The incumbent premier’s diet is the subject of a national fascination. There is a “He eats food! The ANIMAL!” indignation about his dietary habits and there is nothing he can do that would change that.
But this perception is fertile ground for any rumour to grow and that it did recently on the social media where it was widely circulated that he ordered for 30-odd dishes to be prepared for his flight to Saudi Arabia.
That’s all hogwash, of course. The premiere went not on a chartered flight but gold, old-fashioned business class on a commercial flight, like other citizens.
Of course, there is a flipside here. It takes a fortune, quipped Sarojini Naidu, to keep Gandhi poor. Similarly, people forget that a large array of seats have to be bought – for security reasons – and that comes from the national kitty.
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By Monday, the nation would have come back from what would probably have been the longest Eid holidays in its history. This is a full, solid week, folks!
This long interlude was suggested, reportedly, by the national electric power apparatus so that there is enough of the juice for there to be no load shedding during Eid. Industry shmindustry be damned!
One can fume at this long break but hey, even when the people of the Republic are working, are they really working?
