Tale of a God bestriding like a colossus and of a guilty ferret with shifty beady eyes

I had taken a sabbatical from blogging for quite some time, due to work related commitments, and it was indeed very gratifying when a lot of people asked me when was i going to write next :)

Two things caught my attention over the last fortnight, both different contexts but deploring a common thing - A weak national leadership. The first was the press conference held by the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh and the second was the comment made by Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi on the former Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru. From the first PM to this one nothing has changed much for India. My corollary is that both of these men have constantly been described in pejorative terms as meek , timid and myopic and quixotic respectively.

Since there is nothing that we can do about the past, lets take up the present.

Dr. Manmohan singh's conference was one befalling which he could have used to silence his censurers. But instead of quelling the irksome correspondents, he continued his monotonous speech and abstained from answering tough questions, the ones that he answered were of course brimming with over used hackneyed phrases.

I bore the torture as much as my patience would allow, and then my thoughts drifted to an interview that I had read a couple of years ago. It was published in the TIME magazine with the then Russian President, Vladimir Putin, the impression of the journalists was quite a read, the gaze described was that of a man who says i am in command, talking to him is chilling as if the Russian winters are not enough for the foreign press. He gives an evident impression of a man who effortlessly exudes power. He is petite but that factor is easily overcome by his consummate confidence. and makes no effort to placate the press.

I find the comparison between the two premiers quite relevant: both the nations are vast ( russia expands over 11 time zones)they both have their respective share of problems, both have to be most of the time at the receiving end of world politics, but the Russian premier knows the rules of the game better and refuses to be auxiallary subject to the powers at home or abroad, and the less said about the Indian PM, the better. In the whole press conference the only time he appeared chirpy was when the subject of Rahul Gandhi being made the Prime Minister came up,he is a man who is a pawn in his own country and is only making his stature ludicrous abroad.

I am only hoping for a day when the TIME magazine publishes such an article about an Indian Prime Minister.

I also came across a widely popular joke, which summarizes the entire article:

Putin and Bush are fishing on the Volga River. After half an hour Bush complains, "Vladimir, I'm getting bitten like crazy by mosquitoes, but I haven't seen a single one bothering you."
Putin: "They know better than that."

Liebe Grüße
Suyasha