My farewell, a friend’s due birthday treat, a bucket of chicken wings at KFC and the last of the good times and people that I will miss about Hyd. [Here’s to the entire populace that keeps track of my blog (a number you can count on two fingers!) news that I am shifting to Bombay…sniff sniff.]Anyway, so all goes well until guess who spoils the day…Sonia Gandhi! The Congress supremo is in town and everyone on the busy Begumpet crossing on a weekday is suddenly hauled to the side of the road and traffic is cleared with amazing efficacy. It’s pindrop silence (without any exaggeration) and Sonia Gandhi zips past in her bulletproof car and Z-category convoy. She waves as she goes, of course. And that one supposes should make me and everyone else who’s been rudely shoved to the side of the road vote for the Congress. ‘Oh, ma’am, you waved…you actually waved at …it’s deliverance!’ Worth me and the rest of earning India pay for her swank bullet-proof car and the Porsche Cayenne S that zips behind it? I have my reservations (no double-meaning intended).
As it goes, the big Congress extravaganza takes place in the heart of Hyderabad, at the Secunderabad Parade Grounds, and that means hell for all traffic in the city. Add to that the misfortune of being on the same stretch when the rally gets over.
A multitude pours out of the grounds and makes its way towards Secunderabad station, effectively throwing traffic out of gear at peak office-time. By the look of it, this invasion has been gathered from all over rural Andhra, perhaps at the promise of a biryani or electricity. Are these congress devotees or political hardliners who wouldn’t miss a word of Mrs Gandhi’s Italianised Hindi? Nay, I doubt, but huge vote banks, that they are.
So, here’s the proposed paradox. The Congress plays up 'Soniaji’s' visit, and professes it as the star-event in their pre-election campaign. She comes, brings the city to a grinding halt getting everyone to curse the traffic and whatever caused it…and they expect it to translate into votes in return. But wait, that’s isn’t the paradox I’m talking about…that’s in the fact that the translation probably does come true!
Iconic leadership, anyone? Oi, everyone start humming ‘Jai Ho!’
