take place, ticket & position aspirants of the ruling party
are let loose to divert the attention away from the incident. The MLA and MP of
the area maintain stoic silence or if they do speak, it is to condemn the victim.
A partisan Police force worsens the position. It’s little wonder that in India
V stands for victim!
Travel takes me through airports on a regular basis. I have
observed the CISF personnel ,who handle the security, with amusement. A GMR
employee told me that they aren't trained for the job on hand. Some of them
could have been manning security at a coal mine in their previous posting. They remind me
of cowherds herding the cattle class! As we head closer to Independence day,
these guys swell in importance. The frisking is done twice, the scanner crawls,
bags are opened, questions asked, assortment of stuff sniffed, and the queue at
the security check lengthens. Some among them swagger around with automatic weapons;
some others hang around specially erected sand bag barriers. Why only during
Independence Day? Any terrorist would know it’s the annual security circus
around this time. So would he arrive with his wares to celebrate Independence
Day? (And on 14th August, when I passed through security, the date stamp showed 13th August. When the attention of the CISF man was directed to this, he sheepishly changed the date on the stamp. Wonder how many passengers noticed, or how many security personnel noticed)
Corruption is here to stay. A certain minister in the UP
government was candid when he told the babus, 'steal but do not loot'. Either
the poor chap was naive or else he was probably getting it across to the babus
that looting is the prerogative of the politicians! Meanwhile, the self-appointed
guardian of black money, Ramdev, is growling at the government. That he is
abetted in his endevour by the saffron brigade is obvious. For all the
incoherent talk that he lets loose on his audience, he seems to have a cure for
all ailments of India; from banning big denomination notes to estimating that
100 lakh crores is enough to solve all problems in India. Funny chap! If the
NDA comes to power, would Ramdev be a minister? He does have aspirations.....
Rain has played truant in my part of the country. It’s been
playing hide and seek for some time & in the process it has made fools of
the weather forecasters. It has also managed to fool the pundits who refer to
stars to predict rain. So much so, the government granted rupees 17 crores of
tax payers to appease the rain god. But that was only to the Hindu temples,
other places of worship were asked to pray, without getting entangled in the money
trap. From the past 4 days, the coastal districts of my state are receiving
copius rain. But the rest of the state is hit by a drought.
It has rained heavily in Mangalore. Perhaps the rain god
wants to wash off the sins of the moral police?
