Free fall

Fell off the sky
My belief in them
Gods with feet of clay
Promises unkept, never out of the woods, always lonely, dark and deep
A Politician's smiling assurance
The Mamta didis', the Trivedis', Sushma Swarajs', the Prime Minister
All fell with the rain from above
Mingled with the scalding earth for a while
Then swept away in the street drain and the gutter
Unknown, unheard and yeah oh yeah unimportant

All in a day in Delhi

Sweeping across my car windshield a blur of more and more cars
Wide roads and breathless for space
Delhi's contradictions hurtling past me
The flyover speaks in a forked tongue
Modern talking T3 or the old airport terminal
Where I drop the wife Mumbai bound
The way back an overgrown kid in a more obese SUV flashes headlights in my eyes at high noon
The electronic noise in his car smothering all sanity
Stopover at the Deer park where the North east is not a forgotten corner of the country
Two Manipuri kids clear our trash
Clear the ground for some attachment to their forgotten state
Delhi's contradictions hurtle past me

Divorce made easy in India

No more bra burning and that wretched organ music
Phallic symbols passed into history while you slept the night away
A new world order has dawned
And the world lies limp and flattened thanks to Thomas Friedman and Gloria Steinem
Women call the shots and the testosterone hormone has spread all over like pollen in this season
The Punjabi and other studs mount the horse, brandishing swords
Their male instinct inflamed at their million bucks wedding
It begins with a bang and ends in a whimper
The sordid tale of their flatulence on their wedding night no longer a bedtime whisper
'Can't blame the women,' says the judge, 'the men had it coming'
They have been flaunting - you know what, like roosters
But at crunchtime, like headless chicken they run in circles –that is the sad truth mister!
'A quick divorce is the way ahead!' said the judge
'And a woman on top the future!
Go forth in the new century, hand in hand, the world flattened beyond belief, eh mister!'
Let now the man bite the fruit in the Garden of Eden
And pay for his fellow man their sins, correct is it not, eh mister!'

Karnatka speaker gives clean chit to mla's in porn scandal

Nane mune bacche teri muthi mein kya hain
Muthi mein hain taqdeer hamari
Hamne kismet to bas mein kiya hain
Cut to the present –
Oh! My MLA what is there in your hand?
My destiny!my destiny!my destiny!
Oh! My MLA when will you show your hand?
At the end of the clip, end of the clip, ahhhhhhh…..
Oh! My MLA turn around and meet your public
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh…………………………………………..
Oh ! My MLA was it worth it?
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh………………………………………………

Gangsta rap by victorious Samajwadi party workers

We turned to stone the elephants' stare
Oh yeah! Oh yeah!
Caged the beast's Mayajal in its own park 
Oh yeah! Oh yeah!
Served Rahul baba humble pie in the poor man's hut
Oh yeah! Oh yeah!
Got the guns out on stage to leave no last legs standing
Oh yeah! Oh yeah!
We 'cycle' to Delhi with guns and laptops strapped behind us
Oh Yeah! Oh Yeah!
Netaji kahe 'Dilli door nahin' Oh Yeah! Oh Yeah!
We gotta the UPA's neck in our grip as we cycleraj to Delhi
Oh Yeah! Oh Yeah! Oh Yeah!

General V.K. Singh in charge of nuclear command and control?

Now that the heat and dust which rose in the fracas involving General V.K.Singh is settling down it is important to draw valuable lessons from the entire affair. Let’s face the issue. General Singh is undoubtedly a clean and incorruptible man and a soldier’s soldier. Even his worst detractors cannot deny this. But do these qualities give the General a kind of a veto power to decide who all are corrupt. Let’s be clear- that being competent in your profession and being incorruptible is just the first and very basic requirement of the job and the office he sits in. Why are we assuming that these are outstanding qualities? This is the least we would expect of any person holding that important office. Far more important is the responsibility he carries towards managing the fourth largest army in the world as well as his interaction with his peers and political authorities.

But what do we find? The man has become a permanent fixture on prime time news for all the wrong reasons.

There are two important facts we should not forget in this entire affair.

The army to some extent is not only a fighting entity but also a bureaucracy. And any good bureaucracy should work, quietly, efficiently, behind the scenes. It is not an exaggeration that bureaucrats should be ‘faceless.’ They are not pop stars with a sensational shelf life.

The second point is most important. Especially after the way the General of late has been behaving, is he in any way still ‘managing’ the nuclear command and control apparatus in the country, especially the deployment of the lethal Prithvi missiles. Can we be absolutely certain that the General would not let emotions take a hold over him in a crisis, especially a nuclear crisis? These matters have to be taken very seriously, especially since the General’s track record in maintaining objectivity in the recent past, has at best been sketchy.

THE TERRORIST

To understand what the army is all about read my book, ‘THE TERRORIST.’ The army has been in the news for all the wrong reasons, but the true code the army follows is one of sacrifice and never say die spirit. Believe me, we live in very cynical times, but even today, the rank and file of the army offers inspiration to an entire generation that has only seen squabbling politicians and now the unedifying sight of Generals at war with each other.

My book THE TERRORIST talks about the Special Forces and an assassination plot by terrorists that could change the course of the country’s history.