I have been reading a lot recently, rallying my year-end thoughts, when my world was gate-crashed bythe strikingly odd-couple of; Babri Masjid demolition investigation and thefirst Anniversary of 26/11, Mumbai. Definitely the Babri incident was more feminine- almost blonde, and wearing flagrant red! They are 'a couple' being encircled & intertwined by certain events in recent Indian history.

Common sense is definitely the most uncommon sense, which does not seem to have been spread and diligently applied over 17 years of Liberhan non-sense. What was the Prime Minister and the then Home Minister (father of the present Mumbai CM) doing while the Masjid was being carefully stripped down brick by brick? Does not the buck stop at the PM’s desk? If a distant poet reading, constantly blinking Vajpayee can be pseudo-implicated, what about an apparently 'in slumber', 'eyes wide shut' Narashima Rao-the Prime Minister? Are we looking into a dark tunnel of another 17 years? The Villain in the ubiquitous Indian films (in the yester-year mandatory film rape scene) performs the act of stripping the heroine- in multiples of the "famous seven seconds", to give enough time for the Hero (or Lord Krishna) to gate-crash in, bash the villain (who only gets to keep the sari and perhaps some torn blouse pieces) to pulp, offer his cool coat to cover exposed hot flesh and earn his seven minutes of fame! Of course he wins the Heroine’s -by now "exposed heart" in the process!

On the poignant day of 26/11, while candles were being lit and Force-1 Mumbai Cops doing the great Indian rope-trick, we have our Man PM dining with lovely gate-crashers in some distant land in a pseudo- Indian environment and our Lady Prez getting out of her toe-to-head-to-finger outfit to fly the skies and reach dizzying speeds. Maybe it pays to see India from yonder America or from Himalayan heights for better insights than real time smelly close-ups?

While The Economist debates on how to feed the World (between now and 2050 the world’s population will rise by a third but demand for agricultural goods will rise by 70%) and Time magazine essays on a pregnant India Model to deliver, what is India doing? Key thoughts emerge: (i) farming should be made as efficient as possible with comprehensive investment,which requires markets & trade, and (ii) Good governance – having an effective, clean government at every level, percolating down to the smallest Village.

Gandhi said; India lives in its Villages. We need to take this awfully seriously and simply develop our Villages. For a start just give them the roads, water & electricity and they will fly Sukhois and travel to the Americas to eat & dine. Blonde gate-crashers wearing peak-a-boo diaphanous red lehanga’s and the kind are invited!

With rising food prices, all that the Agricultural Minister has to offer is more 20-20’s, test matches & one-dayers. He talks as if his mouth is always filled with cricket balls! No wonder crane growers recently gate-crashed the Capital. Regional chauvinism and parochial manoo ideas are going unchallenged with balkanization staring down the barrel of a Naxal country gun. "Kode" corruption & indiscipline in public life is rampant (For a start, if only we could make every citizen strictly follow road rules in every town & cityin India we could bring many things libidos under control). The clean honest economic savvy PM is only that –leaving much needed leadership safely locked out (for the next recession?). Meanwhile, the dichotomy in governance still persistswith the dimple –cheeked "Man Who Would be King" still spending never-ending dalit nights under the stars (Grandpa, to which star do I hitch my wagon? Oh! tell me please!) as if taking up responsibility would spoil future Family-union parties! Someone stand up, lead and govern please!