Is that all it takes to get our political parties to listen: a shoe thrown at you? If the Congress does decide to keep Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar out of the polls, this could be the beginning of a nationwide shoe-throwing movement. We could even call it ‘Chappals for chors’! Imagine how terrified politicians would be of holding press conferences if they feared a shoe attack each time. Imagine the impact of a Jimmy Choo stiletto! And why stop at shoes—why not rulers (they would be even more aerodynamic)? Seriously friends, perhaps the floodgates have opened on an entirely new form of political protest. So much for bhook hartals. Let’s get with the times.

Dear visitors.
If you read the post yesterday, please look at the date carefully once again.
Did we manage to pull one over on you, the way the Asian Age did in its ‘exclusive’?!

Scooped?

This morning, The Asian Age printed a news item that’s either the best scoop in months or will leave them with egg on their face. The IPL comes back to India, screamed the headline. As the publishers of the paper are also the owner of the Deccan Challengers, the paper cited inside sources as saying the matches will be played in India after all, albeit with a schedule that works around the elections. This, while all the other papers in the capital are offering travel tips on how best to get to South Africa for the tournament! All will be revealed in 36 hours, claims the Age. Indeed, time will tell.

Stupid. There’s no other word to describe Varun Gandhi’s communal tirade that is now the talk of the capital—and indeed the rest of India. Why, even the hard-core saffron brigade is now looking positively genial by comparison. Did he really stop thinking for a minute and say those incendiary things as the media reports or was it all doctored, as he insists? Unless he can conclusively prove it’s a frame-up, Varun—and the party bosses who have given him a ticket—have been left with egg on their face. 10 Janpath must be pleased.

It was perhaps inevitable that even before the dust settled on the horrific attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team, the Pakistanis began the blame game—while government officials alluded to a ‘foreign hand’ (how many times have we heard that before?), TV channels in the country went flat out and accused RAW of masterminding the attack. It’s time for the country to get real and clean the dirt from their own doorstep before looking over the fence at the neighbour. Unfortunately, Islamabad’s policy of providing sanctuary to terrorist groups over the decades has now rebounded on itself. Will thinking minds in the country wake up and smell the coffee and act? Otherwise, the Talibanisation of the country will be complete. The implications of that for India are almost too horrific to contemplate.

The day of reckoning is here. The elections have been announced with the first phase set to begin on April 16. Now the games will begin as our political parties scramble for allies and partners—will we see interesting new alignments or will they stick with the true and tried? Can the Congress hope to go it alone as a viable national party or will the Sonia-Rahul-Manmohan factor prove to be a damp squib? Will the NDA stay as cohesive as the BJP proclaims it will? And what impact will loose cannons like Mayawati and Jayalalitha have this time around? So many questions, all of which will be answered through what promises to be a blistering summer.

Jai Ho!

India celebrates as A R Rahman wins two Oscars: for Best Score and Best Song. He’s only the third Indian to take home the golden statue, after Bhanu Athaiya (for costume design in Gandhi) and Satyajit Ray (lifetime achievement). This year, clearlySlumdog Millionaire was the clear winner, sweeping eight awards in total. It was nice to see the Indian contingent out in full force at the event. The only embarrassment at the Oscars—and indeed at this whole season of movie awards—has been a rather over-enthusiastic Anil Kapoor. His glee at being part of such a celebrated project is understandable, as his apparent joy at being revived in the public eye. But surely that’s not reason enough to act in an undignified manner, whooping and clapping whenever you spot a camera. Poor Irrfan Khan—he couldn’t get a word in edgewise with the E news reporter—Mr Kapoor was too busy waxing eloquent. Yikes.

Judgement day

Yesterday was a day where justice was dispensed. Pakistan finally admitted that its citizens were involved in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack—and about time too we should say. Guess the international pressure from Obama et al proved too much for Islamabad to handle. Also, Moninder Singh Pandher and his domestic help Surendra Koli were sentenced guilty in the horrific Nithari case. Another piece of news that made Delhi Whispers very happy: the growing number of people signing up for the Pink Chaddi campaign on networking sites like Facebook. Time for medieval thought processes to bite the dust

For those of us who still believed that India’s judiciary was beyond reproach, here’s a shocker. It just takes Rs 75,000 to guarantee an early hearing of your case in the Supreme Court. That’s the story of an NRI doctor who is engaged in a legal battle against three Kolkata doctors. His contention is that their actions led to his wife’s death 11 years ago. They were acquitted by the Kolkata High Court in 2004 forcing him to take the battle to the apex court. After a wait of over four years, some officials of the Supreme Court promised a ‘prompt’ hearing for the aforementioned sum. But our kudos go to the doctor. He promptly informed the CBI who arrested the three men (two employees of the court’s registry and one lawyer) in question. Some justice after all!

It was warm for a while in the capital—now the Met department predicts that the weather will go back to its cold ways. It’s February after all, folks. Also becoming distinctly chilly is the relationship between the SP and the Congress, with Mulayam Singh reaffirming his friendship with Kalyan Singh. With elections just around the corner, does this herald another round of shifting alignments and alliances? Let’s wait and watch.

Delhi lad Yuki Bhambri came home yesterday with the Australian Open Junior Boy’s trophy—a proud moment for the city and the country. A double whammy for us was the Mixed Doubles’ crown, won by Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza. It just goes to show that India has the talent—what we lack is the infrastructure and training at the grassroots level. Sania has been mentored by Bhupathi and Bhambri has been sponsored by the Apollo tennis programme. But what of those on the socioeconomic fringes who do not have access to good coaches, equipment or courts? If we want to consistently produce tennis champions, it will take a dedicated all-India effort and commitment to spot talent and nurture it. Otherwise, such wins will remain a flash in the pan.

With global economic growth said to be its lowest since World War II, India and China—go figure!—have emerged as the only sizeable economies likely to record growth rates of over 5 per cent. That’s the verdict of the IMF. Helping to buoy our economy are our inveterate shoppers. Delhi Whispers enjoyed a sun-dappled walk through the city’s swank Khan Market yesterday afternoon and saw gaggles of shoppers eagerly clutching their shopping bags. With almost every store on sale, the pickings were indeed good. Retailers will hope they return—again and again.

A sombre day in the capital yesterday. While the Prime Minister recovers from his cardiac surgery, India lost one of its former presidents R Venkataraman. The 98 year-old, who was often known as a copybook head of state, oversaw India’s the country’s first coalition government, headed by V P Singh. All official functions stand cancelled for a week. Meanwhile, other business went on as usual. One unsavoury highlight: newspapers reported that the government has proposed to more than double the funds allocation to MPs under the MP Local Area Development Scheme—the amount will go up from Rs 2 crore to Rs 5 crore. A great way to curry favour with legislators, what with elections around the corner….

It was a good Republic Day this year. The parade went off smoothly—in fact, there was a sense of gravitas and pride to the proceedings that have been missing for some time now. Perhaps the signs of a country banding together in a show of solidarity. Further, on the heels of 26/11, the Centre is expected to give the go ahead for the establishment of a Special Forces Command on the lines of crack anti-terrorist teams seen in countries like the US and Israel. We hope this is implemented, and soon. Finally, the icing on the cake (if the screaming headlines are anything to go by): US President Barack Obama’s assertion that India has no better friend than the US. But before we get all euphoric let’s just remember that he may say the same thing to Pakistan tomorrow.

Delhi ’s art fraternity is in a tizzy. A retrospective of S H Raza at Dhoomimal Gallery in Connaught Place-opened by the veteran artist himself-this past weekend ended up featuring a bunch of fakes. According to Raza, his signature has been photographed and made into stamp, which has been used on the fake canvases. With the artist openly expressing his dismay and anger in the media, the Gallery, one of the oldest and most reputed in the capital, has been left with egg on the face. This will keep the culturati buzzing-until the next scandal comes along.

The word is out that four Rajya Sabha seats from Jammu & Kashmir will be allotted in the next few days. Three are expected to go to Ghulam Nabi Azad, Saifuddin Soz and Faroukh Abdullah. And the fourth? Well, it has been committed to king of good times Vijay Mallya by the Abdullahs. In fact, Mallya has spent past week in Jammu and Srinagar lobbying his case. And to ensure a smooth passage, he’s also said to have sought the blessings of a karmic healer in South Delhi. An interesting sidelight: Omar Abdullah’s wife Payal has been the GSA of Jet Airways in Srinagar for years now. Is there a job shift in the offing?

The PM’s new wheels

The capital’s roads will soon see a brand new set of wheels—Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s new BMWs is reportedly being test-driven in secret by the SPG at Safdarjang Airport. The custom-made BMW X series, a 4,799 cc SUV with two engines and eight cylinders costs Rs 78.6 lakh in its most basic form—after customization the price tag goes up to a whopping Rs 15 crore! Highlights include the i-drive computer system that controls audio, climate, communication and navigation systems; secure phone; on-board monitor with TV function; hill-descent control; and rain sensors. Of course, the hatchback is bullet-proof, mine-proof and armour plated. Apparently, the government has ordered 15 of these vehicles. And here we are talking about a recession.

Another scandal-this time it's our judges fleecing the common man. Newspapers are reporting that provident fund savings of class III and class IV employees of the Ghaziabad courts were illegally spent on luxury items like furniture, crockery, mobiles, gadgets and laptops for district judges. The findings are the result of a CBI probe. The judges apparently even spent the money on photography and video-recording of their family functions. If our judicial system is so rotten, what can we expect from big business?

India's Enron has left the capital reeling. The biggest ever corporate fraud in Indian history, the Satyam scandal is a huge blow to the overseas image of India Inc and has brought into sharp focus the ethics behind corporate governance. For its part, the government has put the salvage of the company at the top of its agenda, with the PM meeting the SBI chief. Now it’s up to the official troubleshooters Deepak Parekh, Kiran Karnik and C Achuthan to untangle the mess. In this whole debacle lies a valuable lesson for big business: get your house in order. It’s the least you owe your stakeholders—and your country.

A meeting has been called to select the next Deputy Governor of RBI in the 1st week of January. The selection committee headed by RBI Governor Dr. D. Subbarao also constitutes the Cabinate Secretary, the Principal Secretary to PM, Finance Secretary Mr. Arun Ramanathan and DOPT Secretary. No guess on who the front runner is. Both South and North blocks are pushing for Mr. T.S. Narayanasami, Chairman Bank of India.