Thursday, July 17, 2008

Water, water everywhere


The government babu
Unveiled his water formulae
And theorems

He said:
If you connect the Ahars and Pynes in South Bihar
With the Baoris and Khatris in the Himalayas
And the Chappris and Chaals and Talabs in the Deccan Plateau
With the kuccha wells in the Gangetic plains
With the Bandhinis and Shilotris in Konkan
With the Katas, Mundas and Bandhs in Orissa
With the Thurangams in Kerala and Sisandras in Karanataka
With the Virdas in Gujarat and the Beris and Taankas in Kutch
With all the Jheels

Everyone in the nation will have access to water

That's when he realised
His throat was parched
The glass of water on the podium was empty
And there was no way any of the upper-castes
In that hall
Were going to re-fill it

Thursday, July 3, 2008

The one-third syndrome

1.
One-third of the people in our country do not possess a single certificate nor document (never have, never will)

2.
One-third do not know what to do with theirs - even though someone in their family has stored all the papers in some form or the other (always have, don't know what to do with it)

3.
One-third of this one-third who own the official stamps and seals in their office desks - ensure 1 and 2 remain in a state of oblivion while they ensure two-thirds of this one-third accrue the benefits (it's part of the job profile)

4.
The rest make money

5.
In fact let me hasten to add, the rest make a lot of money