Leading India

Earlier this year, I'd written that The Times of India said India was poised.

Now it exhorts the Indian who's ready to spring that he must Lead India.

In a campaign led by Shah Rukh Khan, who is otherwise someone I have never had much time for (except when I trounced him in a quiz on national television decades ages ago - but that's another post...) The Times of India seems to have caught the pulse of young, disillusioned Indians yet again. SMS-es, website registrations, snail mail, phone calls... every medium has sprung into action as people nominate future leaders of India.

And this morning, on my way to work in Gurgaon, having dropped off six children (not all mine!) to school, we were caught in a traffic jam approaching MG Road in Delhi. The cause: at first, a Maruti 800 parked bang in the right lane, indicator on, driver's window down but - lo and behold - no driver!

"Typical..." I cursed.

And then promptly swallowed my words.

The missing driver was 'on duty'... the signal had failed because of a power cut (yes, it happens) and he had jumped off to voluntarily steer traffic. He even had a whistle which he blew to draw attention to himself and then got on to his phone to call someone (a cop? a friend? boss?) and asked for help to be rushed here. Was he a cop off duty? Perhaps, because he even took down the number of a car that jumped his 'signal'.

Here he is, the unknown Indian who is already leading this land.

With heroes like these, who needs politicians?

So far, (not) so good

For the last few months, one has been trying to find a sofa set for one's house.

And, for the same last few months, one has had to walk up and down malls and furniture stores to check out sofas ranging from the plush to the ethnic.

While the choice leaves one befuddled, it also means that the more one searches, the more weary one gets.

Why do we have to walk miles to find a sofa that will finally be used to take the weight off one's feet?