A day in the life of LIFE

Indians have always been habituated to live the frugal way of life. Right from the learned "rishis" to "rahul baba", the world has turned a full circle.

"Kya aap gareebon se bhi gareeb hai?" - This is the question being asked to Netas on the latest "tamasha" er.. reality show "Sach Kaa Saamna".

The latest prime time discussion at Iftar parties and Navratri pandals has been that of how "simple" our netas are.

And while the one-up-man-ship continues, every politician wants to project his contribution to the noble cause. While five star hotel stay is prohibited in the interest of the party image, train travel is the mantra for Rahul Baba even if it costs the state exchequer 100 times more in providing SPG cover for the same.

While Mr. Tharoor's tweets are being dissected like that of a cockroach in a zoology lab, by people who don't understand as much English to comprehend a joke / witty comment, someone must tell the Congress Party that there is no use being penny wise and pound foolish as far as the austerity drive is concerned.

Before someone brands me as an insensitive capitalist, let me clarify that there is a lot that can happen between the sip and the lip and this game of exhibitionism, of scoring brownie points, will get us nowhere (except to the vote bank of course)

I mean, there are zillion wasteful expenditures to be cut down on(which includes maintaining the honorable members of Parliament and their lavish lifestyles on "sarkaari kharcha" and ought to warrant more attention than that of self censure of a people friendly politician whose head is being asked for, even as I type this).

The Government's austerity directive has left a few like Mr. Deve Gowda disappointed since he wanted to be seen as one who proactively supports the cause.
Maybe the next time around, Mr. Gowda can use the video conferencing software to express his opinion rather than take the next flight to Delhi (even if it's only "cattle" class)

The star hotels have suddenly found their revenues dropping owing to the crackdown on flamboyant netas.

It will be interesting to see where all this positions Mr. Mallya who would find himself stuck between conflicting priorities of austerity politics and brand image of the self. A suggestion would be to introduce khadi garments for all the hostesses and crew aboard Kingfisher to make a symbolic statement. < bad suggestion!>

Rumors are ripe that reservations on the inter state buses have risen 1000 fold owing to the chartering of low cost airlines and trains by netas and their entourage. Interestingly, India is a nation where resources are always a constraint and even if there's abundance of the same - the demand will always outstrip supply, with the philosophy being "Swalpa Adjust Maadi..."

Though I may not agree completely with the Mahatma's ideals, I am truly glad that Baapu is back in fashion again... The epitome of austerity is atleast being remembered for a brief period in time by a majority who do not. But the reasons are different. Mahatma Gandhi did it for a purpose with greater good in mind, while the same cannot be said about the present day politicians.

On that note, while news channels are thriving on the hot topic, the question that the aam aadmi such as you and me need to be asking is,

"Mirror Mirror on the wall, who's the most austere of them all?"

P.S. - A beautifully written piece by Bachi Kakaria on the same topic is here .