As the penultimate quarter of the year 2013 comes to an end, the magnitude of absurdness encompassing us all seems to be compounding. Every sphere you look around, incidents bordering on absurdity keep popping up. The latest in the list is an incident which was narrated to me by my colleagues where a person from the hospitality was seen arguing with a "Taped Message" on an answering machine, leaving me to ponder whether to laugh or to cry.
Moving on to serious cases of absurdity, the case of a "Village Woman" seems to be hogging the media in India and neighboring Pakistan. The supposedly strategic meeting between the Prime Ministers of the two countries, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting, was hijacked by a quote attributed to the Pakistani Premier Nawaz Sharif about how a village woman always goes on complaining to village elders which was perceived to be in reference to the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's talks with the American president, Barack Obama. This "rumored" reference created furor in India while at the same time the Pakistani media played to the galleries and took satisfaction from "India-bashing". Any progress on easing of tensions between the 2 neighbors took a back seat with this "breaking news" hogging the limelight.
Based on this, even the national level Indian political leaders started a blame game in which the much maligned "silent" prime minister again was the favorite "punching bag". This comes in the wake of another bout of absurdity in which again the poor prime minister came out second best. The Supreme Court of India in a landmark judgement advocated debarring of convicted legislatures. The Parliament, cutting across party lines, fought tooth and nail against it and a resolution was passed in the Parliament wherein it was decided to dilute the judgement. The Government thought of bringing in an Ordinance countering the judgement and sent it to the President of India for signing. The President, not a rubber stamp authority as his predecessor, did not sign it readily but asked further questions about it. The opposition took this opportunity to belittle the government and the ruling party seeing that it was cornered, turned against its own prime minister, led by the heir apparent of the ruling party. Spoke person who were advocating and propagating the benefits of the Ordinance, virtually immediately backtracked and now saw flaws in it.
While the Theater of the Absurd continues unrelentingly, the masses are reeling under rising prices, falling economy and unabated corruption. That a democracy has to endure absurdity day in and day out without any resemblance of respite at least for the next two quarters, are a sad state of affairs.
Absurd, Absurd, Absurd!
Moving on to serious cases of absurdity, the case of a "Village Woman" seems to be hogging the media in India and neighboring Pakistan. The supposedly strategic meeting between the Prime Ministers of the two countries, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting, was hijacked by a quote attributed to the Pakistani Premier Nawaz Sharif about how a village woman always goes on complaining to village elders which was perceived to be in reference to the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's talks with the American president, Barack Obama. This "rumored" reference created furor in India while at the same time the Pakistani media played to the galleries and took satisfaction from "India-bashing". Any progress on easing of tensions between the 2 neighbors took a back seat with this "breaking news" hogging the limelight.
Based on this, even the national level Indian political leaders started a blame game in which the much maligned "silent" prime minister again was the favorite "punching bag". This comes in the wake of another bout of absurdity in which again the poor prime minister came out second best. The Supreme Court of India in a landmark judgement advocated debarring of convicted legislatures. The Parliament, cutting across party lines, fought tooth and nail against it and a resolution was passed in the Parliament wherein it was decided to dilute the judgement. The Government thought of bringing in an Ordinance countering the judgement and sent it to the President of India for signing. The President, not a rubber stamp authority as his predecessor, did not sign it readily but asked further questions about it. The opposition took this opportunity to belittle the government and the ruling party seeing that it was cornered, turned against its own prime minister, led by the heir apparent of the ruling party. Spoke person who were advocating and propagating the benefits of the Ordinance, virtually immediately backtracked and now saw flaws in it.
While the Theater of the Absurd continues unrelentingly, the masses are reeling under rising prices, falling economy and unabated corruption. That a democracy has to endure absurdity day in and day out without any resemblance of respite at least for the next two quarters, are a sad state of affairs.
Absurd, Absurd, Absurd!
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