The Great Indian Political Tamasha

The Great Indian Political Tamasha

March 15, 2014 Off By Fried Eye

3627_wpm_lowres

Elections are just round the corner and the newspapers and televisions are doing their best to work us up to frenzy (for good and probably best reasons) to what we see as The Great Indian Tamasha , just as the political parties battle it out!

No, we are not being disrespectful to our constitution. We respect it! We are the common man and for us it is our hope to a better future.

Neither are we being overly critical of the contestants…well not without reason at least. We have eyes! We are not blind! We see what is happening. We read about them in the newspapers and yes, we get amused and mighty confused at times too, about what is really going on, transpiring behind the scenes, just like an audience of a Tamasha or a Show would.

But just for once, try to look at it through the eyes of an aam aadmi , not the party , but the real aam aadmi sans the blinkers and what do you think -we think- when we see the defections, the contesting candidate lists, the making of alliances , breaking them and again re alliances, the statements, accusations, counter statements, counter accusations…and so on – a big reality show where unfortunately our votes don’t end in a grand finale of crazy celebrations and a winner going happily home! Rather it has massive implications for the future, our future…

How we wish it was just a reality show where we could just confer some awards , have a few laughs, label people and then get on with it, but this is no laughing matter. On second thoughts though, yes! Of course it is a serious responsibility, but we can always “take a chill pill “ as they say, have a few laughs, and fight away the doubts and anxieties, can’t we?

Why not take everything we observe or are observing, in jest and enjoy a few light moments? We would also advise you to take it with a pinch of salt, because what we are going to do now is present our own awards or tags to the deserving candidates of what we see as The Greatest Show on earth.

The Trapeze artist

Trapeze is an acrobatic show where an artist swings across from one post to the other with the help of rope swings and somersaults, done with great precision and at great heights.

When we say trapeze the first thing that comes to our mind are the defectors. Changing camps is a common sight in politics but what sets our trapeze artists apart is the timing of their swinging act!

Hence our Trapeze Artists are those defectors, who have switched parties from the Congress to the BJP just before the polls; just in the wake of the Congress party’s declining popularity! Have to say, what a timing!

The Lions and the Ringmaster

This is a very popular and a very ferocious act where there is a sort of mutual distrust as well as trust between the Ringmaster or the trainer and the great cats and where they ‘somehow manage’ to cooperate with each other so that the show ‘somehow manages’ to go on. Yes, you got it right, it sounds so much like the alliances between both major and minor parties to form a government or to contest an election. And so we have many such contenders for this title of ours, what with all the alliances and break ups going on in the scene. Drama continues in Tamil Nadu, as AIADMK leads everybody to a merry dance , with one day breaking the alliance with the Left front and the next day coming out with a hint of one with BJP. We are almost tempted to hand the tag to the AIDMK-BJP possibility , but we guess the tag fits better on the RJD-Congress alliance in Bihar, the power of the roar and the crack of the whip? Whose will prevail? Only time will tell! But till then, a powerful Lion and the Ringmaster act- A dangerous game of trust laced with mistrust!

Fire breather

Fire breathers are ones who spit or throw flames from their mouth, with the help of flammable spirits . A dangerous trick indeed, but that makes it one of the top acts in a show.

Now all the politicos are fire breathers as far as quotes and speeches are concerned barring aside a few you know whos from you know which party. So who will it be? Narendra Modi for his oratory skills or Mamta didi for her fiery ones? But we decided to give that to Mr Arvind Kejriwal, who can fire any situation by uttering one magic word – Dharna! Not only situations, but he can even make seasoned leaders burn and squirm with a seemingly innocuous question – Where did you get the funds for so and so…?

So Mr Kejriwal it is, our very own fire breather!

The Nautanki

Nautanki is a a form of folk theatre comprising of both music and dance with lots of drama interspersed!

We do not even need to explain why we are presenting this tag to Mamta Bannerjee led Trinamool Congress. If you still have doubts, we would just ask you to go through the celebrity names in their LS candidates list.

Tightrope walking

Orissa CM Naveen Patnaik gets the tag for his unconventional yet successful practices like surveys , free rice, laptops, bicycles etc. and most importantly for keeping all his options open post election by being non committal to any one party pre election. Wah! What a balancing act Sirjee!

 

The Snake Charmer

Snake charmers or saperas as you all know are snake handlers who can make the snakes dance to their tunes literally.

Seeing the current scenario where BJP is re-emerging as a power to be under the leadership of Mr Narendra Modi, making the other parties almost dance to their tunes, we think the title Snake charmer is just apt for him, however we would like to state that the term ‘Snakes’ do not in any way allude to the other parties in a literal or derogatory manner. In case of similarities please consider it as an unintended coincidence and pun.

 

And finally the The Indian rope trick-

Indian rope trick which to date remains unverified, is described as, where a young boy , preferably the magician’s assistant climbs up a rope thrown up and suspended from the air. On reaching the top he disappears in a cloud, where he is killed by the cloud dwellers and his pieces thrown down, which again is collected in a basket, from where he emerges after some abracadabra.

The whole act of the Rise to the Top with the aid of magicians, only to fall in pieces and later be resurrected rings a bell, right? If you have guessed it as Rahul Gandhi then welcome to our group of crazies! So far the Indian rope trick does seem to have a metaphorical connection to Rahul Gandhi. However whether he is resurrected or not, remains to be seen.

So this was our colorful view of the going on-s but to be truthful, at the end of the day we still are in a confused haze as to what is happening and what is going to happen! We are just aware that this is big moment, a time of great upheaval and a time of reckoning. We are overwhelmed with strange emotions just like which are felt when the curtains draw over at the end of a beautiful show.

P.S – If you have some more tags or labels, then please free to share it with us.

PPS- We again request you to take it in a lighter vein and think ahead and about your future course of action with a smile on your lips. Great times and great decisions await you. We just wanted to cheer you up.

 

 

 

We welcome your comments at letters@friedeye.com