That's all, your honour!: Feb.21-27

1. Ok, first tell me this. Look at this letter by M.F.Hussain to The Hindu, stating that he has been offered the citizenship of Qatar. Now, what is a horse doing in that letter? :D Just beats me! Anyway, most of the media went berserk after seeing this letter. As is always their wont, they started asking question like "Has India failed M.F" etc, without even looking at the whole thing objectively. M.F.Hussein left the country fearing arrest and not violence. His house was attacked in 1998 and he left the country only in 2006. There were many court cases against him, and it was pretty ample clear that he was going to get arrested for hurting religious sentiments of millions of people. He did not just paint the hindu gods and godess in nude, he painted them nude in compromising and unthinkable positions. It is ridiculous that anyone would want to defend his art as freedom of expression. What M.F. has done is to totally misuse his freedom, nothing less, nothing more. And then he says he wants to relinquish the citizenship(fearing arrest, maybe?), and our media calls it our national shame??? It just beats me, your honour!

2. Maoist leader Koteswarao calls up media and offers a 72 day ceasefire to the government. This offer was given on Feb.22. The ceasefire would start on Feb. 25 and would be valid for 72 days till May 7. May 7th is when Parliament's budget session ends. May 7th is when the ceasefire offer ends. CNN-IBN said that Mamta Banerjee negotiated with Maoists, and therefore it the end date made a lot of sense! And here's where our Home Minister, P.Chidambaram gave her the twist. He announced next day that he did not receive anything official from the Maoists, and asked them to fax their offer to the Home Ministry. He said that he did not want any if's and but's, and gave them the number to fax their offer to. The Maoists then say that they will read the Home Minister's statement in newspapers on Feb.24th and then fax him the offer. Wait, they don't stop there. Koteswarao then gives his cell phone number and asks the Home Minister to call him at 5pm on Feb.25th! First thing is that they haven't faxed the offer yet, and then they ask the Home Minister to call them! By the way, the fax never came, and Home Minister just rubbished off the claim by Maoists! He also blamed a section of media for creating this confusion, and ofcourse our media reported very little of that statement! Obviously - how can the media do any wrong, your honour? :D

3. 13th and 26th seems to be the favorite days of terrorists. On the 26th, terrorists attacked guest houses which house Indian embassy staffers. 9 of the 17 killed are Indians. This is the fourth time that we have been targetted there. President Praitbha Patil, in an extraordinary gesture, went to the airport to receive the bodies of those who lost their lives to cowardly terrorists.

4. This year was a first for both the Railway and General Budgets. Both were unanimously voted as being the West Bengal Railway Budget and the West Bengal General Budget! That's all, your honour!