Anopheles Takes Stock

Anopheles, my winged friend, was back. Her first question to me was, "Why are you perpetually having elections?"

"Because we are a democracy, of course," I had to say.

"Yes, but so many of them? With so much of misleading misrepresentation of truth?"

"You can call them lies, I have no problem with the truth," I told her.

"But the real issues get side-tracked, don't you think?"

"Not really, the bullet train is still on track," I told her.

"Hope that's not the SILVER BULLET,  the end of the story," she replied. I could sense some sarcasm.

"No, of course not. We have Vikas."

"Who's he?" she was curious, having known some names of my human friends.

"Well, it's not a 'he'. It's a word for development, in Hindi."

"Oh, you mean the stuff that's happening ever so slowly since the British left you to your own devices?"

I was amazed at her knowledge of history AND electoral rhetoric.

"And how are all the bans doing?" she persisted. And I started counting them...I promised her an update on her next visit, along with the election results, and went back to sleep.

Highways and Laws

The Supreme Court has stopped liquor vends, bars, etc. along highways, both National and State.

In response, some states have apparently redesignated their highways as low-ways- no, not exactly that, but something on those lines.

It would be interesting to see if the court wins this battle of wits, but some possibilities come to mind.

The bars can be converted into dance bars, as they are not banned yet. Some exercise would be good for the pot-bellied drivers who can also take care of their adrenalin rush during the drive, and go out to drive calmly after a Zoomba session.

You can play Hide and Seek along the Hi ways, maybe with a treasure-hunt style game, and hi-ly prized prized.

Hi-tea zones can also be substituted for the erstwhile bars, re-creating the oh-so-English tradition in our low-brow hinterland, thus getting back at our colonisers. What say?

My way or the highway, did you say? That's so old-fashioned, dude.

Banning This and That

I just started wondering what I would ban if given the chance to enact laws as a dictator-Hammurabi the second?

Bad handwriting- hands could be cut off as punishment.

Bandh gala- why? The answer is contained in the word itself. ban-the gala. Your neck could be on the line for a violation.

Spitting- you would be shown videos of people doing horrible things (like spitting) for 15 hours continuously as punishment.

Banditry- owe it to the public

Ban-ki-moon, as in ban the moon, ki? Had this been done, Tharoor may have been head of the U.N.

Bandana- this could actually be the symbol of freedom, and against a ban culture. Not allowed. Federer, tu to gaya.

Bannerjees- there are too many, anyways.

Banta jokes-yeh ban to banta hai, hai na?