“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.”
“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