Rumi Nations

Every so often we get to hear various opinion writers express some disappointment about the fact that in India -- this overwhelmingly young country -- the leaders are extraordinarily old. It's easy enough to find that thought agreeable. What's not to like about having young leaders who are able to may be play golf or throw a cricket ball or even enjoy basketball like Barack Obama. But I wrote in my previous post about how disappointing Obama has been as a president. He won in 2008 on the platform of change. Because of the nature of the U.S. -- the way some states are Red states and others are Blue no matter what -- and because of the way the electoral system works, presidents can appear to get huge majorities which are not really that spectacular. (Not to forget 2000 when Al Gore got more votes than George W. Bush but Bush won the electoral college and hence the election.)

It is quite telling that Manu Sharma is enjoying the good life doing the rounds of 5-star lounges in New Delhi while out on parole for having committed murder. The shameless CM of Delhi doesn't mind defending his parole ... for "good conduct." This sure shows what a farce the legal system truly is. There's surely a divide in India: a class of people of India who are law-abiding and are "under" the law and another class of Indians who are clearly above the law. Politicians definitely belong to that "upper" class. Some businessmen and other rich people also belong there as well. Once a person becomes rich, of course, all his sins are forgiven ... whatever means he might have adopted to acquire his wealth become irrelevancies ... I have knowingly adopted a "male" tone in writing the above paras as there are hardly any females who would qualify as being someone who has made a lot of money using underhand means. India definitely needs a "...