May Musings

Fog of war

I had been glued to the TV set last Sunday night as the drama on the Bin Laden killing unfolded. As the week has progressed information has been slow to trickle out but to me the killing has raised some very disconcerting questions. Was the Pakistani Government sheltering Bin Laden? How come it did not know his whereabouts when he was hiding in a palatial mansion a stone’s throw away from a major military establishment? Did its intelligence agencies drop the ball as the Pakistani ambassador to the US suggested or was it complicit? Also to what extent did the US involve Pakistan in the operation? Was it a totally unilateral operation (hard to believe) or did the Pakistani authorities covertly help the effort and are keeping a lid on things for fear of a radical backlash? (some reports say power was cut off to the house before the raid which suggests some help from the local authorities). More questions than answers right now. And it begs the question: What is India doing to track down and hunt known terrorist who are hiding in Pakistan?

  

Comeback Man

As Sourav joined his new IPL team the reactions were predictable. Loyalties changes overnight. Someone commented “KKR be damned” while another screamed “Dada eats challenges for breakfast.”  There is no question about his leadership ability and his uncanny ability to rile the opposition up—but asking an aging 38 year old, badly out of match practice to jump into the frenzy of the IPL circus and come out firing is stretching credulity. Dada would have been much better off commentating or doing TV shows. He speaks well, looks good on TV and has a loyal female fan following. The title of one of the better written articles by Dileep Premachandran on him, that I was fortunate enough to read, aptly sums up the man: 'No one divides like Ganguly'. But he has always proven his detractors wrong so my rant against him, needless to say, is at my own risk!

 The Social Network

Twitter, Facebook, Four Square, et al this is the era of social networking. Whether sparking revolutions in Africa or being the first to report international incidents its power and reach is unmatched and probably not very well understood till date. Personally for me it’s been a couple of years since I jumped onto the bandwagon but I must say some of the initial charm has worn off. Spam, inane comments and mindless videos coupled with the inveighing and troll that seems to drown out the voice of sanity and reason have taken some of the sheen off. But on the upside, those occasional gems make it worthwhile; whether it’s that exquisite photo or a hilarious comment or that delectable blog.

Summer Training

Elections in Bengal have thrown up many interesting anecdotes about politician’s and their campaigning. One not-to-be missed story is about a couple of IIM Kolkata students doing their summer internship with Trinamool Congress and taking an active part in their campaign strategy. One wonders how they managed to trade their formal suits and snazzy power-point decks for the rustic, down to earth plebeian charms of a party on the verge of history. No better example of ‘What they don’t teach at IIM’, I guess.