Aesop was sitting on a tree stump. Around him were the townspeople—eager to hear a story.
“Not so long ago” began Aesop, “there was a husband and wife.”
“Once they went to a shop to do some gift shopping for Durga Puja. The wife was selecting the saris and the husband was watching paint dry on walls.
Presently, she was shown a sari by the officious storekeeper. It was worth 50 gold coins. The excited wife told her husband:
‘Wow what a beautiful sari’.
The husband looked into her brown eyes and said:
‘You want to buy it for yourself?’
She said ‘No no, not today. Today we buy gifts for others.’
He said: ‘Buy it for yourself since you like it so much.’
The shopkeeper piped in: ‘ Excellent choice madam. Only one such beautiful sari in the entire boutique in this price range. Else we can go up to 100 gold coins, and then saris are all this beautiful. But at this price, only piece—it’s a steal madam’.
‘Actually this is your mother’s favorite color. Why dont we buy it for her?’
The husband exclaimed: ‘For my mother? Oh we can get her anything…I know you want this..so go ahead buy it’
‘No really, my darling hubby. I so want to buy this for your mother. She will like it so much. ‘
‘But you liked it..’
‘It’s okay darling. I really mean it. She is your mother and I know you want to give her something really special.’
Turning to the shopkeeper: ‘Please pack this up’
The husband looked at his wife wistfully and held her hand as if saying ‘Thank you’
The wife glanced back with a sweet smile and went on choosing other saris.
The next day, the husband went to another shop, bought a sari for 100 gold coins and gave it to his wife.
‘Surprise’ he said as his wife exclaimed in delight…
With tears in her eyes, she exclaims: ‘ Oh you shouldn’t have….oooh it’s so lovely….’
‘You are the best wife a man could ever have.’
‘Likewise’ she said as she rushed in to try on her new gorgeous sari.”
Aesop stopped.
“So what’s the moral of the story, oh wise Aesop?” asked a listener.
The sage smiled. And just said:
“Kahe do na, kahe do na, You are my Sonia.”
The Greatbong Blog & Podcast 
just too good.
Awesome. Gaining more profit from a loss of post of profit, than actually having it. 🙂
Its all ridiculous & people are trying to make a political issue out of nothing. Why would Sonia Gandhi want to ‘profit’ anything. She was just trying to lend her expertise. Doesnt she have enough money from Bofors….oops did I say that out loud.
Guess Aesop has lost his plot.
BTW, off topic, does anyone read his fables anymore? Remember someone mentioning in one of your earlier posts that the current generation no longer reads Amar Chitra Katha & are hooked to Tintin.
…aur haar kar bhi jeetne waale ko baazigar kehte hain
Pretentious… The story makes it sound like what Sonia did was planned all along by her. Instead, she took the right decision when confronted with it.
@ Voice: Er, ‘xcuse me Sir, are you the “inner voice” she’s been talking about all along ?
Hmm, have you been out shopping with Mrs Great Bong recently? 🙂
@Sudheer,Nandan: Thanks…
@Ashit: I wont be surprised if todays kids go Aesop who?
@Pradeep: I was anticipating that in the comments…I seriously was.
@Voice: If you notice, the fable is very open-ended…it does not rule out the possibility you champion.
@Anon: 🙂
@Red: Now I am sure you meant that as a jest. However if people start making assumptions about my personal life based on what I write, then thats indeed regrettable. For instance, if an author writes a story about an adulterous husband committing the murder of his wife, then that neither means he is committing adultery nor does it reveal his desire to kill his wife.
This is merely a story which is as you can see a parable for something else.
The reason why I react so strongly to this is because , I dont want anyone to think that this is how my wife behaves or this is how I think my wife behaves. I was a bit hesitant about writing this precisely for this reason. But I felt that this fable was too good a reflection of the Sonia affair to pass untold.
Bong-da darr gaya 🙂
@Anon: Haan right. Anon teaches me bravery—kya zamana a gya.
Aha choto keno- if I say my name is Obolokito Chakroborty or Varadarajan Shambhulingam, how much more info. does it convey than “anon” ? Naam me rakha hi kya hai ?
@Anon: Of course not. You could just as well Obolokanto from a certain Univ in Nashville (this I am guessing…).
Kaun main ? Nahi to !
Sorry, for sounding a bit dumb, but I did not get the story 😦
wat took u so long?
NICE!
If it means that Sonia had taken the right decision (ie: she was holding an office of profit and quit because of it), then she should have let all her chelas who were about to follow suit, do the same. Since she advised against that, it clearly shows that it was pre-planned.
Sun Tzu once said
Sonia certainely seems to have studied the ‘Art of War’. I really feel bad for the BJP(ok, just a little bit). This is the second time Sonia has made them look like a bunch of idiots. It is high time they got a good strategist.
Greatbong
u r d gr8est..gr8 way of explaining the present ‘Sacrifice’ of madam…but one has to agree that she’s quite a shrewd female knowing exactly what steps to take & when to take them….but I think Madam’s baba n baby had a big hand in this decision..
anyways have been reading your blog for a long time but am commenting for d first time..I am totally short of adjectives to describe u & ur blog…so I shall put it in a small sentence
You r d PRABHUJI of blogging.
Cheers!!!
(Completely ignores last link, overdose from the tv channels over the last few days…)
Dipping into the female pysche, eh? Hmm…I see . *hastily searches Arnab’s archives to find a way to get throught to Mrs. GB*
hmmmm interesting take on the Sonia episode. I am not a fan of Sonia Gandhi (I still wonder what an Italian is doing there but heck we have a pakistani P.M. and the leader of the opposition is also a pakistani !!! pj) but I would like to add some points
1) The portrayal in the media about her sacrifice is all hype, but what she did was wise (which I think you agree) and commendable
2) commendable because she could have stood her ground waited till the “law takes its own course” and create ruckus in the parliament and somehow managed to stay in power by passing an ordinance or sometihing like that. But that would have wasted a lot of time in the parliament when we have more important things to discuss.
3) Some say it is going to cost the taxpayer a lot of money because of the byelections which she is going to win obviously, but I thinketh she saves a lot more money by not wasting precious parliament time on this issue.
Well, it was a Friday afternoon. And you caught me off guard (A lame excuse!!). I was generally wasting my time at work. You know? Felt I worked hard enough the whole week (Not!) and thought I had earned the right to goof off for some time. And then I saw your post. And I was like WTF!!! What is he talking about? (The anon who wrote, “Sorry, for sounding a bit dumb, but I did not get the story”, please do not feel bad at all… I was at the same spot… no, make that worse spot… I am an idiot!! I had no clue what this guy was talking about after constantly reading about this incident. What is the worst is the name “Sonia” didn’t leave a clue to me!!!)
I have this very bad feeling that I am suffering from early (early?) dementia. It wasn’t until I started reading the comments that I got it!! What is happenning to me?!!?
I sorta agree with the person who acknowledged her shrewdness. Not because she was able to project herself as a martyr in a political way but because she managed to project her martyrdom and sacrifice over anything political.
The fact that I have been listening to Elton John lately doesn’t help either.
“And it’s no sacrifice
Just a simple word
It’s two hearts living (
strange that it truncated my post… but what the heck? It is not important!
berey likhechhen dada. bhalo laglo.
– hutumthumo
great post greatbong.. before reading the whole thing i was almost laid into believing tht the post’s abt something else.. no wonder u are blogger the supreme and maybe someday someone might start a blog on his version of the modern day “prabhuji” aka greatbong.. carry on
Genius!!!
Add me to the list of people who didn’t quite get the whole deal, till the last line. A very M Night Shyamalan-esque (considering ONLY The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable here please…) ending.
If Sonia is Sonia, who’s ze Husband? The long suffering Le People? The Indian National Congress?
I was thinking more on the lines of subtle female “blackmail” and “suggestion”….. especially during the initial stages where you are neither there nor here. You know, to see if ze fool can play the game.
Sir Sextus Misogynus-Dinosaurus,
Knight of the MCP Order, 7th circle.
Recipient of Order of Commander James Bond-Ist class; Param Vishist Patao Medal; Patao Vibhushan; Tucker Max Prize of 2005.
PS: I’ve heard that modern mafia(not the old gunslinger type, think Johnny Sack and Tony Soprano), seedy financiers and Babu-Pandu types never mention what they want explicity. They just give “pointers”…. 😉
PPS: Pleej forgive me for this very un-PC comment 🙂
There is a huge possibility of this sacrifice of hers to be the UPA’s Waterloo.
Also please note her selfishness when she allows no other person to be a martyr as if only she has the right to take the moral high ground. And why are only her children taken into confidence. She is running a party which is a majority partner in a Government for God’s sake. Not a family business!!
This attitude should show the Congress wht she is all about. But they are still not learning and kow towing to her. IDIOTS!!
Sonia has come a long way from Itali. Literally.
Her latest stroke will once again strike chord with most of the aam junta and also, with the Congress party workers.(Which is what she is looking at) Our Indian public fed up with polticians who cling to their chairs are definitely gonna look at Sonia as someone from another planet altogether. But, whatever her motives she has once again made BJP look like a fool(I agree it doesn’t take much to do that, but stil)…
But, please someone spare me the moral high ground. You only can get high on grass or power. And one more time, someone is going to say Saint Sonia..I am gonna puke..
Btw, Arnab, a departure from your style and a very good attempt. Would like to see more of this in the future.
Cheers,
HP
YOURFAN writes: @GB: I must say that on first read I felt like jhantu, tapan and the anon who wrote;â€Sorry, for sounding a bit dumb, but I did not get the storyâ€. Then I reread the post (I usually don’t get the time to reread even if I like to) and found out the correlation. I just sat awestruck. Superb!!! What can I say! I can only say that I realize that I am truly intelligent enough (notwithstanding my need to reread this post!!) to call myself yourfan.
This is blasphemous !
Many denizens are probably not aware that Sonia is a bit of a mahatma !!
Sonia: A bit of a Mahatma
The sari clad pasta eating enlightened soul !
Kalpana Lajmi should make a movie on her and star Sushmita as Sonia
That’s all I ask from god !
Narayan Narayan !
Cool writing……Keep it up
Many Thanks
Great dost….Awesome….
As a first time stoner i now see your name in a new light mr.bong…….(stoned grin)
Ok this might be a bit off topic again from me. I hope everybody noticed when you get mails in gmail on the right hand side of your mail u get some adds and am pretty sure that nobody ever cared to look at them at all… neither do I. But very recently I got a personal email from my cousin sister who was giving some news on her wedding which is going to be in the summer. Accidentally I noticed that all the adds are about wedding planners, gifts and bridal dresses. I thought this might just be a coincidence and went back to my other personal emails (not the spams) and noticed in most of the mails if not all threads are about something relevant to the mail it self. For example I wrote an email to one of my colleague about say “probability models for classification with gene expression data” (a very specific topic) and the adds will be something exactly related to that… Now I may be not enough net-educated to understand the uncanny correlation here. Does that mean the mails we sent are no longer private/confidential and it will be read by some web crawlers of google. If thats the case then whats the fuss about revealing the search data base of google to the govt… when they themselves are violating our privacy to a far serious extent.
Sorry again for this “random thought”… But again this is the blog of “random thoughts of a demented mind” … May be a fodder for your next thread of discussion.
cheers
sounak
@sounak: privacy is invaded when humans read your emails, not when automated software programs parse them.
Quite brilliant. 😀
@ Sounak – Google’s privacy policy quite clearly states that their email’s are scanned and parsed, and that the content specific advertisements will be displayed alongside each email. I’m not saying that it’s a good thing. But you did sign up for it, and are perfectly free to not use their services if you have an objection.
Simply brilliant.
this phrase in tamil best explain your style.
“vazhapazhathula oosi yaethurathu”.
A bit contrived. And not as rude as it could be either! 🙂
ur Aesop was a welcome break from overflowing poetry and incisive analysis.short but hilariously sweet!and even i was wondering where this is going …till hit by the sixth sense esque ending
wat a beauty!including the dry paint line.
Dehha tumko jab se, hai dekha tumko yaara,
Tum sa koi chalu hai na tum sa koi shyana,
Kursi pe na baitho tum, backstage se khelo tum….
keh do naa….keh do naa…..you are ‘The’ Sonia…
Great Stuff, Arnab. 🙂
Aesop-dadu’r style-e tomar golpo bolar kaida-ta’o osadharon….. 🙂
Greatbong, completely in jest. I would not doubt your creativity. :). No offence intended.
Wow!
Hey GB,
Just wanted to point this out. You said the story was open ended and that i find is the flaw, not entirely though, in your allegory. Politics is never open-ended. POliticians always play it with one end in mind i.e. First me, then others and only if it does not harm me.
I say not entirely because political moves are pre-planned as is the case with the story.
Nice stuff.
man i’m coughing with laughter. ur’d the dude! lets start a TV channel and put u in it 24×7
i meant poetry ,analysis over sonia’s move.
What’s your problem, mate?? Can’t you see good in anything other than Mithunda and Bengal?? I mean really, is it too hard to beleive that a politician can be honest. Such cynics!!!
Sonia’s leaving of office may have been politically motivated, but that does not undermine the fact that she did the right thing.
Can you deny the fact that she has sacrificed more for this country than you or any of your readers?? What do you know you moron, shitting up in the states, away from this country. You have know right to comment on anyone. Stick to Mithun-da, thats what you are worth.
For the others, let me ask you a question. Can you suggest me one person in our country who is more suited to be the PM than Manmohan singh?
And who made him the PM?? To make that kind of a sacrifice requires more courage than Arnab and the whole of Bengal can conjure.
So listen to me, you dumbo, and stick to bengal and ganguly and mithun. Don’t venture out into territories your grey cells have no idea about.
If anybody (other than Arnab) is offended by this comment, my apologies.
Arnab, you continue like this, expect more ofthe same from me, dude.
amazing!
dint expect this kind of heat for anything other than cricket or religion.
What’s your problem, Surya?
You know what the sad part is? It’s that a guy like Manmohan cannot become the PM of this country on his own merit. He has to get backing from Sonia whose only merit is that she is the daughter in law of the Gandhi(?) family.
Mummy in law bhi happy, Husband bhi happy and Wife bhi happy – That’s what I call a win-win 😉
Hi GB,
I think you are going through some sort of a block. You have lost the brevity and sting that you used to have. Also the topics you choose seem to be largely forced for the lack of ideas. This particular post (in all honesty) was a bit mediocre.
Regards
Bald Monkey
@Anon: Maybe a second reading may help….or going through a few of the comments.
@Varsha: Fear took me this long—-being Bengali and all (reference: comment from Surya)
@EMC3: Again maybe. Maybe not. I think maybe though.
@Anil: They have marginalized people like Arun Jaitley…this was inevitable.
@Shri: Thank you….but Prabhuji of blogging—-is this a compliment or not?
@Rimi: She hears ya..
@Krishna: Soniaji should perhaps taken this noble step when they went after old-friends-turned-foe Jaya Bacchan and not waited till the Congress was trying to pass an ordinance so that Madam-ji does not get disqualified. But yes, she is way smarter than the average Indian politician.
@Debasish: I have no idea why these comments are getting truncated…..
@Hutumthumo: Thank you..
@Jhantu: (Shivers in dread that my orgasmic pictures will be on some blog banner…nahin nahin)
@SD: Thank you..
@Tapan: Thank you…I think I am seeing dead people now also.
@The Wanderer: Oh yes they just give pointers—if you are intelligent enough you take the hint. Else you sleep with the fishes.
@Dhananjay: The Congress Party is A family business—–is there any other truth ?(Besides that Bengalis are cowards ref. Surya’s comment)
@HP: Of course it will strike a chord with junta (a few of them are here in the comments section)—this lady knows the art of manipulation and tugging at heartstrings.
@Yourfan: As usual, thank you for the kind words.
@Naradmuni: As you aptly said, Narayan Narayan.
@Som Kumar: You’r welcome
@Ruchir: Thanks
@Livin the High Life: Oh I am not a stoner. A stoner is a brave man who faces the world head on. I am merely a Bong–a cowardly man (reference: Surya’s comment)
@Sounak: Couldnt have said it better than Teleute.
@Teleute: Thank you…
@Ram: A literal translation of that Tamil phrase please…
@Sue: Contrived? And me being rude—have you ever seen me rude?
@Varsha: And a break from the media circus…
@Dev: Nice nice…and the entire Indian people are the backup dancers in red.
@Red: Thats fine 🙂
@Ambar: 🙂
@Nikhil: It is open-ended but it also fairly clearly says what I think about the incident. However it does not close out the other more noble explanation.
@Sriram: Yes this sounds good to the megalomaniac inside me.
@Surya: My problem is I am Bengali. I come from a state which had no contribution to the freedom movement or to the Army. I cannot deny Soniaji has sacrificed a lot for the country—as a matter of fact we Bengalis cannot even fathom the concept of sacrifice and need to learn it from you. I am also very afraid that you are going to give me more of this and call me dumbo. I am peeing in my shorts as I type this.
But wait, there is something I can do. I can show you my finger. My middle finger.
@Varsha: Politics is not heat-producing?
@The Comics Project: Game, set and match as they say.
@Bald Monkey: You are very right, my friend. And a run through my comments section would tell you the opinion of the “majority” supports you.
Sarcasm aside, I appreciate your honesty Mr. Monkey and your feedback. But maybe my mind isn’t the thing thats blocked. Just a thought.
Surya, what the f*** is your problem? Did you even read Arnab’s posts featuring Mithun and Ganguly?
Anyway, to someone of your obviously limited patience, I can only point you to Arnab’s previous two posts where he merrily takes digs at Sillicone Sen, who is very much a bong.
Anyway, what does any of that have to do with the topic of this post?
Grow a brain.
Dear Bro Surya,
Had a bad day at work or home?
You have put in self contradictory statements.
>> mean really, is it too hard to beleive that a politician can be honest. Such cynics!!!
Is politics not the last resort of a scoundrel?
>> Sonia’s leaving of office may have been politically motivated, but that does not undermine the fact that she did the right thing.
From when did politically motivated acts become the right thing? And more importantly is she honest when what she does is “politically motivated”?
>> Can you deny the fact that she has sacrificed more for this country than you or any of your readers??
Wasnt Arnad grandad a freedom fighter? How did you miss that post of his? Ooops sorry forgot you were too busy reading his blogs on Prabhuji & Ganguly.
>> Can you suggest me one person in our country who is more suited to be the PM than Manmohan singh? And who made him the PM?
You mean to say the most suited person to be the PM in the country needs Sonia to make him the PM? Then there is something wrong in the country or Sonia is someone very very special (A Bit of Mahatma!!)
No hard feelings mate, give positive critism. That helps.
Bong-da, instead of typing Surya a long reply, you could just have sent this link:
http://maddox.xmission.com/images/pirate.html
(Ignore the content.)
Btw, read Hutumthumo’s stuff. It’s top notch.
YOURFAN writes:
@Surya: Before even I respond to your comments let me make myself perfectly clear that I believe (just like GB and his innumerable readers) you have every right to like or dislike any post in GB’s blog. But you definitely don’t have the right to call names to anybody – and I mean anybody. And your usage of filthy words “What do you know you moron, SHITTING up in the states, away from this countryâ€, “you DUMBO†makes me wonder about what kind of a person you are. I could (if you force me) stoop as low as you but honestly don’t want to do it since it is against my background and liking.
1)You wrote: “is it too hard to beleive that a politician can be honest. Such cynics!!!†Nobody calls me a cynic. But even an optimist like me believe that in this age (the operative word is ‘this age’) it is not possible for any politician to remain honest in politics in India. Now you and I may differ on the concept of honesty. Through my family connection, I know the PM is an honest man in personal life– meaning he himself does not take bribe. But that does not necessarily mean he is honest in his political life. Even silently accepting wrong doings by others with whom one is associated politically is some sort of dishonesty. But that is the name of the game of politics in this age. A whole post can be written on the term and usage of honesty. Let me not go into that.
2)How on earth you have this unacceptable racist notion about us the Bengalis? You wrote: “Can you deny the fact that she has sacrificed more for this country than you or any of your readers??†Your “grey cellsâ€( I hate to use this type of words but I am doing so to pay you back in your own coin) are not capable of knowing what sacrifices any of GB’s readers and GB made in life. I won’t tax your over worked “grey cells†by talking about anything in this regard.
3)You wrote: “To make that kind of a sacrifice requires more courage than Arnab and the whole of Bengal can conjureâ€. All I can say to this is that you are out and out pathetic. You make sweeping comments. You have every right to dislike any particular person but you certainly don’t have any right to insult a whole class of people. Besides, has it ever occurred to you that other people besides Bengalis also make up “whole of Bengal†including your linguistic class? Anyway, I won’t give you any more importance by giving you more of my time and energy. You sure need some counseling because one day you might be in real mess for you sweeping comments related misdeeds which generates from your over worked “grey cellsâ€.
@GB: I have already read your reply to Surya. I commend you for not getting flustered. This comes with the territory of having unedited comments section in the post. I am very much in favor of unedited comments because those make the discussions lively and thought provoking. But I must say that any racist comment like Surya’s should be deleted. I don’t know how it can be done, if it can be done at all. I sure am mad as hell for Surya’s sweeping comment about Bengalis. By now (through my comments) you must have known that I am a peace loving person and don’t want to use harsh words. I remembered yourfan2’s advice to me in one of earlier post to ignore people like Surya and that is what I did.
Rather heartening to hear bengali-hatred and NRI-bashing from Surya. It summarizes the attitude of unity amongst Indians so well, it makes my heart weep and wonder why I feel better being away at times.
Look at what I am missing out on- people like Surya who love Italians to (mis)lead their country because surely a foreigner would do more justice and hear out in translated english/italian the grievances of the [non-english/italian speaking] public.
Surya u don’t deserve a reply. U deserve a kick on your arse.
I never understand the big deal about sacrifices. I accept people who do them are indeed great. But do we need to have made sacrifices to be called patriots? Whole other issue. Hey, I was born in the 80s and am just trying to make a decent career for myself. Noone told me that was wrong, neither did I sacrifice anything. I still love my country every bit as anyone else. This is as stupid as the “how many purple hearts did Kerry win” and Bush didn’t debate. It doesn’t matter. You can love your country, while living your own life, and guess what, thats what we all do. As a matter of fact, I kinda disagree with this post of Arnab, but really, this namecalling about who made more sacrifices is disheartening and stupid.
OK OK, As I had said in the last para of my comment, I apologise once again to other people who were offended by it. I also apologise to Bengalis who were hurt. I am really sorry about it.
But yes , I have read Arnab’s other posts. I have only been following them for the last couple of months. I have nothing but respect for his Grandfather. But that respect does not translate towards Arnab. Again, that’s my opinion.
@An Ideal Boy: Yes, it’s really sad that a person like MS needs the backing of SG to become PM. That’s a fact we have to accept. But why are you so hell bent on undermining SG, when the “Italian” lady has been “Indian” for more than 30 yrs. Why does it matter now that she is the daughter-in-law of the Gandhi family?? She is not the PM of the country. She is not even an MP now. So why does everyone keep repeating this statement . She could have been the pm of the fastest growing economy in the world. Doesn’t this make her worthy of some respect atleast.
@Amber: Whatever
@Ashit: please read @An Ideal Boy.
@Anonymous: http://maddox.xmission.com/images/pirate.html
@YOURFAN: Sorry about the Bengal thing dude.
@Deepali: Again that’s your opinion.
@R: Good luck, mate.
@Deep: Again I apologise about the name-calling.
@ARNAB: Pee all you want, mate. But the fact remains that you had no need writing about SG the way you did. Pardon me for the language, dude. But the way you wrote that post had the same effect on me that my comment had on others. Your language was mild, not the intent.
@ ALL: All of you have risen in support of Arnab, but not one has said a thing for SG.
I guess that proves your loyalty to him, but nothing else.
@ Arnab, Just ignore people like Surya and please let them not affect your writing in any way. To draw attention from visitors to your blog (i.e for cheap publicity) people like him can stoop to any level. Just let the asshole go to HELL where his great grandparents, along with their children and possibly grandchildren also are being royally screwed by the satan and his agents and are waiting to welcome him.
@ Surya,
For you, as Anon had suggested :
One more …
and finally, once more :
And, if you’re still not satisfied, wait for some more time…..when you go to HELL and meet your ancestors (who possibly were the arse-lickers of the Nehru-family in some way or the other) over there, you’ll get some more real stuff.
@Surya: Who the hell gives you the impression that anybody is interested in your apology ?
“@ ALL: All of you have risen in support of Arnab, but not one has said a thing for SG.
I guess that proves your loyalty to him, but nothing else.”
That’s kind of flattering actually. Speaks volumes about our tastes.
PM of the fastest growing economy- my ass. If you had any idea of who or what makes a “Fastest growing economy”- you wouldn’t be making a joke of yourself by suggesting that a band of pot-bellied takiyawallahs and their patsa eating leader had anything to do with it.
And great idea pasting back my link- gives me the pleasure of imagining your beetroot face.
Using “dude” at that frequency makes a normal guy sound darned silly, but I guess in your case, it’s a massive intellectual leap. Tool.
Sorry my last reply had some problems with the links…..
@ Arnab, Just ignore people like Surya and please let them not affect your writing in any way. To draw attention from visitors to your blog (i.e for cheap publicity) people like him can stoop to any level. Just let the asshole go to HELL where his great grandparents, along with their children and possibly grandchildren also are being royally screwed by the satan and his agents and are waiting to welcome him.
@ Surya,
For you, as Anon had suggested : THIS…
One more … THIS…
and finally, once more : THIS…
And, if you’re still not satisfied, wait for some more time…..when you go to HELL and meet your ancestors (who possibly were the arse-lickers of the Nehru-family in some way or the other) over there, you’ll get some more real stuff.
@ Dev: So much for use of strong language. Dude, to me you seem to be licking Arnab’s Ass. Good for you.
@ Dev: Control Yarrr…..
YOURFAN writes: @Surya: Since you have apologized for your sweeping comment about Bengalis as a class, I have decided to reply to you. Otherwise I would have ignored you completely. I don’t share your opinion regarding SG “Can you deny the fact that she has sacrificed more for this country than you or any of your readers??†My answer is an emphatic yes I sure can deny. To elaborate my opinion, I need to write a whole post which is not right since it is GB’s space. But what I can’t understand is why you don’t learn to accept differences of opinion with dignity and on its face value. Why can’t you accept the differences of opinion without any insinuation (you wrote: “@ ALL: All of you have risen in support of Arnab, but not one has said a thing for SG. I guess that proves your loyalty to him, but nothing elseâ€)? My reply does not reflect any “loyalty†to anybody – it is my opinion and if by chance it tallies with some one –let it be. And if it does not tally then I have learnt to accept the difference of opinion in grace.
What abhors me is your usage of filthy languages in a domain which is visited by so many readers – males and females alike. GB has every right to REACT to your usage of filth. You started it first. If anybody uses any filthy language to me, then no matter how much I detest using foul language – I try to pay him back at least in his own coin. But I definitely never start it first. As I have written to GB that I was mad as hell for your sweeping comment about my class of people but did I write any filthy words to you? No, I did not – the only thing I did is to pay you back in your own coin.
@ Surya :
I wasn’t the first one to use foul language in my comment. You had started it.
I’m a regular visitor in Arnab’s blog and keep posting comments every now and then. This is the first time I thought of using foul language in anticipation that you’ll give me a chance to apply your own tonic on you.
In order to reply to your reply to my reply I’m gonna use one of your earlier replies to Arnab :
“Pee all you want, mate. But the fact remains that you had no need writing about SG the way you did. Pardon me for the language, dude. But the way you wrote that post had the same effect on me that my comment had on others. Your language was mild, not the intent.”
Exactly the same way, the comment of yours had the same effect on me as mine had on you. 🙂
If you felt bad, I’m sorry…..but it , in fact, was purely INTENTIONAL.
@ Anon : Sorry yaarr…..it actually was ‘controlled’counter-attack.
Surya: favouring Arnab? Reframe that to sharing his views on this mess and being disgusted with the ‘sacrifice’ crap the media and blinded individuals like youself keep buying into.
My only beef is that opinions like yours lead to election of Nehru-Gandhi members who have nothing but their family connections to speak for themselves.
your idea, that Indians who’ve been away from India for a few years are worthy of your contempt but a naturalized citizen [who gain not only wealth but also the adulation of the masses with the change in citizenship] is surely far more selfless, speaks volumes of your mentality and as such I am not interested in arguing with you/your kind.
Btw Arnab, I loved the Aesop start to this post =D!
So many people, so many opinions. And yes dear Arnab, YOU ARE RUDE. (Not wrt to the Lajmi post, you understand, but in general.) So when you go in for a nasty post, pile it on is what I say. Because, you understand, you can — unlike lots of so-called sarcasm experts.
Which is a compliment in a left-handed sort of way. I think. No?
Pardon my puzzlement, but I don’t really understand one thing. Why should we be against Sonia Gandhi because she’s originally Italian? She’s an Indian now right? With all the rights and freedom accorded to all Indians? Right?
We may disagree with her politics. We may hate the Nehru-Gandhi clan while ignoring the Thackeray, Karunakaran, NTR, Gowda etc. clans. But we should not comment on her Italian origins no?
Many of you are staying in the US and will probably become US citizens at some point of time. You will then expect all the rights accorded to a natural US citizen to be accorded to you as well. And even if they are not accorded to you, that doesn’t make it the right thing to do, does it?
As for the sacrifice angle, one can argue that she had no choice. And I am pretty much sure that given a choice, she would prefer that her mother in law and husband were alive. But the fact is they are not, and she preferred to stay on in India like any other Indian. Whether that counts as sacrifice or opportunism is up for debate to some of you perhaps (“Wow! husband dead. Now I can be powerful politician. Good riddance sucker!”).
I am no Sonia fan, but I feel that the kind of hate accorded to her by Arnab and company is pretty unwarranted and over the top. We have to judge her on merit, and on merit I sure prefer her to bloodthirsty murderers like Thackeray, rathyatra opportunists like Advani, shameless hypocrites like Jyoti Basu, or megalomaniacs like Jayalalitha.
We pride oourselves on being liberals and fair and balanced (not the Fox News way, but in actuality), but that somehow vanishes when we discuss Sonia Gandhi. Take a deep breath everybody, and try to be more objective.
@ Anonymous: Take a break,”DUDE”.
@ Dev: Your intentions are well received,”DUDE”.
@ Deepali: I never said anything that meant like this “that Indians who’ve been away from India for a few years are worthy of your contempt but a naturalized citizen [who gain not only wealth but also the adulation of the masses with the change in citizenship] is surely far more selfless”.
Maybe it’s your own conscience thats making you say this.
Once again a sincere apology to Bengalis.
@ Shan:
I don’t think “Arnab and company” had shown any signs of hatred or disrespect to Sonia Gandhi. If criticizing someone’s political moves reflect hatred, then where the hell is ‘freedom of speech’ ?
“Many of you are staying in the US and will probably become US citizens at some point of time. You will then expect all the rights accorded to a natural US citizen to be accorded to you as well. And even if they are not accorded to you, that doesn’t make it the right thing to do, does it?”
Natural rights as in ? Being President of the US ? I think lots of people will have problems with that, and I don’t blame them for it either.
It’s one thing to let somebody (with harmless international ties with all kids of “respectable” people)stay and earn his/ her bread and cheese, and a completely different thing to let her know the nuts and bolts of the country’s administrative and diplomatic functioning. If that “meanness” costs us a couple of points on the “liberal” scale- so be it.
And about the fact that she’s no worse a politician than Jyoti Basu or Jayalalitha ? True. We were born with our share of crap. We could do without “importing” more.
P.S. I’m sure you’ll see 20 times the vitriol in our comments if Jyoti Basu ever becomes PM.
@Surya: What do the caps signify ? Increase in stupidity levels since last post ?
@ Anonymous: Obvious, isn’t it !!!
Wow, Gandhian philosophy at work !
YOURFAN writes:
@ Shan: Where did you find hatred towards SG in GB’s blog? I could not agree more with Dev when he wrote: “@shan I don’t think “Arnab and company†had shown any signs of hatred or disrespect to Sonia Gandhi. If criticizing someone’s political moves reflect hatred, then where the hell is ‘freedom of speech’?†So I have a request to you, Shan –have the decency to read the post carefully before making any point/criticism.
You also wrote “We have to judge her on merit, and on merit I sure prefer her to bloodthirsty murderers like Thackeray, rathyatra opportunists like Advani, shameless hypocrites like Jyoti Basu, or megalomaniacs like Jayalalitha.†You sure know how to make your point stand and that is why you picked the names which only arouse aversion – but how come you did not compare SG with our prime minister? Then of course she fails in merit and your theory stands cancelled.
@Dev: I could not agree more with you about who brought out the name calling first. Your comment on the ‘intentional’ name calling came out just after mine.
@Surya: I see you have only replied to anon, Dev, Deepali. Does that mean you are still not convinced that you should learn to respect other peoples’ opinions which differ from yours and should not use filthy language unless provoked? The reason I am writing this is you have only written: “Once again a sincere apology to Bengalisâ€. To me, that is not good enough. At all times, I vehemently condemn usage of filthy language and intolerance of differences of opinions.
@ Anonymous: Honestly, do you have any idea what that word means??
@ Yourfan: I see you have failed to notice “filthy language” used by Dev, anonymous,etc. even when i have apologised for it.
As for “difference of opinion”, please read my earlier comments or rather my non-comments regarding the opinions of others. I have no problems with people having an opinion, but expressing it in such a shameful way is a different thing altogether.
Dont know how much of this is true, but someone can surely find out about Bianca & Raul.
Had read this long back & there was no one I could ask about it. But this post seems to be the perfect place.
http://www.sikhsundesh.net/nehru_dynasty.htm
@ All: Read this
http://anusengupta.blogspot.com/2006/03/freedom-of-expression-courtesy-be.html
Well..well well….some guy from the 3rd rock of the sun comes and creates a mild disturbance in the tranquil comments section in this blog.
@ Surya:
You said,
“What’s your problem, mate?? Can’t you see good in anything other than Mithunda and Bengal?? I mean really, is it too hard to beleive that a politician can be honest. Such cynics!!!”
What a wonderful way to start denigrating India’s best blogger.
“Sonia’s leaving of office may have been politically motivated, but that does not undermine the fact that she did the right thing.”
Umm, may or may not be …depends on the viewpoint. If I say that the ‘right thing’ is “merely coincidental to the foxy bitchs’ motives? Then?
“Can you deny the fact that she has sacrificed more for this country than you or any of your readers?? ”
Now this is where the problem starts. Uptil now everything was allright. What kind of a statement is this? Its like if I ask you ” Can you deny that the girls at the strip bar can give me better lap dances than your wife? “See you are completely turning away from the topic and turning this into a personal attack.
“What do you know you moron, shitting up in the states, away from this country. You have know right to comment on anyone. Stick to Mithun-da, thats what you are worth.”
Further deviation from the topic and the use of profanity. I just get the feeling that abusing your favourite cong party and that foxy bitch called sonia will hurt you more than calling you names. So let me tell you that yes , even though we come from a state where the CPM party has ruled for so many years, the damage that they have done is trivial compared to what your fucking congress party has done for 50 years since indep. It is the trait of that fucking family to draw public sentiment by inflicting hurt on themselves , or making ‘sacrifices’ , as you speak. I was so disappointed when the BJP lost the elections.You ask GB what does Gb know about the country sitting in US. I ask you what do you know about your country except reading paeans about Sonia and meticulously remembering the color of the blouse she wore yesterday? And how has the fact of you shitting in India helped India? Has the country benefited? Has the economy improved?
“For the others, let me ask you a question. Can you suggest me one person in our country who is more suited to be the PM than Manmohan singh?
And who made him the PM?? To make that kind of a sacrifice requires more courage than Arnab and the whole of Bengal can conjure.”
So I make a puppet of a great economist and pull the strings from behind and then say that the act of me being the master behind the facade of a puppet is a great ‘sacrifice’ . Wow. Courage than Arnab? Again maybe shes really courageous than Arnab. But when you make potshots at Bengal , why are you afraid to leave your own identity? To me Surya, you have shown as much courage as a crazy eunuch or Leopold Bloom in Ullysses. Your pussilanimity shines through your comment. See the fact- your disparaging remark is allowed even till now on this blog. Any other blog and it would have been deleted. Do you appreciate this fact? This is bravery. What you are manifesting is hollow bravado.
“So listen to me, you dumbo, and stick to bengal and ganguly and mithun. Don’t venture out into territories your grey cells have no idea about.”
Dude, you are now trying to act as a dictator . 🙂 You will decide what Arnab will write on his blog? Why dont you come out and say that this post hit you where it hurts most, and the unpalatable truths were like electric shocks in your testicles?
“If anybody (other than Arnab) is offended by this comment, my apologies.
Arnab, you continue like this, expect more ofthe same from me, dude. ”
Say if i molest your wife / gf and then say that it was meant only for her….not for you….I didnt molest you.:)) Please….you will not take offense…. As you have guaged till now, you will get back as good as you give, or even more.
@Deepali: You said. “Rather heartening to hear bengali-hatred and NRI-bashing from Surya. It summarizes the attitude of unity amongst Indians so well, it makes my heart weep and wonder why I feel better being away at times.”
Superb. So parochialism is not a one way highway…its 2 ways and relative. I rather liked your comment.
@R- I echo your sentiments.
@Shan- You raise some good points.But Id just like to say that when you say
“I am no Sonia fan, but I feel that the kind of hate accorded to her by Arnab and company is pretty unwarranted and over the top. We have to judge her on merit, and on merit I sure prefer her to bloodthirsty murderers like Thackeray, rathyatra opportunists like Advani, shameless hypocrites like Jyoti Basu, or megalomaniacs like Jayalalitha.”
….Im not sure that Arnab has some kind of hatred for SG. Maybe the analogy that he drew from Aesop’s fable makes it look like that, but I am pretty sure that you have noticed that there have been several occasions when Arnab has equally criticized Jyoti Basu in equally scathing terms. Its just that people tend to overlook when Arnab is doing all that and tend to focus on posts like this and brand him as narrow minded person.
And sure enough, objectivity is the need of the hour.
@all: I feel that there is absolutely no need to drag this matter on. The more we drag this on, the more we will lend importance to an useless comment.
@yourfan: Vermin sucks. But you have to live with them. But dont get upset. As you’d agree, throwing a stone into the Indian Ocean and expecting a tsunami is a futile exercise. RTDM will live on with more bouquets than brickbats.
@Arnab- after reading all the comments, the jist of your wonderful post was lost amidst the labyrinth of chaos. The efficacy your post was evinced by the rants of a radical….I need not say more. 🙂 But Id just like to add one fact which i have told you earlier also,…there were posts in the past which i didnt like, and there will be posts in the future which somebody else wont like- you cant satisfy ’em all….so just stick to what you feel like writing. I have a feeling the challenge for you nowdays is not what to write, but the lingering thought of how it will be recieved by your readers. Although easier said than done, I only hope that you can divorce the two thought processes and continue churning out many more gems on this blog.
@ Yourfan2: So you have lots and lots of time writing out such lenghthy comments even when i have apologised for my words.
“India’s best blogger” – yeah, sure, if you say so, lick all you want.
†Can you deny that the girls at the strip bar can give me better lap dances than your wife? “ – strong words which mean nothing.
“foxy bitch called sonia” – shows me ur sick mentality.
“puppet of a great economist” – Would you have rather preferred her as the pm and MS relegated to some 2nd grade ministry?
“This is bravery” – Whew, i’m afraid.
“electric shocks in your testicles” – nice phrase.
“As you have guaged till now, you will get back as good as you give, or even more” – I’m ready, mate. But will you leave aside this arse-licking and accept the facts for once.
I mean you should have atleast read my apology before coming out all guns blazing, blabbering on about how bad the cong party is and how great and courageous Arnab is.
Please, spare me.
Slightly off-topic …
@ Arnab & other bong friends :
Surya-r ekhon ‘chhere de maa, kende baanchi ‘ obostha .
@ Non-bong friends :
This is an old Bengali saying : ‘chhere de maa, kende baanchi ‘ … it means ‘spare me momma, I’m already crying like hell ‘ .
Anyways, junta , let’s call for ‘SHANTI ‘ now … by ending the matter here once and for all…..and let’s concentrate back on Arnab’s wonderful way of storytelling.
YOURFAN writes:
@yourfan2: I agree with Dev and definitely call for SHANTI. But I only have one comment to you. Your reply “Can you deny that the girls at the strip bar can give me better lap dances than your wife? “ to Surya’s line of “Can you deny the fact that she has sacrificed more for this country than you or any of your readers??†is excellent. I like the analogy. Yes, I accept that he has apologized in a general tone but did not specifically write that his unprovoked (the operative word here is ‘unprovoked’) usage of filthy language was totally wrong. I say this because even on his last but one comment at 10:55 am to me, he points out to the foul language used by others – by doing so he is not accepting his responsibility of starting the whole mess of use of abusive language. Anyway SHANTI.
@Surya: While SHANTI is in order, I have a few things to say:
Surya says: I have no problems with people having an opinion, but expressing it in such a shameful way is a different thing altogether.
If that be the case, then why call me dumbo/moron and other assorted terms of endearment in your very first comment? What in my post was so shameful as to warrant that ? If as you say “my language was mild but the intent was not” well fine answer me in a comment where the language is mild and the intent is not—no problems there.
And while your apology (snigger) may cover everyone else, it does not cover what you said to me of which you are still proud of.
@Shan: And how did you make an assumption that my objection to Sonia is because she is an Italian? Where in the post did you find that? Again I have no special hatred for Sonia Gandhi (truth be told, I admire Rajiv Gandhi for one thing: talking about infotech and computer education at a time people laughed in his face: no tubewells in the country and this guy is talking about infotech)—any more than I have for any other corrupt politician in the country. [Check out the attempt to create a chair in Rajiv Gandhi’s name at Harvard: where do you think the money for the endowed chair is going to come from? Certain “well-wishers”. Ahem]. Again this makes her no better or wrorse than the other names you mentioned—and since noone has been spared at RTDM why should she? Again whether she is Italian by birth or Sudanese is irrelevant.
Arnab,
Congratulations! My comments here might seem a bit odd to some but comparing your posts, their quality and the reader responses with other blogs I feel that your blog might as well be the most successful comment-enabled blog. The intensity of both the positive and negative (specially the negative, abusive ones) responses from readers goes on to show your writing really affects people.
I am writing this just to show my support to you. I am sure at times things get really difficult and you may even feel discouraged or fed up when the abuses get really intense and you get frustrated trying to figure out why on earth somebody should react so violently and no matter how you or your readers try to show the abuser his mistakes, he doesn’t get it.
But that just shows that you are driving your point home – some are loving it and others are abhorring it and both the groups feel compelled to respond. This is where you want to be. You are doing something important and succeeding in it and this is how success tastes.
So keep them coming. I love your posts and your writing style.
too good ,just too good bangabandhu.
@ comments, some people have all the time in the world 😐
May be it is a rather late comment. I am personally not against Sonia Gandhi. We hardly find a clean and non-opportunist politician in this country, then why to expect it from SG? She is just following the corrupt paths of Indian politics under guidance of her political advisors.
For people who see SG in a glorified light, Sonia is not so innocent, ‘she made so many sacrifices for this country’ kind of lady the way she makes her image comes out. I can give many examples of this –
In 1977 when her mother-in-law Indira Gandhi lost to the Janata conglomerate. Panicked Sonia Gandhi dragged her pilot husband and two children to the Italian Embassy for refuge.
In 1999, she used this ‘resignation appears as sacrifice’ tool for the first time to oust Sitaram Kesri and Sharad Pawar.
In May 2004 when President APJ Abdul Kalam gently advised her not to press her claim to be sworn in, owing to certain ambiguities in the Citizenship Act.A televised renunciation drama was enacted, and Dr. Manmohan Singh was soon in the saddle.
She has now done the same thing again with her resignation from LS.
Pity on us gullible Indian voters.
Loved the fable, Arnab. Great piece of writing, as usual, and very pertinent to the current political scenario.
Can’t help but comment on one thing, though. It’s admirable that so many people have leapt to the defense of Arnab’s piece. However, I feel that being the Great Bong, Arnab is well capable to giving fitting replies to all his comments – good, bad, and ugly – and doesn’t need all of us signing up for SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Criticism to Arnab). 🙂
YOURFAN writes:
@Debasish: I appreciate the angle of your comment. It is thought provoking and I like it a lot. I agree with you when you wrote “responses from readers goes on to show your writing really affects peopleâ€. I also agree with your view “and no matter how you or your readers try to show the abuser his mistakes, he doesn’t get it.†Thanks.
@anon at 3:37 pm: You are totally wrong. Please read Debasish’s comments of “responses from readers goes on to show your writing really affects people†for which people make all those comments in spite of their hectic schedule.
@Debasish: Thank you…
@Right: Pity is right !
@Mystic Margarita: While yes I can protect myself, I also value that fact that people take it upon themselves to retort when unfair allegations (not merely criticism) are targeted at me. This means that 1) they also oppose the person’s point 2) they support what I said. 3) they care that I don’t get hurt or upset.
If I see that I am being personally attacked or intentions attributed where none exist and all my regular readers remain silent then that means either 1) they agree with the commenter’s innuendo or 2) they dont care if I am insulted or not.
So yes I can and do reply to unfair criticism (incidentally what Surya did was name-calling—calling me a moron and dumbo and stuff like that)…it is also desirable that people who oppose such kind of vituperation step in and say “No you cannot say that.â€
So MM, noone is stepping in to deflect fair criticism. Instead they are putting their foot down when I am being abused. People do that for a friend—dont they?
Even when the criticism is not personal, people do have the right to come to my defense when they agree with me/or agree with my right to express my opinion. Dont they? Noone is preventing me from being criticized—me included.
If that was the case, I would not have comments or have comments moderated. Nor have I ever banned anyone from posting.
In conclusion MM this place is more criticism friendly than quite a few blogs in the Indian blogosphere.
Here is an article by Francois Gautier. It is our misfortune that we need a western journalist to open our eyes:
OCCULTISM AND SONIA GANDHI
http://www.francoisgautier.com/Written Material/SONIA- occult.doc
LOL! What a way to put it up – summed it up perfectly! Back from desh, now I need to catch up with all your posts!
Suyog
@Right: In the interest of fairness. Francois Gautier is the dude who thinks Bal Thakrey is cool and Narendra Modi is the most tolerant bloke on the planet. So it would be a mistake to consider his opinion as an “eye opener”.
What’s the point, dude?
i thought political family boot-licking is over with older generation. Afterall they had a taste of mem-sahib or maharja. No, it is continuing with this generation also. Surya is a best example. Ofcourse if his comment is a result of a bad day @ office & not because he thinks that way, i take back my comment.
Arnab,
usually, ppl just ignore this sort of comment saying u r entirely free to post such comments but don’t use foul language…. and they blogged happily ever after. but u counter-attacked. Congrats!! u didn’t act like an indian. but u acted like how an indian shud act.
as far as the meaning of the tamil pharse – to insert needle in the banana.
@Right- Francoise Gautier is the hardly the kind of man you would want on your side, believe me. He is like Mahesh Bhatt, has an opinion contrary to everyone else on everything. Other than Muslim bashing, a la VS Naipaul but without the intellectual rigor, he is also a self professed expert on art, cinema, culture and everything else under the sun. One of his funniest articles was a scathing review of the movie Lagaan, which lambasted Aamir Khan for looking too healthy for a villager or some such thing…:)
@yourfan2 – my observation on “Arnab and company’s (not just Arnab mind you) hatred” for Sonia was not based on this post alone. There have been other posts in the pasts deriding her and her children. I refuse to believe that all this was inadvertent. There is certainly an anti-Sonia feeling running through Arnab’s posts, and in many of his fans’ comments. If you choose to deny that, fine.
I don’t think that Arnab is narrow minded. If I did, I would not have pais a second visit to his blog. But I also feel he overdoes the Gandhi “dynasty” bit. So Sonia resigned. So what? Jaya Bachchan was disqualified, but Sonia resigned. How does that make Sonia a machiavillean dragon lady? Should she have waited to be disqualified as well? As a politician, is she not allowed to gain an advantage when handed to her on a platter by the stupid opposition like the Samajwadi Party?
All of you who are criticizing her decision, please mention what alternative action should she have taken.
The Italian bit ran through many of the commentators’ posts, not Arnab’s specifically. And yes many commentators are specifically communal and divisive. I need not name names here.
My response to all the communalists and BJP/Shiv Sena/VHP supporters – get over it. And if you can’t, think of a strategy to win elections instead of ranting impotently at masterstrokes by a woman who is turning out to be a better politician than far more experienced people in the opposition. I for one, am enjoying watching the game, especially when Arun Jaitley splutters and fumes from the sidelines “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”.
@shan- I definitely agree with some of the points you have said. But i still beleive that it is not the nature of Arnab to make blogposts to bear out personal grudges against somebody. But then only Arnab can tell if he has a vindictive attitude towards somebody.
Also, hardly any blog in the blogosphere are perfectly neutral. Libertarian blogs will pick on the Left and not talk about stuff like Enron, left wing blogs will pick on right-wingers etc. So I ask you to excuse the commentators or the blogger if you find Anti- SG strains here a bit too often for your liking. Of course you have the right to voice your displeasure or disagreement with that…its perfectly fine. Its just that the issue is so divisive that you”ll find commentators either supporting or being against this act of SG. I also feel that this post was born keeping in mind the shrewd act by Sonia and only that….any other factor thing didnt have an influence on this. Indeed, the analogy was so apt that a first timer on this blog can be excused for thinking that GB bears a lot of malice for SG.
I am a great supporter of the BJP though simply beacuse I think that Congress as a party over the years had very brittle policies which led to my disenchantment. But yes, if I am to judge politics as a game of subtle manipulations , i cannot but admire the cunning of the lady and the decision, which as you say was a ‘masterstroke’. He who cannot appreciate (at least secretly) the good stroke played by the rival is a bad sport indeed.
@Debashis- That was a superb comment.
@GB- liked your reply to MM. Exactly my thoughts. A slight correction:”In conclusion MM this place is more criticism friendly than quite a few blogs in the Indian blogosphere.” It is in fact the most comment and criticism friendly blog…part of the reason why I like it so much.
@yourfan2 – Exactly. Sonia is nothing more than a shrewd opportunist. I don’t know why people like shan get irritated.
@shan – two objections.
Please don’t associate BJP/Shivsena to communalism. They are only reactions of people frustrated by congress party’s divide and rule policies. Hence, congress is more communal than these parties.
Please don’t advise on strategy of winning the elections. Only strategy congress party has is having a Gandhi/Nehru monarch at the head of their party.It’s a shame that congress can not find even a single leader after being such an old party.
@ Shan- Divisive and Communal. Quite right.
“Enjoying watching the game”- great idea, friend ! People were “enjoying watching the game” around 1945- 1947. And then there was Noyakhali. Then Pakistan. Then PoK.
Well- thinking of strategies to win elections- we can’t really do that- since it’s kind of far off from what we do for a living. What hurts is to see swarms of “Buddhojibees” drooling like idiots to every little “masterstroke” somebody plays, promptly forgetting the minor details like- our railways ministry is being run by Laloo Yadav.
At least one can make an attempt to think for himself and try to figure out who is more “communal”- people who insist on a structure or people who insist on pussyfooting the community card players to maintain votebanks.
In a nutshell- WE ARE NEITHER POLITICIANS NOR ANGOOTHACHAAPS. Why the hell should somebody’s secular “tamasha” be an issue in deciding whom we vote for?
@Right
“Only strategy congress party has is having a Gandhi/Nehru monarch at the head of their party.It’s a shame that congress can not find even a single leader after being such an old party.”
How does this become a shame? And how does this have an relation to how the country is run? Again, your antipathy to the Nehru Gandhi family takes precedence over logic.
@Anonymous
I am sorry, but how is Noakhali analogous to the current situation? The only similarity in recent times was the state sponsored pogrom led by your favourite (ostensibly) Mr. Narendra “murderer” Modi.
“What hurts is to see swarms of “Buddhojibees†drooling like idiots to every little “masterstroke†somebody plays, promptly forgetting the minor details like- our railways ministry is being run by Laloo Yadav.”
Oh yes I agree, very sad. Way sadder than the non “buddhijibis” giving wholehrearted support to corrupt hypocrites like George Fernandes and Bangaru Laxman. I am sure the shrieking, hysterical, Mamata Banerjee was a better Railway minister, no? My man, you are on very thin ice when you point out specific persons, because your party and it’s allies have as many people of dubious antecedents, if not more than, the Congress.
“who is more “communalâ€- people who insist on a structure or people who insist on pussyfooting the community card players to maintain votebanks.”
Oh, brilliant. And of course the fact that when the BJP was in power it did not lift a finger the try and push the so called “structure” or the Uniform Civil Code through is not due to vote bank politics, right. I am sure you feel it would have done so if only it had another 6 tears in office. 🙂 Your naivete is touching, and scary as well. because it just proves how brainwashed you are by the religion nuts. Truly there is very little difference between you and people in the Bible belt in the US. Opium of the masses indeed!
Awww yesss me lord ! I nearly forgot ! You reminded me ! Of course, down with Narendra “naradham” Modi and his “opiated” bunch of fanatics !
I will tell you what you would prefer- Godhra (never happened though, it’s official now, no shit !) to die down like the smoke from your mug of filter coffee- in other words, to go the Noakhali way. That it has turned out to be something else violates the holy crap in “Buddhojibi” small intestines.
My “thin ice” turns about to be rather strong when I get such fanatabulous logic from the other side. “Corrupt souls” like…… I need not even complete that scentence. Because I am amply sure that your Savlon clean, iceberg strong logic finds it best to give a Laloo Yadav counter example on the basis that the person is “corrupt”. I have no doubt whatsoever that “corrupt” is tons worse than doubly corrupt, inefficient and demented (a relatively mild adjective set I have used for the railway top boss of our “Brian Lara of Indian politics”‘s cabinet).
“I am sure the shrieking, hysterical, Mamata Banerjee was a better Railway minister, no?”
You bet your pumpkins she was.
If her shreiking and hysteria makes her unacceptable to your “Buddhojibi” sensibilities (in other words, not “masterly” or “enjoyable” enough), hard luck. Or maybe I don’t have enough fingers to count the number of accidents and rail robberies that started from day 1 of Laloo assuming office.
“Uniform civil code”- ha ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks buddy ! You just gave this poor, sad, malicious soul the pleasure of a hearty laugh. I guess it was easy as a pie to move forward a “bill for uniform civil code” in a house where the opposition is spinning Karan Joharish-ly rosy blueprints of 40% reservation in private sectors. Even easier knowing that the “educated class” (ranges from NDTV to Aparna Sen)is ready with it’s knives to paint an act of hunting down a terrorist as a case of communal “victinisation”. Marna hai kya ? Mahatma nahi hai hum.
Poor elightened soul, don’t be scared of my “naivete”. You’ll find plenty of “unwashed, unopiated” brains to keep the secular drama going on for another twenty years. Jai Lalooji, jai Soniaji. Till people get sick of it again and put the boot up their rear.
P.S. I see you have tried your hardest to paint me a BJP/ Bajrang Dal/RSS activist in spite of the fact that I made no attempt to eulogize BJP or Narendra Modi in my last post. All I tried there was to point out something that becomes a brownie point stealer for the Congress party, and a cover for their worthlessness at running an office: Obnoxiously fake “secular” bravado- something your post reeked of. You got a lot of my points except the most important one- Sonia Gandhi’s antics have nothing “enjoyable” about them, they make me want to puke my “opiated, divisive” gut’s out.
If the secular drama goes on for another 20 years, it is because the people who run the play are elected four times. This is not a dictatorship (although I am sure you will have a smart retort to that as well, more laughs for you).
The Congress may be hypocritical, but it seems the majority of people prefer a hypocritical non-violent party to one that openly preaches hate and murder. Thank God! The same unwashed, unpoiated majority. Can’t see any “buddhojibis” there, unless you think the majority is made up of them.
The fact that you seem to speak for the party when you make excuses for non performance in it’s years in power proves you to be an obvious BJP person. Mahatma nahin ho tum? I agree completely. Thanks.
I am not stupid enough to assume that Congress is a party made up by honest, hardworking individuals only. But between the two evils, give me Congress, and yes, Sonia Gandhi, any day. As for the BJP, let them decide on a leader first after peeling off all the “mukhautas” and sundry. I daresay the final face under the masks will be not a pleasant one.
Good,Shan, at least you agreed that congress party is hypocrytical and dishonest. Same is with Sonia, party’s current Gandhi monarch.(I don’t have any antipathy towards Gandhis, but would you find such a monarchial system in any other democratic party in the world?)
It is only from your point of view you think that congress is less evil than other parties. But mind well, people have similar antipathy towards congress also.And again and again I am stressing that rise of BJP and other parties occurred only because people were frustrated by congress’ communal policies. So even though you will not agree congress is doing more communal harm than these other parties.
And if you think majority of people are pseudo-seculars like you, it’s not like that. Congress couldn’t get majority number of seats this time. BJP had secured better number of seats in last elections.So, it’s just a change of some votes here and there. Next time it could be congress’ time to step down. Congress has just managed to come on power with the pain-in-the-neck marriage with communist party.If you compare number of votes all across India, you will see there is no much difference in number of votes to BJP and congress.
But again hiding from reality is the name of the game for pseudo-seculars like you.
Surya: ‘conscience’ and ‘loyalty’: when you threw these in your comments, I knew it wasn’t worth the effort addressing you since you were out on finding ways to discredit my comments based on assumptions made by yourself. So I won’t ask where you got these ideas from- I don’t care to know.
As for the rest:
Re: Sonia Italian birth and such.
Although it didn’t surface here [it may have i only skimmed through the comments], I find it disturbing that during troubled times she ran off to the Italian embassy first [this from a long time ago though and I couldn’t find links]?
Also, I have misgivings about electing a person who cannot speak fluently in an Indian language [English doesn’t count]. That doesn’t make her a bad person or even a bad citizen but it does make her a bad representative because she is fighting elections for the seat of a PM.
Either way, fact is she isn’t sacrificing anything and I find it sickening how people fall over themselves to defend her without taking a moment to reflect on other angles to the story.
@ Shaan:
I see I owe you an apology. No, make that two. The first one for misleading you, and the second for giving you false hope and glee of a “twenty year Romerajya”.
You see, I am a reliability engineer and frequently speak in terms of hypothetical “worst case scenarios”.
Here’s what it’s really like.
“it seems the majority of people prefer a hypocritical non-violent party to one that openly preaches hate and murder.”
Indeed.
The precise reason why a party- which was once the only national level political organisation of any consequence would see a steady dwindle of it’s votebank over the years and finally lose out to the “hate and murder preaching” raakshas which is at least 50-60 younger than it. 26.7 % ! No kidding ! The “whopping majority” overpowers my communal peabrain.
Congrtulations, I am touched by your appreciation for the most efficient political whores in the country. Laloo- Mulayam- She-pee-m- you name scum, the Congress has shown truly eclictic traits in it’s taste for bullshit. Not to mention their “kothabondho-mashima-meshomoshai relationship” with CPM, which they conviniently flip at the drop of a hat and give an offspring each year, sometimes in Delhi, sometimes in Kolkata. Enjoy your time under the sun, because where the choice is between bullshit and horseshit- anti-incumbency is the only thing that matters.
You can rant about how similar the allies of my “childhood friend” Narendra Modi and the BJP are. But as you correctly pointed out (galti insaan se hi hota hai), it’s a question of comparison. A combo of Laloo- Mulayam- Jyoti would make the guy down there with horns and hooves say- “I quit.”
“The fact that you seem to speak for the party when you make excuses for non performance in it’s years in power proves you to be an obvious BJP person.”
True, me lord. And the fact that you “enjoy” “political masterstrokes” of a party with a history of negative performance for the better part of 50 years and infinite number of scams (please go ahead and make the joke that BJP has more scams to it’s name) makes you the quientessential, level-headed, secular messiah of civilization. I guess you have some kind of intellectual copyright on the definition of “relative badness”.
So what’s Congress’s selling point now ? It does not “openly preach hate and murder”, I guess. Do me a favour and send me a few links of BJP election campaign reports where they were “openly” teaching people to “hate and murder.” All right, that’s not reasonable, I guess- I should be looking at Gujarat. And taking lessons of “love” from Shahabuddin and Ateek Ahmed. Sit with a red rose in hand after a mob roasts a compartment full of people- to see the “honorouable investigation team” declare the whole thing an accident after years. My “opiated” mind cannot really track the deal with hating murder and being OK with driving it under the carpet.
“I am not stupid enough to assume that Congress is a party made up by honest, hardworking individuals only.” Now I wouldn’t have the temerity to call you stupid in a million years. Your comment was as precise and properly weighed as Mathematica functions. Not honest, hardworking individuals “only” ! That’s as skilled a way of saying “Ashwatthama Hata, Iti Gaja” as you’d ever see. It’s an impressive “Oh-I am-so-mature, oh-he’s-such-a-reactionary” attempt. My advice: Use it sparingly. It’s getting kind of overused these days.
“between the two evils, give me Congress, and yes, Sonia Gandhi, any day.”- Sure. And ask any person to pick the most developed state out of these four- UP, Bihar, West Bengal and Gujarat (eeeeeeeeessshhhhhhhh !!!! Utpal Dutta style in ‘Golmaal’. No wonder each and every single UPA manifesto has “secular” covering 50 % of it. There’s nothing else to talk about.
Anonymous, I wonder why Maharashtra doesn’t figure in your list of the most developed states, or Kerala in terms of literacy. But then I err in expecting even handedness from a reactionary don’t I? Even acknowledging the faults of the Congress by using the word “only” is seen as a stunt. Must be the Congress culture that’s seeped into me – all these stunts.
And speaking of overuse, the Godhra train incident used as justification for full scale anti-minority riots again? Get some other justification now would you? All the “Godhra was the match that set the state on fire” and “spontanous public anger” bull has been long effectively demolished by the statements of the police officers involved to judges where they affirmed that Modi stopped them from stopping the BJP workers who were inciting the riots. So please, in order to denigrate my moral relativism, don’t you think you should at least pause before embarking or a far more pernicious one yourself?
As for the performance of Congress for the last 50 years – comparing a party of 1940 to that of a party today, is akin to saying the Republicans are the best party with the nicest people because Lincoln was one. In any case, performance of the party in 50 years is open to subjective opinion, and I happen to believe that they did pretty well, far better than the ragtag, sorry, alternatives the polity have thrown up from time to time. Were mistakes not committed? Of course there were. But remember, in retrospect every decision is wrong. For example, we shouldn’t have trusted China, but then we shouldn’t have taken a bus to Pakistan either. The reason we can’t have a point by point comparison of the BJP and Congress is that the BJP don’t have enough points. When they do, when they mature as a party, and switch to the moderate mainstream from the rathyatra driven fringes, then we can compare.
As for you anonymous, keep hoping.
PS. BTW, the debate started because of unnecessary (for me) comments on Sonia Gandhi, and has now expanded to take in the Congress and BJP. That was our mistake. Personally, I have voted BJP the only time I have voted in my life. But I am aghast at the vitriol against a woman just because she is a naturalized citizen of our country. This xenophobia is sad, and while I understand functional illiterates, and philistines like Pramod Mahajan (pointing out underarm sweat stains on Sonia’s blouses in his speeches) or Modi (“Italian bitch”) doing that, when educated, otherwise reasonable people (hopefully, people on this blog) do this, in slightly better language thankfully, it makes me wonder…
“I wonder why Maharashtra doesn’t figure in your list of the most developed states”- because it has seen a fair exchange of powers over the years between the two political rivals, and it is only logical not to attribute it’s pluses and minuses to one party.
Kerala- I have no doubt it owes it’s 100 percent literacy to CPM/ Congress (lately) rule there ! Why not call Narendra Modi a champion of Women’s liberation because Gujarat is the state where rural women run their own cooperative dairy farms on an independent footing ?
““Godhra was the match that set the state on fire†and “spontaneous public anger†bull has been long effectively demolished by the statements of the police officers involved to judges”-indeed. “Inciting” the middle class family guy (I rely more on my eyes and star news clips than judiciary reports after three years) could transform him immediately into a butcher. There’s something called “bringing to the threshold of tolerance”. “A Railway Accident” is one of them.
My intention is not to “justify” Gujarat or give BJP a box of candies as a reward of catalysing communal violence(don’t believe- reactionaries are used to lying through their bloodstained teeth.) It is to suggest that a prolonged policy of using communal pampering as a votebank tool- apart from being sick, can be dangerous at times too. Because not everybody is a vegetable. It is an equally dangerous tactic to completely ignore the primary fuel to these riots. The BJP might have added the ghee, but it definitely didn’t strike the match.
“and while I understand functional illiterates like Laloo, and foxy secular politicians doing that, when educated, otherwise reasonable people do this, it makes me wonder…..”
“As for the performance of Congress for the last 50 years – comparing a party of 1940 to that of a party today, is akin to saying the Republicans are the best party with the nicest people because Lincoln was one.”- weird logic. If I were blaming Congress for their 1940 sins only, this would have made sense. If this was some attempt to divert attention from their consistent non- performance and dwindling popularity over the last 50 years- it did not work.
“The reason we can’t have a point by point comparison of the BJP and Congress is that the BJP don’t have enough points.”- enough points of what- larcenies ? True.
“As for you anonymous, keep hoping.”- this one was the most puzzling. It definitely wasn’t an answer to something I said- because I didn’t hope for anything. Were you thinking of something else?
“I am aghast at the vitriol against a woman just because she is a naturalized citizen of our country. This xenophobia is sad….” It wrenches my gut to see the humongous cruelty of not letting a person (with perfectly harmless international ties) take a peek at the nuts and bolts of the military and diplomatic functioning of the country. Such horrendous xenophobia is least expected of a country which is seeing “Antarashtriya Bhaichara Sammelans†everyday in Kashmir, Assam, Arunachal Pradeshâ€.
“Pramod Mahajan (pointing out underarm sweat stains on Sonia’s blouses in his speeches) or Modi (â€Italian bitchâ€)â€â€¦.
Sad, sad. How do we manage to sleep at night ? I can understand perfectly well Mamata Banerjee (that shrieking, hysterical idiot !) repeatedly being called “420†by the High God of Morality Jyoti Basu. But such heresies being committed against Madamji fragments my progressive heart into a million pieces.
“the debate started because of unnecessary (for me) comments on Sonia Gandhi, and has now expanded to take in the Congress and BJP. That was our mistake.â€- Right. Please sift through the post to find out who used BJP first- you or me. When you blanket cover people with a slightly uncharitable opinion of somebody who is just a politician as a Bajrang Dal activist , please do not expect people to come to you wringing their hands and trying to convince you how progressive they are- and set “our mistake†right .
Anon
Please ignore shan, he is not worth your attention. The guy who voted only once (voting being more effective instrument to exercise one’s national duty than putting comments in a blog) and that too voted for a ‘murderous and hate preaching party’ is only worth a good laugh for being a joker.