Phone-y bones

I was having a very long and convoluted chat with J, a new friend, over a long distance line last night. It went on for much longer than I normally use a telephone, but we talked about everything from a parent’s death to the latest food book he bought to the reason I stopped being anything that could even remotely be defined as a ‘social animal’. For someone I have met in person for perhaps all of two minutes, on a day that I had deadlines breathing down my neck and giving me the shivers, he was amazingly easy to talk to, comfortable to spend time with, interesting to know. But in all the verbiage and the laughter, he said something that made me stop and think – my blogs have been getting serious, angry and, startlingly for me, discontented. He did not say that in so many words, but the tone is there, now that I read what I have been writing over the last could of weeks.

I cannot figure out why, but I do know it needs to change. There is no way my blog can be a reflection of me if it is any way un-sunny. Something will have to be done and I am the only one who can do it. But thanx for the feedback, J, I will start the quick-fix asap. One route to take is to go back to what I started out with – light, funny, non-topical stuff that hides no sign of any current news or issue of any import beyond my little world. Since I work in a newspaper, avoiding anything current is nigh-impossible, but there is always a take on it. And I reach out to take it, happily and relievedly.

What is making headlines right now, braying (literally) its way to the forefront of the average Mumbaikar’s attention is the recent Sharad Pawar-versus-the-Australians incident. When the folks from Down Under won the Champion’s Trophy a few days ago, they were jubilant, holding the ornate cup high above their heads and pushing and shoving to get the group hug into the group picture. Now, unfortunately, Mr Pawar happened to be there, handing over the award to the triumphant team. He, not being Australian and not being a cricket player in the just-finished match, was definitely out of place. So, in the melee, he was shoved aside by the rambunctions and did get out of the way, smiling broadly all the while – it was on television, for all to see. Unfortunately, it was on television for all to see (and no, that is not an editing goof there). And the rabid nationalists, Pawar-supporters, India-lovers and local bokels latched on to that onle tiny scene and ran with it, all the way to the headlines.

Now it is a huge controversy. There is even a highly painted donkey involved, making a bigger ass of the protestors than they may have made of themselves, by themselves. There are protest marches and sit-ins planned, apologies demanded and violence threatened. And the captain of the Australian team has now offered to apologise. Pawar himself has laughed it off as nothing serious, nothing at all to be all worked up about. But the general public refuses to be mollified, never mind that none of those people who make up that section of society is involved. Who pushed whom and why and how and when and what happened to the pushers and the pushee seems to have become irrelevant in the whole story of India being insulted by a foreign country that was, in actual fact, composed of a group of deported convicts.

What will happen next? Maybe the donkey knows better than anyone else!