December Musings

It has been a Dizzy December 2017!

If there's one thing which has dominated the headlines for a better part of this fortnight, it was Gujarat, Modi and Rahul. The elections in Modi's home turf of Gujarat grabbed, shall I say, needless, national attention. Congress loud mouth (read Mani Iyer) exceeded his brief and lost his reputation with the Oonch Neech remarks. 

BJP went into an over drive to damn RG. The Badshah's left hand, Amit Shah, questioned Rahul's sudden piousness. The Big Boss (no, not Salman Khan, but Mr. Modi) claimed that Congress and Pakistan were hand in glove to defeat the BJP in Gujrat. He fell flat on his face when he found that the ex Prime Minister MMS and the ex Army Chief were part of the party where the supposed conspiracy was hatched. And the Pakis, for once surprisingly, let out a stiff rebuttal - "Don't drag us into your electoral debate". It takes years to build a reputation, but only 5 minutes to spoil it. Mr. Modi learnt it the hard way.

The smog in Delhi brought Indian callousness to the fore. When the Sri Lankan cricketers complained about the smog in the first few days of the New Delhi Test Match, and a few of them chucked up, the smart Indian coach Bharat Arun complained about their exaggeration. And when an Indian cricketer suffered the same fate on the field, all that he could do was shut up. Much ado about nothing?

A wet December was something new for Western and Southern India, with Cyclone Ockhi bringing in rainfall and destruction. Climate change is for real. Meanwhile, deadlines for Aadhaar linking to your mobile phone, bank account, PAN card, wife and near and dear ones are changing every other day. Padmavati is still in a limbo, with the the experts in Parliament having a sneak peak to decide if Indians are intelligent enough to watch the movie. 

For years, Santa Claus is visiting children every year in Christmas, bringing joy and happiness. The same cannot be said about the Chinese who have made a habit to visit Doklam every year, and staying put for many months. Maybe they are missing the Xmas goodies back home.

Virushka was the new portmanteau word on the block. The Indian cricket captain, Virat Kohli, and the Bollywood starlet, Anushka Sharma, got hitched in an intimate wedding ceremony in far away Italy ! Thank God, the BJP did not link the Italian wedding to Sonia's Italian roots. 

Few of us can take pride in influencing laws of the nation. Sunny Leone has done better than us. With her antics in the ManForce advertisement ( I am yet to see the steamer), the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has mandated blanket ban on broadcasting condom ads on TV between 6 AM to 10 PM, because they were unsuitable for viewing. The prudes in Delhi are at it again, developing anti-social laws. Meanwhile, Tuborg "Club Glasses", Royal Stag "CDs" and Chivas Regal "Music CDs" can continue to be on the waves. India is indeed riding high !

Rohit Sharma, meanwhile, slammed his third double century in an ODI against Sri Lanka, much to the delight of his wife on their second wedding anniversary. Up North, Vladimir Putin has put his hat in the ring, to be the President of Russia for the 4th time. Great Britain and the EU agreed on their Brexit divorce conditions. The maverick Indian entrepreneur, Vijay Mallya, is putting up a stiff fight in the courts in UK to avoid an extradition to India. 

On the other side of the Atlantic, Disney agreed to buy Fox for a cool 52 Billion US$. That's a deep hole in Disney's pocket. #MeToo is gaining momentum, with who's who of Hollywood coming out of the closet and sharing their horror stories. Salma Hayek is the latest addition. The monster Harvey forced her to do a steamy scene way back in early 2000s, only to distribute her movie. Next target - Trump? After all, he has bragged about grabbing women ! Americans do have a President who can hardly be idolized.

Christmas is just a week away and the New year a fortnight away. Let's hope the news makers and news breaks take a chill pill in the coming fortnight !