Independent Leadership

Actually I meant to set this Blog thingie on the 15th of August. I even wrote the post below but as luck would have it my cable connection had a glitch and well the nice person I am I didn't want to bother my friendly neighbourhood service provider on a National Holiday (although the National Holiday never stopped me from hoping my maid would turn up which she thankfully did). Since I wrote the blog on the 15th it's going to be posted for the 15th. So here it is....

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Today is 15th August. Which means the Independence Day spiel is all over the networks. I’ve seen at least 6 publications that are carrying the cover story of India at 60. And this was till yesterday.

Today’s Times of India newspaper, one of the leading Indian English dailies has come up with an interesting campaign. A print version of Indian Idol, only this time the search is for a national leader. Has some historic cool to it I must say. I have no clue what the selection criteria is but the application form does ask for prior leadership experience though bars people who’ve held a govt office. Thinking of giving it a shot. I love giving speeches and getting importance. I can debate about India's nuclear power status intelligently. And I was class monitor for two years in succession at school. Wonder if that would qualify.

Although one has to be careful when making assumptions I suspect they are looking for people with Social Work experience. The committed NGO types.

Personally I would love to see someone like me make it. The kind of person who's really bothered about how things are messed up in the country but wouldn’t actually do anything to set even a minor roadblock right. Till leadership is kind of thrust upon himer (short for him/her for I'm so fed up of this gender correctness stuff).

It's not that I haven't done anything for society. I did pitch in for one of our company's charitable project. Even contributed in a big way to its success which felt good. But it was part of my job I guess.

What I do for our great democracy is vote but even here in my first two elections participation was restricted to destroying the ballot paper and scribbling “The choices aren’t good enough”. My own little personal protest. So charmingly futile.

So why would I like to see someone like me being the chosen? The answer is simple. Mix good intentions and total conviction on a base of absolute inexperience. I think it would make for some excellent entertainment!