Hello. Important Announcement!!!!

Hello guys. 

If you happen to come across this blog then let me tell you that I have stopped blogging here and instead shifted my blog to cosmogirl .

So see you there.

Thank you
Inam

Alberta Ferretti Spring 2014 RTW Collection: Review

Alberta Ferretti just made my day at Milan Fashion Week, 2014. 

Fashion East Spring 2014 RTW Collection: Confusing and Uncomfortable Clothes

I know big-wig fashion designers don't make simple clothes but I sure know RTW is supposed to be somewhere near WEARABLE. However Fashion East's 2014 RTW collection was a bit confusing with all that catty cat looks and uncomfortable dresses. I wonder who would dare to wear them. Take a look at the most uncomfy dresses:

Blugirl In The Ramp. La la la la la

Moving on from London fashion week to Milan is quite a refreshing. One has to admit London fashion week is always grey, just like their weather. Here is a collection by Blugirl, one of my favorite label. Blugirl bring RETRO back. Floral accessories, playful colors and the bags adds fun to the spring collection.  

Rendezvous with Padmashree Mamang Dai

Mamang Dai is a known figure in Arunachal Pradesh. She is an eminent poet, author, novelist, journalist and a civil servant who became the first person from Arunachal to be conferred with Padmashree (2011) for literature.

Some of the works that defines her literary contribution is the book “Arunachal Pradesh: The Hidden Land”, River Poems and the novel “Legends of Pensam”, Stupid Cupid.

She is also one of the members of the film Censor Board as well as the member of Public Service Commission. She is a person of grace and dignity, with her eloquent expression she has captured the imaginations of the budding north-east litterateur. She had once served the state as an IAS officer but sooner she left the service to pursue her interest of journalism and literature.

Here is a brief rendezvous with the ever gracious Mamang Dai on her journey and politics.

Q - How has been the journey to Padmashri. How did it start?

Actually I don’t know how… if there is a journey that I am aware of sequence by sequence; it just got happening. Padmashri came as a big surprise to me. I was returning from the Jaipur Literature fest last winter, then driving back to Delhi I got this phone call. Someone from the Home Ministry had called and wanted to confirm whether I would accept the award. I was surprised and glad and I said yes. But I thought it was a joke that someone was playing on me. But after an hour or two, I got a call from Assamese reporters asking for a news bite on receiving the Padmashree award. Then I thought now it is true and not a joke. Then I got some smses from Arunachal. Then I thought before I say anything in media I had to inform my parents and brother. My family was not aware of anything and they found it very funny, they started giggling and said ‘what?’. I think it(padmashree) was because of the number of books and trying to focus in Arunachal. My writing has always been on Arunachal, just to bring out a few word of our language into fiction writing or just showing how we live and even our lost history.

Q - What was your first work in writing?

It was Arunachal Pradesh: The Hidden Land, which is in its second edition now. But that was kind of self-published and I really went into a lot of trouble I was running back and forth to Noida, for about three weeks showing them because they thought it was Andaman, so I had to tell them that it is Arunachal and it is different. I had the manuscript ready with the photograph so you might say I really laid out the text, photos and the whole book. That (book) was quite popular and now there is a new edition by penguin India which is much more put together and photos are better. But I think that first book still holds a special place for me because I put in so much effort. And then I was writing poetry, essays, and short stories for quite a while for the north-east writer’s forum

Q - You are one of the very few women literary person in Arunachal.

Yes, there are very few, even male writers, the famous literary figures of Arunachal are writing in Assamese, so very few people were writing in English or hindi and assamese. I think it is also difficulty with our language because we don’t have our written script. So people are writing songs which is also like poetry but then we don’t have translations.

Q - How was the response when your first work was published? What was the response from your family and readers?

Readers were very encouraging. The poetry book was because it was coming out of Arunachal and all the metaphors, the images, these were things which were quite different from a lot of Indian writing in English. I think it generated a lot of interest in the region. And not only the metaphors, also the use of folk literature in fiction that was also a different angle. Legends of Pensam the first novel is also being used in Mizoram University. The reaction in Pasighat, my hometown and where the novel is actually based, people were very excited. I also was surprised and I was very moved because they said we want a copy, we are the people of Pensam, they were all asking for it. In Delhi it was well reviewed. At home my brothers, sisters were encouraging. Parents were like writing is not a job, it is something one does just like that.

Q - Talking about your hometown, Pasighat, it seems to be in crisis right ow with the economic blockade. What do you have to say on that. What is to be done as the scenario is worsening?

Pasighat has always been in it. A lot of blame also goes to my actual home village within Pasighat, the Balek village. It is a kind of center of dissidents, politically, socially, everything. I think it is because of the phase of transition which has left behind a lot of people. A lot of the first officers came from that area. But a lot of the disgruntled element also remained behind on the other side of the bridge and they are not kind of ignorant, discontented. They are quite knowledgeable; they ask questions, they like to know about the world. So this coupled with discontentment gives rise to a lot of dissidence, which can be also channeled. If it is channeled properly with the right leader it’s not a bad thing to be a dissident. Regarding the case now, I always feel for Pasighat and for the whole of Arunachal in general, we need leadership. A lot depends on leadership. Because we don’t have other kind of major literary group, theatre personality, multi-national or iconic figure everything seems to come down to the local representative. Lot of villagers, rural Arunachal look up to the local representatives . They have a very major role to play in today’s Arunachal. But somehow I think maybe they don’t really play the role.

Q - What has been the governments stand on this economic blockade?

I don’t know about the Arunachal government. I haven’t heard them make any kind of policy statement as such. I know Assam government is negotiating.

Q - What do you have to say about the hydel projects in the state. What is the problem with such projects?

I think the problem is so far the government has been very secretive about the hydel projects in Arunachal. We know that the government has signed at least 142 MOUs with the corporate sector in the names no one has heard of except for NHPC, NEEPCO and Reliance but there are other projects in the very far flung areas that no one has heard about and no one knows what is going on but the total tally of MOUs seems to be rising and these all to me points to the fact that this things will never get off the ground. Even for the Siang bridge, Gammon India took 21-22 years to complete the construction. It had to be completed within 8 years .

Hydel projects are a major thing and our rivers are little bit different, the topography, the terrain, everything is different and everyone has talked about this. So why are we going in for so many all at once, the whole map of Arunachal is marked with these hydel projects. Most of this information is only coming through RTI, those who are filing to find out what are these projects, who is signing them, where are they. From Arunachal itself the people are not aware. I think it’s only now in the case of lower Subansiri because it is almost a join thing with Assam because of the border with Assam so there is more awareness. In other parts of Arunachal there is nothing like that, even though projects are going on. In Siang side there has been little public agitation. People are just beginning to organize themselves. And we don’t need such a lot of these, neither for our own energy requirement even if we export to the rest of the country we can try with one project and see how well it works. See the Ranganadi Hydro-electric project is commissioned but still we are not getting enough electricity, the cable lines to the different districts, it’s a very complicated business. If they can get one right it will serve the whole of Arunachal, for the next 100 years even. But it’s not working right, so until its working right it’s better to be a little judicious and see.

Q - And what about the border dispute with China?

I think on the whole from my point of view and being from Arunachal Pradesh I don’t see that there should be a problem with China. I don’t think China will be really interested in taking Arunachal Pradesh or going to war with India over Arunachal Pradesh. It’s just a status quo.

Q - You said you have no problem with China but what is it when Chinese authorities claim Arunachal as their territory?

Yes, this is just a status quo beating the drum every time there is a little bit of bargaining they want to do then this thing comes up. But actually having a war, India-China escalation of conflict and all, I think the less said about it in this case is sometimes better. Of course the Army intelligence has to be alert and should not hide things. Our people also have to know exactly what is this MacMohan line and where are we today vis-à-vis with the Indian union all these things also should come into play because basically the key issue here is Tibet. Now you have the Tibetan government in exile here in India but India’s stand is not clear, it’s not saying neither here nor there. Every time there is something with China then they also compromise. So we have to look at that also. And Arunachal is not only Tawang and that area which China says should be under Tibet and because Tibet is now an autonomous region under China so this portion also should come in. Arunachal is also another big chunk of land where they actually never had any claim. So going through our historical data and also what happen during the Indo-China border war, these things should again be discussed and reviewed and talked about.

Q - Is there any committee on this?

No. Not yet.

Q - What about the border dispute with Nagaland?

Again its all about history and what happened before the land was demarcated as it is. So how much can we go back and claim or what should be done now should be discussed across the state borders.

Q - Are the government talking on the dispute?

Governments talk but they have to give a kind of very strong, no compromising we will never sacrifice an inch of our territory; these are the correct things to say it. But if you sit across the table and really talk about it then nobody really wants to have conflict this kind of conflict, you want to resolve it. So I think thats the better way but it’s the longer way. It’s more laborious, you have to be really committed. You can’t say something just to serve the moment and please your electorate. The whole of north-east with all the trouble we have, we need to have this kind of forum or talk between governments.

Q - What is the status of press in Arunachal?

Press has a very important role to play. We have so many different communities. We have major part of the population that do not read newspaper and here the radio becomes more important. Media have to be very careful when they report specially the political reporting. You have to be very careful that it’s not provocative in anyway. All the media ethics and guidelines should apply. Because of the lack of other industries there is one big failure that media houses are all patronized by politician. I am not saying that a politician can’t run a good newspaper, they can. But the thing is because there is no other source of income, advertisements, newspaper live on that and if that in any way if they say anything that might bring on the wrath of reading public then they withdraw or they don’t report at all, if there’s a protest from certain group then they kind of fade away. Maybe one will overcome that

Q - Is media under pressure here?

Media is always at risk everywhere. But Arunachal I think they have come under lot of threat. We have had newspapers offices attacked when I was in Itanagar press club. We had so many disturbances, they had put a ban on newspapers and we had to fight it out with the government and nobody really understood what the role of media is. So trying to get that message across that we are not spokesperson for political parties and we are trying to carry out job of investigation, fair reporting without prejudices, that has been an uphill task to explain to people.

Q - What has the government done on this?

Government also was not understanding. None of the culprit has been arrested or even one or two person are picked up for manhandling and breaking of newspaper offices then they are immediately released on bail. Nothing exemplary to make the press feel secure. No exemplary action taken by the government.

You are always under threat and you can’t function and tell a story as you want to tell it. You have to always weigh the pros and cons and then the attacks also are random and sudden and then there will be no justice later and no punishment meted out so people don’t want to take risk.

Q - Do you support and endorse Anna Hazare’s method?

I don’t actually, when I watched tv and for all that was happening in Delhi, it made me feel very different from the rest of India. The movement was just like the role of the mob on the street and that I didn’t like. I did not like the way people like Madam Kiran Bedi conducted herself, just in that excitement and flow of the movement.

Q - Lok Pal has been passed by the Lok Sabha, what about Arunachal Pradesh government. Will it be taken up here?

I think it would be wise to closely scrutinize the bill. It’s a very tough piece of legislation; it could become very authoritarian, it could become very fundamentalist, so those kinds of dangers are always there. Of course everyone wants corruption-free state but we also have to see what will be more suitable for the larger interest where you don’t infringe on the right of the people.

Q - Who according to you was the better government?

If they had the full run of their tenure I think Mr Mukut Mithi was a good Chief Minister, because he combined the characteristics of a bureaucrat administrator and a politician with a vision, a vision for the state.

Q - Talking about chief minister, what went wrong with the tenure of ex-CM Jarbom Gamlin ?

Everything happened during the period of May to August after the tragedy of the crash of former Chief Minister and the taking over and all the issues that came up with the Times of India. All those things were very unfortunate but it kind of added to the movement. People were uncertain of such and such person and they might like something else. The movement was very strong.

Q - Any memorable moment from your journalism days?

I think all of the time it was really nice in the press fraternity. It is only after joining the public service commission I had to set back a bit and kind of disengage with the media fraternity and that is because of the nature of the job, the key thing is confidentiality. Otherwise it’s all been one really terrific exercise, also we’ve had so many political event, running here, running to the assembly and then to Raj Bhavan at the time when everyone went and camped at hotel Bomdila, trying to topple the Mithi government. Those were quite memorable days, we were all busy writing.

Q - What was your inspiration when you started writing?

I had all my favourite writers and poets. I think most of all in my writing or in the last decade I just feel inspired by people I meet.

Q - Any particular person?

No, villagers even strangers. I think human nature is basically kind of worthy of trust. Any little thing can set me off, it inspires me for the day or I feel nice, even road vendors they say something witty and that kind of thing I like.

Q - Last question, are you writing?

Yes. Secretly I am busy writing all the time. I am working on a number of projects. I have a collection of poems which I am supposed to finish soon and then there is a book based on historical document but it’s a work of fiction.

Is Media your toy?

There was a gloom of silence in the state after its Chief Minister, Dorjee Khandu died in a plane crash. The state was in shock and grief after the news of the Chief Minister started pouring in. Dorjee Khandu was much loved by the public and that was the reason why the whole state came out in numbers to hold prayers for his safe return. But after the news of the air crash was confirmed the state came to a standstill. Media reported, experts questioned, people gathered but none anticipated any kind of violence and disturbances.

Much before the body of Dorjee Khandu was laid to rest another tragic event struck the capital and this time it was an attack on the press fraternity. On 8th May the press office of Press Trust India (PTI) in Itanagar and Arunachal Front in Naharlagun were vandalized by a group of youth who were apparently unhappy with the media house for not publishing a certain news item in their newspaper.

And interestingly there was another incident where Pradeep Thakur, a reporter from TOI was found to be writing on the political development in Arunachal Pradesh. He wrote a report which was published in the TOI website on 4th May, where he talked about the “race to the chief minister’s post after the death of Dorjee Khandu. In his analysis of the situation he was talking about some of the leaders who were the frontrunners to the post of CM and while mentioning Nabam Tuki (PWD Minister) as one of the contender to the post, Thakur wrote that ‘he (Tuki) belongs to Nyishi tribe which does not enjoy good rapport amongst other tribes”.

This particular statement created furor amongst the member of the tribe mentioned. The Nyishi community found it derogatory and insulting. The All Nyishi Students Union (ANSU) was the ons who objected to the above statements. They condemned Thakur’s report as they felt it showed the community in a poor light. Talking to media persons the president of ANSU said that such news report based on hearsay and mere speculation of the writer is against the ethics of journalism and fair reporting. They even went to declare three black day to protest against the writer and the report. They also demanded a clarification along with an unconditional apology from TOI. They further asked the state government to clarify its stand on this issue within 7 days or else it would presume the govt to be anti-Nyishi.

All this was just the beginning to a conflict. A conflict between the students union and the media. In fact this crisis has gone deeper and the tension between the media and the student union continues for a straight 17 days.


Even after the publication of a public apology by the TOI in its national daily, the ANSU is not at peace. It still grumbles and mumbles. If a mainstream media was to cover this event then they would have called this a publicity stunt which we get to see in Mumbai in the form of Shiv Sena but because the Arunachal media is not so strong to voice out such opinion they have remained silent. In fact they had decided not to publish newspapers for the time being.

This silence by the Arunachal media is not an act of coward but an act of perseverance which the student union should have gracefully shown. But students being students will have to learn manners and discipline even in public life. These students union are supposed to be an example of leadership. But what will happen when they lead such protests which is politically motivated. Students for sure can play more politics than the older counterpart-politicians.

If you think students union are not political then listen to the demands made by the ANSU recently. They have demanded the following:
1) Arrest of Pradeep Thakur, TOI reporter, who’s writing sparked off the present crisis. An FIR has already been lodged with the state DIGP by the ANSU.

2) Revelation of the source of the report which involved those derogatory remarks on the Nyishi community. ANSU believes that someone from the state itself has provided Thakur with those kind of informations.

3) An unconditional apology from Pradeep Thakur to the Nyishi community in all the leading national dailies.


4) Resignation of Jarpum Gamlin, president of Arunachal Press Club for non-publication of reports on ANSU’s press conference held on 7th May and the peaceful protest rally carried out on 13th May. Interestingly Jarpum is the younger brother of the present CM Jarbom Gamlin and finally

5) Shifting of the office of ‘The Sentinel Arunachal’ from the capital region. The Sentinel Arunachal is owned and managed by Jarpum Gamlin.


If you have noticed it clearly, Jarpum Gamlin is the man in target. He is the younger brother of the present CM Jarbom Gamlin. Jarbom Gamlin was elected as the CM after all the 41 state legislators were interviewed individually by Union ministers BK Handique, Salman Khursheed, Mukul Wasnik and V Narayanswamy. Sources say out of the 41 Cong MLA, 29 said yes to Gamlin, thereby hinting at a somewhat close competition from contenders like Tuki.

This was a whole political issue. Tuki was definitely not at all happy with the happenings. Considering the fact that Tuki had been serving the state as a minister for a very long time. His reactions caught in cameras can speak a lot. Even while making statements in news channels one could clearly see the frustration and the irritation that the leader had it inside him. When asked about the newly elected CM, he replied very awkwardly and said I don’t know anything, they didn’t ask me anything.

Nevertheless some of his followers must have reflected that very frustration at the media in the form of vandalizing the media offices which coincided with the Pradeep Thakur report as well. Politics is inevitable. Hope everyone understands this with a common intellectual mind and this include the students union too.

However the Arunachal media agrees that yes there has been an error in the reporting and that Pradeep Thakur needs to make an apology to the community. But the media should not allow these students union to dictate terms. TOI has already made public apology to the community yet the students union is not satisfied and they seem to be making irrelevant demands which characterizes a political motive. The target on Jarpum Gamlin is more of a political one. Media however cannot highlight or even make such assessment because journalism here in the state means ‘write for them’ instead of ‘write about them’

Media here in Arunachal Pradesh functions in accordance to the security threats and fear. A media house is attacked if they write a “report of the government”. That is the reason why most of the time we see the Arunachal media “writing for the government”. But this does not mean that the state government dictates the terms of media. This means there is no freedom of expression in the hands of the fourth pillar of democracy. This fourth pillar just stands tall; it cannot flex its arms and report critically like the mainstream media and this is one of the major setback for the growth of media in Arunachal Pradesh. The politics of goons affects and acts as the biggest hindrance for transparent governance.

Following are some of the incidents of Assault on the Arunachal Press fraternity

-- Attempt on the life of V.Ravindran, then Chief Sub Editor, Echo of Arunachal on Dec 17, 1995.
-- Attack on Pradeep Kr. Behera, then Editor of The Arunachal Times in 1996.
-- Attack on the Editor, The Dawnlit Post, Gabriel Denwang Wangsu, on 15th November 2000
-- Attack on Tongam Rina and Pina Kitnal Muklom of Arunachal Times in 2007.
-- Attack on Associate Editor, The Dawnlit Post, V. Ravindran on July 23, 2009
-- Molestation of a family member of a working journalist.
--Threat to Tongam Rina, Associate Editor of The Arunachal Times in October, 2010.
-- Attack on reporters of The Sentinel Arunachal.

Insight Inam: Didi's Rajdhani Express

Insight Inam: Didi's Rajdhani Express

Sonia's tryst with India

Ashwin Varde had once written that its “an arduous task to summarize the life of someone as enigmatic as Sonia Gandhi….” Surely her earlier past-life has been an enigma but believe me if one gets to meet her now, personally, her mysterious life fades deep down into her charming,calm personality. And all the mystery gets solved, well not an exaggeration but a fact.

Lets go through the enigmatic journey of Mrs Gandhi from asmall-town pretty girl to one of the most dominant and powerful personality in politics today.

20 years back, who would have thought that Sonia Gandhi,wife of late Rajiv Gandhi would be the next most influential and dominant leader in the Congress. Today she is regarded as one of the most powerful woman in the world. All possible because of her presence in the political scenario of world’s largest democracy-India.

Mrs Gandhi was born as Sonia Maino in a quiet remote village of Orbassano near Turin, Italy. None could have foreseen that this little girl child would make it big in the biggest democracy of the world. It was this very day i.e December 9,1946, when Paola Maino, wife of a middle-class mason-building contractor Stefano Maino, gave birth to a baby girl- Sonia. Sonia means ‘wisdom’ in Russian. She is the second among the three daughters in the family.

Jab they met

Many say that the person who introduced them was none other than the late Madhavrao Scindia (Rajiv’s close friend and fellow student). But Mrs Gandhi herself wrote that it was a common German friend who brought them together.Moving away from her quiet and serene childhood. It was her movement from Orbassano to Cambridge that changed the course of her life. After schooling, at 18 she was sent by her father to learn English at foreign language school in Cambridge. It was here in Cambridge that Rajiv Gandhi (son of the then PM of India, Indira Gandhi) met Sonia Maino now Sonia Gandhi.

One detail writing about their first meeting was given by Tahir Jahangir in Friday Times. “ On a Saturday evening in October 1964, two young Italian women decided to go out to dinner together.

They were studying English at the Bell School of Languages in Cambridge, England, They strolled down Regent Street with its mixture of shops and restaurants, looking for the right place to eat. When they got in the Varsity restaurant, which served Greek food and specialized in Moussaka with rice, they decided to go in. At the door, they were greeted by Luigi, the tall handsome Italian maitre d’.

They wanted a table by the window, but all the tables by the ground floor window were occupied. So Luigi led the two young women through the restaurant, past the round table in front of the cash desk, where a group of Indian and Pakistani students were discussing politics. As the girls passed the round table, they made a visible impact on the students. A sudden hush fell on the company and all talk of politics was forgotten.

Soon the conversation resumed but it was noticed that Rajiv was lost in thought and did not participate. He had a dazed expression on his face. He got hold of a paper napkin and a biro and carefully began to write out a poem on the napkin.He then called Luigi and asked him to get the best bottle of wine the restaurant had. He tipped Luigi heavily and told him to go up to the girls, present the bottle of wine, pour it out, then present the napkin with the poem to the girl and no prizes for guessing, it was Mrs Gandhi.

That first encounter with the future Prime Minister of India has remained imprinted on her mind as the most romantic moment of her life. Mrs Gandhi herself has described her experience “ As our eyes met for the first time, I could feel my heart pounding. We greeted each other and as far as I was concerned, it was love at first sight.” She later told her family: ‘ I’ve fallen in love with an Indian. He is a sportsman. He is the blue prince I always dreamt of.”

For Rajiv too, love was in the air. He wasted no time in trying to introduce Sonia to his mother Indira Gandhi, when she visited London.

But like any other love story, this one too had impediments. It was said that Sonia’s father tries to break off his daughter’s love. He was quoted telling her daughter ‘Don’t even talk about this.’ ‘Not another word about this. Better that you go to work somewhere.’

Throughout their period of courtship, Rajiv romanced the lady like a perfect gentleman would have. They would go out for outings quite often. Rajiv eventually won the heart of Sonia’s parents with his earnestness. After three years of courtship, Sonia and Rajiv were bonded in holy matrimony in 1968 in New Delhi. As it is said, their love story had resisted and conquered all odds and pressures.

Favourite Bahu of Indira Gandhi

It was evident that Sonia was Mrs Indira Gandhi’s favourite all along. Sonia had once shared to Shekher Gupta on NDTV channel- “ I remember when I got married, my mother came to the wedding and she stayed for a month. And when she was going, obviously it was a sad moment for me. And my mother-in-law (Indira Gandhi) sent a little note to me: ‘Hi Sonia, this is just to tell you that we all love you’. And that totally melted me. It gave me a lot of strength, that I am loved and cared for .” Both the saas and bahu shared mutual love and respect. It is said that during their first meet, Indira spoke to Sonia in French, to put her at ease and that broke the ice. For Indira nothing was more important than her son’s emotions and feeling. And moreover she herself had been in love so she understood Sonia’s predicament nad more so since there was so much at stake for her.

Marriage

When it came to legitimizing the relationship, Indira took the first step. She invited Sonia to India and it was on the 25^th of January 1968 that Rajiv and Sonia got formally engaged and the marriage was exactly a month later on 25^th of February. The event was a very private one. Incidentally that was also the day when Indira was married to Feroz.

Sonia was seen wearing a pink saree, which was the same saree that Indira Gandhi had worn for her wedding. It is said that the saree was made from the cotton which Nehru had spun while in prison.

The Nehru-Gandhi tradition was beautifully followed and Sonia lived up to this symbolic gift. One interesting and inspiring aspect of this marriage was the secularism. It was a testimony to the Nehru-Gandhi family’s secularism that no fuss was raised when Indira married a Parsi or when Rajiv wed a Catholic.

Role of Bachchans

An interesting fact of this marriage is the role of the Bachchans. Teji Bachchan(Amitabh’s mother) played the part of the brides’s mother. Sonia was staying with the Bachchans before the wedding. Various pre-wedding ceremonies were held in the Bachchan’s government bungalow. Harivanshrai Bachchan was then a Member of Parliament. Those we

re the days when Amitabh had not yet joined the film world. Amitabh Bachchan was a close friend of Rajiv Gandhi, he looked upon Sonia as his bhabhi. The Bachchans had played a very significant role in the marriage and perhaps that explains why superstar Amitabh Bachchan remained Rajiv’s closest friend right till the end. He was seen during Rajiv’s funeral too.

After Marriage

It is said that Sonia was quick to learn the Indian customs and traditions and soon adjusted well in the family. She soon won everyones heart. As time went by, the bond between the saas and the bahu grew stronger but there is one incident which made it more strong and it was the year when Sonia had a miscarriage, this incident brought them closer. Rahul was born in1970 and she recalls this day ‘ I had been married for 2 years, I was mother of a young baby, rahul. It left a great impression on me…..’

Soon she realized that life as a Gandhi bahu wasn’t that difficult and this she credited to Indira Gandhi. Sonia tells “My mother-in-law was very understanding and she tackled me very cleverly unlike perhaps some other mothers-in-laws I know who force their daughters-in-law to be, you know, ‘you have to do this……’ She allowed me to be myself. She didn’t force me into things that she felt I could be uncomfortable with” .

Sonia v/s Maneka

But all was not well in the Gandhi household. The silent hostilities between Sonia and Maneka (which still do exist) were known to be open secretin the political circles. These women were exact opposites. Sonia was a shy introvert while Maneka was a completely extrovert.Maneka always displayed a keen interest in politics whereas Sonia shunned it. Their temperaments were different too.

Emergency

Sonia never dreamt of joining politics nor did her husband but what did they know of their destiny. Years passed by, then came the Emergency of 1975, still Rajiv and Sonia were a silent observer. Then came the 1977 General Elections which Sanjay led the march. Indira Gandhi and her advisers went in for elections so confidently, they did not have any doubts that the electorates would vote for the Congress. But they were wrong. Congress was defeated with huge margins. This period was crucial in Sonia’s life because she got to spend a lot of time with Indira and they almost became like confidantes.

But the Janata Party did not long last in the government and thus Indira made a spectacular comeback in the General Elections in 1980. but this time she had to face defection in her Cong party, which was said to have taken toll of her. She erred with her decisions, her administrative abilities became weaker and one weakness she developed was the dependence on her son Sanjay. Which is why Sanjay’s sudden and untimely demise in a plane crash on the 23^rd June 1980 left her totally numb and paralyzed. She had lost her son cum the most trusted person in politics.

Rajiv enters politics

This tragic incident marked the emergence of Rajiv Gandhi in the mainstream politics and the harsh divide within the family. On one side Sonia was totally against Rajivs entry into politics.She opposed the move and threatened to leave. Friends had to intervene, spoke of Indira’s plightand somehow managed to convince Sonia to stay. Sonia had threatened to divorce Rajiv if he ever entered politics because she felt she would be losing him. Sonia has on record said , “ For the first time, there was tension between Rajiv and me . I fought like a tigress for him, for us and our children, above all, for our freedom.”

Sonia was also heard saying that she would rather have her children beg in the streets than Rajiv going into politics.” But eventually Rajiv resigned from Indian Airlines to join politics.

He stood for the bye-elections in Amethi, the seat his brother had left vacant. As expected he won hands down. The interest had started showing in his face and so did Sonia start supporting him whole-heartedly. She believed that since he has got into it, he had to do it right.

Just when people thought Gandhis are back to business there was another storm in the making and this time it was ManekaGandhi.

Maneka the rebel

Maneka was rebelling against the decision of choosing Rajiv instead of her after Sanjay’s death. She couldn’t understand why Indira had opted for Rajiv and not her. The situation and the differences in the Gandhi household went to such an extent that Maneka was asked to leave the house. Lets not get into much details into this particular incident though it’s a very interesting incident. After this event Maneka joined Janata Party most probably to hit back hard at Indira and cause her more embarrassment.

Assasination of Indira Gandhi

This happened during March 1984 and just after 3 months Indira ordered ‘Operation Blue Star’ which eventually led to the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards on 31^st of October 1984. It was a shock for the nation. And if we can recall what she had said just the night before 31^st at a political rally.“I don’t mind if my life goes in the service of the nation. If I die today, every drop of my blod will invigorate the nation.” Chilling isn’t it. Could she sense her final hour? This was more shocking to Sonia as she was in the same house when this event took place. It seems at first, when she heard the gunshots,she passed it off thinking the noise to be of some fireworks. She realized the gravity of the situation only when a few domestic helpers screamed out for help. It was Sonia Gandhi who took the bullet-ridden body of Indira Gandhi to the hospital. Rajiv was supposedly out of town that time.

Rajiv as PM of India

It was a tragic day for the Gandhi family. And soon after 12 hours of Indira Gandhi’s assassination, Rajiv Gandhi was sworn in as the new Prime Minister and thus a new era revolutionized. Rajiv had to start with such a painful situation. A situation when India was burning of communal riots, killing of Sikhs etc.

We could see an emotionally charged Rajiv appealing to the nation to remain calm and exercise the maximum restraint. He appealed that ‘we should not let our emotions get the better of us’. Soon the situation calmed and Rajiv was supported whole-heartedly by the entire nation.

But for Sonia there was no sense of calm. She confessed to Shekhar Gupta that “after my mother-in-law was killed, I knew that he too would be killed.” But things on this front too calmed with time.

Sonia’s first brush with active politics was when she traveled and campaigned for her husband during the General Elections. Rajiv contested from Amethi once again and this time his political rival was his own family member-Maneka Gandhi. Rajiv won the seat very comfortably with a whopping 83 percent votes.

But Rajiv had lots to do work which he did his best to certain extent. Good roads, Maruti replacing ambassadors, liberalization of trade, television, privatization og programming on DD, two-wheelers, refrigerators,STD/PCO booth, communication revolution and the Information technology were some of the achievements of Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure.

But not far were the controversies. Like the Coomar Narain espionage case, Bofors casehis decision to involve himself and the Indian Army into the the internal Sinhalese-Tamil dispute literally cost him his life.

"Is he alive"- Sonia

Rajiv ,as feared by Sonia, was killed brutally on may 21^st 1991. His assassination was a well-planned and cleverly maneuvered act. For Sonia it was a turning point in life. Sonia was at home in New Delhi when Rajiv’s private secretary Vincent George broke the news to her. The first question she asked George was, “Is he alive”.

This trauma made her almost reclusive. Her children were her source of strength in this hour of tragedy. Rahul and Priyanka shielded her from the outside world. The Congress Party wanted her to take charge immediately after this but she flatly refused.

Threat to life became synonymous with the Gandhi name. Indeed, threat to her life wasn’t something to be taken casually and her children knows that. That’s why they kept her out of the spotlight all along.

Their fears were justified with reports of “Recent arrests both in Indian and SriLanka reveal that the LTTE was likely to have made serious attempt to assassinate Sonia Gandhi. The LTTE assessed that if Sonia Gandhi assumes power, she would assist the Sri Lankan Government militarily like her husband to crush the LTTE in order to avenge the death of her husband”

Many attempts were made by senior party leaders of the Congress to Sonia Gandhi but none succeeded as she made it very clear that she was not interested in joining poltics. The very reason for her no to politics was the ‘safety of her children’.

After Indira Gandhi and Rajiv’s assassination, Sonia didn’t want to take any chances with her children’s security. Rahul

and Priyanka did their schooling at private schools in New Delhi but because of the threat they faced, they completed the rest of their studies within the confines of their home. Rahul had enrolled himself at the Harvard but the unfortunate death of Rajiv changed the events.

It was said that Sonia deliberately disappeared from the scene. She was to be seen only during official ceremonies and especially those related to Rajiv.

After Rajiv’s death, the first celebration in the Gandhi household was that of Priyanka’s wedding to childhood sweetheart Robert. This wedding did come with some controversy. Robert disowned his father and brother stating that they were using his relationship with Priyanka Gandhi for their personal gains.

The same was on the political lines. The condition of Congress party was deteriorating day by day. Defections and many workers leaving Congress either to join BJP or other regional parties. I think after Rajiv’s death, this state of the Congress made her sad.

Finally Sonia takes the plunge into politics

It was in 1998 when Sonia Gandhi accepted the post of President of Congress. One reason for her joining the party was to correct things and carry on the tradition that Rajiv had envisioned. She had explained the reson for taking the plunge. “ I have photographs of my husband and my mother-in-law in my office. And each time I walked past those photographs, I felt that I wasn’t responding to my duty,the duty to this family and to the country. I felt I was being cowardly to just sit and watch things deteriorate in the Congress fro which my mother-in-law and the whole family lived and died. So, at that point I took the decision. There were some party people saying that I ought to help out the party. But it was morethan that. It was this feeling of responsibility towards the family. And the country.”

And another important thing that happened during this time was that the relationship with Amitabh Bachchan had began to deteriorate. As Amitabh tried his best to make her understand that the Congress party was only using her to keep its own head above the water. Sonia understood what Amitabh was trying to say but she was sure about what she wanted to do.

It was touching to see both the children supporting her move. Priyanka rallied around Sonia saying, “ My mother entered politics because she genuinely felt that what my father and grandmother had given their lives for was being threatened”. Rahul who was outside the country then,gave up his job and returned homeland to support Sonia.

Sonia Gandhi's Hiccups

But her entry into active politics was not an easy one. Her foreign origin has always been an issue raked up by the opposition especially the BJP. And very shocking to Mrs Gandhi, when this same issue was voiced by trusted aides like PA Sangma, Sharad Pawar and Tariq Anwar.

She failed to stake claim to form a government in 1999 when AIADMK pulled out of BJP government. The elections in October 1999 also spelt bad news for Sonia and her party as they bagged only 112 seat across the country,which is considered to be the worst. She entered the centrestage of politics though she stumbled in the beginning but there were some closest advisers like late Madhavrao Scindia, Manmohan Singh, Jairam Ramesh, Salman Khurshid, Mani Shankar Aiyar, Maragaret Alva who on their own way played a part in fine-tuning Sonia’s skill as the Leader of the Opposition.

Sonia displayed enormous courage when she took the then PM Atal Behari Vajpayee head-on with her scathing attack on the government for filing a charge-sheet against Rajiv Gandhi’s name on the Bofors issue. “ the government has been selectve and this is nothing but political vendetta. What we will never tolerate is the framing of a man who isn’t here to defend himself,” she said with her voice choked with emotion.

Congress saw this as Sonia’s first outburst in national politics.. Soon Sonia’s active involvement in the party was paying dividends. She gained respect for her fighting spirit .

By 2002, Congress had gained power in 14 states and UT that covered more than half the country. In addition, the Congress swept the Delhi Municipal polls in 2002 thus adding boost and confidence to her and the party.

In 2003 Sonia led the no-confidence motion against the NDA though it was rejected but this move was seen as Sonia’s biggest revolt until then. Singling out Vajpayee, she asked, “ The PM had promised one crore jobs every year. I would not like to remind him about his promises because he gets very irritated…..”

December 2003 was another moment for the Congress to worry as it lost power in 3 out of 4 states that went to the polls. But the BJP was all confident that they called up for early elections.

So much was at stake. Sonia Gandhi finally decided to bring in Rahul Gandhi into the fray alongwith Priyanka Gandhi. The exit polls by the leading channels had all winning numbers for the BJP but this was proven wrong when the results started coming in.

The nation was stunned as it was clear that Congress and its allies were brought to power. And thus a new power called SONIA GANDHI emerged.

One of the touching moment was when Rahul Gandhi, after winning the Amethi seat by over 3 lakh votes, said, “ My mother is my hero. My family has faced personal attacks for last 50 years. We are not interested in them…..” and the defining moment was when Sonia Gandhi renounced the post of Prime Minister and announced Manmahon Singh as her choice for the Prime Minister’s post.

Many say this step was a masterstroke. Well indeed it was a masterstroke by Sonia Gandhi which almost made her a saint-like figure , it added more to her stature. And thus we see in Sonia Gandhi the power of determination and perseverance. And who would deny that the ultimate power of the government lies in her hand.

Happy Birthday to Sonia Madam. Wish her all the success in her policies and her works. God bless her and her family.

Didi's Rajdhani Express

"I'm reading just like Rajdhani no? Kya karega time bohot jaa raha hai na. So many projects are there" was one of Didi's comment while rushing through the Railway Budget presentation.


Honestly the Railway Budget has grown to be an entertainment event. It all started with Laluji, when he was the Railway Minister during UPA's first regime. He was the one who brought out this trend of entertainment in the form of poetry and humorous antics while presenting. Didi as we fondly call her has incorporated Laluji's initiative in her presentation too. She had most of us rolling on the ground with her antics.


Didi was at her fiesty best during the presentation regardless of the commotion around her. Smti Sonia Gandhi and Shri Sharad Pawar was seated on her left.


There was a point when Didi yelled to the extent that Delhi could have been rocked with an earthquake measuring 7.1. "I cannot satisfy you all" was what Didi yelled at the Opposition.


The Parliament also saw Didi quoting many lines like the one from Lata Mangeshkar's "Ae mere watan ke logon" song. Didi was surely very entertaining. There were members like Smti Sonia Gandhi, seen applauding and smiling . SP Chief Mulayam Singh Yadav too seemed little relaxed during the presentation and Laluji himself put on a feel-good smile while Didi was presenting.

Surely the Railway Budget presentation was a feel-good one with its aam -aadmi concepts. Some of the highlights of the budget like the increase in trains and services , no change in freight rates, 1000 kms of new rail lines etc would have kept the smile on public. Nevertheless Didi faced criticisms.