Turnaround: Now all around

Everyone at home pretended as if 2004 verdict was only to be expected. Overnight every household member became a supporter of the Gandhi fam...

Everyone at home pretended as if 2004 verdict was only to be expected. Overnight every household member became a supporter of the Gandhi family. Mukul watched Rahul Gandhi on TV with moist eyes. Not being able to contain my disbelief I asked Mukul, 8216;8216;Didn8217;t you tell me you would want the BJP to come back?8217;8217;

8216;8216;That was in Lucknow; in Delhi I wanted the Congress,8217;8217; was his reply.

Naveen, my chauffer, sheepishly explained that his open support for Vajpayee when he was prime minister was only because of his age. Even Rahul Gandhi has praised him, ran Naveen8217;s argument.

Tiny, my pet, whose bark was being heard less and less with increasing age, gave me a reproachful glare.

To be fair this turnaround was not just confined to my house. My friends, most of whom were swooning over Vajpayee, had suddenly become critics of the 8216;8216;corrupt8217;8217; BJP. Newspaper editors, some more loyal to the establishment than others, were quick to give details with dates of when they had criticised the 8216;8216;ineffective8217;8217; BJP government.

Not being able to understand this aversion for the feelgood party, I decided to ask BJP8217;s key strategist, a man who will remain unnamed. He was exercising in a gym and giving bytes to TV reporters.

Once he finished, I asked him to answer a few questions. He asked me to come the following day. 8216;8216;You see I have been exercising for the past two hours while answering questions on the BJP post-poll strategy. I know I can answer your questions in my office but now, as a policy, I do all my interviews on this walker.8217;8217;

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The next day he had just finished lifting weights, doing an acrobatic roll and was back on the walker. He said it is true people still prefer the BJP which only shows 8216;8216;our strategy was always right8217;8217;.

8216;8216;There is now a big sympathy wave for Vajpayee and the BJP for having lost,8217;8217; he explained. 8216;8216;Many voters who felt good during the feelgood era of Vajpayee personally rang me up to tell me that one more early election and Vajpayee would notch up to 400 seats.8217;8217;

The country8217;s pollsters were not to be found. I found one hiding in the underground nuclear bunker built for the Prime Minister at Race Course road. 8216;8216;Are you 8216;she voter8217;?8217;8217; I asked. 8216;8216;I am he,8217;8217; he replied.

8216;8216;Every pollster went wrong,8217;8217; said 8216;She8217;, 8216;8216;but if you calculate the margin of errors of all the polls, divided by a late one per cent swing against pollsters, I think we had the results more or less right.8217;8217;

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I was glad that he was well protected. I decided to ask 8216;8216;Nehrwho8217;8217;, the popular politician-turned-numbers man. 8216;8216;My exclusive predictions where I continued to give 289 seats to the NDA only establishes my belief that channels are free. They will continue to air predictions even at the cost of truth,8217;8217; was his refrain.

I returned home. The household was cheering as old TV clips of Sonia Gandhi were being shown. I realised that at least to retain my respectful status at home I needed to sound well-wired. 8216;8216;Mukul,8217;8217; I thundered, 8216;8216;I have just returned from Ten Janpath. I might get a call any minute for the swearing-in8230;

The phone rang. I rushed to the phone, preventing Mukul from gaining access. Intoned a taped voice, 8216;8216;This is Atal Behari Vajpayee, my struggle will go on8230;my poems8230;8217;8217;

8216;8216;Wrong number,8217;8217; I screamed, sounding more irritated than usual.