Shoes at PC - In Keeping With The Times

After an Iraqi journalist enlightened the entire fourth estate worldwide on an effective way to express its frustration with leaders, more and more journos have picked up on this brilliant mechanism. Trendy Jarnail Singh, not to be left out of this recent shoe throwing binge at our beloved politicians had his own shot today at venerable Congress boy P.Chidambaram, but like his mentor, failed to make contact with the intended target.

After Bush's narrow escape, the question was asked if India's own politicians were nimble or reflexive enough to duck and avoid such objects hurled at them. Today our honorable Home Minister has answered the question in a stunning display of quickness of mind and limb that was hardly expected of him. Bemused by the antagonism on display by the above mentioned Jarnail Singh, PC calmly took the event in stride without the fluster one can expect from say a Pranab Mukherjee.

A technique that is now spreading like wildfire and leaving older journos wondering why they hadn't thought of it themselves all these years (when you had such excellent targets like John Major, Indira Gandhi, Gerald Ford etc.), shoe throwing should only be a forerunner to what is sure to be more exciting stuff like long range spitting or a pen disguised as a water gun. Middle East messiah Muntadhar Al-Zaidi showed the way..and who is Jarnail Singh to not follow?

But like all good Christians Jarnail was quick to regret his explicit show of emotion while sticking to his stance on the issue. The issue of course being the letting off of one Mr. Tytler in connection with the 1984 Sikh Riots.

Much shall be written on society's frustrations coming out on its leaders and how restraint is now an unknown commodity in the civilized world. Security shall be beefed up by having all press conferences in the nude so that there would be nothing to hurl (other than a well aimed parabola of spittle of course). Journalists will be arrested and tried and jailed and released and then worshiped by their countrymen. Politicians and leaders will begin to spend more time in the gym (both for nude press conferences as well as to improve flexibility). Over and above all, shoes will begin to have tracking devices in them so as not to miss their intended targets anymore. Through all this, we will, as George Bush said in a pun for the ages, be shown our souls.