Until not very long ago when the humble ballot paper used to rule the roost, announcing the election results used to be a long and painful process especially for the contestants and for all our political parties. It used to no doubt keep us too on tenterhooks at the edge of our chairs, as we gazed completely dazed at our television screens.
Now, thanks to our EVMs which hold the results on a tiny memory chip, all ready and waiting to be read at the press of a button, the process has become much quicker, simpler and error-free although the unpredictability and the suspense have become much greater. Now election results no longer trickle out like in the past. On the contrary, now they gush out like water released from a dam when the crest gates are raised.
Biggest Reality Show:
Unlike in the past, politicians are now left with very little time to work out their permutations and combinations to arrive at their most profitable deals as soon as the results are fully out. With just one day to go, the stage is all set for all of us to see the biggest reality show of our country.
The thing that has to be decided quickly is who to kick and whom to hug and for how much money, although most people with some knowledge of the way our politicians think say that it has all been already decided. It seems all our political parties have worked out all the possible strategies to adopt for all the eventualities that come up tomorrow. For them there will be no surprises but only possibilities with the surprises remaining only for us the voters. Tomorrow is going to be a unique day for all Indians. It is the day when we all shall see how our leaders who have been dividing us over every petty issue are going to forget all their differences of caste, creed and colour and embrace their enemies in a unique spirit of forgiveness.
While we all saw them praising their own virtues and hurling the choicest abuses at each other while vehemently exposing the vices of their opponents before the elections, tomorrow we will see them abandoning all their venom and vengeance as children of one God. Gone will be the hate for their opponents that filled and fuelled their election speeches. When crossing over to the other side is the most profitable thing to do, gone will be the goodness and greatness that existed in their party ideologies alone, while they held on to them. Gone also will be their commitment to all the people who voted for them expecting them to remain loyal to their parties.
When money and power are the two great considerations that matter, there is nothing else to be considered. Now seems to be the best and certainly the most profitable time for our leaders to bury the hatchet and to forgive and forget their enemies. Values certainly can now take a back seat and hibernate for a while, at least till the next election, which after all may not be too far off. Politics indeed makes strange bedfellows and it is therefore rightly said that in politics there are no permanent friends or permanent foes.
Mango bites:
Mangoes are now fully in season. With the coming of mangoes, the demand for all other fruits diminishes. Even the mighty water melon that seemed to be the best answer to beat the summer heat has now made way for the much smaller mango and has quietly disappeared from the scene.
Over the many years of my medical practice I have been observing a unique phenomenon. Every year the mango season seems to have a strange effect on my patients and I am sure my other doctor friends too may be observing the same with theirs. I find that as soon as mangoes come to the market, the sugar levels of all my diabetic patients start showing an upward swing like the summer temperature.
Since I have found that this is the case with even the most determined and fastidious patients who meticulously follow my instructions about their diet and since no other fruit has the power to do this, we are perhaps justified in calling mango the “King of Fruits”. Only kings can wield such power!
Dr. K. Javeed Nayeem
kjnmysore@rediffmail.com
Courtesy: Star of Mysore
