Here I was, thinking that the reason why I consider Pratibha Tai to be “not Rashtrapati Bhavan material” is because she defrauded a cooperative bank and distributed the bank’s assets to her relatives.
Evidently not.
The reason why I oppose “I-see-dead-people” Ms. Patil’s candidature is because I am an MCP who is afraid that Ms. Patil’s ascendancy to the top would open the doors to even more female participation in our national life, a dystopian vision of the future that puts the fear of God into my black chauvinist, power-hungry heart.
I was convinced of my pigginess after reading the sagacious Mrinal Pande. In a brilliant article in the Mint (incidentally my criteria for brilliantness—any article that has “hugs an armload of juicy mangoes to her heaving chest” in the first paragraph) , she exposes the real reason for the ubiquitous opposition to what she calls “the quietly dignified” Patil :
The real worry the feminist baiters have is not that they will have a woman President, but that it will give women ‘ideas’ above their station and ultimately bring out the real bugbear waiting in the wings: 33% reservation for women in the nation’s legislature, and plonk it centre stage before they can yell Sharad Yadav! If that happens—and not an Aishwarya, dripping with diamonds or a Bipasha dripping oomph, but a severely dressed Sonia or a quietly dignified Patil become iconic to Indian women—how long can the lucrative shop-till-you-drop ethos be kept afloat? Once they are genuinely empowered and armed with self-esteem, what can prevent women from storming the legislature and occupying not just one-third, but half the available seats?
Hmm. Well it certainly makes sense.
Why? Cause I see a disturbing pattern emerging in my behavior.
You see, I did not like Mandira Bedi as a cricket commentator because I felt she (and I blame the producers for this) dumbed down the analysis of my favorite sport through her asininity and by her gratuitous cleavage-show, which despite its succulent spectacular-ness, had no place in a sporting program.
Well now I realize : that was not really the reason for my irritation.
The real reason for my dislike was that I resented a woman’s intrusion into the male world of broadcast sports, a fact that Mandira Bedi, like Mrinal Pande, points out in a piece titled “Sports is chauvinistic but I have changed mindsets”.
In sports, it’s a very chauvinistic, male-dominated field. I have managed to change the minds of some people and I know there are some who will never accept me in that position.
It’s another thing that I find the very manly Charu Sharma and the uber manly Arun Lal to be as, if not more, irritating. But surely for Mandira, my feelings originate from a more sinister, primal center. If it was Navjot Singh Sidhu squatting on the ground, doing a pitch report, with his fly intentionally open I would have just laughed it away with a “the ball went so high it could have brought down an air-hostess with it” joke. But if it’s Mandira Bedi, I crib “Oh God. Why has cricket coverage come down to this?”
Similarly according to Barkha Dutt, I resent Mayawati not because of her publicly declared 52 crores of assets but because of her “hard-nosed Hindi, unapologetic aggression and shimmering salwar- kameez” and most importantly because of her caste.
You learn something everyday from the media.
And it’s not just about the world, but also about your own sinister self.
The Greatbong Blog & Podcast 
Good, thoughtful stuff Arnab…
But isnt the media, an echo of a deeper, wider phenomenon?
I thought Parvati Tai is agood idea because she is from Maharashtra…bas that’s all, I was thinking now maybe Maharashtrian cuisine will go national, everyone will cheer at Tamasha and realize the contribution of Dada Kondke. Of course this was latent, but truth nevertheless…..
@Rishi These days media does all the thinking for us, most of us don’t have anything deeper or wider….except our sexuality.
@ Aditi
most of us dont’t have anything deeper or wider….except our sexuality
hmmm…
Ms. Patil’s ascendancy to the top would open the doors to even more female participation in our national life.
Did she pause for a second and wonder why a woman with little credibility, and in a largely ceremonial role, would be able to manage what a socialist oligarchic dictator holding absolute power over the country for decades had failed to accomplish? No she was too busy in bashing Manmohanomics, advertising and hot babes.
And on women cricket commentators, was it Srirupa Bose who used to do English commentary of Eden tests, often teaming up with Ajay Bose? She used to be quite good.
You know how the Americans have been yelling for the past 7 years about how Bush doesnt represent the “true america” and that he is “stupid” etc…..I suppose its India’s turn now. People like you and I, decent citizens living in the cities, will just have to bear it and say, well, pratibha doesnt represent the “true india”.
Also, i think there’s a reason as to why no woman has ever become president in America’s history.We all know, that America has equal opportunities for both sexes and woman are given a lot more respect than those in the sub-continent. But being president, is leading a nation in times of crisis,war,distress etc. And you need someone with guts at the top. No woman ever showed that in US political history. Though in india, the president is only a “monarchial head”, pratibha tai will still be the “commander in chief of the armed forces”. And thats a distressing thought.
I’ve never really liked people like Barkha dutt, shobha de cause i think that their a psuedo representation of the avg indian woman. They think they speak for all the eve’s but that’s far from the truth.
@ GB.
Another manifestation of the widely prevalent disease- calling attention to one’s ‘handicap’ and using it as an advantage. ‘I am a farmer, I can’t repay my loans/need free electricity’; ‘I am an SC, I need reservation in IIM/IIT’; I am a Woman, so I need to be empowered by domestic violence act’ etc etc. I too cannot stand these pathetic feminists who make outrageous claims- ‘men are afraid of letting the Women take centre stage and dominate the world-affairs’; as though Women were aliens from outer space who have come down to rule the planet.
Hey GB,
Mandira is the only interesting thing in the game of cricket right now….the game itself has become soooooooo dumb and boring..aussies win every trophy, india loses all the important matches, the same biased reporting of the media………bore bore….
Mandira is a breeze of fresh air amidst all this……I loved her photos in Maxim…he he
great bong, ur fickle fan is back again! I am against rashtrapratibha too…can a woman be called an MCP? :))
PS: I have long assigned Barkha Dutt’s ramblings to white noise
PPS: Cant we have Bipasha Basu as president- she promoted the Taj & the only dead folks she talks too would be her wooden boyfriend!!
These ppl will even support a “patthar” as long as it is a woman or a Dalit. (Mayawati is both). Given that they’ve grabbed poor people’s money, usurped land, murdered ppl and what not. Just because a person is a woman, we are not supposed to evaluate her for job? What about the credibility, competencies?
@dodo
Mandira is a breath of fresh air to the uncultured, sex starved, philistine for whom, as the old joke goes, fine leg and deep gully refer to parts of the female anatomy.
GB,
A famous man, whose name I cannot recall, once said, “To generalise is an idiot,” generalsing thereby. Another not so famous man added a caveat – “Every generalisation has an exception”. When the media generalises and exposes your sinister self, the trick is to count yourself amongst the exception, and watch while the masses suffer from guilt.
Arnab,
http://www.knowpratibhapatil.com, a website by the BJP. I came across this link in The Telegraph today. Quite an interesting read.
All classic cases of inventing a problem when there exists none. Sometime back Outlook reported the conviction of Shibu Shoren in a similar tone. I guess all these media monkeys assume a moral high and take the reader to be of loose morals. Yuck.
Oops, that Outlook link seems to be broken. Here is what I had posted in INI Signal then.
Hi all,
the site mentioned above http://www.knowpratibhapatil.com, contains three files by Mr. Shourie. Not that I am a big fan of BJP or Mr. Shourie, but i think here he has used his abilities/talents to real good use. I think every Indian should read those.
‘After such knowledge, what forgiveness’.
I wish I had the leeway to write on this.
J.A.P.
People like Mrinal Pande (and there are plenty of those in leftist/feminist academia) see EVERYTHING through the lens of gender politics. For them the fact that an incompetent woman can become President is a small matter compared the the symbolism of a woman becoming President.
Her argument are crap of course. We have had a a woman PM much earlier with far more powers than a President. Elevating Pratibha Patil to the post will hardly elevate the status of Indian women any more than it is today.
@aandthirtyeights
Ha ha, whatever you think of me, I would any day ( whether I am starved or not) love to watch Mandira in her spaghetti straps rather than listening to Krish Srikanth and Ravi Shashtri (people who might know your gullies and fine legs) blabbering the saaaaameee thing for the n-th time
But we must really admire the politicians who push her forward, make you have to defend yourself for opposing her and for mobilising the masses into feeling victimized. From their side, the reason why the elite upper class don’t want her to be president is because
1. She is Maharashtrian
2. She is a woman
3. Her caste? (maybe I am wrong here, I think Patils are high in caste hierarchy maybe)
How can they not see that she is nothing like them? She is filthy rich and is evidently quite a crook.
yeah right…
you hate Pratibha Patil not because she is a WOMAN but because she is corrupt.
You hate Sonia Gandhi not because she is a WOMAN but because she is Italian.
you hate mandira bedi not because she is a WOMAN but because she is incompetent.
you hate Burkha Dutt, Shobha De Seema Mustafa not because ther are WOMEN but because they are communists..
stop behaving like a perfect freudian example for ” humiliated masculinity “.
Name a WOMAN you respect who is not beautiful(hence can satisfy your insulted masculinity)…
You were ready to accept a pissdrinking weirdo MAN as a PM but not a “talking to dead” WOMAN as a president.
and she was not guilty of this bank fraud etc.. when she was the governor of Rajasthan?? but as soon as she wants to be the president somehow by magic skeletons roll out of the closet. And so a WOMAN who is fit to be a governor is not fit to be th president.
Someof you have gone to the extent of putting an advertisement on your blogs with Pratibha patil on the background and a question mark over her asking whether she is eligible for president?
How many of you have such stickers for the butcher of gujarat on your blog??
How many of you have such stickers for the lalloos and mulayams ??
No you wont have any because they are MEN.
How many of you know anything about the vice president to vote for him.
what a bunch of hypocrites.
that felt good 🙂
I dont know why but, is there a only way to become a successful politician and thats by doing some rude or mindless stuff for some caste ?
I read the otherday abt Ms.Patil’s interview where she quoted
“Today we are citizens of free India. There is need to put a stop to such practices. That alone will ensure real respect for women. When women are progressing in every field, it is our duty to discontinue such practices.”
Why why why ?
Dont they see any other problems in country to talk abt in the interviews ? We do have other serious problems in our country than discussing what to dress and whom to undress.
I just cant understand what they get by making this kind of statement.
I am not saying just abt this. But abt all the politicians who talk abt all the caste.
Or is it like that hurting some caste we make ourself and the other castes happy ? it is that than they have to be ashamed of their self.
I know that this is not going to make any difference.
They will be what they are rightnow..
Thanks,
Tarzan
@ wtf143
Ah, a lone dissenting voice. Seems you turned up at the wrong party, dude. Didn’t you know this is a misogynist, MCP discussion board? 🙂
the female psyche is quite complicated great bong! but i cant understand why this dripping mrinal pande is so enthusiastic about the prez!
@wtf143
Again, a president of India is a post with a much higher profile that a governor of a state. Although I agree that none of these allegations against Prathibha have been proven to be true in a court of law, they still seem pretty serious offences. Kalam or Venkatraman had “NO” cases of corruption or malpractice against them. Now that is the kind of a person we want as Prez.
About Mandira, we do not mind having women cricket presenters. They have women tennis commentators all of whom are former players with immense knowledge of the game.
I don’t think people put pictures of pnly the people they admire on their blog pages.
@ Tarzan
answer to your querstions,
the politics of Vote Bank….. its a small side effect of democracy and diversity.
@ WTF
How can u miss out Arundhati Roy and Teesta Setalvad?
They have been treated worse than Seema Mustafa and Barkha di.
@ rishi
Small side effect huh? nice 🙂
Thanks
Tarzan
i would like to make a tremendously important point.
w.t.f 143 and i are different people.
W.T.F
I did assume the 2 ids to be the same.
My apologies….
to both u and wtf143.
Hmm so Ms Mrinlal is suggesting that Prathibha “Ji” is not “hot-chick” enough to be our first lady. Well she may have a point there:-))
You disappointed me dear Arnab. You read such a lousy paper like Live Mint!!! people who write stuff for that paper are all ****.
@ wtf 143
Look stop taking this hurt woman mentality. If laloo or the butcher of gujarat (that was a nice description btw) were to stand for presidentship we would have a similar tirade. Most of us here would be saying “WTF, lets dig up all the dirt on those men!”
It just so happens that PPatil is standing for president and its such a strange move by the congress and with no seeming rationale except the coming elections, that we are flinging all this dirt. And its not because she is a woman. that argument was brought in by the sycophant club who have nothing better to defend her with.
And personally I dont hate sonia gandhi for being a woman or an italian. I just dont like her taking the reins of a historical political party and turning it into some fiefdom for her son and future “gandhis”.
Cant comment on Bedi cos I dont watch cricket, but Barkha Dutt is tiresome, Shobha De is a boring writer and I wish Arundhati Roy would write more often. This has nothing to do with being a woman or a man.
Stop missing the larger picture in your rabid defence for women. Go change the mindsets of people who are killing female foetuses. This is a political competency discussion.
The “piss drinking PM” you refer to was Morarji Desai who was a statesman (sorry statesPERSON) with credentials that Pratibha Patil cannot hope to duplicate if she talks to a 1000 babas (or they come on a 100 grannies). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morarji_Desai
The way you talk about him, I bet you are a congresswallah…
Hey! although I should care what the governor of rajasthan was doing with bank fraud, but I care more about what conster is preparing to sit at the Rastrapati Bhavan. its a more prestigious and important position.
The only points i liked were the ones you raised about the Butcher (Bong have you written about him?? But how could you…you deal with humour and sarcasm , while what the Modi govt did was unspeakable horror.)
“How many of you have such stickers for the lalloos and mulayams ??” We do, on seperate blogs
“No you wont have any because they are MEN.” Oh come on!!!!!!! More possible reasons, they are rich and powerful and goonda raaj is their forte.
wtf143
Tavleen Singh, Sandhya Jain, Sucheta Dalal…
@ Momo
Butcher of Gujrat????……U mean Mahmud of Ghazni??
but that was long time back na….
GB, As usual great stuff!
@wtf143
There are lots of corrupt people in this world – I’m sure there are many other bank frauds, murderers, butchers. We don’t put up pictures of them on our blogs because they’re not trying to be President. The point that GB is trying to make (correct me if I’m wrong) is that the media attributes sinister intentions to every opinion held by us.
@momo
I misread wtf143’s “piss drinking PM” as “piss drunk PM” and presumed he was referring to some alcoholic PM, and wondered who that might be!
@Rishi: It is.
@Aditi: As Rishi said: Hmm.
@Dipanjan: This is what happens if you have drunk too much of the Kool Aid. As to cricket commentary, I have never heard of Srirupa Bose
@Rohit: Does Pratibha represent India? Well she certainly does represent the typical Indian politician.
@Ravi: True. Remember what Azhar said when he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar: “I am being targetted because I am a Muslim.” Of course the fact that Ajay Jadeja was also in the dock with him and got the same punishment was orthogonal to his point.
@Dodo: Maybe it’s a different cricket you are watching.
@Momo: Bipasha as president? Well she would make a good candidate…having reportedly not paid for her boob job, I think she has already acquired the defining characteristic of the Indian politician —-living “large” on someone else’s money.
@Sneha: Exactly. Now try telling that to the feminazis.
@Aandthirtyeights: Hmm
@Madpiper: Yes seen that before.
@Sriram: Excellent post of yours on INI signal.
@Nishant: Hmm
@JAP: Leeway for you to write? Didnt quite get that.
@Shan: Agree
@Dodo: Again the focus isnt the commentary box…its the 22 yards. Just put the TV on mute.
@Anonymouse: The trick is to present your candidate as belonging to some “minority”. That way whenever her suitability for the position is attacked, you can say it is an attack on the minority.
@WTF143: Heil the feminazi. Now that felt good.
“Name a WOMAN you respect who is not beautiful”
You mam. WTF143—I respect you.
Whether someone drinks piss or lemon juice does not affect their ability to lead. Whether someone defrauds banks does. And yes this issue was not raised when she was a governor because simply noone cares for the position of the governor. And Patil’s resume of fraud is the standard profile of most Congress politicians—so why get the underwear in a bunch over her. However the first citizen of the country is different: only because in times of crisis, he/she becomes the supreme authority.
And really…if you want to say that Indira Gandhi commanded supreme power and could treat ministers as her personal assistants because she was a “beautiful” woman then well…lets leave the next unsaid.
@Tarzan: Very Freudian.
@Saptaswa: A false sense of feminism.
@WTF: Noted.
@///slash\: Well how many hot chicks have we had in our ruling classes? Is Sonia Gandhi hot? Is Mamata Banerjee hot? Is Mayawati hot? Is Jayalalitha hot now? No. Yet these are perhaps four of the most powerful politicians in the country. (yes Mamata does have a lot of nuisance power)
@Bengali Boy: Comment edited.
@Vamsi: Thank you
@aandthirtyeights
ha ha ha..that’d have made good copy…hic! i believe subtle atal liked his occasional peg?
@rishi
ghazni?? am talking about Narendra Modi
@Great Bong
and Bips has also extended hot lips diplomacy to portugal ;)) Hoorah!
Mrinal Pande is from the same school of thought as our dear old comrades and eminent historians. These people are terribly insecure about losing their stranglehold over power and influence of public discourse. Shourie and company tried to spoil their cosy little arrangement, although the UPA looks set to brazen it out and use presidential immunity to the maximum. I’m sure all charges against Patil will disappear before she leaves office.
The ‘why now’ question is a pathetic attempt by a desperate party that is totally bereft of ideas. More likely, they just don’t give a damn. It doesn’t matter why BJP is bringing up the allegations now, what matters is whether they are serious charges backed up by prima facie charges. Her husband is already facing trial for harassing a teacher to the point of suicide. Nice bunch they are, our ‘first family’.
I thought your reply to wft143 was a bit harsh Arnab – specially the part about respecting a woman who is not beautiful. You dissapoint.
@ Momo
Why would you call Narendra Modi as butcher of Gujrat??
I am ofcourse assuming that you are using the ‘butcher’ in a negative way.
Also, you mention him as being responsible “unspeakable horrors”, why so?
@Observer: Exactly. I am the one you should be disappointed in. Of course I can be called an example of “humiliated masculinity’ and a “hypocrite”…thats fine. It gets disappointing only if I reply in kind by turning a bit of the vitriol back at the person who spewed it.
Humor would have been a better way to respond.
It would have gelled better with your online persona.
Again, just my observation and 2 cents.
@Observer: Aha. But there was humor —since I dont even know who WTF143 is, far less know how she looks…the humor in my response should have been fairly obvious. (I couldn’t have been serious could I?) And don’t worry I do not maintain an “online persona” what you see here is what you get in real life. Mostly.
@gb
i am an unbeautiful female, age 42ish, weight — circa 80.
i hope you will ‘respect’ me as i am quite a non-threatening kind of she-person.
or did i get it wrong? you will only respect me if i manage to make a total change-over — beautiful, 24 and size 0?
from a very confused and sleepy tapper of keys.
@Swati: I respect you a lot…and thats because I saw you buy all those goodies for your family at T3. More parents should be like you —–if they go somewhere they should always return with something for the kids at home.
Well the remark was more like the “yo mother” insults where one hardly knows the other person’s mother but they say something anyway -so didnt see the humor in it.
Anyway, carry on – to each on their own.
Cheers.
LOL
sorry for the earlier rant it sounded too harsh than I intended it to be.
@momo and @Dibyo
you just proved my statement
you hate X/Y/Z not because she is a WOMAN but because she is ———————— filll int he blanks with your adjectives
@GB
“Name a WOMAN you respect who is not beautiful
You mam. WTF143—I respect you.”
Thank you GB I am honored. lol
“Whether someone drinks piss or lemon juice does not affect their ability to lead.”
EXACLTLY my point whether PB sees dead people or not does not affect her ability to lead (BraveHeart William Walllace anyone??)
” Whether someone defrauds banks does.”
This hasnt been proven in the court of law atleast say accused of..
“And yes this issue was not raised when she was a governor because simply noone cares for the position of the governor.”
And there is no hypocrisy in this?? Sorry for calling you a hypocrite.
The sticker I was refering to is this one http://www.desipundit.com/2007/06/27/pratibha-for-president/
As a citizen you donot have any say on the choice of President, so why do you have to show your hatred towards her?
Why dont you focus your energy on people you can elect?? why were ther e no such posters duirng the UP elctions for mulayam/ shahabuddin etc??
where are the websites for these persons know_this_bastard.com and know _that_retard.com??
Hmm, I personally like beautiful woman. Don’t know about other guys here.
So I am with WTF 143 here, Men like beautiful women and women like.. hmmmm…?
@wtf143 : hey *feminazi* if it helps i will put a sticker of rajiv gandhi – the butcher of delhi’84 – on my blog if u want 😉
@WTF143:
Yes it has not. In the same way, the person you called “the butcher of Gujarat” has also not been proven to have had done any “butchery” in a court of law. So do you call him a butcher just because he is a man?
No there is no hypocrisy in it. Here is why. Such is the pathetic state of our affairs, that under the weight of someone having 57 crores of “declared” assets, people like Ms. Patil becoming the governor pass under the radar. However a president, some people still think, should be someone who should at least have a semblance of probity. Something that Ms. Patil does not have. Something that Lalloo also does not have. Along with most of our politicians.
India is one of the countries (the very few) that have had really powerful women politicians who were powerful not because of their “hotness” or because someone gave up their seat for them but because, they were smart politicians—this includes Sonia, Mayawati, Jayalalitha et al. Bringing in the “feminism” angle of men resisting female domination here just flies in the face of common sense because of India’s record of powerful women politicians.
Incidentally if you look through my blog, you will see I have made fun of Mayawati, Lalloo, Amar Singh: one of my banners has a very unflattering picture of Vajpayee. And yet you, like Mrinal Pande, seems to ascribe a “sinister” motive to my disliking of politicians, a motive other than the ones I state (corruption and incompetence)
As a citizen, we do have the choice of president. Just because our elected representatives elect the President, does not make the President unaccountable. Last time I looked we didn’t have a monarchy. Only in a monarchy, do the people have no choice over their first citizen.
Again the reason why there were no “banners” for those people whom you chose to use invectives for is the same reason why no-one objected to Patil’s governorship (which I have covered in a previous para). It’s only because the President’s post is largely honorary (which is why there is an element of respect here) that people want someone with a moderately clean record occupying the chair.
And last, there was also no offense intended in my original retort to you.
@Confused: Aaah that confused state again. WTF143, let me point out this Confused man is no friend of yours. This is what he writes in his blog:
He also has this post about Bipasha kissing Ronaldo…note his fascination for the hotties….Bipasha good. Women’s reservation: not good. Note please note.
And I forgot to add….as far as I know, William Wallace seeing dead people —that was a cinematic touch: we have no way of knowing if he actually saw them or not.
” In the same way, the person you called “the butcher of Gujarat” has also not been proven to have had done any “butchery” in a court of law. So do you call him a butcher just because he is a man?”
Agreed mea culpa
I was not refering to you when I talked about the stickers,( I love your banners ) I shouldnt have put that here but I gave you the link to what I was refering to in my last comment ( by the way I know about Confused he was the one who posted that link on DP :o)).
“As a citizen, we do have the choice of president. Just because our elected representatives elect the President, does not make the President unaccountable. Last time I looked we didn’t have a monarchy. Only in a monarchy, do the people have no choice over their first citizen.”
here is the wikipedia entry on the president of India
“The President’s role is largely ceremonial, with real executive authority vested in the Council of Ministers, headed by the Prime Minister. The powers of the President of India are comparable to those of the MONARCH,KING or QUEEN of United Kingdom.
The President is elected by the ELECTED MEMBERS of the Vidhan Sabhas, Lok Sabha, and Rajya Sabha, and serves for a period of 5 years (although they can stand for re-election).”
So the only way you as a citizen can influence the Presidential election is by choosing the right elected members in the first place.
“It’s only because the President’s post is largely honorary (which is why there is an element of respect here) that people want someone with a moderately clean record occupying the chair.”
This is the hypocrisy I am talking about, you are more concerned about a largely honorary position who has little or no effect in the functioning of the democracy, than the elected members who influence your day to day life?
And yet you, like Mrinal Pande, seems to ascribe a “sinister” motive to my disliking of politicians, a motive other than the ones I state (corruption and incompetence)
As I pointed out her corruption charges have not been proved and talking to dead people is an idiosyncracy or an accentric behaviour (thats the reason I compared it with Morarjis pIss drinking ) and not a sign of incompetence. so only other motive is the “sinister” motive I ascribe 🙂
I am not saying people are against PB just because she is a woman but the fact she is a woman has definetly influenced their decision either consciously or subconsciously. Neither am I saying that PB as president will usher in a new generation of woman politicians. That will not happen until people mend their mindset but you cant mend something if you dont realise it is broken can you?
I took no offense in your comment and I also apologised for the over the top rant I made in the first place.
@confused
” Men like beautiful women and women like.. hmmmm…?”
men who know what woman like 🙂
@GB
The braveheart , william wallace thing was meant to be a joke 😦 . sorry for my sexth. sorry.. sorry..sick sense of humor.
Now I do not have any issues with people calling Modi a butcher even though not a single act of murder has been pinned on him. Why? Because from the evidence I have seen from media reports, there is no room for doubt in my mind. Needless to say,I have no power to punish him.But I have every right to assess him. Similarly with PP. In my eyes, the evidence of her cooperative members and the accounts that show loans to her kin is proof enough of her culpability.
Incidentally, why did you think it was her gender that I have a problem with? Why not I have a problem with people who wear glasses? Or a problem with Marathi manus?
If we really feel that Patil is a horrible candidate being foisted upon us by the Madam, then we should vote the Congress out. That is the solution. Agree. But why should we not have the right to protest? Where does it say that? And sometimes politicians (perhaps not the Indian ones) do change their voting based on public opinion.
The William Wallace thing was a joke. Sorry for not getting it since you used it to justify that even people who talk to dead people can be good leaders.
wtf 143.
I take offense to your remark. I think it is blatantly sexist. As a great believer in gender equality, i believe that any terms which signify any sort of interdependence among men and women are demeaning and humiliating to both the parties concerned.
I still maintain while I have great sympathy for ugly women, I only like beautiful women.
Pratibha tai’s appointment is pretty much like Bush pushing the candidature of Harriet Miers. Only Sonia will probably succeed. I never thought gender is an issue here, but seems I am wrong as usual.
Hi Dear,
Meida and politics are the 2 things that cant be understandable easily..
No onw knows, when they change their words and prove themselves something else.
Take care
Actually I don;t understand why we are making a huge brouhaha over the appointment of a blatantly unsuitable candidate for President. It’s not as if that hasn’t happened before. We have had idiots like Zail Singh, corrupt ex-politicians like Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, and sycophantic tokenisms like Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed. Now Pratibha Patil just joins this list.
Surely you don’t expect philosophers like S. Radhakrishnan, statesmen like Rajendra Prasad, or academicians like KR Narayanan (though that was not the reason he was made President – his caste mattered more – his academic brilliance was a happy accident) to be made President any more – not in this day and age.
And surely you don’t think that a ruling political party would ever again elect a President who doesn’t explicitly share the party’s ideology (or lack of it)?
I mean how naive can you be?
What is the point of all this breast beating? Let PP be President. Let all the feminists (note: I will NOT use the term “Feminazis”. I find that term offensive, reinforced by the fact the Bill O’Reilly uses it.) rejoice because a woman is President. Very soon they will discover that PP will do much more harm to the image of Indian women than good.
If I wanted token representation for my sex or caste in a position of prominence, I would select someone who I can be proud of – PP certainly doesn’t fit that bill under any circumstances.
So let her become President. The Congress, and especially the Left, will spend years living down this embarrassment of supporting a joke for President.
@ gb
I came across your comment on how you ‘respect’ my mom.
And for your kind information- she ate one third of everything she bought from T3.
No wonder she has to admit her 80 kgs.
@wtf143
So the only way you as a citizen can influence the Presidential election is by choosing the right elected members in the first place.
Do you mean to say that the only time the electorate should talk with their representatives is at the time of the Lok Sabha/Vidhan Sabha election ? After their election, dont they still remain our “representatives” ? If they are our representatives, dont we have every right to make our concerns clear to them ?
sorry to depart from the topic but……. thers something wrong with ur sites rss feeds… pls look 2 it…. cheers
@DJ: I can read my feed through Google feedreader—is anyone else having this problem with RSS?
@Observer:
“I thought your reply to wft143 was a bit harsh Arnab – specially the part about respecting a woman who is not beautiful. You dissapoint.”
Yes you truly disappoint. It is not GBs fault that you cannot appreciate a work of art. What a rejoinder, classic 1 liner! “You mam. WTF143—I respect you.” Straight out of a 40s film noir script.
@ GBong
You have pinned it! 🙂
“Incidentally, why did you think it was her gender that I have a problem with? Why not I have a problem with people who wear glasses? Or a problem with Marathi manus?”
seriously Bong.You have finally stumbled on the answer on why there is such an un PRESIDENTed attack on PP.We Indians should normally not be bothered by who occupies that nominal seat, it could be Sonia Gandhi’s mamma mia for all we ought to care!
The only reason ppl are raising a hue and cry over PP is because she wears those bloody specs like all those vermin shortsighted folks outthere…grrrrrrr
Infact the only reason Shiv Sena supports her is because she is a Marathi Manus (isnt manus a masculine word….grrrr….it should be manusi!!!)
@ WTF143
Finally I can answer your riddle:
“hate X/Y/Z not because she is a WOMAN but because she is ———————— filll int he blanks with your adjectives” Put in there “bespectacled old hag”
PS: any other feminazis pls note am a woman born with spectacles.
Incidentally although the few of us do vote, the masses have selected Laloo and Mulayam (and dethroned the latter too in favour of Mayawati ….because she is a WOMAN lol), so for all their corruption, L & M are where they are because of the anarchic democracy in our country. So unless we (the blogerratti) can mobilise vast tracts of electorates divided along religion/caste/sub clans/money the lalloos and modis are inevitably going to get elected.
I think http://www.knowpratibhapatil.com is just the start of a new internet savviness in voting…so really What the Fuck 143, I think we may yet see those retard and bastard sites you mention….
BTW The President is a nominal position on most days except when he/she/it is declaring a state of emergency & curbing individual freedom… like writing on blogs..;)
Again @ WTF 143:
You said: “I am not saying people are against PB just because she is a woman but the fact she is a woman has definetly influenced their decision either consciously or subconsciously. Neither am I saying that PB as president will usher in a new generation of woman politicians. That will not happen until people mend their mindset but you cant mend something if you dont realise it is broken can you?”
Then what are you saying??? That Pratibha Patil is Mel Gibson????? we have been arguing for no reason… u and me behen-behen. 😮
My nomination for “Name a WOMAN you respect who is not beautiful(hence can satisfy your insulted masculinity)…" is Maulana Abdul Aziz, for whom BBC says:
“The maulana came out of the mosque with a group of girls wearing a burqa and carrying a handbag. The girls protested when he was stopped. But officers were suspicious and after a search, Maulana Abdul Aziz was identified and arrested,” he told the BBC.Another security official told AFP that the cleric had been picked out because of his “unusual demeanour”.“The rest of the girls looked like girls, but he was taller and had a pot belly,” the official said.
Request vote according to conscious, cutting across party lines
*conscious is conscience, excuse the typo
Hi GB,
PP(donno what that means may be President Pratibha?? ) has got what it takes to become President. Which is Pratibha(talent). She is one of those politicians who fit the bill perfectly ( due to her alleged linking to scams but never to be proved ) just like few other eligible ones. Also just by being the candidate the kind of hue and cry she is able to raise definitely proves pratibha has got the thing(!!) for it.
I don’t need Feminazi’s to open up my eyes as already I can see ( I am a half wit and a clairvoyant) that this is the chance for all woman to get empowered, strengthened and muscled up for their rights by putting the right person at the right place. And the country has always needed a BharatMata( I don’t know why BJP is raising so much concern over this issue as they are the ones known to be always shouting about Bharat Mata)…
Cheers,
A femifan who spells blasphemy as blasfemy
hey..
wat i meant was thers something wrong with the ‘comments rss feed’ links on the main page….. not the topics feed!
@ Bhopale
I still dont understand how the Pakistani Rangers got lucky and saw through Maulana Aziz’s disguise.
A tall pot bellied woman in Burkah. Not atall unusual in Islamabad.
Fantastically construed bolg. It reminds me of the famous speach of Mark Anthony in Ceaser’s Funeral.
“For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all; all honourable men”.
I will rephrase it as:
“For Prathiba is an honourable woman;
So are they all; all honourable (wo)men”.
Excellent one !!!
Thanks Purokayasto !
DJ: I didnt know I even had a comments feed. To be honest, I would prefer people to come here and at least read the comments and maybe leave one themselves. 🙂
by the way, whats an MCP???
@ Bhopale & the other Rishi
The lovely maulana (mashallah!) was wearing gloves and high heels, aside from the burkha, to hide his macho digits.
With no bare skin visible at all, the Pakistani Rangers might have been tempted by Satan to take a peek at this buxom lass.
It was then that he realized his dreadful mistake – Ya Allah! he had forgotten to apply lipstick …..otherwise, Inshallah, he could have gone undetected, facial hair and all.
Pratibha Patil is the 13th president of India !!!!!.
have a nice time:0
send your wishes to the new president !!
http://www.ibnlive.com/userfeedback/1162.html
Yes congratulations WTF143…not that I ever had any doubt that the most corrupt candidate would win.
I have just realised I am a subservient, slavish, female MCP (if one exists) who would not wish to rise above my station…aaah this patriachal society has sapped me of all my ideas because I do not respect our latest President. And to think I considered myself a feminist! How wrong can one get. I thank you for enlightening me 🙂