Twittering About Cattle Class & The Holy Cow

By Manuwant Choudhary

India's deputy foreign minister Sashi Tharoor is in trouble for twittering "Yes I will be travelling cattle-class...in solidarity with our Holy Cows", replying to a twitter by a fan on whether he will be travelling cattle class (third class train) to Kerala.

And the Congress Party is demanding his resignation for calling 3rd class train travellers `cattle' and the politicians of India as `The Holy Cows'.

India's Prime Minister now says it was only a joke.

And Sashi Tharoor explains that `cattle class' is an expression not to demean people who travel third class while The Holy Cow means principles and ideas that are considered `sacrosanct' and not be be challenged by anyone.

The media (Hindi and English) both simply also do not understand English and the breaking news is that Sashi Tharoor has apologised!

I'm not sure about the apology but if Tharoor has to apologise he must apologise not to the Congress Party or the politicians but to the people of India for calling third class trains `cattle class'. Its simply worse.

Mr. Tharoor as a press aide to the United Nations chief has perhaps spent too many years abroad.

I fear the idiom `cattle class' comes from the fact that it is possible to take your cattle along with you in the trains...like even goats and sheep, so abroad like in the photograph above there is space enough to take cattle in the trains but in India its simply not possible. He should have coined another `idiom' for travelling in Indian trains...`Bee Class' (see how Indians travel on the roof and even atop train engines!.

Or can you suggest a word?

India's Hindu party also tried playing the Hindu card by saying please do not insult the Cow - Our Mother!

For Cows Sake Learn English.

Ants Starve In The Prime Minister's Kitchen!

By Manuwant Choudhary

I got this unusual call, “We are ants who live in the Prime Minister’s kitchen and we would like to give you an exclusive interview.”

I said, “Where do we meet? At the Prime Minister’s Residence?”

Ant A : “No, no, you will never get past the security and besides you are not even a pretty airhostess to even get to the gates!”

Me, “Then?”

Ant A: “We can get past the security because we are tiny. I know there is a hole in the hotline cable to Pakistan PM. We will see you at the Delhi Gymkhana just opposite the PMs House.”

Me, “But journalists don’t come without getting some free booze.”

Ant A: “Ya, ya we thought about that already. We are not Congressmen. You can drink openly at the Gymkhana but you must hear our story. We are about to starve to death!.”

So as I made my way to the Delhi Gymkhana I saw Prannoy Roy, Rajdeep Sardesai, Barkha Dutt, Aroop Ghosh all outside the Prime Minister’s House waiting to get their `exclusive’ interview with the PM. I even noticed Shekhar Gupta nervously practicing his walk for his `Talk The Walk’ interview.

At the Delhi Gymkhana I got my promised drink first and then the interview.

Ant A, “We are very happy you made it. The reason why we’ve called you is that we are about to starve to death.”

Me, “But how and why? You are not some farmers in Vidarbha. You are ants and you live …welll…errr…in the Prime Ministers House.”

Ant B, “Yah it was all fine but suddenly last week things changed.”

Me. “When?”

Ant C, “When two foreign ministers S.M. Krishna and Shashi Tharoor were ordered to vacate their 5 Star rooms.”

Me. “What has that to do with ants? They were asked to vacate their 5 Star rooms because the Congress Party believes in an austerity drive….”

Ant C, “You don’t understand us. After that incident things have changed even in the Prime Minister’s kitchen. Earlier, Dr. Manmohan Singh’s wife and cooks would leave the sugar jars open and so we had no food problem. There were also sugar on the floor. But now suddenly we can’t find even one particle on the floor. What do we eat?”

Me, “Ahh, now I get it. But is it because the Prime Minister has diabetes so no sugar is allowed in the house or is it because Sugar is Gold?”

Ant B, “You should not comment about a persons health. That is a private matter. Besides, you now see how the PM is stronger than Advani."

Me, “No but even Time magazine dissected Vajpayees anatomy…from his brain to knees…what not..cover story.”

Ant C, “Yah its okay to talk about health as long as there is a public interest involved. In cour case the Prime Minister not eating sugar means we all die.”

Me, “But that is socialism. Austerity..spending less…see even Sonia Gandhi is traveling to Bombay economy class..and Rahulji takes a First Class AC train to Ludhiana (Does Ludhiana have an airport?)…They are all sacrificing so much for this country. All TV channels say so..even passengers in the planes and trains. Afterall Soniaji, Rahulji and all Congressmen aare `Aam Aaadme’.

Ant B, “But can you explain this socialism bullshit? Isn’t socialism about making people equal? And if Shashi Tharoor was spending his own money in a 5 Star Hotel would that not make him poorer? And now that he stays at a Navy Guest House, he will become richer, unless Sonia Gandhi asks him to donate all his money to the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.”

Me, “You don’t understand all this…the Indian voter does. Socialism is not what it is …but what it seems.”

Ant A, “I think you are complicating issues. We are telling you a simple truth that we are going to die because we get no sugar in the Prime Minister’s kitchen.”

Me, “But there is a sugar crisis in the country. Look at the Prices….and in festivals that are around it will be Rs.100 a kilo!. Can’t you talk to the Prime Minister himself and say you are `aam aadmee’.

Ant A, “We are not aam aadmee..we are not even aam ants ..because we live in New Delhi in the Prime Minister’s House. Its better than 5 Star Hotels…Lutyen designed it himself.”

Me, “Who is aam ant then?’

Ant A, “Aam ants are those who live in Bihar and drown in the floods every year.”

Ant B, “You have no idea to what extend Manmohan Singh can go..Let me tell you..its an exclusive …I heard the PM tell his wife he plans to sell the BMW…and instead walk to parliament everyday…that’s why you saw Shkehar Gupta waiting nervously….Shekhar has been asked to walk with the PM everyday!”

Ant A, “I wonder why there is a sugar crisis in the first place?”

Ant B, “I read the other day that Soniaji has written a letter to Sharad Pawar to send her some sugar.”

Ant C, “Exactly, you see Sharad Pawar controls all the sugar in the country.”

Me, “Simple, why don’t you all just shift to 10 Janpath for a few days. You see all the sugar is with Soniaji…see how hordes of Congressmen swarm outside her gates like bees to a queen bee….even RJDs Laloo goes to her.”

Kim Dae Jung - Tribute To A Leader

Manuwant Choudhary

In August 2001 I got an invitation through the Indian Liberal Group and the Friedrich Naumann Stiftung for a conference of young democratic leaders of asia. I was still a journalist with NDTV then and did not know what to expect but cutting my hectic life as a journalist I accepted the invite.

At Seoul’s Incheon airport I was greeted by a grumpy immigration official who roughly asked me about my purpose of visit and where I would be staying. I had really no clue except that I was to attend a conference. So I handed him the invite for him to see. As the man read the invite I saw his expressions change and he suddenly stood up from his chair and bowed thrice. I still did not have a clue why.

Once my immigrations were cleared I took one more look at my invite and the program mentioned nothing except the conference and a meeting with the `Leader’!

Our conference began and it was hectic I promise you with liberals demanding Gen. Parvez Musharrah of Pakistan be declared a dictator in the final resolution and the Pakistani liberals (close to the General) stoutly defending him and even saying that Musharraf was a democrat! But how could there be a resolution on democracy without condemning military dictatorships? So finally a consensus emerged that we condemn all military rules in Asia.

On the third day of the conference we were taken to see `The Leader’ who lived at the Blue House. Only then did I realize that `The Leader’ was none other than the President of South Korea.

No cameras were allowed and after a security check we were welcomed inside and President Kim Dae Jung stood waiting for us outside the hall with a host of TV crew and photographers alongside. As our names were called out one by one and each one of introduced in Korean (I could follow they said something about TV & Radio when my name was announced) each one of us shook hands with the President.

The Blue House is just regal and as we sat around our tables the director presented the proceedings of the conference and talked about in great detail the resolution we had passed. One had not imagined a head of state taking such keen interest in democracy.

And the President himself gave a one-hour speech in Korean but translated in English for us to follow. As I noticed a limp in his leg a Korean colleague pointed out that the President got that from the torture in prison as he led the uprising against military dictatorship in South Korea.

It was a privilege to hear Kim Dae Jung.

The next few days we got to see South Korea and all I can say is that it’s a very beautiful country.

We even visited the province that Kim Dae Jung comes from and its his province that was always the first to stand up to military rule but also the one who suffered the brutal military assaults resulting in the deaths of thousands of young men and women. Somehow the outside world has no idea the price Koreans have paid to fight for democracy and freedom.

I was asked which province I came from and when I explained about Bihar the Koreans said yes, yes, that’s exactly like the province Kim Dae Jung comes from – all protests start from there – a politically volatile state.

Another aspect I wasn’t aware of us that both India and South Korea got their independence on August 15 1947 and both were divided.

Kim Dae Jung’s legacy is his `Sunshine Policy’ when he became the first South Korean President to cross the border to North Korea and meet Kim Jong II, enabling thousands of other Korean families to meet their loved ones. There were critics to his plans then and there will be critics now but as I watched Kim Dae Jung’s last interview given to CNN he said, “The only way the two Korea’s can come together is by dialogue and never by war. My policy has made South Korea safer…before we felt a bomb would fall any minute, any second.”

He is also charged with bribing Kim Jong II for his Sunshine Policy but Kim Dae Jung said he was helping his poor brothers and sisters in North Korea. Later his government was also called the `lame-duck’ government.

But Kim Dae Jung deservedly received the Nobel Prize for Peace.

As I left Korea I felt Kim Dae Jung helped me look at Asia and the world differently. It also made me realize that there were only a few democratic countries in Asia and so when I started this blog I write about Aung San and the monks protests…I write about the Dalai Lama and his desire to return home to Tibet.

On my return to India the next month on September 11 as airplanes crashed into New Yorks World Trade Centre I understood why Kim Dae Jung paid so much attention to democracy.

The President of South Korea even sent me a New Year Greeting to my Patna address.

And while his sons embroiled his name in corruption he readily apologized to the nation.

But I am not sure if Korean’s forgave him.

He was their hero.

Swatantra Party Condolence For Maharani Gayatri Devi

PIX: Rajesh Singh

Swatantra Party offers its condolence to its former Member of Parliament Maharani Gayatri Devi who passed away on the eve of 50 years of the founding of the Swatantra Party. This meet was organised to commemorate 50 years at Bombay on August 1.

Maharani Gayatri Devi - India's Brightest Star Has Gone

By Manuwant Choudhary

I never met Maharani Gayatri Devi but in a strange way I've always felt I know her so well ..so when news came of her death at the age of 90 my eyes moistened.

She was one person I always wanted to meet..even if it was only to touch her feet and take her blessings as is the Indian tradition.

I feel saddened by her passing away and mourn, just as Jaipur mourns her death.

But Maharani Gayatri Devi was not just the Queen of Jaipur but of entire India.

She proved that one can still remain a Queen even after governments take away all your privileges and titles if being a Queen means winning the hearts and minds of people.

An international icon, she was said to be the world's most beautiful woman.

But I did have a connection with Gayatri Devi since my family belonged to the Swatantra Party and she won the Jaipur seat for the party winning some 1,92,000 votes of the 2,50,000 votes polled, which means 77 percent of the voters vote for her, thereby entering the Guiness Book of World Records.

And why even I did have a connection with her, as I've been trying to revive the old Swatantra Party.

Tomorrow I leave for Bombay to attend 50 Years of the Founding of the Swatantra Party.

Gayatri Devi's passing away just two days before the Swatantra Party's Founding Day has a message for us.

Gayatri Devi was Swatantra Party's brightest star, so this day the bright blue flag with the white star stays at half-mast.

But the flag must be raised tomorrow so that we can once again offer the Indian people a real credible alternative, something that tempted a Gayatri Devi to consider joining an opposition party.

In her book `A Princess Remembers', she writes, "Rajaji (C. Rajagopalachari, founder of the Swatantra Party), had broken with the Congress Party the year before, because he felt Prime Minister Nehru's acceptance of socialist doctrine was quite out of keeping with the needs of Indians."

She says, "Rajaji used to tell us often `What has happened to the Congressmen? They have got fat and prosperous?'"

Rajaji described Gayatri Devi as the Rani of Jhansi - a great Indian heroine, who led her troops against the British in the cause of freedom.

Walter Cronkite - A Sky News Tribute

News Legend Walter Cronkite Dies

"Nothing peps up news as news itself." Walter Cronkite (the man America trusted the most)