The Eureka moment!
By- Pamarty Venkataramana
The two scribes long retired from limelight of daily beats and active news-reporting were now huddled together in a corner bench of the almost deserted public park as the setting sun cast long shadows of the old tamarind tree that adorned the landscape they both liked so much over the years for the simple reason that its ripened fruits dropped by themselves on the ground affording the two chums a treat they cherished so much.
The excitement showed on their faces even as their old wrinkled hands rummaged through two bags of old newspaper clippings.
This was a god-given opportunity they said in unison. And, both fell silent for a while and chuckled aloud even as a stray dog and its puppies stopped at their bench a while in bewilderment and trotted off to the young couple desiccating on an apple and a few goodies on the other end of the municipal park. Both were due-hard atheists but floated over their mastery at phrases revolving around GOD!
They were summoned by an old hag of a party which had faced a downside over the last few years to rein in their journalistic experience and draw up the draft for an election manifesto: the brief was clear – conjure a few phrases catchy and magical which could mesmerise gullible flicks of different segments of society. They were given license to plagiarise from past poll posters of all and sundry political outfits; not to feel shy of lifting a few catchwords from shelved poll promises of past victors as well as defeated wannabe do-gooders.
They were paid a handsome advance in hard cash and when they sought a clue or a prompt from the head of poll campaign about the tone and subject of the booklet they were engaged to author, the wine sipping head dismissing the veteran scribes with a wave of the glass said-
‘ Ok then, u write whatever I want and I will tell u whether it was what I might have wanted or not’ .
*****
Whatever u want! This was the starting point of their exercise over the last few hours. And then they heard the youngsters saying to one another-‘Vaada Nibhayengey’ .
And both the old foxes leapt to their feet at once and screamed -‘Eureka !’ .
They had the headline cum tag line cum content for the masala booklet .
VAADA NIBHAYENGEY!
*****
They rushed to their current master and submitted a dummy manifesto with a flashy cover page of a large crowd superimposed on the tricoloured flag . The title floored the big boss. And, the sidekicks. And, the committee of election propaganda. And, the clerks and the bevy of ‘out of favour scribes’ who pitched in as think-tank for the ground workers and the treasurer who recruited near and dear ones as distributors and collecting agents of cash meant to entice the minds of confused voters.
*****
The festival mania has begun.
Lies. Canvassing. Action.
Polls. Results. Outcome.
Whatever. You. Want.
Whatever you want !
What,ever you want…
Wake up India 🇮🇳!!!
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Great piece of creative writing..