One has only to be a die-hard cynic to imagine that there is no ‘feel good’ factor all around. Refusing to be brainwashed by the Opposition I visited my RSS friend for many years.‘‘Jai Sia Ram,’’ I greeted him. ‘‘Jai Feel good, Rajuji,’’ he countered. ‘‘As per BJP President’s advice we should address each other with feel good sentiments.’’ ‘‘Will the Ram temple come in the way of feel good,’’ I asked ‘‘We are feeling building a temple of feel good, we are looking at the Hindu rate of growth and hope to usher in the Ram Rajya.’’ was the reply. ‘‘There were enough reasons for you to feel great.’’ he continued, ‘‘Your Jeeves, Mukul earns more from the call centre than he gets from you. He speaks English, Spanish and ‘American’ which he says is a different call centre language.’’ ‘‘Don’t forget Naveen your driver runs own motor workshop and sends you impressive looking borrowed cars whenever you have to entertain your foreign principals,’’ the friend continued. How could I resist the goodwill wave that is threatening to drive me off my feat? For instance when I went to a theatre in Noida, described by TV channels as India’s richest suburb, it seemed like a dream. I was offered first class seats that reclined, there was regular popcorn service every ten minutes, and the ushers were all courtesy and asked me whether I want anything else because I would be ‘sitting’ for two and a half hours. I was showered with so much attention that I forgot the movie. A friend of mine went to the local Churchgate station in Bombay and he returned dumbfounded. With so many trains being announced by the Railway Minister in his interim budget now there were more trains than people. The motor guard in trains was screaming ‘‘last call to Andheri’’ but there were no takers. There was so much of space in the locals that young kids were playing cricket in the train. All during peak hours. But what really surprised me beyond belief were the travails of my reporter friend who just returned from the rural countryside. He said lakhs of villagers wait for hours for the ‘India Shining’ ad. When last heard the system of barter was still prevalent in Abhujmad in Madhya Pradesh and there is no concept of money exchange. But thanks to the NDA’s technological revolution in the countryside my reporter friend found scantily dressed tribals waving mobile phones sending SMS to each other and downloading Janet Jackson’s latest offering at the Superbowl. India was certainly shining. My businessman friend, a frequent flier, thanked the Government for relaxing duties. ‘‘Bring in anything,’’ was the customs placard that greeted Indians returning home. With each day there was some feel good story or the other. The Pakistanis apparently cancelled the Indian cricket tour because they are scared of Indian fast bowling and India it seems has offered to outsource jobs in the US to unemployed Americans. I shook my head in disbelief. But my body kept shaking.It was Mukul waking me up for breakfast. ‘‘Chief its time to get up. You were in deep sleep,’’ he said. I shuddered at the nightmare of Mukul demanding a raise to make both ends meet and of Naveen, my driver, wanting a loan to take care of his daughter’s medical expenses. Without a second thought I went back to my dreams like ‘Mungerilal.’
