UK elections

Over the past month, we had the odd coverage of the fractured verdict after the UK elections on the Indian news channels.

Of course the main focus of the major channels had been on the 'tamasha of the day' which varied from the serious topic (occasionally) to the trivial (almost daily).

One evening (a couple of weeks back) I was up late watching first Barkha Dutt's talk show at 10 PM followed by the coverage on the BBC on the goings on in West Minister.

On Barkha's program, the two main topics were Jairam Ramesh's open criticism of the home minister on foreign soil and Navin Jindal's letter of support to the Khap Panchayats. In both the discussions the participants which included politicians as well as activists, the panellists were seen (or rather heard) trying to shout each other out.

There was a flash on the NDTV channel that said that Gordon Brown had decided to step down. So I switched over to the BBC. The reporting on the 'beeb' was similar to India (on a breaking news topic) in the respect that there was a central anchor, reporters at the main venues and a set of panellists to discuss and analyse the developments for us then and there.

The similarities however ended there. The reports from the field were crisp and to the point. The panellists were from the three different parties and each one respected the others' airtime. No one interrupted the other or spoke out of turn. Though the topic was of peripheral interest for an Indian like myself, the discussion/analysis was easy to follow.

I was amused because the situation in the UK is something they are facing for the first time but something that we have seen multiple times. For those that are not aware, the election results resulted in a hung parliament.

The Conservatives won the maximum number of seats followed by Labour. The Liberal Democrats came in a distant third but they had enough numbers to support either the Conservatives or Labour. In effect the liberals played the kingmaker role. The problem they faced was to reconcile the differences in positions with regard to policies and issues. They were in discussions with both sides to see if the differences could be resolved. Finally they decided to go with the conservatives.

In the Indian scenario, this is not an issue as most post poll discussions are usually not on reconciling policy differences but furthering personal agendas!

Maybe Nick Clegg, the liberal democrat leader could have benefited from a crash course on post poll dealings from the Mulayams or Mayavathis of the world!

Kerala Congress

News from Kerala over the past two days has been dominated by the happenings in the various factions and sub factions of the Kerala Congress. All this has been triggered by the move of the Joseph faction to merge with the Mani group.

One popular news paper today published the history of the happenings in Kerala Congress since it was formed as a break away group of the Indian National Congress way back in the sixties.

From the published table, it looked like the main actors were merging and unmerging the different factions every two years. Reading it I got more confused than before. I guess the latest news is just yet another episode in the long running soap opera!

Utility vs Decorative piece

A power failure the other day reminded me of a small incident from a few months back.

My wife is in the habit of decking up the living and dining rooms with elegant yet inexpensive knick-knacks she picks up from the market.

One such item that decks up our dining table are a couple of decorative aromatic coloured candles. We had a visitor a few months back whose first comment on setting foot inside our house was “ Oh ! So you have frequent power cuts in this area”!! My wife was in two minds as to whether to educate the guest or to curb the urge to explain. She wisely chose the latter course of action!

Loudspeakers

Don’t know how many of you will agree with me on this matter.

One thing that irritates me is the tendency of temple authorities to switch on the loudspeakers and play devotional songs in the evenings.

Saturdays are when I usually get a chance to visit the temples near my home. I prefer these temples as they are usually free from the crowds that throng the popular temples in the city.

Even though the temple might have just one or two devotees, they play loud devotional music. So even though one goes to the temple for peace of mind and to spend some time in reflection, the music only serves to disturb one's concentration.

Like I said at the beginning, maybe not everyone would agree, but this is one of my small peeves.