We are hurtling through the Delhi winter which somehow appears less intimidating than the previous one.  Over the week we watched America finally leave behind a history of slave chains and shackles by inaugurating its first Afro-American President on a chilly and near freezing Tuesday morning.  The White House never looked ‘whiter’! The  smooth ‘transfer of power’, the quiet  & firm traditions embellished the ceremonies like never before. The entire ceremony was threaded so well by some invisible force which made me wonder, ‘who is this God of Big things?’ The invocation to God, the dignity and clarity of the proceedings, espoused the freedom enjoyed by the Americans. Each participant appeared as important as the person on whose table the buck would eventually stop, yet never diminishing, even for a moment the power of the Chief Executive. How do these guys do this? At the stoke of 12 noon the President-elect  is automatically inaugurated –never mind the manual ‘miss’ mashes! The new Defense Secretary is kept ‘in a cocoon’ away from the slowly unfolding happenings – to take charge in the event of an emergency.  Oh!  What systems! Who thought this out? America! America!

After ‘tripping over trailing trains’ at the Ball Dance post-inauguration celebrations, I rested my tired eyes. I soaked in and allowed the beauty of what I had just witnessed, to sink deep in. Jai Ho! I was up again - A Slumdog Millionaire war barking somewhere.  I heard ten clear staggered  yelps and then it was a mesmerizing stillness again, O Saya! I ‘ve got to wait till twenty-second February for Gold Statues  to reach Indian shores!

The Indian blood is flowing a ‘blazing tale’ but on a wizened white-haired steaming King of a Singh it found multiple clogged pathways. Economic Surgery demanded passing the buck to a more able bodied Head. Who will this be? Notwithstanding the dreams & aspirations of over a billion people a single Lady would be calling the shots-evaluating the options based on a scale of ‘Gandhi Family Loyality’. Oh! I am surely confused, ‘what says what’ and ‘who says whom?’ A certain short, heavily accented, heavily loaded (with the Foreign Ministry, Finance Ministry, State Congress– you name it) appears to be ‘looming large’ to carry a billion people! Is there anybody else out there? India! India!

On the sidelines a Pawar-ful maratha cricket batsman who knows he cannot speak more than he can bat pads-on to face the bowling, encouraged by a bearded wily old red Tiger. Other equally incapable men (some with whiskers on their ears) & women hope to create Maya-jal to ‘power break’ the numbers game and scramble to the PM’s Chair. NO VACANCY, eh?  My blood is boiling again! 26/11 is now a distant star………………..I’d  rather invite a slumDOG into my house than a Politician! Ha!