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.