Wednesday, August 30, 2006

An obsession with opulence

aug 29th, 2006

all well and good for a pakistani to laud india's 'simplicity'. of course, the ministerial motorcades are a fact of life in india, too, and so are the high-handed 'sideys' of vvips shoving people around.

but what takes the cake is this: there are a few people who are exempt from security checks at airports. i happened to see this list posted at an airport some time ago, and it astonished me.

1. president
2. prime minister
3. supreme court chief justice
4. other high officers
....
14. robert vadhera

can you imagine, robert vadhera is the *only* person who is named by name in this list. all others have this facility by virtue of their position. but robert vadhera is exempt.

and who is robert vadhera? a nonentity, who just happens to have married into the dynasty. in case you were wondering who he is, he is married to priyanka bianca maino gandhi.

i wonder if someone can explain this bit of bizarreness to me.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Shahryar

 
 
 An obsession with opulence
Kamila Hyat

The writer is a freelance columnist and former newspaper editor

There was an astonishing piece of news recently from India. No, the small news item, buried within the inner columns of most newspapers, did not concern miraculously sweetened sea water, or any other such event. The item reported on the fact that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's brother had arrived at his official residence in a smoke-belching New Delhi rickshaw, and unassumingly told security men on duty at the gates that he wished to see his brother.

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