Comrade Chakra

I am too short. I had always known this. In school my class-mates soon out-grew me. My clothes lasted longer than my friends and it took me sometime to reconcile myself with my short-height. However, reconcile I did. And have been at peace with myself for quite sometime. Yet over the past few years it has come back to haunt me. There is this chart that gives you body-mass-index (BMI). And for the past few years when ever I have looked at it, it shouted back at me “You are too bloody short”. I looked at it again on Friday last and I realised that I have become shorter still. Now how did that happen? Earlier I was short by a few inches, but now I am short by almost a foot. The chart declares that for a man my weight I should be some 6ft+ tall. Till a couple of years back it told me that I should be 5’10’’ and now it has raised the bar. I am 5ft 6 inches and have been so for sometime, then how did I become shorter? And then it dawned on me, I do not have a height problem, I have a weight ...

The week before last was eventful. Now that the dust has settled let’s step back and examine exactly what went on. Well, three women Presidents of India made the news . Ok, so I made it up, but I am not that off really. I am thinking ahead. Only one of the women became the President of India, but the other two, mark my words, are solid President material and will be in the chair in a few years. Pratibha Patil: A great choice for a President. A Congress loyalist, enough skeletons in the cup-board (well not so much in the cup-board anymore) to keep her from doing anything rash like dismissing a Congress run State Govt and a veritable no-body. She is corrupt, unimpressive and obedient. I really cannot think of a better choice for President of India (if I put myself in Sonia Gandhi’s shoes). What was really heart-warming was to see how it was tom-tommed as a watershed event in empowerment of women in this country. The significance is not lost when you consider the giant strides we have al...