“Laughter is an instant vacation.” said Milton Berle. Here at NK, we would like to contribute to lightening your mood in preparation for a meaningful and relaxed weekend. So here’s the tongue- in-cheek look at the events of the week gone by that you’ve been waiting for 🙂

Even as Law ministry of the government of India returned the name of Justice KM Joseph to the Chief Justice of India for reconsideration on the grounds of an imbalance in seniority among Chief Justices in the zone of consideration and the lack of state and caste representation in the Court, they reiterated through the Law minister to the public, that it is not because of his judgement in the Uttarakhand Presidents Rule case – because despite the judgement, the affected party won the subsequent elections in March 2017 with a landslide and the monsoon was not even close (the PM was though).

“The proposed appointment of…Joseph as a judge of the Supreme Court at this stage does not appear to be appropriate,” Law Minister Prasad said in the letter to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court while approving one and returning the other recommendation. “It would also not be fair and justified to other more senior, suitable and deserving chief justices and senior judges of various high courts”.

The previous casualty of the senior, suitable and deserving manpower policy (it must be a manpower policy because there is only one woman on the Supreme Court at the moment – that too recently appointed as the 25th judge as against the sanctioned strength of 31) was an outstanding (so must be suitable and deserving) lawyer (seniority does not apply to recommendations from the Bar it would appear from the letter of the Law Ministry).

It’s a good thing that the Government wants all of India to be represented in the Court, if not in their own political party where the top two posts are held by men from the same state, and the seniors are relegated to a defunct Margadharshak Mandal. One senior even resigned in fear of being made a member! Maybe they are not suitable and deserving even if they are senior politicians? The judge and jury are not out on this one, they are in, and rolled into one… Or two… or three perhaps? As the commentators say at the IPL, that’s a maximum! 🙂

Speaking of the IPL, the PPL (Politicians Premier League) took off in Karnataka this week. With withdrawals and disqualifications done and dusted, the candidates and their star campaigners – Money (though this time most has been taken away by the IT Men!), Muscle, Achievements, Advertisements, Rallies and party chiefs – hit the campaign trail. Like the IPL, the PPL is very interesting and the question all are asking is will the Congress take on the RCB’s avatar? It has emulated the star studded RCB in all the previous editions – losing more than it won. Will the current edition be any different is what people are asking and how. An RCB fan said, “They have the stars and the mojo to win but they somehow contrive to lose. In fact in this IPL, their main bowlers have been smashed around the park, losing games they should have won… But the captain is Virat Kohli and man, can he bat! If he does not, AB Delivers! But the bowling is the key – they must bowl the right line and length”. We must wait and see, if this edition will be the turning point of the tournament which ends in 2019!

Off the field too RCB and CSK are fierce rivals especially when it comes to the distribution of Cauvery water. The Supreme Court has asked the Centre to frame a scheme for the same by May 8th and has asked the state how much water it can release in the meanwhile. Both are reluctant to fill the bucket, lest it have a hole and the river is drained before the state votes on May 12th.

As the PM gate crashed the party – election party in Karnataka – with his own brand of blitzkrieg – a series of rallies that saw him shift the focus from the local to the indocal – he threw a challenge – more like a truth or dare – to his Indian Counterpart. He decided not to engage his local counterpart in this paper bucket challenge because perhaps that Karnataka runs a  paperless government.

The challenge? To speak for 15 minutes without a paper about the achievements of the Government of Karnataka in any language he chose. It was satire at its best, and I can’t match it, save to say, that usually achievements speak for themselves in a language that most people understand in less than 15 minutes. So when the challenge is a truth or dare, the truth is the option of choice… for most, not all… Some prefer the dare when the truth is in short supply!

Twitter has a way of reducing Goliaths to Davids or reversing their roles… if you get it… If not refer twitter. Whatever the PM had to say about the Congress party, its local chieftain and national president, came back to haunt him when the Chief Minister of Karnataka took to twitter. Once known to win an election solely through his twitter following, this time the shoe seems to be on the other foot, with foot sores beginning to loom large.

Chai, Coffee, Chai, Coffee, Chai, Coffee, Chai, Coffee…the chant can be heard early morning, and late evening across every train that runs in India and the more than 12000 passengers who traverse the country side on rails daily, look forward eagerly to that cuppa, a cuppa that has become synonymous with India rising since May 2014.