stalemate or checkmate

There's something about asking and doing the 'obvious'. I say so in a negative connotation. I dislike politics but cannot and should not refrain from being aware of its status-quo. I believe that we, as Indian citizens, when wer'e standing in front of the EVM, have a choice of pressing the button that'll either elect a looter or murderer or rioter. From the left-in-the-lurch left-wingers to the kill-em-all right-wingers and everything in between, vote choices generally runs in families with parents insinuating their children early-on and tipping the balance just that bit in favour of the party they favour such that by the time their conscience develops, it's already crooked in some way. So we, the children of India, know who to vote for when it's time to exercise our suffrage, not because of our own congnisance but because of the prejudices injected in us early on; unfortunately not all children are equal. The last time I cast my vote, I went in like a pre-programmed robot, poked the button I was expected to. However I refuse to take the blame because if I start to talk about expectations, it's not so much about having a the right to various freedoms as it is about 'self-preservation'.

So what was the Government thinking while sending Anna Hazare to jail? Obviously it wasn't thinking about the 'obvious' repercussions. What made the Government think that the people were gonna support it despite all the exposés of the corruption inside, its inability to mitigate the ever rising prices of commodities stabbing the common man in the back. Ok the common man of the city today is not the common man of the yester-years but there's another category of the common man that doesn't meet the eye, the common-man all around us, one who is less privileged and invisible to the 'more fortunate' common man commuting in the cool micro-environment of his car. While the rising fuel prices may not affect all the vehicle owners equally, we all have a right to complain in an egalitarian society. So the common man from every walk of life is on the streets, raising voices in unison, in support of, possibly the only, 'clean' man alive in our country. At times I feel it's just fashionable for most upbeat, well-to-do middle class citizens to do this. After all the whole world is up to it, some of it has got to rub off on us. It's been a year of public display of outrage and overturned governments around the world.

However any amount of hog-wash or even the absence of it, cannot wipe the smirk off my face when I think of the UPA and say "what were you thinking?"

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