Democracy or monarchy? Crisis in Nepal. Nepal’s democracy–er, constitutional monarchy–is in turmoil. Nothing much, really. The King says he’ll deal with the Maoists himself. Darned insurgents, eh? So he sacks his goverment and declares Emergency. Much nearer to home, the Governor of Goa, perforce, sacks his. It’s almost a race. But the Iraq elections beats it all and makes it past the Finish line. The same old can of worms, redux. Meanwhile, variety entertainment in Goa takes a new turn. No, not the film festival. Fiascos abound at the Goa assembly. No one really knows what’s happening, but everyone seems to have an opinion about it. What I don’t understand is why everyone seems to act ostensibly to uphold the Constitution, but together seem to pretty much destroy it. The gall. The unmitigated gall, I tell ya.

In other news, Amitav Ghosh wins the Hutch Crossword Award. His series of essays that appeard in The Hindu was both heart-burning and awe-inspiring. I say we’re all a bit too cozy up here. Bad news for the men, according to Outlook. There are reports that a silent enemy is robbing Indian males of their best years. A social health crisis we didn’t even know about. Um, okay, I don’t know how to react to that.

Down south and east, the tsunami came and went, leaving homeless people, agony and a lot of bittersweet wisdom. The next time maybe the IMD (Indian Meteorological Department) will send reports to the right minister. Debates abound, while the mangroves are uprooted into decadence. Doesn’t matter now. The damage has been done. But, Life limps back. We all have a lesson to learn from them. Their resilience is truly humbling.

The Centre tries to subvert relief funds through nationalised banks. The states don’t like it very much. Understandably. Up and west, the Mumbai government is on a demolition drive. More people than what the tsunami left homeless have been evicted from their homes. Nobody seems to notice. Or care. In fact, people seem to like it, and endorse it. Development, they call it. The people whose homes have been bulldozed have been called Mumbai’s shame and dirt, among other terms. It doesn’t matter if they provide the cheap labour that sustains the city. Or whether the Supreme Court ruled that housing is a fundamental right to be provided by the state. Pshaw, pshaw, the politicians say. The land is worth more than Rs. 80,000 crores. If you have trouble conceptualising that, just imagine lots of zeroes that have numeric value. Slum regularisation, it seems. Only it’s not very regular. If only they had the intelligence to match their arrogance.

Somewhere in Antarctica, a penguin cries. No one listens.

Ministers in Tamil Nadu take a dip in the sea to abate the fears the fisherfolk have of the sea, ’cause they heard they haven’t been out to sea in a while. The funny part is, the fisherfolk aren’t afraid of the sea on which they were born and brought up. They just don’t have the boats and vessels to sail in. But the stock markets are really weathering the storm. Wow, nice mage-wind. The Ganga flows on, unperturbed. The Narmada is finding it a bit more difficult.

Elections in Bihar, Uttaranchal and Haryana. Abductions, too. Some say politically motivated. Students take to the streets in protest. Civil society action at its best. Meanwhile, it’s life as usual in Jammu and Kashmir. A real Andorra’s box. Except there’s no hope after all is said and done. But hey, you never know. A new tennis starlet emerges in India. They say it’s the glasses. I really don’t know. Khushwant Singh’s new book is out. He calls it–Death At My Doorstep: Obituaries. Cool title, I say. Says he has no respect for himself or for others. I believe him. There’s a reverse side to the reverse side at Godhra. No dearth of reports. Each one claiming the others are false, and itself true. Something wrong in that. I don’t know what exactly.

And did you hear? All of a sudden, Black’s the colour to be. Maybe it’s the climate change.

I don’t know if I have to write, fight or, like most people, just ignore all of this. So I do all of them.

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