As we all know, The Sunday Times of India is an extended edition. In addition to the news, it has articles from various prominent personalities. Two such personalities are Shashi Tharoor, and Shobhaa De. The articles by these two on this week’s edition caught my attention. Shashi’s screamed ‘Too bad we can’t have a leader like Sarkozy‘ while Shobhaa De’s read, ‘Jawani Diwani‘. Ok, so first thing first, Shashi, Ofcourse we can’t have a leader like Sarkozy, because we are not France. We are a blend of a billion plus individuals, who don’t speak the same language, are mostly Hindus yet pray to different gods, have been cataclysmically classified into the senseless hierarchy of castes, celebrate different festivals, eat different cuisine, have different traditions, have different lines of thoughts, views, have localized issues, are not educated enough, have to fight everyday to get access to life’s basic necessities, are living in a ‘developing’ nation, are surrounded by non democratic neighbors, are subjected to terrorist brutalities, are home to illegal immigrants. Yes, if we were like France, we would have a leader like Sarkozy, I would even suggest that we would find someone better than him from amongst the billion. It’s not easy juggling the aspirations of extremely diverse billion people, which call India their home. I see it as nothing short of a miracle that we even have a democracy and have sustained it for the last 60 years. I guess it’s easy to sit in an audience and be mesmerized by an orator who uses charm and wit to influence his audience, not that there is anything wrong with that, Sarkozy is a politician, he has to, but you Mr. Shashi, must also soak in the ground realities in India. We are not perfect, but we are doing well!

Next, the socialite, Shobhaa De. Hers is not an article but a cheeky summary of week’s event using some witty adjectives from the comfort of her home surrounded by, what I assume, are her uber – elite friends from Mumbai. She mentions three young ‘single’ Indians who were in news this week, Dhoni, Rahul Gandhi, and Prashant Tamang. The article looks promising, but then as one skims through it, the realization is dawned that she only understands and can articulate the cricket related story. Sadly Rajiv and Prashant are just mentioned to, maybe prove to the readers that she is indeed aware of the week’s ‘people in the news’ but in no ways, well versed enough to comment on their actions, or talent as in the case of Prashant.

My point is that it’s nice that Times can get these ‘well-known’ people to write articles, but it doesn’t guarantee that these would enrich the lives of the people who read them. These two articles, this Sunday, are in my mind nothing more than ordinary views that anyone one with some inclination to writing can come up with. These are just words to fill up space. And seems like the authors can get away with them. I would want the Times, at the very least to provide for a forum to question, commend, argue the views expressed, rather than SMS a number conveying my like or dislike of the article.

Anyways, just my two cents!