Bunch of Thoughts

I remember meeting Arun Jaitley in 2013. Elections were around the corner,  BJP had yet to decide on its Prime Ministerial candidate and the Congress was seeking a third term. It was a day when the Congress had termed RSS and BJP as outfits supporting Hindu terror. A small group of social media activists, bloggers and authors were invited to a closed-door meeting with Arun Jaitley. There was no agenda, idea was to take inputs and questions over tea and coffee The most popular question was - 'Who would be the Prime Ministerial candidate for 2014?'. People were anxious that the BJP remained unsure of its leader for 2014. Next was corruption, inflation and the issue of Hindu terrorism. While answering all these questions, Arun ji never mentioned individuals. He always focussed on the issue and provided us with all perspectives before sharing his recommendation. For me, it was very unusual for a politician to show so much composure and grace. Politicians often change col...

They say that it is easy to defeat anyone, winning people over is the most difficult thing to do. Manohar Parrikar true to his name dedicated his life to winning people over. My first interaction with Manohar Parikkar was 5 years ago. Elections had been announced and Manohar Parikkar was asked to address IT professionals living in and around Outer Ring Road in Bangalore. New Horizon College was the venue. On that lazy Sunday, I managed to show up at the venue 15 before time. Politicians are known to arrive late but Manohar Parrikar was already there mingling with the IT crowd. He speech consisted of 2-3 stories with foksy humor and wisdom. He wanted the IT crowd to engage in politics, to participate in nation building, I still remember his story "Once upon a time, Goa was known for the best watermelons. Every year post the harvest season, farmers in every village would invite people to taste the best watermelons for free. There was only one condition, they had to spit ou...