“Laughter is an instant vacation,” said Milton Berle. Here at NK, we would like to contribute to lightening your mood in preparation for a meaningful and relaxed weekend. So here’s the tongue-in-cheek look at the events of the week gone by that you’ve been waiting for :)
I start with a now famous tweet.
“Here are moments from my morning exercises. Apart from Yoga, I walk on a track inspired by the Panchatatvas or 5 elements of nature – Prithvi, Jal, Agni, Vayu, Aakash. This is extremely refreshing and rejuvenating. I also practice
breathing exercises. #HumFitTohIndiaFit” pic.twitter.com/km3345GuV2
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 13, 2018
Needless to say there is one element or Thatva always present and doesn’t need a mention in a tweet – the camera – Rupinthra in Sanskrit if my research is correct.
Like he was challenged, he too has thrown a fitness challenge to many – to all us 1.25 Crore Indians. Sadly it’s not easy find a lawn, let alone a clean one, clean pebbles (even on the beach) and water (even in our taps), or clean air (especially in North India currently), not even in our public parks which are few and far between, or in our backyard – which, most, if not all of us, do not have. Still we breathe…
Agni is the exception to the rule – it may not be so difficult to find. With India’s annual retail inflation accelerating to a four-month high in May, driven by higher fuel prices and a depreciating rupee, every day is an Agni Pariksha! Luckily petrol prices have eased this week so we don’t have to cycle to the farthest park – you can’t do that anyway – there’s just no place on the pot holes.
We are glad that our PM keeps fit – it’s in the fitness of things – like the future ready IOT. After all, long and vigorous handshakes and bear hugs that he often commits himself to in the interest of 1.25 crore Indians, abroad and in India, do need streanh (strength) besides charm which he has aplenty.
In Karnataka, even as the wrangling for limited (by law, thankfully) cabinet posts and heads of state government boards and corporations ( still unlimited by law) got fiercer – this despite the PM and the Tripura Chief Minister appealing to all to try to be self-employed, even fry and sell pakodas rather than hanker for a government job – (Whatever they say, including the UP CM has a big impact in Karnataka as the recently held Assembly polls revealed), the election commission held polls to the two assembly seats that had their polls countermanded before May 12th, for different reasons.
In the bargain, the Congress upped its tally from 78 to 80 after winning both the by polls. Now all they need is for the JD-S Legislators including the CM to join their party en-masse. This can take place only at (as) the last resort – lovely place with a giant steam bath, no security (it’s been withdrawn! now who heads the home ministry?) and IT officials only allowed inside in their personal capacity.
Kim and Trump kissed and made up in front of a frantic world media. Both whispered sweet nothings into each other’s ears and as they turned from the camera to go in-camera, their hands were patting each other’s back (No asides please). It was a telling moment for the lenses that whirred and the memes that followed.
The outcome of such back-patting seemed fantastic – A joint declaration to denuclearise (the entire peninsula mind you, not just North Korea) and other related oral promises outside the written document. Trump, hungry for success to bolster his falling rating back home said we made a deal – “I’m good at making deals and that’s what I did”. But the clear winner of this costly card game was Kim. He played his end of the deal well and grabbed the trump when it came into play!
This was evident when Trump also reserved the best of his limited vocabulary (limited to great and good mostly) though it may have been inappropriate, for his current bestie and former beastie Kim. (His new beastie is Trudeau ?) He said Kim was “very talented” noting how he had taken over the North Korean leadership while still in his twenties (Trump could take over USA only in his 70’s) but he couldn’t avoid a direct question on Kim’s human rights track record acknowledging that Kim had “run it tough”. He later said in an interview about Kim: “He’s got a great personality. He’s a funny guy, he’s very smart, and he’s a great negotiator. He loves his people, not that I’m surprised by that.” That’s a lot of synonyms for ‘great’ and ‘good’!. Yea, Kim used the trump card in his deal very very well!
Like in any folktale there was a moral learning for us too when Trump said of Kim: “Anyone can make war but only the most courageous can make peace.” True that. The leaders of India and Pakistan still have a lot to learn from these two unnatural friends (and not just because of their haircuts).
The social media as it works today especially the limited charactered twitter (that’s why it causes so much mayhem perhaps) and unlimited charactered what’s app (faking it comes easy with a lot of words), are increasingly becoming responsible for slew of things – from keeping abreast of what is actually happening, to keeping abreast and acting upon what is actually NOT happening. Take for instance the lynchings in Assam and Jharkhand, the violence in Tuticorin and Purulia and the latest – the verbal lynching of Priyanka Chopra, the world and India’s favourite actress until ‘The Blood of Romeo’ episode of the American ABC thriller series Quantico, aired on 1 June in season 3.
The episode showed the main character, Alex Parrish (played by Priyanka Chopra), stopping an attempted terror attack – No harm in that surely – that was her job in the serial. However, she identified the wrong party as terrorists according to the experts on social media.
The strong reaction on social media forced ABC, producers of the crime drama, and later Chopra to tender an apology. The network also strongly defended Chopra. Meanwhile, there was another casualty. An Indian Michelin star Chef in a five-star eatery in Dubai was summarily sacked over his tweet on the subject. The writer who was not the writer, a Bangladehsi American also got the wrong end of the stick on social media. (She only wrote for two episodes in the first season of its airing according to a BBC report was not spared nor supported in her defence by the producer – a lame way to avoid further damage to their investment). There were so many victims in this terror attack. Alex Parrish has her job cut out! She needs to find the real terrorists.
Last Word:
As I write, the AAP government in a state that calls itself a state but is not a state, Delhi, are enjoying the involuntary hospitality of the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Delhi. (I presume that because it is a state that is not a state it has a Governor that is not a Governor but a Lieutenant Governor). They are staying put in his residence, some fasting and others sleeping, trying to put up a fight for their inalienable right to govern the state the way the people who elected them (and that is almost all the people in Delhi) expect them to, rather than the way the Union Government wants them to through the officers of government selected by them. Delhi is apparently governed under a whole new premise of democracy – Demo-crazy – a government of the people, by the babus, for a political party.
We rest easy as we live in a state that is a state! On that soothing note let me wish you a great week ahead, even as you enjoy a wonderful weekend.
The author can be contacted at brian@newskarnataka.com
