This is definitely one of the most bizarre stories I have heard in recent times. The friend of a friend was getting married - it was an arranged marriage, the bride and the groom were both IT professionals, the families had met and liked each other.
And then, the groom's family learnt something about the girl that made them hastily shelve the marriage and scurry away. It wasn't the usual skeletons in the closet ' an old boyfriend or a mental ailment. Apparently, the girl's uncle is a former minister ' he had held the post of state minister of education or agriculture or something for a considerable number of years.
The boy's family, populated by software professionals, MBAs, professors and bankers, wanted to have nothing to do with politics and worse — politicians.
"He has been a politician for so many years. Can you imagine how corrupt he must be, to have continued in power for so long? How can they marry into a family like that? They are a respected, educated family," surmised the common friend.
The mandatory association of politicians with corruption and dishonesty is a foregone conclusion in
And the contempt is understandable. The word politician conjures up an image of a slimy fellow in a Gandhi cap, spewing promises before the electorate, promises which disappear with the electorate's hopes in the dust trail of his convoy of bullet-proof cars, once he does get elected.
Political associations are often brought up in the most unsavoury contexts in our country ' "X got through that college, you know, he knows somebody senior in Mantralay, there was only one seat left in the hostel, and the authorities had to give it to Y, his father's friend is the minister you know, I got the train reservation in half and hour man, I had a letter from minister Z".
Politicians are invariably the worst villains in our films, a honest politician something like an unicorn ' a figment of our imagination.
In Mumbai, some of the swankiest restaurants are owned by politicians or their children. Nobody seems to be surprised about how these netas, self-proclaimed grass-roots worker, can afford such a financial leap in one generation. The recent Rs 100 crore acquisition of a mill land by two influential politicians had raised very few eyebrows and hardly any mumbled protests.
Down south, the very public patch up of the ruling political family was reportedly the result of a not-so-private handing over of crores of rupees.
In the north, the Central Bureau of Investigation targets either Mayawati or Mulayam Singh Yadav — both crorepatis many times over — depending on the powers that be at the Centre and the state at that point.
Even those leaders, who are beyond reproach in terms of honesty and loyalty to their jobs and the nation, leave us cold sometimes.
During the recent visits of the honourable President and the Prime Minister to Mumbai, traffic came to a standstill at various points between Nariman Point and Goregaon. People were stranded for over three hours, in their cars, buses and autos, without a clue as to why or how long they would be stuck. When somebody dared to raise his voice against the unfairness of it all, he was promptly thrown behind the bars.
Unfortunately, even if the one billion people in this country want to believe in a leader, they are consistently denied the chance to do so.
that was a good blog on the politicians of our country….one of the worst in the world…….there are corrupt politicians all over the world…becoz all of them are driven by the same motto…greediness for material wealth