May you live in interesting times

It is an old Chinese saying... never able to categorize it - a curse or a blessing?

I always felt nothing much is happening in India since Emergency. Perhaps my ignorance of the situation in Punjab and Kashmir in the 80s and 90s makes me make this statement. There was this economic boom of late 90s... An occasional riot - an Ayodhya, a Godhra, a Singur, a Kandhamal... Regular scams - be it fodder, coffins or petrol pumps. We have won two cricket world cups, couple of medals at Olympics (bronze mostly). There is the mobile phone revolution. Satellite TV brought the world into our living rooms. Yet, it is still not interesting enough. There has been nothing that has captured the attention of our entire country. Even IPL failed to a get a decent response from the Incredible North East. Even after all these prosperity, it is not interesting... I do not have even one story that I can narrate to my grand-son.

We are so deprived of interesting things that our news channels today are obsessed with interesting things rumored to be happening in neighboring democratic state of Pakistan. It seems it is really getting interesting there. The Honorable President (erstwhile Mr 10%) is out of the country visiting the only country US fears in the whole Arab world - Iran (for a change, the fear may be reasonable). Doing what?

The Chief of Army (who happens to be the ISI chief. Some say he is retired... But I don't buy it.) meets the Prime Minister and secretly tells him that the Honorable President is plotting to remove him from government. Just like the way he removed most of the judges. All the judges and lawyers (Gosh, I never knew Pakistan has so many of them) have united (really, lawyers can stick together) and are siding with the opposition leader and marching to the capital.

Men in camouflage (read: army) have been reported to have fenced the capital with barbed wire. The present judiciary (he he, a joke) issues warrants against the only philanthropist in Pakistan, who is now gone into hiding. Those poor cancer patients would be wishing their grandfather had never got out of the attic in Amritsar 62 years ago.

In the mean while, somebody advises the Honorable President not to come back home for security reasons. TV channels report that the adviser is none other than The Chief of Army. (you slimy double crosser!!) The Honorable President follows every other Honorable President before him. Decides to enjoy the hospitality of the city of Dubai. I hear they have a indoor ski resort there... Even after much resistance the "Nero fiddling..." idiom comes to my head... Well then, Pakistan in spite of all the feudalism and warlords, is not much of a Rome any way. As if none of these happened, the Taliban are partying (in their own psychedelic way) in Swat Valley. Rave Party?

Across the ocean people in Langley and Arlington County are spending sleepless nights trying to figure out "Who is in charge of Pakistan?". Across the border though, Indian politicians are worried only about the upcoming elections. They perhaps know that Pakistan can wait until August to get India's attention. (yes, I know results of election will be out in May... I gave 3 months for the coalition drama to settle down)

In an unrelated incident, a man in Alabama, US went on a killing spree wiping out his entire family. This was not an single shoot out... he killed all his victims in different ways. Another teenager in Germany opened fire in a school killing 16. My analysis is that these are direct consequences of living in a boring country for too long. Guess what!!! The entire international media is covering these two boring random killings. In both cases, the killer is already apprehended or killed. Case closed. But this intriguing puzzle in Pakistan does not even appear on CNN's front page. So much so for East meets West.

PS: The Pakistan commentary my understanding of the situation from watching IBN live@7. Some fiction may have crept in. Believe at your own risk.

PPS: The only philanthropist is cricketer Imran Khan. He has built a cancer institute cum Hospital in loving memory of his mother - whom he lost to cancer.