Husband And Wife—The Law of Equality!

At the start of the New Year a good friend of mine sent me a joke on the husband-wife syndrome. While talking about a certain ‘Law of Equality’ it says,” The time taken by a wife  when she says to her waiting husband ‘I’ll get ready in five minutes’ is exactly equal to the time taken by a husband when he tells his wife from office ‘I’ll call you back in five minutes!’”

This reminds me of an old joke about couples where the law of equality seems to be maintained in some measure. “A couple quarreled bitterly and they were not on talking terms. It was night and the logjam continued. Now, the hubby had to go for an urgent appointment early in the morning and he did not believe in the alarm clock because he used to shut it up on the very first ring. He needed his wife’s help, but how? So he left a note by her pillow-side that said ‘Please wake me up at 7am’. He overslept and finally waking up found the clock striking 8. He jumped up and as he began cursing the institution of marriage he saw the note by his pillow-side. His wife’s note said ‘It’s 7! Please wake up!’

In another very crucial segment of marital existence namely ‘the division of labor’, this particular law gets a little weaker. Normally the wife is very concerned about the burden of work she is being subjected to and the burden her husband takes on or pretends to take on. If she fully manages the kitchen the husband has to take care of setting the dinner table, filling the water jars and doing the beds. But the law ultimately gets very biased and partisan. Hubby returns home after a hard day’s work looking for a warm cup of tea from his darling wife, but he faces the music instantly. His ‘over-burdened’ partner exclaims, ‘What do you do in office? Just relax in air-conditioned comfort and gossip with your friends and pretty secretaries the whole goddamned day! You make the tea for you and me too now! Else you are not going to get your supper!’ 

Corruption Remix!

Article first published as Your Liability, Our Asset! on Technorati.

Recently the main opposition party of India, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), inducted into its party fold an expelled minister of the ruling party in Uttar Pradesh—the largest northern state of India. The former minister, Babu Singh Kushwaha, was expelled by the Chief Minister of the state Mayawati due to his involvement in the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam.

Under the NRHM scheme the Government of India had released around 100,000 million Indian rupees to the state to be utilized for rural health expenditures. Following murders of two Chief Medical Officers and one death under suspicious circumstances the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took up the case about two months back. Mayawati suspected Kushwaha’s involvement in the murders too apart from the gross misuse of the funds.

The BJP’s inspiration for this act was obvious. It wanted to garner more votes since assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh were round the corner. The expelled minister belonged to a particular caste and in this feudalistic state caste-politics had been the accepted norm. If the ruling party dismissed him for corruption another party would still expect to get the votes for him from the community he belonged to.  

The problem was that the BJP had been capitalizing on the anti-corruption movement all the while and had been making maximum gains by giving support to Team Anna. So now the party found itself under tremendous pressure from within the party and from all other political parties including the ruling coalition of India. To make matters worse the CBI as part of their investigations of the NRHM scam raided many places including the residence of Kushwaha just the day after his induction and an FIR was lodged against him. Rumors were doing the rounds about his impending arrest.

In an effort of damage control the BJP cried of conspiracy on the immaculate timing of the raids, but there were not many listeners. The party spokespersons hurriedly announced that the tainted inductee would not be given a ticket for fighting elections and that he would also not be used as a star campaigner.  The party still did not reverse its decision despite a palpable rift within the party. Instead, it preferred to send a huge delegation to the President of India requesting for a special session of Parliament to pass the deadlocked Lokpal Bill trying to emphasize its continued commitment to the fight against corruption. Even though it was still not clear who really sabotaged the passing of the Bill in the upper house on that night of December 29, 2011. The BJP embarrassment made Team Anna clueless about what to do in the forthcoming assembly elections. They finally announced that they would not any campaigning for the assembly elections.

For Indian politicians getting votes is such a tremendous urge that it makes them compromise on issues so often. They try to make amends the moment they feel the compromise is going to erode another vote bank.

Fight against corruption is finally subject to politics of vote.  Meanwhile CBI has made more arrests under the NRHM scam.

  

Cricket: Sidney Blockbuster Turns Into India-Crusher!

Team India lost a great opportunity with history behind and history-to-be-made ahead. They won the toss and elected to bat first—a tremendous advantage in a match they wanted to do well. The so-called best batting line-up of the world flopped miserably. If 13 wickets fell in the first day of the second cricket test between India and Australia in Sidney it was due to Indian batting failure and if only one wicket fell on the second day today it was Australian supremacy.

Doubtful starter for the series Ricky Ponting went from strength to strength—scoring two half centuries in the two innings of the first test in Melbourne and scoring his 40^th ton here in Sidney. He scored this ton after two years. Well, there is a saying about Team India’s proverbial generosity—if someone or a team is hopelessly out of form, play with India because India would restore the confidence lost in overflowing measure! Australia looked to be a team in disarray prior to the start of the series and now, they look set to dominate world cricket once again.

It’s really inexplicable how seasoned batsmen like Gambhir, Laxman and Kohli could go on doing absolutely nothing for the team. Sachin Tendulkar looked good and set for a historical performance, but finally it was a far cry from what the whole of cricket world wanted of him. And, for an ominous change, Indian bowlers lacked penetration with at least three strike bowlers in action. Australia scored 366 runs today—at the rate of over four runs per over like in one day affairs. They finished the second day at a mammoth 482 for 4.

There is already a lead of 291 runs and Australia look poised to take it beyond 500 with 6 wicket in still intact. Now, only calculations that are possible would be the margin of defeat for India. Get ready to read the headline, ‘Australia crush India by an innings and __ runs!’ You need just to fill in the blank assuming of course India stick to its time tested policy of generosity. It could very well be over on the third day tomorrow itself or the agony may prolong to the fourth day too.

A miracle? Certainly not plausible at the present state of things. India skipper Dhoni has no answers or excuses to offer though he got an unbeaten fifty. Australian captain Michael Clarke is oozing confidence leading from the front and achieving his first double ton, still unbeaten at 250 plus. A repeat of the England drubbing seems to be the final result.  

The tigers on flat and slow pitches at home are just running away from the prey while out of home environs. Again and again. Very disappointing indeed. Not that we are obsessed with Indian win only. But, at least give a brave fight and make the matches interesting.