Thoughts

Is there something fundamentally wrong in Income Redistribution? I mean that is what everybody wants right? Money from the rich going to the poor? So why the entire hue and cry about money being used to buy votes. Because I think of it as ‘income redistribution’, politicians rape the country for all its worth – the environment, its tax-paying classes for years on end and then they pay some money, only some, to get re-elected. You’ve seen how much richer they’ve all become, and I won’t mind a piece of it back. I’m not selling my vote, but I’ll be like a good horse that can traded and then not vote for the guy. I’m not a corrupt man after all and I'm not voting for Ajay Maken (unless Mr. Maken buys my vote), even though the though of voting for Vijay Goel is cringe-worthy.
A couple of interesting things though - Teesta going after the Commies for becoming communal, you've got to hand it to Teesta for not being a hipocrite like Karat and gang!
And the second thing is Anurag Batra's poetry. God spare me - but his site is so horrible and loaded with pointless adverts that it still takes five hours to load and the poem is at the end of a long, tedious rambling post in an extremely small font, a font size that makes this font look big.
I said this yesterday, I don't agree with what Jarnail did, but as someone said, a Sikh man made Varun Gandhi an issue and another Sikh man has put the Congress in Delhi (two Surdies have created the two biggest issues in North India these elections) on their knees (sacrifice two sure-shot seats in Delhi to win quite a few in Punjab?). However, Jarnail has managed with one 'lob' or 'chuck' to do what years of protests by the SGPC and a decade of terrorism could not do - make the Congress virtually disown Tytler and Sajjan Kumar and finally face up to 1984, in a convoluted sort of way.
Did anyone watch the Chelsea-Liverpool stunnerr last night. What a game!

Jarnailism

Should a course in shoe-throwing now be compulsory in J-school? For Christ's sake, if you have to throw a shoe - Throw it. I mean, if you have to make a scene then make a huge one, and don't let idiots like me comment on your shoe throwing. Mr Singh, you should have taken some lessons from Mr Zaidi, who threw his shoes at 'The Great Satan' himself.
Though all said and done, while I agree that the Congress mucks up its response to the riots of 1984 every time, because they know they are on the back foot. It has been almost 25 years since the riots and the memories are still raw. Just like I'm pretty sure that the Teesta's of the world will continue to bring up Gujarat when Narendra Modi is (maybe?) the Prime Minister. Heck, the wounds of 1947 haven't exactly healed. However, the question is should journalists 'attack' those we are covering?
Well, after seeing the footage, all of it and talking to a couple of people who happened to be at the AICC office, the fact remains that people were making statements to Chidambaram rather than asking questions. Listen, I'm no fan of Chiddu Chodu, that man has pick-pocketed my wallet. But at every press conference, for politics, financial releases, cars no matter what there is always a clown who makes a long, rambling statement. I don't want to hear your statement and I'm pretty sure no-one else does either. Publishing is fairly cheap and online it is essentially free, make your statements there. This guy threw his shoe because he was reprimanded for making a statement and not asking a question. Journalists can indulge in a debate on television and in the pages of a newspaper and even a proper forum - press conferences are not the proper fora for rhetorical statements.
Then again, Chiddu's arrogance at journalists led to the shoe, and a little part of me wanted to shoe to hit him. And that is why I believe the biggest take-away from yesterday is that people should learn how to throw shoes properly. Which is why, I think all J-schools should now start a course on shoe-throwing. But, then again maybe when it comes to the easily offended right, shoes should be replaced by pink chaddi's and the aerodynamics of chaddi's and shoes are completely different. Hmmm... this is a good idea for a J-school book.