Trump and I

Trump and I - tempted to compare myself with the President Elect Donald Trump.

I can see certain similarities between Trump's style of speaking and my style of writing - audience of both being the commoners. Trump speaks in short, crispy, impromptu sentences, directly connecting to the audience. I strive to do the same, writing in simple, crispy words, which from a layman's prospective is easy to grasp.

Trump's opponents - noticeably Jeb Bush during the Republican Primaries and Hillary Clinton during the national campaign, spoke using long, drab and often boring monologues, which failed to arouse any interest in the electorates. Both, who wanted to carry the legacies of Bushes and Clintons respectively, were decisively trumped by Trump.

Similary, my writing is an appeal to the general mass, who I know, have neither patience nor appetite to read inordinately long, bland stuff. No one has time or interest to read beyond 5 lines. Your 6th line has to be interesting to glue your reader. Trump speaks something stupid every 6th minute in his speech to rouse controversies. I share with him my share of controversies, punching a satire or two every 6th line, which can be a rabble roser, but rarely hurts me.

When it comes to imagery - we can be brothers at arms. We share our persuation skills. Trump says in his public addresses "Hey. Look at the crowd. There are tens of thousands of them". There might be actually a thousand, but the impression amplifies and sticks in the mind of the targetted audience is, "Wow - how popular is this guy !!!".

Trump says "ISIS douse you in oil, burn you in a cage, they chop your heads", making hand gestures. Don't think ISIS will ever come to the American heartlands of Tulsa, Oklahoma or Green Bay, Wisconsin do the same, but the image of such brutality created by his oratory skills creates a sense of apprehension of Trump being their protector, their Knight in Shining Armor.

Akin to Trump, I concoct many visuals in my writing which connect well to the readers (of course, they are not political types as I don't harbor any such ambitions). Such visuals inside the brain creates a persuasive image, inculcating a lasting impression, more lasting than facts and figures. Images created via Emotions is more influencial than logic - as love (its opposite hatred too) is strongest when its unreasonable. Human heart is known to override our judgemental head.

Of course, the similarities between us ends there. Trump is a billionnaire who lives in plush Manhattan Penthouse and travels in his private jet. I live in a 4 bedroom house in a mid-size town, driving an antique, mid-size Honda, the perfect mid-dle class guy with simple living and hallucination laced high thinking.

Cholesterol and awareness about Healthy heart

I heard the word Cholesterol for the first time in life during my first year in Engineering College Hostel. I used to frequently order double egg Omelette with my meal. One day my friend Prakash Patnaik sitting right across the table told me to be careful as egg has a lot of cholesterol.

"Cholesterol ? What's the hell is that ?" I queried. Prakash went on explaining what it was and how it can clog the arteries.

In my Engineering college I had numerous friends who were Elephants of Knowledge. They were moving encyclopedias in a googleless iFree world. Now-a-days an answer might be a click away on a computer or a touch away on iWHAEVER. But I can proudly proclaim that in our REC (now NIT) hostel we had human computers.

One does not have to look beyond his next table in the dining hall or a few rooms down the hallway to find an answer to any subject under the sun. (There were a few GULIAs too who used to Kill GULLIES or harmless White Lies, but were ignored).

Coming back to cholesterol - those days there was hardly any awareness about it and its relation to heart disease beyond those who studied Biology or Medicine. In mid 80s there was this Gentleman who was then in his early 50s who complained to wife in the middle of the night MO CHHATI MAARUCHI (I am getting pain in my chest). "CHHATI MARUCHI NA TUMA GA**I PADUCHI (Your are getting a heartache, or your a*s is farting a lot)," - dismissed his wife, alluding it to her husband's chronic gas problems. She rolled over to sleep. Moments later when she shook her husband, he was no more.

Odisha those days lacked a decent facility for the treatment of heart related ailments. The best cardiac equipment our hospitals were equipped with were ECGs. Odias had to travel outside, mainly to Vellore for any major heart surgery, if lucky to be identified beforehand.

Things have come a long way. Thankfully, awareness has gone up these days. Even Middle schoolers are well aware of Cholesterol and beyond. Thousands of lives have been saved and many lives prolonged, dissatisfaction with the health care system not withstanding.

There is something about America

Do you remember a popular movie back in the 1990s, "There is something about Mary" ? Looking at numerous posts from back home, mostly from those who often proclaim "Indians don't care about America", vindicates what psychologist often say - "An open critic can be your secret admirer". I don't care, is often the human way of admitting "I do".

We talk or gossip  about celebrities, not commoners. It explains why we rarely discuss about the elections in Nigeria, though it's as foreign a nation as the United States to us. Rarely I have seen any discussion about elections in Britain, Germany, France, Japan or South Korea, all first world democracies. A friend's transliteration of a Tamil proverb - People love to throw stones at a tree filled with fruits rather than a barren one, now makes hell lotta sense.

Probably explains why the combined media coverage of a Putin, Xi Xingping or Cameron on a trip to India make as much of a media coverage (social or otherwise), as a single Obama visit to India.

Define irony. The same America haters have no qualms about guzzling Jack Daniel with Coke, watching the latest Hollywood flick and flocking to the nearest KFC or McDonald, not to mention the craving craze to send their kids abroad for higher studies - while doing America bashing on a social media forums which are after America's gift to the world. One more thing, Thank God, it's Friday - TGI Friday a popular restaurant chain in every major Indian city is an American franchise.

I can go on and on, but its beyond the scope this blog. But enough to make my point well made, I would love suggesting a sequel of the romantic comedy movie "There is something about Mary". It should be aptly named "There is something about America", a comedy about Romance, one sided of course.

Post Election Blue - Elections 2016

2016 US presidential election is now over for good. Lots of my Democrat freinds are having Post election Blues. Daggers are out, Monday morning quarterbacking widely prevelant.

In Oriya we frequently say - EITA HEITHILE SEITA HEITHANTA (if this would have happened, that could have happened). To all my Hillary supporters, what had to happen, has happened. It's time to face the inevitability & move on.

I still remember April 1986 when the Pakistani cricketer Javed Miandad hit a six of the last ball to clinch a match against India. I was shell shocked. Inside my immature teenage mind there was an infinite loop of thoughts, what if the ill fated bowler Chetan Sharma bowled a bouncer, yorker instead of a full toss, until i realised there is no ifs and buts in life, sports and now Politics.

The stigma of that defeat lasted long in the psyche of Cricket India. This election is nothing compared to the 1968 Presidential election, which was preceded by the assassinations of Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr and the leading Democratic candidate Robert F Kennedy moments after he won the California primaries.

That election season saw race riots and violent anti-Vietnam protests in America, still as a nation it didn't run riot or collapsed. It has grown stronger since, no Soviet Union now as a challenging Superpower. Because, the nation's fundamentals and founding pillars are strong, not built as castles in air based on empty rhetorics.

Having said that - Trump's election is not the end of America or world. Such views envisoned by those on the basis of this slugfest election are both preposterous and premature. A bad hangover never lasts forever, it gets over healed by time.

Last day before the final polling day - Election 2016

Only a few hours to go as the curtain falls on a gruelling vetting process of numerous debates, campaigns and voter reach outs - a process commenced 1 1/2 years ago and culminates tomorrow.

If the opinion polls are to be believed, heading on to the final polling day, Hillary Clinton has a slight lead over Trump. She is just a breath away from the arguably highest elected office of the land, a record first for a woman.

But remember - opinion polls are not the actual poll, the real poll matters. The counting of the real poll starts less than 24 hours from now, which can be so near, yet so far.

Let me repeat my often repeated quip from Amitabh's movie HUM (Us) released in 1991. In a scene Anumam Kher who plays a crook cop, delivers a very meaningful monologue - BAGAWAT MEIN TIN KISAM KE ADDMI HOTE HAIN (There are three kinds of people in a mutiny), ATYACHAARI (the tormentor played by Danny), KRANTIKARI (the mutineer, played by Amitabh), AUR UN DONO KA JHAGDE KA FAIDA UTHATE HUE HAMARA JAISE BYAPARI (Taking advantage of their rivalry are our kind of businessmen).

Very aptly described indeed, its the media, the BYAPARI being the real winner of this election cycle. Not to mention Trump, also a PUCCA BYAPARI who knows his business has already made his business. Win or lose - he will be immensely helped by his newly aquired brand status.

As Ronald Reagan famously said the closing statement of his only debate with President Carter in 1980, when you head tomorrow to polling booth as yourself - Are you better off now, than 8 years ago ? If you think yes, your choice is obvious. If you think no, you have your choice too. You are the best judge, so be judicious. The game is still on folks - as it enters the final stage, into the end of the 4th quarter or the final overs. 

Making caricature of our leaders

Come election time, Saturday Nights Live, also known as SNL, a late night program show, comes into prominence. It makes spoofs of the Presidential candidates with lasting impact on the audience and electorates.

The spoof of the all Presidential debates between Trump and Clinton made me laugh until my stomach ached. (It's available on YouTube). Alec Baldwin (the Baldwin brothers are great actors and comedians) did a wonderful caricature, copying Trump's voice, bullying mannerisms and his ridiculing look with a pouty, snorted face. The message was, Trump not only didn't know the answers to policy matters, he didn't understand questions.

Bill Maher, the half Jewish liberal comedian and one of my favorites, once countered Trump's claim that Obama wasn't born in USA by demanding a proof from the orange hair Republican nominee to validate that he wasn't sired by a Orangutan. Trump didn't find this very funny and threatened to sue Bill Maher.

The comedians often make mincemeat of the politicians, the end result can be devastatiIn 1976 on SNL, comedian Chevy Chase made a mockery of Gerald Ford, slipping off stair cases and stage. It made look him like a bumbling buffoon in front of the electorates and certainly contributed to the Republican candidates defeat.

Tina Fey's epic caricature of Sarah Palin in 2008, made her look like dumb (she wasn't far from bring so) and unprepared for Presidency. She made a hilarious clone of Sarah Palin, making satire of the later's lack of foreign policy experience when she spoofed - "I am great at foreign policy as I can see Russia from my home".

It is always easier to make fun or creatate cartoon of extrovert and flamboyant characters. Apart from Trump and Sarah Palin is Bill Clinton. Clinton jokes galore in America, especially at the height of Monica Lewinsky scandal when comedians has a field day.

At the same time, it is difficult to make caricature of those with cool demeanor. Obama is one such celebrity, who is not much mocked at. Eminent Indian cartoonist R K Laxman famously said it was most difficult for him to make a cartoon of Jawaharlal Nehru for the same reason.

Making fun of our political leaders is the hallmark of a healthy democracy. In many cases, the politicians make their audience laugh at their own expense. It make them more respectable and acceptable.

In contrast, if one dares to do mock the leaders of Russia, China or North Korea, Gulag or a gun squad await you. Glad we are living in democracies, where we dare to poke fun and make satire of our leaders.

To err is Huma(n)

For those who came late and those who don't know - Huma Abedin, Hillary's (wo)man Friday and at the center of  email scandal, is of Indian origin. Her father, Zainul Abedin, a graduate of Aligarh Muslim University migrated to the United States, sometime during 1960s. He died in 1993, when now 40 year old Huma was still in her teens.

Huma is known to be extremely close to Hillary Clinton, her indefatigable and inseparable organ. Hillary, who knows her since the later was 19 year old, supposedly said - "If I would ever had another daughter, she would be Huma".

Huma's mother, once told is jest, that she was jealous of Clinton because her daughter spends more time with her with her mom. Perennially seen in company of Hillary, a quick learner of the art of maneuvering in the Washington's milieu, her rise has been nothing spectacular. But her meteoric rise in heaven, where marriages are supposedly made came crashing down to earth.

Her marriage in 2010 to the talented but controversial politician Anthony Weiner turned out to be a fiasco. A Jewish Congressman from New York, Anthony's claim to fame was being caught during his wreckless, irresposible act of sexting with teenagers.

His laptop contained Hillary's emails which were traced by FBI, turned out to be a perennial albatross on Huma's neck. A constant companion to Hillary for close to two decades, she is now staying away from the Democratic nominee, lying low, at least till the campaign ends.

Marriages might be made in heaven, but marital tragedies are made on earth. A plum post which awaited Huma in a Hillary cabinet, now looks like a mirage.  But Huma is after all human, she made an error in judgement marrying a voyeur, caught on cameras. To err is Huma(n) , but forgiving may not necessarily be the policy.