Whisky and Mulgi
“My sympathies are with Vijay Mallya” Lulu, my parrot, said as he perched on my window.
“Ha, ha! Vijay Mallya is enjoying good life with his ‘calendar girls’ and scotch.” I said.
“He does not have big philosophical questions on his mind, like you middle class Maharashtrians!”
“What did we middle class Maharashtrians do something that earned your disapproval?
“Oh, you debate about what tastes better – ‘whisky with soda’ or ‘vangi [brinjal] with soda’ [dried fish]. Mallya has no such dilemmas. He prefers whisky with mulgi [girl]!” Lulu winked at me.
“Ha, ha! But his employees are starving; they have not been given salary. They want to fast unto death to get it.”
“Good luck to them!” Lulu said. “The CEO of Kingfisher was paid Rs 4 Cr as salary. That’s the Vijay Mallya style.”
“The rich seem to think that the poor have no right to live!”
“And the poor think that all wealth is ill-gotten. Cut it out. This discussion will take us nowhere. Have you heard the latest? There is an ordinance which allows convicts to be MPs.” Lulu said.
“Ha ha!”
“That may even become the qualification to be a member of parliament soon!” Lulu commented.
“Long back, almost thirty years ago, the TIME magazine conducted a research. They asked where the leaders like Nehru, Gandhi, Washington, and Lincoln are.”
“And what did they discover?”
“The obvious! The leaders were in the industry, not in politics!”
“But a new breed of leaders is emerging. They are the people in limelight. They are the leaders from industry. And they are also MPs.” Lulu pointed out.
“Who are they?”
“Those like Vijay Mallya. Those like him who do not hold themselves accountable to anyone, their conduct is questionable, they are audaciously insensitive and yet they are supposed to represent the people in parliament.”
“Phew!” I said. “Life is like that!” I said philosophically.
“Nah! Life is made like that!” Lulu corrected me.
Vivek
Nice one Sir !