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Chronicles of the mango man - Part I

These are deeply political times. Something untoward has happened and urban India is coming to terms with it. Somebody has promised to clean up the muck. Audacious!

The repercussions are there to be felt. Everybody has an opinion. The jury is out; the views are divergent.

If one was to use social media as a barometer (questionable), a vast majority is unimpressed. The dominant view is that the premise of a corruption free Govt. is as frivolous as the people promulgating it. The promise of 'freebies' like water and reduced electricity prices has been used as a bait to acquire votes. The referendum was a sham and only underlines their confused motives. The 'loose motion' on day one was a biological indication of nervousness, and the messages of austerity have fallen flat as soon as their chief protagonist consented to take up a 5 bedroom flat as his 'official residence'. They can't deliver and should be exposed.

Hail NaMo!

And then there is this growing minority that believes that there is nothing absurd about supporting a bunch of political neophytes bringing in some much needed freshness into the system. They come with clean backgrounds, fear nobody, and are ready to do what it takes to liberate the polity from the clutches of political cartels - or so they believe. If they succeed, India will be a different place; if they don't, can it be any worse? Does not matter if they don't have half decent 9 pm debaters as long as their Hindi nostalgically reminds us of Ramdhari Singh Dinkar.

Bharat Maata Ki? Jai!!!!

And there fence sitters who want more than just corruption free governance. What are the resources at their disposal - they ask? How will they attract investment? What are their views on development?

Families are getting split, friendships being broken, debates getting shriller and Facebook is bursting with activity.

Father: What do you think of this crook Arvind Kejriwal?

Son: Cool guy. He is the Abraham Lincoln of India.

Father: Did I tell you that we had actually adopted you from an orphanage?


At the same time elsewhere...

Contestant 114: Who in your opinion is the sexiest bachelor in India?

Mallika Sherawat: I think Narendra Modi is so hot. I even wished him Happy Birthday the other day.

Contestant 114: BTW how is your acting career going? Any new film offers? From like anybody?

It is even reported by 'paid media' that Arvind Kejriwal is taking the social media by storm. Twitter analytics reveals that #AK is trending higher than #NaMo. Additionally, there are more favorable 'sentiments' associated with Kejriwal as compared to Modi.

Arguably, most of this verbal wrestling is happening between BJP supporters and AAP sympathizers.

Modi supporter - "Ridiculous! Modi is the supreme Godhead of all things Indian. He deserves a chance to be the PM. How can a bunch of guttersnipes conspire against him?"

AAP supporter - "That is sophisticated English. We are getting Kumar Vishwas to teach you verbal eloquence. And then don't complain!"

Shillong musical choir - "Woh subah kabhi to aayegi"

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