Between You and Me

CHENNAI

WELL, they are at it hammer and tongs. I remember saying some time ago that this is going to be one of the most acrimonious election campaigns we have ever seen, but what is happening is even beyond my expectations. The AIADMK propaganda seems to have fallen into a rut, repeating like a scratched gramophone record accusations of dynastic rule and allegations of corruption, it can hardly prove, on the part of the DMK. The DMK seems slightly savvier, emphasising its accomplishments, while taking a sideswipe at the corruption its rival perpetrated during its rule. Lesser parties like the MDMK are busy, biting the hands that fed them.

Several readers have asked me which party I favour. While I am flattered at having my opinion sought, I am, of course, not going to tell. I may not be able to vote at all unless a bright party worker brings me a slip with my name and voting booth on it - I could not personally find my name on any voting lists of the areas in which we have lived for the last ten years or so. The feeble attempt I made to locate my name was not successful.

As I mentioned before, pre-election opinion polls are, as usual, contradicting one another drastically, or taking the middle path. It may be an election that takes everyone by surprise. If the people are not taken in by the hype and hoopla of the political parties - and there is good reason to believe that might not - and use their franchise intelligently, and if the middle class voters, whose numbers have increased significantly, vote for the best candidate around, we may yet see an unusual development - an honest election.With which disjointed remarks, I shall drop the subject for the time being, and move on to others. To answer a question from a couple of readers, I certainly think the Prime Minister's final speech in the Lok Sabha was rude to the point of being rabid, and I think the Opposition leader's emotional outburst was fully justified. It amazes me that the Prime Minister can say what he likes, and then blandly deny that he meant anything offensive, and have his followers take up the cudgels for him. I do think this sort of thing has to stop. On Cable TV I heard a leading Congressman list the acts of malfeasance of the BJP in Parliament over the years, and the Prime Minister's own deviations from the ethical probity he always attributes to himself. (This will give an apt opening for readers who want to sneer at me for my Congress loyalties - it would be no use my repeating that I ceased to support Congress from the latter part of Indira Gandhi's rule).

My main regret at this point lies in the fact that I have lost my respect for the president of the Tamil Maanila Congress. When he broke away from the Congress as it started hobnobbing with the AIADMK, I felt, like so many of the rest of us, that here was one person who understood the meaning of words such as probity, integrity and ethical behaviour, and we rooted for him. And he did manage to put together a viable party, which helped him win an election. What does one say now? He has not only got together with the Congress again, but, horror of horrors, has completely sold himself to the AIADMK. I am reminded of a Sanskrit sloka, which can be loosely translated thus: ``A golden deer is a patent impossibility. Even so, Rama went after such an animal. When the time comes for their destruction, even wise men become feeble.'' If this verse angers any admirer of the TMC president, I should like to go on record as saying that I wish nothing but the best for him, especially now when he is not in the best of health, and also express the hope that he would get back to his original moorings. Which are far away from where he is now.

THE secretary of the Ayanavaram Welfare Association writes to say that a ``Green Belt for Pollution Abatement'' was successfully carried out by the Wild Life Warden of Chennai 6, with the coordination of 5 forest rangers and other staff assigned to forest nurseries in the area. The programme flourished very well, with tree wardens coordinating the programme and tree watchers taking care of the saplings. However, the programme came to an abrupt halt at the end of March, ever since the Municipal Administration Department took it over. The secretary says that immediate action is required if the green belt is to be maintained and further strengthened.

A READER wishes to know why banks always include soiled notes in the bundles of change they give, when it would be just as easy for them to get fresh notes from the Reserve Bank of India.

WELL, Parthasarathy, it is time we had a Jewish joke. A woman on a train walked up to a distinguished-looking gentleman across the aisle. ``Excuse me, she said, ``but are you Jewish?'' ``No,'' replied the man. A few minutes later the woman returned. ``Excuse me,'' she said, but are you sure you are not Jewish?'' ``I'm sure,'' replied the man. But the woman was not convinced, and a few minutes later she approached him a third time. ``Are you absolutely sure you are not Jewish?'' she asked. ``All right, all right,'' the man said. ``You win. I'm Jewish.'' ``That's funny,'' said the woman. ``You don't look Jewish.''

S. KRISHNAN

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