Laugh at these co incidences

I was chatting with my American friend Bob on a chat site when he wrote.‘Hey you Indians are the biggest idiots. Look at the way a Chief Minister in India is erecting statues of herself. I cannot conceive such a phenomenon involving an American politician however great he may have been.’

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If he felt that he had embarrassed me he was mistaken.

I replied ‘Bob don’t rush to conclusions in a hurry. You remember reading my blog ‘What India teaches US’ Now , here is another surprise for you. Just check your inbox.’ I had sent him a news item that read as follows :

STATUE OF BILL CLINTON UNVEILED

Former President Bill Clinton was in Kosovo this weekend to unveil a 3-meter statue of himself. The statue commemorates Clinton's support of the NATO air campaign against Yugoslavia in 1999

Unfortunately I am not able to tell you the expletives Bob hurled at Clinton. By coincidence Bob used the English versions of the Hindi gaalis that Mayawati is rumored to use.

This week was full of such coincidences. In India, cricket is often a relief from the tensions of life and a change from the traumas of politics.

But in the last three days some incidents happened that show that co- incidences happen when you least expect them .These involved cricket and politics.

At the ODI at Hyderabad Sachin scored what is being described as one of the grittiest ever in ODI history. The Master blaster—ironically dubbed ‘grandpa’ by teammates -- scored a sizzling 175 runs only to see India snatching defeat from the jaws of victory—something for which we as a nation are capable of doing in any activity. The last three batsmen ,half of Sachin’s age, could not score even 18 runs and these guys are the ones who nicknamed Sachin grandpa!.

But the point I make is this, about this coincidence—Kapil scored 175 too in the 1983 world cup, an innings that took us into the World Cup final that India won and history was made .I am amazed at the identical scores –175. .A strange coincidence. That innings too was said to be one of the greatest in cricket. Kapil is even now called paaji while Sachi is called ‘Grandpaji’..

My friend Milind a comedian in Marathi cinema tells me that when Kapil attended a party at international level at Lord’s for the first time in his life he was asked ‘Which drink would you prefer?” His famous reply was ‘Lassi’.

Sachin , when, at his first party at Lord’s, was asked what he would like for breakfast he is said to have replied ‘Pav Bhaaji with lassi’.Coincidence !

There is much speculation in many circles as to what was Morarji Desai’s reply when he attended a party at the Buckingham Palace and the Queen asked him what drink he desired. By coincidence the P.A. to Morarji Desai was my Tamilian friend coincidentally named Pissandi .This man has told me what Desai desired but I am sworn to secrecy.

But there has been another remarkable coincidence , this time in politics. The Jharkand chieftain, former Chief Minister Koda has been accused of embezzling a large amount . Nothing unusual in Indian politics.

The strange coincidence is in the amount and in the part of India where the fraud took place. The amount was Rs.4000 crores and Jharkand—the crime scene-- was once part of Bihar where another embezzlement took place of an identical amount RS 4000 crores.

The current incident involves a politicians conniving with some miners and the older incident involved a big man mining the fodder business for all its worth.

Few readers may have noticed another coincidence that is so common in India that we hardly notice it. .When he came to know that the CBI was after him , Koda ,like thousands of other politicians complained of chest pain and was rushed to hospital.

There is a coincidence here—all Indian politicians develop chest pain when the law is chasing them. There is a remarkable. Similarity in the TV coverage of the politician being taken to the hospital. The camera zooms on the man who is seen clutching the right half of his chest !

My politician friends tell me that at least the chest pain proves that they have a heart, However photos of politicians being rushed to hospital showing them clutching their right chest proves to us that their heart is not in the right place.. Unless by coincidence all our politicians have their heart in the right half of their chest.

By the way what you may not have yet realized is that whenever a politician gets into trouble for a scam you can bet that he is not a member of the ruling party at Delhi or is a dissident from the ruling party or is not important for the ruling party’s political fortunes.. Koda by coincidence fits the bill.

My friend Alphonso tells me that in the streets of Patna the joke doing the rounds is that ‘you can take Jharkand out of Bihar but you cannot take Bihar out of Jharkand’. The reference is to the fact that Jharkand was once a part of Bihar.

If you have you heard such a joke before , that’s another coincidence!

K.R.RAVI

U.S.A